Dear Familia,

haha thank you so much for the package... It made me very happy. Mom I had no idea who it was until you just told me mom... But thank you haha. It is always the best day in the world for a missionary when there is a package sitting there on the step. THANK YOU!!  (A gal I work with was visiting inlaws just minutes from Mike’s apartment…so she dropped a package at his doorstep)  Well I am trying to do my best to attach some pictures but apparently these computers are retarded and aren't letting me. I will see what I can do. Let me work my magic.

This week was way cool. On Saturday, we got to do some cool service. The Church owns a plot of land in Valley Forge, (It was a probable temple site until they got the plot in Downtown Philly) and the Valley Forge 1st and 2nd wards are putting together a community garden there. So Saturday, we got to go rip up all of the plants, till it, till it again, and make it habitable for plants haha. We were there from about 8 AM to about 12:30 just tilling. The garden  is like 60 feet by 40 feet, and I spent about 3.5 of those hours tilling. Needless to say, I was SORE beyond belief, but that is ok. I got RIPPED doing it. It was cool. Hopefully I can get a picture attached here in a second....

We have this investigator, Dulce. She and her sister Andrea are taking the lessons. About 4 years ago, she was about to be baptized, but then she told her family, and they all made fun of her and told her she was crazy. She vowed then and there that she would never take the missionary lessons again.... well here we are. We have been teaching her since I got here in Norristown in February, but recently she has started progressing a lot. We have had a couple lessons where we mentioned temple work and that got her really excited! She asked "Do I have to be baptized to go in the temple?" ..... Yes..... She wants to join the church. We taught the Word of Wisdom to her the other day with no complications at all. She loved it. Tonight we have an AWESOME lesson with her. CHASTITY. She isn't married to her boyfriend. We are gonna get her married and baptized very soon. Please pray for her. She and her daughter Andrea, and hopefully her soon-to-be husband Juan will too. I am so excited for them!!!!

We had a Stake conference this past Sunday. It was an Eastern United States Conference Broadcast. Robert C. Gay, Robert D. Hales, and Dieter F. Uctdorf all spoke. ALL of them talked about the family. We need to plant the seeds of faithfulness in our family, said elder Hales. We need to focus on having FHE every week, personal, companion, and family prayer EVERY DAY. The world is getting worse and worse every day and Satan is attacking the family on all fronts. If we can strengthen ourselves from the inside out, he will have no power over us. If I have learned one thing on my mission, it is how I want to raise my family when I grow up. Luckily, I need to look no further than how I was raised for an awesome example.

Well, this work really is true. I know it be true better than I ever have before. Way to finish out strong Matt. I love and am so grateful for the many examples that have gone before me. Thanks to all for your love and support

 -Elder Mike Dial (AHORA EL UNICO!)-“now the only”

All good here in Norristown!

Buenos Dias todos!!!  (Good Morning all!) 

It is all good here in Norristown! Cool experience yesterday. Our Zone puts out a "Zone Focus" every week on what the zone is struggling on. This week it was other lessons. Sunday morning, we were 5 short. We promised the ZLs that we would not come in without getting the Zone Focus. It was an awesome day. In a couple hours, totally got the 5 other lessons that we needed. We accomplished our goal by just stopping by investigators, and just teaching people in the street. The Lord provided some awesome opportunities for us. He led us to His children who needed the Gospel.

This week, I was studying in Alma chapter 12. In verses 9-11 it explains how we can gain more knowledge and know the mysteries of God. It all comes down to US!!!!! If we harden our hearts, more is withheld. When we strive to be open, and have faith, more is given. In our lives, what are we hardening our hearts to? What can we improve personally so that we can open our hearts, and gain more spiritual knowledge from our Heavenly Father? When we do, we receive a greater portion of the word, and we are edified spiritually.

We had interviews with President Shaefermeyer this past week... It was a good 6 or 7 minutes haha. There are so many missionaries that it is really that short! He said that when the new mission president comes, to never give him a reason not to trust me. Good to know that I never will.

