I Will Go and Do

November 10, 2014: The Guardian

There is a man... he wanders our apartment complex, protecting us from the forces of darkness, and repairing our appliances. We call him... the Guardian. He's basically the Hagrid of Jardines de la Fuente, he's a big hairy Mexican with a mysterious cloak.

This week has been exhausting. We had lots of miracles and blessings, and found lots of cool people, but we haven't had a lot of time to work with any of them because of the family that was supposed to be baptized yesterday. They were all doing great until the grandma's boyfriend got out of jail... his angry drunkenness and drunken anger is putting quite a few road blocks in this wonderful family's happiness and eternal salvation. But the trick is to not get discouraged, right? Obviously, God the Almighty wants them to be baptized, and if we do everything we can and help them to show their faith as well, God will take care of the rest.

We also took a trip into the Great White North this week, a chunk of really nice neighborhood just barely inside our stake boundaries. It was fun sneaking into the gated community, "The Plantation." We did a district stampede for 4 hours, and even though it was constantly raining, cold, and nobody got to go inside once, we had a blast. I especially wanna give a shout-out to Elder Wright and Elder "The Meat Wagon" Browning for being such troopers.

We're also teaching a member's husband who has a ton of super liberal free-thinking non-christian views on God and religion in general... And I feel completely unprepared. I mean, I know I've faced all these questions and doubts before, living in Washington and all... but after a solid year and a half of talking almost exclusively to Christians of various denominations, it's a bit of a shock. Is... is this what the real world is like???

We went to the pulga (flea market) today and I got some sick shades, so that's a plus. Elder Thornton got a leather jacket for $12.00. Also, I played the Ocarina of Time through my nose while wearing a jean jacket for a special musical number at zone meeting, which was a blast.

At the Pulga

Galatians 6:9 tells us, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." And DyC 64:33 says, "33 Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." Both great scriptures to pump us up when times get tough.

Lots of love, darlings.

Elder Dylan Young

"La Basilica de San Juan"
People come here from around the country.

November 3, 2014: Of Spooky Fiends & Sugary Things

November 3, 2014: Of Spooky Fiends & Sugary Things

Happy Halloween, everybody! Ooooooooh!

I went as the faceless bicyclist. It doesn't have the sang ring as the "headless horseman," but it's a much more relevant threat in modern society.

So yeah, on Wednesday we had the ward Halloween activity Trunk-or-Treat. Everyone and their dog was there, it was a blast. The best costume award would've gone to Edgar with his bacon suit, if the best costume award was a thing. The Elotes a la Mexicana (corn on the cob smothered in butter, mayonaise, chile sauce and parmesan cheese) were a huge hit as well.

I'm not a big fan of Mexican candies. Mostly because they're all chili pepper flavored. What's up with that? (studio laughter)

On Thursday we all worked in Bentson Lake for a few hours. We called it the Stampede. When discussing the state an area should be in after being stampeded, words such as "demolished," "wrecked," and "pooped on" came up, so our war cry was "Poop on Bentson Lake!" So, when a bird pooped on Elder Lindsay, it was the funniest thing that's happened all week. (studio laughter)

On actual Halloween night, we stayed in the apartment and did weekly planning. Definitely the hardest three and a half hours ever to stay focused. Especially after we put a chile de monte inside of a marshmallow ghost and fed it to Elder Christiansen. (studio laughter)

On Sunday, everyone got sick and nobody came to church, but it happens. The good news is that the awesome family that just moved into the ward has a cunada (sister in law) who knows the church is true and wants to get baptized. Plus, we get to poach her from Mexico since she's up here every weekend! Yay! It's a dream come true!

Have a zippidee-doo-da week!
<3 br="">

Elder Young

October 27, 2014: Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked

I prefer whistling.

We've still been on foot this week, hopefully Elder Lindsay's rash clears up pretty soon. I miss the wind in my face and sound of my screaming thighs.

We had a good family home evening with our Ward mission leader, and basically everyone and their dog was invited. It was a lot of fun, even though I don't think he's quite sure what family home evening is. Even Kenny, the blind guy who wanders the streets of Hidalgo all day, showed up.

You'd think we would be pros at finding rides, considering how often we do it to bring people to church, but we didn't have a ton of luck. It was great though, on foot, getting to talk to more people on the streets and enjoy the Halloween decorations. It's funny how "El Dia de los Muertos" hasn't transitioned at all to here; Halloween is a puro americano holiday.

