"Nothing so exquisite and sweet"

3/31/2014

I'm here to preach the gospel and chew gum.
And I'm all out of gum.

Plus, you know, we're not supposed to chew gum in public.

So this was a CRAAAAZY week. Our nephew, Elder J, showed up on Tuesday! WHOOHOO. We sang and played him the "Hello, *hello,* Hello, *hello*" song, but in Spanish. (Hola, *hola*, Hola, *hola*). He's cool and from Utah. 
Elder J (So green!)
But then something terrible happened. First of all, they got rid of two elders in our district and split the area between the other two companionships besides us. They then suddenly called and moved Elders S and J to the other apartment. We now have the whole apartment all to ourselves. We each have our own bathroom. Separate study and bedrooms. I have two mattresses, and my companion has three. He's drawn faces on three different light bulbs and named them all "light bulb friend." We've started a nightly program called "The Hand Show." We're... we're kinda lonely, and maybe losing our minds a little bit. But it's okay because in general our focus is better and we're making better use of our companion and Spanish study times and everything.

IN OTHER NEWS, we found some super cool investigators this week, and they're sisters! After the first lesson as we were walking to the car my companion said one looks just like his Ex-Girlfriend. I had myself a hearty laugh at that.

Before Zone Meeting this week, the zone leaders asked for questions they could ask us to help everyone get to know us. We sent... a lot. Like 23. Such as:
How much wood would you chuck if you could chuck wood?
Who would win in a fight, Hopper from A Bug's Life or Captain Hook (assuming they're the same size)?
What do you think about global warming?
Boxers or briefs?
Who's your favorite Ninja Turtle?
If you were a large body of water, which would you be?
Why are there so many songs about rainbows?
How many of you does it take to screw in a light bulb?
How many teeth do you have? Why?
If ice cream were a vegetable, would you eat it with ranch dressing?
Just to name a few. They asked me what one quality my future wife would have, and when I realized I couldn't decide, I said aloud "Maaan." Yeah. Everyone else had themselves a hearty laugh at that.

Spiritual thought: Alma 36:21 says, 
"Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy."
Then verse 24 says, 
"Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God."
We've all gone through dark times, where we know we wouldn't have made it through without the power of deliverance that the Lord so freely offers us. It'd be just plain selfish not to give everything to help others find the joy we've tasted and get to taste every day.

Sooooo ummmmm I love you all. Peace.

Elder Dylan Young

Cheeto Spoon Man

A Cute Puppy

Our friend Sully singing us a little ditty, "I wouldn't have nothin' if I didn't have you. . ."


Super Missionary Squad

March 24, 2014

Who's up for another round of... MISSION LOG??????
Here we go.

Last p-day was a blast. We went to a park and barbecued. We played capture the flag in a ravine. I scampered around on the park toys for a while.






And to celebrate having hit our zone goal, as well as the end of our zone leader's mission, a member made us a pinata of him. After the stick broke we just starting punching it, which eventually turned into a gang beating. It was quite a gruesome sight. But candy!



On Tuesday after district meeting we went to district lunch at some barbecue place. It was good in my tummy.

Wednesday we spent the whole day with a super cool member, going around finding people to share the gospel with and stuff. We ate so many times that day. I... I almost didn't make it.

Thursday we did an exchange. Elder W. and I tearing things up! After a while the member who always takes such good care of us picked us up to feed us again. We got in his truck and he told us he was on his way to help some other elders in the district with a lesson, but it's okay cuz we'll just invite them to eat with us. They were confused when we all showed up, but we just went and contacted referrals in their area during the lesson. It was like... an exchange within an exchange blitzing extravaganza. It went well. We found some new investigators for them and everything!

"He's just a friend like those I've got in dozens
A kind unselfish boy who understands my pain..."
That's right, Elder M.'s mom sent him the Saturday's Warrior soundtrack. It's really quite silly.
"Who will survive? Who will survive? Not one of us will be alive!!!!"

We thought about going to the carnival a lot. They're popping up all over the place; both missionary apartments in our district have one right next door. They look awesome but maybe a little riotous.

"Polar Dog" came home. Apparently he ran away before I got here. He lives outside the apartment and barks all night. He's huge, and loves to jump around in mud puddles with a giant goofy grin on his face. He and Derp Dog are best friends, I suppose.

