Elder Dial and Evan!

Well I had tons of fun this past week! Christmas was amazing and I had so much fun seeing everyone on Skype! Christmas and Christmas Eve was fun hanging out with all my friends from the MTC and then on Christmas we were up at 7am to open presents! I got awesome gifts! Here is a list of what I remember, sorry if I forgot.

Cyrus got me a sweet Ohio State Football 2013 calender, an awesome Mine craft block of sticky notes, a guitar book that really helps! The really cool one was the homemade Mt Dew Baja Blast! You mix blue powerade and normal Mt Dew and it is amazing!

Rudi got me a ton of individually wrapped Kit Kat bars, $20 to Chik Fil A (bought 2 peppermint shakes already!) She got me other stuff but the candy bars were so annoying to unwrap that I forgot what they were, sorry! Oh she got me a super cool tie!

Mom and Dad got me a new pair of sandals, some awesome socks and I forget the rest but they are going to get me a GPS too because I am so horrible with directions.

Jenny got me a cool orange tie with pink dots on it! Molly got me some tic tacs (apple and cherry!) Emmett got me some cool Ohio State sunglasses that I wear every day! I actually forgot what Max got me sorry! And Chad got me money which is really helpful when you are poor haha

Mama and Papa got me corn nuts, fruit roll, a 3d apple puzzle, this cool think that you chuck at the wall and it slithers down, and a bunch of other stuff!

I got Christmas Cards from Kyle and Kara, Nick and AJ, and Aaron and Nancy. I loved seeing the pictures of all my family!

Michelle got me thousands of $1 bills all wrapped in a ton of presents and it is super cool cuz now I got a fat wad of cash!!!

Grandma got me a ton of office supplies that come in handy and some gift cards too! I also like the OSU napkins!

Sorry if I forgot anyone else I had lots of presents!

Well That was my Christmas! New Year's Eve wasn't too special. We washed clothes for 5 hours and then played volleyball as a zone which was pretty fun.

Here are some of the notes that I wrote down too.

Christmas week was good because we got a break but all our investigators went on vacation or have had family over so we didn't get to teach very much this week. The holidays have also made it hard for me to stay focused and I need to get back on track because I think a lot about home when I see all the new things I just got.

This is the last week of transfers and I am pretty sure I will have a new companion next Monday. It will be sad to see Elder Dial leave.

This past Saturday we had a baptism where an older couple got baptized and their son was the one to do it which was really cool! It didn't go super smoothly though because the guy with the key to the font showed up late so the font wasn't all the way full and then the son who was baptizing his parents didn't have a change of clothes so he had to run back home. The baptism was scheduled at 3:30 but didn't get started till 4. Once it started it was really good! The spirit was there very strong and it was really nice seeing people make covenants with our Heavenly Father.

Hey Mama and Papa could you send me like a 5 or 10 dollar costco gift card so I can get in and buy some cheaper food? Thanks!

I cut my hair! Well Elder Dial did and I just told him to put an 8 on his clippers and cut it off. I like having short hair because it is a lot faster to comb in the morning but long hair is fun too.

Well that is all folks! Thanks for all the presents and everything you do for me out here. I love you!

Elder Allen

I was reading on Elder Dial's blog he is

 Elder Allen's companion this is what I found:

eldermattdial.blogspot.com

go to the email from 

December 3 and read...

I love how these two young men 

work so good together.
Elder Allen just got a new companion after I wrote this.

This picture was sent to me out of the blue! 

A sister from Moreno Valley went to a baptism tonight and

the Elders bear their testimonies after and she snapped this 

photo of Elder Allen!

His eyes are closed but he is still so handsome!

I'm so proud of my son! 

Elder Allen and Elder Dial

Evan is celebrating his 1 year anniversary of diabetes.

I talked to Sister Hardy and asked her to make his favorite dessert...DIRT PUDDING! She is one sweet sister!

We didn't email on Monday because the library computers weren't working and yesterday we were in Riverside all morning for Elder Dial's doctors appointment. Riverside is a lot better looking than Moreno Valley!

 

 We saw wild DONKEYS!!!!!!!!! They walk around the mountains here and we might go donkey hunting some P-Day with our NERF guns!

 

We went to the temple this week and it is such a cool temple it is pretty big and I had a great time there. After the temple we ate at a place called Cafe Rio and it was pretty good but the pork was a little too sweet for me. I got a burrito and they are huge! Bigger than Chipotle's too.