I did a surprise exchange with Elder Christiansen on Thursday. It felt great biking for just a day. Also we ate at Subway.

We had surprise interviews with Presidente Maluenda on Friday! Whoa! We all need a good self-evaluation every once in a while. I already feel like a better person.

On Saturday we had the wedding/baptism extravaganza of the century with Ana Karen and Mauricio Ramos. They looked great, I'm trying to get a picture from the other Elders. Afterwards we all ate weird sweet chicken salad, a Mexican tradition I guess?

We've been teaching a great family, Irma with 2 12-year-old granddaughters, and her 9-year-old spazz grandson David, and they came to church yesterday! It was a fantastic day to come, too, because the long-awaited primary program had arrived. I love watching kids lose focus during their own solos and repeat unintelligibly what their parents are mouthing to them from the back rows of the chapel. Even David went up and sang along, without having a clue what was going on. It was great. Also the Ramos's kid dropped his pants. No shame.

Sorry this week was kinda long, so here's the world's largest killer bee covered in Christmas lights.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Young

October 20, 2014: Attention Boys and Girls

October 20, 2014: Attention Boys and Girls

Transfer calls have come in and... nobody's leaving in our district. Just a couple changes in the other district.

However, we did get some really sad news on Friday. One of our zone leaders, Elder Casteel, had to go home Saturday to get some medical exams done. If all goes well, he'll be back here in a couple weeks, but in the mean time we're all praying for him. It was definitely a wake up call for all of us, how every day here in the mission is so important and we can't afford to miss a single one.

This whole week we've been bike-less, since Elder Lindsay has a rash from biking. Also, for the past month and a half he's been putting on the exact opposite powder that would have helped. Hopefully we'll be back on bikes soon, bumming rides off of members when none of them even have cars is getting kind of old.

Speaking of cars, our super boss recent convert Kimberly's car died Friday night. The worse part was that the gears were stuck and we couldn't put it in neutral to push it off of the street. Her entire extended family came out to help and there was a ton of yelling and children running around everywhere. Thankfully, we're basically in Mexico, so an old mechanic guy down the street came out and crawled under the car and got it un-jammed.

Since Kimberly usually lugs somewhere around 10 people to church every Sunday, we had to make a lot of phone calls and organization. We called it "Operation: Mobilize Las Milpas." Everything turned out great.

On Sunday, a super cool young couple was about to be baptized, when we found out at the last possible second that they aren't technically married yet. The other Elders got the wrong documents from the courthouse. And you know, you can't make a covenant to keep the commandments if you're not technically living them yet. So they debated doing a marriage ceremony right then and there with Bishop, but they decided to wait to do it Saturday. Things were kinda awkward for a bit but I think it turned out okay.

Spiritual thought: I finally got caught up with conference. It's the best. I loved President Uchtdorf's talk. We all can accomplish anything; not just accomplish, but become. The trick is just letting the Savior take control.

That's about it for today. Lyl! (It means "love ya lots!")

In other news, check out this sweet shirt I found:

What is the space monkey dunking on?
Does he know know his space suit has holes in it?
There are so many levels in this t-shirt.

Goofing off

Quote of the week:

"Out of all the farts, in all the farts world, yours stand alone." - Elder Browning

October 13, 2014: "Man, this wind blows."

October 13, 2014: "Man, this wind blows."

-said Elder Lindsay while we were biking the other day.

On Tuesday we had a surprise 6 zones out of 10 meeting, the primary purpose being to watch Meet the Mormons. Definitely a must see. Plus when the Bishnu guy dances it reminded me of hitting the floor at stake dances. Good times...

While we were waiting for everyone to show up to the movie, President Maluenda talked about goals. Basically, there's never any excuse for not hitting a goal in life, no matter what it is. If we set a meaningful goal, we have to hit it, because otherwise we know that either our plans or our execution kinda sucked. Hitting goals is such an incredibly important life skill. Hopefully I figure it out pretty soon... cough cough...

I just looked up and saw that Taylor Swift appears in the movie, "The Giver", at least according to this poster in the library. Good to know.

We're teaching a cross dresser and he even came to church yesterday, so I can cross that off of my bucket list. He loved it, too.

