12/26

the last time we laughed  was this morning when I found in abraham where it talks about how a lady found egypt and it was buried in water, than she raised her kids there. MERMAIDS CONFIRMED!!! it was funny. in my area i mostly laugh about the random things people say. heard a voicemail the other day "sorry i didnt get ahold of you guys, i just wanted to let you know that i am not interested in learning about your church. you guys are great and i love mormons, but i cant get over the fact that you guys are a cult. anyways i had a good mormon teacher once, he taught me a lot. but the rest where all turkeys, bible bible, gobble gobble. anyways even though you guys are a cult , and therefore going to hell. hegh hegh. merry christmas. by." we are still laughing at that one! well the way i stay light hearted is by enjoying the little things. and not letting the bad things get  to me. i am thoroughly determined that there is more happiness in this world than sorrow. so that is what i focus on.

the last miracle i witnessed was super cool! so i am not the best a memorization. but while on an exchange i was asked by the elder about personal revelation. i had scripture references come to mind and was able to help him out. that was super cool to be able to do. the last big time i had an answer to a prayer was 2 weeks ago. (not necessarily  the last time) i was praying really hard for a new companion, one that i would be able to get along with. and it was answered! i got elder petrie! woohoo!

i honeslty dont have very many scary stories. the scariest is probably walking around in barstow after dark. its SUPER sketchy, like people die walking those streets. but no one ever bothered us, and we even got a new investigator from it. don’t tell mom. she would kill me.

so yesterday after we skyped i cried. i allowed my self to cry for one minute than i pulled myself together and we went to dinner. after that we went caroling as a zone for and hour( i wanted to do it so we organized it) than went to bed.

bagpipes at the airport would be sweet!

i love you so much!

big things this week:

kieron is quiting smoking this tuesday

skyped home

had sushi!

love

elder dickson

12/19

this week has been cool. literally.

MOnday: elder petrie and i became companions. best day of my life!

tuesday: my first district meeting as a District leader

Wednesday: Squash, than more service we helped build a fence.

Thursday: we got kieron on a baptismal date for the 28th of janurary!

Thursday: we got a new investigator named jason

Friday: weekly planning

saturday:we got a new investigator named tyler, also went to paul paopaos baptism.

Sunday: church than FHE with the lacombs

i love you all so much.

funny story:

elder petrie was practicing his bike jumping skills, so i laid down in the middle of a gap jump and let him jump over me. that was terrifying!

i love you all

Merry Christmas.

Elder Dickson

P.S. cant wait to see you all soon

12/12

hey so big news this week is that transfers happened! i am now in the ranchos ward in apple valley with elder Trippe. he has been out for 3 months. we will be together for at least 7 week. i am also now the district leader. 

monday: had a nerf fight with the berrys

Tuesday: we helped clean up sister foxs neighbors yard.

Woednesday: went on exchange with elder ludwig. we ate at nija sushi.

thursday: visited some members so that we could start some family mission plans

Friday: got the call that i am moving out of this ward.

Saturday: got the call that i am a district leader.

sunday: said goodbye to all the people i love. than found out that i am going to the ward next door.

i love you guys. will let you know about christmas skyping.

12/5

monday: we played gator ball.

tuesday: district meeting and than a bunch of crazy service.

wednesday: squash and than the garcias yard. and than we exchanged with grantie hills

Thursday: on exchange with elders petrie and pinter. super fun day.

Friday: we weekly planned and than tracted.

Saturday: literally a day of service.

Sunday: church and Christmas devotional 

11/28

hey mom,

this week was cool. we got fed a lot on thursday! 2 dinners.

monday: nothing of consequence

tuesday: we went to didstrict meeting and then down the hill to rancho for a doctors appointment

wednesday: we met with tammy, she was super cool. she has commited to come to shuirch next sunday so we are excited to see her there. :)

Thursday: thanksgiving 2 dinners. 

friday: today we saw sister loya she is a so cool. 98 and still kickin!

Saturday: we helped the berrys put up there tree. that was a lot of fun.