 

Earlier last week we blessed a ladies home in a trailer park and it was awesome! It was a mom and her daughter at the daughter's home. They told us so much stuff like how the daughter, Alma, wants to quit smoking and drinking and we took her cigarettes that night! We have been back multiple times and are teaching them and her two sons who are really cool! They are on date to get baptized at the end of the month but might have to move it back if they don't come to church.

 

Last P-day I switched the Gshock watch I bought when I first got here for a different one because some of the paint scratched off.  That watch was $110 and I switched it for a $150 g shock and only had to pay $2 difference because there was a coupon they gave me. This on is cooler because it is like Ethan's where it is solar powered and stuff like that.

 

I am running a little low on stamps too so maybe send some at the beginning of next year.

 

Has it snowed there yet? Take pictures when it does and send them here because it has been 70 degrees here all week.

 

I started driving and learning the area because you all know how good I am with directions lol

 

We have knocked on doors with dried blood on them. Cops were running around the other night looking for a guy with a machete. There were also 2 shootings this past week also. So it gets pretty crazy out here but I know I am safe!

 

At church on Sunday a member of the 70 came, Douglas F Higham, and spoke to our ward. He served in the state of Washington Spanish speaking and hasn't spoken it in 40 years and gave his whole talk in Spanish and it was really good!

My Spanish is improving but I am not sure how my speaking is. I still only say very little in lessons. I understand it really well but when I speak it is a bit harder. I did have a dream the other night where some people were speaking Spanish and it was weird.

 

Well I got a call from President Smart while walking out of Walmart on P-Day and told me that Grandpa Allen passed away. I cried because I knew I wouldn't see him when I got home but I know where he is and it is a lot better than here. I didn't know much of the details till I just read some of the emails and it is best that he didn't live in a nursing home hooked up to machines. I will miss him.

 

Well we got work to do today so I will be back next week and I can't wait to Skype on Christmas!

 

Elder Allen

 

Oh ya can you send my likin park song I played on the piano out to me?

California is so different than Delta!

This week has been awesome! Elder Dial warned me that the work that we did this week doesn't happen very often. The mission goal is to have 20 lessons a week with 7 member present lessons out of those 20. It is also normal to only get 2 to 4 new investigators a week. Since we have started blessing homes we have been finding tons of people! Last week we got 12 new investigators and this week we got 18! We also had 27 lessons and 9 were with a member! We have been going to the ghetto and the field is super white and ready to harvest. We just need to pick the wheat from the tares. 3 of the new people we found this week we met them on the doorstep and blessed there home and asked them to be baptized on the 23rd of December and they accepted! I love missionary work!!!

 

Here are all the notes I wrote down:

 

We had our zone meeting on Friday and after wards we ate at Chik Fil A and I got 24 nuggets, fries, a drink, and an amazing peppermint shake! I spent $17 and I won't do it again. That's a lot of money! It was really really really good though.

 

Since we have been doing a lot of work around in the Ghetto I have been getting known around there. We ran into two black guys and said we were representatives of Jesus Christ and they looked at Elder Dial and said are you Allen? He said no and pointed to me because I have went on exchanges there and blessed some homes without Elder Dial. It was super funny though because these two gangsters knew my name. The ghetto is awesome!

 

I don't know if I will be able to send presents because I don't have lots of money. I will try and do something though!

 

We have been listening to Cee Lo Green's Christmas CD and it is sooooo cool you need to get it!

 

We helped a member hang lights this week and I was in a tree in my shirt and tie and it was super fun! I also got some pictures of some crazy lit up houses we stopped by too.

 

One of our members are in need of money so they sold food in front of there house and at our dinner appointment that night she told us to go over there to eat and she would pay for us. Me and Elder Dial ate so much food! We had about 10 tacos, 6 quesadillas, and a hot dog each! It was really good!

 

One thing I really want to say and tell everyone in the branch. A lesson without a member there who testifies and teaches with the missionaries is almost a waste of time. Members are so essencial in this work. Help out the missionaries there so I can come home to the Wauseon WARD!

 

This story is cool. We blessed an older womans home and got a return appointment with her. When we went back she had her daughter there along with the daughter's husband. They just lost their son. He was a marine. We taught the Plan of Salvation and I even cried at the end when I testified of the happiness it brings. They accepted Book of Mormons and said they would read and I gave her a blessing of comfort. It was the most spiritual lesson I have been in and I loved it.

 

I want pictures of all my family! Including Aunts and Uncles!

 

I had really good enchiladas this week covered in beans and they were amazing! The next day however I was on the toilet soo long. All I can say is I destroyed it!

 

On Christmas we will be skyping at a members house and we won't be emailing that week. I want to see everything on skype! My chickens, Mazie, the Cats, and I guess you guys too.

