Week 6 (June 20th)

So this week had been really good and thank you so much for all of your prayers for me because I really needed them. We had exchanges on Tuesday and they of course were amazing I learned a lot. Hnas Corbridge and Keele are amazing and they really helped me and boosted my confidence in things I'm struggling in. So little by little things are steadily getting better.We have a baptism coming up this Saturday!!!! Mariela is getting baptized. I'm so excited!!!! 

We had transfers today, so my companion and I are still in Broadway and if President Crawford (new mission President) keeps the pattern, I will be here for at least another two transfers, but Broadway 2 is the best ward in the mission, so I hope I get to stay for a while. 

Saturday the was the Father's Day party and I learned the true meaning of Spanish Time. So the poster said it started at 6, but apparently that's in hopes that people will all be there by 7pm, but they don't start the party until 8pm and then at around 8:15pm they start serving the food and then the entertainment and games don't start until 8:45pm and we go home at 9:15pm to get back in time, but apparently the party goes until after 11pm which is crazy and this is what apparently happens at every ward party in Broadway 2. The building has a stage and so they have actual entertainment. A few of the primary girls did a cultural dance, and the young women did some sort of lip synching thing, and then the relief society did a 50's type dance. And then they had games and competitions for the men and it was really funny. I took pictures and videos and I planned to upload them and send them to you, but I forgot my cable at the apartment so that will have to wait until next week.

 Guess what? For once in my life I have a noticeable tan! Go figure. I saw Hna Rivera when all of the Hnas met up for exchanges and she said that I looked good with a little color it makes me look a little more Mexican. Which by the way I am practically a giant here. I am taller than most of the people around here except for the other missionaries. 

The weather is hot and still no rain. We use the car more now because of the heat and it's easier to stay hydrated, but on cooler days when it's only like 80 degrees we stick to the bikes. 

So I ate a Jalapeno on Tuesday, it was a pickled one so it wasn't as bad, but it was still really spicy especially closer to the stem. I don't know why people eat just plain pickled jalapenos, they don't even have good flavor, they're kind of sour. Not my thing, but I am beginning to like salsa and I have the feeling that someday soon jars of salsa will taste like ketchup to me, but it's all good. 

We had a service project with Susana our investigator this week and we helped her make tortillas again. We did it on Friday morning before district meeting at 10am, but we were only able to finish cooking 13 dozen before we left and she had another 6 dozen left to make. It is a lot of tortillas. 

Overall things are pretty good here. They feed us well and although there are many foods such as tomatoes that I don't like, I have mastered the art of loving the members enough to finish pretty much everything on my plate at least until I'm too full to eat. I love you all and all of your letters. All my love!!!!

 

Ari

Week: 6 (June 13th)

