Week 91: Service, Service and More Service

Mosiah 2:17 states:  “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”

And now, a bible reference: 

Matt. 25:40  “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” That being said, this week was one of my favorite weeks...why?  Because, I was able to do a very good amount of service.   DISCLAIMER:  Pictures will be sent to Mom’s messenger. Monday night through Thursday we did exchanges in Clifton and then in Lordsburg.  During my exchanges on Wednesday I was able to travel down to Lordsburg (my first area) with Elder Thompson (one of my past companions) and visit Brother B__ H__ again.   It was a super sweet reunion and we just so happened to be in the right place at the right time.  We were able to help him patch his mother’s roof.  She has a metal roof that has a leak.  So, we used this rubberized coating to patch it up.  It rained the next day, so hopefully the patch worked! Patching the roof! We were also able to do service at the foodbank on Wednesday.  It basically included mopping the floors - nothing special or fun - but hey, service is service, right?  After the fun on the roof top, we were able to help somebody pull weeds.  It just so happened the person was the top salesmen at the local Ford dealership, so we got sweet hats!  Reunion with Bro. H Friday:  My goodness.  We were able to go back up to Sis. H__’s one more time for Elder Heiner.  We hopped in the car and drove the long trip up to where she lives.  When we got there we split and stacked about a 2 month supply of firewood for her, since her husband was out of town for work.  I have a lot of pictures and fun videos of the work we did.  The fun part about chopping firewood was getting to drive a side-by-side four-wheeler to move the wood from the pile to the porch. Oh, and the fact that it was 47 degrees and raining.  That is as close to snow that I’ll see for a while - so I really, really enjoyed it!!  After doing that, a shower has never felt so good, lol. Saturday was another day full of service.  We were able to help Brother R___ at his taco shop. It is closed for 3 weeks so we can hopefully finish up everything that needs to be done in order to get his restaurant licenses.  Right now, everything is outside under an overhang.  This is what we achieved: 1.      Wired 2 lights into a breaker box 2.      Wired a junction box 3.      Stripped an entire room to the studs 4.      Drilled 150 holes for wire through studs 5.      Installed 3 bales of insulation 6.      Ate at R&R pizza Buffet 7.      Put on some metal roofing Prepping for Winter This week I gained some very valuable experience.  I learned how to run wire, make a junction box and wire switches.  It was a blessing to be able to help and to be helped while I learned this valuable info.  Don’t worry, a licensed electrician was teaching and keep an eye on me. Why is all of this knowledge valuable?  The character which is built when serving another child of God is priceless.  The smiles, hugs and thanks given after doing service for someone in need will make your life more rich then money - and in more way than one, I must say. Do you think my tractors' good looking? LOL This week I learned that missionary work can happen in more ways than just walking up and down the streets talking to people.  I have seen in this area how consistent service softens hearts.  If it was not for the service we would not have had the opportunity to teach Bro. R__s family - two of which have set baptismal dates.   You cannot put a price tag on that – it is truly priceless.  Service + love + charity = salvation for those you come to love and for yourself as well.  ;) Current Home. LOVE IT! On that point, I would like to leave you all with a challenge: This week serve someone, whether it takes 5 minutes, an hour or 10 hours - lol.   I can promise you that the feeling you get for that service will be nothing short of amazing and will have you coming back for more.  Remember, all good things come of God.  Remember that and remember Him in all you do - then, at the last day all will be well with Him, who is in Heaven. That is my humble testimony and I leave that with you in the name our Savior, Redeemer, the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ, amen! I love you all and cannot wait to hear from you!! Love, Elder C.W. Dickinson

Week 90: An All-Around Weird Week

This week was super busy with administrative things, regular missionary work and of course General Conference. In general, it was just all around a weird week. 

For instance, Tuesday we had to drive back to Stafford to pick up our new tires, which had to be ordered last week. So, driving there, waiting for them to be installed and driving back took up 90% of our day. We got home in time for a quick meal and a lesson with a recent convert. So, it was just a really odd day. 

