sick or less sick

Hi,

Alright this week was good. Harlan and I have been getting less sick we had colds that have been kicking our trash! Thanks to some OJ and Vitamin C i think we are on the upswing.

Things with Harlan have been really fun so far. we are both trying our best to be super diligent and we have been seeing miracles. We have picked up a lot of investigators and taught a lot of lessens this week. We come home exhausted every night and we never feel rested but hey that's how things are supposed to be right? P-Days are fun to cause we spend a lot of time jamming and plan out songs we are going to sing for people we teach. Guitar and Ukulele... Match made in heaven. We are going to play for some native american kids we teach. They have a family home evening together that we go to. We usually give a lesson there they are mostly non members. It's neat these kids live in a dorm her in Richfield. They come off the reservation during the school year so they can go to school. They are awesome we have lots of fun with them.

We have been teaching Jordan she is a 9 year old girl and her less active family. Harlan and me showed up yesterday and there were two boxes with our names on it. We opened them up to find a tie and a CTR pin each in a custom drawn on cardboard box. Anyways it was stellar we told Jordan we were going to wear the ties to her baptism.

This week has been really good we got to speak yesterday about how a mission strengthens our Families. Harlan talked about his future family and i talked about you guys back home. Both Clarke and Alison serving missions I had lots to talk about. Hooray for great examples! Thanks Family.

 Yesterday was a happy day until we ran into this Satanist guy and his girlfriend. Your in Utah how the heck do you become a Satanist!? I felt really bad for them all night. The used to be members and hopefully they come back one day. It was a interesting conversation for sure... Sheesh just when i thought running into J-Dubs was the hardest. We just bore testimony and left that was all we could do.

Missions have the highest highs and the lowest lows but it's all okay cause I KNOW it's the Lords work.

143 Family
The Church is True
Elder Ian Dyer

PS Cal's Baptism back in Loa has a date. July 19... Cross my fingers I'm here

Zero % Milk

Hi,

Well I just shaved my head again now I just kinda like the feeling haha.

Thing have been good week. Elder Harlan and me get along good I don't think we will have any issues this transfer. I'm trying to get his accent down. It's very very southern cowboy accent. Kind of like Forest Gump without the mental disability.  He doesn't agree but to everyone here I have an accent. I get made fun of when I say Mazda or Lama... pasta things like that. He served 6 months in Monroe which is about 10 minutes away and i'm pretty sure he knows that areas entire population. People always stop and talk to him in walmart. Someone was talking to Harlan and then looks at me and asks me if I'm new to the area... I lovingly corrected her nope I'm not new.

We had a couple baptisms yesterday one was for Justin he is 10 and the other was for Kortney she is 19. Justin's baptism went perfect but Kortney wasn't so lucky. First of all she got pulled over on the way but was left of with only a warning but it made her really late. Second with the actual baptism part the guy said the wrong name when he baptized her... By the time we figured this out the font was almost empty. We had to refill the whole font and re baptize her! two tries latter she was officially baptized. The whole baptism made for a really good journal entry. The next day I got to confirm her which was always scary but a good experience still. Yesterday was the first time i had been to a singles ward on my mission. It was strange and I felt way out of place. It was worth it though for Kortney she was super golden.

Well sorry this email was short but we got to get going we have lots to do today.

The Church is True
143 Family
Elder Ian Dyer

Ps I've jumped on the 0% milk band wagon... Goodbye 2%

A Buzz A Baptism And Goodbye

Hello Everyone interested in my life as a missionary,

First off we received our transfer calls yesterday. I'm going to be staying in Richfield as a ZL. My new companion is Elder Harlan From West Virginia. He was my district leader For two transfers while is was serving in Loa. I'm excited cause he is the man! He is really obedient but not so much like he is a Nazi about it. Elder Harlan still likes to have fun. Also he is a country singer but he is stellar at it. He just does his thing and you want to be like him cause he is an awesome missionary. This is going to be a great transfer. Richfield is already on fire and it's going to get even bigger. Kind of like that time I lit a grass fire on a grade 7 camp and got in lots of trouble... Yep Richfield will be like that except less trouble.