The most exciting news this week: transfers. I'm staying! No surprise, I just got here. But Elder M. is out of here and Elder S is gonna be a dad! Yay! So my companion and I get to be the crazy uncles. It's like a dream come true.

We got more ties today. 77 whole pounds this time, and a member even got them for us. Yes, it was the same one. He's... well off.

Missionary scripture of the day: Alma 31:26-38. 
Kinda helps me get pumped up in the morning, thinking about the super missionary squad and stuff, ya know?

I love you all like a Mexican loves flour tortillas. Peace out!

~Elder Young

Hola familia!!!
Tanner's going to Bulgaria?!? That's crazy. Tell him congrats for me!!! That will be a ton of fun. 
Man... going to Hawaii. How come it seems like Dad always gets sick right before spring break? It sounds like he really got super sick. Get well soon, Dad! I miss you too!
I have a bunch of little things I'm going to send home for birthday presents. All I need to do is write the birthday cards and get everything packed up. And you know how I am about writing cards... I'm going to send everything all at once so I can just do it and go.
I remember band trips. Elder M. and I talked about our marching band uniforms today. His looked like the ones from Santa Clara Vanguards. I wish I could hear the band again, and especially your solos! How's Spencer's cornet coming along? Is Justin Toney teaching him a ton?
Sister Shepherd said she saw you guys out walking the other day. Do you take walks a lot now that the weather is getting better? Or is it still like a Sunday thing?
We'll definitely dress up derp dog, and maybe even polar dog, and send some pictures back.
I love you all so much!!! I miss you but the time is flying!!! Thanks for everything!!!

Happy PI Day & St. Patrick's Day

3/17/2014

Greetings, fellow humans.

Also, happy St. Patrick's day, laddies!
 For Saint Patrick's day, we sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" with Irish accents


These week's been really just another great week in the Rio Grande Valley. You know, taught a few super cool people, talked with a bunch of crazy, drunk, and/or high people. The norm.

We had stake conference this weekend! That was cool since I got to see a bunch of missionary pals from another zone that I haven't seen in a while. And Elder Roberts from the Quorum of the Seventy came down to speak, which was cool. I had also not seen so many white people in one place since zone conference. We went to the Saturday and Sunday meetings, and in both of them the stake youth choir sang the youth theme "Come Unto Christ" with a live string quartet. It was awesome. They even sang part in Spanish. During the whole meeting, almost half the congregation was wearing headphones which were broadcasting the live Spanish translation of the speakers. Bishop Weger's wife and their son Danny from our ward took turns translating. The first thing Danny said when they went live was "Welcome to Dairy Queen, may I take your order?" It was funny but I don't know how many people appreciated it since everyone listening spoke Spanish. At the end the missionaries sang "Onward Christian Soldiers," also partly in Spanish

The number one message I picked up from stake conference was "Use the missionaries!" Missionary work is really the responsibility of the members, from the stake president on down. The mission president and missionary side of things are in charge of teaching and interviewing, but really the finding, converting, and bringing into the fold is the member's job. So use us! Give us assignments! Let us eat at your house while your neighbors are over! Let's hasten this work!

Also someone used the phrase "love each other to our heart's content." I put it in my notes. It makes less sense the more you think about it.

I love you all so very very much. Ta-ta!

~Mister Doctor Professor Elder Young
Our zone after a zone meeting, doing after-zone-meeting things.

Flower tie Sunday

A weird barn full of old arcade games

Hola familia!!!

How's everything going? Sorry about last week, I'm not sure what happened, they just suddenly kicked us off the computers and none of us were brave enough to go ask for more time. 

PI Day was pretty fun. I had totally forgotten about it, but those pies were super good. And that Dinosaur Comic was great. It made me think though, just how many new ones there are since he updates five days a week. *Whew* But it's okay, there are plenty of scriptures to study and stuff.

I realized that I want my retainers, because Elder Shumway has been talking a lot about how much he takes care of his teeth. Can you send them the next holiday? What would it be, May Day or something?

I hope dad feels better soon! I woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose the other day but it already feels better. I just took a few Dayquils and I was fine.

Man, I miss Bryan Regan. We quote him a lot in the apartment, when stuff reminds us of his jokes. Like whenever we can't spell something, we go "Cat, K-A-T, I'm outta here." It's funny.

