Week 60: Huckin' `crete & TRIP 100!!!😥

Quite the endearing term for this week - well Saturday at least.

We had a good week of visiting people and doing some service - as always. I remember someone saying something along the lines of: Each missionary has their own special way of connecting with people - or touching people’s lives.  Whether it’s teaching, blessings, being relatable or service. 

I think mine is service. I can gladly say I have now built five concrete wheelchair ramps for people’s homes in Sells, NM and Topawa, AZ. – along with numerous other projects. Whether it was helping build the P___' family’s house or the B___’s house, we each have our own way of reaching out and connecting with others. Being that I was just talking about service, I’d like to personally challenge y ‘all to serve someone this week! Big, small...a simple smile... just do it. It’ll make you happy,  I promise! ☺.

Also, something I learned from Grandpa Collingwood is:  Our brains are stupid...literally.  The key to having a good day is:  First thing in the morning, tell yourself you are going to have a good day today and you will.  If you do the opposite, the opposite result will occur.  So, having the right attitude makes a big difference!

So, that being said let’s jump into the week:

Miraculous Monday:  We attended the timed events at Tucson rodeo. Man, it was a wonderful day!  A much needed change of pace. Sadly, I barely got to email home, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t in my thoughts.

Rodeo

Rodeo Selfie

Terrific Tuesday:  We also had a wonderful day on Tuesday.  We had an awesome shift at the foodbank.  We worked there for quite some time. After the foodbank, we went to the Sunny Daze Café for lunch.  It is a member owned café I had told you about earlier.  She sent a picture to Mom’s phone, not sure if you got it or not, so I will include it in this week’s email.  After lunch, we went out to visit some people (referrals/potentials) until it was time for dinner. We had a dinner appointment with the wonderful C___ family, again. We had pulled pork, fries, salad, broccoli and cupcakes for dessert.   It was an awesome ending to a pretty good day.  We shared stories for a long time that evening. I love the C___s so much!

Wonderful Wednesday:  We had our District meeting, which lasted for about 2 hours, but it was good.  We started learning Spanish. Thank goodness for my five years of Spanish in High School.  We are now a dual language zone. So we speak Spanish and English. Yay!   After our District Meeting, we went out with Grampa Collingwood for the remainder of the day. We then ate dinner on our own and did some extra studies.  The most productive time for missionary work in south Tucson is during the day.   After dark it is garbage, because the freaks come out and people don’t answer their doors.  If they do, they threaten you, lol. So, without a set appointment after dark…good luck!

I finally found something taller than me! :D

Tremendous Thursday started at the foodbank, where we made up like a thousand boxes of food, if not more! I have learned to love foodbank, honestly.  Sometimes it sucks because it is so repetitive and most people we work with there just bum the time away.  So, Elder Wetzel and I take it upon ourselves to work hard.  Working hard will teach you a valuable lesson, which is basically to work hard in all you do.  After the foodbank, we ate lunch. Due to Elder Wetzel not sleeping well the two nights, he took a short nap in place of his lunch.  After some quick studies we hauled out to Sells for the Book of Mormon class we teach.  Only two people showed up.  We read out of 3Nephi where Christ appears to the Americas.  Man, chapters 8-13 are amazing - as is the entire book of Mormon!  After class, we drove home and Grandpa Collingwood took us out to Taco Bell for dinner.

Fab Friday:  Friday was a wonderful day of planning.  Weekly planning is awesome because it breaks up the monotony of the other days! ☺  Later in the afternoon we had an oil change for the truck and then we did some exchanges, which lasted Friday evening until Saturday evening.  Friday was a good day.

Waffle House

Swell Saturday:  Man Saturday might have been one of the best days of my mission, so far!  I was on exchanges with Elder Mitchell.  We were talking the night before until like midnight about fishing and hunting. We decided to wake up at 5:00 and go to the Waffle House for breakfast. Man, it made me super super nostalgic.  The waking up before sunrise made me nostalgic for those early mornings before fishing.  Breakfast at the Waffle House made me really nostalgic of our wonderful family trip of 2016!  The whole thing was just full of nostalgia so it was super fun.  After breakfast, we picked up Gramps and headed off to Sells by 6:45.  We got to sells around 8:30 and commenced project ‘Huckin' Crete’  We built two wheelchair ramps out of concrete for two members’ homes in Topawa. It was a fun time, but man I was sore after throwing (Huckin') 60lb bags of concrete (crete). Not only that, I also swung a 20lb sledgehammer so many times I lost count, lol.  Man, we were sore after that, but it was worth it because service is my way of reaching out at touching the lives of others while gaining a lot of valuable experience along the way.

20 lb sledge. UGH

Bro. Collingswood is awesome! I have learned so much from him!

