Elder Stanley Scott Dye's Homecoming!!

Elder Dye's whole family surprised him upon his arrival home.  Yes that is 5 sisters, and their husbands, and the 10 nieces and nephews.

This little one was born 2 weeks after Elder Dye was called on his mission to Houston Texas East Mission.

Newest nephew to welcome Elder Dye home.

Do you think he is loved?? YES!

A Week Full of Blessings!

Letter #101 (last one!)
August 3, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

This last week of my mission has been full of blessings. We had the opportunity to first meet Brian, the son of Hermana Galvez, and he was there pushing her along in preparation for her baptism. She had her interview on Thursday, which was going longer and longer...she was in there for about an hour, but she passed and did just fine. She was then baptized on Saturday, but we were extremely nervous until she actually got in the font and got immersed. The water heater in the Baytown building works quite a bit better than most of the other chapels, so the water at first was blazing hot. we opened the accordion doors and it was all fogged up. We had put in cold water starting at around halfway, but it was still just way too hot. We ended up turning on the cold water again, and Brian got in and unplugged the font to let out some hot water and circulate the water, but it was still too hot for his mom. We were doing that for about 10 minutes, then an idea came to my head...ice. We ended up running into the kitchen while everyone else was singing hymns and bearing testimony and grabbing the 3 bags of ice that have been in the freezer for weeks. Even with the ice we had to wait a little longer, then it was finally cool enough to get Vilma in the water. Then everything proceeded as scheduled and was very spiritual, but I could tell that Satan wasn't happy that Hermana Galvez was finally getting baptized. The Hermana's and we had some investigators there at the baptism, we had Andrea show up, and the Hermana's had Modesto show up. Afterwards, everyone was having a great time with the refreshments and each of the investigators were talking with a lot of the members. Then the next day, Sunday was great, we had the confirmation of Hermana Galvez by Brian and we were able to participate. I just felt the love of the Lord so strongly after the confirmation and felt really glad that the Lord blessed me with this opportunity my last weekend.

Sunday, after church there was a child's baptism as well and after attending that, we went to eat with the Galvez family, and then we were blessed with 3 lessons and 2 new investigators starting from 6:30pm and on.

I'll see you all tomorrow (I hope)!
I love you guys,
Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Reflection-- Giving it My All

Letter #100
July 26, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

It has been in the 90s and 100s these past 2.5 weeks and it has been pretty humid, but I think Texas broke me, it doesn't feel hot anymore, I just am sweating a lot... We are still without a car and biking a lot, just waiting for news on the car.

This last week has been really amazing, rough at times, but amazing overall. We were blessed with so many miracles that I can't even count them all, but they all led to the progression of our investigators! I personally have been doing a lot of reflection this past week on my service in the mission and especially how I am finishing it, and so far I have found a lot of peace and comfort and I am determined to keep going strong until the end. I don't know if I told you this before, but for a long time in the beginning of my mission I was looking at everyone else and the success they were having and looking at myself and the lack of success that I had seen. It was really a struggle and I felt like I wasn't doing enough and I felt like I was doing something wrong. I had come to the conclusion that I really didn't care how many people I baptized, I was just going to leave every area I worked in in a better state than I found it and make it so they could baptize within the transfer after my departure, which I feel like wasn't the best thing, but it kept me going strong and pushing as hard as I could. I have always been determined to baptize, but I was struggling inside. I remember clearly one night that I was on an exchange with Elder Anderson, one of my former companions, in Broadway, we were talking and he brought that concern up. He really motivated me that night to be the best missionary I could be and that the success would come in the Lord's due time. Then shortly thereafter, president moved me into Liberty and told me that he put me there because he knew I could baptize there, and I did. I am extremely grateful for that inspiration that he received to have me put in Liberty, and now here. Here in Baytown, on Saturday, we should be baptizing Hermana Galvez, 4 years after she originally started investigating the church, 2 years after her son went out on his mission, 4 days after her son comes home, and 3 before I go home. Something I also realized in my reflecting as well as talking with Elder Syrie this last Preparation Day, I have played a role in the baptisms of many people. If I remember correctly, I have played the role of finding and/or teaching at least 12 people who have been baptized, when I originally felt like I wasn't doing anything. Now the Lord is blessing us with another baptism in this area. I feel so blessed and I now realize what the Lord means when he says in D&C 18:15-16:

"15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

This week was great though, we did a lot of finding, knocking, etc, but we didn't find much luck in that. We did find out that a less active that basically ran away from home for 2 weeks came home, and he is still really desiring to come back to church and activities and everything. He came to church and had a great time in our Branch Conference learning from President Howard, the Stake President. We also got back in with a couple of our investigators, Luis and Ida, who are already friends with a couple in our branch, we were able to bring over the couple and teach the family about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and answer some of their questions. They are really starting to think about our teachings and they are really interested in learning more. Their desire to follow the restored gospel is really growing! We also have had a lot of success with Ulises and Andrea, who are very curious about the church and the teachings. Those two couples are the only two that I know that are so curious that they have been wondering where God came from. Obviously we have those answers, but we have had to simply explain the plan God has for us and help them come to the conclusion for themselves. We have also had success with Mario and he came to church again! He still isn't reading, but he is taking steps in the right direction.

I love you guys,
Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Multiple Blessing from the Lord--you just need to look

Letter #99
July 19, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

First, missionary work with ipads isnt too much different, you can use them to share videos and pictures and stuff right now, but the main changes are yet to come, and I doubt they will arrive while I'm here. They will begin to use them as their planners and records for the people they meet and teach, and they will eventually begin to use facebook and skype to teach and find. I haven't even bothered carrying my ipad with me while we have been on bikes because I see no point in having it when Elder Hepworth has his and I can't do anything with it.

This week was very interesting and a little bit difficult, but we were able to find success regardless of the fact that we struggled a little. I have been taking care of my bike and made it almost two years without any problems other than flat tires, but two weeks before I go home, on Saturday, my axle broke, but we were able to catch it soon enough that Elder Hepworth and I were able to tear my bike wheel apart and replace the axle with one from a spare wheel we had. That took a little bit of time on Saturday, but we were able to still get out and talk with multiple people and even teach 4 people, who sadly live in a different area and don't exactly understand the importance of our message.

We had multiple blessings from the Lord, including Hermana Galvez finally being able to come back to church, Mario finally coming, and Andrea and Ulises coming back home from Mexico and still being super prepared. We were extremely excited to see each of them start progressing again. We have been working hard with each of them and they always had little things holding them back from being progressing.

We found some success contacting this week, we found a man that is super prepared and has already read from the Book of Mormon and he just has to gain a testimony of it. We also found a really awesome woman during Hour of Power and her only concern is that her husband might not be quite as receptive. We finally got to get in with a woman named Beatriz, who we found on exchanges with Elder Dennis, but we were never able to get in with her, and a man named Jose, who was a referral from the English Elders and just happens to be really interested in learning more.

The district in all has been doing well, we are all just struggling with by having a small teaching pool and trying to find new people. We have some really amazing people that are super close to baptism and should be baptized pretty soon.

I love you guys,
Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Teachings of Christ and then applying them..brings us closer to God

Letter #98
July 12, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

This last week has been a bit different for us than in weeks past, and it was quite interesting. Monday while we were at dinner with a member, somebody backed into our car and left a few dents in it, so when we got out and saw it, we had to call Elder Swank. He ended up taking the car to repair it on Tuesday, so we had a week full of biking, which was kind of good because we were having a hard time getting in with investigators, so it got us out contacting a lot more. We had a rough time finding people to talk to for the first few days, but then we saw a ton of miracles in contacting on the weekend. From Friday through the end of Sunday we contacted a total of 94 people, which was amazing! We got a good number of potentials that are pretty interested and we were able to set up appointments for a few of them.

We had the wonderful opportunity to continue working with Hermana Galvez, who wants to be baptized on the 1st of August, but we are facing problems in getting her to church. We have found that we probably need to change our teaching style in order to help her better understand the importance of church. So far we have taught her the majority of the lessons and we are thinking of ways to be able to help her more.

We have also been working with Mario, who sadly won't be able to make his date for the 25th of July.  We have to go in there and talk to him a little more about what his desires are.  The pathway to becoming a member of Christ's church does include reading about Christ (thru scripture reading) and attending church each week.  He seems to be willing to learn, but we have to gauge whether he just wants to be doing a "bible study" or an actual application of the teachings of Christ.  Only by applying Christ's teaching can we make the changes, and stick with those changes that bring us to Christ.  Satan uses procrastination as a tool, so we just need to help Mario to make and keep decisions that will take him to Christ.

