"Walk with gratitude in your hearts" - President Gordon B. Hinckley

Hola!!

     This week has been really fun! And kind of hard, but you kind of forget about the hard parts as the week goes on. Everything is good here in California! The weather is usually up in mid 70's and its just perfect. But I did hear that it gets a little hot during summer. There is only 2 weeks left in the transfer, but they usually keep the greenies in their training areas for two transfers so I will most likely stay in San Juan. Which is okay, I like it here.
    
Happy Birthday Janaye!!!! I sent you a letter and I think it should be arriving this week.. I'm still not sure about how long it takes for things to get here and there.
    
A miracle that I wanted to share with you this week happened yesterday. My companions and I have not been having that much success with the people who live in La Zanja. They don't keep commitments and it is so irritating because they don't understand the blessings that Heavenly Father would give them if they would just take some time to pray or read their scriptures or come to church! But this week we focused on inviting people to come to church, and when I woke up yesterday morning, I had a very strong impression that I needed to fast for 9 specific people that we have been teaching, and in my prayer when I opened my fast, I asked Heavenly Father if he could soften the hearts of those people that they can see the importance of coming to church, and help build that desire in them. I then went throughout my Sunday morning, accompanying my companions to several Zone Leader meetings and what not, and when we got to church, every single one of the people I mentioned in my prayer, except for one, was there in the chapel. And they all stayed all 3 hours!! After the meeting, they expressed to My companions and I how much they enjoyed it, and how they are excited to come next week.
     
Sometimes I feel like my words can't express the way I feel very well, and this might be one of those times, but I know that The Lord hears prayers. And I am so very grateful for that. When I got home from church, I went into my room and fell on the floor and thanked our Heavenly Father for hearing me. I am so thankful for this gospel, and the hope it brings. During this Thanksgiving time, let us remember to give thanks, not only for the temporal things, but the things that are so infinite and Eternal. Let us to remember to be grateful for The Saviors Love and His Atonement. Remember that without him, we do nothing. But with Him, and because of him, We can live forever with our Father in Heaven. Thank Him for your loved ones, thank Him for your friends and families.

"Let a spirit of Thanksgiving guide and bless your days and your nights. Work at it. You will find it will yield wonderful results".
-Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

I love you all, and I wish you a great week!

Elder Dallin Fuell

THY WILL BE DONE!

Hola Mi Familia!

This week has been fun and hard! I'm so happy to be apart of the Lord's work. My companions tell me that my Spanish is coming along, but I'm having a hard time seeing any progress. We've been teaching a man named Martin, he only speaks Spanish and he's really nice. He has been super receptive to our message because his Mother just passed away. He quit drinking coffee and he's making some real progress, so I am very excited about that.

     I went on exchanges with the District Leader on Tuesday. His name is Elder Wieler and he is from Georgia! He is super cool and he loves basketball, so we talked about that a lot haha. He is probably one of the most obedient missionaries I've ever met, and because of that, he has a lot of success. I really look up to him. During exchanges, some Jehovah's witnesses knocked on the door of my companions in San Clemente, hahaha and my companions tried to share the happy message of the restoration with them... but sadly, they were not very receptive to the message. I heard it was pretty funny.

    This week, I've been thinking a lot about faith.  I realized, that sometimes we don't exercise enough faith, or we exercise faith in the way that we want. In a talk by David A. Bednar, He was describing how a young man had cancer and he needed a blessing. And He told David A. Bednar that he had sufficient faith to be healed, and David A. Bednar responded, "Do you have the faith to not be healed"? Do we have enough faith to accept whatever the Father's will might be? Already, in these two months that I have been out, I have seen that when we accept the Father's will and commit to, "Thy will be done", we become more like the Savior. There are times that I wonder why the Lord wanted me to serve a mission, there are times when I wonder why I accepted my call, there are times when I wonder why we have to go visit "just one more house" even though he's just going to yell and throw a beer bottle at us. And it's because "Thy will be done". This Church is true. Put your faith in the Lord, accept his will. The trials we face are what moves us from YOUR Comfort Zone to HIS Miracle Zone. I love my mission so far, and I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. I miss you and I love you. I hope everyone has an amazing week!

Con Amor,

Elder Dallin Fuell

Success!!

Hola!