 

Mom I will try and best describe a P-Day. Today we woke up at 5 and worked out at the Zone Leaders appartment then came home and got dressed. We went to Best Buy to get Elder Cook a GPS and then came here.  After this we are going to Walmart, the mall, and then to Burlington. We have a Zone activity at 12 which is baseball and then after that we will come home and I hope to write a ton of letters because I am falling far behind on those. By the time I am done with that we will have dinner at 6 and then work the rest of the night. P-Days are super busy!!!!!

Elder Allen's church building

It looks so different from our buildings in Ohio!!

 

The Dirt Pudding was awesome thanks a ton mom for sending that to Sister Hardy!! She is one cool lady!

 

Fresh and Easy is a grocery store

 

Well I got to go!!! Thanks for all the mail I get from you guys it is awesome!!! I love you all

 

Elder Allen

 

This was taken on Thanksgiving Day

(Sent to me through email from a Sister in California)

This past week was SUPER fun!

How was Thanksgiving for everyone? I heard some funny stories and I wish I was there! My Thanksgiving Day was awesome! We woke up early to play football in the morning and we played for 5 hours with 2 other zones in our mission. All of us were so sore the next day it was hard to move. I don't want to get old! After that we had a dinner at a younger couples house and that is where they sent the picture from where I was in P-Day clothes because we were allowed to wear them on Thanksgiving.  We had some great turkey there and some rice that had carrots, hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, and some other stuff in it and it was really good! After that we went to another dinner at 7 and had tamales  chicken, beef, and some other stuff and when I stood up I thought I was going to have a heart attack, no joke, I had a sharp pain in my chest. I don't want to eat that much again!

Day 100 was Black Friday! We went out at 5 in the morning and put our money together and got a 56 in LG flat screen TV that came with a PS3 and 4 games! Just Kidding! So who went shopping? I know AJ did! What were the great deals and did Amazon have anything special going? Black Friday is probably my favorite holiday out of the year, so I want stories!

Well Mom sent me the best package I have gotten yet! I got dehydrated eggs that taste really really really bad (definitely a survival food), some protein bars, the military scriptures that I really wanted and I will send a picture of what I did with them, a gift card to Walmart (bought 120 eggs yesterday with it!), and some other stuff that I can't quite remember, cuz I probably ate it.

I need to write a ton of letters and I didn't have time yesterday so I am planning on doing it next P-Day. I am saving all the letters that I get so I know who I need to write!

We met a crazy guy in Walmart who believed Jesus was a sinner until he was baptized and didn't even believe baptism is important. I don't understand some peoples train of thought!

We had transfers this weekend! Elder Kaneao and Hosmer got transferred out along with Sister Fankhouser. The new missionaries that are here now I hear are cool so I am excited to meet them!

I also got a guitar from Elder Dial and will try and learn in my free time that I don't have so Cyrus send me some tips!

Well we also had an amazing week with finding and teaching. One of our investigators asked us to baptize him! Also one family that we taught on Saturday came to church the next day! We also found 12 new investigators which is awesome! The Lord is defiantly preparing people and December will be full of baptisms! I love missionary work and being out here serving these people!

I love all of you!

Elder Allen

Elder Allen getting ready for a baptism

 Another picture of the font

Well this week has been a little sucky and pretty good all at the same time! I have been having a blast all the time though because California is super awesome! There are going to be some funny stories in this email so I hope you like it!

 

The first story happened on Friday. I was talking to people in Walmart parking lot because we have to talk to 10 people a day. I gave this one guy a pass along card with our number on it and said if you need any help just let us know. At dinner that day we got a text saying this guy needed help moving. I don't want to write out the whole conversation so I will summarize it. We set up a time to help him on Saturday at 7pm and he told us he was gay and we weren't too worried about it.  By the end of the night he sent us a message saying maybe we shouldn't help him because he thought I was super hot and he said a ton of inappropriate things and it was the gayest thing that has happened to me! We definitively didn't help him!

 Circle K???

 

The other story was Saturday night we went into circle K to get a drink and this black guy who was so incredibly drunk and high came up to us and was mumbling something to us and we couldn't understand. We eventually found out he knew we were Mormons and said he wanted a million dollars. We laughed and said we didn't have that much money. He said ok and we went to get our drinks. He then came over to us and asked if we believed in God and we said yes and he then said then why can't you give me a million dollars? We just said again that we didn't have but $3 on us and he said oh and walked away. It was super funny!!