We are excited to pick up on teaching Ulises and Andrea again because they are finally back from their trip to Mexico! We have a lesson already set up with them with the Branch Mission Leader, Hermano Valadez, who, along with his wife.  Looking forward to this visit.

The district has been working hard despite the setbacks that always come. The Hermanas have had a hard time finding new investigators, but they keep going out there and working hard. All of us have found that we have been kind of falling into a ' contacting' rut, but, with Elder Dennis help and advice, we will put into practice more variety into our contacting...making it fun and interesting by using the Gospel Art Book. We found a good amount of success in finding potentials as we used it on exchanges and I have committed the Hermanas to do the same.

This week we have interviews with President Drake on Wednesday, making it so I will be interviewed by him twice in the span of about 3 weeks.

I love you guys,
Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Making Righteous Choices brings Happiness

Letter #97
July 5, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

Hey guys,

This last week was a little difficult, but we pushed through and tried to make the best of it. We sadly weren't able to meet with many of our investigators until Wednesday evening or Thursday. Andrea and Ulises weren't available because they went to Mexico for vacation until the 11th, Mario was busy with work and we were continually trying to get in with him, and Hermana Galvez usually has us come over on Wednesday, but she wasn't going to be available. We still saw many miracles regardless of the fact that we had those struggles. 

Instead of doing the normal Hour of Power and just knocking, we had the feeling that we needed to visit Mario, so we said a prayer went up and knocked the door, no answer, we knocked again, no answer, and again, no answer. We started walking back to the car to go to the place where we originally determined as our Hour of Power spot for last week, but then he opened the door and called out to us. We had a really amazing lesson with Mario in which he confirmed the baptismal date for July 25th. We expressed the importance of him coming to church and reading and praying, and he decided that he was going to make church a priority. We were then able to get in with him on Saturday and speak with him about church and read with him because he sadly didn't read, but we definitely saw a difference in him after that lesson during the Hour of Power. He sadly got called into work on Sunday, but he called us in the morning saying that we could come over today (Monday). We have plans to finally get a member over with us, which has been nearly impossible due to our inability to set up appointments with Mario.

We also saw some incredible progress with an 18 year old less active that we have been working with, Ricardo, and he finally came back to church! Last week we felt like we needed to give him a copy of Preach My Gospel to help him study the scriptures better, which we did, but sadly he hasn't studied. We can't really blame him though, his mom took away his glasses with the hope that it would prevent him going out and getting into bad things, which ironically, has prevented him from doing the good things instead...oh well. We met with him a few times and he got his siblings to go to Mutual this week, then he came to church and we were able to convince him to go into the youth class instead of Gospel Principles, so he would actually learn something that we weren't already teaching him. We talked with him after church and he suddenly got his fire back! He is really excited for everything again.  He just needs to realize that the excitement he feels is because of the spirit that can finally dwell with him.   I am super excited for him!

We have seen progress in some other people as well, but it has just been a bit slower than with Mario, Hermana Galvez, Ricardo, and Andrea and Ulises. We also saw a ton of finding miracles over the weekend, we were surprised by how nice people were on July 4th.  They were all willing to talk a little, but they were almost all busy preparing for family gatherings and wouldn't sit down and talk. We were however able to set up quite a few appointments for this week to teach all of these people.

I love you,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Seeing the Miracles That Blessed our Lives

Letter #96
June 29, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

We had an amazing week, but it was really hot. We had a mission-wide thing where we bike from the time we leave the apartment until around 5ish, and I am really brown because of it, it was probably mid to high 90s, at one point the thermometer read 103, but I'm not sure if it was... Yesterday we had a huge storm come in and it knocked out the lights at church until 10:20, so we only had Sacrament meeting, then most people left, but we were stuck talking to people and the lights came on for the English ward luckily.

This week was full of miracles, sure there were a few disappointments, but the Lord blessed us more than we deserve. This week we were continuing working with Andrea and her husband, Ulises, and they are doing AMAZING! We were talking with our Branch Mission Leader, Brother Valadez, about some of their concerns. We invited him to our lesson with them Wednesday, sat down, then he and his wife took it away. They were talking for about 20 minutes before starting our lesson, and in that time they introduced themselves, made them feel comfortable. We introduced the first topic we were going to talk about, then they just started teaching. They proceeded to teach the rest of the lesson, we literally only introduced the topic and testified, then we had to interrupt them because our hour was up and we had another appointment to go to. The Valadez family ended up staying for about another 1.5 hours just talking answering questions and concerns. Member "missionaires" are so influential because they can connect with those investigating in the  area in which they live. We missionaries are only in an area for 'so' long, and then are transferred out.  Members in the area are there to stay, so connections are so important.   The Valadez family then invited Andrea, Ulises, and their children over for a Family Home Evening for Friday. We opted not to go to the FHE, but we asked the members if they could talk about fasting, prayer, and scripture study during the FHE.  They did exactly that and then helped them learn a little about the temple because the Valadez family is going to be sealed in early August. Also during the FHE they talked about Baptism and some of their concerns as well as how they can prepare themselves. Andrea and Ulises ended up staying until about 10 or 10:30pm and were surprised by how fast the time went. They are now like best friends with each other. We ended up going over on Saturday to give their baby boy a blessing of health and took Brother Valadez and he gave a beautiful blessing, and Sunday when Andrea and the kids came to church, the baby looked a lot healthier.

Elder Hepworth and I were talking about the branch and expressed to each other how we can make the whole branch like the Valadez family because they worked miracles with this family and now they are basically doing the work (with us just helping them and supporting them). One of the reasons I mention this is because Brother Valadez also talks with his co-workers about the gospel and invites them to church, one of which decided to come to church yesterday and we were able to teach him a little! We are working with the Hermanas to make plans of working with the branch to make them all like this one family. We were thinking about doing a couple of Preach My Gospel classes to introduce it the branch, and then help them know how to study the manual, so they can prepare themselves to help us and their nonmember friends.

We have also been working with Hermana Galvez, and she is progressing really well.  She no longer has problems with the Word of Wisdom, and has no problems with the Law of Chastity, nor the 10 Commandments. This last week we taught her about keeping the Sabbath day holy and helped her understand some of the things we should and shouldn't do on Sunday. She is really doing well, she is just waiting until her son, Brian, gets home from his mission on July 27th.

We are really seeing the work bloom in our area, we are working with Andrea and Ulises towards the baptismal date of July 18th, Hermana Galvez is working for being baptized August 1st, and we were able to set a baptismal date with our investigator, Mario, for July 25th. We just need to confirm Mario's baptismal date, and pray and fast for Andrea and Ulises to get the divorce miraculously expedited  so they can get married and baptized for their date because that is honestly the only thing holding them back. It would be nice if you kept each of them in your prayers.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Following the Spirit in Finding a Lost Sheep

Letter #95
June 22, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

Hey guys, you all had a nice week as it sounds, but it sounds like it has been pretty hot in Utah, it has been in the 80s and 90s here, but it has been raining a ton, and I mean A TON, Houston has already broken records for the most rain in a year, and it is still the first half of the year... We can't help but think that with this weather we will eventually get a hurricane this year, but the question is, will I still be in the mission or not? I kinda want that experience, but I don't at the same time, especially knowing that Mom would be freaking out ;). By the way Dad, Happy Father's Day! I just wanted to send you a picture, so I had Bro. Gálvez take/send the picture.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

This last week was filled with many miracles as well as disappointments. We saw success with mainly Andrea and her husband, Ulises, and Hermana Gálvez, the nonmember mother of two member boys, one of which is in Peru on a mission. We found Andrea and Ulises last Sunday and taught them about the Restoration, then this week we went back there with our branch president and his wife, the Mendoza's, to teach them about the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation, but only Andrea was there. While we were talking about the purpose of this life, we mentioned baptism a second time because they had already accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 18th of July, and she just opened up completely, telling us that she and Ulises weren't actually married, but they were already working on getting Ulises divorced so they can get married. She expressed their desire to be baptized, but their desire to be married first, which made us really happy. We were able to help them the next time we went over to because our Branch Mission Leader talked with us about how he had gone through the same situation and he wanted to refer them to the lawyer that he had used to be able to get divorced to be able to be baptized. Andrea and Ulises were thrilled to hear about the help that they could get and are progressing nicely, they just weren't able to make it to church due to work and a sick child. They have even mentioned that they don't drink or smoke, just a little coffee here and there. We have plans to talk to them about prayer and fasting this next week so we can fast for a miraculously fast divorce process.

