Emily and Katie Updates!

Guess who's home?

That's right.....EMILY!

So good to have her home again!

*******

 

As you know Katie has been having blood transfusions on a regular basis. Her doctor has ordered testing on her bone marrow to see just what is happening and what can be done to help her. She may need a bone marrow transplant. Siblings usually are the best match for something like that.

She is also scheduled to have a full body scan right after Christmas to see what is going on with her tumors since she hasn't been having chemo.

We are having a Temple Day, Saturday morning at the Bountiful Temple at 9am. Anyone who would like to join us we will meet in the chapel before 9am so we can all go to the same session.

We are asking the LORD for a miracle in Katie's behalf. Please keep her in your prayers. We appreciate all the prayers you have given for her so far. 

We know Heavenly Father does hear and answer our prayers. 

Elder Adam's December 15th email

Hey everyone! How are you all?

This week's been pretty interesting! For starters, I had a temporary companion change with an Elder named Elder Portocarrero. He's a pretty cool guy and a hard worker and I enjoyed working with him. His methods of teaching are extremely different from Elder Uribe's though. Elder Uribe is the kind of person who will usually go to references or people we're currently teaching and he'll make sure they get taught. Elder Portocarrero is the kind of guy who, if we find ourselves in the wrong place, will stop and talk to someone on the street and give a lesson if he can. Being with a different elder made me wonder what kind of missionary I'll be once I hit my missionary prime.

This week, we also had a little Christmas program where I got to play my violin! We had lots of fun with it. There were some funny christmas sketches and songs. Someone came up to me after the program and told me that I play violin like the gods. (Heh, heh, not even close) :P But it was pretty fun! Turns out that the ward I attend is putting on their own Christmas program this week as well, so I get to play the violin for an extra week!

I also had a spiritual and scary experience this week. As me and my companion were walking to church, I was walking a little bit ahead of him. I was about to cross an intersection at a red light, but I thought I heard him say "Wait up". I never heard him talk in English like that, but I stopped and waited anyway. A moment later, two motorcycles had both ran red lights and smashed right into each other. I was pretty convinced that it was the spirit telling me to wait up, because if I had crossed without waiting, I would've been hit by motorcycles on both sides. (The drivers of those motorcycles will be fine, by the way.)

Anyways, that's my week. How is everyone doing over there? Is Katie doing well? Is everyone getting ready for Christmas? I got to wrap this up fast. We got a late start on the Internet, so our time was cut in half. Oh, but I also get to Skype you guys on Christmas!

I love you all!

-Elder Dixon

P.S. Tell Emily hi when she gets home!

Elder Dixon's December 8th Email

Dear Family!

It's Christmas time!!!!! How are things up there? Is the tree up? Have you got any snow yet? Are things cold yet? That's exciting that Dad got a new car! It's nice and shiny too! What's going to happen to his old red one? 

I got your Christmas package, Mom! I haven't opened it yet, but I might give in before Christmas comes around. My companion knows that I've asked you to send me another oil vial for him and he's been begging me to open it. :P I've been getting some emails, but I haven't gotten any letters yet.

So I haven't changed companions yet and I'm with the same guy, but both he and I have this crazy hunch that next change, I'll be transferred into the deep jungle. Guess we'll see in 5 weeks!

So this week, all the missionaries in my zone got together to begin a practice for a Christmas program we'll be putting on, and one of the ward members who sells musical instruments offered to lend us what we know how to play. So guess who gets to play the violin? When I began playing it, I realized just how much I really missed it. I can still play it too, thank goodness! It's been a while, but holding a violin was like reuniting with an old friend!

Along with a little string trio and a violin solo I get to play, I also get to pantomime as a thief trying to steal presents from a house and I get to sing in a choir! Singing with 20 Latino Missionaries who've never sung in a choir before was a little rough, but it was a neat experience.

Jim, I love your emails! They make me crack up every time! Geoffery must be quite the fun little handful sometimes! Shame about your mustache, though. I'll bet Mom's happy that it's gone. :P

Emily comes home in 9 days? But it seems like she just barely left! I'll bet she's excited for that. I wonder what the little kids in China think of her leaving?

I had a neat experience this week too. Earlier, we had two less active members that were planning on separating from each other. My companion and I decided to give them a visit and invite them to church. This week, they came and after the block, told us that they were beginning to have second thoughts about separating because of our visit. When we had left after our visit, they had decided to open up their old Book of Mormon again and see what they had forgotten about. I think it's really neat how the Book of Mormon has that kind of influence to bring the Spirit and give people second thoughts as to a bad choice.