 I can't believe it's the last week before transfers!!! I have one more transfer with my companion more than likely and then she'll probably leave. But I kind of hoping that one of us gets transferred this time because she's really nice and I've learned a lot from her, but it's been really hard on me working with her because she's really trunky, and she still has a year left, trunky means that she talks about home all of the time and she's emotionally ready to leave now but she's only staying so she doesn't have to say that she never finished. But she's really nice and really good at working with the members and she's really good at explaining things without making it complicated, but from time to time I do get homesick. We're almost done teaching Mariela and we have an appointment with her tomorrow to teach her the Word of Wisdom. She is so ready!!!! She pays her tithing and we haven't even taught her the tithing lesson yet!!!! Spanish is coming much easier and as I open myself up I begin to understand and love more readily. We're going to be doing exchanges tomorrow which I'm really excited about. My companion is going to be going to Jacinto City and I'll be here with Hermana Keele who's in Pasadena and Hermana Corbridge who's in Jacinto City will be coming here.  I think it's going to be fun!! Hermana Keele is really awesome and bold and this is probably the only chance I'm going to have to work with her because she only has one transfer left before she leaves.
 The weather is warm and I'm drinking much more water so the headaches are going away, I have sunglasses that are big enough to go over my regular glasses when I ride my bike. Lately I've heard all of these horror stories about bikes getting stolen and mine is really pretty so I bought a u lock which you can't just cut with a pair of wire cutters, it's heavy in the backpack, but it makes me feel safer when I lock up my bike especially when there are a lot of people around. It still hasn't rained for more than five minutes since I got here which is really unusual for the area but it's still super humid. Please pray for some rain to cool it down here a little bit. 
 We had a zone conference this past Friday with President and Sister Moldenhauer. It's really sad that they're leaving soon! I'm going to miss them. They hugged each of the missionaries at the end. So, before I got here I didn't realize that hispanic people hug and kiss when they say hello and goodbye to pretty much everyone, it was definitely weird at first but I'm getting used to it. People tell me that I'm going to come here as Hermana Arianne Dilzer but I'm going to come home as Maria Lupita Lopez, I guess it shows their faith and love for me.
 The ward is really amazing, I just want to get them fired up for missionary work. Some of them already are, it's just getting the rest to get on board with them. Hermano Palacios, the ward mission leader, is setting up a big fourth of July party for the missionaries and their investigators, it's going to be fun. 
We're going knocking again with Hermana Flores this saturday, which I'm really pumped for because she loves to go knocking!!!! Personally I'd rather give lessons than go knocking, but I think most missionaries feel that way. If you ever think of anyone you know who needs the gospel in their lives and might possibly accept it give the name to the missionaries. Referrals are so much help!!!! Anyway I'm really excited and can't wait to hear form you!!! Tell me everything. I love you, and it's hard but this work is AMAZING!!!!

Love Arianne 

Week 4 & 5 (June 6 )

Week: 4


So this week is really good!!!! I got a letter from Megan Lewis and that was really awesome and we had new missionary training.  So we get a new mission president in a couple of weeks he seems nice enough and he comes in of June 29. We're working with an awesome new investigator she's been dating a member of the ward for several years and going to their family home evenings and she wants to marry him and she had a dream that they were being taken to heaven as a family but she was left behind because she wasn't a member so she's agreed to visit with us and she's so amazing, you can just tell that she's ready. The weather is really hot and humid and I sweat like crazy. If I keep hydrated and everything will be alright. Still no tolerance for spices, but I'm working on it.  My companion and I are good and all is well. Transfers are coming up in two weeks and we think we might be getting two new spanish sisters but all of the spanish sisters right now are either in training or being trained, so who knows what's going to happen. Everything's kind of up in the air. 



Week: 5

Things are really good here. I'm really starting to like the ward though I would be lying if I didn't say that I think the Lord sent me here to humble me. I've been really happy, and most of our investigators are really progressing, but apparently they run at the mention of baptism, so I just have to go slow, but the girlfriend of the member Mariela is amazing!!!!! She's really really nice, and you can just tell that she's ready, we finished the first lesson and she has so many questions and I'm just excited. The ward doesn't have a pianist, and in relief society they practice the sacrament hymns because 90 percent of the ward is made of recent converts, so the relief society presidency is having me lead all of the music in relief society because I'm the only one that  that knows the hymns well enough. The spanish is slow but the members say I'm doing a lot better. They randomly come up to me and tell me how much better my spanish is getting which is a great confidence booster. So is Richelle getting back from Arizona soon? I imagine she would be. 
 I love you all tons and I love the work, and although it's really hard I wouldn't trade it for anything!!!!