We were extremely excited to be able to talk with Hermana Gálvez about a date for baptism this week because she finally found out when her son is getting home from his mission! We went over to visit her with the Relief Society president, and her husband, because they LOVE Hermana Gálvez. We were able to talk to her about the Word of Wisdom because that was supposedly one of her biggest issues. (she used to drink coffee, but when we asked her if she had any problems with any of the forbidden substances, she said she was fine with all of them, she even explained how she only drinks water, juice, and the occasional cup of milk. though water, juice and milk are all okay:) She is really prepared to be baptized--she just needs to continue reading and praying. Her son, Brian, is coming home on the 27th of July, so we planned on inviting her to be baptized on the 1st of August when we went over for dinner on Saturday for her other son, Justin's, birthday, but they had company so we didn't feel comfortable extending the invitation with them there.  Instead, on Sunday when we stopped by to give a couple of ties to Justin for his birthday, we made the invitation and she accepted! We now just have the task of continually following up and helping her learn the rest of the stuff needed for being baptized. She had asked what the benefits of being baptized were, so we got to teach her a little about the Gift of the Holy Ghost, then she remembered her sons talking about the temple and being able to go inside, so we talked about baptisms for the dead and how they are similar to what she was going to do. She has a lot of good questions, and we are really looking forward to helping her address them and gain a stronger testimony.

So if all goes right, we should have at least 3 baptisms during this new transfer, but I am hoping for many more than that! I am desiring to finish what I have started, and do it the right way, giving my 110%! This last week was great for us in the fact that we had more lessons and more contacts than all of the other weeks, and we saw so many miracles. We were able to follow the Spirit in finding a lost sheep on Saturday, and are looking forward to helping him get back to church because he was "only kept from the [church] because he knew not where to find it!" He has a son in El Salvador preparing to serve a mission and 3 other kids and his wife, and they are all active.  He is only here in the United States for working to help his family. I felt extremely stupid when we found him because I have been feeling the need to go down that street these past few weeks and apparently his wife was asking him when he was going to go back to church and he had said he would go when the missionaries passed by and found him and gave him the address...well, we've done that now!

The branch has been growing little by little.  People have been lead to moving to Baytown, and there are now about 3 new families that have moved into the branch--soon to be more families and individuals, including this man we found. We look forward to the progress being made in the branch, and in our area. The Hermanas have been finding a lot of success as well.  They are still getting along great, and I look forward to seeing them have a lot of success this transfer.

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Feeling Blessed--The district is doing really well!

Letter #94
June 15, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

Hey guys, it seems like you all had a great week, especially Shannon getting a new house and stuff. This last week went really well and we saw a lot of success! We were able to break out of some little unproductive habits and see the blessings of doing so. This last week we found 9 new investigators because we were able to follow the spirit in what to do and where to go. We were blessed in the receiving of a referral from one of Hermana Walsh's converts in Pasadena for a man named Ulises and his wife, Andrea. On Sunday, when we were going to a different lesson, we both had the feeling of stopping by this couple's house and the Ulises was outside and was really excited to see us! It turn out that the he had gone to our church in Mexico about 2 or 3 times when he was about 12 or 13 years old. His friend from work (Hermana Walah's convert) had been talking with him and invited him to have the missionaries over and he really wanted that! He invited us right in and we were able to speak with him and his wife, sharing the message of the Restoration and it answered many of their questions, including why there are so many churches out in the world. They accepted a baptismal invitation for the 18th of July and they seem truly willing to do what is necessary to come to know the truth.

What made Sunday even better was the fact that as we were walking the long way back to the car, we saw a guy that Elder Knudsen and I contacted one of our last days together and we were able to talk to him and his mother. They invited us inside and we shared with them the message of the Restoration as well, but we sadly weren't able to commit them to a baptismal date.  We did make an attempt, and they were willing to let us come back and explain a little more about the restored authority and the Book of Mormon. When we got out of the lesson, we had no idea why the Lord suddenly decided to bless us with 4 new investigators in about an hour or hour and a half. On Saturday and Sunday, we found 7 of our 9 new investigators, and then we were blessed with 3 more on Monday. 

The district is doing really well and both of our areas saw a ton of miracles leading us to more prepared people and progress with the ones we have found already.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

So many Churches?...the need for the Restoration!

Letter #93
June 8, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

Hey guys, it sounds like you all had a great week and I am super excited for Shanny and Simon on their acquiring of a house! Thank you all for the birthday wishes and I want you to know that I got to go to a pizza buffet with my district after District Meeting on Friday and my companion paid for me as a little gift. We ended up getting cheesecake the next day at a member's home (without them knowing that my birthday was the day before), and I got some happy birthday texts from some of the members because one of the only members that I told about my birthday posted on the branch Facebook page that it was my birthday.

This week went well for us, though it was a little rough due to the difficulty of getting in with our investigators, but we tried to use our time in a good effective manner. We went out trying to find new people quite a bit and also worked with a good number of the less active members. We have been working with the ward list a lot to try to make the necessary corrections, and we have actually had a good amount of success in finding more members to work with, and the majority are part member families!

As we have been searching out new areas to go finding in, we have also found success and now we know of more places that have a good number of Hispanics that we can talk to. We have been receiving more referrals and I have even noticed that there are times that we have had good contacting miracles! 

One miracle we ended up having was just yesterday, we felt like we needed to try a family that we haven't been able to contact in a couple of weeks, so we went up to where they live. They weren't home, but we were able to talk with another investigator for a while as we helped him try to fix his lawn mower. Then, not feeling quite satisfied with that, we went over to another person we had contacted a few weeks ago. They were busy as well, but they mentioned that they would be interested in the English class we offer and said that he would try to come. That was better, but it still didn't quite feel like that was what we were needed for in that area at that time. On our way back to the car, I saw a man and a woman sitting in a couple of chairs drinking and felt like I should talk to them. We started to talk with them and they seemed really cool, but they just didn't seem too interested. I felt like I needed to ask the man why he only went to the Catholic Church when he went to church, then I felt to ask him why he thinks there are so many churches. When I asked those two questions he opened up and said how he feels that there should be just one church and that he only goes to the Catholic church because it is what his parents taught him. He and the woman asked us why there were so many churches and other things that pertain to the message of the restoration. We were basically able to teach them about the apostasy and the restoration while we were there and they seem really interested and invited us back for this next weekend!

We had a lot of other miracles, but that was our biggest one that we saw, other than us receiving a really interested member referral that we will be teaching tonight or sometime a little later this week! We had a really funny story as well from yesterday.  We were looking for members trying to make corrections to the ward list and one of the places that we tried last night was definitely not a member. We knocked on the door of where a member used to live and the man who answered the door didn't even let us say "hello" or "good evening" before he started swearing at us and screaming that we should leave saying that if we didn't leave, he would call the cops on us, which made us laugh a little as we got back in the car.  It is unfortunate that he truly doesn't know what he is missing and he will someday meet the Lord at the judgement bar of God. We both just wish he would give the gospel a chance, but he isn't and will have to take ownership of his choices at that last day. We both just see that as extra evidence that this is true because there is only true opposition against our church.

The district has been doing well, we are all kinda struggling with finding a high number of people to teach, but we are trying to pull everything back together and manage our time better (than we have in weeks' past). We are trying to work well with the people we have, and that is helping them start progressing.  Of course, there still are some obstacles in the way of getting some of them progressing, but we are moving in a positive direction.

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Working to Build Unity

Letter #92
June 1, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

Hey guys it sounds like your week was great, ours was a little hectic, we had mission conference on Tuesday and Thursday we got iPads.  Mine is just a loaner and will be returned when I go home, but it has been really helpful because we have been able to show video clips in some lessons and it really helps.

This last week was a little rough, but we were trying to make the most out of it. We ended up going through a good amount of the branch list to make corrections and to get to know more of the members. With that time taken to step back a little and assess how we can move forward with more success, we were able to set up appointments for this next week with multiple less active families that we have never met!

We were also able to make some progress with the part member family we have been working with, sadly the two kids weren't able to make it to church because they were with their father and step-mother out of town. We were able to get them to mutual on Thursday evening and we got their brother to church again.  And he was able to go to a youth fireside in the evening on Sunday, so that made us happy. Him coming to church again allowed him to set up an interview with the branch president, so he should be figuring out what all is necessary for being able to push forward and progress. We look forward to the siblings being baptized, but we will need to push back the date because we haven't been able to visit them enough.

