November 26th, 2012

Howdy! So I am now in Crestwood, Ky I have finally got back to KENTUCKY where the weirdos run like mehicanos across the border. Excpect Crestwood is super different. It is THE rich mormon suburb of Louisville, but there is nothing in our area but roads a Walgreen's, a subway, and a bunch of multi millionaires homes. I would tell you events from this past week... but we didn't have too many other then two of them that were hilarious. We were at a members house and the wife of this family all of the sudden tells us to pull out our planners and tells us to go visit a family in the ward, because they are always looking for a good looking guy to marry their daughters. Then her husband started yelling at her telling her she was the devil over and over again. I thought that was super funny, and I must have developed some good looks on my mission because this is becoming a common occurrence haha. Then we were posted up at a gas station trying to street cotact everyone we could. So we were stalking a family and when we went to introduce ourselves he flashes us with his Garments and yells look Im a Mormon too! He was on a road trip and was headed back home to Flordia so that is now my opinion of Flordia Mormons. haha hope you have a good week Love, Elder Dye

November 19th, 2012

I am getting transferred to Crestwood Kentucky tomorrow. It's about 40 minutes from where I am now. It is a very wealthy community and it is the highest population of members in our mission. Its going to be kind of a change. I am follow up training my new companion and I will be the district leader for a district of 10 there. The two 15 year old boys are getting baptized on the 28th of November.

November 13th, 2012

Hey Everyone! Things are going amazing! We have set up a lot of baptisms for these upcoming weeks and we are getting into the grind. Here is our Investigator update: We have got 3 boys on track for baptism. Jared, Nathaniel, and J.J. They are all willing and ready to be baptized and fully fill the Atonement in their life. We have received permission from their parents and things are looking good. We taught them a lesson at the church and Jared bore his testimony to his friends and because of that JJ wanted to be baptized on December 11th on his birthday, because it would be the best present he could ever receive It was awesome! We have been asked by a little girl in our ward to baptize her. She is 10 and is a unbaptized member. No one knows why she hasn't been baptized, and no one knew she wasn't baptized. It has really shown me that we are suppose to baptize the trash out of New Albany, and I think it is going to happen! We have a family that we are planning on setting a date with this weekend. So we should be having close to 12 baptisms in the next 3 weeks. We all appreciate your prayers for the 30x31 and I think that things are beginning to catch fire. Love you, Elder Dye

October 29th, 2012

Hey Errybody! I will talk about what has happened missionary work wise this week. So we found a really cool new investigator! Her name is Marita. She is a really sweet old widow. We taught the whole Restoration to her and set our return appointment. We also had an intense lesson with Jared and Nathaniel our 15 yr old investigators. His mom confused us with the RLDS church and scared them pretty bad so we had to answer all of these questions. It has been raining here a lot lately. It rains about 3 times a week. Have a Happy Halloween! Love, Elder Dye

October 22, 2012

Hiy, I dink tat i bean own mi mishion en cantucki tu lung. eye hab a IQ ov 12. I have finally "lost it" I am now a crazy hick... It seems like every one of my memories now is from my mission. I don't remember what it is like to be a normal person anymore. So I dont have too many stories from this past week. It was really cold this past week and people didn't really wanna talk. But I got 2 of them for ya! First story: Souza and I were walking back to our apartment to go in for the night and we were walking through the trashy white area. (Where the white thugs flow like wine.) So it was almost 9 and it is super dark and this thug goes to pass us on the sidewalk. Since I taught Souza to be a boss and to talk to everyone he was not scared at all to talk to this guy. So we start talking and Souza says, "Hey man, I know I just met you... and this is crazy... but here is a card with my number... call us... maybe?" I had heard that song while we were at Subway and so I almost started laughing. Then the guy got kinda mad at Souza but not because of what he said. Just because we were Jesus peeps. I thought that I was going to have to get in a fight because of Katy Perry.... Ridiculous.... Story Numer 2: Our Stake President took us to Wendy's, and he has a rep for being.... Intense, and naive. So there is a little handicapped kid sitting behind us and he is all dressed up as a soldier. So Pres Porter told us that we should talk to him and invite him to our trunk or treat at the church. So I was thinking real hard about how to do this and I had no idea. It was just too awkward. So while I am still thinking about how I will do this Pres Porter Booms at this kids (he talks really loud) and so we start talking to this handicapped kid, and all of the sudden the kid tells him to close his eyes. So he does and when he does this kids whips out a big huge plastic knife and stabs him in the throat! and then he ran around and stabbed all of us, and the ran out the door. It was awesome! haha Things here are going good. We have 2 15 year old boys that will be getting baptized on the 17th of Nov. thats about it. Stay away from wendy's they are a little rough. Love, Elder Dye

