Elder Adam's March 30th Email

Dear Family!

General Conference is coming up! I'm uber-excited for it! This will be the first General Conference I have out in the grand mission field! I'm really looking forward to everything about it! The talks, the hymns, the food! Everything! Especially the two baptisms we've got coming up in Saturday too!

We've got Kenyo getting baptized and Pedro too. Their baptisms are going to be the most radical! I'm very excited for them!

Kenyo's friend, Eduardo, is a little more difficult to handle. He likes to treat everything like a joke. He's kinda funny at times, like when he gave us a reference to his friend, saying, "You'll love the guy. He's literally Satan."

"...Greeeeat..."

He believes everything we tell him, but doesn't want to do anything about it. We keep telling him that he's gotta read, pray, and attend church, but I didn't know what happened. I assumed he just forgot, so we kept visiting him and reminding him.

Then, a couple days ago, he was honest with us. He said, "I love your visits, but I don't want to read. You guys can just tell me what happens in the book." We asked him why he didn't want to read. "I'm not a reader. At all. I don't like reading. I'm not going to have the desire to read."

It was at that time where I felt inspired by the Spirit to talk about my love for writing fiction. I said, "You know, Eduardo, I was kind of in your same boat. One thing I really love to do is to write stories." And because writing for fun isn't a common thing to do down there, I explained "It's a good opportunity for me to think of whatever I want and branch off as to think 'What would make this happen' or 'How would he do this?'.

"But until I was 12, I hated writing. It was the worst thing ever to me. I would've rather done anything except writing. When I turned 12, I thought to myself, 'Okay, I'll give writing a chance'. So I did. I was terrible at first, but as the time went by, I improved and improved and improved. And I know that the same can happen to you, Eduardo. The first time to open the book and read is always the hardest, but once you do it the first time, it'll get easier the second time. And easier the third time. And so on."

I think it worked. I certainly felt the Spirit as I explained that, and he acted a little more humble a little bit afterward. It's tough to see if he's feeling the Spirit or not. But I'm confident it worked. This week, we're going to invite him to Kenyo's baptism.

Other than that, nothing really happened. Just another ol' week.

How is everyone doing over there? Is Katie doing alright? How about the rest of my sisters? And brothers? And nieces and nephews? I love you all over there!

Thanks for all your support and all your prayers,

Elder Dixon

P.S.  I don't want to scare anyone, but I had an interesting experience. So earlier this week, one of the missionary apartments in our district was possessed by an evil and unclean spirit. I was wondering if you could go to the head of each family and ask if they've dedicated their homes. If not, tell them they should. We went to the apartment to investigate, and having an unclean spirit take over a home is extremely terrifying. (The missionaries living in the apartment have moved. They're fine). I don't want the same thing to happen to anyone else in the family.

Thanks! I love you!

Elder Dixon

CONFERENCE TIME!

It's the most favorite time of the year!

Conference!

Anyone who would like to come watch at our house are welcome.

After the 1st session on Sunday we will have a potato bar. Anyone who wishes bring something to go along with it. If you would post what you want to bring on the blog so others know how to plan, that would be great.

Can't wait! Can't wait! Can't wait!

Adam's picture

OK I think it should work this time. Let me know it you do or don't get this picture from Adam!

Thanks,
Mom

Adam's Picture

Do you all get this picture? Let me know if you don't.

Adam's March 23 email

Hey Family! What's up?

Nothing really happened this week again. Same ol', same ol'. We did find a cool investigator who's seen some miracles in her life. She decided to study the Bible after seeing one of those miracles and read in Revelations about how we need to prepare ourselves for the second coming. She's been waiting for us to come and teach her more. I thought that was pretty awesome!

This Friday, I got to work with Elder Haymond in his area! That's when I decided that Pucallpa's a scary place! He's got a cemetary in his area, and there was two ways to get to our next house in the dead of night: 5 minutes through the cemetary or 15 minutes around. So we went through. It's always so weird how we tend to get scared in graveyards at nighttime. I could've sworn I saw at least 3 ghosts. In the middle of it all, Elder Haymond began running at full speed, scaring me to death at the same time. (He was just joking too).

