Week 50: Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

It was a wonderful morning. Today will be the hottest Christmas since 2002, at a whopping 78°.

Being that today is Christmas and a PDay...this email is going to be super short!

This week was an interesting one:

Monday:  We spent nearly all of Monday driving Uce (Elder Ikimau) all over to say good-bye to as many people as we could.  We visited Bro. Collingswood and Sis. C__ and a few others.  By the time we were done with that we went home to get all of his luggage for his short trip to the Mission home.  Before we left, Elder Ikimau presented me with his Lava lava and I surprised him with an New Zealand All Blacks Ruby jersey (his favorite professional rugby team) as a gift from my family to him.  I think he really liked.

The Pig Roast we had to send off Elder Ikimau

We dropped Uce off at the mission home at 6:00, and we sent him off in style – with a haka!  Check out the video.  The audio is not very good, so turn it way up and enjoy.  It was a very sacred a special moment for all of us.  It was so awesome and I was very proud, happy and humbled to be part of it.  It was very emotional, because shortly after, we had to say good-bye and he would fly out for Nieu bright and early Tuesday morning.

With all of this happening, I also received my two Christmas packages from home.   I’m so excited to open the presents!

Saying Goodbye to Uce

The trio of tribal ties :D

The Lava Lava / All Black swap with Elder Ikimau

Tuesday:  I spent Monday night at the other Elder’s apartment until my new/old companion could transfer into Midvale.  My new companion turned out to be my old companion.  Elder Lee, my MTC companion and I will be working together in Midvale for probably the next 7 weeks.  By that time, I will have spent the last 6 months in Midvale and the Mission President told me, I would probably be transferring out.

Nice gift from a thoughtful member. :)

It turns out, good-bye wasn’t actually good-bye.  We got a call late Monday night that Uce had forgotten his Go-home suit at our apartment.  So, we woke up super early and we went to our apartment to get his suit then drive to the airport to deliver it to him personally.  It was good to see him before he left the country.  (A go home suit is when a missionary has about 6 months left on his mission.  He picks out the nicest – least worn out - suit he has and has it dry cleaned and puts it away so he can look his best when he walks off the plane and meets his family).  Earlier this month, we had a Stake Conference were young man who just received his mission call to Chile shared his awesome testimony about missionary service.  It just so happens that we ran into him at the airport as he was getting ready to catch a plane to the South American MTC.  It was a cool experience.

Some Uce Swagger

Like I said, with sending off Uce and welcoming Elder Lee and the run up to Christmas, it has been an interesting week 

I am so excited to get to skype with Mom and Dad today! I am so excited to talk to you guys! 

The Tucson Temple Nativity

I promise to share more details about Christmas next week.  Until them, I love y’all,

Elder Dickinson

Week 49: The last week of Uce

Breaking news: Uce killer on the loose

Well, well, well, this week has been a crazy week for sure. We had almost no teaching opportunities.   Did I mention, this week was crazy?

We tried our best to find some people to teach.  Finally, after attempting to contact a media referral four times, we finally got in touch with her and she is interested in learning more.  Hopefully, it will be a family we can teach.  Being we have been so busy, I haven’t been able to absorb everything that has happened. Seriously, this week has just blurred all together.  I won’t be able to encompass every day like normal, but I will share with you the highlights:

Mondays highlight:  Writing home. I don’t think that will ever change, lol.  One fun thing we did was drive out to the Old Mission San Xavier del Bac.  It is an old historic Spanish Catholic mission about 10 miles south of Tucson on the Tohono O'odham San Xavier Indian Reservation.  It was a really cool place to visit.  I’m glad we took the time to go there.  We only did the ‘self-guided’ walk around tour because as missionaries we couldn’t afford the $20 tour, lol.

Sportin' the Hawaiian shirt in front of the Old Mission San Xavier del Bac

Tuesday’s highlight was seeing sister C___.  Sister C__ and her daughter Sis. P__, gifted us with a box of Russel Stovers’ and $20. I love spending time with her. It usually turns into an hour talking about the Ward and/or sharing stories of our week! She is so sweet. It will be hard to leave her when it is my time to transfer.  Elder Ikimau also worked on his ‘My Plan’ for after he returns home.

The highlight of Wednesday was the Christmas half-mission conference (a conference that half of the mission’s 170 missionaries attend – the other half have their own conference). Here is a funny story, about the conference.  The three of us decided to be the best dressed and wear bow ties.  Needless to say, that didn’t go over well, lol.  We got slightly chastised, but were also complimented for being the best dressed.  The conference was interesting and included a game of Church/missionary Family Feud, which we won!  After that, we were served lunch and did a short training session.  That took up pretty much whole the day, because after that Elder Ikimau went to the temple for his last trip.  So, I was in a trio with Elders Perry and Esplin. That was the highlight of Wednesday.

