Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Adam's email October 8th

Hey, Family!
 
I'm sorry to hear that this week wasn't such a good one, with Aunt Hiltje and the Boekweg family. I'll remember to keep the family in my prayers, along with Katie's health and Dad's safety. I'm glad that the rest of you are doing well. It makes me feel kind of guilty, because all of you had a less-than-decent week, whereas my week was a good one. I feel like I got a lot accomplished this time, especially in the language. For every "fake" investigator I teach now, I feel like the Spanish comes to me more fluidly, especially when I bear my testimony. We even got one of the "fake" investigators to commit to baptism!
 
General Conference was pretty supreme! I feel like a lot of those talks really stuck out to me, especially the last one; David A. Bednar's talk to all the non-members. I loved the story he gave and the lesson that followed about how missionaries are teaching about what they've felt. That was the talk that made me think the most, and I've realized that missionary work isn't just about teaching people the gospel and getting them baptised, but it's also helping them and giving them hope about some of the biggest problems they might face in their lives. It's like one big service project! It kind of makes me excited to get out into the field in two weeks! (Still can't believe it's only two weeks away)(Also can't believe it's been almost an entire month).
 
That was scary to read about Dad. I hope he'll be safe over in Turkey, with ISIS and everything. There have been some rumors going around the MTC that the day after I left, America declared war on ISIS, and just barely, I heard that Obama's trying to amend the Constitution to make it so he can run for a third time. Anyways, Dad will be in my prayers and I'll be praying for his safe return.
 
I hope they'll be able to find a sufficient way to deal with this cancer soon. I'll pray extra hard for her from now on. I love you so much, Katie!
 
We got a new crowd of missionaries in the MTC this week, and one of them arrived early, so he got to hang out with our district on Tuesday. He's actually a really cool guy. His name is Elder Quesne (pronounced "cane") and he's British! All of us were pretty psyched out about his accent. I asked him how long it took him to get here, and he said it was about 16 hours of travel, but one of his flights arrived late, so he had to wait 7 additional hours, so 23 hours total. Can you imagine travelling for that amount of time? I'm glad that I lived on the same half of the world as my mission.
 
When I opened up my email a few minutes ago, I was surprised to see an email from Elder Nick Bybee there! He was just checking up on me and making sure I was doing alright! He's such a cool guy! Have he and Emily been keeping in touch? I certainly hope so. By the way, how's Emily doing? Is China treating her well?
 
I've gotten multiple questions regarding letters, packages, and addresses. To be honest, I'm kind of confused about the post here too. I heard that sending a letter or package down here can take up to 4 weeks, but that might change when I get to Iquitos, seeing as how it's in the middle of the jungle. I wouldn't send anything to the MTC, because I'll be gone by the time it gets here. I've also been asked about pictures. The reason I haven't included any in my emails is because the MTC doesn't allow it. It's a weird rule, but I gotta obey it. Don't worry, though! I'm taking plenty of pictures to send them to you when I'm able to!
 
Also, Jim, those pictures you took at Disneyland with Geoffery, Thor, and Captain America were adorable! He's turning into a good-looking kid!
 
So, apparently (I just remembered this), the Peru MTC is the only one that has had it's trainees go out and get some real-world experience with proslyting. Er, was the only one. They're not doing it anymore, but it is cool to say that I'm one of the last MTC-level missionaries in the world to proslyte!
 
Anyways, I should probably wrap this up. I'd just like to bear my testimony that the church, the Spirit, the Book of Mormon, all of those, are true. It's only been four weeks and I've seen how much it's blessed my life. When I got here, my Spanish was nothing, but now, I can carry on a (clumsy) conversation! I know that through prayer, Dad will be protected and Katie can be healed. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
 
Talk to you all in a week!
-Elder Dixon
 
P.S. Mom, can you send me that family picture we took in August? Thanks!

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