Teeples, Dallin

¿K onda? Hope y’all had a most excelente week. This week was a pretty good one. All over the place, of course, but I gotta say it was great. Our friend Damien came to church again this week and accepted a date to be baptized! He's really good friends with some of the youth in the ward and got invited to church last week. It's been really cool being able to meet with him and having his friends in the ward share their testimonies of the gospel and the blessings it brings. We’ve also been able to work with our recent converts and help them prepare for the temple. It’s been awesome to see them preparing names and preparing to get the priesthood. As for the email title this week, it’s because sometimes when we're out at night, people will either get intimidated or think we're a threat and go to release their dogs or grab something to defend themselves or their property. They chill out and are OK when they realize it's just the Jesus guys inviting everyone to church and s...

I'll be honest with y'all, I don't have much to say this week and I'm low on time, but I love y'all too much to miss a week. It's been really heating up this week. It's been blazingly sunny until today, when it started pouring. It's going to be extra humid in a couple of days. Wish us much luck! As for the title this week, I've truly seen so much joy in this work. One of my favorite parts is the love that I'm able to feel for all the people I meet and am able to serve. As such, I love all the random citizens. Random little things: • I gave 2 more Elders haircuts this week. • I got hit by a car: I'm fine. They were turning and didn't see me, but I got out of the way enough to avoid injury. • We made and ate a real big cookie. This week we set three people on a baptismal date, but unfortunately, they all missed church. We were able to reset the goal with one of them and will hopefully be able to teach his whole family as well. It's toug...

How y'all been? Things are all over the place as usual. I’ve been finding and teaching in the far reaches of our area. I’ve met some cool people, but it’s meant longer stretches of biking. All worth it to find the elect. Our friend Tomas, whom we've been teaching, has been so excited and was baptized yesterday! His joy for the gospel has been so awesome to see, and it was such a great service. Earlier that day, he shared his testimony during sacrament meeting about how happy he was to have the gospel in his life and for the chance to be baptized. He simply was so prepared, and being baptized was an offer he couldn't refuse. We also had zone conferences this week, which were super edifying and fun. It’s always good to see friends from around the mission and to hear my mission president speak. He even showed an inspirational clip by Michael Jordan about maintaining momentum and continually improving. He also showed President Nelson's message from conference, which somehow...

Hola, hola, hola! (Pronounced "hole-uh." Not actually though, because it's Spanish.) Anyways, how y'all doing? Sorry for that weird/bad joke. For whatever reason, I think that sometimes. Hope y'all enjoyed general conference this past weekend—I know I sure did. The email title this week is for those who maybe get a bit bored watching conference. I get it, because it can be long, but also I don't, because it's awesome. We were able to get a good amount of our friends to watch conference, and as a zone, we helped around 111 non-members watch! Pretty awesome, especially considering our goal as a zone was 70. It's getting hotter here, which makes the bikes a bit more tiring and tough, but all in all, it's good. We did a crazy amount of biking during conference to remind people and tell people it was happening. We didn't get much time to actually sit and watch, but luckily we could put in an earbud and listen as we biked. Definitely going to go back...

Getting right to it, I've hit 18 months as a missionary, and the sisters I came into the mission with have gone home. Crazy how quickly it's gone. Luckily, though, I still have time. This week we had the baptism for Laura and her nephew Jesús. I was on a split a couple of weeks ago with Elder Hansen, and we found her outside on the same street we live on. She was outside at that exact moment and was so prepared to receive the gospel. She and her nephew progressed super quickly and very well. We ended up having to send them off to the other Elders we live with (they're one street above our area), but I still got to help teach them, do their baptismal interview, and be at their baptism. In the end, I'm super glad to have been part of their progression and to have been an instrument in the Lord's hand. It was a bit of a slower week, but being able to celebrate Easter and the fact that our Savior, Jesus Christ, lives truly adds so much perspective and reminds me why I...