Sunday: we went to church and than had dinner than we visited the duncand to help them do missionary work. so much fun.

love you

elder dickson

11/21

hey mom,

congrats on being married for like EVER!

this week we had nothing special... it was kinda a boring week! but on the upside this saturday we where doing service for the library. and when we where done they said that we could have any books we wanted from the book drive. so i grabbed a few books that i wanted and then a few books that a less active member said that i needed to read. so that will be a fun one to send home :) other than that we don't have much else this week.

for thanksgiving we are eating with bishop Lacey.

11/14

monday: ended our day with service

Tuesday; had district meeting. than we spent the whole afternoon doing service

Wednesday: we spent the morning at squash for friends, than the afternoon until 5 laying path. than we ended the day by visiting members

Thursday: did more service. we finished up the path we where laying. than we visited a lot of members

Friday: we did more service. we stacked firewood for 2 hours. than we planned for the rest of the week. 

saturday: went on exchange to the granite hills ward with elder wigington. that was a lot of fun. 

Sunday: we went to church and than home to change. taught a less active sister. and than on the way to dinner we saw a stalled car on the side of the highway. so we got out and pushed him a quarter mile to the nearest exit.

love you all tons! 

11/7 email

hey mom,

sounds like luke gets into as much trouble as i do! hope he turns out to be the new and improved version. hope everything at home is going well.

monday: we stayed in all night for Halloween! we just played board games.

Tuesday: we had district meeting. this time i remembered my suit coat. than we went and picked up our temporary companion. elder van engelenhoven his companion got transferred a week early so that he could receive additional training. when he was finally done packing we went to dinner and than visited a few members and went home to unpack elder van.

Wednesday: my companion was having a really hard day, so he asked me to drive. than we got a phone call from our vehicle coordinator. he had gotten 2 speeding violations and an aggressive driving the day before. that is the time that i was assigned to be the designated driver. so now i am driving. we also helped brother white to put in new flooring in his home today. that was a lot of fun. than we read the book of mormon with him.

Thursday: we went back and taught ralph again he is super close to finishing the book of mormon.

Friday: we planned today and than worked in elder vans area.

Saturday: we met with ralph again and read the book of mormon. now he only has one chapter left. he committed to read it on his own.

Sinday: ralph cam to church today! we where there from 7-4! that was rough! such a tiring day... we met with ralph tonight for the last time. we finished the book of mormon with him. he wants to know if the book of mormon is true. so we knelt in prayer with him and he prayed that he would know that it is true. such a cool experience. i love being a missionary!

10/31 email

this week

Tuesday: we had district meeting, i gave a training on extending commitments and promising blessings. but i forgot to wear my suit coat, and i didnt shave! so i was a real mess. than we went of to pep boys to get a low tire fixed. we spent 3 hours wandering around goodwill across the street. and that ended up being most of our day. we went to dinner visited a couple of members and than went home

Wednesday: so we went back to pep boys, another flat tire... we spent 4 hours this time... that was rough. after that we went and had dinner and did the same as the night before.

Thursday: we where on exchange, so i was with elder petrie. we did a lot of biking this day. got fed lunch, and then dinner as well. we drove out to the granite hills ward, and than i got elder mclaws back. and that was our night.

Friday: weekly planning today, and than we got back on the bikes. a member saw us biking around after dark and was horrified. so they sternly told us to meet them at there house. we met them there and they proceeded to take us back to our apartment! so after that we walked to walmart and bought some wheel brights they are super useful at night, we look like tron bikes now. i got green and elder mclaws got blue.

Saturday: we biked all day, that evening we went to see sister giron, and than her next door neighbor tried to bible bash with us for 1.5 hours! i was finally so fed up with how ridiculous this was getting that i just said "by jeff" and left. that finished our night out.

