August 31, 2015

Long tiring week! Lots of meetings to attend throughout the week. Some things to get used to.  I have my own phone now - usually it's shared between the companionship, but Elder Fischer and I both have our own.  We attended the meetings Monday night for outgoing missionaries.  It's funny to see how nervous they are about returning home.  They say they just "feel weird" about it.  In the van to the airport, they were singing and just so excited to see their family.

I had to get used to driving alone too.  With all the vehicles that need to bring missionaries to and from the airport.  Elder Fischer and I drive separate cars.  I had the minivan on Tuesday to pick people up.  I felt like a soccer mom.  It was fun talking to all the fresh crop about the mission and how great it's going to be.  

Something tiring about being an AP is, even after a whole morning and afternoon of training (a lot of it by us) we just get home, change out of our suits, and head back out to proselyte.  There's just never a dull moment!

We had to change out all four tires of one of our investigator's cars.  So in total it was eight tires because she wanted to switch them with a different car.  I felt like I was in an F1 pit... Just kidding, I was really slow.

Allan got baptized on Sunday, so I got to return to Corona for the baptism.  He's awesome.  There were so many people that attended! I'm so grateful to have been able to participate in his teaching.  Hopefully by this time next year, he's getting ready to serve a mission (he said he really wants to).  

Sunday nights starting at 9 pm, we're in the office getting numbers from Zone Leaders.  We get home a little before midnight.  Gotta love it.

With Allan and Elder Foy!

Elder Fischer is my new companion (on the far right)

All the guys at the baptism!

At the baptism, with the football (blurry though) 

With Allan at the open house after

With my ward mission leader from my previous ward - we didn't have a dinner scheduled and since my new ward is adjacent to my previous ward, we just had dinner with them!

August 24, 2015

Pretty crazy week. Saturday morning at 6:34 am I got a call from President Mullen asking me to be his new Assistant to the President (AP), so I'm going to be pretty sleep deprived these next six months.  My Chinese will also probably be terrible at the end of it. But I'm willing to serve.

So my new address is:

Elder Jacob Dyer

3925 Pierce St. #536

Riverside, 92505

Walking around the streets of Corona, you run into a TON of Spanish speaking people.  For the most part, though, they speak English as well.  A lot of them will say, "no hablo ingles" but if you just keep speaking to them in English it's funny to see how they just answer you and eventually give in and start speaking English back.

One of our investigators right now is dealing with his family being totally against this church.  They said they'll kick him out if he's baptized.  But he's shown the faith and still wants it! It's just so amazing to be around people this great.  He said his parents say we're brainwashing him.  I must be pretty good - 19 years old and I can brainwash people.  He said he's being "brainwashed by God."  He's had so many obstacles in front of him, but at this point he said he just wants to "do it."  I'm going to miss this area so much!

It kind of gets hard to say bye to areas, even this one that I've only served in for only six weeks.  The mission’s just a long list of goodbyes.  I'm going to miss the “oven”, I mean the barn [that we live in].

With one of our investigators, saying bye

With Sister Ratliff, who owns the barn we live in

Family from the ward (one on the far left got baptized 2 weeks ago) I have my Jerry Garcia tie on that Sister Ratliff gave me (Elder Foy got a matching one)

Roasting marshmallows in the fireplace

Fireplace roasted s'mores!

Elder Dyer and Elder Foy

August 17, 2015

It's transfers this next Monday (August 24th), so keep that in mind if you're going to send stuff after, like, Wednesday the Mission Office address is:

Elder Jacob Dyer

5900 Grand Ave,

Riverside, CA 92504

Great week with two baptisms.  We had 50 people turn out to one of them, which was awesome.  Funniest moment was the 16 year old baptizing the 14 year old.  He used one hand to put him under water and pull him back up again.  He's a strong guy!  I guess we failed to let him know the mechanics.