Wednesday:  We had some exchanges after our District Meeting. So, once again, it was a really weird day.  Due to doing some service in the morning, we were unable to do our studies until the afternoon – so, it also was just different.  Because of splits, we have had to do double the work for our area, because there were 4 of us (two sets of Elders) the splits made it feel like there were only 2 of us.  So, what really happened is, we just ended up having double the cancelations, lol.  But, it was a good experience.  I learned some patience while I was at it.

Thursday was a pretty regular day with some family history mixed in.

They have trees here! :O

Friday:  Oh blessed planning day!  After our morning routine, we did our weekly planning.  The best part of Friday is - believe it or not – is weekly planning.  We have a family in our area that lives 50 miles north of the mine – in the mountains, here it snows and get a below zero in the winter - where there is actual trees, elk and deer.  Because it is in the mountains, it has awesome trout fishing, windy roads and it takes an hour and a half to travel 35 miles.  It was absolute heaven. I’ll have pictures so no worries.   I will be sending them in a different email.  While there, we had some awesome jambalaya, which was so good. As a whole, Friday evening was just heaven.  Heaven sent.

Saturday was an awesome day. Not only because of General Conference, but I got to develop some new construction skills.   During the breaks in Conference, we were able to help hang drywall and do some framing in some rooms that were being converted to apartments.   So, pictures of my labors will follow.  It was awesome seeing an aspect of construction from start to finish - and not only that I gained some awesome experience. 

That's not the only thing that made Saturday so awesome.  We had dinner with our Ward Mission leader and the R___ family.  We were able to set baptismal dates for 2 out of the 3 family members.  One of the family was in Tucson that day, but still wants to be baptized!  Yippy right?  It was awesome.  The date they picked is October 27^th - in 3 weeks! It will be wonderful.

Sunday was also awesome with conference.  That is also what I would like to talk about. While all the General Conference sessions were great, the one thing that really stuck out to me was… *Disclaimer  = at the moment I can remember who actually said it.*  but he said and I quote "we may be out on our own, but we are never alone." 

This really hit me hard!  Struggling to find success in inviting other to come into Christ through baptism has really been a struggle for me this last year of my mission.  Sometimes I've felt alone or on my own, but through perseverance, faith. and now this quote, I know I was never alone.   Knowing this has brought me great comfort.  God and his son Jesus the Christ will always be with us and will always have our best interests at heart. 

I would like to invite all of you to Google the poem ‘Footsteps in the sand.’  PLEASE do it.  It is beautiful and will put in to prospective the love God has for each and every one of us.

That's all for this week!  It was a weird at the start but I couldn't have asked for a better finish! I love y'all and can't wait to hear from you!

Love you.

C.W. Dickinson

Week 89: Timing is Everything

This week, being on the Lord’s errand has defiantly opened my eyes to the difference of what I want versus what ended up being the best for me or for those we work with. The highlight of my week proved that.  It may not seem like a big deal, but in the moment timing meant everything.

We were planning a lesson with the R___ family, which ended up being cancelled because they had to work the company picnic and put in an 18 hour day before. There are no worries there, because we will just meet with them next week.  However, what had replaced their lesson was something special.

We were asked to attend a Self Reliance class with a ward member who is nervous about serving a mission because he doesn't feel ready.  After a very inspiring class on getting a better education to improve employment opportunities, our Ward Mission Leader and I were able to share stories about preparing for our missions.  It was just what he needed to hear. With what was said during the class, it was the also the right time and the Lord wanted him to about hear this from someone.  The Spirit was very present and delivered our message.  Hopefully, within a couple months he will be submitting his mission papers. 

Teaching wise, this week was a little dull.  We did not have very many lessons due to our meetings on Monday and Tuesday with a visiting General Authority.  So, we only really had two days to proselyte this week.   Why only day days?  Well, we had a flat tire and the closest repair shop is in Safford.  So, it took a long time to drive there and back to get it fixed.  Also, we did our shopping while we were there because we were already used those miles (we can only drive so many miles a week).  So, driving, tire repair and shopping took up most of the day.  We were able to talk to a few people while doing so, so it was worth it.