Elder Smith is spending his last transfer traveling the mission helping train other missionaries. He is serving with Elder Jensen. They came out of the MTC together and have been begging to serve together for two years! That dream finally came true he is way excited. We thought he would stay in Richfield but I guess not. We got along really good and had a blast. I'm glad he only lives three hours away. We always say how Smith will be at West Ed or all be at Peter's and we will text each other to come hang out. That will be fun we are going to go snowboarding to. We talk about going to sunshine a lot. That will happen one day.

Well that's the goodbye part now for the buzz part.

I recently got a haircut and I thought it looked weird. Smith always buzzes his head and kept telling me i should just take a number two razor and shave my head... I gave in. This is the shortest my hair has ever been but whatever I'm a missionary hair doesn't matter at all. Smith shaved my head for me and he at first gave me a mohawk. I had a mohawk for about 20 minutes. First time in my life having one and it was on my mission!

Now for the Baptism part!

We had three Baptisms on Saturday. The first one was in the morning for Candace. The week before her older brother Colton was given the Preisthood so he could Baptize her. It was a month ago to the day of his Baptism that his little sister was going to be able to be Baptized by who else other then her brother. Colton is 18 and Candace is almost 16. She works at an ice cream place and we have been there a couple time to get food. Having someone you teach who works at a ice cream place make for a really good excuse to go get milkshakes. The Baptism was amazing!!! They were both some of our favorite people to teach. Smith and me Love them a lot.

The next was for Ross 14 and Logan 13. These guys are awesome. Sometimes we play hacky sack after the lesson it's way fun. They race BMX and have a competition on saturday. We are probably gonna stop and cheer them on and lend our support. we did for a 9 year old who was baptized last week. We went to his wrestling competition on thursday. I didn't know 9 year olds could wrestle it's pretty funny to watch though. Ross and Logan are studs and the Baptism was sweet. Smith Baptized Ross and I baptized Logan it was awesome they were super nervous but they did great.

Well I have to get going we are going golfing today. I suck but it will still be fun.

143 family
The Church is true!
Elder Ian Dyer

Burn a Tie

Hows it going eh?

Today i have been a missionary for exactly 6 MONTHS!!! That means this afternoon there is going to be one crispy tie in Richfield. It's kind of weird i'm a quarter way into my mission. How the heck that happened i have absolutely no clue. Time is passing way faster than i thought.

This week i've had to deal with some disappointment and defeat. The one major defeat is my suit. I have been in denial for some time now and i couldn't fight it any longer. my pants were just not feeling so good lately. They were to tight... I've put a few pounds on around the waist and one side effect of that extra poundage is my pants are at the tailors being let out as we speak... Ugh this bites my jeans don't fit either. Hopefully my family gets a good laugh about this so laugh it up.

Aside from that life is really good. We didn't get to go down to St George last week our meeting got canceled so we are going this week on wednesday. I'm excited the mission home is huge! It looks like it belongs on the O.C. (that's a show Alison and I used to watch ask her it's about rich kids in california). Anyways that will be fun we get to stay with the AP's which is kind of cool.

I don't have a whole lot of stories this week but the highlight of the week was yesterday. We teach a family and Two sons are getting baptized Ross who is 14 and Logan who is 12. They are awesome and Ross asked Smith to baptize him and Logan asked me to baptize him. It's going to be awesome i love that family.

Another awesome neat thing that happened this week was about one of our recent converts. His name is Colton he is 18 and was recently baptized. His sister Candace his baptisim got hit really hard with the spirit and started to wanting to meet with us. These last couple weeks we have been teaching her and she is going to be baptized next week. Colton yesterday was able to receive the Priesthood and is no going to be able to baptize his sister.

Well that is about all for this week Basketball and bowling is the plan for today.

