2/27

this week has been off the wall!

so this week has been super fun! we spent a lot of time with our investigator Rick. he is a super awesome guy! i went over with Elder Law on Wednesday, and Rick connected with him very well. it was a cool experience to ​​​​​​​​get to know Rick better. than on Saturday there was a baptism and we asked Rick to come and give us a ride. well he showed up to give us a ride, but he had slept in and was in his PJs! so he gave us a ride to the baptism and was planning to wait in his car. we assured him that it would be ok for him to come in. so he came in and sat at the back with me. he loved it! during the service he began praying to God in gratitude. after he took us out to eat, and than back to his home to help him out with some stuff. we set up his internet, a royal pain! we had to call customer support after hours of banging our heads against the wall! that was finally set up. that we set up his smart TV. that was a lot easier. so finally at 4:45 he started taking us home, but than remembered something that he wanted to buy at the store for us! so he took us to Ross and bought a cushion for our bike! so we called dinner and asked if we could bring Rick. they graciously agreed and Rick came to dinner, than on the way home we got a call from the Sister missionaries, they needed a blessing. Sister Allred had some intense migraines. so Rick took us over to there apartment and we gave them a blessing. then he took us home after. we had spent from 9:30-9:00 with Rick. it was intense!

we also had a lesson with Anita this week. she told us that she feels that she is going to Hell. with the sharing of scriptures and bearing of testimony she has come to belive that she can make it to heaven! she is such fun to be around! we call her mamanita! she is so great!

we also had a lesson with miguel. we taught the Word of Wisdom. he commited to live it! after we got home he called and asked if we would come back. he just loves having us around a ton! so cool!

other than that we have just been doing a lot of finding!

love you all!

2/20

this was the most basic week of my life.

Monday: we had a beach party

Tuesday: no district meeting. we did squash for friends today and than helped out Pat in her front yard. We also saw Anita.

Wednesday: we had Zone conference. it was super cool our stake president spoke to us.]

thursday: we saw brother merchant. we saw lon. And we did a ton of service for Bishop too. 

Friday:  we had weekly planning today. and we saw Anita again. 

saturday: On exchange with elder Bradshaw. He ran into a cactus! IT WAS FUNNY! 

Sunday: no one came to church.

This week they called me fat! 

2/6

ok so this is the week that makes a year. this thursday will be exactly one year for me. that is crazy. this week has been awesome!

monday: just the normal stuff i promise!

Tuesday: we had district meeting. than after that i got super sick! we ended up being laid up for the rest of the day. i felt so bad!

Wednesday: we did squash for friends. than we did some service for a lady named Pat. she is super nice. we taught Miguel today and Anita. Anita is on fire! she is doing so well.

Thursday: we saw kieron today and passed him off to the YSA elders. we also went by to see Lon on our regular visit. and than we finished our night by seeing the Jasper family.

Friday: we weekly planned today. than we saw Brian, sister Calvin, Miguel, and Anita.

Saturday:  true day of service. at 10 we replaced Anita's Transimssion Speed Sensor. than at 1 we helped someone move in. than at 2:30 we helped the lacombs move furniture. in the evening we saw the rodriguez family. they fed us some super good mexican food. nothing like the stuff back at home. it is so fun being immersed in so many different cultures. i have learned how to be "proper" in so many fun ways! like using tortillas for utensils. its really fun. dont tell mom. all the hard work she has done to make me civilized is crashing down. when we woud go to a samoan house before in Barstow almost everything is finger food! and it is polite to eat until you can no longer eat. than eat a little more. if you do not they are offended and you are not a true friend.

sunday: Rick came to church! woohoo that was so cool!  than we studied and i took a quick nap. my usual all day headache was present due to fast sunday. this continued until 9:30 that night when i fell asleep.

1/9

so this week has been a crazy time!

Monday we did our normal sports. we played gator ball.

tuesday was district meeting. than we  helped rick clean out his backyard. iot is tottally filled with trash and we are helping him clean it out. than we had a super cool lesson with Charlie and Monique.

wednesday on exchange with elder Law. we did squash for friends than we did service for kathy. than we did some finding. we found 3 potentials and got a new investigator a killer day!

thursday we did some more service for Rick. his yard is looking pretty good now. just a little more to do.

friday weekly planning we met with Joseph and taught the restoration. he is super excited and wants to quite smoking.

saturday nothing to crazy happened.

sunday the real day of this week! so joseph came to church. he had received answers to prayers about everything we talked about at church. at the end of church he took out a pack of cigarettes broke them all in half and threw them away. he is so ready to quite smoking! he really wants us to help him out!

all in all a super cool week 

just so you know if you tried to send anything this week the mail was stoled from the mission office this week on Wednesday morning  they broke into the church building, broke into the bishops offices looking for money, and than stole the safe with all the

 pass ports in it. so any foreign missionaries are kinda messed up right now. they also took the huge mail pile. and a few packages.

i actually dont get to bad with being trunky. it being so easy now iwll probably amke it much harder close to the end. but i still have tons of time to work hard. i am loving this area, and loving the ward. 

1 squash is a no for profit farm that a man named jim runs. we do all the work that would normally need done at a farm. everywhwere from planting to maintenance. the farm is a little bigger than if you you went from the stream to highway 9 and from the hill to the swamp. its really all kinds of vegetables.

2 ummm, we area planning to visit all our investigators joseph, miguel, charlie and monique, john, anita, a few others. when it comes to picking a street sometimes we have a feeling of where to go. sometimes we just pick a street and go.

3 Gospel principles right now is mostly just us our ward mates our ward mission leader, sitser lacomb Recent convert and sister self a strong member there to support others. and anyone that we bring with us. :) 

1/2

this week was awesome!

monday: we played volley ball. at sushi at ninja sushi

tuesday: had district meeting, it was a super good district meeting. we had a really cool time connecting to each other as a district. as a district leader I really want the whole district to be a big family. the rest of the day was rough. it was bitter cold and we where on bike, and since everyone was out of town we decided to do some door to door work. it was cool that we found a few potentials! than in the evening we went to see Anita, we talked about the Plan of Salvation using some cool diagrams that I got for Christmas.

Wednesday: we went to squash for friends in the morning. than after we went and gave the village sisters a blessing. sister lamb was not feeling well and is still feeling sick. and even got me sick! than we did some finding and ended our night with the Rodriguez family.

Thursday; on exchange with Elder Carson. we where in his area. so we spent a lot of time in the YSA ward. it was super cool, I learned a ton from him.

Friday: we did not weakly plan today because we where going to be doing tomorrow to celebrate new years eve. by this time i was starting to feel a little sick. but we went out and worked anyways cuz im stubborn! we met with Brian and talked about Faith. we had 3 lessons planned today that all fell though... we finished our day with ward coordination

Saturday: i was super sick, so i slept for most of the day.

Sunday: we have 9:00 church now so we went to our first meeting at 7:00. that was tiring! than we went home and studied, did some finding, and had dinner with bishop Hume. he just got called as bishop 3 weeks ago, he is 29 years old! its crazy! we ended our night with family home evening with the lacombs.

answers

1 we are still doing squash for friends, it is a zone service project so as long as i am in the zone we will keep going there. we just help out on a farm for the poor and needy.

2 when i have snacks i will bring them, especially when boma sends me some. we almost always eat lunch at our apartment. top raman for dayz!
 

3 about 30% of our appointments end up being with less actives. we meet with Lon once a week, and we meet with the rodriguez family once or twice a week, and we meet with sister lacomb who is a recent convert and so fits under the recent convert less active category. 

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