December 15th
Hey Family!
It's that time of year! It's so weird,
though, spending Christmas away from you guys in a place I'm mostly
unfamiliar with. It's going to be super different. Lots of things here
about Christmas are different than they are up there in Utah. No
snow....super hot...less advertising.
Though
some things are completely the same. Especially the music. The Spanish
hymns and Christmas songs are different, but like Christmastime up in
Utah, you hear Christmas songs wherever you go. Also the performances
were stacked up like plates this past week. Our zone had a bunch of
performances for wards, a hospital, and stuff like that, and I got to
play the violin for all of them again.
This
time, though, it was actually super stressful. We had so many
performances and practices, we pretty much had no time to teach (and
that is super bad for missionaries). In fact, because I played
the violin (which is essential to the performance), I even had to miss a
baptism we had this week. I was super miffed at the zone leaders,
especially since that would've been my very first investigator baptism.
Luckily,
the mission president showed up at that performance to see what we had
been doing. Apparently, the zone leaders didn't quite get permission to
do so many performances, and they got a serious talking-to. Now the
mission president is keeping a close eye on our zone.
Anyways,
I'm super excited to call on Christmas! I can't remember if I had a
Skype account or not, but if not, then I'll probably call normally
through telephone.
Anyways, I gotta go now. I love you all and I'll keep praying for Katie!
-Elder Dixon
December 29th
Hey Family!
So talking with all of you was definitely
the best part of my week by far! I'm glad to hear that all of you are
doing well! By now, Missy will have moved into Boston! What's it like
all the way up there? Is everyone having fun with all their new toys?
Everyone getting pumped up for New Years? I totally am! I'm ready to
move on to 2015!
I'm not quite sure what kind
of traditions the Peruvians have for New Years down here, but I do know
that Christmas celebrations don't stop until the New Year. Between
Christmas and New Years, there is still Christmas music playing
everywhere, but the decorations are down and the kids are playing with
their new toys (usually a volleyball set or some kind of toy gun) and
the teenagers are still trying to figure out their new phones (I was
actually surprised with the amount of new phones and iPods I saw).
Lots
of people asked me what Christmas was like up in the states and all I
could really say was that it's pretty much the same, only much colder.
They would ask how cold and I told them it was like living in an ice
cream cooler. Then they would get stunned.
It's
pretty funny, some of the reactions I get when I tell people I'm from
Utah. For every non-member or investigator, they ask "Where's that?" But
for every member I tell, they will unanimously reply "Oh, la fabrica!"
(Oh, the factory!) I haven't had a member not say that yet, which is
pretty funny. Utah is famous to Peruvian members for being the Mormon
factory, because of all the families up there! One person asked me how
many temples there were up in Utah and I replied 17 or 18, and I've
never seen anyone so surprised in my life!
So
now that Christmas is over, we're starting to get back into the fray of
teaching, which feel super good after so many delays and performances. I
thought I would never like teaching so much! I just wonder what
teaching will be like with a different companion, and how well we'll get
along.
The picture I'm sending you guys is
that picture I mentioned that was taken with me and that monkey that
escaped from its cage. I'll bet when you look at the image, though,
you'll probably see no difference between us! The monkey is the one
holding the tiny ear of corn. The picture is perfect too, because his
mouth is filled with food! Score!
So you guys got a ton of snow up there? Oh, lucky! We got a bunch of rain down here on Sunday, and I got to say, rain really makes a difference in who comes to church or not. This Sunday
had to be the one with the least people I've seen, unfortunately, and
it was even worse since me and my companion got a late start and
couldn't pick up any investigators. Next week, though. Next week will be
better.
It's been super great talking to you guys on Christmas! I love you all and I'll keep praying for Katie!
Love,
Elder Dixon
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