Elder Hepworth and I are getting along great, as well as the hermanas.  We are working hard with the branch to build unity in the families and the branch. The hermanas mentioned that they had a hard time last week, but they were able to plan to be able to work more effectively and efficiently.

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Sorting out the More Prepared--Miracles come from Obedience

Letter #91
May 26, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth

Well, it sounds like you all had an exciting week and were really excited to spend time with family and now welcome the new little Pence into the family.

This last week has gone really well. Even though we weren't really able to increase the number of lessons we had, we were able to make them more effective. These past couple of weeks we have had the wonderful opportunity to work with a less active family, the Lopez/Barajas family, that is extremely prepared and "golden," in that they are just ready to come back to church.  We have had the chance to speak with the younger siblings that are not currently members of the church. The little siblings are really excited about learning and they have accepted a baptismal date for the 6th of June! And the best part is, the mother, who is a less active member, is on board, she will let them go through with it! One of the best things about this family is that they love us, we saw them almost every day last week and they were loving it, they invited us over three times, came to mutual, a branch activity, and to church! We also saw a bunch of miracles in finding new people to teach, we are still sorting out the more prepared ones from the ones just willing to listen, and not act, but we are excited for the success that is coming.

Other than that, we have just been trying to clean up the branch list and find new investigators. We have been just seeing a ton of miracles come from obedience, then the days that we aren't quite as obedient, we struggle more. I have been seeing more of a correlation between obedience/faith and the blessings the longer I've been out. I remember the time that I went on exchanges with Elder Jones when I had only been out for almost 6 months and the success that we saw, teaching about 6 lessons and finding 8 new investigators, then comparing it to Tuesday, when we were with Elder Johnson; all 5 of our set lessons worked out, 2 being with members and the other 3 with new investigators. I feel like now, more than ever, I need to be obedient because I truly want to finish my mission strong and see the success that every missionary desires.

I love you guys,
Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Making Small Changes for the Better = Greater Happiness

Letter #90
May 18, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Hepworth 

This week went very well here in Baytown with Elder Hepworth. He truly desires to work and we work in a similar way. We saw many miracles come about this past week. One of the biggest miracles was with a Less-Active family that only a few of the family members are members of the church. We went to visit Hermana Gomez, a Less-Active that Elder Knudsen and I found last week, and she referred us over to her good friend, who is also a member. We went to visit their family and found them on their way out, but they said we could come by the next day. When we went over, their son, Ricardo let us right in and instantly started crying and he started pouring out his heart and talking about all of the bad things he had gone through in the past 5 years that he hasn't been going to church. He explained that he was praying for help and then we showed up. He is ready to come back to the fold and is tired of being the cause of so much trouble and worry for his parents. He brought in his little brothers and had them listen to us and we invited them to church and an activity the branch is having. We went over the next day to give them a couple of white shirts for church and they started talking about them wanting to take the next step and change the music they listen to. We helped them with that and helped Ricardo get his suit for church, then they gave us a call at 7:40am Sunday and said that they were going to need a ride, but they were already ready for church. They had a great time at church and Ricardo brought his little siblings and a friend of theirs to church! I am excited to see where Ricardo goes with this because he keeps asking us what a mission is like and what we do as missionaries.

This week we also met two black ladies that said that they have seen Elder Hepworth before and we have no idea where or when, but he is really creeped out by it... He wants to know how they know him because neither of them knew where they had seen him before or even if it truly was him. But it was pretty funny to see his reaction.

A little bit about Elder Hepworth, he is from Idaho (making him companion #2 from one of those tiny little non-existent communities of Idaho, the first being Elder Owens from Kuna, which isn't quite as tiny, but still small)

He played football in high school and graduated and has been on his mission since June 2014.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Visiting helps with understanding and shows love

Letter #89
May 11, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Knudsen

Hey guys, it was really great being able to talk with the family yesterday and be able to talk in Spanish a little, I hope that everyone who speaks Spanish was able to understand it and translate for those who don't know any Spanish.

This week was a little rough, a good chunk of proselyting time was taken out by service both on Thursday and an unexpected need of service for the Stake President on Saturday. We weren't really able to establish contact with our different investigators, only a couple of them answered the door or the phone, and it was kinda hard because it seemed like transfers were very much distracting Elder Knudsen. We were trying to find people, but things kept coming up and we didn't use our time efficiently causing all of our numbers to plummet. I feel like we didn't use our bikes quite enough this week, but we got on them more than we have been. I am really planning on using the bikes a lot more this next transfer so we actually get out and talk with people. I also would like to be visiting more Less Active Members, Elder Knudsen was one of the people a little confused about the Less Active visits. He didn't ever want to try to visit them because we didn't have a member with us, but I hope that with visiting them we can actually help people come back into activity in the church.

Other than all of that, we actually had a really miraculous weekend apart from the Mother's Day phone call, we found multiple people that are interested in taking the lessons and we were able to get in with investigators and wish some people a happy Mother's Day. It was really amazing, we decided to stop by the house of Luz and her family, a family that is really prepared, but for some reason wasn't going to continue investigating, and we wished Luz a happy Mother's Day and she was really excited to see us and was willing to set up another appointment for this week! I am so glad that we stopped by and were able to brighten her day!

I really love it here in Baytown and I can't wait to get to know my new companion, we have the new transfer meeting today at 4pm and luckily we were able to figure out rides and stuff. This next week I should be able to tell you about my new companion. I look forward to this new transfer and what it will hold. I am going to do exactly as Dad mentioned, work as hard and effectively as I can, especially because I know my purpose out here and I know how to fulfill it. I can't say the same for when I get home :P I don't really like the feeling of all this coming to an end. I have the same amount of time left right now as I had under my belt just before Thanksgiving 2013, which isn't very long.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Our Need for the Book of Mormon

Letter #88
May 4, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Knudsen

Hey guys, this week was a little rough, we had a really hard time getting in with any of our investigators and it is starting to seem like Elder Knudsen is ready to leave Baytown, he has kinda given up on this transfer. Going back to the week, we got in with three of the investigators after multiple tries, but the rest just were really busy. Sadly Luz Silva and her daughters kind of dropped us, it seems like Luz still wants to have us come over, but her daughters don't really want to change, apparently that's the situation with them, but I have a hard time believing that to be true. The daughters seemed more interested than Luz and Luz seemed really interested herself.

We were able to teach a couple of our investigators more about the Book of Mormon and how it is important and they seem to be more interested in learning. One of them, Nery, was very hesitant with the Book of Mormon because she believes the Bible so much that "there couldn't ever be another book more correct than the Bible". We had to explain a little bit more about the Restoration of the church, but we were able to help her see the need of the Book of Mormon and she realized that she couldn't say the book isn't true if she hasn't ever read it. We were able to express how much the Book of Mormon has helped us in our lives and how it can help her in hers.

Oh yeah, and a little bit of news is that now transfers are going to be Mondays at 4pm, so the departing missionaries will be flying home on the Tuesday. I thought I should tell you now because it means I will be getting home on August 4th instead of August 5th in the case that any of you are wanting to be there for my homecoming (which I hope is all of you ;)).

Yesterday the English Elders in our area had 4 baptisms, which is kinda funny because basically 3 of them were just handed to them and they just needed to teach them a little, and get them interviewed. Which I actually had the opportunity to interview all 4 of them. I was so blessed with the opportunity to interview a woman named Vansha Gray, who actually found us about 2.5-3 weeks ago. Attached are pictures of us four Elders with her.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Learning with Time

Letter #87
April 27, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Knudsen

It is always exciting/crazy reading your emails, Shannon with her house hunting, Carolyn with her schooling endeavors, etc. It is just crazy to think that nobody is going to be living where they were the last time I visited them...

This week went pretty well, we saw a lot of miracles happen, especially as we went through the old potentials in the Area Book! We found a very prepared family, the Silva's, and there are 4 people in the family that are of age for baptism! They are all very into religion and want to grow closer to God. They accepted a baptismal date for May 23rd, and we are very excited for working with them to achieve that goal! We also found a new investigator named Ozzy.  He is very prepared and had questions that he stated nobody was able to answer except for us. He feels like the Bible went through the hands of many people in the way that the game "Telephone" works (remember the words goes from one person to the next usually changing slightly along the way). He basically knew what the apostasy was without knowing WHAT it was.