How's Sister Shepherd doing? Have you had her over to eat yet? Don't forgot to sing her "It's All Coming Back to Me" by Celine Dion. Dad can do it if you or Cassidy don't want to.

I love you all so much!!! Stay awesome!!!!!!!


~Elder Dylan Young

Good Morning World!

3/10/14
Goooooooooood morning world!!!

Isn't it a good morning? It may not actually be morning time, but it's always a good morning here in the Rio Grande Valley.

There's not a ton of stuff to report this week. We had a zone conference all day long about how we are supposed to teach the new simplified way. We role played so much using the pamphlets and Books of Mormon. We didn't even get to the next three lessons, but we have to master crawling before we can try doing somersaults.

The ward here in La Joya is great. Even though daylight savings time took a toll on our attendance yesterday, the ward is really putting itself into a missionary-minded mood. All the leaders are coming together to strengthen the members already in the church who need to be brought back into God's fold, as well as reaching out to their friends and neighbors and relatives.

All's well. Our recent convert still thinks we're the "Normans" and the other knows me as "Mr. Lee" but they're just awesome. We knocked on the door of some lady who was just so happy to be alive. I... I don't think she was drunk or high, except for high on Jesus. She couldn't stop laughing. Then we went to her neighbor, some old single guy who let us right in and was super cool and talkative, but kicked us out as soon as he got the Restoration pamphlet. Not because he got mad at us or anything, it's just because all he wanted was the pamphlet.

Today... today we went to a Bodega. And we bought ties. My very first tie dig! Yay!!! 55 lbs of used ties for a dollar a pound. We bring them home in a big cloth bag that smells like pee, and then we sort them all out to find the good ones. Each of us walks away with ties worth much more than the 15-ish dollars we spent. Plus they're super pretty, and furthermore, I got one that lights up and sings Jingle Bells.

The derpy dog that lives outside our apartment, to whom I loving refer to as Derp Dog, loves that we have piles of ugly ties laying around. Her name is derp dog because she has a leg that broke and didn't heal right, and it swings around all funny when she runs to greet us.

On a spiritual note: God loves us so much. That's why he gave us the gospel, that's why we're all here in the first place, and that's even why we go through trials and hard times in life: All because he knows exactly what it'll take to make us as happy as we can be. So why be sad when we can be happy?

I love you all my dear ones. Hasta luego!


~Elder Dylan Young

This Truck Said "Reading" on it

Our New Neighbors Moving In

Derp Dog Sleeping on Some Ties

55 Pounds of Ties

Derp Dog's New Bed

But then everything changed. . .

Mission Log: Elder Young
3/3/14

"But then everything changed when the fire nation attacked."

That basically sums up this week. There was a surprise mission-wide meeting on Saturday with some leaders from the general missionary department of the church. A bunch of leaders and other random missionaries were invited. Naturally, I wasn't. So I just did what I always do when I don't get invited to parties, stay home and play Pokemon. I mean go out and teach the gospel. Definitely not Pokemon.

Basically, from what we've heard so far, we've all been teaching wrong. Super wrong. I can't even really describe the changes we're making in the mission because I'm still trying to understand them. Basically, we're getting down to the basics. We're teaching short, simple lessons. We're focusing a lot more on the Restoration and Book of Mormon. Using pamphlets more. And getting people on mormon.org Here are some highlights from what the conference, conveyed third-hand to y'all:

"Prayer is not a sandwich!"

"You see this?" *Holds up an iPad Mini* "Well you're not getting them."

"You completely misinterpreted 'Teach people, not lessons.'"

"You know who has the keys for confirmations?" *President Maluenda stands up and does jazz hands*

"Forget everything you know. All your gimmicks and teaching skills are like barnacles, slowing down the ship. You know how we get rid of barnacles? We sail into fresh water."

Whew. It was intense. I wish I could have gone so I could see people who know what they're doing show us how we're supposed to teach now. But even though we're all greenies once again, I know these changes have all come straight from a prophet of God. It's time to lengthen our strides and hasten the work. It's gonna take a ton of hard work and practice, but the gospel will be spread faster than it ever has before, I just know it. It's a great time to be a part of God's army, ladies and gentlemen!

And heads up, fellow missionaries, these changes are slowly gonna be coming world wide. Just so ya know.

