Here we go again!

Yo. We just had 9 investigators at church yesterday. The most I have
ever had in my whole mission. That, my friends, is what happens when
the church is in the middle of town and the members are willing to
invite and fellowship people.  I fetching love it. The Espinal family,
or the Dominican family that we met recently, came. Maira, the mom,
Genesis, her 15 year old niece, and Suhayley, the 10 year old daughter
came. They really enjoyed church. They didn't realize how long it was,
so they only stayed for the first hour because they were super
hungry... They said they would stay next week. Right after sacrament
meeting the members went right over and fellowshipped them. That's the
way it should be!! Good stuff.

I actually spoke yesterday in sacrament meeting. I spoke on missionary
work. Wow as a youth I was worried about speaking for 3-5 minutes.
Today I was given a slot of 20 minutes to speak. I was grateful that I
wrote a long talk, like 3 pages, but even still I added some stories
that I hadn't planned to add in. It was good. The Spirit was there and
I rebuked those people with so much love about their missionary
duties. This ward is actually very good at their missionary work.
Members do their part in inviting and fellowshipping. I love this
ward. Kind of a bummer that I will only be here for a transfer but I
sure am grateful for the time I have been allotted here.


On Thursday we had a solid district meeting topped off by a good
weekly planning session. Haha during weekly planning, apparently Elder
King and I both fell asleep. We are not sure exactly how it happened,
but I woke up and said, "Elder King!!! Get up! We gotta finish!!" Haha
we were asleep for about 15 minutes. It made for a good laugh. We
finished up planning and went on our way. We had planned to stop by
several people, but we were a little short on time, but The Lord has
got our back and is watching out for us, and he placed us on the exact
same bus as one of the investigators we were planning to stop by. We
were able to see how she was doing, and set up an appointment. The
Lord is in the details of our lives. He cares about the little things
because we care about the little things. Highlight of the day was our
lesson with Marco, and a new investigator, Gamaliel. Ok, so both of
these investigators are friends with a member, Rigoberto. We had met
Gamaliel twice before today. The only difference was that those two
times before, he was completely drunk. Like this guy was plastered.
I'm surprised he remembered us haha. But we left an impression on him
to some measure that now he wants to meet with us. During the lesson,
we reviewed the restoration and taught the word of wisdom. We
basically used Marco like a member in the lesson. He shared his
testimony about how he knows that the Gospel is true and about how he
is progressing towards baptism. Gamaliel is gonna progress a lot. I'm
grateful for member participation here in this ward. There isn't a
better way to do it!

Here's what happened Friday. So first off, we go to the bus station to
catch our bus. There are three buses that we can take to go to the
church, which is where we were going. As we walk into the station, we
see one pulling out of the station. Elder King takes off after it. I
thought it was too far gone, but I gotta follow the guy. We end up not
catching it at all... So we go back into the bus station, and as we
stand there waiting this guy calls over, "Hey where's the church?" I
go over and talk to him. Turns out he is a member that was baptized
when he was 8, fell away when he was a teenager, got involved in drugs
and all that stuff, spent a fair amount of time in prison, but a
couple months ago was released and now is working two jobs full time
and is putting his life back together. We had a solid conversation
with him and things are looking good for the guy. And that's why the
Lord made me a little lazy for running after buses today.

Next cool thing. We met with that Dominican family again. When we got
there, there were a ton of people outside. It's kind of funny. Every
time we go, the men are outside talking to us until we start sharing a
message. It's apparently their cue to go inside. We'll get them
eventually. We went and taught the plan of salvation. It really
intrigued them. They were all super attentive, especially when we
talked about the atonement and what happens after this life. They
committed to come to church. We are so excited for them. We teach them
directly and clearly so that they not only understand, but so they
cannot misunderstand.

We took brother Bruno out with us on Saturday. He is a member who was
baptized a year and a half ago and loves going out with the
missionaries. He is from another ward, doesn't speak Spanish, but is
our main guy if we need a male present. He's a funny guy. Kinda sucked
because tons of the people that we stopped by weren't there, but we
finished off by having a super good lesson with Gerardo and his mom.
Gerardo is a kid my age who has recently come back into activity
because he wants to serve a mission. He feels the need to serve The
Lord as a missionary and is being true to those promptings of the
Spirit that he is receiving. We went in and talked about their own
conversion stories. Brother Bruno shared his first, then Gerardo's
mom, then Gerardo. The Spirit was super strong in the room. The mom
hasn't been to church in a while but committed to come. The Spirit has
a way of touching people's hearts and making them so what God wants
them to do. We talked about recognizing our privileges as members of
the restored church of Jesus Christ and how we can live up to those
privileges and thereby receive the greatest blessings. God has given
us so much if we will just go and get it. We just gotta keep His
commandments and He promises us all things in return. What in this
world could ever be worth more than "all the Father hath?" Then why do
we let things of this world take our eyes off the prize?