Yes, that is a bed...outside

Super Sunday – and a super Sunday it was!  We had splits, so Bro. Collingwood and I headed to Sells while Elder Wetzel and Bro. Carroll headed to Midvale. During the Sells Branch’s Sacrament Meeting we watched a church movie called The Testaments.  It was fairly good, as I’ve only seen it 50 times, lol. I figured out that Sunday February 25th marked my 100th tip to Sells, AZ!  Man, all the driving gets tiring out here.  Later we had Correlation Meeting and later at home we did some prep for PDay.

Our plans for PDay include:

1.     Volleyball from 9:00 until 11:00

2.     Free 9 holes of golf - all inclusive! Just Elders Mitchell, Banks and I.

3.     Emailing from the library

I hope y ‘all had as good of a week as I did.  I can’t wait to hear from you guys!

Love,

  🌵🌴 Elder Connor William Dickinson🌴🌵

Week 59: It's Rodeo Time!!!

Due to the rodeo being this week, all of the kids out of school today.  They call it rodeo break. This might be my most liked thing about Tucson.... too bad never had rodeo breaks back home, right?

That being said, the timed events (steer wrestling, team roping, barrel racing and team tie down) starts at 8am.  Too bad that there won’t be any bull or bronc riding, but it is what it is.  So, we will be there most of the day. Sadly, without Wi-Fi.  This Rodeo is my most looked forward to event since I’ve been here and it’s on a PDay!  So, you probably won’t hear from me most of the day. There is a possibility of me checking in - potentially in the evening for an hour or two - but I cannot, repeat cannot, promise anything as we will be there most of the day. Hopefully I’ll be at the library around 6:15 your time. That being said, we could very well be online earlier if the rodeo ends early! So be prepared.  YES, I will take plenty of pictures 😊 so hopefully there will be time to talk, but if not, I am already looking forward to next week. 

This week was full of rain and sickness. Yes, you heard right…it rained for 3 straight days. It made me super happy.  I wish I had more to report on, but this week was just a pretty bad week in general.  So sorry in advance for the lack of detail.

So, I guess to just jump right into the week, without further ado:

Monday was pretty good.  I was sad I didn’t get to talk to you guys more, but hey every little bit counts, right?  I had to leave early because we had an appointment, which ended up being cancelled and I was busy at home were we do not have Wi-Fi.

Tuesday:  We ran the production line at foodbank and ended up making a ton of boxes.  I really like working there, it reminds me a lot about packing at Eastbay - mixed with the local grocery store, lol.  After the foodbank we ate at a member owned café where we get half off, she sent you guys a picture... not quite sure if you got it.  She is a sweet heart and is pretty awesome.   Later that night our dinner appointment dropped off dinner. She made some awesome homemade chicken noodle soup.

Lunch after time at the food bank! Hey, look we are all Elder Witzel! :)

Wednesday.  We attended a wonderful district meeting on safeguards for technology.  It was also Valentines…forever alone, lol.  Anyways, I hope you like my message Mom 😊.  The rest of this day consisted of doing some stop-by visits.

Thursday:  We were back at it at the foodbank again.  Elder Mitchell and I went hard opening up boxes and pallets of food so we wouldn’t have to do it next time.  It was basically a workout after my morning workout, lol.  It turns out the Valencia Elders’ apartment got broken into the night before. The Valencia Elders left their apartment about an hour - came back and their door was kicked in.... they stole a bike and Elder Mitchell's brand new watch.... box.. left the watch!!! LOL. AND left their wallets and took a roll of quarters. So, they put their expensive things in our apartment and basically stayed in our area for the day.  We tracted.... the first time on my mission.  I had mixed feelings about it.  We did our tracting in the rain, so it kind of sucked.  It turns out Thursday was Elder Witzel’s turn to get sick - probably from tracting in the rain. Then, we went to Sells for our Book of Mormon class. Only one person showed up so we read from the book of Abraham.... it was awesome. 

Friday was planning day.   Simply put, we planned and cleaned out our area book, which was much needed.  Elder Witzel was sick, but it was good timing because Friday was just a planning day.

On Saturday we had service project planned, but it ended up being cancelled.  So, we did some family history and some finding at the library. It didn’t amount to much, but was still a wonderful experience. Elder Witzel was still pretty sick so we ended up just laying low.

Elder Witzel flexing! :O

Sunday was a much better day. We had church out in Sells.   I was expecting to give a talk, but I ended up not having to. Believe it or not, I was pretty bummed about it. Afterwards, they had their monthly potluck. I tell you what:  It’s follows the same idea as “build and they will come."   Cook and missionaries will come, lol.  Oh, and Bro Collingwood too, lol.