Anyway, other than the fact that everything I know is wrong, missionary life carries on like usual. Elder Pope saved a baby's life from an electrical socket at church. Our recent convert made it through a whole fast with us, even with him being a bigger guy. I learned that the ribbon of a Hershey's kiss is called a niggly wiggly. And our comp study opening hymn band just keeps getting better. Love you all! 

"Los Misioneros: Poniendo el "Angel" en "Evangelio" desde 1830."

Elder Pope Without Limbs

The only hand-drawn ferry in the US, right here on the border!

Look! It's Mexico! Hi, Mexico!
Hola Familia!


Man, Big White looked fun. Even though it's nice getting out of the cold for a while, I'll be excited to go back to ski and stuff again some time. 

Congratulations, Cassadah!!! I'm super excited that you're going to BYU-Provo. That projector will be a lot of fun, plus New Heritage has a lot more room for activities and things. When do you sign up for classes?

That's cool how the new convert used Mormon.org so much. As part of that life-changing meeting they told us that at the end of every first lesson with someone, we have to go to mormon.org with them and show them the chat room thing. The plan for the future is that most missions will have iPads, and every missionary will spend a few hours a few days a week doing to chatroom teaching with people all around the world. We're stepping into the future!

I'm sure her friend could feel the spirit as Cassidy talked and testified, even if he was just going into it as a school assignment. Be sure she invites him to church! Or send Sister Shepherd to him. It's so crazy she's in the ward. I guess I can't do anything  to stop you from showing the baby pictures, even though it'll be kinda awkward.

Welcome to the family Oliver! Another baby cousin! Yay! Is Spencer super excited? He's super cute.
My newest cousin!

Don't worry about the Bible videos too soon. I'm still pretty overwhelmed with the new teaching system, I don't know how I would use them. But I know if I just lose my life in trying to understand how to help people, the Lord will bless us with understanding of "the mysteries of God." I lost my Nikon camera charger, though. I bet Walmart has some, I'll check today.

I love you all so much! Thanks for being the best!

~Elder Dylan Young

Life is Grand

2/24/14

Life is grand.

I can finally put up pictures and stuff. First you see some pictures from my last few days in Weslaco, but I guess the good thing about serving stateside is how easy it is to go back and visit later, so that's cool.

My not-goodbye cake from some recent converts back in Weslaco. They got baptized the week before I got there, and after 7 months the people kinda grow on you. I didn't cry though. At least, not in front of them. Tuesday morning eating the cake and waiting for our ride to get here,
I was kind of a pathetic sight. 

Bishop Guzman's Family

The Valdez Family

We're having a blast here in La Joya. My companion Elder Pope is the one in shorts. He's sitting on the bed with Elder Merril and Elder Shumway's in the other picture. We'll see if I ever get a nice picture of us together.



We went to the Pulga this week. It's just a massive Mexican flea market, full of bootlegged DVDs and used clothes. I even saw an original NES. I bought a few trinkets from some old American guy who told us "The Mormons have been trying to get me for years." Then Elder Pope bought a 15 dollar accordion to add to our missionary band. It's awesome.

I can never stress enough how bizarre south Texas can be. One of the members has a peahen. Like a girl peacock. She was just chillin' on the gazebo.

We have some awesome members here in La Joya. Like Adrian; he's a recent convert from a few months back. He has many struggles but his testimony is so incredibly strong about the Book of Mormon and about God's power and how everything will be alright if we trust in him. Even if he thinks my name is "Mr. Lee."

I can't believe you haven't been skiing yet. You don't even have Sports Outlet any more. But I guess it's good that everyone's staying busy. And Big White will be awesome, of course. Married with kids??? That's still ages away. :P

Biggest news: baptism!!! This is Sergio. He's great! Getting him baptized was a bit of a challenge, since his Catholic mom was kinda against it. But we shared the story of Shadrac, Meshac and Abed-nego to help him see the importance of doing the right no matter who says otherwise. This was Elder Pope's first time baptizing, and the font wasn't full enough so he had to do it going forward. It was silly.


Everything's good with the car. We barely scratched it, but we still have to take it in tomorrow and have a couple days on the bikes. That'll be fun.

A crazy thing: we have a member that loves to make sure we're fed. We're not supposed to take money, but he won't take no for an answer. 

I remember reading somewhere about how the Lord won't give the missionaries His prepared sons and daughters if He knows the ward isn't ready to bring them in to the fold. So that's something that's definitely true.

