This week was wonderful!
However, Elder Bangerter was transferred out and that makes
me sad. He was made a District Leader in
Clifton, AZ. Elder Bang, if you read
this, good luck with your next companion!
Also my mission Dad (my trainer, Elder Degrange) died (finished his
mission and returned home). It is so
crazy to think he has been back to normal life for almost a week now! Also, I hit my nine month mark this week and
we had another baptism!
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| Saying Goodbye to my Dad (Elder Degrange) |
Even though this week was full of wonderful things, by the
end of the week I started to get sick. I don’t know if it is a cold or
what, but I have also had endless stomach aches. Even though it is seems minor,
prayers would be appreciated. Thanks in
advance ;)
Well, I might as well hop right into my week:
Monday was a good day.
After our P-Day activities and the fun stuff we went out to see Sis. C__,one
last time with Elder Bangerter. Then, we
had dinner at Denny’s. I had the salted
caramel banana cream pancakes, they were very good! That was Monday, and of
course emailing the wonderful people abroad!
Tuesday morning, I had to say good-bye to Elder Bangerter
and Elder Degrange. It was bittersweet,
minus the sweet part. It actually hurt
to see my trainer leave to return home.
He was like family to me out here - because I have none out here - but that’s
life, so I’ll roll with the punches. After
saying goodbye to those two, I was in a temporary trio companionship with
Elders Lorensen and Wilko while I waited for my new companion to show up. We had a dandy ole day - then Elder Ikimau
showed up at four o’clock. After I picked him up, we had a dinner appointment
with the C___ family, then returned home so Elder Ikimau could get unpacked and
settled in. Here is a little background
on Elder Ikimau. He is 26 years old and
is from Nieu (pronounced New Way) an island 2,400 kilometers northeast of New Zealand. Nieu is about 100 square miles, a populaion around 1,600 people and is considered a self governing country in free association with New Zealand. He is a spiritual giant and will finish his mission in December.
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| Bye Bye Bang! |
Wednesday was a long day.
We drove to Sahaurita, AZ for our District Meeting. On the way, we had to pick up the Valencia
Elders. After District Meeting, we came
home, had lunch and then did our studies until dinner. Sadly, we didn’t have a dinner appointment
and had dinner on our own, but that’s OK. After dinner we drove to the Church for S__’s
baptismal interview. He is such a smart
kid! He passed his interview, lol. He already knew all the stuff from Primary,
so we basically just had him teach us the lessons - reverse psychology, lol.
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| Elder Ikimau's flag of Niue |
We started Thursday off at the food bank. We were part of a group of Elders and Sisters
and we did the same amount of crates in an hour that some groups can do in an
entire day! We assembled over 500 crates
- so it was a job well done! After the food
bank, we went to the library for an hour and did family history, then we came
home and ate lunch. Later, we attempted
some stop-by visits with no success. We
had to cancel a dinner appointment because of the Book of Mormon class we teach
in Sells, but guess what. No one showed
up for the class, so we drove 100 miles and cancelled a perfectly good dinner
appointment for nothing. So, after a
long day and a lot of driving we got home late and made ourselves some dinner
and hit the hay.
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| Coconut Drink from Brother O! :) Literally, a COCONUT!! |
Friday we did our weekly planning, wahoo! Not really…it was just alright, but we had
dinner with the K__ family before S__’s baptism the next morning. So, Friday was comprised of two time consuming
things.
Saturday was S__’s big day!
S__’s baptism was something special!
I think a huge part of it was because one of the speakers’ talk really
set the tone for the Spirit! It was a
super awesome moment! I can’t really
describe it fully because it was all just kind of blurred together in happiness
and joy! I performed the baptism and Bro. O__ confirmed him. After his baptism, we headed home, ate lunch
and I got lined up (got my hair cut). Uce (Elder Ikimau’s nick name) cut my hair. He is an amazing hair cutter – which comes in
handy! After that we went and visited Sis C___ and Sis P__. It was awesome! She surprised us with a strawberry and banana
trifle she made, and man, is it delicioso! So, Saturday was just an
awesome day!
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| S's Baptism day! So proud of him!! |
Sunday - fun day: Man
this Sunday was brutal!!! We woke up and attended Sacrament Meeting in the
Midvale Ward, then we drove home, ate breakfast and drove to the Sells Branch
for their Sacrament Meeting. Just like
Thursday’s Book of Mormon class, almost no one showed up. Everyone must have been all thrown off by
General Conference last week. Anyways,
after our block of meetings in Sells, we had to drive back to Tucson and pick
up some food that had been prepared by Midvale ward members and then drive all
the way out to Three Points to deliver it to two families in need. After that, we headed back to Midvale for
Ward Correlation Meeting. We wore our
suits all day, so it was hot!
Ugh what a week it was!
I can’t wait to hear from y’all! I hope y’all have a wonderful week!
Love dearly,
Elder Dickinson
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