Hermana Dilzer

Mission home address:

2815 W. Lake Houston Pkwy
Kingwood, TX 77339

week 3

So this week has been great this week!!! I still don't understand the spanish people are speaking here but that will come in time. The weather is ridiculously warm here and I've been sick from the heat. But it's all good because it's all in the Lord's work!
 We have an awesome investigator and I thought we would have to drop him because he didn't want to do any of the work (pray & read the Book of Mormon). So we kind of had to kick his butt into gear. We said if he didn't do the work he wouldn't know whether it was true or not and it was up to him to find out, so he started to do his part!!! And he's gaining his own testimony!! 
 We met a new family this week, we went knocking and my companion wanted to go to a certain street but as we were riding along I was like this is not a Spanish neighborhood, why are we going here, so we get to the end of the street and we find this one rundown house. So my companion was like let's start here and we rode up the driveway and found a family of eight people. A woman Eva, and her brother and all of their children and they were just sitting around talking. They let us in the yard and we talked for over an hour it was amazing. She wanted us to go visit her daughter in jail because we are Americans but unfortunately the jail is not only outside my area but outside of the mission, so we had to tell her we couldn't go. They then told us that they received 10 tickets from the city about things they needed to clean up in their yard because the neighbors complained. So today we had a service project with the Elders in our district. We cleaned the yard and made the outside look nicer. They are an awesome family and they're coming to activities tomorrow night at church and they're coming  on Sunday too!!!
 I miss you all and think about you tons. I can't wait to see you all again, but I love the work. Ooh, I learned a new skill, it's big among the Polynesians in the states for graduations and birthdays and baptisms they make candy leas and you wrap individual candies in cellophane and then you sew it them together and they look like leas. One of the youth in the ward is graduating this week and we were invited to his graduation so I made him one and so did my companion. They look awesome!!! Not much else. Keep me updated! I love you all!!!
Love, Hermana Dilzer

Week Two

 This week has been awesome with the work!!! We have about five or six new investigators.(For those of you who aren't familiar with this LDS term. We refer to anyone who is interested in the church an "investigator" )There's a woman named Marina, she's from Honduras and she has two children Anna 11 and Luis 12. It's really awesome she had them come and sit with her for the lesson and they all participated!!! I think we are going to commit her and her children to be baptized on the next lesson! Then there's Susana, she's a friend of Hermana Berrueto and we asked her to be baptized on the first lesson and she said she'd pray about it. It was an amazing lesson she's from Mexico and she's a sweetheart. We showed up to our lesson with her and she'd forgotten and was in the middle of making tortillas so we asked if we could help so she showed us how to make the tortillas and it was really cool and easy, and of course she didn't measure anything. She sells them to all of the local women and many of them are in our ward. Susana said the trick was not to completely cook them so when the women heat them up they're completely done and their husbands and families think that they made them. When we were done she gave us two dozen tortillas and then we had the lesson and the spirit was so strong!!! We gave her the Book of Mormon, and talked to her about baptism she said she would read, but she didn't want to commit until she was completely sure this was the right church. She said that her home felt different when we were there!!! Then there's Guadalupe, but we haven't had a chance to meet with her again because her coworker is really sick and she's working crazy hours right now, but we call every couple of days to talk to her and check up on her. She's reading the Book of Mormon on her own and she says she's looking for a church. I want to commit her to be baptized because she's awesome and so ready! Then there's Mari, she's getting baptized on the 4th, we have a couple of more lessons with her, and we have to ask her husband for permission, which I'm a little worried about because the only reason my companion and I are teaching her is because her husband won't let her talk with other men. She lives in the Elder's area but if she wants to have the lessons she had to meet with sisters. So we have permission to meet with her. So we were a little worried what her husband will say when he finds out that a Elder has to baptize her.... pray that all goes well and that his heart will be softened. We're also teaching a part member family. We are also trying to get a lesson with two girls that we met one day when we were contacting a referral, their home life is a little upside down now but the girls are really sweet. One is 14 and the other is 8... Heather and Hazel has made some huge changes in their lives right now so I'm hoping they'll have a chance to meet with us again. We also taught this family Karen and Leider and they are really cool!!! They just had a new baby and they have a 4 year old son. We taught the first lesson, and gave them a Book of Mormon. Leider started reading right after we gave him the book, as we were finishing the lesson and he had a lot of questions and it was really good. I'm starting to get used to the area. It's kind of ghetto I'll be honest but the members are really nice and of course they love to feed the sisters. Thankfully after last week either the food is more normal or I'm getting used to it. I still have no tolerance for spicy food yet...but I now like pineapple, and melons and beans & rice and a lot of other things I wouldn't normally eat. I've got to say either the food is really good or I'm just hungry maybe it's a mixture of both but everything tastes good on the mission. They feed us a lot of food and like you sit down and they give you your plate and it's piled over, we were at this one appointment and she gave us 5 flautas and tons of rice and salad and I mean tons and my companion can just pack it in and I'm struggling to finish. Let's just say I'm thankful for a bike and that our area is so big because we spend more time riding our bikes than we do in the appointments. My trainer has leadership meetings all day on Tuesday and Wednesday so all of the greenies (new missionaries) are going to be paired up with each other because we have 5 trainers and 5 greenies here in Spanish land. Supposedly I'm going to be paired with Hermana Sorensen who is in Pasadena right now, but my trainer made appointments during that time she's gone so I have to be able to navigate my way there with another greenie!!! I don't know my way around yet so please pray that we don't get lost because there are very few people here who speak English because apparently in Texas English is optional at schools and you can choose whether you want to learn in English or Spanish... go figure. Although, everyone is really nice!  I'm getting to know the other missionaries much better here too. Apparently Elder Esplin and Mandernac, the other Elders in our ward ran into a man the other day that said the world was going to end this past Saturday and to beware of zombies and so we received tons of texts about zombie protection because as our district leader Elder Esplin said that he needed to make sure we were safe. Anyway there's a good camaraderie here, and I'll be here until the beginning of August if it works out like it usually does... I'll be here for about half of my mission! It's crazy to think it's been two and a half months!!! I love you all and miss everyone so much. 