Sunday: we went to church. and than afterwards we biked down to the Johnsons for dinner. they where awesome! they fed us biscuits and gravy. anfterwards we where all so stuffed that we went into the living room and watched a church movie/napped. so that was a lot of fun. afterwards brother johnson gave us a ride back up to our apartmant.

hope this is enough details.

i love you mom

10/24 email

this weeks highlight is that we got to make jam! we went over to the ebmeyers and helped them make pear pineapple raspberry jam! i thought it turned out well, but i guess they didn't like the overall flavor. it was a lot of fun to do! but other than that this week was very slow. but the niggest news this week is that it RAINED! THERE WAS WATER FALLING FROM THE SKY!!!! I FORCED ELDER MCLAWS TO WALK AROUND IN IT WITH ME FOR AN HOUR! WE WHERE WOAKING WET BY THE END OF IT, BUT IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! sounds crazy, but i have missed the rain so badly. my hair got wet and i was a happy goober :) i love you all. please pray that it rains again before 2018! 

With love

Elder Dickson

10/17 email

wow! you always have so much to say than i do! natalie says that it is because i am a guy. everyone that i know always talk about how huge my leg muscles are... i think it is kinda funny. if i was taller it wouldnt be as noticable. but i am pretty short... so it is funny! the exciting thing that happened this week was that we went to big bear! it is the coldest part of the mission. it is basically a resort town in the mountains. so we went and played around on some rock formations, and than went on a hike. everything cost a TON up there. but i had a lot of fun :) i also ripped a huge hole in my pants below the knee. so now i am sporting some shorts ;) other than that it has been a pretty average week.

i emailed millie to say congrats last week on her baby, but i managed to catch her after the loss... she emailed me and told me what had happened, she said that i was the first that she had told. i was sad to hear that it had happened. but she expressed to me that she knew that this was Gods plan for her. i assured her that it was. 

i am happy that isaac is working so hard. he has a pretty big motivation! he told me that he is in debt and that he is trying to work it off. hope everything with luke went well today at the library. 

ummm, im outa stuff to say... sorry. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

10/10 email

hey mom,this week was cool. on staurday we had the oppurtunity to volunteer at an air show. that was a blast! we got to wonder around afterwards it was really cool! i also got a sunburn. so that was cool too. we have been working with members this week as well and it has been really cool to see how exited they are to do missionary work. which is a blessing because we recently stopped teaching the only person that would meet with us. so we are hoping that this will work out well. this week i am excited to  be able to be here in apple valley. i hope you all have  the best week ever!

10/3 email

hey mom,

so this week has been interesting, my companion managed to turn his front tire into a taco, but that was fixable. hope that everyone at home enjoyed conference! i know i sure did. everyone remmeber to do your missionary work out there. i love you all dearly. stay classy

with love

Elder Dickson

9/19 email

this week was exiting. we where able to meet with elder dube of the 70. he was a very cool guy! he taught us a lot about how to work with members, and a lot about the way we should act as missionaries! i am so grateful that we where able to have him come and tour our mission. this week was also a good week in terms of weather. it was mild (90) all week so we where able to spend a lot of time outside. we also helped a family move this weekend for 5 1/2 hours! we where the only people at the move! that was a little stressful but it worked out pretty ok. big news this week is that i was able to use my office furniture skills for good! at the move they had a desk that they where trying to figure out and i was able to help them get it taken apart safely, and help them get it into the trailer. other than that it was a regular week. :)

love you all!

Elder Dickson

9/12 email

hey mom,

sounds like you guys are doing just fine at the lake without me. Leah is such a silly little girl. i often wish that i had her here with me so i could get my Leah dose. i am sure that you will do fine at the workout, i know that you are one thta pushes yourself to the max so that should be no problem for you. more than likely i will not see anything that low, unless i serve in big bear during the winter. they have snow there. the hard part would be not going skiing... i was able to buy 2 pairs of shoes, and when we finally find a store that is open i am going to buy a water bottle, and maybe some shirts. turns out white shirts do not react well to blood on them. so i have ruined 75% of the ones i came out with... sorry, guess i am just a bleeder. sounds like Leah must be one of your kids. totally full of imagination. i hope the rest of the week goes well for you guys. do not forget to talk to the people around you about the gospel ;) members is where the real missionary work happens. and it makes me sad to think that my own family might not be doing any missionary work. i know when i look back i wish that i had done more. today we are emailing from the victorville library because we where trying to find a target down here but they where all closed! now we are going to have to play what we do for the rest of the day off the hip. other than that nothing exiting this week. hopefully i have something fun to tell you about next week.