That was pretty much my sad, miserable week - but that means next week can only be better and what way to start a new week off than with a rodeo :)

Mucho love to all my family and friends back home!

Till next week,

Elder Dickinson

Week 58: Buckle up, You're in for a wild ride!

Well, simply put this week was a bit of a rollercoaster ride.  Sadly, there were a lot of dips and negatives, but that’s part of life, right?  

The only way to gain knowledge and grow is to go through the refiner’s fire.  Nobody said life would be easy, but it’s all meant for the best. The best or strongest things in life likely require more heat, stretching, and pounding to become stronger!  Liken it to Damascus steel that must be folded, heated and pounded flat hundreds of times, over and over again.  This process makes the strongest steel one can manufacture. Or, much like football, it is about seeing how hard you can get hit, get up and hit back. Moving forward is a trying process.

That being said, I probably prefaced that a little more intensely than I should have, lol. I was on my soap box. Maybe someone needed that, who knows, lol.

Anyways, I want to jump right into the week to share what happened:

Monday was a good day filled with volleyball, emailing home and getting ready to receive my new companion.

Tuesday:  What…A…Day!  We woke up early for transfers.  We got Elder Perry and Elder Lee’s stuff loaded in the truck.  We then took departing pictures and drove to the Tucson Stake Center for transfers.  We got to the transfer site and talked to a bunch of other missionaries until we dropped Elder Perry off and got our new companions.  After receiving Elder Searles, we went home dropped everything off and headed to foodbank for 2 hours of service.  After that, we went shopping and returned home to unpack.  Being I had a very short night of sleep the night before, he unpacked and I took a nice short nap.

Saying Goodbye to Elder Lee
(A lowrider, Saint Mary and a UFO describes our area perfectly)

 

After Elder Searles unpacked his stuff we drove 75 miles to Topawa, AZ to teach the M___ family. They had set a bap date of February 17th.  While we were teaching them, we got a call from Mission President saying that after yesterday’s transfers he now had two missionaries in a driving area who could not drive.  He told me his plan initially had me transferring to the Corona ward, but, with the issues I mentioned last week, I ended up staying in Midvale and this caused a domino effect that required an emergency transfer. 

After that call, we had to haul home from Topawa.  We left at 7:15pm and got home at 8:33pm. When we got home we realized that Elder Searles had unpacked all of his stuff and had bought a bunch of food.  So, we had to speed pack everything in 10 minutes and drive another 30 minutes to the transfer sight.  We arrived at 9:30ish.  Man, that day was a mess. But we got it figured out.  My new, new companion is Elder Witzel from Draper, Utah he has been out for 18 months. He is awesome and hilarious so I’m excited.

Wednesday, was basically a PDay all over again because we had to shop for Elder Witzel and he needed to unpack.  So, as he unpacked I cleaned up a bit.  After we finished, we didn’t have a dinner appointment so I made wild rice and a chicken breast. Man, that was killer!  After our dinner we had a lesson with Sister B__, a returning member.

Thursday started with a work out and it felt Wonnnnnnderful!  Man, I’ve missed it. After that, we went to foodbank where we packaged 1000+boxes of food!  After the foodbank we went out to do some street contacting.  I don’t know if it was because it was almost 90 degrees in February or if it was Armageddon or something, but no one was out.... we walked 6 miles on what is usually a very well trafficked road and only saw one person - who was not interested.  So, we then had dinner appointment with the I___ family.  We had some good cheese burgers!  After dinner we taught a returning member.  She’s currently gearing up to go to the temple to take out her endowment so she can be there for her daughter’s wedding. It is so awesome to be able to help her get to the temple!

Desert Sunset

Friday, for the most part was mainly a planning day. We planned out our upcoming week.

Saturday:  We visited Sis. C__ for an hour or two.  Following that, we went home and tidied up a little bit. We then had a dinner appointment with one of my favorite families, the C___’s.  We had breakfast for dinner and it was good!  During dinner we got an urgent call to give someone a blessing.  So, we jump into action and I texted the ward member who lived closest to the person needing the blessing and asked if he could help.  He is a firefighter and little did I know he was already giving that person a blessing.  The person was having a heart attack and I’m glad the firefighter was there to do it, because I would have been scared out of my wits.   They tried to persuaded the person to go to the hospital, but they refused knowing they were dying.  The person passed away about an hour later.  I don’t know why I was prompted to text this person to help, but I’m glad I did...the Lord works in mysterious ways, but now this person is in a better place.

Sunday was a wonderful day.  We went on splits and I was with Bro. C___ and Bro O__. And Elder Witzel went with Collingwood out to Sells.  After we reconvened later in the afternoon. We had a short lesson with sister B__ and then went home a did our studies.