Love, Hermana Dilzer

1st week in the mission field

Hey everyone!!!
     I was really happy to talk you you on Wednesday, It's been a really crazy week this week. So I got to Houston on Wednesday in the early afternoon and it was wicked hot and humid!!!! So we met the mission president and his wife, President and Sister Moldenhauer. They're really nice. They took us to this BBQ place for lunch and when you walk in and the first thing you do is you choose your piece of meat and they cut it. Then you pick out the rest of what you want the vegetables and the macaroni and cheese and beans and other things. Pretty awesome. Afterwards we went back to the mission home and we had our interviews and they gave us some info and then at around 5:30 we were introduced to our companions and told which area we would be serving in. My companion's name is Hermana Naufahu and her family came to the US in the late sixties from Tonga, and she grew up in the Bay area of California. My companion is very nice but we a definitely different people and we are still working out the kinks of our companionship.
Our area is in the Broadway 2 which is technically in the Houston south mission boundaries but our Spanish areas overlap their English areas so Broadway 2,3, and Pasadena are actually part of our mission but not within the mission boundaries because they have a Spanish Stake.


 The language they taught me in the MTC is not the language that I hear and I barely understand any of it. When I went to church on Sunday I only understood one word and that was because the said it in English.
 The ward members here are nice but I have to get used to the hugging and the kissing me. They also like to feed us and so we have a meal appointment almost every day. They give us a lot of food and my companion and the members can pack it in, but I can't at all. Not nearly to the degree that they can! The food is super spicy and they're all telling me that it's not spicy at all. We had this meat cooked with chocolate and peppers and  my companion thought it was sweet but it was the spiciest thing I had ever eaten. The Pelacio family fed us Sunday afternoon and they made ham grinders with some other sort of spicy meat, mayonnaise with lime and guacamole, and they packed on the onions. Oh my gosh I could barely get it down. Suffice it to say I don't like guacamole, mangoes, or warm pasta salad. Hopefully, as time passes I'll get used to the food, but until then I'll keep drinking lots of water to fill me up.
. 
The land is really flat here which makes it a great place for biking and we bike most of the time. I always push to bike, so I can get out of driving. My companion used to drive before I got here but for some reason she doesn't anymore. I don't know why, she hasn't told me, but apparently the mission president knows so I'm the designated driver. On my first night here I had to drive the freeway all the way in from Kingwood into Houston because our area is in the city. 
 The area is taking me a lot of getting used to but my heart is softening. I'm starting to come out of the "crazed"... I don't understand anything zone and I'm beginning to really enjoy it.
 So, funny story the other night when I arrived my companion told me that we have a cockroach problem here every once in a while. So, the next evening when we got back to our apartment, in the kitchen there were tons of cockroaches and it was disgusting!!!! BECAUSE you just don't allow things to get that bad!!!! So I freaked out. I was on the verge of asking to be transferred to English speaking area (they are the nicer areas) or go home. Well, we called Elder House and found boric acid kills them and so I'm in cockroach killing mode and we have boric acid everywhere!!! 
I love and miss you all, Hermana Dilzer