Mostly this week has just been super busy like always, but we keep chugin' along, rain or shine, since those are the only two options. (Hah! Take that, snowy places).

There's a family in our area who were taught and converted by the McAllen sister missionaries a few months ago, who crossed like four areas, two wards and a stake boundary to poach them from us. They let us over and everything, but we've never been able to convince them to come to church with us. And now we just found out the Sisters are teaching another member of the family, which is great and all except for all of the people in their own area who they're not teaching. Oh sisters, when will you learn?

That's about all to report for today.

Con todo cariño,

Elder Young

October 6, 2014: Conference!

General Conference was fantastic. Isn't it great how the supreme creator of the entire universe loves us enough to talk to us directly twice a year through a bunch of inspired old people? Watch it if you haven't yet: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/10?lang=eng&vid=3820979006001

It's worth it. Once you try it you'll be hooked.

Nothing else out of the ordinary happened to us this week. Between four hours of studying and two hours of teaching practice (or "Lab Sessions" as we call them) every day, we find ourselves without much time to, you know, be missionaries. But the Lord helps us out.

On Saturday we went to IHOP as a zone, which made me happy. But then I got a horrible migraine and missed the afternoon and priesthood sessions, which made me really really sad. I'm craving Internet time the next few weeks so I can catch up on all of the life-changing advice I missed out on. I can't believe anyone in the world would willingly not go and listen to conference.

I what I did see of general conference, I caught a couple of themes throughout the sessions. One was love. God our Father loves us immensely. Therefore, we should seek to increase our love for them by studying the scriptures and speaking with Him in prayer. Entonces, we need to be filled of God's love so we can help the world see how much He loves them, too. <3 font="">

I really can't stress the importance of conference. If my emails are lacking the next few weeks it's because I'm catching up on conference.

Here's the link again: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/10?lang=eng&vid=3820979006001

In case you forgot.

Con todo cariño,

Elder Dylan Young

September 29, 2014: Of Dart Wars and Burgers

September 29, 2014: Of Dart Wars and Burgers

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back!

On Monday we had a nerf dart war vs. Mission Zone and PVC pipes for blow-darts. We decked out the gym with strategic tables and chair racks and just went nuts. At one point, my MTC comp, Elder Green, and I set up a turret station using lunch trays as shields. He'd shout, "Pull!", I'd pull the upper tray off, he'd take a shot, nail someone, and then I'd put the shield back in place just in time to block like three shots. It was perfect. And now our apartment has been screwing around with our blow darts all week.

We went to lunch as a district with the zone leaders to Whataburger before district meeting. Elder Browning ordered a 5-patty patty melt, just for the heck of it. But then we all started egging each other on, and before you know it, Elder Casteel, our zone leader, is trying to eat a 12-patty patty melt in under 20 minutes. If he can't, Elder Browning no longer owes him groceries.

Challenge accepted. The AP's showed up right as he was getting started to take him on an exchange, so they were goading him on even more. He made it to 11 1/2 patties before losing it all. Heart of a lion.

The biggest patty they've ever had ordered there at the Hidalgo Whataburger was 15 patties. If anyone can bust that record, it's a missionary.

Our role play sessions have been going great. We call it "The Lab" and Elder Christiansen runs an arbitrary point system on the chalk board to keep us entertained.

I went on exchanged with Elder Thornton this week and we talked to a crazy guy on the street. He introduced himself as "Loopy," as in "Lupe," as in "Guadalupe." He's half Irish and half Mexican, from California, and I can't say for sure, but it sounds like he worships a trinity consisting of Merlin, King Arthur and William Shakespeare.

Elder Thornton also got us all sick this week. It could have been us biking in the rain all the time, but it was probably Elder Thornton.

On a spiritual note, we taught a lesson to a lady on that same exchange and it went super well. I love seeing people really receive an answer to their prayers; that's what missionary work is all about. For all those out there looking for answers to their prayers, remember:
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

I love you all like a mosquito loves a missionary.

<3 div="" dylan="" elder="" young="">

September 22, 2014: Of Birthday, Baptisms and Bubbly Things

Imagine me biking around, in a white shirt and tie no less, with a machine attached to the back of the bike that blows bubbles like mad. That was one of the birthday present I got this week.

Speaking of birthdays, Ximena got baptized yesterday! Yay! Here we are looking snazzy.