love you

Elder Dickso

9/8 email

i got an email from a girl that has been reading my blog. she said that she is coming out into my mission soon. she reported to the MTC on the 7th. she thanked me for being upbeat, and said that i helped to calm her nerves. guess great things come from small and simple means.

i love you mom. sorry i dont email as much as you wish i did.

hey mom,

so i was not able to email on monday because of a temple trip that we did today. today i am going to buy shoes. in the Book of Mormon i am going through for my second time and i am in Alma 20. for service, we help out every week at an art studio on wednesday, and we sort clothes for foster children on fridays. church starts at 10 but we are there at 8:30 for ward council.

8/29 email

this week was fun. really hot but thats ok. this week i had a couple of crazy things happened! first off, on Wednesday i found a sun spider in my pants. normally not a scary thing, but unfortunately i was wearing them at the time... an experience that i am not fond of. but i am happy to report that i am not dead. on the other hand i have officially worn holes into both my pairs of shoes. so that is fun. other than that i am doing well. this week was a good week for dinners. we ate every day, and even had 2 lunches! 

this week has been a good one!

I love you all

Elder Dickson

Isaac's district

In six months, Isaac has managed to wear holes in both pairs of his shoes!

8/22 email

hey mom, i love you! :)

btw i did not die in the fire.

this week was CRAZY! on Monday the other missionaries in our ward went down the hill to rancho, then a fire started and the pass through the mountains was closed! there where intense forest fires on three sides. we where the only missionaries in Barstow for 5 days! we now have elder Brough in barstow with us. he is elder Daltons new companion. other than that on sunday i had a splitting headache, when we got home form church i took 2 ib profen and conked out. after waking up we rushed to dinner where i asked for 2 more. after that i finally was able to think clearly again. 

this week has been good, we have done lots of work for the ward and done lots of service this week.

i love you all,

Please stay safe

with love

Elder Dickson

Elder Brandon Cooke-

Hello everyone everything going great out here in Barstow. Nobody worry the fire is no where close to us and there is too much desert and too little vegetation for it to spread to Barstow. Elder Dickson and I are still living it up in Barstow doing a lot of missionary work and teaching a lot of people. Elder Dalton and Elder Brough are our ward mates and they are super cool. I will need to send a picture of all of us together soon. Anyways have a wonderful week everyone.

--

I was emailed this photo of some art Isaac made while doing service at the art program for homeless people he helps out at each week.

www.dignitystation.org

6 months on a mission!

email subject line:  another one!?!?!

so the big news of today is that transfers are over. against all odds Elder Cooke and i are still together! that is 3 transfers now! that is a rather rare thing to happen. not only that but we are staying together in Barstow. 

i am happy that i get to continue to be with Elder Cooke, we have a lot of fun together! plus we like the same things :) so that works out pretty well. 

i recently have been contemplating a lot on why we leave this earth. in our ward we have had at least 2 people pass away a week this whole month. it has been rather somber lately at sacrament meeting but people are still trucking on. i have found comfort in the fact that heavenly father has a plan for us, and that he truly knows how long we need to be here and what is best for us.

this week was interesting in the fact that we where able to find people who wanted to learn about the gospel in such wonderful ways. we found through those we where already teaching, and through familys that have not been to church in a very long time. how cool to be able to help others come unto Christ! 

i have made it through the hottest season, in the hottest area of the mission. something that not many missionaries can say here in the mission. the hottest day was around 120. nothing like the summers at home.

BIG NEWS! it will only be 98 this friday, we are super pumped for the cold!

well i love you all!