Week 9 & 10 :

Dear Family & Friends,

      So we're in the final stretch to the end of the time here at the MTC. I'm kinda getting nervous but I'm still excited at the same time. It's kind of crazy but I can't wait to get into the field. It's weird to think that in six days I will be off doing the Lord's work. Apparently I will  be with my trainer for three months which I think will be good to set me off on the right foot.  I know that this is the Lord's work and that I'm learning so much from this and please pray for my future investigators that they will be prepared and that I may be able to discover their needs.

      Today was our last temple trip which is a bummer because it's the last one I'll have before I get off of my mission because the temple is in the Houston mission not the Houston East.

      I'm almost done with reading through the Book of Mormon and now I'm going to read the new testament the whole way through too.

      Oh if I get a phone in the airport and can call, it's not necessarily a sure thing depending on how much time we have between getting to the airport and our flight. Please wake Casey up so I can talk to her too. It was nice to hear about your garden and I definitely miss digging my hands in the dirt and planting flowers. I just miss the sun, but in just a couple of days I will be getting my fair share of warm sweaty humid sun.

  Happy Mother's Day to everyone! 

 Love,  Hermana Dilzer

Dear Families,

Your Missionary has arrived safely to T.H.E. Mission! They were treated to a Texas BBQ and we enjoyed a great afternoon together. Wednesday evening they met their new companion and arrived safely in their new areas. They are now out diligently searching for our Heavenly Father's children and doing the work of the Lord. Thank you for sending your daughters and sons to us, they have added great strength to our small army here in the Texas Houston East Mission. We love them and are so grateful to have them with us. You will find attached a picture of  your newly arrived missionary with Sister Moldenhauer and myself and a picture with their trainer. 
We are delighted that your Missionary is here and look forward to working with them.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Moldenhauer

Week 7: April 28

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Hello Family and Friends,

      Okay lots of news first of all they completely changed the MTC schedule without telling us anything ahead of time so from now until May 11 my p day (prep day) is Thursday instead of Monday. They completely reorganized everything on our schedules so I now get to eat really early and everything dinner is now at 4:30.

      Please thank everyone so much for the letters it really meant a lot to me. I definitely miss being able to see family and friends but I'm constantly reminded that I'm on the Lord's time and that as long as I'm focused I will be blessed. The letters and package made my Easter amazing! Plus we had really really good speakers all week. So last Tuesday Elder Richard G Scott spoke to us about pretty much everything under the sun and whatever came into his head. The cool thing about MTC talks is that they are for the missionaries right then and there. They will never be heard again even though they are recorded they are not available publicly. Anyway so Elder Scott asked all of us who are learning a language to raise our hands and then he told us that with his apostolic authority he bestowed upon all of us the gift of tongues. My branch president said that's exactly the same as if he had laid his hands upon us individually so I thought that was pretty cool. He seemed a little ill and he didn't shake hands with us and he said that he normally does. Oh but he gave us all virtual hugs. On Sunday Elder Allen an area seventy spoke he used to be in charge of church films and mostly the commercials and so he did a talk completely based on old church commercials and so that was funny and a nice change. Tuesday Elder Dallin H Oaks and his wife spoke to us about the Holy Ghost and how to be the best missionary that we can. Plus he gave us some really cool missionary statistics like there were just under 1600 missionaries in the MTC on Tues (it's the slow time of the year) and over half stay in  the US or go to Canada and over a third of the language missionaries are speaking spanish.  The MTC keeps it a big secret who's speaking but they have a dinner for those who speak on Tuesday night and they invite members of different branch presidencies to the dinner and Brother and Sister Jackson in my Branch Presidency were invited this Tuesday so the MTC told them ahead of time and Sister Jackson told us sister missionaries, so we knew on Sunday who was coming on Tuesday.

