Week 10: Flat Tires & Deep Pits

This week was a busy week, but a fun one.  I can’t believe I turn 19 tomorrow!!! Insane right, lol. I haven't gotten my package yet, so it truly will be a birthday present – if it shows up tomorrow, lol.  Actually, we have a pretty full day planned for today, so I will have to pick up any packages at the post office tomorrow. I can’t wait!   

So, this week- in a nutshell:

Monday (P-Day) was so much fun, I loved trading emails with you guys. After P-Day we had family home evening with the L______s. There was a bunch of elderly members from our ward there playing cards, so we crashed their party with Bro. H_____, our ward mission leader, and ate some dessert.

Tuesday was rough that's for sure. After our morning schedule, we drove an hour south to Rodeo, NM and helped Bro. P_____.  This time we didn’t help with his adobe house, but helped dig a massive pit.   He had dug part of it and we helped finished it ;).  We helped by leveling out the bottom and had to throw all of the dirt and rock out of an 8 foot hole in the ground. The pit was huge! He's planning on using it for storage. I love his thought process. Let's just dig a hole and put all my stuff in it, lol. It took us about 5 hours and we still didn't finish. After working, we drove back to Lordsburg, NM and went to dinner with the P_____s. They are super cute old couple. We ate take-out pizza and talked about miracles. After a wonderful dinner, we had our weekly visit with T____ F____ and read from the Book of Mormon with him and talked for a while.

Brother P & I Diggin' Pits

The Infamous Pit....UGH

Man, did I wake up sore on Wednesday morning. I had to take some ibuprofen and stretch after a hot shower. We were asked by the Zone Leaders to study Preach My Gospel ch. 11 for a zone meeting today. Our zone meeting was pretty good, I guess. It was in Lordsburg, so we didn’t have to drive - for once - but everyone else did. We talked about how to have a more effective companion study. Good thing we've been following the outline they gave us already! We met our zone's goal of five baptisms for the month! We fell just short of our reactivation goal of 16, we had 15 - not too bad of a month. Our Mission President set a goal of 48 baptisms for the mission, and we had 42.   For reactivations the mission goal was 67, and we had 116!!!!! So our mission is doing pretty darn good, I must say.

After zone meeting we went out to eat at McDonald's, because there is nowhere better to eat in Lordsburg. Me being on a diet, I didn't eat at all, until we got home. I'm working on my self-control. Later in the day, we had Stake Missionary coordination meeting in Duncan, AZ.  We talked about our progress in all our areas. All 3 sets of our District's missionaries were together, so it was a pretty fun time. 

The New Mexico Zone

On Thursday, we walked a mile to visit with H____ and C_____. After this we went to visit with P_____ and X_____ but they were both busy. So, we fellowshipped them for 10 minutes, then walked the mile back to our apartment to packed for our weekly stay in Animas. We drove to Cotton City, NM and had dinner with Bro. and Sis. C_____. It started our kind of quiet, but they finally warmed up to us. We shared Mosiah 2:41 with them. I've learned while studying the scriptures, most verses will commanded you to do something, then in the same verse (or the one right after) gives you a promise if you are obedient to the commandment. I continued to point this out because it is important for people to understand.

Friday was a fun day! After our morning schedule, we drove to the church and did companion study. We are working on how to better teach the plan of salvation. Now that we have practiced, it is pretty simple, in my opinion. Later, we had dinner with the K_____s. We had honey teriyaki chicken with cauliflower and broccoli. It was pretty good. I guess I now have the mental capability to make myself eat anything (the cauliflower and broccoli), lol.

Saturday, Sister B____ (our 40 year investigator) invited us to the Portal St. Patrick’s Day parade.  We drove the 40 miles to get there and holy cow it was the shortest parade I’d ever seen. The population of Portal, AZ maybe 30 people – and they all participated, so it was cool in that sense.  As missionaries, we got some weird looks, lol. After the parade, we tried to stop in and visit couple people, but they weren't home. So, we went back to Portal and taught Sis  B_____.   Remember, the last time we asked her to pray to get an answer about Joseph Smith. She told us how four weird things happened and it was clear to us they were answers to her prayers.  I pointed out how they related and she was completely oblivious to them and denies they were answers. So, hopefully Heavenly Father will make it a little more obvious next time. Later, we had dinner with the K____s again. Bro K_______ and I talked about trucks for a while and then we shared a quick spiritual message because we had to get back to Animas, MM.

The Beauty of Portal, AZ

On the way home we popped a tire in the middle of nowhere - literally. Good thing we both know how to change a tire. Needless to say, after that our white shirts were pretty dirty and sweaty.   Don’t worry, we talked to the Mission Vehicle Coordinator and we are headed to Smith Ford today to replace the popped tire.

Flat out busted!!! :(

Sunday was so cool. We went to church in Animas for a senior missionary couple’s home coming.  The congregation nearly double what it usually is. It was insane to see that many people at church - in Animas.   During their talks, they picked on us young missionaries, in a loving way and got us to smile. Afterwards, they talked with us. Later, our appointment with the two boys with baptismal dates got rescheduled, because they went on vacation. So, we stayed in Animas and had lunch with the K____s, again. They love us so much. After lunch we drove back to Lordsburg, to Bro H____’s house.  We ate dinner and talked to and fellowshipped his son.

Today for P-Day, we are planning to drive be down to Portal, AZ to explore a cave and doing ranch things on the R____’s ranch then go to  Cotton City, NM for basketball and then probably drive to Animas, NM for volleyball later tonight.

I love Portal, AZ!  this was my view for the day !!!

If you were wondering, it's supposed to be 83 here today and I'm loving it! I'm getting pretty tan, but don’t worry I have a hat and I'm wearing my long sleeve shirt during service - so I’m doing what I can to avoid skin cancer.

I keep in touch with my MTC district every week.  We set up a big weekly group message and we share a picture and a, experience every week.  By the way, I heard from my MTC friend Connor D____   today.  Remember him?  He got super sick in the MTC and had to go home, bummer.

Until next week, love,

Elder Dickinson