Anyways, I love you all! I hope you're doing well! I'll hear from you next week!

Love,

Elder Dixon

P.S. My favorite scripture is 1st Nephi 3:7. Yeah, it's kinda primary-ish, but I like it because of the perfect example of faith Nephi gives us, and that he knows a loving Heavenly Father wouldn't give us a task to fail. He knows we can do what he asks.

 

 ( Just a side note to Adam's comment about Jim's facial hair....I think Jim looks handsome no matter what he has on his face. He is an exceptionally handsome man!)

Decorating Ginerbread Boys!

Dear Family, 

Dad and I would like to visit each of your homes this month and bring some gingerbread cookies and snowmen cookie to decorate. It has been a fun activity in the past and we would love to do it again. 

It's getting more difficult for family to get together sometimes and during the holidays I'm sure it is even more crazy, so Dad and I were hoping to make it a little easier and come to you.

We will provide the cookies, frosting, and candy. If you get on the internet and see something different than just the basics to decorate with feel free to pick up anything extra you would like to decorate your AWESOME gingerperson.

We will post these works of art on the blog so everyone can see the creations of others. 

Katie and Robert have asked for Monday the 15th of December. Most other days are open. Just respond in the comment section when works for you and we can set a date.

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year. Dad and I love you all so much.

 

 

Elder Adam's December 1st email

Hello, all my family and friends!

Man, time flew by this week! It was super fast! I think it's because I'm beginning to get a hang of all this missionary stuff. Being a missionary is beginning to be awesome! The language is continuing to solidify itself in my brain and I've been able to communicate easier with my investigators. The gift of tongues is so real, guys!

This week, we had 2 conferences! One of them was a stake conference for the area I'm at. It was a little tough to understand everything the speakers were saying, but I managed to get some bits and pieces. The president of the temple in Lima was there too, and thankfully, he was an English guy, so he and I had a conversation about our missions. 

The topic of the stake conference was solely on missionary work. The stake is trying really hard to get young men out into the field. I've met a couple of guys who had recieved their mission calls and were going to jump out into their mission in a few weeks. The amount of faith those guys have is amazing, especially since money for a mission is rather scarce here in Iquitos. They're pretty much the coolest guys in the Amazon.

The other conference we had was a multi-zone conference. The mission president and his wife spake on how we can get new investigators and references easily, and at the end of it, we had a testimony meeting. I gave my testimony on the gift of tongues. For lunch on that day, we had some pizza, which was a pleasant surprise! They gave us some picante spices to sprinkle on it, making the pizza super hot and REALLY good.

That's one of the funny things here. Everything is either not spicy at all or burn-your-mouth-off hot...and I love it. Those picante peppers they have here are man-food! Unfortunately, there are only a few people here that like spicy food, so those peppers are tough to come by.

How is everyone over there doing? It looks like Thanksgiving was a blast! Here, for Thanksgiving, we didn't really do anything different. I did reflect on everything I was grateful for, said a prayer of gratitude, and celebrate with a little chocolate frog I had bought last Pday, but other than that, it was pretty much a normal day. 

How is Katie doing? Is Emily having fun in China? Is everyone getting into the Christmas mood? Here in Iquitos, people put up their lights and trees in the end of October/beginning of November (like they should in America! :P)

I just want to express my thanks for all the support you guys give me! I know that the Lord is with me as I serve and I can feel your prayers bless my life! I love you all!

With many thanks,

-Elder Dixon

P.S. To answer your question, Mom, there are small buildings from place to place that have about 3-8 computers with internet service. We pay the guy at the counter and have about 80 minutes of internet time.

Elder Dixon's December 17th and 24th emails

Adam's Address Update

 
Hey Family,

The address I sent you wasn't the best address to send stuff to. (don't worry, though, the packages will probably still get there). But here's a better, updated address.

Mision Peru Iquitos

Jiron Napo 478

Iquitos, Maynas

Loreto

Peru

 

December 17th email

 Hey Family and Friends!

How are things going up there? Are they fun? I've had some fun down here with some of the other Elders in my district. One of the other elders, Elder Sherwood, has been out for a year and has some pretty great stories about some of the companion's he's been with. I don't think these are all the stories I'll hear about the other missionaries here, so this email will be the first edition of Antics of Other Missionaries.

This one time, as these two elders were serving in the jungle, they were teaching an investigator outside near this small pond. They were both sitting on plastic chairs next to this wall with a machete leaning against it. One of the elders leaned back and the chair broke. He fell down, and as soon as he did, a crocodile from the pond immediately began to run to him. The other elder instantly grabbed the machete, jumped over to the crocodile, and slayed it before it could get to his companion. Man, I wanna do something like that so bad! 