I had exchanges with the AP's (assistants to the President) in Norco (the other half of Norco is my area) but we did some service in the morning.  I love service and all, but it was a great reminder that even after living in Norco for almost 6 weeks now, I am still really, really allergic to horses.  My nose was running all day, my throat was all closed up, and my eyes were itching like crazy.  Cleaning out a horse shed is no fun, and the horses weren't even there! Their (the APs) life is hard! We got to their place at like 11:45 pm, so the lack of sleep didn't help the allergies!

Second funny story of exchanges was visiting an investigator, whose walls were literally covered with cockroaches.  I literally have never seen so many cockroaches crawling around everywhere.  There was literally not a square foot without a cockroach on it.  He didn't really seem to mind either - he must be the cockroach whisperer. 

One of our investigators who's awesome is having trouble with his parents, which is a shame.  They feel that if he gets baptized it means he's leaving them, which is obviously not true! Family is the #1 most important thing.

Our apartment got really hot this past week (we're having a heat wave).  When it got to 96 degrees inside, we had to bounce out of there and head to another missionary’s place to chill (literally) for a while.

Baptism of the young brother in the middle

Another baptism...

Baptism

Gettin' a little bit hot!

Mission leadership council August 2015

August 10, 2015

Tough week.  I lost my favorite pen! It's just not the same writing with another one, so luckily Staples saved my day on that one.

One of our nine year old investigators said something really cool this past week.  Her grandma asked her, if she wanted to either get baptized on her birthday or go to the beach.  Obviously the first question was "why not both?" Which, for some reason, did not work.  Then she said, she wanted to get baptized.  It was cool to see the cogs of a nine year old's head turning.   

We got to go to a baseball game this last Friday which was awesome.  A minor league game, mind you, but it was fun nonetheless.  It was "Stormin' Mormon" night at the Lake Elsinore Storm.  Our whole mission was there, including Elder Johansen, my trainer!  So Elder Zeng got to meet his grandpa.  Elder Zeng had never seen baseball before, and it was tough trying to explain the rules to him in Chinese - partly because my Chinese has regressed in these four weeks in Corona, and partly because I was really distracted, by the game.

We went to a special conference (because we cover the YSA - Young Single Adult ward in Corona) that was in Redlands.  We brought one of our investigators who really liked it.  He especially enjoyed walking around the Redlands Temple grounds and feeling the peace that comes with that sacred place.  He said he plans to serve a mission too! Awesome guy.

Our mission President has recently been talking about "becoming" a true disciple of Jesus Christ.  He was talking about how, in the end, it's not just a bunch of pluses and minuses (as much as he would like it to be that way - he was an accountant).  Instead it's what or who we've become throughout this long, eventful, adventurous life.  

With Elder Foy at the Stormin' Mormon night in lake Elsinore.

With my son

 He likes to laugh

Three generations! posterity! 

Elder Foy loves his baseball

August 3, 2015

One of our investigators that we're meeting with is really progressing awesomely.  He told us how he's seeing the changes in his life.  He mentioned how reading the Book of Mormon has just given him lots more patience in his life.  People can change.  

Elder Johansen was at the mission office today when I dropped my car off (we got scraped by a semi truck on Saturday).  It was awesome seeing him again!

We get to go to a baseball game this weekend! The Lake Elsinore Storm! That'll be nice to take a break and just watch baseball!

Look who showed up in the mission office! Elder Johansen - my trainer

July 27, 2015

This last week, I got woken up by some weird shaking.  I thought I was dreaming but turns out it was an earthquake! Pretty weird.  Elder Foy slept through it though.

We're having an awesome time with one of our investigators, who's progressing really well.  He talked about how reading Book of Mormon has allowed him to feel the spirit so strongly.  He mentioned how he was never much of a reader until he picked up the Book of Mormon, and now he can't put it down.  It's funny how learning about the Gospel, something good, makes you want to share it.  He talked about having the opportunity to share it and we touched on how we are all missionaries in our church.  Hopefully in a bit of time, he can get out there too! 

Elder Foy second from left, Elder Dyer second from right