Why hello, dearest friends and people!!

Fancy meeting you here, on Monday.. the day of the Great Missionary Emails!

Honorable Mentions this week:

KARLIE! Thanks for you SWEET home made card. All who have seen it are envious of my talented crafting friends! (Only my comp has seen it, but she's totally jealous! :))

Anyway, this week was grand!

We learned things, taught people.

Last Monday we met a Persian Christian named Zia. Zia's family could have killed him because he was Muslim. Apparently Muslims can be murdered by their families if they convert. So he's been Christian for a few years and doesn't regret any second of it. That's dedication to faith. He was nice, we talked to him for about an hour outside of our favorite smoothie place (Juice it up... in case you're wondering... they sell gift cards ... Just saying)

Tuesday: I have a note about a salt lick... I don't remember what it was about a salt lick that I wanted to tell you about. So... For the next week, ponder them. Our dinner Tuesday yelled at us. She's kinda uptight, so we're killing her with kindness (which means I stay clear, because I have no tact. That's fine, Sister Gowans is sweet.) Then I had a migraine, the kind that makes you wish you could send your head back for a replacement. Yeah, that was lovely. So I was stuck in bed for a few. Miserable.

Wednesday, behold, the picture:

 (the one of me old) I got really old. Really fast!

You see, we are only allowed short showers, so some days I dry shampoo my hair. And when that happens, I get REALLY old! REALLY fast. I am about 97 in that picture. Be not jealous! And de-aged shortly thereafter and am back to the ripe young age of 24, with a height of 11.

Thursday, we met Scott. Who is still fantastic. And doesn't hate us yet. We also had to break up with an investigator. And that made my heart awfully sad. She wasn't progressing. Technically, she broke up with us... Sad.

Friday: I read something REALLY important in Matthew 3:4. John the Baptist. Was. A. Hippy!!! Yes!!!! Best day ever. John the Baptist is my new favorite person (aside from Jesus) in the Scriptures!!

We rode bikes 3+ miles. It was grand.

We met Moses from Egypt. It was great. He's nice.

Saturday: A member called us in the morning and said he was having a stroke and asked us to come over. We told him to call and ambulance. He wouldn't. We showed up. He was not having a stroke. That we could tell. Hopefully he'll go to the doctor. I got to critically think. That was good times. We taught 8 lessons after that. Good day

Sunday: I got married yesterday, behold the other photo. His name is Pete-ay. He is from Canada. We had to call it off until the end of the mission. Because I cannot be married whilst being a missionary.

And here we are. What a swell week!

Tune in next week same time, same bat channel! 

Hear ye, hear ye!!!

First and foremost, honorary mentions for letters this week!

Church HeadQuarters! Thanks for my P. Blessing!

Mike Gore! I am honored to be yours and Sarah's FHE activity!

Sister Morgan! You've been home long enough, come back!

Sister Pyper! I got to see you AND get a letter. Great times!

Sister Pack! I got to crash your baptism AND get a letter. I'm lucky!

So. Here's the run down of this week. In Haiku form!

This week has been great

Sacrament is where Scott came

He is getting dunked!

This week is awesome

Gowans and I are superb

We hope you are good!

Okay. So, those Haiku's are what I sent to my mission president as my weekly update. Have you ever done something and then wondered "hmmm. will he think this is funny... or am I getting rebuked?" We'll see how this goes. haha. 

But really. This week was great. We didn't get through almost any door. So we talked to everyone on the street. Laughed a lot. Smiled some more. Danced occasionally. Someone keyed our car. So we called the new car senior missionaries, the Kings. They are HILARIOUS. They are from Florida originally but most recently from Georgia. He was a Sergeant in the sheriff's department in Florida (I think in Florida) He learned about the EMT thing and asked me a lot of questions. Sister Gowans' favorite portion of the conversation went like this: 

"No way! What is the most grotesque thing you've seen working as an EMT"

"Well, we ran a roll over once were the gal had a BAC of .67. Her head was impaled by a 2X4" (that was a Christmas when I first started with RMF)

"SHUT UP! A .7?!" (say that with a heavy Georgian accent)

He yelled that at lunch. We laughed. 