October 15th, 2012

Hey Errybody! So this past week the person we recently baptized got the priesthood and it made me think about his conversion, and I don't know if I have told you about it. So here it is: He came to church with his girlfriend who is a solid member in the ward and me and him had a nice friendly chat about church, sports, and life. I wasn't quite sure how forward to be with him because I didn't want to make his girlfriend mad. So this went on for 3 weeks, and right after church was over he called us and asked to learn a little more about the church. So we met with him on Elder Souza's 2nd day and while going through the "How to Begin Teaching" points we felt prompted to extend a baptismal invitation. He accepted when he knew these things were true. So we went through the Restoration and at the end we both bore our testimonies and the Holy Ghost backed us up. He told us that he knew it was true, and from that point on we taught and he accepted everything. He was just ordained a priest this last Sunday, and he is thinking about a mission. It was an awesome thing to be a part of. Elder Souza is a convert of a year and 6 months now and we have been teaching a lot of "Elder Souza's" We have been teaching two 15 year old boys. There names are Jared and Nathaniel. We ran into them this past week at a festival in downtown New Albany and they asked us for mormon.org cards so they could pass them out they ended up passing out about 150 cards! They ran up to us and told us that their friends didn't believe that they were mormon so they wanted us to prove to them that they were mormon. It was funny. Jared came to Church this past Sunday (Nathaniel would have been there, but he slept in! that bum) and he loved every second of it. He told us after that he loved feeling the spirit there, and he was going to be there every week for the rest of his life. He has given us 4 of his friends to teach, and is the most solid kid I have ever talked to. He is going to help us achieve the 30x31 and I think he is answer to a lot of our prayers the members prayers, and your prayers. Thanks :) Thanks for all that you do to support me and E. Souz. We love you!

October 1st, 2012

We have had a crazy week. I will work backwards: Sunday: Bishop called me on Saturday and asked me if I could talk in Sacrament Meeting so I gave a talk about the covenants we take at baptism and the Sacrament. Then we confirmed Corey in the same meeting. Then we were in charge of the 5th Sunday and it was on how we will go about achieving our goal of 30x31 and I had to conduct that. So after our super busy Sunday we had a meeting with our Southern Baptist Seminary student friends. We had not met with them for about a month, and they used that month to prepare a whole bunch of stuff for us to "discuss." We had the worst bash that I have ever had on my mission, but I can assure you that we came out on top! :) I am trying to think about the rest of our week and nothing comes to mind other then President called me sometime in the middle of the week and told me that I have a choice if I get transferred right now. Transfers are in a week and I am pretty sure that I am going to choose to leave. So that is weighing pretty heavy on my heart and its hard to think about the rest of my week. I have grown a lot here and I am ready to go and take the experiences I have had to another place. I think that leaving New Albany will almost be as hard as leaving home. Justin I am sorry about your knee but good luck with it! I know your a tough lil nino. Every boy in the fam now has a bum knee- haha. I got your package and I really appreciate it. Thanks for all you do! Mucho, Amor Love

September 24th, 2012

So this past week was a pretty awesome one! We had a Baptism!!!!!!!!! I have talked a little bit about Corey in my past emails. He is a boss! He got baptized on Sunday and Elder Souza and I had to give the talks at his baptism. He came up to us after his baptism and he gave me a hug and told me "Thanks". That was the best feeling that I have ever had my whole life. I have my doc. appt. today at 2. and I will shoot you an email when I find out whats going on. I found out that I will be getting transferred in 2 weeks so make sure to send my mail throught the mission office unless you can get a package to me before we get close to October 9th. I had an amazing study this past week that has changed my life! I was reading in Mosiah 4 and I came across verses 11- 12. I also was reading a very common verse Matthew 11: 28-30 and Christ says, come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest. take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart. It was the last line that stuck out to me. I thought about what he said. He didnt say I am the Son of Man or that I am the Mediator between you and the Father or I am the Son of God. He said, I am meek and lowly in heart... I realized that almost all of the issues that I get into are caused by my pride. I have realized that when we are meek we are on the path to being like Christ, and when we get a little Pride we are in the total wrong direction. I have tried for this past week to be as meek as I possibly can, and it has been hard... But I have not had a better week! I havent said too much in this email, but what everything I have said I mean. Thanks for all you do! The church is true! Love, Elder Dye

September 10th, 2012

Hey Family, I wanna start off by talking about 30 by 31! That is the catchy phrase that is sung all around the church building in the amazing town of New Albany Indiana. What that phrase means is 30 baptisms by Dec. 31, 2012. I don’t know how crazy or realistic that goal sounds to you, but for this area it was pretty out there. We have had 2 baptisms in this ward so far this year. Bishop Faulstick got up in Ward Conference and announced all of this over the pulpit and our Stake President followed up very nicely. From what I was able to see the ward accepted the idea and is will to work towards it. This idea came from Elder Dye who was inspired by the attitude of Elder Souza (my comp He is from California. He is a convert of 1 year and 4 months. He is 19 and is a boss! I love him!). We had a meeting with the Bishop, and he thought that I was crazy, but he called us into his office a few nights later and told us that the God has confirmed to him that it is his will. So the ward I am serving in has turned into Zion. If I don't make it home in a few months just now that I got translated by the skin of my teeth with the rest of the New Albany Ward (I didn't mean that as prideful as it sounds) We will be having a baptism on Sept 21. His name is Corey and he is a Stud! He is 18 years old and just graduated last year. He is an athlete. Played starting QB for a 5A high school, was on the b-ball team, and is in the top 25 golfers in the state of Indiana. I would compare him to Tanner Higham. We also found a family and they all have baptismal dates for Oct. 6 it is a family of 5. We found them while street contacting. We got into a conversation with her about the Book of Mormon and we read 2 Nephi 33:10-11 with her, and then the member that we had with us asked her if we could teach her right now. She said "yes" so we walked 2 blocks back to her house and taught her the Restoration. The Spirit was super strong in our lesson and it really hit hard when Elder Souza read the first vision to her. She told us that she believed it was true, and that should would pray and read so she could know it was true. I loved her answer! Hopefully we will have more peeps to talk about next week that are looking to fully partake of the Atonement by joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We didn’t get to go to the temple last week. Our ride bailed on us. We were just working on Tuesday and had no time to email. I am sorry though momma it won’t happen again. Can you send out another mail request? Like on face book or something? Tell them to make sure to give me their return address if they want a letter back. I have sucked at writing people back but I will keep up this time. I really like mail. I don't have any funny stories that I can think of... I have hurt my knee a few times playing basketball, but it is doing fine. I definitely have to take it easy with it. Things have been awesome though. I love this area, the time, my companion, the weather-- everything. I have an appointment at 12. We don’t even stop teaching on p-day.! But I love you guys and I love God. I ask that you will follow the greatest commandment which is love God, and the second is love your neighbor. A way that you can love your neighbor and your God is through... Missionary Work! Just Do It! I love and will talk to you next week Love, Elder Dye