Nothing really crazy happened this week. Just taught lessons and invited people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It is a way cool thing. I love being a missionary. Gracias a mi hermano mayor por ser un ejemplo para mi y para todos. El esta a punto de terminar un gran mision. A mi me encanta leer sus cartas y escuchar todos de sus chistosas historias jaja.  (Thanks to my older brother for being an example for me and for everyone. He is about to finish a great mission. I love to read your letters and hear all your funny stories haha.)  Well sorry i just felt like writing in Spanish. Spanish is WAYYYY better than English. Sorry to all the poor people who don't get to speak it. Still love ya.. Just not as much.

 Love you all. Peace and Blessings

Elder  Mike Dial

Why are Missions the best thing in the world?

Dear Family,

Sounds like an AWESOME week! The Boston marathon stuff is way sad... I was depressed for the rest of the night when I heard about it. Knowledge for the Plan of Salvation is PRICELESS!!! Tell everyone I am really proud of them! Can you tell Meg and Mer to shoot me an email so that I can just email them directly? That is the easiest thing for me to do. Also, one small request… You don't have to send it alone, but the next time you send something, can you send me a picture of me with my deer? That would be way neat. I love you all so much!!!!!!!

Well I would have liked to start off this letter with something WAYYY cool that I learned during my studies this week, but I left my study journal at home, but don't fear, it is not lost forever! Study journals are a way cool thing! When I write down what I study, I learn so much more. The physical act of writing it down makes me think and ponder more, and I receive additional light and knowledge on the subject. It is so cool. Since I have made the effort to keep a study journal, I have changed as a person and as a missionary!

Well we found this cool new investigator. Her name is Wailani. (Wah-lah-nee) Haha she is Puerto Rican but her name is Hawaiian... Interesting.... But that is ok. A member here goes to a restaurant here and she is always his waitress. He started talking to her about the church! He is AWESOME!! He never is afraid to bear his testimony. He set us up with an appointment with her, and we went. She is like 24ish and was raised in a bunch of different churches. She said that she reads and prays, but she wants to join a church. About a 1/4 way through teaching the lesson, she said that she wants to join the church. She LOVED the restoration. She accepted the date for the 26 of May, committed to come to church, didn't show up, but that's ok. As long as that desire stays there MIRACLES can happen! She is gonna get dunked here pretty soon!

Thank you so much for sending that music. I am going to see what I can do so that I can sing in Sacrament Meeting. Tears will be shed. You can be sure of that much!

I am excited! I get to do my third baptismal interview this Thursday. Those are way fun! I did two others a couple weeks back. They were great. I love seeing people's desire to align their will with the will of the Lord. I always ask about their journey and what clicked in the Gospel for them. I am so excited!

Why are missions the best thing in the world? If anyone is thinking about whether they should do it or not, just DO IT! If you come out for the right reasons, you will be sooooooo grateful that you did! There is an Elder in my district that is not really enjoying life right now. He didn't really come out for the right reasons. We are trying to help him, but as long as we are converted, have that testimony, and the desire to share it, we should do it! IF YOU HAVE DESIRES TO SERVE GOD, YE ARE CALLLED TO THE WORK. The best way to serve God is to live His Gospel, and to SHARE IT!!! If you can't tell, I love this work. IT is awesome. Thanks for all the support, love, prayers, and packages and letters. They are fantastic. Love you all!!!

-Elder Mike Dial

I Believe in Miracles!

Hello!

We are seeing miracles every day. One of our recent converts has a sister who owns a little store. He is always over there so we go visit him, his sister, and his sister's husband. We got to know them pretty well, and despite our constant efforts, couldn't really get a formal "lesson" with them. The other day, our plans fell through, we were in the area of her store, so we decided to go. She and her husband were there. I happened to be carrying a Book of Mormon in my hand. She asked "Is that your Bible?" "Nope, it is the Book of Mormon! Let me tell ya about it..." We ended up teaching lesson 1 and answering lots of questions. She wants us to come back so we can talk more. Being guided by the Spirit is the best thing ever. One of the greatest feelings in the world for sure!!!

