Being Father’s Day,
this Sunday was special. I was sad being
away from home and my Dad was
on my mind all day today. At church, they handed out the
program which had the primary kids’ answers to questions about their Dads. All
I could do the whole time was think about my answers to those questions. It was rough being 2,000 miles away from
home, but it was a good day. Happy
rather than sad!!!
Man it is starting to get hot.........Flights at the Tucson
and Phoenix airports were being delayed today because the tarmac was
melting. There are excessive heat
warnings today that say everyone needs to stay indoors as much as possible. We are just going to hang at the Family
History Center (for the wifi and AC) and email until its time to play some Zone
basketball. Rumor has it, the Mission
President might show up.
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| Cool gang graffiti |
Monday: P-Day was
good getting to email!!!! It was such a good day. We played sports and then ate
dinner and did some finding.
Tuesday was the best!!!
Frist, we had Zone Conference.
After zone conference we got to go to the Tucson Temple open house and
take the tour. It was super awesome and so beautiful words cannot describe the
level of amazingness. The blue dome is Rhine slate from Germany and it also had
Swahili wood from Africa and marble from Greece – only the best of the best
materials. It was awesome! After
Zone Conference, we went to Costa Vida for my first time for lunch and it was
amazing. I ate the sweet pork burrito that was so good. Later, we had two appointments that fell
through - just like last week. So, we ended up doing some finding and taking it
easy in the shade. Afterwards, we had dinner with the H___’s he has a super
nice Jaguar and lives in the foothills in a massive house. It was an awesome time at dinner.
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| Zone Conference |
Wednesday: We had our
district meeting that was pretty chill.
We talked about dress and grooming. It was pretty light-hearted, but
still boring but better than being out in the heat. After district meeting we
did some finding and went to one appointment, which we had to reschedule
because we didn't have members to come with us, because she was a single
sister. After this we had dinner with the S___s. It was a fun time. Following that, we did some more finding and
then went home for the night.
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| Elder Thompson & I at the Tucson Temple Open House |
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| Tucson Temple |
Thursday: We went to Beads of Courage and did some service
until lunch time. We went home and ate
lunch, then did some phone finding.
After that, we went to a member visit. Following that, we did some more
finding. We had dinner with the Scotts who
are from right outside of Idaho Falls ID.
They don't know Janet and Rory but we are probably related, so that's
cool! After dinner, we had a visit with D____, which went very well. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and it
was a super awesome spiritual experience. He said he would come to church. He’s
a less active ward member trying to find the path back. He has had a super
rough path, but he is ready to fully embrace the gospel now, so we are helping
him find his way back. He said something that struck with me. He said, "I
will never be able to repay you." This is the number one reason I am a
missionary! This pulled at my heart strings and I almost cried, the Spirit
was so prevalent. Thursday was awesome!
Friday: We went to
Beads of Courage to do more service. After Beads, four of us elders went out to
eat. It was a fun time. After this, we
commenced our weekly planning session - for a couple hours. After that, we had dinner with the T___
family. It was cool to learn about his
temple experiences because he is the temple facilities manager. After dinner we
did some finding then we packed up Elder Thompson for exchanges. On the exchange, I got to team up with our new
District Leader, Elder Nielsen – who was just an Assistants to the President,
so it was kind of nerve wracking.
Saturday: We started
by helping move some guy from one apartment complex to another. Following that,
we went out and saw a ton of people and had some awesome appointments. One
particular appointment that stuck out was with a less-active lady. Well, we thought she was less-active, but it
turns out her daughter was taking her to a different ward. So, that was a pretty interesting visit and
it was very cool to know that she was still going to church. Later, we had
dinner with the D___’s it was very good!
We had a baked potato bar followed by some homemade ice cream
cake...super yummy! After diner, we had
another appointment, but it fell through, so we did some finding until it was
time to end the exchange - and I got my little Elder Thompson back. But before
that happened, Elder Neilsen and I talked and he shared three good things about
me:
1. I can make
any bleak, plain situation a good/fun one.
For example, when he was AP he saw I was going to Lordsburg as a green
bean. He thought after Lordsburg, I’d probably
quit and go home because Lordsburg was such a hard area to serve in. Nope, instead I baptized two people. He was
super proud of me.
2. Making
connections: I’ve made some super close
connections with the people I serve. Even being new to the Campbell ward, he
said he could see that I’ve already made people remember me in a great way by
loving the people I serve. He also said I was one of those elders people will
remember – like "I remember Elder Dickinson, he was the nicest most loving
person ever” or “I remember Elder Dickinson, he was so cool". Stuff like
that
3. I work hard and I have the drive
of a work horse.
That’s what he said…his words, not mine.
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| Elder Dickinson signing off from Arizona the "Ditat Deus - God Enriches" State |
Sunday: Happy
Father's Day Dad! Sunday was a fun day
and we learned a lot in church. After church, we had an appointment cancel, so
we did some finding. After a long hot week, we took some down time to do some
additional studies. The people our dinner appointment was scheduled with were
out-of-town so we ate on our own and did some family history.
This week was a lot better!!!!!
Love you all so much!
Elder Dickinson
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