August 27th, 2012

I have had an interesting week. How have you been? Elder Fisher is getting transferred tomorrow and I will be training a new missionary! I will write you an actual email next week on Tuesday because we are moving our p-day so we can go to the temple! I am so excited! I haven't been to the temple in a year. The work has been great! We had 5 Investigators to Church yesterday and we have a baptism on the 9th and one on the 29th! So it has been going pretty good! How close is the house to being done? Love, Elder Dye

August 13th, 2012

Hey Everybody! I am super sorry about not emailing last week. I now have Insomina and only get a few hours of sleep a week. So after a week with about 8 hours of sleep I crashed on P-day and slept all day. I am talking to a lady about it and things are getting better for me. So thats why I missed last week. I am sorry:( Things these past two weeks have been CRAZY! I will give you the top 3 plays of the past weeks: Play #1: Elder Smith and I go to teach his Investigator Greg Weathers. Greg texted Elder Smith and told him that there lesson might be a little heated because his In-laws will be there and they hate Mormons. Elders Smiths companion is down because he hurt his ankle playing basketball and can not leave the apartment. So because of all of my previous encounters with Baptist Preachers in Lousivlle Elder Smith called me and asked for me to go with him. So we walk into gregs apartment and there are a few chairs set up in a circle. I felt like Wyatt Earp walking into the O.K. corral. The inlaws were there with a hot shot baptist preacher that is a big deal around here his name is Pastor Danny. We sat down and there was so much contention in the room I could hardly breathe. Pastor Danny tried to be all fake nice to us just like every pastor does. Pastor Danny asked us to share all of our Doctrine with him and then they would all decide for Greg if it was good for him to join our church. So we started with Jesus Christ and then we led into the Book of Mormon. After everything we said Pastor Danny would either agree with it or tell greg that it was not true, and that what we just said was a herecy. After about an hour Pastor Danny complimented us for being the most intelligent set of mormon missionaries he has ever talked to, and then hes said, "But its my turn now." He went off and started screaming and yelling telling Greg that we were both going to hell and how we don't understand who Jesus Christ even is. He was sitting next to me on the couch and I have NEVER wanted to hurt anyone more then i wanted to hurt him! I said a prayer and said, "I have had a real hard past few weeks and have tried hard so please help me deal with this guy." I Looked at Greg and said over the top of Pastor Danny. Greg I know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ if I didn't I wouldn't sit here and take crap from this guy, and i know who Jesus Christ is because if I didn't there would have been a fight. I don't know why but the Holy Ghost told greg that the things I said were true. Elder Smith bore his testimony and greg asked pastor danny and his in laws to leave. It was awesome! best experience of my mission. Play # 2 We went street contacting in the hood, and it was getting late and we need 7 more contacts. We walked up to the b ball courts and there were a group of guys sitting around talking waiting to play a game. We approached them by telling them that we aren't cops so they didn't shoot us, and then I asked them if I could play a game with them. They all looked at me and laughed. So I took of my tie and un buttoned my shirt and started to play. The very first play I swated the guy that I was guarding on the 3 pt. line. I turned around right there and drained it. then I alley ooped this guy on my team and he threw it down! We kicked their trash and they were all calling me Jimmer. We gave them all some cards and a few Book of Mormons, and the guy that I lobed it to is now investigating the church in Louisville. Play #3: I went tracting out in the sticks with Elder Cox and I got some advice from a missionary at the start of my mission. he told me to never knock on a house that you can't see from the road. I forgot that advice and it made for an interesting night. We were at this house in the middle of no where and the had a distillery in there front yard to make moonshine. All of the sudden this huge german shepard came after us. He stopped like 5 feet in front of us and waited for us to make a move. I was freaking out because I knew this dog was for real. Elder cox tried to non chalantly (can't spell been in Ky, IN too long) and the dog laid his ears back and smiled at us. So I turned to walk the other way and the neighboors big dog was coming the other way. I was ready to take off, but when the German Shepard saw the other dog he ran and hid behind a truck so we took off, and that was only my second dog encounter on the mission. I have learned alot this week from going back to the basics and I would encourage all of you to read the Introduction of the Book of Mormon again and break it down. I realized a few things that I never had before. Let me know how it goes! Love, Elder Dye

August 7th, 2012

Hey Whats Up? I am doing zone leader stuff at the church so I will only be able to email for a few minutes or so. I have had a wild week. One of our zone leaders is hurt so I have been working with the other one for this whole week. We have been working our tails off. We had a pastor bash this past week and it was wild. I am coming back to baptize that guy. I have to go now though so I will talk to you next week. Sorry I didn't have the time that you deserve. I love you all! Have a good week! Love, Elder Dye