We learned this week that the tribe will not let the M__ kids get baptized.  What a dagger to the heart.  I have grown to love those little kids, but due to the tribe’s decision I can no longer help them. This was the ultimate dip of my rollercoaster ride this week.

All in all, we need to learn, grow and live the most and best we can!  I’d like to invite you to be meek and mild - willing to learn and to be coachable - because, you may just learn something that could help you in the long run.

I will most likely be unable to email until the afternoon tomorrow. We will be going to the gem show. Why? To say we went, lol.  So, this being said I will email to the best of my abilities until the afternoon. Once we get back, I will most likely be free most of the afternoon.

Love you all until next week,

Elder Dickinson

Week 57: Being Meek and Mild - And There is a First Time for Everything

I don’t know what to say about this week other than there being a mix of confusion, mixed emotions, fear and firsts. There is a first time for everything, right?

Transfer news:

After 6 months here in Midvale…drum roll... I will be staying for one more transfer, but Elder Lee will be replaced by Elder Searles.  I don’t know much about him, so it’ll be an interesting transfer.

We crushed our goals:

This week got started off super slow - and when I say slow imagine a snail racing a hundred year old tortoise - that kind of slow.   But we finished the week with a bang!  Saturday alone we handed out 72 copies of the Book of Mormon and talked to well over 100 people!  How did we do this?   I’ll share later – keep reading.  Our goal was to hand out 60 Books of Mormon and have 70 quality gospel discussions....so we smashed our goals!

Jumping into the week:

This Monday was an awesome one as we got to email a lot and share some thoughts about the future.

Tuesday started out awesome with service at the foodbank followed by spending the afternoon accompanying Bro. Collingwood in helping a 93 year old lady who needed a ride to her doctor’s appointment and some shopping.   She lives out in Three Points and her appointment was on the other side of Tucson.  It literally took until dinner time to get everything done and drive her home.  That being said, Tuesday was basically a day of service.  Later, due to what most likely will be some sensitive feelings of others, I will only disclose what happened on Tuesday evening to those who need to know (Mom & Dad). Let’s just say the events that transpired led to my staying in Midvale for another transfer.

At the Midvale Ward Bishop's house
(He's from Wisconsin)

Wednesday means we had our District Meeting.   We talked about baptism and such.  We also watched a short video called ‘The Phone Call.’  I remember seeing it in seminary some years back.  We also talked about the meaning of meekness. 

"David, (or insert your name here) remember to be meek and mild today.”                                                          

                                                                                                      ~ Grandpa Dickinson

I remember being told this a couple times by my father.  Starting this week and in the coming weeks I will be putting a renewed emphasis on this quote.  So, before I exit the door of our apartment, I will tell myself this every day.   Meekness and faith are required for success in anything we do. ANYTHING!

Following district meeting we had improved studies followed by apartment inspections and packing for Elder Lee.

Wednesday was the day we may or may not have witnessed a drive by. Yes a drive by shooting! We were next to a car without windows in a gas station oull out. All of a sudden another car pulled up next to the car without windows and fired multiple shots into the car. The shot up car then rolled out into traffic blocking the road. It was really sad. Thank goodness the car was somewhat blocked from our view and we didnt actually see the shots fired - just the aftermath. The police were there almost immediately after it all happened. It was awful, but to stay safe we just kept driving. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming," right?  Lol.

First driveby...

Thursday:  Sadly, there was no service at the foodbank, due to their taking inventory. So we had an longer work out and studies.  Following this we went out with Bro. Collingwood visiting people.  Then we headed off to Sells where we taught our Book of Mormon class.  We read from the Book of Mosiah. That’s some good stuff in there!  We had a decent turn out – followed by the brutal drive home.

Friday was a wonderful day spent doing our weekly planning mixed with some errand running.  It was just a relaxing day before all chaos! 

Saturday:  I had the once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the 80th annual All-Indian rodeo in Sells, AZ.  What an awesome experience that was!  We had a booth set up in the main tent and passed out Books of Mormon.  Four of us Elders passed out a combined 72 copies! We did this to get the name of the church out on the reservation.  I can’t believe how many people we talked to had no idea...it was awesome to be a first contact for those people.  We only got too watch 3 bull riders, but it was an experience I will never forget.  It was nothing but a positive experience - other than a sore back and feet!

Rodeo

Our Rodeo Booth

Sunday was also a wonderful day. We got to go out to Sells for church, so we were out there 3 full days this week.  Man, I’m tired of driving the distance, but its good practice though!  After getting back from Sells, we visited a few people for Elder Lee to say goodbye before he leaves.

I can’t wait to hear from yall!  I hope yall have a wonderfully blessed week. Be safe out there!

Love,

🌴🌵 Elder Connor William Dickinson 🌵🌴