All in all it was a swell week. We got some super good people
progressing with a baptismal date. We are going to have 2 baptisms on
August 10, Marco and Claribel. It is going to be awesome. This work is
true. You've probably heard my testimony like 482,483,650 times by now
but that's because it's all true. Love you all!


Elder Dial

Our church. It is really just a converted building. There is an H&R
Block to the left of us.

The second picture is of  Bishop Coyotl, the Bishop of Camden New Jersey Spanish ward.

Come on now, Get down...

Interesting Adds at the train station.  #Awkward

The District

 

The view

 

Good day last Monday. I had a suit ordered in. Ted, a guy in Philly, owns a suit shop and absolutely loves the missionaries and seriously hooks them up. I have bought one suit from him and now will soon own another. Spent our preparation day in Philly. I love that city. So much cleaner and nicer than Camden. Haha Camden is a dump but I love the crap out of it.

We taught a new investigator, Maria Borbón. While we were there, we met Iris, who also lives there. Good solid people. While we were there we only had like 10 minutes because we were a little late, so we taught how God is our Father and how the Gospel blesses families. Good stuff. Iris knows the bible pretty well and we love that. Good stuff. We will see how things go from that. Ok, so we leave Maria's house. It starts raining buckets. Like we are soaked. Plus we see lightening everywhere. Like super close. Kind of scary. We said a prayer of safety, and after waiting a few minutes, set out for the church. We saw lightening super close! Not hitting the ground, but nonetheless close. We got to the church for our next lesson, but completely soaked. Plus on the way, we looked down and saw a bunch of $1 bills. Smelled like it was made it of marijuana. Like someone rolled their weed in these dollar bills. So we used it to buy us some Mexican sweet bread and cheese. Good stuff.

Ok lesson with Marco. Progressing with a date of August 10 to be baptized. Probably our most solid investigator. He gets it. He used to drink a ton and has basically stopped. He has seen the change that his friend, who is a member, has gone through and he wants the same thing in his life. We taught about faith, repentance, baptism, confirmation, and enduring to the end. He loved it. He is reading and praying and everything. He came to church this past Sunday. The Spirit was strong and he is well on his way to being baptized on August 10. I love having prepared investigators to teach!!!! It makes being a missionary that much more gratifying. We will continue to do our part and hope, pray, and have faith that Marco will continue to do his!

Thursday we saw Marco again. He is super prepared. About a month ago the missionaries asked him when he was gonna start coming to church. He said not until he quit drinking, which was never. He always came and played soccer with the missionaries and members of the ward. Well two weeks later he started meeting with the missionaries because he wants to change his life. He has a solid friend in the ward. We taught him the plan of salvation today. Went super well. We identified the Spirit. He knows it. He will be baptized on August 10th. Super stoked for that. That will be my second to last Sunday here in the mission. Sad day. Teardrops. Love this place. Super weird that it is ending so
soon. Don't like it.

Well Friday we had a cool experience. So we have this member named Kevin medina. He is 23 and preparing to go on a mission. We always go over to his families house to eat on Fridays. Well after the appointment he gave us a ride to our next appointment. This is where the deception comes in. We get there, then say, "Hey, we need a man to come out with us to this appointment... Thanks for coming with us Kevin!" He was kind of indifferent about it, but during the lesson he bore a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and the effect it has had on his life and others. Afterwards, he said that he really liked it. He wants to come out with us every Friday now after we eat. The Spirit touches both investigators and members alike.

Today Elder King and I sang in sacrament meeting. We sang a mashup of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and "I Am a Child of God." Went super well. I played and we both sang. I have really developed in arranging songs. We started signing in C Sharp, then did a key change into E flat. I did most of it just out of my head. Haha that's why The Lord put me with Elder Minnich. Anyway, it went super well and we invited the Spirit into the room. It was super good. During church, the bishop came up to us and presented to us a young woman named Claribel. She has apparently been coming to mutual for a while, is a friend of a recent convert, and basically the bishop brought her to us and told us to teach her and set a baptismal date. We love referrals like that! We are excited for what is going to happen there.