She's a boss. She even brings to Book of Mormon to school and reads during class (we'll just let her keep doing it until she gets caught).

Hilariously, the font at this building didn't want to drain either. But at least the water was clean. We left the drain problem to the other Elders.

Oh hey did I mention I had a birthday? I completed my 21st year of mortal existence. How quaint. Unfortunately the church down here didn't put together a Dia de Independencia de Mexico party for the 16th like they should have, but we made our own parties.

Choco flan, baby. Plus Elders Lindsay, Thornton and Christiansen bought me a cheesecake. We've been eating cake for days.

We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was as inspired as ever. The two main focuses were on improving our teaching skills and working a lot with the members of the church who don't come. Teaching skills was kind of a new focus with President Maluenda, he normally focuses on love, obedience, hard work, great attitude and animo. Not that we suck at teaching or anything, but we did just find out that we're doing 2-hour district/zone wide role play/practice sessions 5 days a week for the foreseeable future. So I guess we do need some help...

Anyway, on Thursday we had a family history/indexing class for missionaries so we can know how to help the members get into it more. Then on Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference and the entire focus was on the temples and family history work. After all, the temples really are the house of the Lord. They let us make promises with God so that we can be happy forever. And when we focus on the temples, especially as a family, then we're really focusing on the Lord. Isn't that neat?

I wanna close just giving a shout out to Elder Renshaw and his amazing musical talents. Someday the entire world will hear his new hit single, "Greater Love." I'll style y'all a sample:

"Half our heart, and half our might,

Will not suffice.

Like our Savior, we must truly

Sacrifice."

Boooooooooom. You like?

I love y'all from the bottom of my belly. It's by far the biggest part of me.
<3 br="">

Elder Dylan Young

September 15, 2014: The Rains Came Down and the Sewage Came Up

Let me explain to you how this happened.

So we've been teaching this super awesome girl, Ximena, who first just came to church by herself when her neighbor Marili got baptized a few weeks ago. She's been reading the Book of Mormon during school and made us a pie one time, that's how legit she is.

Side note, we've been having some super insane rain storms all week. There was even a tornado warning for a while here in the Hidalgo area. We had to hunker down during that.

So we're all stoked for her baptism on Sunday. We get to church and start filling the baptismal font. We then go and greet people as classes start. After a while, Elder Christiansen and I go back to check the font and turn off the water, only to find it yello, oily and disgusting. The look of shock on his face was priceless. So Elder Lindsay and I get put in charge of solving the situation.

We decide trying to drain and refill the font, to see if it was just a fluke. So we formulate a plan. First, we confiscate the women's restroom because that's the side of the font the plug is on. I grab a couple of garbage bags and step into them so they're covering my legs. I awkwardly hop down the first few steps until I can reach the plug with a broomstick. Elder Lindsay is taking pictures of me the whole time. We're trying as hard as we can not to laugh or freak out because la Sociedad de Socorro (Relief Society) is having class right on the other side of the font doors.

I manage to get the plug open, I think, but nothing is happening. "Well, I guess I have to go deeper and mess with it with my feet," I figure. So I hop down the next step. It turns out the garbage bags are not quite tall enough. I start to panic as, with water slowly pouring down my legs, I waddle over and start stomping all over the drain. It's definitely open and definitely not doing anything.

This whole time women and girls keep going into the bathroom just to see Elder Lindsay standing at the other end saying "Lo siento, un minuto." Eventually the other Elders come through on the men's side to see me climbing out of the font with soaking pant legs, and we're all trying so hard not to fall apart laughing. They throw me a pair of baptismal pants to change into before we go home to change. On the way out, looking like I do in the picture, I can only imagine what's going through everyone's heads. Nobody in the church knows what's going on.

Also, this entire time, the new A/C system in the chapel isn't working whatsoever.

We later find out from Hermano Martinez that sewer water was seeping up through the drain because of all the rain. And there's no fixing it. We try to see if we can make it happen at another chapel, but it's too late. We just postpone until next week. But como quiera, it made some great stories to tell.

Later that afternoon, while running in the rain from the car to the church for stake choir practice, I slip right in front of the door and land quite comically on my butt.

So to recap: Rainstorms, sewage, trash bag, swimming, changing, cancelling, slipping.

