Week 19: My first baptism was a double!

Dear Family...Elders...Sisters,

Hope you all enjoyed Mother’s day, because I know I did!  It was amazing getting to skype home and talk to my family. I hope you all got the opportunity to do so. It was what I needed in this time, (for a lack of better term) a time of anguish. But with the knowledge of the truthfulness of the gospel and of course the great counsel I got from talking with family, I was then able to calm the raging seas - for now, at least. But that’s improvement, and as my Dad always told me; incremental improvement is better than none at all. So thumbs up to Mother’s Day – and now I can’t wait for Christmas, lol!!

So, last Monday was quite an adventure. Sunday night, we drove up to Silver City, NM and enjoyed the P-Day there. We played basketball, went to the library, ate food, emailed - typical P-Day stuff. However, Monday morning Elder Pinson got sick with some sort of stomach bug.  He didn’t want to move at all, so he laid on a mattress at the church and slept and threw up all day. We had ridden up to Silver City with them, so we had to stay Monday night in Silver City waiting for Elder Pinson to recover. The hour car ride back home would have probably killed him.

This is a picture one of our district elders drew from the MTC. It all has something in it about us. Or something we did... Apparently I was the big tough guy! LOL Can you pick me out?

Tuesday: We woke up in Silver City to find Elder Pinson’s companion was sick as well. “Joy!  Who going to be next?” was the only thing running through my mind.  We had to get back to Lordsburg, so we made them tough it out and I drove the four of us home. After lunch in Lordsburg, we walked the mile to our appointment with H___ and C___. We had a great talk with them.  After that, we were walking home to do our personal study, when we realized we had to get to the church for the M___ boys’ interview. So, we got to the church right on time, but we ended up having to wait for the district leader to show up and conduct the interviews.  The M___ boys both passed!  After the interviews, our day went downhill. All of our appointments fell through, which is just part of missionary work.

Wednesday:  We got ready for district meeting and headed north to pick up the Duncan Elders on the way to Clifton AZ. After a rowdy district meeting in Clifton, we had a great authentic Mexican feast at a cash-only joint. It was super good!  Then, we headed south for an hour to Lordsburg and dropped off the Duncan Elders on the way. We got back to Lordsburg to do some service for L___ M___. It was a fun time doing service.  We cut branches, raked up pine needles and I got to clean out her gutters. It was fun. She was so happy, she offered to give me an old car.  She said I could pick it up after my mission over, lol. She also fed us flautas - something like rolled tacos. In the middle of dinner we got a call which told us we had a Stake Missionary Correlation Meeting in Duncan in an hour. We hurrily drove the 45 miles to get there, and ended up having a good, but long meeting. We then had to drive home and didn’t get back until 10:45. I was upset and tired; we ended up driving 235 miles that day.

 

Getting ready to paint 

Thursday:  We visited H___ and C___, where I was gifted with another old car. I later realized I had no way to get them to Wisconsin and had no place to put them if I did, so I had to graciously decline both offers. Later, after a decent meeting with H___ and C___ we headed home and got packed for the weekend and drove to Cotton City, NM for dinner with the H___s , they are great people. They are super nice and man do they have some hot green chilies. After dinner we hustled over to the H___’s (a different H___ family from the one in Lordsburg that you’ve read about before) house for service. After learning their story, I want to see how big of a difference I could make helping out at their house. Thursday night we picked up twigs and limbs and put them in a big dump trailer. Then we visited with them. She started crying and said they were waiting for someone to just come talk. They have lost several children to car accidents and the husband had gotten sick. So, she really just enjoyed our company.

How you have to paint when its 95 degrees out and 100% UV
The UV here is NO JOKE!

Friday: Oh typical Friday, you rejoice for them, but now, I rejoice for Mondays. We had weekly planning today and after lunch we did some family history, which was followed by a dinner appointment with Sis. F___. It was an awesome time; we ate an amazing southern feast of barbeque chicken, catfish, rolls and green beans. It was awesome. Then we played games with their family.

Saturday was an awesome day. We woke up and got ready for service at the H___’s (the Cotton City H___s) again. We went over with a church member and I was assigned to paint their elevated porch. Being made of rusted metal, I had to paint it twice. The first time I used jasco, a rust blocking primer you paint over rusty metal so the second coat of paint sticks to the metal better.  So, after going over the whole thing with jasko, I commenced the painting process. I didn’t have time to finish, but I will this Thursday.

Anyways, quick funny story, I had spilled some paint on my fingertips. I forgot it was an oil based paint, so I went over to the hose to wash it off, right? Well, brothers and sisters, oil doesn’t mix with water. So in about 7 seconds my hands were completely white and I had 2 baptisms to preform that night. I was worried it wouldn’t come off, but after half a bottle of WD40 and a half hour of scrubbing it finally came off.