Wow, this week has been awesome!! Well, first of all, we had two baptisms this week!!! It was really cool to be there. They were both yesterday night. One was a man named Rueban, and he was homeless and the most humble man I've ever met. He is as Elder Holland described in his General Conference talk a couple weeks ago, "Poor in heart and poor in spirit". But he will be a great member of the church, and I can feel his faith. The other person was a lady named Nafis, and she is an awesome example of faith because she was living with her Boyfriend, Imner, who is kind of a punk, and when she heard about the Law of Chastity, she told him, "Marry me or get out". hahahaha it was great! So, he moved out, and she got baptized! Their baptismal service last night was a great reminder of why i'm hear, BUT the ultimate goal is the temple, so we'll keep working on that.
   

 Another crazy thing happened yesterday! We were sitting in Ward Council and one of the speakers turned out to be sick............. SO, Bishop Hennings, (Who is the coolest guy ever, he is just basically a surfing hippy), looks at me and asks me to speak in sacrament meeting.... in 5 minutes.. in Spanish. I accepted and remembered all the times when people told me that this would happen to me on my mission. BUT, I just thought, "Well, sometimes you just gotta go for it". So that's what I did, and I hope gave an awesome talk. I just read Alma 22:16-18, and talked about faith and acting on faith, acting with diligence, and acting as the Savior would. People kept telling me that my accent is perfect and that I don't sound like a greenie at all! But I think that is from talking in a Spanish accent with Joe all the time haha.

I'm so happy to be serving the Lord. It is not easy. At all. It takes 100% effort, every waking moment. And motivation often doesn't last... but neither do showers, that's why we recommend it daily. Just remembering that this is my life now, this is where the Lord wants me, needs me, and called me, helps me to keep motivated. I've been thinking a lot about what makes a missionary successful. And I've decided that you need to:
1. Understand who called you.
2. Know why you're here.
3. Understand Urgency
4. Be teachable
5. Love the people.
6. Don't be stoppable.

7. Go to work.
8. Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.

These are things I have to work on everyday. But I see these qualities in my Companions. And they are helping me become so much better then I ever thought I could be.
   Well, that is my letter this week. I love you all, and I hope everyone is healthy, safe, and happy.

Con muchisimo amor,

Elder Dallin Fuell

A place called Top of the World

California is beautiful

Just down from our Church

"Dont just watch the game"

I'll get to why that is the title of my letter in a little bit. But first of all: HELLO!! I made it to California safely and I love it here. It really is paradise on earth. I have two companions and they are the zone leaders. Their names are Elder Lefevre, from North Ogden Utah and he has been out for 14 months and his Spanish is excellent, and Elder Corcus, and he is from Bolivia, He was called English speaking but I guess that the Lord needs him Spanish right now to help me out, and He has been out for almost a year. We live in San Clemente, which rules because its sooo beautiful, but my Area is in San Juan Capistrano in a little group of Spanish speaking apartement complexes called "La Zanja" which translates to "The trench". The people there are very poor and they are not in good circumstances, but everyone there is aware of who the missionaries are and we just kind of go around teaching people and doing service and what not. I love it. My Spanish is terrible. I cant understand a thing that anybody is saying. But I've been reading in Spanish and praying in Spanish and that is helping a lot. My companions are good teachers and I really like them. They always tell me that they love my energy haha. Our church building is ON THE BEACH. haha not really, but you can see it from there. Its awesome. Im in a Spanish ward, which is good, and I love my zone. Okay, The reason for the title for this email is because It has been going through my mind every day since I showed up here. Dad always used to tell me this when I was playing basketball and I would get distracted and stop playing. In missionary work, You can soooo easily get distracted and stop trying. I have already seen and met several missionaries who have just been "watching". So now, that advice that Dad used to give me, applies to more then just basketball. I don't want to be a missionary who slows down, gets distracted, or stops. People keep telling me that my energy will run out and Im just this pumped because Im a greeny. But I know that's not going to be the case because my Dad taught me to not just watch the game, but be a player. And not just any player, but a game changer. I love missionary work because missionary work is love in action. I love and miss all of you! I hope you are doing well and you are in my prayers every day. My address that you can send mail and packages to is " 23 Lake Rd, Irvine California." Its pretty simple! I love you all! Con muchisimo amor, Elder Dallin L. Fuell