 

Last night me and Elder Dial went on splits with some members because we needed 10 more lessons to meet our weekly goal.  So me and this returned missionary who has been home for 3 months went to a super ghetto area and knocked on doors. Now our mission president has taught us a new door approach that is super effective. We go to a door and we say we are representatives of Jesus Christ and that right now we are going around blessing peoples homes and families. It will just be 5 or 10 minutes can we come in. It works really well! We go in their home and bless it and mention everyone's name individually and right after ask them to be baptized. No one accepted baptism last night but we got a lot of return appointments and we blessed 8 homes. It was the most fulfilling work I have done in my whole life! I love missionary work!

 

So now I am going to write down my notes.

 

I need contacts soon and don't know how to get them

 

I ate pig skin! it was basically soggy pork rines. Not too bad.

 

It has been about 70 degrees here except today its 60 and a little chilly

 

Me and Elder Dial have been listening to Christmas music and wearing our Santa Hats everywhere its super funny.

 

We have 3 progressing investigators. 2 are an older couple and they are pretty ready for baptism and the other is a guy who doesn't know much and is a little feminine but he is progressing too.

 

I want to go to a couple thrift stores today because I love them!

 

I can't believe Ethan is on Honor Role! Is it your first time? lol I love you Ethan and miss you a ton!!!! Write me soon! PLEASE!

 

I am pretty sure any wrapped present will count as a gift in me and Elder Dial's competition. Thanks Lizzy!

 

Why is everyone moving? Tennessee and now Rhode Island this is crazy!

 

Well my time limit is about up. I love all my family and I really appreciate all the support you give me while I am out here.

 

Love,

Elder Allen

This is Elder Allen's mission

 These are some of the stakes he is living around.

 This is his stake! (area)

Well sorry my email is a day late. We thought since it was Veterans Day that the library would be closed but I don't think it was. It has been a good week, but I am a little sick right now. It started yesterday and I hope it doesn't bother me too much.  Well here are the notes I wrote down!

I got the Shirt Stays Mom and they are awesome! Thanks a ton!

What am I going to get for my 1st Diabetes Birthday? It is Nov.29!

One cool things I noticed is that we have 3 Marquez families in our ward. So Jill and Cisco need to move out here to make it 4!

One cool thing people could send me is Book of Mormon action figures! They are cool!

I went on exchanges this past week with Elder Cook on bike and it was super fun! We are both new (greenies) and we had a great day! When we would go to talk to people and say we are representatives of Jesus Christ, some would say "No hablo ingles" and I would say "Yo hablo espanol!" and they would either look really bummed cuz now I could tell them about the gospel or really excited because I'm white and can say 3 words in Spanish!

I SAW SOME CHICKENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm sure he was so EXCITED!

I want to go to the thrift store sometime on P days but we are so busy doing other things so that stinks.

Hey Dad could you send me the book called "The Book of Muscle?"

I'm not too good about testing myself but Elder Dial is defiantly improving.

So I have ate a ton of different food but the weirdest is probably pigs feet with hominy   It was really good! No joke! Some other things that I might eat in the future is tacos de legua (tongue tacos) and menudo (intestine) apparently they are pretty good. We get fed really good here!

This is his church building

 This too...

 and this too!!!

I have attended lots of baptisms of other missionaries here and even spoke at one this week which is really cool!

We have given lots of blessings on people and over there homes which is really cool.

Don't send packages to the Hardy's because I get them later than usual.  I got Robyn's package and wrote here a quick letter and then I got Morgans later that night and didn't have time to write a letter. But I loved the packages and have eaten most of the junk food already but next time pick out some healthier food so I don't get super fat in these next 2 years!

He says he loves the palm trees.

 Elder Allen & Elder Dial

 More palm trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was pretty cold on Saturday and got down to 56 degrees but yesterday was incredibly nice at 76 or somewhere around there.

On Thanksgiving we are planning on playing foolball for a couple hours which will be fun and then we will just go to a bunch of members houses and eat a TON!

Carmen Arevalo was the hermana that I baptized.

Thanks so much everyone for all your support and help that I get from you.  It is amazing out here and I am loving every day!

Gracias

Elder Allen

For all of you who think about Evan and his diabetes!!!

His A1C (3 month test of blood sugars)  It was 5.8 which is REALLY good.  It is AMAZING for him to not be on insulin and still doing this great.  He just got this test done this last Monday. One year ago he was told he had diabetes and his A1C was 12.7 and in 6 weeks got it down to 7.2 and it kept going down and he is still doing so good. I know its because his Heavenly Father knew how bad he wanted to serve his mission!  Some people don't understand this when I tell them but as a Mom I know how BAD he wanted this and nothing was going to stop him from doing it!  I have had people ask me if he was pressured into going and I can say not at all.  He is such a great son!  I love him so much!