The Church is True
143 Family
Elder Ian Dyer

Ps I love it out here. The people we teach are amazing 

Makes a difference

Hi,

Alright so 2 migraines and a nasty cold later I'm ready to write and email home.

I sat down and opened an email from Clarke this morning and it made my day. This is because it had a picture of my future Niece or Nephew. Woot i'm gonna be a double uncle by the time i get home! Thanks Clarke, Cecilia, Alison, and Ray!

These past 2 weeks not gonna lie i'm a little spent. I feel like i could sleep for a solid week straight. Being a ZL and sick a bunch is exhausting! Things are on the upswing though. I feel like i'm learning what i need to Elder Smith helps me learn

We got your package Mom and Dad. Thank you so much! We missed smarties and mars bars a lot and we are never ever going to take chocolate bars for granted when we come back to Canada on day. There way Grandpa Dyer's eulogy to and that was exciting to read. Your a really good writer Dad. Grandpa would have been very happy with what you wrote about him. I'm happy i have a piece of his life with me now. It's always nice to have a little reminder of home. I keep my house key in my wallet. There is a part of home with me always.

We have picked up some amazing people to teach lately and the Richfield area is doing really well. The people we are teaching are so golden! The spirit has been so strong in the lessons lately. It's neat to see peoples faith build each and everyday.

One thing i didn't realize was the impact missionary work has on the members not only the investigators. We have someone from the ward come out and teach with us most nights. They are usually 16-18 years old. The future missionaries. We went out 2 nights in a row with Blake. He is 18 and our ward mission leaders son. I was on exchanges with Elder Lowther that night and he is one of our APs. One of the first things we asked Blake was if he was planning on serving a mission. He was a really nice guy but he flat out said no he didn't want to. Elder Lowther and I immediately new what are job was that night. We were going to show him how much of a blast being a missionary was. That night we ended up teaching some lessons with a very strong spirit present. A couple people that night it was our first night meeting them. The Holy Ghost new that Blake need to feel the spirit so he was there! Blake had a great time and we included him in the lessons a lot and he was great. The next night the same thing happened. When he dropped us of he told us that he was now planning on serving a mission. He learned how important it is and how good it feels to serve.

I had a similar experience yesterday to. Elder Smith had been sick a week or so ago so i went out alone with Derek he's 16. He was very timid and nervous. He helped out in the lessons that night a lot and was so happy by the end of the night. We went to the 10th ward yesterday and it just so happened that Derek was speaking. He spoke about living your missionary purpose out of preach my gospel. Derek did a great job. He shared the experience of coming out and teaching with me. I had no idea how much it meant to him. It's funny cause as a missionary you teach people everyday that you kind of get used to the spirit. I didn't realize how much of a difference it makes for the people we go out teaching with. It obviously meant a lot to Derek and Blake. They are going to be amazing missionaries.

Well things are going great I love this place i love this work. It's true and Important

We are going to go play basket ball with the high school team today and maybe do some bowling we will see.

The church is True
143 family
Elder Ian Dyer

Happy Valentines

Hi happy Valentines day,

If you didn't think Valentines day was a big deal in your normal life try it as a missionary. There is absolutely no use for this day as a missionary! We might go get a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's or something.

We were at Brother Poulson's house yesterday and he was on the computer checking out my blog. I saw it once almost at the very beginning of my mission but hadn't seen it since. It was really cool i went back and read my first couple posts. It's always cool to see where you've been compared to where you are right now. I looked at my very first email home from my first day at the MTC. I got there early and was put in a group with all the Koreans. I remember being somewhat confused and for the most part being overwhelmed. Most of my thoughts those first few days there were just about what the Heck have i gotten myself into!?!? Thankfully I've since grown out of that and really am enjoying myself out here.

