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