Miracles happen once in a while...

Dear Family,

This week was dang good. I went on an awesome exchange with our Zone Leaders, and I learned a ton. With a lot of their appointments, they aren't there for more than 20-25 minutes. A lot of times if we are at people's houses for an hour, they think that we will be there forever and it is hard to plan, if we are there for only 15 or 20 minutes, that changes. So many opportunities open and we are able to invite so many more people to come unto Christ. We are also working on having a fellowshipper for every single investigator and less-active we are working with. We prayerfully identify them, then make plans to have them come out teaching with us.

We saw a HUGE miracle this week. Our branch went up to Palmyra over the weekend a week ago. One of our investigators, who lives with a member family, went up with them. Up there, the Spirit touched him. We have seen a "mighty change of heart," like Alma says, occur in him. Before, when we taught, he seemed interested, but not really willing to do much to change. This is not the case now. He told us he wants to be baptized. People have told me that before, but Gerardo is really showing it. We reviewed covenants with him, and he told us about covenants from what he read in Mosiah 18. He is on fire. He is going to get baptized this Sunday!!!! He is leaving also to move back to Florida after his baptism, so we are probably going to get special permission to confirm him right after the baptismal service. We are seeing him literally every day this week. He gets it. He felt the Spirit, and he is acting on what he felt. That is real intent if I ever saw it. Send a couple prayers his way this week.

Transfers will be next week. Things are not looking to be in Elder Wall's favor... He has been here since May. But stranger things have happened. We are excited for all that is going on in our area and are excited to see what else the Lord has prepared for us.

I found an AWESOME quote this morning from Spencer W. Kimball. Little long, but that's ok. Makes it look like I wrote a lot.

"Do you want guidance? Have you prayed to the Lord for inspiration? Do you want to do right or do you want to do what you want to do whether or not it is right? Do you want to do what is best for you in the long run or what seems more desirable for the moment? Have you prayed? How much have you prayed? How did you pray? Have you prayed as did the Savior of the world in Gethsemane or did you ask for what you want regardless of its being proper? Do you say in your prayers: “Thy will be done”? Did you say, “Heavenly Father, if you will inspire and impress me with the right, I will do that right”? Or, did you pray, “Give me what I want or I will take it anyway”? Did you say: “Father in Heaven, I love you, I believe in you, I know you are omniscient. I am honest. I am sincerely desirous of doing right. I know you can see the end from the beginning. You can see the future. You can discern if under this situation I present, I will have peace or turmoil, happiness or sorrow, success or failure. Tell me, please, loved Heavenly Father, and I promise to do what you tell me to do.” Have you prayed that way? Don’t you think it might be wise? Are you courageous enough to pray that prayer?"

Are we really courageous enough to say that prayer? To say we will follow whatever guidance the Lord gives us, regardless of what it is? What if it requires us to give up some things, like our social comfort, like our desires, some of our passions, or makes us change? It will require us to change, but we all know that it will make us change for the better. I have a testimony of change. My mission has changed completely who I am. My testimony has grown in incalculable ways for the better. I am a different person. The Gospel has changed me because I wanted it, and then I allowed it to.

Mariachi Band at a funeral??? Of course!

 Agusto  (a "swell" member in the area) and Elder Dial

We had a lesson with Enrique Panteleón. He has a mountain of potential. Had a couple concerns, and kept going off on little tangents during our lesson, but after we bore testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, he felt the Spirit. It prompted him to want to read and pray. He said that he would. He brought it up. We didn't. I am so excited for the guy. He came to Priesthood session last week and LOVED it. Keep that guy in your prayers back home.

So over this past weekend, basically our entire branch took a huge camping trip up to Palmyra. It is about 7 hours from Bridgeton NJ. They had a great time. I wish I could have gone to see all of those Mexicans camping haha. But in any case, our sacrament meeting was a little sparse. It started out with NO Hispanics. We have a couple Americans assigned to the branch, and they were there. So we started in English. We kept the meeting in English up to the Sacrament prayer on the bread. Then, during the sacrament, a bunch of members came in. So, halfway through, we switched to Spanish and did the prayer on the water in Spanish. Good times in the Bridgeton Branch.

