Jacob Dyer Missionary Blog: September 22, 2014

Remember what I said about goodbyes being the hardest part? Well, that's still true. It's already been six weeks out in the field and my first transfer weekend came and went. I'm still with Elder Johansen ('till he goes home at the end of this next transfer). But more friends I've made got transferred and it's not fun! So the goodbyes continue!

This past week has seen an increase in lessons we've taught. We've been actively trying to get our lesson count up, and have been sharing a lot of messages on the streets. It's amazing the kinds of people you've run into. We were OYM’ing (“Open your mouth” ‘ing) outside a Wal-Mart and I walked up to these three young people, two guys and a girl. One of them was unbuckling a baby from the backseat. I asked if I could offer any help or service. Little did I know they were in very humbling circumstances.

The couple with the baby had just lost their home. They were moving in with her little brother (the guy unbuckling the baby) with their 10 month old. They were shocked and touched that a stranger would just walk up to them to offer help. I prayed with them and asked for them to be given strength, that they might feel peace, love, and joy. When I opened my eyes, the woman was crying, she was touched. I felt the spirit really strongly there, like electricity in my body! Hopefully we can follow up with them and bring more peace in their home.

Being in Southern California gives us certain perks not afforded to other areas. After a missionary meeting on day, we decided, instead of authentic Mexican - Taco Bell, we'd try this Taqueria. It was SO GOOD. I don't think I've had tacos that delicious before. So if you want the best tacos, come to SoCal (which is obviously more authentic than Mexico!).

We've been progressing with a couple investigators. But the one that sticks out is our 81 year old. We dropped by his house and, of course, he had to be on the ROOF, just crawling around. Apparently when he was installing an air conditioner, he saw that some cement (pronounced see-ment) was crumbling on the shingles so wanted to check on it. He is too funny.

He was telling us a story of how someone wanted him to pay $71 to move a washer, he replied baloney (pronounced baaaa-loney) and did it himself, tying it to the trunk of his sedan – "easiet $71 I ever made”, he said. And apparently if you want to get close with people, or "get tight" as he says, all you have to do is give 'em candy. Hopefully he comes to church with us soon. His baptism date is in October. But by the time he crawled down the ladder, he was already asking us to go bowling with him. So next P-day, we're going to learn how to bowl like champs.

When we're OYMing people, the security guards sometimes don't like it. So they'll try to catch us in their trucks. It's like playing pac-man, just hopping over to a different aisle in the parking lot when they come. Speaking of people that aren't too fond of us, when we were walking out of the house the other day, these Jehovah Witnesses were right by our door about too knock. They'll never knock on that house's door again. We taught them the first lesson, trimmed down into 2 minutes.

For my birthday, we had early morning soccer. Then I opened presents, which was super fun. Thank you everyone for the wonderful messages on the poster!!! Sofia gave me a Polaroid camera, so we missionaries have pretty much been snapping tons of pictures. I never realized how COOL they are. They just print the photo (like MAGIC). But we went to sushi for lunch and died stuffing ourselves in the buffet. It feels weird to be 19. 18 was fun, but 19 will be EVEN BETTER (hopefully).

We were going through a park, and stumbled upon these tiny Guatemalan men playing soccer. So we joined!! It was so fun. They were fast, but super small. It was fun to see them pump their legs and arms so fast. I may or may not have twisted my ankle in the game.