We drove home, to Lordsburg and showered off an afternoon of working in the 95-degree heat. We then had to go start filling the font. Before filling it, we had to clean it because it had only been used once in the last 4 years.  We had to work really hard to get it cleaned out.  Finally, after it was clean, we starting filling it, but the pipes we full of rust, so we had to drain out the rusty water and fill it again. The water was still dirty and rusty - The third attempt was still gross. So, by the time we finally got clean water flowing and we had the font half full, we noticed the hot water had been used up and the clean water was ice cold.  We slowed the flow and began boiling water in the kitchen and added it to the ice-cold water. We did this for about an hour. Then the M___ brothers showed up.  We got them ready, took pictures and then I got to perform their baptisms. Wow, the spirit was really in the room; we had invited 20 people and 50 some showed up. Having the privilege to teach these boys from start to finish and then being able to baptize them was an experience that I will never forget. It’s amazing how through a ordinances like this, we were able to become family - in a sense. It feels amazing. I have no words to describe how I felt. We then had amazing refreshments and then we ate dinner at Bro. H___’s (Lordsburg’s mission leader) house. (I have great pictures from this day but the boys are ages 11 and 14 years old and minors - so I didnt post their pictures. If you would like to see a picture of us all please ask my parents - they would love to show you. LOL)

Font cleaning duty in Lordsburg, NM

What you have to do when the hot water tap doesnt work on the font

CAKE! 

Sunday:  Mother’s Day, as I explained earlier, was amazing! We went to church in Lordsburg and I got to stand in for the confirmation of the M___ boys. Start to finish, being able to watch them grow in the gospel is amazing. I then got a big hug from their dad who is a member, that hasn’t been to church in 5 years – due to work. Hopefully he will be able to give his oldest son the Priesthood next week. I’m so excited.  The dad said he will now make time to come to church, it’s amazing. The spirit is real, my friends. After church, we got to eat some delicious steaks at the Bishop’s house, then we got to call home to Mom and Dad.   I love, love, loved it!!! We then had dinner with Bro. H___, (spam and pineapple on rice) and then tried to visit some people but no one answered so we went home.

That was my week; I hope all of yours was good as well.

Look forward to hearing from you guys!

Love,

Elder Dickinson

Week 18: The Importance of Family History & Temples

 Long time no talk.

This week has been lack luster and an emotional roller coaster. It had its ups (mostly right before bed) and it had its downs - which I don’t really want to go into detail, because I will just get angry when I don’t need to. 

So, Monday was fantastic.  It was just what I needed. You saw the videos and pictures I sent, so you know what I’m talking about. And, I always enjoy getting to talking to you guys. Mondays are literally what I live for.  Before my mission, I hated Mondays. Now I long for them.

Tuesday. We went to H___ and C___’s. It was a good experience, as always. It was a fun time and H___ is hilarious. Then, we did a whole lot of walking around with no success in finding anyone to teach.  No effort was wasted, but that really summed up our Tuesday.  We walked 8.3 miles which made for a sore back.

Wednesday we drove to Duncan, AZ for interviews with the Mission President, followed by our District Meeting.  My interview went good, we talked about my companionship and turns out my companion didn’t listen to his trainer either.  For the last 3 weeks we have done everything he wants and has never followed any of my suggestions. So, I’m straight up just going to try to do as much service as possible during the 23 days left until transfers.

Me and the girls (Angie & Iris) just chillin' after a hard days work!

During our District Meeting, we talked about the importance of family history and temples. (Sorry in advance to Grandma and possibly others, but before my mission, I wasn’t big on family history – until this week.) Now, over the course of my mission I have found 66 ordinances to perform. An elder in our district made it super personal. He told us all to, "imagine your ancestors or relatives are watching down over you from the Spirit World.  If you were one of those people and you were ready to accept the gospel, but none of your living family members where doing family history, finding and doing the ordinances…How sad or frustrated do you think you would be?”  He said some other things, but that is the best I can remember.

The Mission President also announced - instead being limited to attending the temple 3 times a year, we now get to go to the temple every other transfer, about 6 to 7 times a year.  So, before I get transferred on Memorial Day, I will get to go to the Gila Valley Temple on Stake Temple day. Most importantly, I’ll get to go with Scott and Paralee Richins, my ‘mission family’ down here. I can’t wait!  It will be one of the best days of my mission, so far.

The J's family goats

Anyways, after our district meeting we went out to lunch at Wanda’s and I had chicken nuggets, which were tasty, as always.  Then we drove back to Lordsburg, then drove to Granite Gap, NM where the YM/YW had a repelling activity.  It was pretty cool, but we weren’t allowed to climb, but it would have been so awesome though, right? I made the most out of my time and had good talks with Sis Kerr and Sis McDougal

Thursday was a good day, but not really productive.  We walked around Lordsburg doing street contacting while we walked to our appointments, but they all fell through. No appointment held. So it was a bummer, but we did get to teach J___ in Spanish again. Then we drove 70 miles to Windmill NM for dinner with the J___s. Man, I can’t wait to haven our family ranch!  The J___s are living in paradise! They are growing an amazing garden, have an orchard of pecan, peaches, cherries, apples and apricots. They have goats, chickens, rabbits, dogs, everything. Their family ranch has 20 out of the 60 people who live in Windmill.  After dinner we drove 30 miles northwest to Cotton City and stayed the night there.