Saturday, at the company picnic, we were able to talk to over 150 people.  We didn’t find any new investigators, but we made our presence known in that small town and while we were at it, we had the tender mercy of country music and good free food all day long.  However, a lot of free food also makes for a rough night of no sleep, lol.

This week I learned a lot about being on the Lord’s errand.  It is just like the song says “Timing is everything.”   That being said, we might not know why, who or how, but the Lord will provide a way.  He has made that really clear to me this week.  My experiences this week have really helped to grow my testimony of this.

I love you guys and cannot wait to hear from you.

Love,

C.W. Dickinson

Week 88: Half Full – or Half Empty?

This last week was beyond wonderful. Even with a few of our lesson canceling we were able to do a bunch of fun/cool things.

This email I’m going to share four highlights from this week.

First, I would like to start off with the R___ family.  The Dad has been a member for a couple years now.  He owns a taco stand here in Clifton.  He lived in Mexico for 12 years where he learned how to makes killer tacos.  His business is doing so well that he can only work Thursdays and Fridays because he sells out of them.  Two weeks ago, we helped him with some service and found out that his family are not members.  We gained his trust and we started teaching his family.  Sunday, they said they are ready to be baptized. They really want an eternal family and are excited to come closer to Christ.  So, that is super exciting right?

Next, after the book of Mormon class we teach, we got word that there was a lady in the ward who's yard needed weeding and we were asked if we could do so. So, Friday morning we went over unannounced and weeded this lady's entire yard and the best part is, we did it anonymously – because nobody was home. So, she still has no idea who did it.  Well, little did we know, she is from Stafford and is a recent convert and is struggling with the move to the small town of Morenci.  She doesn't know many people in the ward. So, we took the opportunity to make her day.  She sent a nice message to the ward group chat that was really sweet.  No one knows it was us. lol.  So, I am inviting everyone to do a simple act of service for someone before the month's end.  #ServiceSeptemeber.

The third highlight I would like to share happened on Saturday.  Our ward had an 11-year-old scout day camp up in the mountains and they needed us to help teach tying knots and just being good examples for the boys.  So, we got to spend all day Saturday up at Black Jack Campground near the New Mexico, Arizona border, up in the mountains.  It was so nice - it was 71 degrees all day long.  Man, let me tell you it was a nice change of pace.

The final highlight of this week happened on Tuesday.  We had mission conference (with half of the mission) with a member of the Quorum of the Seventy.  I cannot put in to words of how enjoyable, wisdom filled and enlightening it was to have a Member of the Quorum of the Seventy to come visit our mission. Lynn G. Robbins is ‘The Man.’  He was awesome. He is such a captivating and eloquent teacher - not to mention the amount of intellect and wisdom he shared with us. 

We talked a lot about developing our Christlike attributes.  How missions are the equivalent of 500 level college courses on marriage, patience and diligence.  It was just all so wonderful, but one of the main takeaways I learned wasn't exactly something he taught, but I took what he taught and expounded on it and I will share it with everyone now:

We were talking about how the glass is half full or half empty = Optimism vs pessimism.  I have now adopted this mentality and this just came to me while he was talking:  No matter which option we choose (half full/half empty) we STILL have water in our glass.

Let that sink in for a moment. You can relate this to everything in life.  No matter if it is applied to the gospel of Jesus Christ or something in your everyday life.  Elder Robbins also talked being happy and enjoying everyday life during the last General Conference – look it up.  It really supported and encouraged what I have already been working on.

There's a story that goes as follows:

It was a rainy day in England and two missionaries were going door-to-door with no success.  Day in and day out it had been raining and nobody showed remotely any interest.  Being tired, cold and hungry one companion begins to murmur and complain (who wouldn't, right?  lol). That being said, his companion turned to him and said a couple simple words that changed MY life forever... He said, “Elder it could be one degree colder.” 

Because this message is so pure and simple I won't expound on it much more because I'm sure you get the point, but I have been learning a lot out here, in the mission field.  I’m learning to be happy and enjoy every little thing.  It has helped so much and I am always in a much better mood! Give it a try, what have you got to lose.

I had such a wonderful week and can't wait to hear from everyone.  I love you all.

Love,

Elder C.W. Dickinson