It rained a bunch this week. One of those weeks where I wish I had a car... But that's ok. Just got a little wet.

He decidido que la frase "Orale Pues" es la frase mas útil en Español. Se la puede usar en cualquier situación. A mí me encanta.

Mexican hot chocolate is delicious. Next time you are at the store, look for it. It is called "Abuelita." Matt will know where to find it. Then get some sweet bread and you don't drink the chocolate. You drain it by dipping your bread into it and then eating it. There is no more soda, water, or anything since the cold came. It is all chocolate, pan dulce, y atole. It is delicious.

We went to a funeral yesterday. I don't think I will ever forget it. There were lots of crying, mourning, and an extremely loud mariachi band. Like so loud that I wanted to cover ears but I did not out of respect, like it was super loud. It was Silvia Ignacio's (more-or-less active member) ex husband's funeral. She is a very dramatic person , one of the most dramatic people that I have ever met. Like so dramatic that I don't even want to try to explain it in writing right now. She was misinformed about the funeral location, and apparently she took that very offensively, to the point that she never wanted to speak to her own son again. Is that dramatic? I think so. Luckily, she opened up that heart of hers and went the funeral. We did too. She asked us to go with her.

I am extremely grateful for my membership in the church, and for the knowledge that I have of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Prophets again walk the earth. If we just heed what they counsel us to do, we will never go astray. We have access to their words on our phones, iPods, tablets, and computers! How awesome is that? If we will just apply what they say, we will be so much better off. Go, read their words, then apply what they say to you. I promise that if you are doubting at all, just try it. You will gain/strengthen your testimony so much. That is my testimony. I have done it. I know of myself that it is true.

 Love you all!   

 -Elder Mike Dial

Was conference not the best thing in the entire universe?

Well we just witnessed a miracle here this morning. We are having a Zone activity today, so we had to leave a little early to go get everything done. Before we were going to leave, it was pouring rain. This is when I would like to be in a car area or have a washer and dryer in our apartment. But then I thought, "Hey, we pray to the Guy that controls all this stuff. Let's ask Him to give us a break." So we prayed asking that we could get everything that we needed to done without delay. When we left, the rain had subsided a little bit. After about 30 seconds of riding on our bikes, the rain had almost altogether stopped. I sit before you beautiful people completely dry right now. Just like President Monson said a year ago, "God is in the details of our lives." No concern of ours is too small, nothing do minute that we cannot take it to Him. He listens!!!!

Was conference not the best thing in the entire universe? I submit that it was! I agree with President Monson that it was one of the most uplifitng conferences I have attended. I made an effort to listen and learn, and it paid great dividends. It is as good as Christmas for missionaries. The best part was that 2 of our investigators came! Along with a less-active that we have been working with. One of our investigators, Enrique Panteleón, came to priesthood session. He has the most potential of anyone I have ever seen. He has made a complete turn-around of his life and is now a devoted disciple of Christ. He is looking for truth. We can offer it to him. First of all, he actually came on time to priesthood session. Anyone who knows hispanics knows that that is a miracle in of itself. He LOVED President Uchtdorf's talk. Also President Eyering's. He said, "I believe." We are excited. We have been having trouble finding the elect, but in faith, and due to a Zone Training we had this past week, Elder Wall and I prayerfully set the date of November 24 as a date that our area, Bridgeton East, will have a baptism. Since then, the Lord has placed people into our path. I believe that Enrique will be baptized on that day.

Some of our solid investigators, Pedro and Rosa, were not able to come to conference for some excuse. That's ok though. They just didn't understand why it was so important. They are living together without being married, and have 2 kids together. This week, we are going to have a lesson with them with a couple from the branch to explain to them why it is so important that we are married. We heard a LOT about that during the Sunday Sessions. They are going to get married, and they also have a TON of potential. Just need to keep some more commitments.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!! Yes I got it. The pumpkin cookies didn't last long. The beef Jerky is just about gone. Same with the bread. Thank you. It arrived safe and sound. Literally made my week

What was y'alls favorite part of conference? I loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talks on Saturday. Man. I love hearing that guy speak. Knows what's up. I am committed to be the best home teacher in the world when I get home thanks to President Monson. I know he is a prophet. The Spirit has borne witness to me that he really is God's prophet upon the earth today. This I know. I love you all! Thanks for everything!!!