Another cool thing that our ward mission leader talked about in Gospel Principles is how some day we're going to be standing before God to be judged. We'll be looking into a mirror with a reflection of our whole lives and who we've become. The question will be: will our reflection match that of the Savior? It's cool to think about, and really gives "What Would Jesus Do?" a whole deeper meaning.

I actually didn't have as many letters today. I'll definitely try to write something to send over, if Elder Shumway doesn't just make me play Magic: The Gathering with him the whole P-day.

I can't believe Sister Shepherd's heading over to Colbert! Take good care of her. I know what you need to tell her. Look up Celine Dion's "All Coming Back to Me" and just start singing her the chorus one day. It'll be hilarious. Get a ton of work done with her! Just have Cassidy look up a bunch of addresses in those old Northwood directories and start sending the missionaries over to everyone she knows (even if most of Colbert ward didn't go to Northwood.) 

I love you all so much!!! Have a great week!!!


~Elder Dylan Young

Mission Log: 2-18-14

La Joya! Population: Cactus
You know, La Joya's a pretty cool place. It's kinda deserty and there's a lot of fields everywhere, kinda like the Deer Park area so I feel right at home. My new companion, Elder Pope, is great. We're both Internet people, and we love to sing and do funny voices. So really the trick is not letting things get out of hand.
We can see the border from our area. We should go to a town tomorrow where I can get a picture of the river. Did you know the only hand-pulled fairy in the US is here in south texas? Think like "Knight's Tale" when they're crossing the English channel and that's what we have.
Also we're now in a 4-man apartment. It's. So. Much. Harder. To. Focus. Today to start off comp study we sang "Book of Mormon Stories" with Elder Pope on the guitar, Elder Shumway on the empty water jug drum, Elder Merril with the pringles can full of rice and me on the ocarina. We sounded so freaking cool and tribal.
We have a member who's a coyote and he goes out to hunt buffalo for a living. Someday I'll let y'all know what that means.
We had a super cool lesson this week. This woman knows that baptism is something important but was worried about not really having enough faith and was just doubting her relationship with Heavenly Father. So we asked her to pray and ask God if he's there, and if she should get baptized. And then after the prayer we asked if she got and answer, she just said, "yes." Plain and simple, no ifs, buts, or i dunnos. That's the power of the spirit, folks.
The bad news is that after 8 months on a bike I dont really remember how to drive. The good news is the owner of the other car said not to worry about it, it's just a scratch.
This library is awful and I can't upload my pictures, maybe next week if you're lucky.
Below are some questions Dylan answered for us:
How did you get all of your stuff from Weslaco to La Joya? We just have normal little cars to move stuff in. It all fit in my backpack and 2 1/2 suitcases, and then there are bike racks on the back. 

Tell us about your new companion: Where is he from? How long had he been out? Elder Pope is from Utah and has been out for like 3 or 4 months. He's another ginger like Elder Charles. His last companion was in my MTC district so I'm trying to fill Elder Pyrah's shoes cuz he's super spiritual.

Are you serving in 2 wards again? Spanish & English? The English ward is all the way in mission, but nearly everyone here speaks spanish too so mostly they just come here to spanish. We only drive to English ward if we have investigators or someone over there, and we go on splits when we do so we can cover both. I didn't go last week.

Do you still have a grocery store & a few restaurants? We still have Walmart and the usual, McDonalds and stuff, plus some local ones. Our area also goes over to Sullivan and everything down to the border. 

How is your apartment? Are there other missionaries serving in your ward or your area? We have a four man apartment, and it's pretty nice other than my mattress. Elder Shumway and Elder Merril are awesome, Elder Shumway and I started in the Weslaco and Mercedes wards together. It's a ton of fun. And then our Spanish ward has 2 other companionships which make up the district and I don't know who goes to English.

Who's driving the car? Do you still ride your bikes? I have to drive, which I'm not good at anymore. I kind of bumped into someone in the Walmart parking lot, but they said not to worry about the scratch I made. Oops. We still ride bikes a couple days a week, so we drive to a town with the bikes on the bike rack and then park and bike around.

Sounds like you've all been having a ton of fun!!! Thanks for the valentines candy, it was super good. I don't have a ton of time because this library has really slow computers, hopefully next week will be better. Love you!!!!!

~Elder Dylan Young