Messages of Christ

Hi Everyone!

As to landslides, even though they weren't anywhere near where we are, it is right where the source of the water is. So, we were without water for a day, but as missionaries, for drinking we have it all pre-bottled anyway, so we just had to be very thrifty with the water that remained in the tank of our apartment, because there wasn't water in anybody else's house!

The "jello cake" is actually a rather pricey cheesecake that we all purchased at the end of my transfer in my old area, and it was super good!

As to the pictures of ties, I have begun teaching myself to reduce ties! I am pretty good at it, and I've only done two ties! It's so cool to see it afterwards, and it looks so much better to wear! I'm probably going to do it to all my ties, because that way I want to wear all of them, and I don't only wear a few! I am using the tie I got for Christmas as a guide, and it works super well!

Now, for the message from Elder Cook! He talked about the power of music in helping us feel the spirit. He also talked about the difference between a normal missionary and an extraordinary missionary, and he said that an extraordinary missionary is exceedingly obedient and exceedingly humble. That's it! That's the difference! It really goes to show that pride is the father of all sin, because if we are humble, we will learn what we need to do, and do it! He told us that every doctrine taught since the restoration is in Preach My Gospel, chapter 3. Powerful no? He also said that he receives the most powerful revelation when he is seeking to bless somebody else. He also left us with an apostolic blessing. That our service now will bless everybody we love, and everybody we ever will love, into eternity. I am so grateful for this! It was absolutely extraordinary!

And then this week, we got to listen to a worldwide missionary training broadcast. They talked about a lot of stuff, but some of the things I really liked were that the doctrines of faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and endure to the end, are a little weak. What makes them strong and applicable is Christ. Elder Bednar told us that "all things are one in Christ," so it's faith in Jesus Christ, which inspires us to depend on his atonement to repent, so we change to follow him and be baptized like Him, and then we receive the Holy Ghost to help us become more like Him, and then we endure to the end to live with Him. When we teach and study it this way, it has much more power! They also talked about how as a missionary, you just need to work hard and do the right things, and God will bless you, in his time. So we shouldn't worry about if we are being the best, or even good enough, just worry about what you can do better every day!

They also changed the Key Indicators and the Schedule. There used to be 9 indicators that we were focusing on in our work, plus 5 from our mission. Now there are 4: investigators that were Baptized and Confirmed, attended Sacrament meeting, are Progressing, and are New. We also have a new schedule, with a lot more freedom. We are being given a lot of freedom now, and the only thing I can think of, is that the Second Coming is close, and we need to be as effective as possible, and that means that the one size fits all approach isn't good enough. Also, we have a lot more responsibility, because it's the very end. We are the elect of all time, who are being trusted with preparing the earth for the Second Coming of Christ. It's incredible!

Love you!
--Dallin

New Area

I live in an amazing apartment that I neglected to take pictures of, but is beautiful! We are on the third story of a gated community, witch doesn't mean as much here as it does back home, but it's still a nice place to live! I do have a Pensionista again and her husband is an English teacher! They have CD's of Simon and Garfunkle, and they read Stephen R. Covey! They are very well off, with an impressive entertainment set up, and a ceiling-mounted fan that rotates to hit all of the chairs in the living room! It's awesome! They are so kind to us and are always so happy!

As to my companions, that wasn't a typo. My original companion, Elder Huaman, is about to go home, so he knows basically everything! He is 23, and was assigned to serve in the South East Mexico Mission, but his visa didn't come through, so he is serving in Lima East. He's from Lima, so he can come back and visit the people in his areas whenever he wants! He's going to go home in a taxi! He also never went to the MTC, because he was already serving when they notified him that he would be unable to enter Mexico permanently. He's super funny, and loves his work and the people here! The transfer happened on Tuesday, and on Tuesday night, we got a call that said we would be finishing the training of an Elder Martinez. So, having just finished my training, I am now training. Elder Huaman leaves on February 8, but that's in the middle of the transfer, so that means I get to finish the training of Elder Martinez all by myself! Elder Martinez is 25, and from Bolivia. He is very humble, and very good at starting conversations with people! He also loves what he is doing, and is constantly asking me for help with his English, which is awesome! In short, this transfer is awesome! 

 
I had a crazy experience here, when all of a sudden, my toe started swelling and peeling, and I had no idea why! I thought it might be fungal, so I was applying the cream I had brought, but it didn't seem to be doing anything! Elder Martinez finally saw it and told my it was because of the moisture! This area is super hot, and there are no concrete jungles, and no mountains, so we just walk a lot in the sun! So, my feet have been sweating profusely, and rubbing against my socks and shoes, and I guess that's what caused it. So I am now going to buy, today, Talco, which I'm pretty sure is talcum powder, which all of the senior missionaries use, and I never understood why, but in retrospect, it's obvious, and I should have asked! It basically dries out your feet all day! So that's going to be great!

So yeah, I'm in a city, and it's very different from San Luis, for example, we live right next to the stake center, which is beautiful and massive, it looks like the Kirtland OH Temple! We live with the Zone Leaders, so 5 missionaries in our apartment, and we take our laundry to our pensionista on Wednesday, and she returns it on Saturday, sorted by type of clothes but not by owner, so we then sort it ourselves by missionary, and yeah!

My Spanish is going great! I can understand almost everything I pay attention to! I can usually express myself without difficulty, and with rather fluid patterns! I am serving with a native Peruano, which is such a blessing, because I can pick up the speech patterns of the Peruanos, instead of Colombian or Bolivian!