July 30th, 2012

Hey Everybody! This is your favorite guy from the State of Indiana and K.Y.! We have had an alright week here in the awesome city of New Albany, Indiana. It was real hot a few days this week with heat index we were 110 + it was hot. We talked to everyone that was crazy enough to be outside. It looked like we had jumped in a pool because of how much we were sweating! We had another sweet experience this week. We were meeting a member at Taco Bell -because I love that place and I figured out that some members love that place to and love to take us there- and while we were sitting there we had an old guy approach us and started asking some of the common questions that someone asks if they have studied or been taught anti ( they teach alot of anti out here at churches. There is a church that has an anti mormon class every Wednesday night in our area). So we answered his questions with some questions and he was touched by the Holy Ghost and asked for a Book of Mormon. As he was leaving he exchanged information with us and told us that he hosts a Bible study of about 30 people and he would like us to come and clear up the misconceptions that they all have of our Church. So we set up a time to go and speak at his Church. We will let you know how that goes. We also taught a Schizophrenic on the street he interupted me halfway through our conversation and said you are two good looking guys! I am a photographer can I take some picture of you? So we did a Photo shoot right there on the street haha it was awesome! The guys name is Fred Davis and while he was taking the picture he would squeal and yell "Wow thats a good one!" run over to us as fast as he could and show it to us. The sad thing was is that it was probably a $20 camera from Walmart and it was an old school film one. So the photos probably won't ever go viral :( This past week I realized something that has really made me feel bad and wish I could change things. I realized that I have not recieved the spirit any more than I did before. I realized that I never treated the Lord's tender mercies how I should have and didn't hold them as close to my heart. I realized that God doesn't care for me more because I am a missionary. I realized that he has always cared for me this way. I am super sad that it has taken me this long to figure this out. So know that God loves you as much as he love missionaries. Know that you can be guided everyday by the Holy Ghost and hold those tender mercies close to you heart. The Church is true! Love, Elder Dye

June 25th, 2012

Hey family whats up? I am doing awesome!!! Just had one of the best weeks of my mission! We set 4 baptismal dates this past week! I gotta go. Much love. Talk to you next week.

June 11th, 2012

Hey Family, I did get transferred last week to a nice little town called New Albany Indiana. It is right across the Ohio from Louisville. I am the District Leader and I am follow up training Elder Fry's MTC companion. He is a LEGIT Cowboy from Wyoming and in this past week he has already taught me how to rope like a champ. He has won a ton of team roping events and he is a boss. So I have really made up my mind on being a cowboy. So I would like my boots and my belt, and a button up shirt so i can be as cool as he is. That is about all that I would want/need. It was real sad and real hard to leave everybody in Evansville, but i told most of them i would come back to visit and that i would bring you all with me. I know this might be a ways out but what do you think about coming to pick me up when i am done, and we could tour around the mission and maybe go hit up the rest of the church sites back east? Elder Potter and I have had some crazy things happen already. We were in the park and there are tons of ducks that sit around a big pond. We were walking around talking to everyone we saw. It started to get a little boring so I thought that i would spice things up. I walked up to this duck and it chicks and i tried to catch the mama. She didnt like that very much and started to hiss and snap at me, but you know me. I kept up my diligence and all of the sudden momma duck came after my face. I turned around and took off on a full speed sprint. I thought she would stop after I got far enogh away from her chicks, but she was right on my tail trying to bite me and slapping my backpack with her wings. I probably got chased for 50 yards before she stopped. Elder Potter sure got a kick out of that, and so did everyone else in the park. Funny story #2: We were in an area Elder Potter had never been in so we thought we should check it out a little bit. We walked down a creek and found ourselves in the deep sticks. We saw this tiny little house and elder potter recognized this thing in the backyard as a moonshine maker thing. all of the sudden this crazy mountain man comes walking out of this tiny shack and we both got pretty scared. He talked to us for a little while and then turned around and walked into the woods. We took off as fast as we could and we got soaked, and all muddy and scratched up. We had the Car Elders pick us up and we started laughing so hard that i threw up. It was kind of embarrasing. haha So i am on a bike again, and i am thinking about telling president to keep me on one so I can be on a bike for all of my mission. I met a lady in our ward that is cousins to Jill Searle. Her name is Sister Valentine. The ward is super nice here and are willing to do anything for the missonaries it is quite the change from my last ward. I will be on to email at 10:30 Louisville time. So 8:30-9:00 yout time. My address is Elder Jake Dye 401 Colonial Club Drive New Albany, Indiana 47150 Much Love, Elder Dye