The highlight of Thursday...hmmm.  We did some referral visiting and Uce (Elder Ikimau) had to finish his ‘My Plan.’ So, that took pretty much most of the day.  We had a dinner appointment with the I__ family. 

Friday’s highlight was dinner with the L__/C___ family. After an awesome family dinner, they gifted us with a popcorn tin and $30, lol.  We pretty much spent all evening telling stories before Elder Ikimau leaves for home. It was a wonderful evening with ‘family’ I have here.

More  pics of  Old Mission San Xavier del Bac

Saturday’s highlight as a BBQ/luau we had planned for Elder Ikimau’s leaving. Bro. O__ and Bro C___ butchered a 160 lbs pig for the luau.  That night they had all kind of Polynesian food like plantains and yams in coconut milk, their version of chop suey over rice and Kula pork. It was an all you can eat pig buffet, including lu. Lu is corned beef in coconut oil wrapped in taro leaf. Man, that stuff is good! Lol.  I told Elder Ikimau I need to marry a poly girl, lol.  He got a huge kick out of that!  That party lasted from 4:00 to 8:00 and it was a blast!  We probably had about 30 people gathered together in one house!

Selfie with the Saint!

Sunday’s highlight definitely happened after church meetings in Sells, AZ.  Some of the members made Indian fry bread and pop overs to eat.  After eating, Sis. M___ sang some O`Odham (native American) songs. Then, to thank them for what they did for Elder Ikimau, we did an impromptu haka for the members.  I still need a little more practice before tomorrow but it went well! It was very impromptu, but they loved It :) My first ever haka!  I messed up but Elder Ikimau said I did amazing for my first time, lol.

Those were just the highlights of my busy week.

I don’t know how much I’ll be able to email you today because in the afternoon we have to visit some people before Elder Ikimau heads off to the mission home.  So, since Mom and Dad won’t be able to email this morning, I’ll for sure be on WIFI from 7:30 your time until whever you guys conk out.  I’m sorry about this, but our day looks something like this:

Volleyball

Crepe party until 1:00 pm

Drive to the apartment

Get all of Elder Ikimau’s stuff packed up

Visit people until 4:30ish

Drop ikimau off at the mission home at 6:00

All with no WIFI.

Oh yeah, here is some transfer news:  Elder Ikimau will be replaced by my MTC companion Elder Lee!

Sorry for any inconveniences with no WIFI, I will try my best!

Good bye and I love you all

Elder Dickinson

Bonus Pictures of the Old Mission San Xavier del Bac Below

Week 48: 897 Miles

Well this week was crazy - crazy good- and just plan crazy, lol.

We drove 897 miles this week...ugh!  At the end of this week, I can honestly say I gave my all. I’m tired, exhausted and all-around just done for the week!

I guess I might as well just start with how my week went:

Monday was a wonderful day with a mix of emailing home, good P-Day volleyball and practicing the haka.  However, the highlight is defiantly emailing home and hearing from my loved ones!

Tuesday, we started our day off with a wonderful foodbank session - unwrapping and restacking the goods.  After the foodbank, we went to the library so Elder Ikimau could do his My Plan program (remember, a program for returning missionaries – so they have a good plan of what they want to do when they come home). While he was doing his My Plan, I worked on family history for a little bit. After two hours of that, we contacted some media and member referrals. No one answered the door, which means no return appointments, but it was all a good experience. After dinner with the B___ family, we had a short lesson with the S___s.  The husband was conveniently absent, so we talked to the wife about faith and invited her to act on it. She’s a massage therapist and her best clients make appointments on Sundays.  If she doesn’t work Sundays she will lose over half of her income. So, it is faith vs. money right now. That would very hard to be in that position.

Pic spoiler alert...there will be more of this next week.... :O

Wednesday was a good day. It started with our District Meeting – but it took some effort. We planned on having our meeting at the church building we always use.  However, when we got there, it was being used for a funeral - so we had to drive a bit north and hold it at a different church building.  After District Meeting, Elder Ikimau and I went out with Grandpa Collingwood (you might know him as Bro. Collingwood – but we call him Grampa, now). We visited over 20 families that day, and had in-depth conversations with most of them.  It was a lot and I mean a lot of driving. The family we had scheduled our dinner appointment with never got back to us to finalize plans, so we worked right through dinner, continuing to visit more families and individuals. I think out of 30 total families we visited, 24 of them opened their doors and talked with us. In the missionary field that high of a percentage is unheard of, lol. We worked until 7:30, that’s when we had a lesson in town with Sis. M___. We talked about a lot stuff with her, but nothing specific.