 Oh I got my travel plans!!!! I leave May 11 and I am allowed to call you from the airport I just have to find out where to by a calling card!!! I won't be able to call on Mother's Day because there are too many missionaries. I get to the airport around 7am and my flight leaves at 8:30 no layover!!!

 Please pray for Hermana Payne she's sick and nauseated and dizzy and the doctor doesn't know what's wrong with her yet and she's been feeling miserable for a while now. 

The language is coming along pretty well and we are doing a lot of teaching. Our zone is now down to 2 districts aka 14 people. It's really small. The district ahead of us left on Tuesay morning at 3 am I had to check out the sisters Monday night it was kind of crazy they hadn't even vacuumed at 10:30pm so I had to jump in and help them clean or their roomates would have been up all night. I kind of miss them but at least I have the other sisters in my district.

 President Stone, my branch president and his wife are going to Isreal this week which is really cool. Sister Stone will get a PET scan once they come back to see if she needs to do any more chemo so please pray for her. She was diagnosed last year with stage 4 breast cancer and she's been doing better so we hope the scan will go well.

 It's a bummer Mama Fackrell hasn't had her baby. I hope she has the baby soon.

 Send my love and my good wishes. Love you all, Hermana Dilzer

Week 6: April 18

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Hey to everyone at home!!!  It's Monday and for once the weather reminds me of home. It's sixty degrees and raining really hard. I really love the rain especially here when the air is usually so dry it lifts my spirits to have a lot of moisture in the air. 

 My companion and I the first 3 to 4 weeks had a really hard time trying to find a way to get along well and teach in unity. Neither of us were mean or anything, but we are just super different, and it tends to be a little difficult but we decided to do a lot of praying for each other and this week it really paid off. We can now work together in unity and are able to teach in Spanish and English too. It's really amazing how much the Lord will work with you when you let go of your pride. So this week has been amazing in terms of teaching and studying. Right now we decided to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish and it's crazy how much it has helped with our Spanish because we can see the principles we've been taught put into action!!! 

Yesterday, I was appointed as coordinating sister for my zone, and essentially I'm in charge of making sure all of the sisters are happy and healthy and modest... not too hard. I also get to do the orientation stuff for new missionaries in our zone. Hermana Sorensen was appointed music director for the zone, so every Sunday morning we get to be companions for branch council. That way our companions don't have to come. Yesterday I had meetings all afternoon because I'm new to the coordinating sister thing, so my companion was off doing something else all afternoon and I was alone with a bunch of sisters I didn't know. It was like when my companion was in the hospital it felt strange without her, but three more weeks and I go out into the real world and get a new companion, I'm going to miss Hermana Rivera.

No apostles as speakers as of yet, however I'm holding out for Easter they usually come for the big holidays, but the speakers have been good I can't really complain about that. 

 Classes are good, they are going to be making big changes to the curriculum soon or at least class set up and they are redoing the cafeteria floors and are only having one option for meals our district joked about having a group fast until we leave the MTC. 

 Sorry about the spelling, spanish has made it more difficult than ever before. 