The fruit that we bought is basically like a tiny watermelon, and has a ton of seeds! It was not as good as I was expecting! The pictures of the blender and the jar are my homemade peanut butter! It is so good!

I don't have any more time, so I'll tell you about the visit of Elder Cook next week!

Love you all!

Pensionista Farewell

We heard from Dallin's Pensionista today.  She shared pictures of their farewell party for him.  These are the words she sent (translated into English.)

Sister, Dahl already left.
Know we loved him.

We had his farewell.
He took our love.

I so appreciate this woman and her family who fed and looked out for and cared about our missionary and the others who serve in the area.  Our love is with her too.

Transfer

This week was a little bittersweet.  I am being transferred out of my area, so all of the people I have grown to love and help are being left behind.  We also just found a bunch of new investigators, which is awesome, but again, kind of sad that I'm leaving.  One of them is really interesting, because she has a very strong belief in Christ and God, and the Bible, and says that she's Catholic, but doesn't know much about Catholicism.  What is incredible though is that she understands everything we say, and is 100% focused on the lessons.  We have a lot of lessons where the people don't focus, and it's really hard to teach them.  We ask a question, and they can't answer, and sometimes it's really frustrating, but this lady is different.  She is able to actually comprehend the lessons and make inferences!  It's wonderful to see, and we felt the spirit super strongly when we taught the first lesson, with Joseph Smith and the First Vision.  It was awesome!

This week we also made the alfredo sauce you sent me, and the cinnamon streusel, and it was amazing!  I absolutely loved it!  Thanks as well to those who sent me Christmas cards!  I loved the Christmas decorations and everything!  I love you all, and as I move to a new area, I will relate many more new adventures!

 

This is My Joy

We found an incredible family this past week, and we had 13 investigators at church! That is a record for me and my companion, and it was awesome! We have two baptisms coming up this next Saturday, with 3 more with dates set! I'm super excited! But the family we found. We contacted the father, and he told us he had "bastante" faith in Jesus Christ, but we could come back the next day and teach him and his family, at the time we normally eat dinner. We often have to do things during dinner, and so we just have the other elders bring it to the apartment. So the next day rolled around, and we finished the appointment before it a half hour early, so we decided to see if he was there, to be able to eat at least a little before going back to the apartment. So we showed up a half hour early, and he wasn't there. We decided to contact for the half hour, and then return, and if he wasn't there, we would go eat. So we were contacting, and it was our last contact before we were going to go check, and the phone started ringing from a number I didn't recognize, so I silenced it and finished the contact. It started ringing again, from the same number, and I answered it. It was our appointment, and he was worried he had missed us because we had come early! We assured him that we could still visit him, and went to his house. We went in, and he immediately told us to sit down, and grabbed two chairs, one for his wife and one for him, and introduced us, and was ready to listen! We found out that they are married, and are very dedicated to the marriage and their family, even though they are different people. They are looking for ways to protect their children from the influences of the world, and we shared The Family: A Proclamation to the World with them. We invited them to be baptized, and they accepted, after we assured them that previous baptisms wouldn't disqualify them! Also, he doesn't drink, and she rarely drinks, and only a little! It is absolutely amazing! We are super excited to teach them!

I also found a scripture in my personal study today that exactly describes my situation! It is in Alma 29:9-10:

9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.

This is the Lord's work! I am so happy! This is awesome!

--Dallin

Graven Images

This week we saw some incredible faith!  We found a new investigator that used to be super rich, but wasted all of his money on alcohol and other bad decisions, and ended up breaking his leg really bad in a motorcycle accident, and doesn't have any family close to help him except his sister and his son.  He is mending his relationships right now, but he can't move really.  He has metal bars in his leg, like 8 of them, and his leg swells up any time he's not lying down.  But, as a result of this experience, he is determined to be a better person and preach the gospel.  We were teaching him for the second time, and he asked us if he should wear his cross necklace.  We explained to him that it wasn't a good idea, because it was trusting in graven images, or at the very least, remembering the death of Christ above His life.  He immediately removed it, and said he wouldn't wear it again.  We told him that church attendance was important, and he insisted that he come to church, so we brought him this Sunday, and he came, not having eaten anything, because he didn't have anything, and stayed for all three hours, even though we gave him every opportunity to leave after the Sacrament.  We talked a little bit about the importance of baptism on Saturday, and he told us that he wanted to be baptized the next day when we brought him to church.  This is so incredible, because he hardly knows anything about the gospel, and is already extremely faithful to what he does know!  He is truly a miracle!

We also were teaching a family about graven images and crosses, and how we shouldn't pray to a sculpture, or a photo, or a drawing for miracles, and we also shouldn't have them, because we are then conveying to others that we do worship these things.  At the end of the lesson, they asked what they could put up to remember Christ, but not to worship, and we explained that other drawings of Christ that are not associated with a particular name, scriptures, and the words of the prophets, are a great way to remember the Savior in our homes.  They then told us that they were going to put up a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World in the place of the Virgin Mary, and other scriptures up in place of the Lord of Miracles and another sculpture of Christ.  It was incredible to see the faith in these families, as they learned about the truth, and changed their lives to comply with the commandments of God.  I was so impressed!

This was so cool this week!  I love you all so much!  This Christmas was so much better with the photos of everyone and the little gifts every day!  Your support is something I treasure!

Love you all!