Friday was awful.  My previous companion, Elder Degrange and I were able to do weekly planning in about 2 hours.  Now it takes us six. I don’t understand.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been trying my hardest, but I just don’t understand - let alone comprehend - his train of thought. Anyways, after planning, we did family history with Scott and Paralee, got some family names for us to take to the temple. Then, I literally got the shortest hair cut in my life and I love it! Marine or missionary, good luck guessing, lol.

My crazy SHORT haircut! I love it! :)

Saturday we did service at this bike race in Duncan, then we drove an hour to Animas and did service at the H___s.  We will be doing a lot of service for them coming up. We were supposed to paint at Z___ H___’s, but I ended up digging a hole for 4 hours to fix a water main break.  It was a good experience, in general and it was a fun. But there is still a ton of service to do. The water main break happened while we were there, so it was a good thing it happened then. Afterwards, we were all super sore so we watched conference talks for an hour and headed to bed. 

The hole we dug to fix the water line

Me holding the valve and broken hose part

Sunday was a good day.  We woke in Animas and went to ward council, Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School, then drove to Lordsburg and taught the M___ brothers their last lesson along with practicing the interview questions. They passed. So we have scheduled their baptism for May 13th, and I will get to baptize them…hopefully. After this, we went to Bro H___’s house and wished him a happy birthday. Then we planned out the M___’s baptism and then drove to Cotton City again for dinner with the K___’s then we drove to Lordsburg and talked to the Bishop, and this was my week, not exciting except for the baptisms, lol 

Anyways, I love you all,

Elder Dickinson

Week 17: Charity Never Faileth "Caridad nunca falla"

I think I’ve found the theme for my mission up to this point: ‘Becoming more Christ-like.’ In preach my gospel there is a full chapter on Christ-like attributes. It talks about charity and how it is the most important step to becoming more Christ-like. Charity is the pure love of Christ and as we become more charitable, we come to love the important things in life. Whether it is people, as in family, the people in the ATM (Arizona Tucson Mission) or loving thy neighbor I think you can see what I’m getting at.

If God, our loving Heavenly Father, was willing to give his only begotten son, what should we be willing to give? Mom, Dad, family, friends, Elders and Sisters this week I want to invite each of you to become more charitable, whether it is paying it forward at the gas station, paying for someone’s meal at a restaurant, giving selfless service or serving your companions. Time or money - doesn’t matter. Strive to become more Christ-like in all of your doings.  I know as you do this you will be greatly blessed and you will come to realize, "Hey, I didn’t really need that $20 or that hour that bad.”  The feeling you get is well worth paying it forward.

I recall a lesson we had with Sis. B___ in Portal, AZ - it was not only was a good lesson, but she taught us a lesson too.  She told us that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you serve someone is caused by a hormone released in the brain call Oxytocin. It was a great lesson! Two weeks later at a dinner with a family in Animas, this subject came up. We learned that Oxytocin is also a chemical used for inducing labor in pigs. Funny, right?

Anyways, remember the first and greatest commandment! I learned this the hard way, through serving my companion. It has helped our relationship.  After exchanges with our DL, I’ve come to the conclusion that I will just do things the way my companion wants them done, even if I don’t agree, and maybe I might learn something, Quien sabe.

Monday was amazing -  getting to talk to you guys, and Sis. McBride and everyone else. I also enjoyed hearing from Elder DeMille as well.  On P-Day last week I read the last 75 pages of the book of Mormon while emailing with everyone.  Even though we didn’t get to see the other Elders or do something fun, I think I made the best of the situation.

Huge spider in our apartment!

My first scorpion! :O :O

The bugs here are impressive (and horrifying)!!

Tuesday was a better start to the week than last week. I am now re-reading El Libro De Mormon. I am counting all the times God commands someone to do something and then the immediate blessings that follow. So far, I am in Jacob chapter 5 and have found 38 examples of this.  After our studies, we ate lunch, then went finding (street contacting/tracting, but we didn’t find anyone.  The only thing I got was a mouthful of dirt. Yes, we were out in middle of a huge dust storm.  We had to wear glasses, because the blowing dust hurt our eyes too much.  Now that I look back on it, even the Bishop said, we shouldn’t have been out during the storm, but I will never pass on an opportunity to save a soul.

Texting with the BEST Ward Mission Leader EVER!

H___ & C___ cancelled their appointment, so we visited B___ S___ and had a very spiritual meeting about why we should care about Eternal Life. Before coming on my mission, the most important thing to me was playing sports.  Now, I just want to be the best I can be, and to stand blameless and spotless at the last day before God.  Yes, it takes daily repentance, but it’s well worth it. We made a few more quick visits and then headed to dinner with the P___s. We had tavern pot roast. It was super good.  After diner we tried to make some visits, but no one answered their doors.