Well there's Elder Dial's week. Sorry. Not coming home in August. I refuse. I love the crap out of all of you. This work is true! Christ lives. You know that's right.


Elder Dial

Back in the Garden State!

Mike being welcomed in the Camden Spanish Ward.  They have an English Branch that meet in the same building.  Gives you an idea of the demographics.  Awesome!

With Sister Kelly Betillyon and Sister Katie Menlove.

HOLA FAMILIAAAAAAA!!!!

I'm stoked out of my mind. My transfer dreams came true. I am going to finish my mission here in Camden, New Jersey. I have been asking President to send me here for a while now haha. It
is the most dirty, ghetto, amazing place I have ever been. We meet so many interesting new people every day. There aren't many dull moments here. We actually live right downtown right across the street from city hall with an amazing view of the Philly skyline outside our door. The church here isn't a conventional chapel either. It is a remodeled something or other. I will take a picture sometime. All in all, I love this city already. Something ironic about Camden. There is a Spanish Ward and an English Branch, if that gives you an idea of the demographics of Camden.

My companion is Elder Brockston King from Rexburg, Idaho. He is a funny kid. 18, been out six weeks. I get to finish up his training. I'm excited. He knows a lot. He went to the Mexico MTC, and his Spanish is getting there. We are excited to work and to get things going here. We are already BFFs and stuff like that. I'm happy that I haven't had any companions that have been complete tools. I have sure been blessed in that regard.

On Wednesday we did some service at the Ronald McDonald house here in Camden. It was a good time. That place really helps people out. Basically it is a house for families to live in while they,
particularly children, are going through tough medical times. They help with living area, food, entertainment, and everything. Wednesday we disinfected the toddler's toys and the teen room, and organized some donations. Good stuff. After that we went to Obispo Coyotl's house for some food. They feed the missionaries every Wednesday. I got to see Elder Morgan again! I love that kid. Now I'm in his district. His Spanish is wayyyy better now. Super cool to see him progress. Glad to be able to serve around him. Plus Elder Minnich is just to the south of us in Bridgeton. Family reunion basically here in south jersey. We finished off the day playing soccer with members, less actives, and an investigator. It is a great tool to get to know people. I officially conclude that I am absolutely terrible at soccer. I basically run laps and I am complete garbage. But that's ok. We have a good laugh, and I don't think about it too much. Pretty sure the last time I played soccer was when I was like 6 or 7, and haven't done too much to refine my skills since then. We will see where I am after
these six weeks are up!!

Ok, here are some of our investigators. Miguel and Maribel. Kind of a tough situation. Maribel wants to be baptized, as does Miguel, but first they aren't married. Second Miguel has some serious word of
wisdom issues. Maribel doesn't want to marry Miguel because she doesn't want to be with someone who has all those problems, but they also have 4 kids together and doesn't want to separate her kids from their father. So..... Yeah. Little tough. But that's ok because we had an awesome lesson with them yesterday. We didn't really have a set lesson plan with them, so we just went in and talked about stuff and it led into avoiding temptation. The thought came into my mind to sing a song. So we sang, along with their kids, "I Am A Child Of God." The Spirit filled the room. I wanted Miguel to have at least one spiritual experience that he can fall back on when temptation comes. He knows that he felt he Spirit on July 10, 2014. He knows what it feels like. When temptations come, he can remember what he felt during our lesson and choose not to fall into temptation. Elder King said that usually
Maribel is super critical of Miguel during the lessons but during this one she was very supportive and willing to help. The Spirit touched both of their hearts. Maybe this is one of the reasons that The Lord
sent me here to Camden. I'm excited to see how it will turn out.

I'm so grateful to The Lord for giving me the chance to be here! We are gonna do work. Excited to have this opportunity to serve The Lord. This is His work. I'm so grateful to be here at this time. He is at the helm.

I love you all!!!!

Elder Dial


Good times.

Happy Birthday America!

Allentown 4th of July Fireworks Display

 

 

Watching the Fireworks from the English Elder's Rooftop

 

Well transfer calls came and I'm outta Allentown. Kind of sad. Thought I was gonna spend my last 6 weeks here, but The Lord has some other things in mind, and is will do whatever He wants me to do.

