The Joys of Missionary Work

Hey everyone!

Sorry about last week's email, if it seemed like a rant, that's because it kinda was.  *cue embarrassed cheesy grin*  If you didn't see it that way, awesome!  Then you can move on to the rest of the email. :)

Anyways, this week has been pretty good! 

Picture #1: I just bear-ly took that selfie today... (if you didn't see that pun coming, then you must not know me very well. ;)

Picture #2: I didn't realize it at the time, but I was practicing my impression of a cross-eyed dinosaur, what do you think?  XD

Picture #3:  That picture was taken of the Elders in my district the morning that Elder Finlay, the elder on the far left, was emergency transferred to El Paso.  They were staying at our apartment the night before, so we got up and instead of exercising we drove them to their apartment so he could take the 2 hours he could to pack before he left.

Picture #4:  I make muffins for the district so we can eat them after district council on Fridays. The muffins usually bake for 14-16 minutes, but one batch may or may not have been in the oven for 35 minutes...  I bet you can't tell which ones they are. XD #whoops

The two wards we cover now have meeting times that overlap: Sage ward meets at 9, and Ladera has ward council at 9:30, so we go on splits for church now-  and it's been pretty sweet so far!  Slightly difficult to explain to some of the members that we need to have specific companions during ward meetings, but fun!  The brother who was my companion for sacrament meeting, has only been a member of the church for about eight years, and it was hilarious!  He turns to me and says, "You're the senior companion here, I follow you."  They might have been pulling faces at the kids in front of us, but him and his wife are awesome!

Funny story for you: a brother from the Spanish ward just returned from his mission, and the family had an open house for him at the church this last Saturday.  We had just given a church tour to an investigator, and we walk in to see what was happening.  The open house was over, and there was still food out... We walked in too far.  One sister pulled us over to the food, and proceeded to pack us a meal.  The funny part, is that they had the little cutie oranges.  They began to give us all of the leftover oranges.  Our hands were full, but that wasn't going to stop these sisters.  What did they do?  They opened my backpack while I was wearing it to figure out where to put these last oranges.  *sigh*  Don't worry about me going hungry, that's for sure.

Some events the last two weeks have lead to me ponder this quote from this last general conference: 

"The Lord has more in mind for you than you have in mind for yourself!  You have been reserved and preserved for this time and place.... 

"The Lord needs you to change the world.  As you accept and follow His will for you, you will find yourself accomplishing the impossible!"

-President Russell M. Nelson, as quoted in John C. Pingree Jr.'s talk "I Have A Work for Thee" from the October 2017 General Conference

God has a plan for you, just come closer to Him and you will be changing the world! 

Te whanaunga mo ake tonu!

Elder Eli James Dial

:/

Hey, everyone!

Happy days to celebrate (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.,)

Kalli, Holly, Sarah, Nate, Tyrell, Steph

Anyways, I have few minutes to speak, so some English may get rough in this email, stay on toes to keep up.  ;)

We had the "Day with the Lord" yesterday and Sunday night, it was awesome!  We didn't spend the whole day reading the Book of Mormon, like last year, but this year was a lot more powerful to me!  We received a lot of envelopes and instructions in each one-telling us to read this general conference talk, ponder these questions and write down what we learn and things like that.  It was a really cool experience, I'll keep the envelopes and such so I can do it again later on throughout my life!

Also, on Sunday we had our most solid investigator come to church again, but he stayed for the full 3 hours this time!  His name is Anton, and when he came to Gospel Principles class it was sweet... until the teacher started to teach some slightly-not-correct doctrine.  The lesson was on the Millenium (perfect for someone new, right?)  and this teacher somehow got talking about the pre-earth life.  Long story short he said that there was a lady he knew who said, "If I knew how hard this life would be I would never have chosen to come here."  Then he said that we were all shortsighted in making that decision to come earth. Multiple things about this have been bothering me:

1) that lady was focused on the wrong thing.  "Adam fell that men may be, and men are that they might have joy." You are here to be joyful, and it's hard to be joyful if you're focused on how difficult your life is.  If you find it hard to be joyful, "Count your many blessings, see what God hath done." That helps!

2) You and I knew full well it would be hard in this life. We didn't fully understand how difficult, but you and I knew that it would require us to stretch, work hard, and, essentially, give our whole being to God to succeed in this life.  We knew what our final goal was when we left, and we knew what we would have to do to get there, so no, we were definitely not shortsighted. 

3) Teach out of love!  That was something this teacher did not do.  He was trying to teach a concept, but no one really tried to pay attention because he didn't show love.  With this new "Come Follow Me" program coming out for you adults it is all love based!  If you love people, you will provide a discussion-oriented environment for the people you teach will come to know that you love them.  You love them by listening to their input, by asking them what they learn, and inviting them to share!  You show your love for them and for Heavenly Father by providing them an opportunity for the Spirit to speak through them-which will also help them to be truly converted to the gospel that you would've tried to lecture to them anyways.  Some of the most loving words Christ said to the people in the Book of Mormon were in 3 Nephi 11:14- His invitation for them to know who He is for themselves.  By having a discussion based lesson in your classes and quorums, you will be saying that same thing to the people you teach- "Arise, and come [and know for yourself]"!

Te whanaunga mo ake tonu!  I love you all!  Start the New Year off with your lightsaber in your dominant hand!  :)

Elder Eli James Dial