Please have a wonderful week!

love, 

Elder Dickson

Hello everyone everything going great in Barstow, We got transfer info and Elder Dickson and I are staying together in Barstow for our third transfer together and this will be my sixth transfer in Barstow. I have already been in Barstow for over seven months and I look forward to being in it for one and a half more. Other than that not much else going on, just finding and teaching and baptizing. We are teaching a member of a family who does not belong to the church and he has been around the church his whole life and he definitely wants to get baptized, but he does not know how long it is going to take. We are also teaching many others who are doing a lot better these past couple of weeks than before. Anyways have a wonderful week!

-- 

Elder Brandon Cooke

"Elder Dickson and Elder Cooke have been volunteering at our community art studio every week.  We appreciate their dedication and kindness.  Here is a photo of Elder Dickson."

Thank you so much!

Beth Simpson

DignityStation.org

8/8 email

this week has been a little slow. we did find 3 new investigators this week. out of them all my favorite to teach is paul. he is a super cool samoan, and everything we ask him to do he always says. i cant say no. he is super cool, and very loving! in addition, this week is transfer week. we will find out who is staying and who is leaving at some point this week. than it is up to us to pack up and bug out this next monday. all in all i am super exited to see how things will play out. in all honesty i would love to stay in this area for longer i am getting to know everyone in the ward, and i am actually starting to love being here in this heat. when it is 110 plus i am now comfortable walking around for hours. maybe that means i am broken, but i like to think that it means i have evolved. sounds way cooler to me. and anything that is cooler than 100 sounds pretty good right now.

i love you all greatly!

Isaac

Isaac's district

Elder Brandon Cooke

Hello everyone everything is going pretty well out here in Barstow. Just been rather warm lately, but luckily not as warm as usual. We have been working a lot finding a lot of people and teaching many as well. Also had a lot of chances for all sorts of service. Other than that not much else is going on. Have a wonderful week.

8/1 email

we taught a good amount of lessons this week, we didn't reach our goals... but we did exceed a indicator we never thought we would. this saturday (2 days ago) we where on our way to a lesson and the Elders Quorum president got there first. he texted us to let us know he was there. than about 3 minutes later he texted and said "he is dead. just talked to his neighbor, he drowned in his pool yesterday." so we drove to his house and talked to everyone. they confirmed what we had been told. on Friday our investigator (and one that wanted to be baptized at that) drowned in his pool, in barstow. the driest place in california... there is a river here, but it is 20' below the surface. and he drowned. that is one thing that i never expected to have happen on a mission... but there is a first for everything... 

the weather has been an average of 112 this week. our thermometer even said 121 at one point! i know i am really broken when i am feeling a cold breeze and it is 100... but i guess that is a blessing that maybe i haven't realized yet...

i love you so much!

7/25 email

President Taylor has made it very clear to us that he no longer wants us to tract (knock on doors) and wants us to find through other methods. its kind of crazy that we are changing the way that missionary work is happening! the funny thing is that i have found that the only way to find now is through missionary minded members. we really have to really on them BIG TIME now! Its amazing because those that members find that are interested in the gospel, are like 90% more likely to get baptized!

Here in Barstow it has been really crazy lately! our ward mission leader (our life line) is never anywhere to be found! so we have been doing everything we can but we feel like we are never able to get help from the ward because we can never communicate what we need through the proper channels.. but its ok, we are still pushing on! the last few days there has been a crazy forest fire that totally covers everything in smoke! that has been GREAT for my nose... other than that it is 107 in the shade, on a good day. saturday was 111 in the shade! i know i am broken because it hits 97 and i am wanting a sweater!

Pokemon Go has now become one of our favorite finding tools! EVERYONE is out and about after it starts to cool down in the evening! they are all ouyt catching Pokemon. so we go around and talk to people all the time about it. they are always happy to tell us about what they caught and the highest combat level Pokemon they have. so funny that we are able to use our love of Pokemon to introduce the Gospel to other people!