 Running out of time love you all...send letters. Hermana Dilzer

Has Mamma Fackrell had her baby yet?

Week 5: April 11

Hola familia & amigos,

All is well here at the MTC, so not much has happened here. I'm finally in a regular routine and my companion has healed really well. We had to go to a doctor's appointment for her post op checkup on Thursday, you know it's funny it seems wherever you go someone knows somebody who's served a mission where you live, and that's what happened at the doctor's appointment. So we show up and first the receptionist is where are we going and then she asks where we're from. Then she tells me she has a brother who served in the Hartford mission 10 years ago. It's crazy the things you find out about people when you're a missionary.

 Last Sunday Vai Sekehempa spoke to us and I was so happy because I didn't have to take notes!!! He told us just to sit back and enjoy and listen, it was a nice change of pace. Then on Tuesday, Elder Robert C. Oaks spoke to us and my companion was in charge of the benediction so I got to sit up on the stand, and I had a really good seat. Elder Oaks spoke about the importance of using the Holy Ghost as a missionary and how to use it in our planning to make us more effective. I got the chance to speak with him after the devotional, and he said to say hi to dad. I thought that was cool. For those of you who don't know, he was my Stake President when my family first moved to Pennsylvania. He and my dad were both diagnosed with cancer at the same time. So they made a special bond together when we lived there. 

 Overall it's been pretty low key, we do a lot of role playing to practice learning and teaching the gospel.  Because it's the MTC we get to be the investigators too. A trio of elders are teaching my companion and me, and we are getting baptized in two weeks, but right now I'm not sure about the word of wisdom and so I have to gain a testimony about it. It's really cool being the investigator and pretending you're someone else with real needs and because it's the only way for missionaries to get good practice the Lord really gives missionaries inspiration for the investigators even fake ones like me. It's really amazing because we pray and study for each of our investigators and as long as we are in tune with the spirit we receive revelation for them. 

We got a new district this week, and I'm super excited about it, we got new hermanas and they're really shy so we haven't gotten to know them very well yet. But it's nice to have new blood because the other two districts leave next week and then the week after, so it's good.

I got to go to the temple again this morning, having P-day on Monday really starts the week off right. 

Oh yesterday the BYU men's chorus came and gave us a concert instead of a fireside which was awesome!!! They sang a bunch of different songs and they are sooo gooood!!! Other than that not much to talk about today. Pretty low key, I'm tired but that's to be expected, and that won't go away until I come home. Tell me about everyone and everything. 

Love you all and I pray for you all ten thousand times a day. Hermana Dilzer

PS tell casey to write me!!!

Love you

Week 4

                                                                                                           Actual Date: April 4,2011

Dear Family and Friends,
       This week got off to a rough start. we had a teaching appointment that did not go so well as I had hoped it would, and on top of that my companion (Hermana Rivera) woke up in the middle of the night with stomach pains but not wanting to bother she didn't tell me until 7am. As soon as I found out we went and got her a blessing in which I felt prompted by the spirit to keep an eye on her and that it could be appendicitis. When the clinic finally opened we went to see the doctor and guess what....he thought she had appendicitis too! So we went to the hospital where she had a CT scan and yes, she had surgery that afternoon to remove her apppendix. I find it amazing how the Lord blesses his missionaries and uses the spirit to direct us.  Hermana Rivera has been healing well. Oh, funny story, so when Hermana Rivera was transfered from the ER to surgery  I went with her. Since everyone knows we are missionaries they would ask "where are you from?" I told one of the nurses that I was from Connecticut. Come to find out she was Elder Braggington's mom. If any of you remember he served in the Ellington Ward about a year ago. She said that Ellington was his favorite place that he served on his mission and he loved the people of our ward. She gave him a quick call to tell him that she had met me. Small world we live in...particularly in "Mormon Land" aka Utah. Well I got a lot of reading accomplished this week while Hermana Rivera was in the hospital and while she was recovering. I almost finished reading the book Jesus the Christ. Also Hermana Rivera and I began reading the New Testament and The Book of Mormon together too. It has already brought us greater unity and strength in our companionship.
I hope you all enjoyed conference. I know I did. I received a lot of answers to questions I've been seeking.
Love, Hermana Dilzer.