He also told me about some of the things in his area. Apparently, at times, there is a popular mob area that goes around and steals things from houses about once every two weeks. The missionaries aren't allowed in that area, but it's still scary to think about.

Another scary thing was that there was a shooting in my area earlier this week too. Everything's all cleared up now, but the shooting was bad. Two people were killed and we were told by the district leader to go home for the rest of the day. Don't worry though. Everything's alright now. I know that God protects his missionaries.

That's really all I have to say about this week. But I got a picture for y'all! This was before I tried out one of the chicken feet Emily sent me!

How are you all doing over there? Getting excited for the next General Conference? I can't believe it's already two weeks away! Wow!

Love, 

Elder Dixon

Illusionarium Trailer!

Whaddaya think?

Elder Adam's March 16th email

Dear Family,

How goes it? I'm glad to hear that everyone up there is doing great! Sounds like a fun time you guys are having! 

Down here, this week's been normal. Normal normal normal. Me and my companion picked up the pace and began finding way more people. We found one lady who doesn't understand much, but is very enthusiastic about our lessons. She sits down with her Book of Mormon and the pamphlets we gave her before each lesson and says, "So what are we learning today?" Our last lesson, we explained a little bit about the Book of Mormon and mentioned that it was written in the Americas. "Where are the Americas?" she asked. We've got a long way to go.

On the brighter side, we got another person to commit to baptism! His name is Pedro Chujudame. When we gave him the Book of Mormon, he read until 3rd Nephi in just a week! What a trooper! He's been attending church every week as well. Yesterday was confusing because we didn't see him. Turns out, he was attending church at the stake center. Not sure what he was doing there, but it really proves his interest in the church!

Over a week ago (I forgot to tell you guys this funny story last week), the son of the lady who cooks for us (his name is Johann), comes in as we're eating lunch and places two round white balls next to me. At first, I thought they were little yogurt balls (like the kind Emily sent me), but when I was about to pop one in my mouth, Johann said, "No! Stop! What are you doing?"

"This is yogurt, isn't it?" I asked, putting the ball back onto the table.

"No, those are salamander eggs!"

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I was surprised that Johann was just giving me some salamander eggs. That same night, one of the eggs hatched on Elder Haymond's desk (much to his dismay), and a little gray salamander was born! I released it into the wild, and a week later, I saw what I thought was the same salamander climbing along the outside of the house we lived in, only bigger.  

I'm not so sure what happened to that salamander though. It's probably been eaten by a bird or a frog already. The other salamander egg was a dud too. 

Other than that, nothing really happened. It was a pretty boring week. Tomorrow, I give a little lesson in front of the entire zone about one of the Christlike Attributes. We'll see how that goes!

I love you all and I'll continue praying for you!

Love,

Elder Dixon

UPDATED We'll make a lovely dress for Cinderellee

Who wants to see the new Cinderella? I do! Oma and I thought it would be fun to go for a girls day and see the movie together. We'll go to the Syracuse 6 on March 14th, at 12.10p. Get your tickets soon!!!

You can get them here

http://23968.formovietickets.com:2235/Tickets.ASP?WCI=buyticket&Page=PickTickets&SHOWID=26436

Pie Day

Dear Family,

As you know this March 14th is Pie Day, so we thought since it's Dad's birthday and the Cinderella movie that day, anyone who would like to come over after the movie could come over to our house and have some pie for Pi day!

After we figure out which showing we are going to be going to, we'll plan for a time right after that to come over for pie!

Let us know if you think you may be able to come! 

Elder Adam's March 9th email

Dear Family!

How is it going up in the semi-cold chair-shaped state of Utah? I hope everyone's doing well! I've had a pretty cool week this week!

