Dear Family...Elders...Sisters,
Hope you all enjoyed Mother’s day, because I know I did! It was amazing getting to skype home and talk
to my family. I hope you all got the opportunity to do so. It was what I needed
in this time, (for a lack of better term) a time of anguish. But with the knowledge
of the truthfulness of the gospel and of course the great counsel I got from
talking with family, I was then able to calm the raging seas - for now, at
least. But that’s improvement, and as my Dad always told me; incremental
improvement is better than none at all. So thumbs up to Mother’s Day – and now I
can’t wait for Christmas, lol!!
So, last Monday was quite an adventure. Sunday night, we drove
up to Silver City, NM and enjoyed the P-Day there. We played basketball, went
to the library, ate food, emailed - typical P-Day stuff. However, Monday
morning Elder Pinson got sick with some sort of stomach bug. He didn’t want to move at all, so he laid on
a mattress at the church and slept and threw up all day. We had ridden up to
Silver City with them, so we had to stay Monday night in Silver City waiting
for Elder Pinson to recover. The hour car ride back home would have probably killed
him.
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This
is a picture one of our district elders drew from the MTC. It all has something
in it about us. Or something we did... Apparently I was the big tough guy! LOL Can
you pick me out?
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Tuesday: We woke up in Silver City to find Elder Pinson’s
companion was sick as well. “Joy! Who
going to be next?” was the only thing running through my mind. We had to get back to Lordsburg, so we made
them tough it out and I drove the four of us home. After lunch in Lordsburg, we
walked the mile to our appointment with H___ and C___. We had a great talk with
them. After that, we were walking home
to do our personal study, when we realized we had to get to the church for the M___ boys’ interview. So, we got to the church right on time, but we ended up having
to wait for the district leader to show up and conduct the interviews. The M___ boys both passed! After the interviews, our day went downhill.
All of our appointments fell through, which is just part of missionary work.
Wednesday: We got
ready for district meeting and headed north to pick up the Duncan Elders on the
way to Clifton AZ. After a rowdy district meeting in Clifton, we had a great
authentic Mexican feast at a cash-only joint. It was super good! Then, we headed south for an hour to Lordsburg and dropped off the Duncan Elders on the way. We got back to Lordsburg to do some
service for L___ M___. It was a fun time doing service. We cut branches, raked up pine needles and I
got to clean out her gutters. It was fun. She was so happy, she offered to give
me an old car. She said I could pick it up
after my mission over, lol. She also fed us flautas - something like rolled
tacos. In the middle of dinner we got a call which told us we had a Stake
Missionary Correlation Meeting in Duncan in an hour. We hurrily drove the 45
miles to get there, and ended up having a good, but long meeting. We then had
to drive home and didn’t get back until 10:45. I was upset and tired; we ended
up driving 235 miles that day.
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| Getting ready to paint |
Thursday: We visited
H___ and C___, where I was gifted with another old car. I later realized I had no way to
get them to Wisconsin and had no place to put them if I did, so I had to
graciously decline both offers. Later, after a decent meeting with H___ and
C___ we headed home and got packed for the weekend and drove to Cotton City, NM
for dinner with the H___s , they are great people. They are super nice and man
do they have some hot green chilies. After dinner we hustled over to the H___’s
(a different H___ family from the one in Lordsburg that you’ve read about
before) house for service. After learning their story, I want to see how big of
a difference I could make helping out at their house. Thursday night we picked
up twigs and limbs and put them in a big dump trailer. Then we visited with
them. She started crying and said they were waiting for someone to just come
talk. They have lost several children to car accidents and the husband had
gotten sick. So, she really just enjoyed our company.
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| How you have to paint when its 95 degrees out and 100% UV The UV here is NO JOKE! |
Friday: Oh typical Friday, you rejoice for them, but now, I
rejoice for Mondays. We had weekly planning today and after lunch we did some
family history, which was followed by a dinner appointment with Sis. F___. It
was an awesome time; we ate an amazing southern feast of barbeque chicken,
catfish, rolls and green beans. It was awesome. Then we played games with their
family.
Saturday was an awesome day. We woke up and got ready for
service at the H___’s (the Cotton City H___s) again. We went over with a church
member and I was assigned to paint their elevated porch. Being made of rusted
metal, I had to paint it twice. The first time I used jasco, a rust blocking
primer you paint over rusty metal so the second coat of paint sticks to the metal
better. So, after going over the whole
thing with jasko, I commenced the painting process. I didn’t have time to
finish, but I will this Thursday.
Anyways, quick funny story, I had spilled some paint on my
fingertips. I forgot it was an oil based paint, so I went over to the hose to
wash it off, right? Well, brothers and sisters, oil doesn’t mix with water. So
in about 7 seconds my hands were completely white and I had 2 baptisms to
preform that night. I was worried it wouldn’t come off, but after half a bottle
of WD40 and a half hour of scrubbing it finally came off.
We drove home, to Lordsburg and showered off an afternoon of
working in the 95-degree heat. We then had to go start filling the font. Before
filling it, we had to clean it because it had only been used once in the last 4
years. We had to work really hard to get
it cleaned out. Finally, after it was
clean, we starting filling it, but the pipes we full of rust, so we had to
drain out the rusty water and fill it again. The water was still dirty and
rusty - The third attempt was still gross. So, by the time we finally got clean
water flowing and we had the font half full, we noticed the hot water had been used up and
the clean water was ice cold. We slowed
the flow and began boiling water in the kitchen and added it to the ice-cold water.
We did this for about an hour. Then the M___ brothers showed up. We got them ready, took pictures and then I
got to perform their baptisms. Wow, the spirit was really in the room; we had
invited 20 people and 50 some showed up. Having the privilege to teach these
boys from start to finish and then being able to baptize them was an experience
that I will never forget. It’s amazing how through a ordinances like this, we
were able to become family - in a sense. It feels amazing. I have no words to describe
how I felt. We then had amazing refreshments and then we ate dinner at Bro.
H___’s (Lordsburg’s mission leader) house. (I have great pictures from this day but the boys are ages 11 and 14 years old and minors - so I didnt post their pictures. If you would like to see a picture of us all please ask my parents - they would love to show you. LOL)
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| Font cleaning duty in Lordsburg, NM |
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| What you have to do when the hot water tap doesnt work on the font |
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| CAKE! |
Sunday: Mother’s Day,
as I explained earlier, was amazing! We went to church in Lordsburg and I got
to stand in for the confirmation of the M___ boys. Start to finish, being able
to watch them grow in the gospel is amazing. I then got a big hug from their
dad who is a member, that hasn’t been to church in 5 years – due to work. Hopefully
he will be able to give his oldest son the Priesthood next week. I’m so excited.
The dad said he will now make time to come to church, it’s amazing. The spirit
is real, my friends. After church, we got to eat some delicious steaks at the Bishop’s
house, then we got to call home to Mom and Dad. I love, love, loved it!!! We then had dinner with
Bro. H___, (spam and pineapple on rice) and then tried to visit some people but
no one answered so we went home.
That was my week; I hope all of yours was good as well.
Look forward to hearing from you guys!
Love,
Elder Dickinson
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