Week Two and Three!!

Hello everyone, 
Things are awesome at the MTC! My Spanish comprehension and speaking are getting much better. I’ve recently had  my teachers switched which makes me happy because the new teacher Brother Moen’s teaching style suits me better. I still have some fears having to teach in Spanish but they are easing us into it by  first having us first contact in Spanish and then to teach in English. We practice teaching on volunteers from the community and sometimes teachers pretend to be someone who might be interested in the gospel to make it feel more realistic. They’ll pretend to be someone they know who has a certain need in life or question about the church. This helps us to have the spirit as we try to share our feelings and thoughts about the gospel. 
My French has actually come in handy when we are doing grammar though I’m told that it will be of little use in Texas.
 I had planned to join the choir here but I find the time is better used for practicing Spanish and  studying .I do get the opportunity to sing, however in a less formal venue mostly hymns with the other missionaries. We most recently  sang "Called to Serve"... the way it was directed made us sound like an army marching off into battle like the 2000 stripling warriors in the Book of Mormon. As missionaries we are like an army, a army of God trying to go forth in this sometimes dark world to help others receive the light of Christ.
 I visit the temple weekly which keeps my spirits up. My companion, Sister Rivera and I are feeling greater unity as we continue working together. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I would love to hear from everyone!
Love,
Hermana Dilzer


P.S. I can be contacted on DearElder.com when registering you can find me at Arianne Dilzer at Provo MTC, my mission is Texas Houston East. The missionary mail box number does not need to be filled out. It’s a free site and I can be receive e-mail here until I leave the MTC in May.

Week One:)

Hey everyone,
I cant believe it’s almost been a week here at the MTC. The days are long, but when you get to the end everything seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. There are four hermanas in my district, making eight in the entire zone. Hermana Rivera is my companion and is from California, the other companionship is Hermana Payne and Sorensen. They’re all really nice. Everyone except Hermana Payne is going to the same mission. All of us including the elders are Spanish speaking. The language is coming slowly, but I work hard, pray and do my best which is all I can ask of myself.  We’re teaching our first lesson on Wednesday and thankfully this time it’s in English, however all the rest of them will be in Spanish. They have us do a lot of memorization and because our missions are stateside we have to learn our lessons in both English and Spanish.  So far I’ve been able to memorize the mission purpose and the baptismal commitment and I’m hoping by the end of the week to have finished the first vision and D&C 4. The food is typical cafeteria food so its ok, but I miss home. There’s an Hermana in my zone named Hermana Williams and she reminds me a lot of Casey, she even played the symbols. Sunday we took pictures in front of the temple, I’ll send those later due to time. My companion and my other roommates are big exercise fanatics so I find myself waking up at 5:30am to go to early morning exercise classes in addition to our normal gym time, I guess its good for me. Today is P-day so I’m doing laundry and writing this letter but this morning we got to do a session at the temple. The MTC  is pretty big so I find myself getting lost luckily my companion has a good sense of direction. 
I miss the greenery and talking to all of you. I’m looking forward to hearing from everyone, my best to the family and the ward, but most of all home. Only eight weeks till my departure date which is tentatively set for May 10th. I love you all. Please keep me updated. My testimony is already growing by leaps and bounds.
Love,
Hermana Arianne Dilzer 

3/7 MTC and Mission Address

Until the end of April this is my MTC address


Sister Arianne Kathleen Dilzer
MTC Mailbox # 210
TX-HOUE 0511
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793




And for the remaining months


Sister Arianne Kathleen Dilzer
Texas Houston East Mission
2815 W. Lake Houston Parkway, Suite 109
Kingwood, TX 77339
United States