January 19th

Hey Family!

I got transfers this week! Whoooo! My first tranfers out in the field! My companion, Elder Uribe, got transferred as well, so we had to clean up our apartment extra, extra, extra nice for the new companionship that was coming. And in that new companionship is Elder Arns, my companion from the MTC! 

He and I pretty much switched places. He's in Punchana now and I'm in a grand little city called Pucallpa (pronounced Poo-Cow-Pah), about an hour and twenty minute flight down from Iquitos! I probably shouldn't say this, but I like Pucallpa kinda better than my last area. It's nice and hot and reminds me of summer days in Utah. It's pretty dusty here too. The best thing about it though is that my area is kind of like a Peruvian Mount Pleasant. 

Here, I have two different people that cook for us. One is a lady that owns her own little outdoor restaurant, so we get pretty spoiled, and the other is a rich family that loves cooking different things, so we get pretty spoiled there too. That, and there's Pizza Hut, KFC, and McDonalds down here as well. (There goes my awesome weight loss plan :P ).

My new companion is a guy named Elder Nina. He's kind of a goofball, but knows how to work hard. I feel I can learn a ton from this guy. We also share a house with another companionship, consisting of our district leader, Elder Anze, and an elder from my group at the MTC, Elder Haymond. After these six or twelve weeks, Elder Haymond and I are gonna be tight like sprite. It's pretty awesome to have someone to talk to in English.

I've got a biiiiiiig area in Pucallpa. Nearly 3 times the size of my old one in Punchana. We do a lot of walking, which is pretty grand! Our ward down here, though, is the best! Every member loves participating in their callings and classes! It's really cool to see how involved they are with the church. The testimonies of the people down here are amazing too!

Unlike Punchana, there aren't very many less active members, but tons of people to contact. Because my companion has had more experience in missionary work and Spanish, he usually takes the helm of contacting. I gotta step it up! It's also super-quiet down here too. 

But the people here are pretty nice. If someone isn't interested in our message, they don't straight-out say "no". They schedule an appointment and pretend not to be there during that time. So we go there the same time the day after and usually catch them. Hee hee hee hee hee!

Yesterday, we found the "golden" investigator. It's a middle-aged woman that's read the Bible over and over and over again, but told us that she can't help but feel that there was something missing about it. When we told her about the Book of Mormon, she was super-interested in reading it. When we left, she said she'd been waiting to recieve any word of God she could, and that we have possibly brought her that message. Isn't it amazing how Heavenly Father can make these kinds of miracles happen? I'm very excited to teach her again!

How is everyone doing over there? Is Katie doing well? How about everyone else? I heard there's a little sickness going around! I hope everyone starts feeling better! 

I love you all and will continue praying for you!

Love,

Elder Dixon