On a Spiritual note: "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."I love y'all, dawgs.

Elder Dylan Young

September 8, 2014: The Pipes, The Pipes are Calling

Life is good in Las Milpas. Even though I just realized I don't know what "milpas" means.

We have a good number of members in our area. One of them, Kimberly, is super sick. She's been a member for like not even a month and she has already brought her aunt to church, who just got confirmed on Sunday. We celebrated her birthday on Friday as well. Tres Leches cake is soooooo good.

Elder Lindsay's super cool. he's from Wyoming. He likes to say English phrases in Spanish, which either don't translate at all or translate really badly. Like "mi mal" for "my bad" or "mi hombre!" for " my man!" He's a goof.

It's been kinda rainy all week, but nothing has hit us too hard. Mostly it's been nice having cooler weather.

Crazy stuff:

We're visiting some members when this big, fat momma spider comes walkin' in like she owns the place. We know she was a momma spider because, a couple minutes after we kicked it back outside, we noticed the floor was covered with tiny baby spiders. We spent a good 4 minutes jumping around stomping them all.

I saw the husband of the first person I baptized here at the Las Milpas Walmart. Small world.

Most of our zone is not from Utah. Three of us are from Washington!

I broke the record for longest time taken to cross the pipe. I'll talk about it later.

We've been trying to use the word "hankerin" as much as humanly possible.

Waking up yesterday morning and trying to get down from the top bunk, I smashed my head against against the ceiling fan going top velocity. The bump on my head swelled up almost exactly like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Whenever anyone asked about it, I said either my companion hit me or it was a 'possum attack.

Spiritual Thought:

We watched this video at zone meeting.
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1101417665001

And then we talked about what it means to do what Jesus would do.

And then I thought about John 10:11-15
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

So what would Jesus do?

Think about that one for next time. Love you dawgs.

Elder Dylan Young

September 2, 2014: We Went to the Zoo!

September 2, 2014

First order of business:

WE WENT TO THE ZOO!!!

We almost didn't go, even though the zone leaders promised me we would before I left

Brownsville. I tried to stage a coup and rally the rest of the zone against me through a series of propaganda texts, but no one was on my side, so our apartment just went by ourselves.

One of these pictures is a sloth and a monkey and the other one is me with my new companion. Try to guess which is which!

Next order of business: I got a call saying I was gonna train! Yikes! I'm pregnant! I'm a father! But then it turns out I was just gonna go finish training Elder Lindsay, so I'm just a step-dad. I'm here now in Hidalgo, and living with my good friend Elder Christiansen. Although my stay in Brownsville was brief, I shall never forget the memories we made and the bonds of friendship we forged. Here's our district being studs:

So much has happened this week before me leaving, I don't even know what to talk about. Even outside of the zoo, we saw a wide variety of native South Texan wildlife I hadn't seen before, such as a bunny and a raccoon. They were both lying dead on the road, of course, but como quiera.

We found a super awesome guy named Ezekiel. He stopped drinking a few months ago and is super willing a ready to get closer to God in order to turn his life around. Not only that, but he understood the Restoration perfectly the first time around and loves the Book of Mormon. He also makes us pollo asado all the time. Unfortunately, he is moving outside of the area. Fortunately, so did I, so I don't have to be bitter about it. Elder Sessions gets to watch the other Elders work with him.

Spiritual thought for the week:

Doctrine & Covenants 4:2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the service‍ of God, see that ye serve‍ him with all your heart, might, mind and strength,that ye may stand blameless‍ before God at the last day.

What do you think it means to serve God with ALL of your heart? Where are your desires? What do you love more? How about ALL of your might? ALL your mind? ALL your strength? As missionaries, that's what's expected from us. And as members, the time given to fulfilling callings and sharing the gospel should require ALL of it as well.

LOL! (meaning: Lots Of Love!)

<3 div="" dylan="" elder="" young="">

August 25, 2014: Wazzaaaaaaaap???

August 25, 2014: Wazzaaaaaaaap???

For the entirety of this email, imagine you're watching me as a little blue hologram coming out of R2-D2's little projector.

I have learned this week that Malt-O-Meal brand Golden Puffs cereal make your pee smell like Golden Puffs cereal. I imagine the name brand cereals General Mill's Golden Crisp and Kellog's Honey Smacks have the same effect. But don't take my word for it! Try it yourself!