May 29th, 2012

This past week has been a crazy awesome killer one! Our area has finally boomed! Our investigators are progressing better then we could have ever guessed. We have had so much happen that will have to go day by day. Tuesday: We went and helped one of the sweetest recent converts seal his driveway and in turn he came with us to one of our appointments that day with Misty Clark. She is an investigator that I found my first week here with Elder Harper so back in January. We sat down and had a great lesson towards the end of it she told us that she knows that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God and that She knows that everything we tell her is the truth. So that was pretty awesome! We will set a date with her on Thursday for her to be baptized. Wednesday: not much happened Thursday: We met with Derek "Elder" Hunter. He is an ordained Elder in a Baptist church, and is on track to become a Bishop which is as high as you can get. He had met with missionaries before but he lost contact with them. We went and knocked on his door two weeks ago and he was super excited to meet with us again. He showed up to our appointment dressed exactly like us and he told us he would like to be baptized. So we set his date for July 8th. Friday: We had Interviews with President Woodbury and he told me that we need to baptize Derek as soon as possible. While I was in my interview Derek called me and gave us an address of a lady he talked to on the street and gave a Book of Mormon to. I was super excited and President told me that he is the blessing for me and Elder Fry's hard and diligent work. He also hinted to me that I will be getting transferred on the 5th. We met with the Madison's that night and Bro Madison is super bummed that I am leaving. I am pretty sad that I will have to leave them too. We had a terrible lesson with him that night because another member of the ward was over and tried to force him to do things. He drove us home and we sat in his truck, and cleared up some wrong ideas she gave him for about an hour in front of our apartment. Sunday: Elder Hunter came to church! We met with him after and he is ready to be baptized. We called President and asked him if we could baptize him this upcoming Sunday, and he told us yes! So I will have some sweet pictures to send home! Monday: We went tracting after P-day was over and in an hour we found 6 new Investigators. It seems like once we got our momentum rolling it will be impossible to stop! The work of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent! Love you, Elder Dye

May 21st, 2012

Hey Family, These past two weeks have been some wild ones. We have been reaping the fruits of our labors. We set our first baptismal date this past week with one of our AMAZING Investigatos names Faith Ford. We found her at the park and she was super interested in what we were sharing because her and her husband have been struggling for quite along time. They got married 5 years ago, and in those five years have only lived together for 6 months. They couldnt get along so she is raising her 5 year old by herself. She realized that a broken family is not how it is suppose to be and she knew that if she made God a prioity he could help her change her broken home into a happy home. She will be baptized on the 24th of June! 19 days after transfers! haha We have 5 more investigators that are progressing pretty well. We plan on giving them all baptismal dates to work towards this next week! I will send you a picture of one of my favorite investigators. He is the big black guy that came to church with us last week. We had one of the worst days on a bike I have ever had this past week. It was around 94 and it was more humid then it has been in a long time. We biked about 8 miles and it looked like i had jumped in a pool. I only have 3 min left of p-day so i gotta go. I love you all Love Elder Dye

April 30th, 2012

Well there is not too much to report this week and I am not in the emailing mood right now so I will write you a letter to make up for my terrible email. We have been seeing the blessings of the lord in our area more then ever right now. We were listening to a talk awhile back by Jeffery R. Holland called "Do You Love Me?" Alot of things in that talk hit home to me. One of the phrases really struck a cord he says, "You tell me how obedient of a missionary you were and I will tell you how your mission went." So Elder Fry and I have put a major emphasis on obedience along with a healthy combination of hard wok and we have been seeing the blessings and the prepared come falling into our laps! I wish I could think of a single instance but I cant because there were too many. We found 13 New Investigators this last week and our average has been 4. So we have been super busy. Our Bishop is moving out at the end of this month so we are super excited for a new fired up Bishop! That is about all that I can think of to tell you this week but you can expect a letter to get to you by thursday! Love, Elder Dye

April 23rd, 2012

This past week was a week of high hopes, and let downs. We started of this week by painting a house with Robert Madison. His wife is a member and he is working on switching churches to come worship with his wife. So that is good. That took up all of our Monday. Then on Tuesday we went and helped our Ward Mission Leader move some stuff around then later that night we went to a member home for dinner. They had a nonmember there and she was slightly interested in our belifs. So after dinner we started sharing a short message, but the not yet member had different and better plans. She started asking questions that perfectly set us up to teach the Restoration. So we did with POWER AND AUTHORITY. I have not felt the spirit that strong in quite awhile. She accepted our invitation to come to church and she was also going to bring her 12 year old grandson. We had everything set her member friend that had us over for dinner did her job perfect. She told her to come over to her house that morning and they would ride to church together. So I thought that there was no way in Satans home that she would back out...But guess what happened. She backed out Sunday morning around 8. I was so devastated. Elder Fry and I have never been able to bring a not yet member to church. Well now is time for the good news. Elder Fry and I are staying together for at least one more transfer. We have already been companions for 3 months already. I have never been with anyone for 3 transfers. It is a good thing that we get along great! As you can see the good news section of my letter is alot shorter than the high hopes and let down section. So I will try to milk this section out for all its worth. Elder Fry and I have gotten our area extremely organized. We divided our map into 30 sections and then in a binder we sorted into sections every former, less active, and member. We did this so it will be easy to go visit everyone. It is nice to be organized. You would be proud of me mom! Our apartment is so clean I would eat off the floor. That is about it from Midwest. Much Love, Elder Dye

April 18th, 2012

Hey,

This past week was a heck of a week! We have recieved a new expectation from President Woodbury, and we are expected to contact 20 people a day outside of tracting, and set appointments. I don't know if I have told you about it or not already. It is a promise from Elder Ballard that if every companionship will talk to 20 people a day or more. They will double their baptisms. We have been leading the zone in number of people contacted. We have had some pretty off the wall stories that have resulted from this 20 a day expectation. Here are just a few that I can remember:

We stopped this middle aged black lady and started talking to her about the Book of Mormon and started talking about the Plan of Salvation. While we were talking I couldn't help but stare at this ladies eyes, and for some reason Elder Fry was being dead quiet, and that is not how I raised my boy up to be-so I awkwardly kept teaching this lady her name was Yolonda but she told us we could call her yo-yo. She told us how we were an answer to her prayers so I was getting pretty excited. I knew there was something wrong with her, but I couldn't put my finger on it. So as we walked away Elder Fry started busting up and asked me why I wasted 40 mins of my time to teach some lady that was higher then a kite about the Plan of Salvation. haha and after he said "high" the pieces of the puzzle fell into place!
Well it was a really rainy day and we only had a half hour to finish up our 20 contacts so we decided to go to the bus stop and talk to people there. So the very first guy I approach looks just like Mr. T. No Lie. I ask him about 4 or 5 questions and he just nods his head or gives me the thumbs up or down. So I am pretty scared of this guy, and I start to walk off. Elder Fry had different idea. So he kept talking to him and for some strange reason he took a liking to Elder Fry instead of me! Crazy I know! haha but we talked to him for about an hour at a bus stop in the rain. His name is Israel, and he is not a Christain. He told us that he would love to listen to us and give Christ another shot. The only problem is he doesn't live in our area, but he works in it. The missionaries that are suppose to teach him are both super sheltered. So we are going to poach him :)
This past Sunday Elder Munns of the Seventy came to our ward and he gave a talk in Priesthood about keys and who holds them. He had me read a few scriptures, and he made me repeat them becuase my accent was too thick for him to understand. I guess it is getting pretty bad, but it only comes out when I read. This past week was also prom so all of the youth wore their flashy clothes to church, and it made me think of how old I am. Well anyway that is it from the Great State of Indiana. I Just found out from President Woodbury today that I will be staying here till at least June 5th. Maybe longer.

Love,

Elder Dye

April 9th, 2012

Hello Family,

I do not have too much to report back on to you all. This past week flew by and I am not able to recollect very much of it. We have been leading the zone in Key Indicators for the third week in a row. We found an awesome Investigator at White Castle ( a terrible burger joint that is pretty big out here) We went in there and they gave us free food and then we sat and talked with them for quite awhile. We taught the whole crew the Restoration and three of them are now investigating the church. We had so many Easter parties this past week... One of our investigating families had us over on Saturday. We had a party with 40 of there family members and we were asked to give a "sermon" on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So we gave it to 40 Catholics and then answered questions about our church. They all loved us and when the food was blessed they said that they were thankful for the new addition to their family. Elder Fry and I won the Egg toss and a few other games and we received walmart gift cards for every game we won which is good because the zone leaders lost my mission funds card so I won't get a new one for 12 more days. That is all that has happened here. I will be writing jessa and justin today so they can expect a letter in the mail by friday!

Love Elder Dye

April 2nd, 2012

This past week was an amazing one! We recieved a challenge from our
Mission President to street contact 20 people a day outside of
tracting and visting members. He promised that if we do this
consistently we will have more investigators then we can
keep track of. So Elder Fry and I have tried our hardest to accomplish
these new expectations that President has now set.
We have started talking to everybody within the sound of our voice. We have street contacted some of the craziest people I have talked to and we have started talking to the pretty girls that we were scared of before.
This has resulted in us getting hit on alot. I have gotten more
comments about how pretty my eyes are this past week then I have my
entire life!
On Saturday night we were on our way home and we decided
that we would get a limeade from Sonic because it is in the 90's here now.
Across the street from Sonic was a Red Box, and there was a family trying to pick out a good movie to watch.So Elder Fry and I approached them with a
Finding Faith in Christ DvD, and told them they should watch that.
They told us how much they hated their church they go to now and have
been looking for another! It was sweet! So of course we invited them to
our church and they should be coming next week.
So on Tuesday we were walking through a neighboorhood and Elder Fry and I talked to this Dad and his son playing ball in the driveway. The dad invited us in the backyard and we sat down and started to teach him. He started to argue with us so I bore him my testimony and left him a Book of Mormon. That is about it from Evansville Indiana! If you got any questions you know how to get a hold of me :)

Love,

Elder Dye

March 26th, 2012

Hey Family,

Well here is my update. I have been working hard and seeing the lord
bless me. I left my planner at the apartment and I have no idea what
happened this week. That is how things have been going lately. I will
slow myself down on Monday and before I even think about it it's
Friday. Then I get all excited for Saturday tracting. Then it's
Sunday, and then Sunday night goes by real slow and I start over
again. The time is flying and it only seems to be getting faster and
faster. How does a 4 year mission sound?? hahaha Mom would die. We
have been hanging out with the Senior Missionaries lately, and every
time we go over it makes me think about Grandma and Grandpa Dye and
how cool of senior missionaries they would have been. I will be
sending you all that stuff today. and when I email next week I will
tell you about this last week. Time just seems to mesh together.

Love,
Elder Dye

March 19th, 2012

So...

This past week was a a killer. We had record breaking tempatures for
this time of year. On Tuesday, it was 82 degrees with too much
humidity. I think Elder Fry and I lost 10 lbs in sweat that day on
our bikes,especially because we had to bike through the most hilly
part of our area. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

So Monday is P-day so not much happened then that is worth reporting. But
on Tuesday, we had a crazy day. We went tracting in the "Sticks" part
of our area, and almost every door we knocked on let us in. It was
crazy. We got in more doors this past week than I have my whole
mission! We taught 9 lesson that day in 4 hours of tracting. It was
pretty crazy. We went and helped one of our members make a mormon.org profile and that was our day.

On Wednesday things went pretty slow, but one of our investigators families invited us to attend their 16 year old daughter's high
school play. So I called President and we got permission to go. It
really helped our relationship with them grow. So we will see where
that takes us.
On Thursday, we tracted into the nicest lady I have ever met.
She invited us in and her husbad was there so we went in. She told us
how her sister had missionaries just like us knock on her door, and
she is now a Mormon, and it has been the best thing that has ever
happened to her. She told us that she could tell we were special young
men and that we are welcome over anytime. They are a pretty wealthy
family and they said that when the tornados start hitting to come over
and there is room for us in their storm shelter. They also invited us
over for Easter dinner. So I am pretty excitied about that.