Richfield has been pretty good so far. It's fun being in a bigger place then my last two areas but i forgot how complicated it is. We cover 2 stakes and that's 18 wards all to ourselves. It's difficult learning all the boundaries and the names of all the bishops, meeting times, ward mission leaders, ect. I've noticed that Utah missionaries as a whole have a problem with remembering the names of members of the church. There are so many members here it's hard to remember them or really get to know any of them. I was so thankful for Brother Bott in Castle Dale and the Clarks,  Andersons, and pettys in Loa and now Brother Poulson in Richfield. It's hard to get to know members here but thankfully there is always a couple we get to know pretty good in each area.

One other very serious challenge Richfield has to offer is freebees. There are 6 places here that feed missionaries for free and one of those places is Mcdonalds... Don't be fooled this is not a blessing it's a trial! It's really hard to have an active lifestyle as a missionary. It's not like i can Longboard everywhere and rock climb whenever i want to anymore. Morning Basketball is my only shot at enduring through the fast food.

We had a really neat Baptism this week. His name was Colton and he is 18 and a senior in high school. It was amazing to see how many people came to see the huge event. I felt like i was at Jenna's or Bryan's Baptism back home  again. I think high school baptisms are one of my favorites cause they always have so many friends that care about them.

Smith and me got to go down to St GeeZee with the Price Manti Zone Leaders on Tuesday. It's cool cause Elder Doane my mission father is a ZL to. It was fun to drive down. We stayed with the AP's that night. One of them had a ukulele so i played that for a while. We had many sing alongs.

The next day we had ZLC with president. It was a really good meeting. Elder Black and Elder Smithpeter were there. They are ZL's to but it's neat cause all three of us came out of the MTC together. It was nice to see them to. We all looked at eachother and our only though was what the crap! How did this happen. They are solid missionaries though so i still felt kind of under qualified. The meeting was good though the spirit was strong and it was really great to be around such stellar examples.

A couple days ago i was able to do my first Baptismal interview. It was for a 75 year old woman. Her whole family were members and she figured it was just about time. I laughed and assured her it was a great decision.

On the drive home something monumental happened... I had in and out burger for the first time. If anyone doesn't know what that is ask ray he knows. It's a really good burger place so yeah kind of a big deal.

I think that's about all for today. we are going bowling again so i better get going.

143 family
The church is true
Elder Ian Dyer

ZL... What The Heck?

Hi Everyone,

Alright today is my 5 month mark! can you believe it's been that long cause i sure can't.

Richfield is great it's been fun so far. I had McDonalds for the first time since i've been out that was i highlight. i missed chicken nuggets. we have a dry cleaners to which i was becoming in desperate need of. We don't have to go into detail about how long it's been since i could dry clean.

One really great joy of this area is a man named Brother Poulson. I'm trying to figure out exactly how to put him into words but I don't know how. He's 68 and in the bishopbrick and he's hilarious. He believes if he takes care of missionaries he'll get a spot in heaven so we see lots of him. he has been taking care of missionaries for years. i really don't know how to do him justice in an email but there is definitely only one brother Poulson in the world.

This week i haven't had to do missionary work much differently then i would not being a zone leader. We just have to drive more places and keep track of more numbers. The change to ZL hasn't been to bad. Tomorrow we get to go to st george for A zone Leader meeting. my trainer is a ZL to so we are all going down together so that will be fun. I've only been to St George once so it will be nice to see it again.

It's been great serving with Elder Smith. We figured out we are the only 2 Canadians in the whole mission till next transfer. Amazing we get to serve together huh. It's funny cause we know some of the same people. For example we walked into a house where the arizona university basketball game was playing and we both recognized Jordan Bachinsky. It was neat even though they lost the game.  Elder Smith was not a big fan of his last companion for various reasons but we get along great. we doubled the lessons taught this week for the area along with people on date for baptism and investigators at church. Things are going good. I still miss Loa though

Well we are going bowling today so i have to get going.

The Church is true i know it
143 family
Elder Ian Dyer

Ps can you send chocolate and candy from Canada? Smith needs some he hasn't had a mars bar and smarties in way to long. Please and thank you. He says he would love you guys