A Message From President And Sister Glazier

Hello,

We are the Glaziers in San Salvador. We received Elder San Diego here. He is very well prepared and has great faith. We are grateful to serve with him here in this part of the Lord's vineyard. Thank you for preparing him so very well--he is a fine young man. I hope your family receives many blessings for the sacrifice you have made to bring the gospel to many of God’s children here on earth. I know you will see God’s hand in your life and the life of your son during his mission. One of the promises of God to his missionaries is that they will be protected and watched over.

His preparation day is every Monday. He can write and read your email on that day. He sends his love to all of you.

We love our missionaries.  We love and appreciate their faithful families.  We pray that, together, we will all grow in our personal conversion to the Lord.  Our mission theme is: "I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, and will be until the day I die."  We are working diligently to convert more than just the people of El Salvador.  We so appreciate your faith and prayers on behalf of all our missionaries here.

Love,

President and Sister Glazier

San Salvador El Salvador East Mission

 Elder Michael San Diego

 Newly-Arrived Missionaries - 10/16/13

President Glazier, Elder San Diego and Sister Glazier

Fechas (Dates) For Baptisms!

¡Hola todos!

Things are going great over here! I get sweaty everyday, but it's all good. The weather's pretty nice in my area, and I've gotten used to the humidity so I don't really notice it anymore. The food's good and my companions are awesome.

Ha-ha, we used to have the best home in the mission, but recently everything seems to be going wrong with it. For a couple of days we didn't have water, a couple of days ago the electric heated shower head broke, and last night we ran out of gas for the stove. We'll get all of it taken care of though.

We're walking in our mission and we take buses when we need to come to Usulutan for P-days and Zone Conferences. I have mosquito repellent that I received when I got here, but sometimes it doesn't seem to work.

That's so awesome to hear about the Gilbert Temple and how things are going with you guys! We have fechas (dates) for baptisms, but we'e just trying to help some of our investigators stop smoking, drinking coffee, etc.

Well, I don't have too much time, but I know that as we continue to work hard, have faith, and be exactly obedient that we will see miracles!

¡Levantate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora!

Love,
Elder San Diego

Aerial View of Santiago de Maria

Views of the City

¡Bienvenidos a El Salvador y Santiago de Maria!

¡Hola Todos!

Well, today marks the end of my first week in the mission field! My area is Santiago De Maria and my zone is Usulutan.

When we first stepped off the plane, I could instantly feel the humidity, and once we got outside to meet President and Sister Glazier my glasses fogged up! We got in at about 9ish, and the Elders slept at the mission office while the Sisters got to sleep at the President's house.

The next day, we had the privilage of attending the San Salvador Temple with President and Sister Glazier! It was an awesome experience and the temple was beautiful! After we finished our session, we went to President Glazier's house to receive missionary training for the rest of the day. We were allowed to write to say that we arrived, but I wasn't able to because there wasn't enough time and only one of the President's computers was working.

On Wednesday, we had a change meeting where we found out our companionships. I ended up being in a trio! My trainer/"dad" is Elder Aldridge from North Carolina and the other Elder in our companionship/"my twin" is Elder Sarceño from Guatemala. Elder Aldridge got assigned to train both of us!

Things have been great this past week. At first, it was really hard for me to understand people because they talk fast and mumble sometimes, but I've been praying for help to understand, and I know that the Lord has helped me. Now, I'm able to understand better, and I know that I'll only continue to improve! Yesterday, we had four investigators at church, which Elder Aldridge told me is the most we've ever had! I love the work, and I can't wait for our first baptismal date in two weeks!

¡Levantate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora!

Love,

Elder San Diego

Our final picture as a district!

 MTC Zone

 Goodbye Elder Roundy, Hermana Behan, and Hermana Hawkins

 Eldert Becker and I at the airport

El Salvador San Salvador Temple

¡Adios CCM y Hola El Salvador!

¡Hola todos!

Well, this is it. Tomorrow I leave for El Salvador! Being here at El CCM has been a great experience for me. I've learned and progressed so much! I feel confident in my Spanish and I know that my testimony of the Gospel has increased! Today, we had a district testimony meeting, and it was one of the most spiritual experiences I've had while being here. Hearing each member of my district share their testimonies was so powerful and inspiring! I'm so grateful that I've been able to get to know my district and spend time with all of them. I know that Heavenly Father brought all of us together to be here at this specific time in order for us to learn and grow from each other. I'm super stoked for all of us and the privilege we have to be servants and representatives of the Lord and to bring His Restored Gospel and all of the blessings that come from it to those who are searching for truth! I know that we'll all be great missionaries, and that we'll continue to grow and progress as we serve the Lord and the people in our missions with all our hearts, mights, minds, and strengths!

