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🌴🌵