7/18 email

this week we had the supreme privilege of having a baptism! this marks the 3rd convert baptism that i was able to directly influence for the good in my mission. what wonderful blessing heavenly father has given me my companion and this area! such a wonderful experience to be here at this time!

love you all so much

7/11 email

this week wasnt so crazy... all in all we walked around a lot. ate a lot of dinners. and did a lot of sweating in this Barstow heat! nothing exiting like last week... but i love you all tons! hope you all have a good week!


Elder Brandon Cooke-  Hey everyone, everything going good this week. We have a baptism this Saturday for the daughter and a son of a member who were not baptized at eight. Twill be fun and several more people hopefully in the next few weeks.

7/4 email

this week was just to much!

on Tuesday we got a flat tire and spent about 2 hours waiting for it to get fixed at Firestone.

then on Wednesday we went to a service project and painted for 2 hours! i painted Joseph smiths first vision! it was pretty legit, worth saying i drew it in chalk

on Thursday we where meeting our new mission president (president Taylor) and on the way down we popped another tire! so we had to pull over and change it to the spare, than the spare was flat too! so we had to fill it at a gas station. we where 30 minutes late!

than on Friday we had a HUGE hail storm! there where hail chunks the size of the big marbles! that went on for about 15 minutes!

than on Sunday we locked our keys in the car! and had to get a ride home from the family we where visiting!

and than this morning someone came by and opened it with the tool so that we could come and email here right now! all in all a crazy week in the dessert!

all in all it has been a crazy week!

love you all TONS!

Elder Dickson 

Elder Brandon Cooke
Hello everyone, been an interesting week this week. The lady I talked about last week did not end up getting baptized. Everything else has been pretty un-interesting. Got some MRE's from a move, had some fun at supper with those. Also had a freak hail storm that came through and a flash flood as well. 

6/27 email

his week was kinda crazy! we walked around in above 110 heat 3 times this week! just a little bit of a change from the usual weather. this week we get our new mission president, president Taylor! we get to meet him on thursday, im exited but also really sad that president Hobbs is leaving! but life is change and i can deal with that. i see tons of road runners everywhere! they are a pain in the BUTT to try to take pictures of though! all they do is run away. that is frustrating! well i love you all tons! talk to you all later.

love

Elder Dickson

i basically just die in the heat. hope that picture will work for the plaque! i think you should include the Elder Dickson and arrow! that describes my personality pretty well. i love you tons mom! i will try to remember to write things down for next week!

6/20

so this week was one of those weeks that feel like we got nothing done! but we never stopped moving! 

looking back on this week we got a LOT done though! we got another baptism for july 2nd, and we taught 14 lessons this week! not only that but we had to travel for 45 minutes to go to a 4 hour conference so we could travel back! that was a day where we did not get very much done! by the time we were all done we had no time for anything more! but we just kept pushing this week! and we got done as much as we could. we have an extreme weather warning for this week! but we are still guna go out and about! exited for what this week holds!

love you all! 

Elder Dickson

6/13

me and my last companion always used to joke when we would go out of the apartmant by saying BAPTIZE! and it is a little bit of a joke because this is not a very high baptizing mission like africa is. but the lord has poured out his blessings in the last few months! i have had the oppurtunity to baptize 2 different individules in the last 4 months, those are very high numbers! i am so gratefull for the oppurtunity to be a missionary serving in the Rancho Cucomonga Mission! I love you all TONS!

Elder Dickson

6/6

hey mom,

i love you tons! this week has been really crazy, we started the week by visiting the veterans home for an FHE! that was really cool to be able to meet so many people that have been through so much! then the next day was Elder Cookes BDAY so we went out to Chinese for lunch! that was really good. than the next day Ariana one of our investigators asked me to baptize her! that was CRAZY! then this wee3kend my BDAY happened! i got!!!!!!! no insurance for my BDAY, guess i cant do anything to stupid now...

well i love you all tons!

