‘Big Changes’ pretty much sums up the last 2 weeks – which I
haven’t emailed. The biggest change,
sadly, was transferred back to Tucson.
Last week I transferred out of the Benson area and I had to say goodbye
to all of the friends in Benson who became family. We spent Monday night at the S___'s playing
pool. It was a wonderful goodbye
gift. Brother and Sister S___ are amazing
at pool and somehow we beat them four times in a row. During all of the Monday night FHEs we’ve
spent at their house, we only ever won 4 games, but last Monday, we won four
straight - fair and square. That was a memory I will hold onto for a long time.
They really enjoyed the maple syrup that
you guys sent. After playing pool and
saying goodbye, we headed home and finished packing before the transfer day
that we both had ahead of us.
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| Going to miss these feisty ducks, chicks, companion and family here in Benson! |
Tuesday: Transfer Day!
We finished getting packed and welcomed
the two new Elder to the Benson area. (This was a whitewash transfer – meaning
both Elder Ramsden and I transferred out and two new Elders transferred
in) We spent the day showing the new
Elders around, bringing them up to speed with the appointments we made for the
coming week and people we've met. After
spending the afternoon showing them around, Elder Ramsden and I packed our bags
into the transfer van and headed to Tucson.
The rest of this week was pretty much a blur, so I don't have much else
to say.
I’ve started a new chapter in my mission. I have decided to rededicate myself to the
work and try to work a little harder every day.
That being said, my new companion is the awesome Elder Vansweeden. We are really ripping it up here, talking to
people and always staying busy. Even
after not emailing for 2 weeks, I really don't have much to say due to the fact
that we've just been teaching lessons and working constantly at finding and
talking to anybody and everybody who would talk to us. This past week we were able to talk to over a
hundred people - asking them if they were interested in hearing the message of
the restored gospel and doing the Lord's work here in the River Crossing Ward. This Ward is really awesome. It has a whole bunch of good families. To be honest, it reminds me a lot of the
Wausau Ward.
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| Who knew I would be doing this on my mission???? |
Elder Vansweden and I have also been assigned the
Butterfield ward. We are going through a
very weird process because the Butterfield Ward also just had a whitewash transfer,
and we are the new Elders. We showed up
to church on Sunday and it was funny because we didn't know a single person and
nobody knew us. As luck would have it,
we got to know quite a few people and fit into the ward really well. It appears they like us, but the only
downside is the Butterfield ward is not very keen on missionary work at the
moment. So, it makes it hard to light
the fire under the members about missionary work and the need to provide us with
referrals of people to visit, hand out Books of Mormon to and teach. That makes it hard to do missionary work with
the members.
This week we had the coolest thing happened. We had our first monsoon of the season. It
was the remnants of a tropical storm that blew in from the Pacific - off of
Baja California. It dropped some crazy
rain. Hopefully, I’ll be able to send a
video of what we saw. It was an unbelievable amount of rain in a short time!
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| Going to miss this town and companion, Elder Ramsden! |
Here is something funny:
After leaving Benson and coming to Tucson I thought I had escaped the
whole day of church thing (we covered 3 wards in Benson).... Yeah right,
lol. Covering two wards, plus all of the auxiliary meetings still makes
for a full day. So, I got to thinking
that this was probably God’s way of making me appreciating only going to 3
hours of church back home. I don’t think
I will ever complain about only 3 hours, because now it would just fly by. It would be like, “Wait...that's it for the
week? No, I need more.” lol. But,
I just thought it was kind of funny because I thought I could run away from 3
wards...but nope 2 wards and auxiliary meeting still take forever, lol
As disappointed as I was to be transferred from Benson back
to Tucson, I really have nothing to complain about. The Rivers Crossing Ward it
is awesome, the area is nothing special - but it's humbling and the missionary
work is going well. So, it only leaves
me with one thing to complain about = THE HEAT! I’ll never get used to it and
I’ve had countless 3 shirt days... its really bad, lol.
To cap off the week, we found this awesome hillbilly couple.
J__ and B___. They literally only have
each other, shirts on their backs and a mobile home they bought for a dollar. Nope, that’s not a type-o, $1. There is one thing that I have noticed. Even
having so little and having the world against them at every turn, they are the
happiest people I've met in my life. They are willing to learn and want to make us
part of their life. J__ has been
collecting a bag of ties and he didn't know why, but now that he has met us -
he says he now knows why. They want change and we are willing to help
them. It is a wonderful time right now.
I can't wait to hear from y'all tomorrow, it's been a
wonderful week and hopefully you had one too!
Love,
Elder Connor William Dickinson
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