The car was okay, just scratched. They rubbed some tire shine on it and you can hardly see it anymore. 

Other happenings of the week:

We were OYMing an old guy in a parking lot. Some hoodlum came and stole two of the pillows he was selling. Thus ensued a yelling match where a gun was pulled. We high tailed in out of there. No missionaries were injured in the retelling or telling or occurring of the story. Good times... YIKES

The Morgans left on Monday. If you don't know who the Morgans are, that is a sad sad day for you. The Morgans are just the greatest senior missionary couple EVER. And their 6 months of missionary service was over. So they went home to their grandkids. Even though they liked us and our gang the best. They treated us to Panda Express where Sister Morgan and I cried. Goodbyes are lame. Even if it's just "goodbye for now." 

Later that week I ate Turkey tail REAL turkey tail! We went to a Samoan family's for dinner. and we had tilapia, and eggrolls, and turkey tail, and chicken and salad and rice and a lot of other things. And my favorite was the turkey tail! It was so good! I also ate so much but I needed to be rolled from dinner. yum. You know, they say that it is required of missionaries to be polite and eat all their food. I was just performing service, by eating so much. Really! I'm service oriented... (Humble too. Don't worry, I'll repent)

We had a Sister's Gathering. It was a good meeting. There was a lot of talk about being discouraged and looking at ourselves and each other through the lens of "daughter of God." As in, If I am a daughter of God, and acting like it, how would I treat this person.  or, I see through the lens of a daughter of God, how should I see this situation or that person. 

We were told not to be proud and to be humble (thus, the repenting) 

And to work. Working brings more satisfaction and joy than anything else. So Work. Go Forth and Do!

We went to the temple. I love the Temple! It's a small one, like my Denver temple. So I love it. And because it's, you know, the House of the Lord. 

I got to go to Mayra's baptism in Hemet! It was so great! I kind of snuck out of the ward, so it was nice to see people again and hug them. And of course, to see Sister Pack and the Gang! The only people who were missing were the Morgans. (hint, hint! Come back!) 

Mayra is wonderful, and she's baptized now!!

Finally, the biggest and exciting news this week is that we met Scott. 

Scott was a referral from HeadQuarters (Mormon.org or something like that). And what that is, is that if someone goes to Mormon.org, puts in their info for a Book of Mormon or a visit from missionaries, they send the info to the missionaries in that area, and we, like ninjas, track them down and find them. And then hit them with the Spirit and they get baptized. (It almost never happens that way, but that's okay) 

Well, Scott's address from HQ said he lived in a field, and we tried calling and the number was no good. We thought it was a wild goose chase. NOPE! Scott is real! And he REALLY wanted to meet with us!

He's elect. The first thing he asked us was "Please tell me you have a Book of mormon for me!" So, of course, we gave him one. Because... We're missionaries and that's what we do. And he came to church on Sunday, and he's getting dunked on 7 December! Woohoo!!! He's the best. He's a Navy vet and puts up with our senses of humor. We laugh a lot in our lessons. And we're going to make him a tie (because he HATES neck ties) with our faces on it. Anyone know how to do that? I would sure love some help in that endeavor!

The work here is great, it just makes sense. 

I hit a major milestone this week. on 8 November, I hit 100 days as a missionary. It's okay that nobody remembered that. My heart will heal in time. Alright... Truth be told, I didn't know either, my companion told me. I repented of that as well. 

Well, I love you people. Here are some entertainment for your week. 

 Sometimes, I eat sour things. And make really attractive faces. It's a good thing I'm a missionary, I'd have to beat the men away with sticks.... (wolf whistle)

I went to the Temple.

 At Mayra's Baptism. With Bro Leighton. Bro Leighton is the Ward Mission Leader. He's awesome!

 Sis Gowans and I at the Temple. We're companions. And we're at the temple. 

Dear people who I know, like and love!

This week has been nuts! For real. 

We had a confirmation this week. Jamie, who was baptized last week, got confirmed this week. So Now she's got the Holy Ghost power. :) YAY!