I'm especially grateful for my teacher Hermano May. He is one of THE MOST Christlike people I've ever met! I've learned so much from him through his teaching and example! You can tell that he has the light of Christ with him! You can see it in his eyes! When he walks in the room, he always has a huge smile on his face, and you can feel the genuine love he has for every person he meets! He's so humble though that he would never say any of these things himself. I hope that I can be as great as he is! In fact, he told us, "I don't want you to be like me, I want you to be better than me!" One thing that he promised us from his own mission experience was that if we are exactly obedient we will all see miracles as we love the people and work hard! I swear, he is literally a Scripture Master! No matter what your question or concern is he has a scripture to answer it exactly! I know that he's a true, true friend and I'm glad I was able to be his student. I'm going to take his challenge and apply everything I've learned to become the best missionary I can be, and that the Lord expects me to be!

¡Levantate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora!

Love,

Elder San Diego

 Elders in front of the Benemerito mural in the Joseph Smith Building

 the Comedor (Cafeteria)

 Me at my desk in my casa at the CCM

 One final picture of the Elders in the District

Rise Up! We Can Do It Now!

¡Hola todos!

Well, the days are winding down. I leave Tuesday morning! My Spanish is a lot better than when I first got here! I'm pretty much able to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish! Sometimes there's a word here and there that I don't know, but for the most part I can understand it. I feel confident in my preparation for the mission field, and I know that I'll continue to improve as I serve in El Salvador!

General Conference was awesome! That was definitely one of the best conferences I've ever watched! I feel that I was more focused than I've ever been and I loved all of the messages! I also took notes on all of the sessions, and I feel that my notes were directed more by the Spirit than just writing down everything the speakers said. My favorite talk was Dieter F. Uchtdorf´s from the Priesthood Session. His message was to "RISE UP!" and that "WE CAN DO IT NOW!" with whatever trials we have in our lives. I loved that! That's going to be my quote from now on!

I know that as I put Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ first that my faith in them will continue to grow and that all of the blessings that have been promised to me will come to pass through my faithfulness. Last night, we learned that faith is the grand governing principle, and that through it we are able to accomplish all of our righteous desires! This earth was created through the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ! I know that He lives, that He suffered and died for all of us, and that through sincere repentance of our sins and faith on Him that the demands of justice are satisfied through His mercy and that as we continue enduring in faith that we will have Eternal Life! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

¡Levantate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora! (Rise up! We can do it now!)

Love,
Elder San Diego

 Mi Clase

 Some fat caterpillar thing

 Another p-day at the Mexico City Temple

The Angel Moroni

Could Be The Orange Juice?!?!

¡Hola!

So, I had a pretty intense experience this past Saturday. I woke up and ate breakfast as usual, but during class I felt kind of itchy and I had some bumps on my arm. I didn't really think much of it, but later it started getting worse and I was itchy all over! We went to the clinic to get it checked out, and I was having some kind of allergic reaction! When the doc checked me out, I was red almost all over! Then I had to get a shot in my butt and he gave me 3 antihistamine pills that I had to take every 8 hours. I still don't know what caused it, but it must have been either the orange juice (which hadn't done anything before) or the eggs and potatoes (which shouldn't have done anything).

Anyway, I got better on Sunday and the week went by the same as always. I can't believe that I'm leaving for the field in less than two weeks! I feel a lot more confident with Spanish now, and I know that I'll become fluent once I've been in the field for a bit. For now, I just need to keep on learning/re-learning and practicing it.

Things have been going well with our progressing investigators Ricardo and Hortencia, but as always there are ways that we can improve ourselves as teachers. They've both committed to baptism and now we just need to keep on teaching and preparing them for it.

We as a district are also teaching each other as investigators now. It helps a lot because as we genuinely get into the role it gives us an idea of what an investigator might think and feel as they are taught.

Sounds like things are going great with you guys and Eric! I encourage you guys to make time for personal and family scripture study and prayer. I know that as you do that the Lord will bless you for your efforts and that you'll grow closer to Him! GC (General Conference) is going to be awesome! I know that the talks are inspired by the Lord for His church and that as we follow and apply the counsel of the Brethren that we will be blessed for our obedience (D&C 130:20-21).

Love,

Elder San Diego

Elder Roundy and Me in front of our casa 

Another great day at the Mexico City Temple

 Rain...lots and lots of rain

 4 soaked Elders

The Elders of Highland High