Wednesday:  We drove to Duncan AZ, met the Duncan Elders and they drove us to Clifton AZ for our district meeting. What follows district meeting in Clifton?  You guessed it R & R pizza! A member paid for us so it was extra delicious! Then we drove to the copper mine overlook for the new elders in our district to see, and then proceeded back to Duncan. We did exchanges and I stayed in Duncan and the two new elders went to Lordsburg. Don’t worry; Elder Rodrigues knows enough to get by. So, on splits we went and saw a family then went out to eat at Wanda’s Cafe with the C___s. After diner, we went to an appointment in York, but they cancelled by calling us after we had waited there for ten minutes. So we rescheduled for Thursday at 1:00.

Rain clouds but, again....NO RAIN!
It hasnt rained since my 3rd day here!

Thursday: We went to see another family in Duncan.  They were super nice. We then went to our 1:00 appointment and the person did the same thing; cancelled after we drove 20 miles to meet with them. That was actually the 3rd time in 24 hours that happened.  Oh well, we then went over to K___ & P___s and played SkipBo for a little while before it was dinner time.  We drove to Virden and had dinner with the W___s, a part-member family. They showed us their backyard. Man, it was amazing!  He has bad knees, so he put in a walk-around garden by using old refrigerators, filling them with dirt and planting all kinds of veggies in them. The refrigerators were paneled with old wood and corrugated tin. They were awesome! Then, our splits were over and we drove home to Lordsburg.

Friday was a long day. We did weekly planning and goal setting which took us all the way until dinner time, so we then drove down to Animas NM and had dinner with the M___s = My favorite people. It turns out her cancer has returned, but she’s a fighter and she is tough. We shared some emotional moments together. Then after an exchange of hugs and a few tears, we were off to do family history.

Yet another New Mexican sunset

Saturday:  Man what a day! We woke up in animas, then drove to Rodeo.  For the second time in 5 weeks, we got another flat tire. After changing that, we went and did service for Bro. and Sis. P___.  The have this giant pole in the ground which the HOA said was way too close to the highway. The post was about three feet in diameter and about 40 feet tall and was cemented into the ground.  Well, we had to chisel it out with a 20lb sledge hammer, and take it out with a tractor.  Right at the most important time the tractor broke down.  If we were going to finish the job, we had to fix the tractor.   Bro, P___ didn’t know what was wrong with the tractor. It wasn’t getting any juice. So I prayed, and then found the problem. I had to dissemble then reassemble the ignition to get it to work. When it started, he jumped up and down and proceeded to hug me. I don’t know how I knew what needed to be done, but man, it worked. After a long day of swinging the sledgehammer and pushing that massive post around, I was super sore and my back hurt so bad, but the smile on his face was well worth it. For lunch he made us un pajarito or a full chicken he made in the oven.  It's pretty cool. It was tasty.  After we had finished doing service, we ended up going to the older K___’s house for dinner. We talked about hunting and a lot of things in general.   Then we drove back to Animas and talked with the R___s for a while before going to bed.

Brother "P's" parajito

Sunday: We went to Priesthood Executive Committee before Sacrament Meeting. I got to say the closing prayer. After Sunday School, we drove to Lordsburg and taught the Mata boys. Then we did our studies, visited a few people and then ate dinner at Bro. H___’s house, and then went to see S___.. 

Half horse, half donkey
P.S. (I dont think he knows!) Hehe

Tonight we have been having some P-day fun at a member's family in Duncan who's son is serving a mission in North Carolina. The pictures below are of a "Duncan ritual" (all the kids do it) or basically teenage fun in the sticks! :)

Just hanging in the cottonseed

Its a "Duncan thing"... you wouldnt understand! :)

Anyways, I can't wait to hear from you, below are some of the videos from our P-day fun tonight sent to Mom and Dad from an amazing member!

Love Always,

Elder Dickinson

Flippin into the cottonseed

                                              I am standing on the far side (4th one to jump)

Week 16: Change. For the worse or better...quien sabe?

This week was…meh.

I was delighted to hear about my little pup being a little better.  Keep praying that everything will work out.

I'm going to warn you right now, this was not a good week for pictures. Sorry in advance.

Monday: P-Day is always awesome hearing from my beloved family and Sis. McBride!  It is always awesome getting to talk to you guys on Mondays.  It makes Monday so much better than before my mission.

Tuesday was my first transfer day that affected me directly.  It started out good. I met my new companion, Elder Rodriguez, who transferred in from Douglas AZ.  We picked him up in the Gila Valley We talked while he loaded his stuff into the car, then we picked up the other transferring Elders and started our hour and a half trip back to Lordsburg. At Lordsburg, we had time to get Elder Rodriguez unpacked before we went to dinner at B___ S___’s house.  We had pork roast, potatoes and corn. After diner, we walked around town street contacting. We found two people out of about 50 who would speak to us.  So it wasn't very successful, because nothing came out of it, but it's whatever. It’s part of the work.