First off, we got someone to commit to baptism! His name is Kenyo (pronounced Ken-jo) Gonzalas. He's a pretty smart (and young) guy who works as a funeral manager. He's full of surprises. When we were teaching him the Plan of Salvation earlier, I expected him to be full of questions about everything, seeing as he works around dead people all the time. Surprisingly, when I asked him where he thought we went after he died, he was pretty much spot-on!

He must have been talking to his friend, Eduardo, who we are also teaching. We taught the Plan of Salvation to him before we did to Kenyo. We're currently working on getting Eduardo to commit to baptism too, along with another guy named Pedro, who seems extremely interested in the church.adam

Earlier this week, I had a hankering for a snow cone...so I bought one. Down here, they're called "raspadillas", but they're pretty much the same thing. Only down here, instead of having flavors like "apple", "peach", or "blue raspberry", you'll find flavors such as "papaya", "camu-camu" (which is like a warhead), and "mint". When I tasted a mint-flavored snow cone, I was gnarled out! It tasted pretty good, but I wasn't expecting mint at all! :P

On Wednesday, we had an opportunity to give some service. We started by clearing out some debris out of someone's backyard and began to cut the grass with a machete. I don't want to brag, but my lawn-mowing skills with a machete are getting better and better!

The best part about it, though, was that there was a coconut tree they had. Down here, the grass is nearly 2 feet high, so when a coconut falls out of a tree, it's pretty much hidden until you stumble upon it. I was cutting along, until suddenly, I sliced straight through a coconut! Perfectly through! I felt like a ninja for the rest of the day!

This week, I had the opportunity to speak in church (on ridiculously short notice, too). I gave a talk about Love and Charity, and as I prepared for the talk, I realized that everything revolves around love. If we have love for God and the people we serve, we're going to wantto serve them better. God created us and this earth because he loves us. He sent his son, Jesus Christ, because he loves us. Jesus Christ bled for, died, and atoned for the sins of everyone because he loves us. The more I try to think about it, the more astonished I get. This week, I'm going to make more of an effort to love the people I serve more than I ever have.

I love you all!

Elder Dixon

Hot hot hot Hotspot

I have a beeeg favor to ask someone...

I need to sync my phone with my desktop spotify, which will only sync if both my phone and desktop are using the same wireless internet.  I don't have internet!  Does anyone have a device with a hotspot I could use for maybe 30 minutes or something?  I'd totally make it up to you!!

-Heath

Adam's March 2nd Email

Dear Family!

Well, another change has come and gone and I'm still in Pucallpa! Yay! I can really get used to this place. The people here are pretty awesome! Like just yesterday, my companion and I found more golden investigators! 

They told us they haven't tried any religion until just recently. And they love it. They're eating it up. They joined the Catholic church a few months ago, so they're kind of at a "gullible" stage where they'll believe anything anyone tells them, so we told them about the Book of Mormon and how it's another testament of Jesus Christ in the Americas. They were extremely interested and told us that it only makes sense that God would send Jesus Christ to everyone instead of just the people in the Middle East. When we were finished, he told us that our lesson about the Book of Mormon was one of the best blessings he's ever recieved! I don't want to say anything yet, but I smell a baptism!!!

Not only that, too, but we've had a good amount of success this week. Our investigators are starting to come to church and we've been introduced to several friends of the young men and young women that want to join the church. I've got a good feeling about this upcoming week too!

This upcoming week is going to be weird though. This entire week is what is called "Carnival Week", and it started yesterday. To celebrate that, the people got some really tall tree saplings, decorated them with toys and lights, danced around it, made it look all festive and everything...

...Then they chopped them down.

I don't know what's up with Peruvian holidays, but they really like destroying everything they make. The best part of yesterday, however, was the city-wide water fight. Everywhere we turned, we saw a team of people holding water-filled buckets, water balloons, and water guns, ready to drench everyone and everything. Luckily, they knew that we missionaries simply wanted to pass by, so they didn't soak us...very hard.

But yeah, that's the fun stuff this week. How are things over there? I'm so glad that Katie's new chemo is working and that her surgery went very well! I hope everyone else is doing well too!  

I love you all!

Elder Dixon