A majority of the roads we drive on look like this....

 

Thursday was the day-of-all-days! Usually we would have worked at the Food Bank until 1:00 pm. Instead, we commenced day #2 of contacting as many people on Grampa Collingwood’s list as possible. We worked from 10:00 until 2:30. We contacted 15 more individuals and families. Elder ikimau had his dying interview (his last interview with the Mission President before he goes home in a week) so we had to cut things short with visiting. Surprise!! I had an interview with the President also. It went well! Very well, in fact! Anyways after interviews we took Grandpa and headed out to Sells, AZ for Book of Mormon class we teach - and for the second week in a row, no one showed up, but we came with a Plan B and set up some service opportunities for this coming week.  We drove home and ate at McDonald’s at 9:30 at night.

Brother & Sister Collingwood (WML & Wife)

Friday consisted of weekly planning, weekly planning... and more weekly planning.  We didn’t have a dinner appointment, but one of the sisters in the ward bought us a $60 Olive Garden gift card.  We knew we would not use it all, so we invited our other missionaries. The server who served us said we ate the most bowls of soup he has ever served. Then we all ordered one more bowl each to pad our record!  The four of us each had an entreè and 5 bowls of soup. That is 20 bowls in total!  The final bill came to a total of $63. We tipped him $10 bucks for his soup running efforts, lol. 

Saturday was an interesting day. We did service which consisted of weeding the dessert (you might know it as yard work – but without the grass – because – you know – it’s the dessert) and cutting down dead trees. This all took place in Three Points, AZ – a.k.a. the Midlanowhere. We worked there for a huge portion of our day.  After doing service, our dinner appointment for that night was at the Ward Christmas Party, which was an ugly sweater contest. We just went for the food since we live on a missionary budget.  They had soft and hard shell tacos. It was a fun time. They had a wonderful turn out, but not as many as the Halloween luau. But it was a fun time.

Sunday was the best day of the week.  To start we had ward counsel followed by Midvale sacrament. Karen bore her testimony and it was wonderful, it made my day. Its so cool knowing after us elders transfer out of the area, she will be just as strong in the church as the other stalwart members. She is just wonderful in general.  After sacrament meeting, we headed over to Grandpa’s and had breakfast. We had some darn good French toast. After we ate, we were asked to give Sis. Collingwood a blessing (she wasn’t feeling well).  It was a wonderful experience. After that, Elder Ikimau and I headed out to Sells. We had Fast and Testimony meeting there too, and Z___, our 14 year old investigator, shared his testimony for the first time ever. Man, was it something special! There wasn’t a dry eye in the congregation. He was homeless when he was 12 until he turned 14. He has rolled with gangs and seen and done stuff nobody should have to see or do.  That 14 year old non-member stood in front of the congregation and bore one of the sweetest most sincere testimonies I have ever heard! 

Where we meet in Sells, AZ

That is why I’m on my mission - to invite others to come unto Christ and helping them receive the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring until the end.

I want to thank all of you for your support.

I love yall.

🌵🌴Elder Dickinson🌴🌵

Week47: 11 Months Today!

This week was defiantly a good week.  Teaching wise, we didn’t get a lot got done, but learning wise, it was huge!  "Seek ye first to obtain My word, then seek ye to declare My word"

This week, it was a pleasure to have a General Authority speak to the mission on Thursday! Richard J. Maynes of the 70 came to the mission.  I will highlight that later in this email.

I want to thank you guys for that awesome email you sent this week.  It filled in all the gaps of the stuff I miss most - other than snow.  I am having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit without snow.  Trust me it’s hard.

I did see a lady wearing a Packer jersey today and she filled me in on how the game went, lol.

Anyways, I might as well jump into how my week went, because I guess that’s what I’m here for, right?

Monday we played volleyball in the morning, followed by haka practice and some shopping. After shopping, we went to the library (only for the internet to email, lol) and then home for the night.  The everlasting highlight of Monday(s) is defiantly emailing home. I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like every time I write home the time in between P-Days becomes shorter and shorter – or is that’s just me.

Tuesday:  We went to the food bank and worked there for two hours. After that, we went home and made some lunch.  I wasn’t feeling all that well so I took a quick nap.  After that I felt much better.  Later, we had a dinner at Peter Piper Pizza - it’s like Chucky Cheese.  The family we went with had little kids, so the kids played while we ate.  Afterwards, Elder Ikimau lined me up (gave me a haircut).   Now, the top of my hair, which is longer, is black and my short sides are brown, lol.