Here's another one. During a service day, these two other elders visited this lady who said she had a service project for them. When they arrived, both of them were given machetes, led into a room full of rats and huge bugs, and told to go nuts. I don't remember the end of that story, but I think they asked for a different service project.

This last Sunday was the Primary Program in our ward, and I gotta tell you, those little Amazonian children are adorable! The Primary Program was a lot like the kind back home, only with more singing at the top of lungs. It was fun to see those kids put on that program.

Last Saturday, 5 different zones got together to do this huge service project for an orphanage by painting over the graffiti on their walls and cleaning up the streets surrounding it. There, I saw one of my MTC pals. It was like seeing an old friend I hadn't seen in years! He told me he had done some math during one of his P-days and said that we both have 100-week missions! 1% for each week, and 10% the way through already! Can you believe that?

The language is finally starting to get to me. I can communicate easier, understand easier, and learn words I don't know easier. The hardest part right now is when someone is speaking directly to me, either through a question or a statement. My mind completely blanks out when that happens.

How is everything up there? Is Katie doing well? How is Emily doing in China? (By the way, what's her email address again)?

Sorry for this short email and lack of pictures. The computers here have been having a bit of trouble. I hope you're all doing well!

Love,

Elder Dixon

December 24th email

Hey there, everyone!

This week, I had my first baptism! We had 3 kids that had turned 8, and my companion and I were asked if we could baptize them! It was pretty great! I thought I would've messed up at the baptismal prayer in Spanish, but I didn't, thank goodness. The first baptism I gave in my life chose not to plug his nose. Luckily, he came out alright.

It was a pretty spiritual experience too. I'm glad I have the opportunity to bring people to the gospel and to baptize them. We had a couple of investigators at the baptism too, and we could tell they felt the spirit there as well.

Speaking of getting wet, is the ice bucket challenge still going on? Because this past week, the water in our room was turned off, so I had to take a shower in one of the other companionship's places. The shower was literally filling up a bucket with cold water and dumping it over yourself, soap and shampoo, and do it again.

That's my ice bucket challenge! Now it's time for me to challenge 3 people to at least take a cold water shower for 5 minutes. I challenge Steven, Christopher, and Jim!

Next week, I transfer. It'll be my first transfer, so I'm not quite sure what's going to happen. I've heard different things about what will happen to me. I've heard that I'll stay in the same place for 6 more months (but I was told that by an Elder who likes to mess with me, so I'm not sure if that's true), and I've heard that I'll stay in the same zone, but in a different area. Guess I'll find out next week.

I've started to notice how good the juice is down here. Juice is the everything-drink down here. People drink juice for every occasion, and it's real, South American, fruit juice. And it's delicious.

Anyways, sorry for the short email this week. I didn't get as much time to email this week, so I need to cut this one short.

Love,

Elder Dixon

Boy Party at Oma and Opa's!

Since Adam left the video games have been gathering dust, so Opa is sponsoring a boy party the Friday after Thanksgiving at 3 PM.  Steven has agreed to set up the video games in the family room and downstairs, so everyone should have a chance to play.  We will have pizza and other goodies.

If anyone of you want to watch a guy flick later on, let me know what you would like to see.

Love,
Opa.

Thanksgiving at the Dixon's

 

We are so excited to announce that 

it's our turn to have everyone over for 

THANKSGIVING DINNER

And for that we are truly thankful!

Time.......11:00 am

Place......Mom and Dad's

Date.......November 27th

 

Some people have already asked for assignments...

Mom will make Turkey and Ham

and a jello salad.

Anna and Mary Kate....Decorations.

Katie......Rolls and 2 pies.

Mary.....3 or 4 pies and her famous yam/apple casserole.

Heather.......Drink.

Lilli......Mashed potatoes, and pie.

if anyone else wants to bring something just post it in the comment section of the blog.

 

We have also been talking about doing an activity this year, either before or after the dinner.

There will be the Turkey Trot fundraiser for Sister Brenda Zaugg. It is a walk/run.

A movie has been suggested, either at the theater, or in house.....that way we can watch more than one......(clever, right?)

We want your ideas!

 

Can Dad and I tell you how excited we are that you are coming. You children and your families are our biggest joy! 

We love you so very much!

      

The Dogs in Iquitoes

Hey there, Friends and Fam!

Don't be confused by the title of this letter. Iquitos doesn't have a week dedicated to dogs (not that I know of, at least), but this week has been full of dog-related experiences. 