We also had exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Friday, which is always a great experience. I had the opportunity to be with Elder Johnson and learn from him as well as help him out. I have really come to love exchanges because now the Zone Leaders are more on the same page as me because we have been out the same amount of time and we can help one another. Elder Johnson and I had a really miraculous exchange, we found about 8 potential investigators for my area and we also taught the Silva family the first lesson and extended the baptismal date. We were able to meet with a less active and get to know him and boldly, but lovingly call him to repentance. I was extremely happy to see him come to church on Sunday, he responded well to the invitation.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Training....needing to go back to the basics!

Letter #86
April 20, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Knudsen

It sounds like your week was great except for the crazy weather, but we had crazy weather out here too. It was raining most of the week, then yesterday was sunny and nice outside until about 7:10pm, suddenly some menacingly dark clouds started coming in. By 7:30 the clouds covered half of the sky and it was a lot darker than it had been only minutes before. We hadn't eaten dinner, so we decided that we didn't really like the look of the skies and we were just going to go in for dinner. We checked the phone when we got home and saw that we had a text that we missed, it said that there was a tornado warning and everyone should get inside. It said that it had been seen, I will be sending my SD card home soon, and I took a few videos and a bunch of pictures of it.

Other than that, this week went really well, we were having the constant need to find more people though. We saw much success as we went contacting, we actually were able to teach 13 new people, but sadly, a couple had to be passed on to the English Elders, one was going out of town for 1-2 months to visit his father, and three decided they didn't want to hear any more. Regardless, we still were able to find 7 new investigators, and the majority seem like they will begin to progress very soon. With the call of our new Branch Mission Leader we have seen more help from the members than I have ever seen. We were able to bring some members out, but sadly some of the lessons didn't work out so we had to try some other people. We ended up going over to visit a less-active family with Hermano Valadez, the Branch Mission Leader, and we actually caught them at home and found out more of why they don't come to church. We are super excited for where this area seems to be going! It is also really amazing to know that Matthew, one of the referrals given to the English Elders, went to church Sunday. We found him on Saturday, and now he will be getting baptized on May 3rd along with Vansha G, a person who contacted us about 2 weeks ago during the Spoke'n Pedal. They both show extreme desire to grow closer to God and to act upon the message, I can't wait to see that miracle happen!

The district has been doing well, the Hermanas recently had to drop a lot of their investigators, but that gave them more time to find those who are really prepared. We had a really inspired District Meeting that I honestly didn't know exactly what to do until we went to the Temple on Thursday and I prayed in the Celestial Room. The meeting was really focused on what we can do to bring the Spirit into the lessons more and to leave better commitments to be able to allow the investigators to feel that same spirit that we brought. We all realized we just needed to go back to the basics and back to the days of training, when we didn't know what to say or how to say it, when we stuck more to the guidelines and teachings in Preach My Gospel because it was all we knew. We were able to role play using the How to Begin Teaching points and we each applied it to our real teaching and I have felt the spirit more as we teach.

I love you guys,
Elder Stanley Scott Dye

District Leader Responsibilities

Letter #85
April 13, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Knudsen

(this past week I failed to tell you that the Mission President has called me to be a District Leader.  There are more responsibilities, like baptism interviews, and leading district meetings, but I feel that I'm up to these responsibilities.  I know that my mission president has confidence in me, and I trust the Lord.)

This week went pretty well, but we sadly weren't able to get any of our investigators to church or with a date. We worked hard and tried to be diligent in our efforts of finding people and as a result, we found many new investigators and more potentials to try. We were able to teach almost every day this week as well, less than we wanted, but it seems to be looking up for the next few weeks. We found a guy named Justiniano, or in English, Justin, and he seems really interested.  He is a very open young man not too much older than us. We actually contacted him after having walked by twice.  He was blasting music from his car and we both just had the thought that he was just a punk (I know we shouldn't judge), but then we felt like we should go talk to him and he was really open to us. We were able to set a return appointment for tomorrow, Tuesday, and invite him to church and English class on Thursdays. We look forward to teaching him, as well as having him at the English class, but we never would have found out how interested he was if we didn't talk to him.     We also found a couple, Lupita and Jonathan, on Sunday. We contacted them about a week ago and they didn't seem too interested at the time, but we decided to go by and their son let us come in. We started talking to them and taught them the Restoration and before we even extended the invitation to church, Jonathan asked, "So, where's the church?" We started describing how to get there and invited them and he said, "Yeah, we'll go, that's why I asked where the church was." It was great! What made it better is that Jonathan was starting to read from the pamphlet right when we said that God and Jesus were different people while describing the First Vision. We have another appointment set up with them and we have already figured out which member we would like to come with us.

I also had the opportunity to perform a baptismal interview for an investigator of the sisters in my district, and it was an amazing experience. I was scared that I would have to tell Abraham that he couldn't be baptized almost the whole time because he told me early on that he wasn't married legally to his wife, but he failed to mention until the end that she still lives in Mexico, so it isn't a problem yet. He was baptized Saturday and confirmed on Sunday.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

New Area, New Companion, New Adventures!!

Letter #84
April 6, 2015
Area: Baytown
Companion: Knudsen

Hey guys, I am in Baytown now, in the Texas Spanish Branch. My new companion is Elder Knudsen from a little northern Utah town. He has been out for about 8 months now.

I'm really excited for the opportunity to be here in Baytown in the Texas Branch, but I'm going to be honest and say that this week was rough, we were definitely seeing the consequences of the lack of contacting and new investigators of the last few weeks. We also ran into a few problems for contacting earlier in the week because Elder Knudsen had some bike problems that needed to be fixed. Luckily, I was able to fix the various problems making it so he didn't have to find a bike shop to do it, but sadly that took some of our proselyting time away. Elder Knudsen and I have committed ourselves to talk to everyone-all nationalities- in order to get new people to teach and to show the Lord our desire to do His work. We finally were able to get in contact with one of their potentials that seemed really interested.  We were able to speak with him about the restoration of the gospel and the Book of Mormon. We invited him to conference and to read the Book of Mormon, but we haven't been able to contact him since and he wasn't able to make it to conference.

Elder Knudsen and I look forward to a great week this week despite the difficulties of last week. We will still be contacting a lot, but we have a few potential investigators that said we could come by this week and they are pretty good finds. It was a great start to the week having General Conference ( https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015/04?lang=eng ) because I feel like this conference was based around having an eternal perspective. I have really seen that kind of attitude bless my mission more recently because, as I've applied it and internalized it more, I have seen my attitude towards the work change. I am understanding more of the importance of obedience, the importance of diligence, and the need of sharing this message with the world. I have also grown my testimony of President Drake's calling as our Mission President because the instructions that the prophets are giving us are the same as what he has been giving us, but their instructions will also be helpful further on...past the end of my mission. I feel like so many of the talks were just directed straight towards me-- I am glad I get the opportunity to listen to a prophet's voice every few months. I do have a testimony that Pres. Thomas S Monson is the current prophet for the Lord and that his instruction is what the Lord would have us hear at this time. 

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Don't give up on anyone Because People Change

Letter #83
March 30, 2015
Area: Liberty- English speaking
Companion: Syrie

First the questions so I don't forget.

1) Elder Syrie has been here for 2 transfers, so since February. He has been out for 9 months and is from Washington state.

2) We have tried to teach Ernesto's sister, but haven't gotten back into contact with her since we first saw her. We told him about finding her that same week :) She speaks English better than Spanish, so we would keep her.

3) I actually will be moving, I got transferred, so don't send me mail until I can tell you where I go! :)

This week was rough for us in finding new investigators, we spent hours going around biking, knocking, looking through former investigator logs and trying them, but it was to no avail. We were trying to figure out what was going on, but as we looked at it we were just seeing that a lot of the people that we contacted were good contacts and good people, but they were all just busy that week... Finally on Friday, the Spanish Elders gave us two referrals, so we called one, and she was interested, but didn't know what her schedule would be, so we need to call her again this week.  Then on Sunday, we finally just decided to go over and try to visit the other referral. We got there, and Elder Syrie mentioned that he and Elder Croney had previously knocked on that house, and when we saw the man, he realized he had talked to him about a month ago and he was completely closed to the gospel, he just said "I'm Pentecostal" to them. When we talked with him, he still seemed set in his beliefs, but he was open to learn. He invited us right in and let us teach him the Restoration, and he was open to the message. We talked about the Book of Mormon as the evidence and he is willing to read it and he wants to at least learn and follow God's will. We were so excited about that! We had been waiting all week to finally teach somebody, or more truly, we were searching all week for people to teach, and on Sunday, at about 4pm, we found them! It also just shows that you can't just give up on people you've already talked to and areas that you've already knocked, people always change.