I hope I go to Philly or Camden or some walking area so I'm not fat. Good stuff.

Well Zulma, one of our recently activated members, is amazing. She called us and told us she was at Ángel Roca's house (less active) and that she wanted us to come over and teach him. So we did. She is being an awesome missionary. We talked with Ángel about developing his own testimony and making it strong. Zulma bore an extremely strong testimony. She has also told us that she is working with other less actives too to get them back to church. Man she is on fire. Good stuff. I want to be more like her. Ever since she has gone to the temple she has exploded with enthusiasm and excitement about sharing the Gospel and living it.

Ballin lesson with Benny. We taught about faith, repentance, baptism, confirmation, and enduring to the end. We especially emphasized repentance, baptism, and the difference between the power of the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Benny received it well. Asked a couple questions and we were so inspired as to give satisfactory answers. He recognizes that God is speaking to him through us. We mentioned authority and how it is necessary to perform those sacred ordinances. Man I love teaching the Gospel, especially to people like Benny. He is mature spiritually and knows his bible. Not just parts of it, but he knows it well because he has interpreted it by the power of the Spirit, and is receiving the Book of Mormon and the rest of our message by the same Spirit. He is almost done with 1 Nephi already and is making super good progress. I literally told him to consider his ways and to repent. He is living with someone and has some other things he needs to work on, but he knows what he needs to do. I hope and pray he will do it. Pray for him!!! I hate explaining transfers to
investigators. It is always super sad to explain how it goes down, but that's just the way it is. Said goodbye to him yesterday. He will be baptized sooner or later.

We finally got to see Coralie and Fabian again! We stopped by the night before to see them and set up an appointment for today.  Yesterday, while we were there, her grandfather was there, and kind of
antied is a little bit, saying that no church can save you, that there can't be prophets now and whatnot. Today when we went to see Coralie and Fabian, they were different. They had tons of questions, doubts, and stuff. Someone told them we don't believe in the bible and stuff, and whatever other things people say about us. We simply told them that yes, believe it or not, we read and believe the bible!!!!  The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, it does not replace the bible. How many times do I have to explain that to people???? Well president Payba explained to them everything, about how we weren't there to tell them what to believe, but to simply experiment upon the message and ask God if it is true. Their attitude changed towards the end and we shall see if they will be true to their word.

We then went with President Payba to see Brenda and Geraldo. We met another one of Brenda's daughters, Emylane. Geraldo was sleeping so we just taught all them on their porch. I asked Emylane about her relationship with God, and she asked us some very poignant questions.  She speaks very directly and intensely. She asked what church we were from. We responded. She asked if Mormons were different than Jehovah's witnesses...... Yuppppp...... Ok after that she became our best friend
basically haha. Apparently she has a friend that is a Testigo and says that because Emylane doesn't go to her church means that she doesn't go to heaven. (Technically her Testigo friend doesn't believe that she herself can get into Heaven but that's beside the point... No bashing... ;) Well that piqued her interest. She was super surprised that we pay our way to come and serve missions. She thinks we are even a little crazy, but a little bit of crazy is a good thing I say. We gave her a restoration pamphlet and set up an appointment for Saturday. Excited to see her baptized.

Well the fourth was a good time. Perfect day. It rained in the morning, cooled things down, and then it was rockin in the low 70s for the rest of the day. We went and saw some people, taught a lesson or
two, hen went to a members BBQ. Good times. Ate too much. Then we went on the roof of another apt of the English missionaries and watched fireworks in the middle of Allentown. Super cool. Fireworks going on all around us. Good times. Pictures forthcoming.

Well today was one of the most gratifying days of my entire mission. I witnessed the change of the Allentown Branch to the Allentown Ward. It was awesome. It was a pay day as a missionary. Although I'm not sure to what degree, I feel that I may have contributed in a very minor part of this branch becoming a ward. I am so grateful that The Lord is hastening His work in this part of His vineyard and everywhere else as well. Bishop Payba gave some heartfelt remarks about all those who
have contributed over the years. Hey had everyone that was in the original branch stand, and about 15 people stood up. They have seen the growth of the Lord's kingdom here for years. I love The Lord! I
love serving Him. And I love it most when I see the results!

Well, I love this work. It's the best. Stoked to finish off wherever the Lord sees fit to put me.

Love y'all. Be faithful. Share the Gospel.