This past week, the Harlingen stake had it's "Mini Missionary" program. All of the youth who wanted to sign up went and worked with the missionaries all day every day from Monday to Saturday, from studies 'till planning every night. It was a blast. We had a blast. We got Ezekiel and David, and switched off every other day. Here we are looking good.

Ezekiel, a shy kid, but he opened up and got a lot more confident talking to people as time went on. David doesn't speak a lick of Spanish, which confused everyone we talked too. (Because I do and I'm super flipping white even though I've tanned a lot the past few weeks). David also may or may not have got me all caught up on the latest Zelda news.

During zone meeting this week, Elder Paulsen (who goes home in 9 days) said something that really struck me. Missionary work shouldn't be like our day job. It shouldn't be routine. We're here changing lives. They had three of the mini missionaries go up and share their testimonies, and one of the guys, a recent convert, brought the Spirit so strong into the room with just his simple, unshakable faith in the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. All of the fancy rhetoric and teaching skills in the world don't hold a match to pure faith. We as missionaries, and really everyone, needs to slow down every once in a while and look inside, to remind ourselves what it means to say "I know this is true." What does your testimony means to you? How much do you value your testimony?

I love you all like Winnie the Pooh loves his honey. And I mean it.

<333 div="">

Elder Dylan Young

More silliness!

You can find shoes in the strangest places!

August 18, 2014: Buzz Lightyear to Star Command

August 18, 2014: Buzz Lightyear to Star Command

This week we've been talking and singing songs like the guy from Pearl Jam.

"Mine eyes have seen the glahry of the coming of the Loarhd, He is trampling out His vintage wheah His grapes of wrath are starhd..."

"Pear Jam Guy, why to talk like that?"

"What do yah meahn?"

It's extra entertaining in Spanish.

We don't have too much to report this week. All of the district and zone leaders went to McAllen for 3 days for a super training, so Elder Sessions and I worked with Elder Berger down here and covered our both areas. Which meant we got a car! Whee! And also we got fed a ton! Yipee!

We've had a lot of little miracles this week, always right when we needed them to boost our animo. Por ejemplo, we had a church tour set up but the investigator never came. :( But then, we stopped by her house later that day and found her, and she asked if we still wanted to go do it, so we went to the church and for some reason there were tons of members there (some primary activity or something) so we had a great tour! And she brought her cousin from Matamoros (Mexico)! Yaaaaay!!!

Since the border fence doesn't go right along the river, we got to visit members on the other side this week with Elder Berger. Craaaaazzyyyyyy.

So this week we'll be getting mini missionaries. What they do down here is for a week ever summer, youth from 16 on up can sign up to go down to another town/ward for a week and work with the missionaries almost 24/7. They stay with members, but they study with us in the mornings and everything. With us being the only missionaries in the zone without a car, our mini missionary(s) will be getting the short straw. Except that we're super special awesome so it's actually a pretty long straw.

Sprichual though: just watch this video.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001

Sorry I have no pictures this week. I'll try not to be a failure next time.

With all my love plus some,

Elder Dylan Young

August 11, 2014: Brownsville

August 11, 2014

Brownsville is kinda like the bottom of the ocean. . .
There are a lot of bizarre life forms and most of it has yet to be discovered.

It's nice living again with other missionaries who have a car, we're no longer a pain in the but for people to come pick up.

We found a lot of cool people this week who were interested in the message of the Restoration, but as it happens fairly often here in south Texas, we could never find any of them again. That's kind of where we are right now, but it's ok! The good news is we hopefully gave them a good impression of the Church and what we believe.

A super cool family sat us down and fed us hamburgers and ice cream. We talked for a long time. Unfortunately, they didn't really want to listen to the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They just talked about... well, pretty much everything other than that. But some day. :)

On Saturday I went and worked with Elder Berger in his area. We visited a man they call "Mushroom Man" because he carves wooden mushrooms for the missionaries. He's an old, German, Lutheran guy who somehow found his way down here. I was so used to talking to old, Mexican, Catholic people I was kind of off my game. Too bad I didn't get a mushroom though. :(

I found "Me Drive"

The Spiritual thought for the week is gonna be in 1st Nephi chapter 15. It goes like this:

7 And they said: Behold, we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken concerning the natural branches of the olive tree, and also concerning the Gentiles.
8 And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?
9 And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.
10 Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?
11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.