A brown recluse spider we found in our apartment! :O

Wednesday: We had district meeting in Duncan, AZ, ate lunch and came right back to Lordsburg.  We did some service for M___.  We’ve worked with her before at the food bank, but today we helped her get her yard in shape. So, now it looks nice. By the time we were done with service, it was time to head down to Animas NM for dinner with the H____’s. C___ is one of P___ R___’s daughters. It was super cool, I talked with Z___ about construction management, general contacting, and civil engineering. It was a fun time.  After this we drove back to Lordsburg because we missed playing basketball. Elder Rodriguez is a super nice guy.

Thursday was a long day.  We ended up walking just under 7 miles, it was brutal.  We went street contacting/knocking doors and talked to 3 people for a while. Then we walked a mile to H___& C___’s only to find out they were out on a town.  That meant we had an hour to fill, so we did some more finding. After that, we went to the S___’s house. The story behind L__ S_  is he is a 87-year old non-member who has paid tithing and come to church for the last 76 years of his life.  Over the years, he had all these reasons of why he didn’t join the church. Now, he is 87 and his only excuse is "Well I don't want another job (calling), I've worked for 60 years." Mind you, he is now 87. So, I felt inspired to talk to the Bishop.  The Bishop said this has been his excuse for 10 years and no one bothered to ask Bishop about it. I felt prompted to ask bishop if he would give L___ a calling. Bishop said of course not, L___ can barely see, hear or walk.  He said this in a joking and loving manner.  He also told me to tell L___. So we shared a scripture with L___ and invited him to be baptized for what L___ said was the 27th time.  I told him what the bishop had said.  L___ then said, “Well I guess I will be baptized.  I just want to wait for my son to get back in the fall.”  I know I won't be here, but maybe I'll get to come back and see him get baptized - after 76 years of investigating the Church. We then had dinner with the B___s and we talked about his border patrol job. I love hearing his stories.

Baby birds just chillin'

 

Friday, we did service for P___ H___. We finished with that about 1:00, and then went home, ate lunch and did companion study and weekly planning until the Ward party.  We had to set up for the part by 5:00.  We were only expecting 30 or so people.  It was a bring your friend type of deal, so we could be introduced to some non-members. There ended up being 60 people who showed up. It was amazing! We had brisket made by Bishop and the rest was pot luck. After the party, we had to take down everything, then we had to drive to Animas. 

Saturday was interesting.  We had a plan to visit a lot of people, but not of them one of them answered their door.   We drove to Rodeo from Animas. In Rodeo, we tried to see some people and no one there answered their doors either. So, we then we went to Sister B___’s.  For reasons I won’t share here, the lesson didn’t go as planned and she did not receive it well at all.  Because the lesson ended early, we had a bunch of free time we didn’t plan on.  It wasn’t a good situation. Later we had a dinner appointment with the M___’s which was awesome. We got to talk for a while and I was surprised we were able to do that because of what happened with Sis. B___’s erlier in the day.  Then we spent the night in the ‘Man Cave.’

Elder Degrange saying goodbye to Sister R

Sunday:  I hate the time change at Arizona border!  Somehow, we ended up waking up at 5:00, which made us an hour and a half early for Church, it was a mess. We used the time for planning. We had talked about how things have been done in Lordsburg. We went to Church in Rodeo, then high-tailed it up to Lordsburg to teach the M___ brothers.  It went very well.  We are shooting for baptisms on May 6^th, and if that doesn’t work then May 13th. After that we talked to Bro. H__’s and ate dinner there, then we did more street contacting with Bro H___, it was pretty fun.

Elder Degrange and I after our "tie swap" tradition
(saying goodbye on transfer day)

I hope you had a better week than I did.

Love you lots

Elder Dickinson

Week 15: Same Area, New Compañero

I love Lordsburg, love love love it!  Everybody asks me why. I love it because I love the people.

Saturday night we got the transfer call and Elder Degrange is transferring to Safford, AZ, 3rd and 5th wards, on a bike. I'm taking over Lordsburg and my new companion will be Elder Rodriguez, transferring from Douglas.  He has only been out for three transfers - so it's going to be the blind leading the blind, lol.  He is Spanish speaking so he has to do language studies. Here's my chance to better my Spanish for a month and a half.  Everybody says he's pretty cool.

Anyways, time to start the weekly report:

Monday:  It was sad to hear about poor Finley, but it was nice hearing from you, as always. It gave me a sense of comfort with the whole situation.

Tuesday was an interesting day. In the morning, we were going to do service, but we ended up just doing individual studies instead. After lunch, we went over to H ___and C___’s and read from the Book of Mormon. We read five chapters that day. She loved it. We then had dinner at L___ P___’s house. He is the brother of Lordsburg’s bishop. He's an awesome guy. I look up to both of them. There just happened to be a member from out of town staying at his house. It was a cool situation. So we taught them the restoration for practice and it went very well.  We then went over to T___ F___’s house and taught him about enduring till the end. The spirit was defiantly there. 