Elder Dickson

5/30

this was a pretty good week, we spent 3 days walking around in 91* weather, i averaged 18,000 steps! i am now with Elder Cooke, he is from Kentucky. he has been out 10 months. we have a senior couple in the area, they are the Bardsleys, and they are from Montana. they actually do the same things we do as missionaries. so they go out and teach people all the time! as missionarys we are as much focused on reactivation as on finding new investigators, the reason for this is that when we find inactive members, they almost ALWAYS lead to an investigator. this week i gave a talk in church, the only crazy thing is that this was my first week in the area so i did not know the people at ALL! that was really crazy. i talked on missionary work and especially on how by doing service we are setting an example and people begin to notice that we area different and want to know why we are different! I am now in Barstow, one of the most ghetto areas in the mission! so far it has been a blast and i am loving it! this is the area that all the gang members move to when it gets to HOT in LA. the upside of the area is that people have nothing to do, so it is easy to get lessons and to find people at home. the downside is that often after a few lessons they will just disappear... all in all it is a pretty good area for me! 

love you all tons!

Elder Dickson

Isaac's new district

5/23

this week was really cool! allen has not smoked in 10 days! candice prayed for the first time out loud! and... i got transferred! im living in Barstow now! more to come next week i have only been here 3 hours! love you all! almost forgot i once again battled the beast this weekend! we didnt win but we got WAY closer!

much love

Elder DIckson

5/2

so this week was crazy! lets start at the beginning 

Monday: for once we where not rushed, in fact we where bored! everything was just done early i guess! also i caught a turtle!

Tuesday: nada day! nothing happened at all! pretty sure we knocked every door in Ontario.

wednesday: on exchange( a 24 hour trade of companions) with elder nelson, we taught a super powerful lesson with one of their investigators. she committed to come to church! and then at dinner i was asked if i was related to Craig Dickson, i was like i duno. and so we had dinner than after dinner he brings out a stick bug and puts it on my arm! that feels weird, they walk with little claws by digging them into surfaces! kinda tickles. then after dinner he brings out this yearbook, and i kid you not this man looked just like me!( i included a picture) his name is Howard Craig Dickson! and he is like 60 now!

Thursday: another SLOW day!

Friday: yet another SLOW day!

Saturday: got the chance to fix a less active members car today! we had joel (our investigator) come over and help us bleed her brakes for her!

Sunday: this is when things get crazy! so first we have an investigator Allen he has been investigating the church for 3 years, but has not been able to kick his smoking habit, we had a really spiritual lesson with him, and then asked "allen will you stop smoking?" and he said "this weekend" so exited for him! fasting and prayer really does work! then later that evening we had a lesson with Emily(the lady we accidentally stalked!) and sister Swart, (our ward mission leaders wife) made a really good friend for Emily and as we taught her about the plan of salvation, she loved it and cant wait to hear more! and just to put cream on top of the cake, we finally got a good picture of the snapping turtle that lives in our pond!

this week was so hot and cold! its hard to have a really full day and then a day of just nothing! 

quote for the week: "Dont find fault, Find remedy"

4/25 email

well this has been a different week! this week we had a really cool lesson with a new investigator, we met her by accidentally following her around for at least 30 minutes! when we finally got to talk to her she asked us if we are following her, and we explained what it is we do, we then got the opportunity to teach her the restoration. afterwards she committed herself to read the Book of Mormon, and we set up an appointment for the next week. well that day rolls around and she actually shows up! she brought a friend too! we shared the restoration again, and they loved it! asked tons of questions, and then asked when we could meet again! Every day we get asked how old we are and if we are even old enough to drive yet!kinda funny but also a little frustrating at times! also today i CAUGHT a TURTLE i reached down and grabbed him out of the water! hahahaha so much fun! elizabeth named him lance! pretty fun to catch a turtle!

Questions for the week?  Well, the driving was one.  Have you done any other service than the food bank?

yeah, just this last saturday i spent the entire morning doing service at a golf course! we planted flowers and then spread mulch everywhere! that was fun but we did not get done with studys until 5 that day!

what does than  mean, "done with studies?"  have the members been feeding you?  try any new food?

the members are feeding us! they think i am funny so our dinner calendar is always full! i got the chance to eat some crazy Samoan food, and have now eaten authentic schnitzel

what do Samoans eat?  Is your companion still praying for something crazy to happen? doing anything fun today?

we might go golfing so that we can drive around the golf cart! deep fried bananas for a start, TONS OF MEAT! they put that log of meat i made once to shame!