I am going to skip to Sunday now. The ward now loves us, and I feel like I get mobbed at church now. So that's good. After church, we had dinner with
some familes and it made me miss our Mormon BBQ's. But we went and
visted a prospective Elder's House (Which is someone who hasn't
recieved the M. Preisthood who can) with our ward mission leader and
they were pretty rough. His parents are on their second mission in
Russia right now, and it blew my mind to see the choice that he made
to put him where he is now. When he had been taught the right way
since he could walk. But he is coming back to church this Sunday and
we are going to baptize his wife pretty soon. So that is exciting!

Things here are going better then ever. But I am busy as ever. I have
the largest teaching pool I have ever had. So if I don't write you
back. I got a good excuse, and if you got any problems, you can take
them up with my boss. I am pretty sure this will be my last transfer
here and my last with Elder Fry. I have trained him too good for them
to keep us together.

Love,

Elder Dye

March 12th, 2012

Hey Family,

This past week has been a good one. I am no longer in a threesome but transfers are tomorrow and Elder Fry and I are sticking together. My best two buddies are leaving though and I am pretty bummed about that. Elder Morrison is going to be the Zone Leader in Lexington and he will be working on UK during March! I am kinda jealous and we don't know where Elder Garrity is going.

Me and Elder Fry had a really good week though. We are teaching a
family of 4 and they are super cool. Things are looking real good for
them. We are also teaching another family and we have been teaching
them ever since I got here, and they are starting to progress.
The ward has finally warmed up to us, and we have a dinner appoinment
every weekday this week. We will have more this week than I have had
my whole time here! So that is exciting!

For the crazy story catagory:
We were eating at McDonald's and this guy walks up to me and elder fry
and tries to start Bible bashing. So I slid over and told him to sit
down by me.
Elder Fry and I started being real friendly to him and just talked
for 4 min about nothing to him and then we started to teach him. We
cleared up all of his concerns and we are meeting him at the church on
Wednesday. He tried to show off his Bible knowledge by reciting Hebrews
1:1-3. So then Elder Fry and I both recited some scriptures from the
Bible and he decided he was done bashing. It was funny.
Then we had a lesson with Tom again. We went in and he had scribbled
all over the Book of Mormon and said that it was not the word of God.
So we sat there while he yelled at us and told us we were wrong. So I
pulled out 2 Nephi 29:7-9 and that calmed him down a little. Then
Elder Fry bore solid testimony and we read 3 Nephi 11. He then told us
that he didn't give the Book of Mormon a chance. So he told us he
would really read and pray about it. That is about it from Evansville.
We are suppose to have 50 more tornados hit in the next little while.

Love

Elder Dye

March 5th, 2012

Howdy Family,

Like all of you know we had some pretty nasty storms around here
but I am perfectly fine. We went to play basketball at 5:45 that
morning just like normal, and we ended up driving through the storm. I
did what dad wanted... I got a video of the storm and the sideways
rain but since it is dark outside you can't see the clouds, but I
tried. When I send my sd card home next week you can check it out.

This week not much work got done because of the storms so not too much
happened. You all had a pretty eventful week.

I got another companion. His companion got emergency transferred so he is working with us until the end of the transfer. So we are working in a threesome. I got to have interviews with president and he talked to me forever. He was really happy with how well Elder Fry is doing. That's about it from here. The Church is true. Sorry I don't have much time this week.

Love,

Elder Dye

There is a video on you tube called Tornado passing by Evansville, Indiana March 2nd, 2012. It is about 1 min and 40 secs. This is the storm that Elder Dye had hit him last Friday. You should watch it.

February 27th, 2012

Hey Family,

Things in Evansville have been great this past week. Elder Fry and I
have hit about our halfway mark of tracting our area. We have gotten
some cool people to teach these past couple weeks. My favorite one (is
it ok to have favorites? idk?) is a guy named Tom. He is 45, divorced
and is one of the most Christlike people I have ever met. The fun
thing about teaching him is that he is smart.
I have grown to love the Bible and I have studied it a little too much. I can probably quote 30-40 scriptures word for word and probably 30 other references. So wehave some great talks about how the Book of Mormon cannot go hand in hand with the bible. We had a great lesson with him this past Saturday and he had probably put 30 hours worth of study into why the Book of Mormon can't be the word of God. These conversations in no way are
heated.
But we went in there and bore testimony to him and he is now
really trying to have the spirit tell him what is true. It was a
pretty cool experience and it is one that is hard to explain.
I don't have much time. I am going to a monistary today for our p-day
and it is only 1 of 9 in the world! It is where the monks study and
stuff like that. So I am stoked. I will send my sd card home next week
so you can see all the pics.