It is sooo beautiful here

Wednesday - The Zone Leaders slept over Tuesday night, so we went on exchanges with them again today.  After that we all drove to our district meeting in Duncan, AZ. After district meeting we went out and ate at R and R Pizza – I bet you couldn't have guessed that, lol. We then drove back to Lordsburg and visited a few people. We tried to find some referrals, but no one answered their door, so we left our Easter message cards which have an offer of us doing service.  A lady called back later that night and offered us $200 to come clean her yard. Of course, being service we can't take money, but we were shocked at the offer. Hopefully we will get an investigator out of this contact. After this we drove all the way back to Duncan for a missionary stake meeting. It was a good meeting. We talked about who needs help and what not. Lordsburg is the busiest of the 3 areas included in the meeting.

Yet another beautiful sunset

Thursday morning, we had to set up tables for a senior center event at our Church’s pavilion (the Lordsburg ward building is too small to have a gym or cultural hall, so across the street from the church, they have a pavilion where they hold any activities we hold in cultural hall in Wisconsin) So, we did that for community service. One of the people running the event was a church member and asked us to stay for lunch. We did because we had to take down the tables shortly after. All the senior citizens loved the little Easter egg hunt and picnic. They all thanked us. It was well worth the effort. After that we went to H___ and C___’s and read the Book of Mormon. After we read with them a guy pulled up to H___’s mechanic shop with a blown out tire. We helped H___ patch the spare, mount it and balance the rest of tires. H___ made a quick $25, but he offered us the money since we did all the work and got our hands dirty, but then we said no to the money, I was just happy to learn how to do that.  H___ being H___ said, "SHUT UP AND TAKE IT. " He told us he loved us, lol.  He said, “Go buy yourself a sandwich.”  After that, we went and finished weeding B___ S___’s yard, remember we started working on it last week. Then we had dinner at Kranberry’s  and went home.

Friday was service day. We started off by doing service for the lady I told you about earlier. We ended up being there from 8:30 to 2:30. We had to hula-hoe her yard of weeds, rake them out of the dirt, then smooth it back out. We also weed-wacked all the tall weeds.  It took forever and my arms still hurt. After that, we used H___’s tire money to eat at a new diner in town.  It was very good. We both had a burger called the Big Juan.  It has 2 big patties, avocado, extra hot green chilies and cheese - it was very, very good.  After lunch we did studies and then drove to a dinner appointment in Animas with the C____s.

Elder Degrange meets the "Big Juan"

This is one serious burger! 

Saturday was full of driving, we woke up in Animas did our studies then drove to Rodeo saw some peeps.  We did our weekly planning in the canyon bottom river bed of the Chircahue Mountain Range in Portal, AZ. It was beautiful (check out Google Images of the Chircahue Mountains) Then we had dinner with Sis B___’s. She made curry, the kind my Dad makes.  She wants you to take a picture of the brand or curry Dad uses and maybe even send a sample so she can buy it. She had toppings like raisins, apples coconut and peanuts for it. Man, did they add a whole new dimension to the curry, it was amazing. Then we drove back to Lordsburg. 

Sunday - Happy Easter! We had to speak in sacrament meeting, but being so busy during the week I didn't get to write my talk until Sunday morning. We were asked to speak on Easter, but being a missionary, I talked on how Jesus Christ was the best missionary.  I talked about Easter combined with member missionary work. Everybody loved it for some reason. During my talk I told of some funny things speakers should do and everybody loved it, lol. It was only a 15 minute talk, but it was a good one. Then we drove to Animas, NM and went to Sunday School and Priesthood classes so Elder Degrange could say goodbye to everyone, it was sad. I was thinking that will be me in a month and a half - but that is just part of the mission. I actually almost cried watching Elder Degrange saying goodbye to the people, it made me so sad. I love these people soooo much.

Elder Degrange doing the "hula-hoe"

Nice work, right?

After all this, we drove back to Lordsburg and played cards with members at Bro. H___’s house until dinnertime. So, technically we had like 6 member visits in about 3 hours, so it all worked out. Bro. ___’s mom is 92 years old, we played a game called Books and Run.  At the end, when she lost by like 100 points, she exclaimed. "This is the most fun I've ever had with missionaries." it was the cutest thing!  We then drove to Bishop’s house for Easter dinner. We had ham and potatoes and all the good stuff.  We had homemade southern pecan pie and I about lost my mind it was so good… but Grandma's is still better.  After dinner we went and cleaned up the apartment like crazy and Elder Degrange packed up all his stuff and we drove to Duncan, AZ. Transfers are on Tuesday, but if we save the miles, we might just stay here. 

 Chircahue Mountain River bed is the perfect place for a planning meeting

Elder Degrange (DL) conducting our weekly planning meeting

But anyways that was our last week together, it was not only crazy productive, but it was a good week even though I was stressed out about Finley, I didn't let it show.  Hopefully, Finley keeps getting better. Keep the faith and keep praying. Poor pup.