I love it more and more when I hear about people getting called on missions! Especially speaking Spanish!!! Congrats Amy on Guatemala!!! And I guess Stockholm is pretty neat too haha. Being on a mission is literally the greatest thing in the world. I am glad that I made the decision long ago to serve. Someone asked me what I had learned on my mission. I thought about it for a second. I realized that I have learned firstly, how blessed I am to have a knowledge of the restored gospel. I have learned that I really do KNOW that these things are true. I have learned how I want to raise my family. I have seen countless examples of how i DON'T want to raise my family. I have learned that I can talk to people about what I believe and bear testimony about it. I have learned that Miracles happen EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK if we are willing to open our eyes and see them. I have experienced what is says in the Doctrine and Covenants, where it says "draw near unto me, and I will draw near unto you." I have learned to draw unto Him. Every day I study the Holy Scriptures for at least an hour. Then I share them for the rest of the day. I have learned to LOVE them with all my heart. We were listening to a talk by someone and they said that if we read a book a week for the rest of our lives it would total up to about 50,000 something books. In the Library of Congress there are tens of millions of books. He said How can we waste our time in things that don't matter that much? That really hit me. What things are we doing that maybe aren't that important that could be replaced by more important, spiritually significant things? That made me think a lot...

Well now that that rant is over... Flabio was confirmed in Sacrament Meeting today. It was a neat experience. I love the words, "RECEIVE the Holy Ghost." It isn't forced upon us. It is a gift that we receive! We have the choice to receive it or not. He stands at the door and knocks. We let Him in. We had an investigator at church. Her name is Blanca. She is an aunt of someone in the ward. She is from Honduras. She is here in the US until next month, when her visa expires. She is the bomb. She loves the church. She admires what we do as missionaries. She has seen the example of her niece in the church and the joy that the Gospel brings into her life. We are hoping that she will be ready for baptism and confirmation before she has to go back to Honduras, and if she has the desire and drive she will. Blanca is GREAT!!

Elder Fawcett is a baller. His Spanish is goin crazy! He really is improving day by day, and I am really grateful that I am able to be his companion

Love you all, I didn't take many pictures, so let that suspense keep you comin' here!  Until next week...
Love,
Elder Mike Dial

Conference was AMAZING!

Dear Family and friends,

Well conference was AMAZING!!! I forgot to bring my notes to the library but that is ok. First, I LOVED President Packer's talk. Man I love that guy. I also loved Elder Bednar's talk, layin' the smack down on the law of chastity. Elder Ellis' talk was cool too.

President Schaefermeyer has really been stressing the true nature of our Heavenly Father. That is the first point that we teach in the first lesson. If people don't understand that our Heavenly Father is our REAL FATHER, that we can approach Him and have a real relationship with Him, they can't really progress. With people who aren't progressing, he told us to go over the real nature of our Heavenly Father. He has a body of flesh and bone. He is an exalted, glorified being and perfect in every way. We can pray to Him, and He can send His Spirit to us to make us feel His love. I liked the story about how as a stake president, everyone who was moving to the area called him and asked him which ward was the best. But only one time, someone called him and asked which ward needs a good family. That was awesome.

Over the weekend I heard a lot of talks about Obedience!! It is the first law of Heaven. If we aren't obedient, we can't receive the blessings that our Heavenly Father wants to give to us!!! Like Elder Perry said, Obedience is Liberty. His talk was awesome. I love when Apostles and Prophets get in your face and call you out about what you need to improve on. There is always something that we need to improve on! Let’s do it!

We also had a baptism between conference sessions on Sunday. Flabia de la Rosa was baptized. It was an awesome service. Conference and a baptism? Can't get much better than that. We also had a BUNCH of investigators come out to conference. It was awesome for them to hear the words of God's chosen servants here on earth. Hopefully it will give them a little push to act a little more, and to experiment upon our words.

Well, we are wearing short sleeve shirts at last!! It is supposed to be 70's 80's here this week, which is a REAL blessing. Spring is here at last. Just in time for summer haaha.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MARCUS?? He is getting so tall.... I am done for. That's no good. He is already as tall as you mom!

Well, the church is true, Conference was a blast! Loved every second of it, we watched it in the church and I received a witness that those men really do lead the church with restored priesthood keys! How blessed we are to know the truth! Now let's share it with all the people that we know!!!

Love,

-Elder Mike Dial