Sometimes we feel hopeless like we don't know what we're doing or don't understand what's going on. It's so easy to forget that the Lord will teach us all things. He wants us to understand all things. If we don't receive instant revelation, it's because God knows we already know what to do, and he wants us to trust ourselves.

As always, I wish you all from the deepest recesses of my heart the best of weeks.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Dylan Young.

P.S: An actual conversation I had:

Me - "En que le ha ayudado Dios en su vida?"

Lady - "Catolicos."

(Translate it. It's hilarious.)

I know my accent's not the best, but you could pay at least a little bit more attention, por favor. :/

August 4, 2014: And on Garbage day, The Streets Smell Even Worse!

There's no such thing as a normal day in Brownsville. We moved out again and the new Sisters took our apartment, while we're staying with some other missionaries in our district. Hopefully we get to stay here somewhat permanently this time. This transfer is only five weeks long, though, instead of six, so no matter what my sense of homelessness and lack of belonging continues.

Speaking of which, a cool homeless guy named Leo showed up at church today. We hung out with him in the lobby for two hours instead of going to class while he waited to get to talk with bishop. He gave us lots of life advice, and we gave him lots of gospel advice. It was good times for all.

Here's our zone on the last p-day of the transfer. Good times.

What are those giant bubble things? That is bubble soccer. It's incredibly fun. And unbelievably exhausting. You basically run around carrying a surprisingly heavy personal oven in the south Texas sun for 15 minutes, slamming into each other as hard as you can.

We don't have any other major news to report this week. We managed to give a pamphlet to a Jehovah's Witness. That was exciting. A random family off the street gave us hamburgers and ice cream. That was sweet. Too bad we couldn't actually teach them (They're staying with their stubborn mother in law for the next few months.) We were teaching one dude and it was going pretty well, but then suddenly his mom called him in and he just walked away. No closure, no return appointment or anything. We were dumbfounded.

I did hear that over in La Joya, my last companion Elder Pope got trapped in someone's house while a shootout went down next door. The guy had some people hostage, two cops were shot, and they eventually had to bring in a tank to resolve the situation. They moved all of the missionaries out of the area after that (also the bishop really didn't like missionary work in general, which is a huge shame).

When crazy stuff and tragedies go down, the scriptures and the gospel give us hope.

As Christ said,

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

And as Paul explained,

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Sometimes it doesn't make sense how we could possible keep up a positive attitude when everything goes wrong. Sometimes it doesn't really make sense, but God truly brings peace to the hearts and minds of the true disciples of Jesus Christ. We don't understand everything now, and many things we won't understand till after this life. But we can trust in the Lord and believe that everything will be made right.

<33333

Elder Dylan Young

July 28, 2014: Sunrise, sunset. . . Sunrise, sunset

Another six weeks have come and gone. Admittedly, it seems like a lot longer than that, due to all of the crazy moves and changes. But this next transfer I'm sure will fly past I'm sure.

Here's our beautiful district, together for the last time

The good news is, I'm not getting transferred for once. Well, kind of. They're cutting our area in half and giving half of it to some Sister Missionaries. They also get our apartment, and we're moving in with some other Elders. Their apartment is like 8 miles away from our area, and there's no word yet on us getting a car, so we have a bit of a commute on the bikes. But it's all good! Even if the Sisters are getting all of our favorite members, the Lord knows what he's doing. We'll just have to find some new even more favorite-est members to bring to church.

There's not too much to report. On Friday we had a ward Family Home Evening and we played lots of silly minute-to-win-it games.

On Sunday I gave a talk about suggestions and ways that we can all as members reach out to help others come unto Christ. Every member a missionary, right?

Spiritual thought: I was skimming through some Ensign magazines looking for cool pictures to put on our daily planners when I found this sweet quote:

If your premortal self could send you a letter, it would probably say something like this: "Dear self, please remember that your greatest desire is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ."

Do we understand who we are? And do we understand who we can become? I know for sure that each and every one of us really has "divine potential." We each chose to come to earth to follow God. So, if you want to feel real, eternal happiness, just do that. Follow him. Be happy. :)

I love you all so very very much.

<3 Elder Dylan J. Young

Here we find a peacock in it's natural habitat: Some Mexican's back yard.