Love you guys so much.  Until next week,

Elder Dickinson 

P.S. Check out the picture below (bittersweet memories)

Elder Dickinson and Elder Degrange's last ride

Week 14: Big Spider and a Zone Conference

Hearing about Finley’s scary medical issues was probably one of the hardest things I had to hear.  I literally cried. No, I balled all the way to Duncan, AZ from Lordsburg. It's a 45-minute drive and now it's 10:15 at night and as I'm typing this out I'm still feeling shaken. Finley is my life, the only real friend I've had for the last 2 years. So, he has to be okay. I'm crying as I type this out now. I can't help it, he means so much to me, I hope he can be a tough little puppy. Give him some loves for me, please. He needs to be okay :(

This week was awesome, until I got the Finely news.

I don't know what my plans are now, we were going to go explore some wilderness place, but now I just want to sit here and email, nothing else. The place we were going to explore turned out not to be what we expected. It just hurts that I can't be there for him. 

I'm going to try to live up to my weekly email expectations, but can't promise anything because I'm just so worried about Finley.

A baby turtle one of our investigators let me hold

So, Monday (P-Day) was awesome getting to hear from you guys. Then we had a dinner and a short visit instead of a FHE. Then we played more basketball with a lot of nonmember youth in Duncan, AZ.

Tuesday, was good.  We did exchanges, so I was up Duncan AZ with Elder Lundell.  We visited some long-time investigators, and fellowshipped them and their children. After that we then went to a member’s house and played a couple games Skip Bo and talked.  Later, we drove home and had dinner, takeout from Kanoa’s, a Hawaiian restaurant in Safford AZ, which a member brought to us. We then drove to Clifton, AZ and played basketball, with the regular Tuesday night crowd.

A HUGE spider in our apartment

Wednesday was awesome, we woke up in Duncan AZ, super sore then Elder Degrange and I drove back to Lordsburg. We felt prompted to go visit T___ F___, even though we usually visit him on Tuesdays.  When we showed up there was a gal named S_____ that T____ is helping out.  She was interested in the church, so we taught a couple points from the gospel of Jesus Christ.  So, we picked up a new investigator. I don't know where that will be going, because She and T___ had a disagreement.  Anyways, the spirit was strong. She started crying because of it. It was truly amazing. After this we went and visited a few more people but they weren't home. So, we had dinner in Animas NM and Then played ball with some youth down there and then drove back home and read our scriptures.

Thursday was rough, I was super sore, and kind of out of it.  After an early lunch, we went to see H___ and C____, but they weren't there right at the moment, so we went to the church and did our 12-week study program. We went back and only H___ was there. So, we talked to him about life and it was a good visit - interesting as always. We were going to zone conference on Friday so we did our weekly planning a little bit on Thursday.

"Missionary Habanero Stew" (has an entire bottle of Tobasco Habanero in it)
WE LOVE IT :O

Friday was zone conference. Man, what an amazing experience - Spirit filled and all! We talked about the difference between doctrine, principles, application of the gospel and also how to better involve members. It was a really good experience, and the spiritual up-lifter I needed. After ZC we went shopping at a Walmart, which was great because we haven't been to civilization in 6 weeks, lol.  We then went to dairy queen and then drove home.  Our dinner appointment cancelled on us, so we ate at Bro. H___’s house.

My Mission Family

Saturday was exhausting for some reason. We drove 200 miles trying out find people, none of which we found. We the visited with Sis. B____ in Rodeo NM, but she was busy so we made it quick. We didn't get to share a message.  We went to dinner with the P____s.  We didn't have to work for dinner this time.  We had Peruvian fast food, pollo con fritas, it was good. And then we drove an hour and a half home. 

Sunday had highs and lows.  We had fast and testimony meeting in Lordsburg, it was good, and then we drove to Animas just in time to teach 2 hours of primary. No joke I got mauled by an 8-year-old, not one part of me was left untouched.  It was something else, we taught about missionary work, and how Samuel Smith was the Church’s first missionary. Our high point of the day was our investigator family of 5 showed up to church, but his wife started a business in California and the moved there today. So, I'll never see them again. Sad, but that’s life. We drove all the way back to Lordsburg and taught the M___ brothers. They are now, for sure, getting baptized on the 22nd. Two more lessons to go, they will be ready and they are excited. Later, we ate dinner at Bro. H___’s house, and then I got the awful news about Finley. I'm still upset and crying about it. No one here will understand the bond I have with that dog, I hope it all works out OK.  I'll pray often for him these next couple days, it's so sad. 

Elder Pinson. The one standing up top. (My mission grandpa)

From Left to right:

Elder West the greenbean. I'm his uncle lol becuase he's being trained by my brother.

Elder Vansweeden(my brother... trained by Degrange also)

Elder Degrange my (Dad)

Elder Dickinson (Me)

Ps. This is our mission family. 

Elder Pinson is now a great grandfather. :)

Please keep me constantly updated on Finley these next couple days.