In terms of our investigators, we saw only Oscar M, Susan and Margaret S this last week, everyone else seemed to be busy all the time. We helped get Margaret's son, Alex, to scouts and he loved it! We also were able to give Susan, another investigator, a blessing of health because she was feeling pretty sick, so we talked with her about blessings with her as well. Oscar is still super amazing, and in the last week he said he read pretty slowly, but he talked about how the Lamanites and the Nephites split up into the two separate groups, so later we looked up where that was, and it turns out that he read at least until 2 Nephi 5! But the sad thing is that he leaves today for Arizona for the next month for work...why does everyone have to be so busy with work!(just kidding, I know that people have to work, but this message is so important).

I have felt the love of all the members in the ward and branch and have seen many opportunities to serve. Remember how we had been working with April and Valeria in the branch? They told me yesterday that they decided to get baptized April 12th! They really want me there, so I am going to ask permission to go. Also, Josh G has also decided to get baptized, we will be stopping by there today to pick up my watch that he is fixing, so I will ask him if he has decided on a date. I am so excited for these people! I know they will be baptized as well as the people we were working with here in the ward.

Love,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Contacting and Teaching in the Liberty Area

Letter #82
March 23, 2015
Area: Liberty
Companion: Syrie (English speaking area)

This week went pretty well for us, we were able to contact effectively and many times the contact turned into teaching. We struggled with getting scheduled lessons that actually ended up working at the time we set them up, making it difficult to get members out this week. We were able to see many miracles happen during the week, we were able to finally get in with our investigator, Lynn B, because he has been working a ton, but had a day that he took off this week. Lynn is sincerely looking for an answer of truth to the things that he is being taught.   He is willing to put forth the effort to follow the Word of Wisdom.  He is a good man and already avoids any problems with the Law of Chastity, and he has supposedly already paid tithing or given a donation to the church. He is good friends with Bishop Devereaux, so if he has any questions, he asks us or bishop. Other than Lynn, we were able to visit Margaret and help her move.  She accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 11th of April, but we haven't been able to get in with her to confirm her commitment for that date. We visited with Danny, another one of our investigators, who sincerely desires to follow God's will. He has questions that nobody else wants to ask.  He knew basically the whole Plan of Salvation from studying the Bible, and he really desires to ask God about baptism by proper authority.  He has been baptized at four different times in his life, but he still has felt like something was missing, and he thinks it is possible that the missing piece is the authority (which is true).

Elder Syrie and I have been getting along well, we opened up about some things that have been bugging us and we are making goals to improve in those aspects. Overall, I love serving with Elder Syrie, he has a lot of faith, we are just really trying to focus on truly acting upon that faith that we have because sometimes our laziness catches up to us.

I think I might have mentioned this before, but I feel a theme that has been more prominent in the people we talk with, either they are really interested and sincere, or they are completely closed to the teachings we bring.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

No Texas visit is complete without purchasing a Texas Longhorn Belt Buckle

A Priesthood Ordination and an Unexpected Transfer

Letter #81
March 16, 2015
Area: Trinity River / Liberty
Companions: Gamez/Reed, and Syrie

Well there is exciting news from this week, Ernesto got the Aaronic Priesthood! Then also this Tuesday we got a call from President Drake, Elder Croney, who was serving with Elder Syrie in the English ward in Liberty, got his Visa and went to the Czech Republic, but they pulled me over to the English ward that evening. This week as you probably know, was pretty interesting for me. It was a great week though because Elder Syrie and I have been really putting our faith and trust in the Lord. We don't have too many people that we are teaching, but we were able to follow the Spirit to know where to go to find people and to know what to teach. In fact after President Drake shared his insights and the way that some missionaries in his mission had been led by the Lord, we have done that same method a couple of times and we know of two streets that we need to knock, one of them is currently flooded and there is no way of getting there. We were able to continue teaching Margaret S, and we actually were able to go over and give her a blessing yesterday because she wasn't feeling well, making it so she couldn't come to church on Sunday, and she felt better immediately. She could feel the love of God for her and she could feel His care in sending us to help. I love the Priesthood and the abilities it has.

Speaking of Margaret, she is pushing forward with faith, she just ran out of her medication and it was causing her to have pain and have unclear thoughts, so the blessing was an immediate relief of that. She is a very faith-filled person and she has a desire to keep learning and feeling the Spirit. There is no doubt in my mind that she will be baptized, but we have to push it back to a later date.

I am excited to be here in the Liberty Ward and work with the English people, and I have been finding a theme in the people we come in contact with. As we have faith that the Lord will lead us to prepared people, we have been led to people who have had discontent with what they have, or they have been to many churches and haven't found one that really felt right. We look forward to teaching many new people, including Ernesto C's sister, who we found yesterday while biking around.

The transfer ends on March 31st, so I don't know if I'll stay or not, I have mixed feelings about it because I miss Spanish, but I love these people.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye 

Though rough the road, the Lord is always aware of our efforts

Letter #80
March 9, 2015
Area: Trinity River
Companions: Gamez and Reed

Hey guys, sorry for the short letter, but this week was pretty rough, we were trying to find investigators and having no success, then the days that we planned some time to go out and contact and knock had multiple things put us behind schedule or make us leave the apartment late. One of the most exciting parts about the week was the fact that we were able to get one of our investigators to come with us to our dinner with his cousin, who is one of the members. Our investigator, Rafael, was able to learn a lot and the member, Seth, was able to testify as well as clarify some things for Rafael. I feel like it was mutually beneficial, and it helped Rafael be open to the teaching. 

In our search for investigators, a name of one of the people that I contacted with Elder Smith came to mind, and we were able to teach him this last week, and he is extremely open to the teachings and is receptive. He seems to have the true desire to learn the gospel as well as act on it, but sadly he will be out of town for two weeks for work. We have high hopes for him when he returns.

Other than that, there was a bunch of contacting and a couple of good new member lessons with the Chavez family.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

The power of specific prayers is real

Letter #79
March 2, 2015
Area: Trinity River
Companions: Gamez and Reed (and splitting with Smith)

t sounds like you all had a great week! This week continued to go well for us, but we have been facing problems getting members to lessons. I personally feel like that is because most of our lessons haven't been very set up, we just end up having to stop by some of the people. Other than that, we have been seeing miracles happen as we get outside and contact. We were able to teach three people and give multiple referrals, including those three people, to the English Sisters and Elders. Both of their areas have been struggling recently, so it was a blessing for them to receive those referrals. We also saw multiple miracles because of specific prayers, I want to tell you about a couple of them.

The first one happened on Tuesday in the evening, while I was in my area on exchanges with Elder Smith, one of my Zone Leaders. We had our lessons at 7 and 8pm fall through, so I had no idea what to do, it was 8:30, so I decided to start heading on the 10 minute drive back to the apartment because there was an investigator of ours that lives down the road from us. She wasn't home. I thought that we could either head in early or go contacting, I chose the latter. I drove to a trailer park that was also close to home and we walked around there, we got to the end of the park, and headed back. Nobody was outside, and I didn't want to be that rude guy who knocks on someone's door at 8:45pm. We had jokingly mentioned milkshakes earlier, so as I went to keep walking down the road and said to Elder Smith, "Well, unless you want to go get milkshakes, I have no idea what to do." Elder Smith said, "Well, there's more of a chance that we can talk to someone at Dairy Queen than out here," and I agreed and we were talking about how to make our Dairy Queen visit purpose driven. We went to Dairy Queen and on the way we said to each other, "8:50 contacting miracles!" While we were there, we talked with the cashier and brought up church and it seemed like it was going well, but we didn't get the chance to invite her to do anything. We both felt like that wasn't quite enough, but we started on our way out the door. While walking out we noticed a guy kinda staring at us and he waved, but we walked out to the truck and didn't talk to him. Elder Smith mentioned, "It kinda looked like that guy wanted to talk to us," so we decided to go back inside, even though it was 8:58, and talk to him. He only spoke Spanish, so I took over, and he turned out to be really interested. He mentioned that he was here in America from his home country of Nicaragua because he was trying to send money home to help build a temple for God and he had me translate for him to ask Elder Smith a question. The question was, "What is it that moved you to come back and talk to me?" Elder Smith said that he felt like he needed to, or that the Spirit was telling him to, I felt the same. I explained that as missionaries, we are messengers from God, sent to bring a message to his children who he has prepared for the message. When Elder Smith and I got back to the car, he asked me if we had just witnessed a miracle and asked me to tell him what happened, when I told him, he told me he had prayed to the Lord when we first went to contact that we would find somebody for my area, then when we went to Dairy Queen he prayed that we would find that person at Dairy Queen, and we found him because we followed the prompting that the Spirit gave us. I commented that I wasn't even hungry because I had eaten something that didn't agree with my stomach, but I had brought up shakes as a joke, but we decided that shakes came back into my mind probably as a prompting from the Spirit.