Love you,

Elder Dye

February 21st, 2012

Dear Family,


Things here are going good! We have had a pretty good week. We
started last week off with 1 Investigator and we ended the week with
10. So me and my companions' nonstop tracting paid off this past week!
So as you can see this week was a good one. I was able to give the
Preisthood to the guy I baptized this past Sunday and that was pretty
sick. We have also got the ward a little more receptive to the
missionaries. I have been here for 2 months and only ate at 3 members
homes, but this next week we have a dinner every night but 2 so I
don't know what we did, but we did something.
Oh i have not yet wrecked on my bike, but I had a super
close call the other day. I was biking down a street comapable to 17th
street in I.F. and we were stopped at a stoplight and some members
waved to us right when the light turned green so I was starting out
in 3-7 the highest gear on my bike and I was starting from a dead
stop. So I waved right as I was pumping it out and I lost my handle
bars and I went about 3/4 of the way into the lane to my left in heavy
traffic, and I barley didn't get hit. Elder Fry was pretty scared for
me cause as you know those things don't seem to scare me how they
should :)
I am glad everything at home is going great and that the truck is
back to its beasty self. I hope that things continue to go well. So my letters might be a little dry and just about missionary "Yitz" ( that is our districts substitute word for anything and everything) Thanks for all the help with losing my wallet. I really appreciate it:)

Well,

Love Elder Dye

February 6th, 2012

I am glad to hear that the Patriots didn't pull off the "W." This week
has been an interesting one. I have officially made the jump to senior
companion and trainer. My companion's name is Elder Fry and he is from Salt Lake.
Our area has been quite challenging this past week, but.... we trucked through it. We have no one to teach at the moment and all we have to do is tract, and that has been going on the not so hot side. No one has given us 3 min. at a door in a week of straight tracting. So I am trying to learn the
lesson that I need to from this.
On the plus side, we are biking close to 20-25
miles a day. I am trying to hit all of the areas that other
missionaries were too lazy to hit. I got my package and thank you!
There was some good candy in there! Thats all that's new here. Love ya!

Elder Dye

January 23rd, 2012

Sorry I was slow today. This is going to be the normal time I will
email for a little while. Elder Garrity and I go play basketball at
the YMCA. A member takes us and it is a good time. I don't know if I
have told you about Elder Garrity but he is a baller. He is probably
going to play in the NBA when he gets home. Well I have finally got my
feet underneath me in this new area and I finally know my way around.
This is a good thing because I am on my own on the 31st. Elder Harper
is headed home to Ogden,Utah and I have inherited alot of his stuff.

I was able to confirm the Beltrans on Sunday! IT WAS AWESOME! We are
trying to know how to continue to help them on the way to the temple
so we are buying a picture frame for them with a picture of their
baptism, the temple, and a family proclamation to the world. I was
pretty proud of what we thought up!

But there is a little bit of bad news, we have focused so hard on the
Beltrans being baptized that we have no new investigators. So I will
be doing some massive finding. I am hoping on getting the ward
excitied to do missionary work and giving us refferals. Do you have
any advice on how to do that?

Well I don't have any exciting stories this week, but I am sure I will have some next:) I Love You!

Love,

Elder Dye

January 17th, 2012

Dear Family,

This past week has been a wild one. We have been tracting our guts out
and are not seeing too much success. But it all paid off because last
Sunday a famiy made the decision to be baptized by someone
holding the authority from God. So I was able to help my first
investigators into the waters of baptism for the remission of sins. It
was a great experience and I am hungry for more!
Elder Porter of the Seventy came and talked to us and I was able to
learn some very key things that have really changed my view on
missionary work. We had an in depth talk about the Atonement of Jesus
Christ. It was pretty deep stuff but this is what the spirt helped me
pull out of it and how I likened it to missionary work:
Christ's ultimate goal on the earth was to give us an opportunity to
recieve a remission for our sins. We are asked as missionaries and as
members of the church to follow the example of the Savior. So the way
that I think that I can best do that is having my investigators be
baptized for the remission of their sins. Too much I have my focus
diverted to just the 1st lesson or just the Book of Mormon. But our
main focus should be helping those who have not already recieve a
remission of their sins. (As talked about all over in the Scriptures
but mainly in 2 Nephi 31.)
Our trio was split up today. I was able to learn how to be
unified as a companionship because with three people it is a constant
struggle to do that. I cannot believe how much my mind has been
opened up to the scriptures and how much knowledge, testimony, and
charity I have gained. I would not like to be anywhere but here right
now.
I am glad that Jessa was able to pull off the "W" in her basketball game. And send justin out there with his gun after that
porcupine.
Oh I almost forgot! The weather here has went crazy! It has
been snowing and blowing on us and we come in at night frozen to
death. This morning I was almost part of a tornado and I was going to
chase it down and get pictures of it,but it passed over. The tornado
siren was going off all morning. Transfers come on the 31st and I am
pretty nervous but everything should be fine. I will send pictures of
the baptism to you next week but that is about it from Indiana.

Love,

Elder Dye

January 9th, 2012

I made it to Newburgh! Actually I am serving in Evansville but the
area is called Newburgh bike.
Send my stuff to:
Elder Jake Dye
1263 Devonshire Place
Evansville, Indiana 47715
But when it is close to transfer time just send it to the mission office. the next transfer is the 31st. We are baptizing three people this transfer!!

I am in a trio. They are both cool Elder H. He is from the same
town as Elder F. which is Plain City, Utah. and the other is
Elder W. He is from Fruitland, Idaho. I like them alot.

The town is awesome. I would say about Rexburg size. The ward is pretty big and it is a pretty good ward. They have a ton of youth. There are alot of doctors in the ward and the guy that we are baptizing is a doctor. The neighboorhoods are nice just like Shelley.

People are real nice here too. They are not
as Bible belt as Kentucky almost everyone is Catholic which is a big
change because I was used to Baptists. There are a lot more members of the Church here. Maybe 20%-30%.
:) (Send cookies!!)