Love you guys lots, until next week, 

Elder Dickinson

Week 13: My Favorite Birthday Cake (Chocolate Roll) & The Worst Night of My Life

This week was a good one for sure, but the missionary work is in a lull, again. It doesn't look like the M___ brothers will be baptized before Elder Degrange transfers out, but they will be baptized before the end of my time here. As long as they get baptized is the important part, it really doesn't matter who does it. 

I saw some links and videos about Officer Weiland’s funeral in Wausau.  It was sad and I cried watching those videos. It is truly sad, but I am so proud of our community for coming together to give Officer Weiland the sendoff he deserves. It was an amazing sendoff.  He will be missed. 

Anyways, here we go:

Monday:  Getting to hear from you on P-Days is awesome! I know I say that every week, but it's true. 

Tuesday, we did some service for a member in the ward. We weeded his yard with hoes. It took forever and my arms felt like jell-O afterwards, but it's service and I love serving others. After that, we hurried got changed, ate lunch and went to C___ and H____’s. We read the Book of Mormon, as we usually do with them.  After doing this we tried seeing some people, which didn't turn out too well. No one answers their doors, a typical Lordsburg thing. Anyways, after this we drove to Clifton, AZ and played basketball with a lot of nonmembers. It's always a good time to play ball.

Elder Degrange & I
At one of our host families

Wednesday, we had our district meeting, then went out and ate at R and R Pizza and Wings, again.  I'm doing so bad at this diet thing!  Actually, I just gave up on it, lol. After this we went on exchanges. I split with Elder Jordan and we drove to Lordsburg and had dinner at Kranberrys. I had my usual brisket meal. I love brisket!!  After dinner we went to Bro. H___’s house. I introduced Elder Jordan and we talked for a while.

Thursday, had some highs and some pretty low lows.  The day started out a little late when our alarm clock didn't go off.  It didn’t go off because it died.  Anywho, we walked to the post office, and picked up my awesome General Conference package from Sis. Sell (my seminary teacher). Thanks you so much Sis Sell, you would be delighted to know I took 13 pages of notes and ate all the snacks. I love you, Sis. Sell.

After our walk, we ate lunch and then went to C___ and H___’s. To my surprise, Cindy gave me her Spanish copy of el Libro de Mormon (Book of Mormon) with a note written in the back cover. When we visit them we speak to each other in Spanish, sometimes (except for Elder Degrange – he doesn’t speak a word of Spanish). Being out of practice, speaking Spanish is hard, but I was so happy to receive this gift from her. She expressed her love for us missionaries. I was blushing, lol. That was the high point of my day. We returned home and packed for our return trip. Elder Jordan and I then headed down to Animas NM. Little did I know what this night would hold for us. We had dinner with the W___s.  We had a great time.  We ate pizza and talked about stuff like summer internship opportunities in Alaska.  I super interested, to be honest. Anyways, after we spent the night with the R___’s.  We slept in the camp trailer.  This is where the ‘fun’ begins. In the evening, it was as calm as it could be in the Caliche Valley. The second we got into the trailer, a massive dust storm blew in from out of nowhere. It was blowing and upwards of 90 miles per hour. Just to let you know, they haven't had a night dust storm in 60 years. It was awful!  The wind was blowing so hard I literally got seasick from laying down in the trailer. So at 2:30 AM with no sleep, we went inside. From the walk from the trailer to the house, I was caked in dirt.  The wind was so loud we didn't get to bed until like 5:30, so we got an hour of sleep that night. That, no doubt, literally was the worst night of my life!

Anyways, on Friday morning, the dust storm was still blowing. So, by the time we needed to leave to pick up Elder Degrange in Clifton AZ, the interstate was closed. Perfect! I'm just ranting now, lol.  It was a disaster.  We did manage to drive back to Clifton and pick up Elder Degrange, the drove to Cotton City, NM to go to R___’s and the H___’s birthday dinner party. We had some amazing meatloaf, potatoes and carrots with chocolate roll to top things off. For a first time making chocolate roll, P____ did amazing. Everybody loved it. She made two chocolate rolls, and they were completely gone, lol. So, it was a huge success. She's going to teach me how to make chili rellanos. I'm pumped, they sound amazing.

They made Chocolate Roll (Grandma Dickinson's recipe) for ME!!!!!! 

Saturday was the best. We rode with the R___’s to her parents’ house. We watched the first session of General Conference. I think the first session was my favorite. After the first session we went out and did some service for them. We mowed the lawn, weed-wacked and burned a bunch of tumble weeds. It was fun.  In the picture, I have my pants rolled up because I didn’t want the weed-wacker to stain my slacks green with weed juice. Lunch was BBQ pork sammies with a bunch of sides. We then finished our service and watched the second session, which was super good, as well. When this was done we drove down to Cotton City, NM and ate dinner with their family and watched the Priesthood Session. It was sad to see Thomas S. Monson getting so old. Anyways, it was a very good day.

This area is a service area---whenever, wherever, and whatever...we live and love to serve!

My attempt at a new fashion trend....on point?

Elder Jordan and I on exchanges

Sunday was also a good day watching General Conference. 

Until next week, Love you guys,

Elder Dickinson