We were astounded by what God did through us that night, so we decided to pray specifically as a companionship the next day for something to happen. The next day, Wednesday, we went through our plans, and by 2pm all of our plans from then until 5pm had fallen through. We decided to pull the car over and pray before going anywhere because I was aimlessly driving. We asked that the name of a person he wanted us to visit would come to our minds, and right when we did that, the name, Sister Bufford, came to mind. We called, no answer. Stopped by her work, nobody was there. We even went to her house, nobody was there. We knew there had to have been a reason to go there, so we went contacting, and found some people, and decided to start heading off. We started driving away and decided to pull over and offer a prayer of gratitude and also to know if there was any other reason for us to be there. Right then another name came to my mind, Hector, so I got his address and put it in the GPS, and started on our way, which took us past the Bufford's home, and there was a car. We went over and the Bufford's weren't home, but their friend was there, and we got to teach him. He ended up being one of the referrals given to the Dayton Sisters. When we finished all of that, it was almost 5pm, we were back on schedule!

The power of specific prayers are real, there were other experiences with it this last week, but it always ended with miracles.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Seeing the Blessings of God

Letter #78

February 23. 2015

Area: Trinity River

Companions: Gamez and Reed

It sounds like you all had an interesting week, and that there were a lot of birthday parties celebrated! This week wasn't the best for us, but we tried making the best of it. We ended up having a lot of appointments cancel or fall through, but during those times we decided to go contact referrals or go walk around contacting and we were able to see the blessings of God as we did that. Our branch is in need of more Melchizedek Priesthood holders to be able to separate more from the English ward. This week we found out that a family of four is moving into the branch and the father of this family is a Melchizedek Priesthood holder! We also found out that there are two more inactive Melchizedek Priesthood holders that live in the area and are willing to talk with us.  One has said that he wants to come to church, he just needs a ride. We have also seen the blessings in the form of new investigators--three of the four lessons that we taught to investigators this week were with new people, and the last one was with an investigator that we haven't been able to talk to for about a month.

The investigator that we weren't able to contact for a month is Maria M.  Since the death of her mother to cancer a few months ago, and her husband, who was supposedly doing fine after his eye surgery in Mexico, has recently started having problems again, and he is receiving treatments. She has been really worried and depressed due to those things, and miraculously we showed up just during this time that she has started to feel bad again. We were able to give her the help that she has been needing; she specifically mentioned that she felt like she was knocking on a bunch of closed doors and is trying to find her way through this time, but she can't seem to find the right way to go. I suddenly had the phrase used in 2 Nephi 31:17 "For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water" come into my head. It was perfect because in Spanish the word used for "gate" is the same as the word for "door", which is "puerta". We were able to explain to her that the reason we come and the reason we teach these things is because we have found the door, or gate, that we need to enter, and we are on the path that leads to Eternal Life and we want everyone to know it. She obviously felt the Spirit testifying to her the truthfulness of these things and we left her 2 Nephi 31 as a reading commitment and she committed to read an pray to know if these things are true. I truly love that woman, and I feel a stronger connection with her because Mom wrote me a letter that said that when she was about 27, she lost her mother to cancer, and I was able to share that with Maria and that the gospel knowledge and assurance is what pulled Mom through that.  I honestly feel like she will progress if she just lets the Spirit work with her.

I love you guys, and sorry, no pictures this week either, I need to get a new memory card reader thing for sending pictures, which I'll probably buy today.

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

A third transfer! another 6 weeks! Additional companion

Letter #77
February 16, 2015
Area: Trinity River (Yes!)
Companions: Gamez AND Reed

I'm just kidding  about not having time (or the desire to write:). We just had transfers and Elder Gamez and I are actually staying together for a third transfer! This is the first time that either of us have had a companion for three transfers, but the twist is that we ended up getting a trio, our other companion is named Elder Reed. He came out with Elder Heath and Elder Anderson trained him in the same district as me.

This last week went decently well, we had a really hard time contacting some people that we have been teaching, and some of the less-actives in the branch are active now, so our number of lessons took a huge hit. We were working a lot towards finding new people and new areas that are more densely populated with Hispanics. It really seems like we will be able to turn around the area this week though because with Elder Reed, we have knocked on a total of three or four doors while finding, a lady opened the first one and talked a little bit with us and then let us right in, we got to teach her and she is going to let us come back, so she is a new investigator. Then we knocked a couple more without any answers, but then the last one we knocked we ended up with a potential investigator, and he seems really willing. I know that this transfer we are capable of baptizing, and I honestly feel like if we do our part and have the faith, we could baptize multiple people, as long as we put that trust in the Lord.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

A Marriage and 2 Baptisms!

Letter #76
February 9, 2015
Area: Trinity River
Companion: Gamez

It sounds like you all had a good week, but I still don't see any family pictures :P :( I can't believe Jacen is already turning 5, I remember playing with him back in the old apartment. It is crazy how time flies. Elder Gamez and I were talking about how these 2 transfers have blended into 1 and have flown by! We get transfer calls this weekend, which is a little hard to believe...but what is harder to believe is that it is February 9th and it is 79 degrees outside, and it is only about 1:20pm, I hope this doesn't mean that this summer will be extremely hot...

This week went really well, we were able to make progress with most of the people we have been working with. Over the last few weeks the attendance in the branch has been going up! It has been in the mid to high 40s instead of in the 30s! We have had some of the less-active families from the branch as well as investigators there each week. The highlights of the week were the marriage and baptisms of Ernesto and Francisca Chavez, we were able to meet the sons of Ernesto and Francisca's daughters and talk with them and we will be trying to meet with them to share our message sometime this week because they are all interested and willing to learn more about what has helped their parents so much.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve here in the Trinity River Branch, I have learned so much while serving here! I am glad to be of service to the branch and to the people here. The Chavez family has grown so much in their understanding and they can feel the Spirit working with them. Ernesto and Francisca were both in tears during the baptismal service and wedding and were so happy they couldn't describe it.

I can only describe it as them having found the Pearl of Great Price and having given all of themselves to get it and accept it into their lives. I am so glad to have been part of the Chavez's lives and conversion, now I hope to be able to be part of the lives and conversions of their children.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

The fields are white and ready for harvesting!

Letter #75
February 2, 1015
Area: Trinity River
Companion: Gamez

This week went very well, though there definitely were a few stumbling blocks, but we were able to work past them to help the people in our area. We were extremely excited when we went to church to see the Calte family at church all together, as well as Ephraim actually making it to church, same with Hermano Xolot, and the Noyola family, and that wasn't the end of it.  What made us overjoyed was the fact that the Chavez family made it to 2 of the hours rather than just 1. We were able to talk with them after the meetings and set plans for them going to the court with a member to get their marriage license papers all filled out so they will be able to get married on Friday, as well as put together the baptismal program.

This week we made progress with almost everyone we were able to meet with! We visited Ephraim and found out why he wasn't doing the things he should be doing, and helping him know the "why" behind them.  We also  helped him know that by doing these things, he will be able to feel the spirit and feel what he felt when he was baptized. That ended with me telling him about one of my favorite Book of Mormon stories, the 2000 stripling warriors, and leaving it with him so he would read it. We were able to get him a ride to church and help him progress towards his return to church. We were also able to help Carlos, who goes to church each week, but isn't a member, resolve his problem with the Book of Mormon and express his other concern about church. The daughters of Hermana Noyola, who aren't members, progressed a lot this week, they finally went to young women's and had a great lesson! We found out that they had real intent, a sincere heart, and faith in Christ, which are all the things necessary to receive an answer about the truth of these things. They just didn't understand those first few steps from what we teach, so now they'll progress quite soon.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Staying in the area that I love!

Letter #77
February 20, 2015
Area: Trinity River
Companion:  Gamez and Reed

   We just had transfers and Elder Gamez and I are actually staying together for a third transfer! This is the first time that either of us have had a companion for three transfers, but the twist is that we ended up getting a trio--our other companion is named Elder Reed. He came out with Elder Heath and Elder Anderson trained him in the same district as me.