Thanksgiving Package---Better late than never!

Wednesday we had a wonderful District Meeting on the Church’s Christmas initiative called “Light the World” and we were showed how to present it to members.  It was a pretty cool meeting.  Look Light the World up, it’s on lds.org.  It consists of 25 days of service. There is a short video for each day with different ideas of little acts of service.  After District Meeting we contacted some referrals, who were not home at the time.  I learned that we actually cover three different reservations:  The San Xavier, Pascua Yaqui (pronounced yockey) and the Tahono O'Odham nations.  After contacting the referrals we had dinner on our own.  After dinner we met with C__ and talked about how her job is going and stuff like that, the, we shared some scriptures with her. 

Food Truck Style

My all time FAVORITE Mexican Food... the "sonoran whataburro"
 from pershones food truck (bacron wrapped)

Thursday:  In the morning we went to....drumroll...the food bank, lol!  No, just kidding - we had a Mission Conference where Elder Richard J. Maynes of the 70 came and spoke to our half of the mission.  His wife talked about how angels bless the lives of others - and we (missionaries) are those angels.  I could not help but think of my angel... my mother - and all the lives she saves (as a trauma nurse)... just in different ways than us missionaries 😉.   Elder Maynes talked about the Book of Mormon and finding people to teach.  It was a really good training.  He helped me to be able to BETTER understand what I am reading – rather than forgetting what I’ve read 3 pages later.  Does that make sense?  Anyways after the conference, we had to get the oil changed in our truck.  It took forever, but it was fine - not a biggy.  After this we had dinner appointment with the O___s.  We had some awesome big ribeye steaks and baked potatoes with Caesar salad. All of which are my favorite! Did I mention I have quit drinking soda all together?  I have and today is the forth day so far.  I’m just trying to drop a few pounds by eating heathier. (The idea of dropping weight is going to be pretty funny after you read about the Chinese Buffet a little further down, lol)

Quitting soda, had to make the last one "top shelf"

Friday:  We drove to Sells, AZ and played sports and stuff with Z___, then we taught him another lesson.  After that we drove home. Later, we had dinner on our own before we taught a lesson to J__ L__ and A__ Q__.  She recommitted to baptism on the 16^th of December. We talked about tithing and fast offerings and committed them to paying tithing.   After meeting with them, we went home, hunkered down and got some rest for the terrible day that was to follow.

Saturday was just a terrible mess – that is the best way to describe it. We picked up another set of Elders who had some service lined up for 10:30 - but the people we were supposed to help move had not given the other Elders an address to meet at.  After 11:00 they finally got a hold of people and they said we should show up at 1:30 and they would be ready for us to help. So we went to get lunch and then were ready to help at 1:30 – but guess what - still no address.  Finally, after some calling around we finally had an address and we were supposed to meet them at 2:30.  We were supposed to meet at a storage place to help these people move their stuff into an apartment.  We got there at 2:30.  The people said they were on their way - like 10 times.   The 19-year old in me said, “This is stupid, let’s just leave.”  but the missionary part of me and the other missionaries decided we would wait until they showed up. Needless to say, they finally showed 2 hours later. So, we finally got the unit open and started moving stuff out – then after seeing all of the stuff that had to be moved, they decided they needed a u-haul truck.  After an hour of us sitting on their couches and watching their stuff we had already moved out of the unit, they finally arrived with the truck.  However, the rental unit place closed at 7:00 so we had to just chuck all of their stuff in the truck in a hurry, then move it into their apartment.  Needless to say, it took forever, ugh!  It makes me so upset just thinking about it, but it did teach me that planning is essential for success. After this we had time to eat quickly after not eating all day. We chose a cheap Chinese buffet and we destroyed the place!  I ate 110 shrimp, 20 pieces of sushi and crab rangoons, and a whole plate of ice cream for desert, lol.  (What can I say, it was my only mean of the day – you got to make it count. Lol)

First Christmas away from home tree!

Ending the post with a pic of a great friend, Elder Ikimu

Sunday was a good day.  We had my first Stake Conference on my mission.  The theme of the talks was missionary work.  After Conference, we made some stop-by visits.  Later we had Ward Correlation Meeting.  And that was a wrap for the week.

I hope y’all had a wonderful week and maybe learned something from my misfortunes. If not, sorry.  Jesus loves you, so there, lol.

Any who,

Love,

       🌵🌴Elder Dickinson🌴🌵