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.
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| 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 |
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| 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
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