-Elder Dial

 (P.S.  I asked Michael to send a paragraph about his 40 year old piano teacher from Virginia who died tragically from sepsis after a routine skin cancer was removed from his head...he had a big influence on Mike, musically, piano and voice and motivating him to take his piano to a new level and explore not just playing the keys, but also arranging and getting more out of hymns etc.  Here is the paragraph he sent...)

Mr. Jake helped me so much during the course of my musical development. Most specifically, he taught me how to take a song and arrange it. Because of what he taught me, I have been able to bless the lives of others because of the musician I am today, and that is largely in part to Mr. Jake. How sad and tragic this is, because we miss him. But we know that he is doing a very important work on the other side of the veil. I know that.

Who is STOKED for Conference?!?

This is the only picture I took this week… me in a neat lookin chair. Enjoy it.  (Editor mother says...seriously?)

Dear Family and friends,

What's up? Yesterday was awesome. I did a musical number in sacrament meeting. I did the Michael Hicks version of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. Love that arrangement. That's the one I did at my last MTC devotional as well. I was a little nervous about playing and singing at the same time, but it worked out well. None of our investigators decided to show up, but the Spirit was strong nonetheless. We are trying to find the elect. We have seen some good things happen as we talk to everyone and follow the Spirit as well.

Last Monday was a good day. We went to Walmart and also to some other stores. I bought a really good looking pair of brown shoes. They be stylin. Also, every Monday we have a "Noche de Hogar" at the church. I taught about member missionary work. I started out by showing how the restoration and the Gospel in general have blessed my family. Without the Gospel, I would be nothing. But with it, I am everything. I then asked some others how the Gospel had blessed their family. Then I took the angle that we all have been blessed by the Gospel. We know it's true. Does everyone else in the world? No. So we have to share it with them. We then talked about how to be a member missionary. We had some awesome participation from lots of people. The Spirit was there. He bore testimony to me and to many others of the truthfulness of what I was teaching. It just felt super good. But even looking back, I can see how the Spirit was working through me to ask certain questions, to cover this topic, to call on a specific person. It was a blessing to me to be able to share my thoughts about it. I am determined to be an awesome member missionary when I get home. The blessings are not to be lost. They are too great and rewarding.

We taught another very bold lesson with Agusto, a less-active, about not letting other people get in the way of our relationship with God. He says he understands but he isn't applying it. He is allowing people to offend him and thereby offending the Spirit by not keeping the commandments. It is super sad. We explain it as clear as can be, bear testimony, resolve his concerns, it is in him to repent and be better, but he kind of just throws it in our face. Super frustrating, but I am 100 sure that Heavenly Father gets frustrated with me sometimes when I don't do what He wants me to do. I seek His will every day, and strive to know what He wants me to do. If you know someone who is going through the same, go read/watch Elder Bednar's talk from October 2006 "And Nothing Shall Offend Them." It is a great one.

Osiris, one of the members of our branch was in the hospital for the second time this week. She had an operation on her stomach, but was still having pains. We went in to see her and to give her a blessing, and she didn't look very good. She was like telling her kids goodbye kind of. She said that everything would be alright, and that God was with her. I hope she gets well soon. But God's will will be done. We gave her a blessing. We hope and pray that everything goes well for that family.

WHO IS STOKED FOR CONFERENCE???? Elder Dial is. Elder Wall showed me a cool way to prepare. He goes in his Patriarchal Blessing, and from what he feels as he reads it comes up with a few questions that he wants answered. When Elder Bowen was here a few weeks ago, he focused a TON on that, never go anywhere without a question. The Lord will answer them, especially through His prophets and apostles. This morning I went through my Patriarchal Blessing and came up with three money questions that I will be focusing on this conference. DO THE SAME!!!!!