Elder Mike Dial

Dame un besito porque te amo‏ (Give me a kiss because I love you!)

Hector was great. Taught him about the Word of Wisdom. He accepted it
super well. Better than I thought he would, because he had mentioned
to us that he drinks coffee every morning. He said that the word of
wisdom is super logical and that it makes a lot of sense. He didn't
say that he would be able to quit immediately, but he said that he
would try. We said we would call him throughout the week to check up
on him. Super good. The Word of Wisdom really is evidence that the
Lord called Joseph Smith to be a prophet. How would he have known in
the 1830's about all the harm alcohol, tobacco, drugs, coffee, and tea
could do to you? He couldn't have, unless God told him.

The highlight of Tuesday was our lesson with Benny. We finished the
plan of salvation with him and it was literally an amazing lesson. He
has so much potential. He read the first 13 chapters in 1st Nephi,
including the introduction, and actually remembered all of it. So
elect. We explained the spirit world, resurrection, and the degrees of
glory. It is awesome when you quote the bible during a lesson and the
investigator begins to quote the same verse with you. It makes it
soooo much easier to teach. We resolved how God can be merciful and
just due to the preaching of the Gospel in the Spirit World. It was
super good. Complete different sentiment from the last lesson, which
was basically all resolving concerns from anti Mormon stuff that he
had found. It was fantastic. Without us having to ask him, he prayed
to know if these things are true. You can tell what is important to a
person by what they pray for. His girlfriend, Kimberly, came in for
the prayer and is going to be there for the lessons we have now. They
are gonna be married, be strong in the church, and go to the temple,
where they can experience the endowment and sealing for real, and not
on YouTube in their living room where the Spirit of The Lord will not
dwell. He is one of the most genuine guys I have met ever, and it is a
blessing to teach him!

So Zulma, a recently reactivated member, went to the temple this past
Saturday, and she told us about her experience. Basically she was
completely overcome by the Spirit. Like a whole lot. Like a ton. Like
she couldn't stop crying. The second she walked in the door (and even
before) she burst into tears. She said she could feel the presence of
people going down into the baptismal font with her. She is such an
example. Also her ex boyfriend came and offered to help her with the
rent and everything, on the condition basically that she sleeps with
him. She denied that. She said that the Lord was going to take care of
her and that she didn't need his nor anyone else's help. She bid him
farewell. She is awesome. Love her.

We had interviews with President on Thursday. It was a great
interview. Told me that he was proud of me for my work in the area and
stuff like that. Basically told us that one of us is leaving, and I
think it will be me. President had been sending Elders into a new area
a lot for their last transfer. We shall see what happens. Hope I
finish in Philly.

We helped a sister in the branch move on Saturday. Not a whole lot of
stuff. She just ordered 4 pizzas for 4 people at the end... Sufficeth
to say that I ate a tad bit too much, but that's ok. Afterwards we
went to Hermano Santana's house. Super good lesson. We are teaching
him as if he was an investigator because he has basically lost all of
his knowledge of the Gospel. We taught him the first half of the plan
of salvation. He had some questions about Adam and Eve, but we got
them straightened out. Super powerful lesson. Afterwards we went and
saw Luis and Aida. They were like depressed, so we put aside the plan
we had and we had a lesson about the good things that come to the
faithful. It was good. They didn't react too much to it, but we tried
to bring the Spirit of The Lord into their home to make them feel
better. We sang "Come, Come, Ye Saints" to prove the point. It worked
pretty well. Good times.

Good day. The Bethlehem sisters had a baptism today, and they asked if
I would help them with a musical number. It was a Christian pop/rock
song that the new member requested for her baptism. A little bit more
pop than I am used to, but it turned out ok. I played and sang, and
Sister Ipson, one of the sister missionaries from the Bethlehem ward,
played the violin. Turned out well. Super high song, like I was
hanging out on E's and F sharps and stuff like that, but it turned out
well, plus the sisters promised us cookies because the told us about
it last night, and so we went through it together last night and a
little bit today. The song is called "I Can Only Imagine." Good times.
Then there wasn't baptismal clothes for the brother who was going to
baptize, so Elder Winegardner baptized the new convert. He didn't wake
up this morning expecting to baptize someone, but the duty called and
he was ready!

Good things are happening. We are loving life and loving being
missionaries. The Lord is in the work. Marcus, stop growing. You're
gonna be way too tall. Love you all. Enjoy the pictures below

Elder Dial