4/11 email

had an interesting week! started just like any other week. we visited all our normal people,did all the normal things, felt pretty normal. then it happened! we are walking along Sunday night about 8:45 trying to contact some people before we went home, we are walking along a darker street when we saw someone getting some bags out of the back of his car. so we decide to talk to him... we begin talking to him and the conversation turns into a bash! so we direct the conversation away from the bash. we start asking him about himself, we find out he is a minister of a church of 5 million! as we continue talking we find out all the bags that he has in his car is because he just got back from Africa! so we start asking him about that, turns out he is the king of a small nation in Africa! he has a crown with 12 elephants on it and totally covered in fur! as we keep talking we asked his name... it was King/Bishop/Commodore/Doctor Scales. he also is a doctor of psychological science. he told us he was actually just getting back from his kingdom in Africa, so he could fix up his sons home here in Ontario! this mans story was too crazy to be made up! wish we had gotten a picture with him. he was totally decked out in gold too! like on his arms and neck and fingers gold everywhere, and he was driving a Mercedes Benz. his story was just too crazy and complicated to be a lie. the best part about this contact was that as we were leaving we jokingly said "bye king scales" and he puts his hands up like a bear and goes "BRAGH" not sure what it meant but it sure was exiting!

that is the only excitement we had this week! turns out the night before my companion had been praying for something crazy to happen so that he could write to his brother this week about it...

that's what companions are for i guess! this week marks the end of my first transfer and my 2 month mark! i also made a new scripture case for my scriptures, all i had at the time was a Little Caesars pizza box! so that is what i used. guess all my handyman training is paying off. this week should be pretty good we are moving into a new apartment so that is pretty exiting! i swear you guys must think my companion is so somber he never smiles when we are driving so all our pictures look funny with me smiling and him doing nothing!

Shopping on P0Day

Last week of March

This weekend was wonderful! we had our first baptism in the area in 2 years! it was so cool! she even got confirmed on Easter Sunday! other than that it felt pretty short since my last P-Day was Thursday! a few crazy things for the coming week! me and my companion are doing 3 exchanges back to back! i wont see my comp for 48 hours! that is insane! but we gotta do what we gotta do! love you all, hope everything is going well back at the farm.

Isaac in his "cas" (casual) clothes 

Isaac visited the Redlands Temple last week.

Also this week i went to by far the coolest Easter party on the planet! it was a mix of Armenian, and Bolivians! their kids had a band and they are actually really good! they are called daydream time machine! they are really good for a garage band!  https://daydreamtimemachine.bandcamp.com/ these guys are my buds! we walked into the backyard and they stopped at the end of a song and through the mike announced "Look our boys came!" everyone was so confused! but it was pretty awesome!

we where walking along and this garage had this band playing in it! we where like wow they are actually pretty good! so we went and knocked on the door... a man answered and invited us into his house, he fed us talked to us told us about himself and then asked if we had anything we would like to share? boy did we have something to share with him! he has cancer and has a 5 year expectancy, we shared the Plan of Salvation with him, it hit home for him! he invited us back and now we have had 2 dinners with him and 2 lessons. it is worth saying that that was the most extraordinary finding situation of a mission, it is never that simple or easy!

love

elder Dickson

Some of my questions he answered:

What time is church?

church starts at 9

but we are at the church at 7 for ward council

Did you get the card Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Lynn sent you?

i did! i don't know what to do with $50 at McDonalds

but i did the math i could get 200 chicken nuggets!

tell gma i love her and she is amazing!

What was your Easter dinner like?

we ate at a Samoan feast and then we ate at an Bolivian feast

SOOO MUCH FOOD IN SOO LITTLE TIME