I know these things are true. They bless our lives. Many people willingly live without them. Don't know why. Many people don't even know about it. That's where you and I come in. Let's open our mouths to them. Love ya all!!!!

Elder Dial

Walmart and Miracles!

Mike..."This is an 87 year old member that always looks fresh in Sacrament Meeting. Carlitos."

Their meeting house in an old bank.

Hola Familia!

We biked to Walmart last Monday. It is kind of far but that's ok. Walmart is worth it. Plus we totally saw a huge miracle while we were there. A girl named Angie came up to us. She is a less active member. Recently she has had some hard times. A year or two ago she tried to kill herself. Recently they had a home break in. The people hit her in the face with a fire extinguisher leaving a very deep scar on her forehead. They then duct taped her to a chair in her house. It is pretty rough. We talked with her for a while. She said that just the fact that she saw us was a miracle and an answer to her prayer. She felt the Spirit that she hasn't felt in a long time. She isn't quite accepting anyone into her house right now because of the recent break in, but we now know why we went to Walmart today. It is because The Lord knew that Angie needed to see us and so He sent us there unawares. It was an awesome experience being led by the hand of The Lord to one of His daughters that needed a little bit of uplifting.

We had an awesome lesson with Pedro this week. He read Joseph Smith's testimony and remembered basically everything. He even remembered the date that it happened. He had read it like 3-4 times so that he could remember it. Even I didn't know that. He is progressing. He needs to keep coming to church and then get married to that señora of his. He didn't make it to church this week because Satan was working with him. But that's ok. He'll get there.

They split Bridgeton! It is kind of a bummer because we don't have half of our area, but that's ok. That's the way that the Lord wanted it, so we will work according to His will. We now have half the area that we used to. It is going to be awesome! So much work is going to get done here. Plus we are in a district of pure Spanish elders, and I haven't had that since I was in Allentown almost a year ago; crazy how time flies.  The new elders are Elder Beatty and Elder Karren. Elder Karren is fresh out. He actually went to the México MTC and learned Spanish there. He already has pretty good Spanish. It surprised me. He almost has as good Spanish as his trainer, kind of funny haha. I LOVE doing district meeting in Spanish again. I remember that in my first district meeting I didn't understand a WORD people were saying. But now I do! It is SUPER weird that I can speak Spanish now. It amazes me every day that I speak to people. It is weird to think that there was a time that I could not do it. But I can now!

Found a SUPER good quote by Elder Packer, made me feel good. Hope it can help my thousands of letter readers out there too.

"When I first read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, I read the promise that if I “would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if [the things I had read were] true; and if [I would] ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he [would] manifest the truth of it unto [me], by the power of the Holy Ghost” ( Moro. 10:4 ). I tried to follow those instructions, as I understood them.  If I expected a glorious manifestation to come at once as an overpowering experience, it did not happen. Nevertheless, it felt good, and I began to believe."

"My experience has been that a testimony does not burst upon us suddenly. Rather it grows, as Alma said, from a seed of faith. “It will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow” ( Alma 32:30 ). If you nourish it, it will grow; and if you do not nourish it, it will wither (see Alma 32:37–41 ).

Do not be disappointed if you have read and reread and yet have not received a powerful witness. You may be somewhat like the disciples spoken of in the Book of Mormon who were filled with the power of God in great glory “and they knew it not” ( 3 Ne. 9:20 ).

Do the best you can. Think of this verse: “See that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order” ( Mosiah 4:27 )."

 This comes from his 2005 April Conference Talk. Read it. It's awesome. Testimonies grow like plants. Day by day we can't see a difference. But over time, with very good care, it grows into a towering tree of testimony. I cross-referenced that quote with Alma 32. Probably my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon, that Book is true. I know it. This Gospel is restored, and it is the truest thing upon this earth. Thanks for all the support. Hope ya liked my birthday card Marcus. Worked hard on that thing

Love,

-Elder Dial

 This is an 87 year old member that always looks fresh in Sacrament Meeting. Carlitos