We taught a few lessons. Blessed many (Harvest blessings, man. They are brilliant!) Prayed a ton. We've been involved with drama and scandal. It's been good. 

At the Baptism last week there was an emergency. You see... We had a baptism at 6ish. Then there was one after ours. Unfortunately, Bishop forgot. And he pulled the plug to the baptismal font. And the water started draining. Rapidly. Very rapidly. The Elders tried to close it with luck, prayers and a broom handle, without any success. It was tragic. 

"Whatever shall we do?!" The masses thought. "Christmas is ruined!!!" exclaimed others. 

"Never fear, my friends in white! All will be well!" Said my companion! As she shoved me into the baptismal font to save the day!! Okay, what REALLY happened was that they were trying to figure out what to do. Who will get in? Should they change into a marshmellow (jump) suit? Who would take the plunge? Finally, I just walked in, skirt and all and plugged the tub back up. I went swimming on my mission! Nuts! 

Then one day, we were OYMing (Open your mouth) where we talk to 10 people a day that aren't counted as tracting or those that we teach. Just EVERYONE that we come in contact with, in the rain. It was cold. We were wet. And we talked to a family who gave us free tamales! REAL tamales! I was frozen on the outside, but the jalapenos put my mouth ablaze. I was warm within. haha. Yes. 

That night drama occurred. We were part of the "Minding my own business" club, doing missionary things. Talking to people. Praying. Teaching. Crying repentance when we got a bone-chilling phone call: 

"Girls.. I need to talk to you... Come home now" Our home share...

You see, our home share has dogs. 3 of them. That are trained to kill. They are well trained, so they haven't yet... you know... killed. But I know my luck. YOU know my luck. So I pray a lot. Finally, when I was so stressed out and living in fear, I talked to Sister and President Smart about what to do. They did their thing, which meant talked to the housing coordinator who told her we are moving. 

We got home, she very calmly told us that we were moving and then proceeded to tell me that having PTSD would ruin my life and that it's a weakness. And then spend 3 days completely ignoring me. (I think she blames me...)

Now... Now they told her we may not be moving. So we're in the awkward limbo where she will talk and love Sister Gowans, and she won't talk to me. Unless she has to. But I don't get dirty looks anymore. Progress. 

The next day, we found a dying rat sitting outside our homeshare. Sewage rats. They're real. This rat was became named Tony. He had been injured by something bad. or big. I'm not sure, I wasn't there when this occurred. So we sang him to death. I don't know what killed him. Our songs or his injuries... Poor Tony. We rescued him from the killer dog. The rat better be grateful! 

At some point this week, my companion and I were rejoicing over Halloween candy and junk food and trading for the good kinds. (We bartered. Candy was shared. It was grand.) Apparently I offered an outlandish trade because I was Whoppered in the face! In the Center thereof! It hurt. We laughed. I told her she broke my nose. She worries. I laughed. Then repented for lying to her. No noses were broken this week! 

Finally, I found in our trunk a treasure! A Book of Mormon in Arabic!!! I will be fluent in the reading thereof by the time I go home! (Not true, I just think it's really cool!) 

I think that's it for now. I still don't know if I'm homeless right now. Loving life out here. Being a missionary is the best!

We're starting a 30 day fast for missionary work. How it works is everyday, a different family will fast in the ward for our missionary efforts in the Moreno Valley Ward. That night, we go to the family's house and break their fast with them. This has led to lots of success in other areas, so we're going to see how it works here. Bishop and the Ward Council were so excited, that they are the first 2 weeks of fasting families. We are lucky to have such a ward behind us. Pres. Monson, Elder Ballard and all others were right, we can't do this work without the ward. We can't do this without members. We need them. The work of Salvation is so important. 

Anyway, peace and love and things!

Love, 

Sister Dibe Hall

My Missionary Commission:

My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and he has chosen me to represent him. To stand in his place, to say and do what he himself would say and do if he personally were ministering to the very people to whom he has sent me. My voice is his voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are his words and my doctrine is his doctrine. My commission is to do what he wants done. To say what he wants said. To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous latter-day work. 

Elder Bruce R. McConkie