     This last week went decently well.  We had a really hard time contacting some people that we have been teaching, and some of the less-actives in the branch are active now, so our number of lessons took a huge hit. We were working a lot towards finding new people and new areas that are more densely populated with Hispanics. It really seems like we will be able to turn around the area this week though because with Elder Reed, we have knocked on a total of three or four doors while finding-- a lady opened the first one and talked a little bit with us and then let us right in. We got to teach her and she is going to let us come back, so she is a new investigator.  Then we knocked a couple more without any answers, but then the last one we knocked we ended up with a potential investigator.  He seems really willing to open his heart to our message. I know that in this transfer we are capable of baptizing, and I honestly feel like if we do our part and have the faith, we could baptize multiple people, as long as we put that trust in the Lord.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

A marriage and 2 Baptisms...

Letter #76
February 9, 2015
Area: Trinity River
Companion: Gamez

It sounds like you all had a good week, but I still don't see any family pictures :P  It is crazy how time flies. Elder Gamez and I were talking about how these 2 transfers have blended into 1 and have flown by! We get transfer calls this weekend, which is a little hard to believe...but what is harder to believe is that it is February 9th and it is 79 degrees outside, and it is only about 1:20pm, I hope this doesn't mean that this summer will be extremely hot...

This week went really well, we were able to make progress with most of the people we have been working with. Over the last few weeks the attendance in the branch has been going up! It has been in the mid to high 40s instead of in the 30s! We have had some of the less-active families from the branch, as well as investigators, there each week. The highlights of the week were the marriage and baptisms of the Chavez family! We were able to meet their sons and daughters and talk with them.  They are all interested and willing to learn more about what has helped their parents 'shine' so much, so we will be trying to meet with them to share our message sometime this week.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve here in the Trinity River Branch, I have learned so much while serving here! I am glad to be of service to the branch and to the people here. The Chavez family has grown so much in their understanding and they can feel the Spirit working with them. Ernesto and Francisca were both in tears during the baptismal service and wedding and were so happy they couldn't describe it. I can only describe it as them having found the Pearl of Great Price and having given all of themselves to get it and accept it into their lives. I am so glad to have been part of the Chavez's lives and conversion, now I hope to be able to be part of the lives and conversions of their children.
 I do have pictures, but didn't bring the camera's cable, so maybe next week.

I love you guys,

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

Achieving our goals = great feeling!

Letter #74
January 27, 2015
Area: Trinity River
Companion: Gamez

   This week was great! We met almost every one of our goals! It is a great feeling to be able to humble ourselves and to push forward with faith.  We would have met our member present goal of 5 if the members didn't have to cancel on us. We saw so much help from the Lord and the branch this week! Last week I mentioned how the branch came up with their Branch Mission Goal of 15 baptisms and they are willing to do what it takes to achieve it.  We could tell this from all the help we received and from their excitement and desire for the work. In a few weeks they will have 2 of their 15 baptisms achieved because the Chavez family set a date for their marriage! They decided to get married on the 6th of February, and President Escobar and his wife are getting them the paperwork and helping them fill it out. The branch is so excited! They are already making plans for a little reception that they are going to throw for the Chavez family as well as making a cake for them! I am so happy, I don't know how to express it, I just know this family will be great! This Monday they mentioned to the Escobars', during the lesson, that they haven't met the bishop yet, so President Escobar explained that a big congregation is a ward and has a bishop, but a small one like ours is a branch and has the branch president. They responded so well! They just said, "Well, we're going to join and help it get bigger then!"

That is the biggest progress that was made this week, but we had the opportunity to teach Evangelina a couple of this this week.  She had her daughters there one of the times, so we included them in the lesson, but the second time we taught it was just her and it went really well! We taught her the restoration and about the Book of Mormon, and when we shared a scripture with her, she continued reading further after reading the one we shared, and she decided to read aloud one of the scriptures. She said she really liked it, it was 2 Nephi 25:29 and it reads:

"And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out."

We really see her potential and she really desires to come to church and continue forward in the gospel because she feels that it is true.  Sadly, she will be in Mexico for the next 2 weeks, but she said she would talk with her father while she is there and ask him if the missionaries can come and teach him as well, and if he says yes, we will send his information as a referral to the missionaries over there. I have no doubt that she will be baptized as well when she gets home from Mexico.

Other than our work with them, we worked with some of the less-active members, and one family actually let their nonmember daughter come to church even though they couldn't make it. We have been able to include the branch president's son, Aaron, to work with a less-active young man, Kenny.  We have made some good progress. We have plans to involve Aaron in the visits whenever it is possible.

I love this area so much!

I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the 60 degree weather we are having, oh wait, that is us in Texas, well, I hope you enjoy the weather whatever it may be!

Elder Stanley Scott Dye

the path to gaining spiritual light

Letter #73
January 20, 2015
Area: Trinity River
Companion: Gamez

For us, this last week has been full of progress!  We were able to visit many families, including a new one, and help them take steps towards our Heavenly Father. We were excited to see the progress that the Chavez family made this week. Francisca approached her boss on Tuesday and asked for Sunday off of work, and he said yes! On Saturday, they gave us the sad news that her boss was not going to be able to work that Sunday morning, so she would have to work. They still were able to make it to Sacrament Meeting, and they brought their son, Manuel, and they all had a great time! This was their second time at Sacrament Meeting, and they are determined to make it to the classes as well this next week. We also caught Maria Mata at home, after about 2.5 weeks of not being able to find her. We had a great talk with her and caught up a little bit. She has been suffering depression since the passing of her mother about 3 months ago, but just in these last few weeks, she has been so busy that she didn't have time to sit down and think about the death of her mom, so she has been happier. She told us that she loves us coming over and it always makes her feel better, but anyways, the conversation changed slightly and she said her oldest son, Guadalupe, was sick almost all of last week. We offered to give him a blessing, but I guess he wasn't home, so instead she asked us if we could go visit somebody else! She told us about her sister that lives about 5 minutes away and how she has been feeling more depressed than even Maria has been. She gave us her address and we promised to go visit her the next day. We ended up visiting her, and we had the wonderful opportunity to teach her and help her understand the Plan of Happiness that Heavenly Father has for us. While we were teaching her, we noticed that her countenance was changing. She looked sad and depressed when we got there, and while we were teaching her and while we were leaving, she was actually happy! She also wanted us to talk with her 3 children, who are all grown up and 2 of which are married and have their own children, so her oldest grandson is 8 years old. I am super excited to teach their family and get them to come unto Christ and be baptized, especially because I think it will help Maria act more upon the teachings. 

This Sunday evening, Elder Gamez and I had a really good heart-to-heart talk.  It ended up starting because he got frustrated with an idea for a baptismal date for the Chavez family that I put out there. I just wanted to understand why he disagreed, and we opened up about our feelings for the Chavez family, as well as he brought up that he wanted me there at the lesson because the plan was originally to go on exchanges after P-Day. I feel so much closer to Elder Gamez now and I feel like he feels closer to me. I just feel like I trust him and he now understands why I have been pushing for getting the Chavez family a date as well as other things, so I feel like our desire to work has increased as well as our desire to baptize. He just mentioned that he feels like he loves them so much that he almost doesn't want to let them go, he just doesn't want to push them away by trying to get them to baptism. We decided to share some of those feelings of love for them yesterday in our lesson with them. We took some time in the morning and found some scriptures that expressed those feelings and our desires for them, and we went to the lesson prepared, as well as us having President Escobar and his family with us. The lesson went better than we could have imagined! They are truly gaining spiritual light and they have been noticing it, and how it is good, so they want more. We talked about how the brother of Jared came up with his plan to have light in their boats, expressed faith in the Lord, and asked him if he would make the plan work.  We then compared it with a baptismal calendar. We went over the commitments on the calendar with them and they realized how close they are, they only have 5-6 that they haven't done yet. We invited them to be baptized on the 8th of February, and invited them to make themselves a plan on when and how they will live the commitments and present it to the Lord, like the brother of Jared did. The lesson went great, and we feel like they now share our vision and the spirit is edifying them. I am certain they will be baptized before the end of the transfer, perhaps before the 8th of February. They only need to get married, live the laws of the tithe and fast, attend a baptism (optional, but recommended), and have the interview. I can't wait to see the fruits of my labors here!

I also wanted to ask you, mom, what ended up helping you get through your depression? I would like to share what helped you with Maria Mata and her sister Evangelia.

Angie and Carolyn, how did the daily scripture reading go this week?

I love you guys, and I hope you have another great week!

Elder Stanley Scott Dye