One of them is when I realized I was living the dream as a missionary! Me and my companion were, no joke, chased by a bulldog. Just like your stereotypical missionary! At first, I thought it wanted a piece of my leg, but it later caught up to us with its tail wagging about and I realized it just wanted to play. It was pretty cute.

Not as cute as this other dog, though. These next two weeks, me and my companion have hired this other lady to make meals for us, and next door to them lives this adorable little puppy. It would sit down patiently when we arrive at the door, and when we pay the slightest bit of attention to it, it would hop and bound around in circles with its tail wagging abroad. I swear, rainbows, hearts, and sunshinies revolve around this puppy. 

Anyways, this little dog got me thinking about all the other dogs in Iquitos, which eventually got me thinking, "What do people do with their dogs once they've died?"

The next day, my question was more-or-less answered. I was on a switch with another elder from my district (I call him Latino Superman. The guy's super buff), Elder Turcios, and we were walking down this street with a flock of birds ahead at the corner behind some bags of garbage. The birds here are HUGE, nearly the size of a 5 or 6 year old child. When we approached, we could see one of the birds dragging the skeleton of a dog out of a sewer. I'm pretty sure I just stood there with my eyes bulging out in surprise and my mouth hanging open like a cartoon character for five minutes.

The rest of the day, I was extremely weirded out at how big these birds were, and how people may just toss their dogs out when they've died, and not to mention the fact that a bird the size of my torso was pulling the skeleton of a dog out of the sewers.

Well, that's it for dog stories this week. Oh, also, something really cool. There are a few families I've met here that have been taught and baptized by Cousin Chris Dixon! Dad, do you think you could send me Chris' Dixon's email address so I could ask him about those members? Thanks!

How is everyone over there? Is Katie doing well? I'm glad Dad made it back from Turkey safely. How about Emily in China and Missy in Oregon? School is going well for everyone, right? Also, Steven, I heard you had your first date! Who was it with? Tellmetellmetellmetellmetellme!!!!!!

I finally was able to send a picture here. It's a little immature, but still pretty amusing. I was only able to send one, though. Next week, I'll send a picture of Iquitos!

Anyways, I'd just like to finish with my testimony. This week's been one of the tougher weeks when it came to the language, but I know that learning it isn't impossible. I believe that Heavenly Father wouldn't give me a task to fail at. It's like Nephi said, "...For I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Talk to ya all next week!

-Elder Dixon

Christmas List Exchange

Time seems to be coming faster and faster and before you know it Christmas will be upon us! When everyone was here for Halloween we drew names,  here are the results!

Dad---Missy
Mom---Dad
Heather---Emily
Missy---Katie
Sarah D---Heather
Lilli---Sarah D
Emily---Lilli
Adam---Scott

Robert---Mary W
Katie---Peter
Christopher---Grant
Mary Kate---Becca
Kamilla---Xander
Joshua---Malia
Anna T---Geoffrey
Sarah T---Anna W

Scott---Jim
Mary W---Erin
Steven---Joshua
Anna W---Anna T
Becca---Isabelle
Ellie---Kamilla
Tommy---Brevan
Mimi---Mary Kate
Alice---Owen

Peter---Adam
Faunice---Robert
Owen---Ellie

Tom---Faunice
Kristy---Mom
Xander---Christopher
Brevan---Tommy
Isabelle---Mimi
Grant---Steven
Malia---Sarah T

Jim---Tom
Erin---Kristy
Geoffrey---Alice

If anything on this looks wrong to you let my know.  Christmas falls on a Thursday. Missy is planning on being here. 
Life is good!

Elder Adam Post Halloween Email

Hey everyone! Sorry again for no pictures. I remembered my camera cable, but the computers in this specific internet cafe don't like being fast. I'll keep trying, but a picture this week is unlikely. Sorry.

Not much has happened this week. It has rained a bunch, though, flooding up some of the streets. The rain really brings the heat down a bunch, plus, it makes our investigators stay inside, so I'm glad that it exists. Our investigators have been pretty great too. A lot of them are less-active, but we have our fair share of those who've never heard of the church before.

There was this one man who stopped us on the street and invited us into his house because he had a ton of questions about the Bible. The man was definitely a talker. I could only pick up a few things he said, but I could tell he was confused about the Bible and why God allowed people to sin. I almost thought, for a few moments, that he was going to jump up and beat us up, because his tone and questions were a little scary. Luckily, me and my companion kept our heads on and were calm in answering his questions.

So they celebrate Halloween down here too, but instead of going door-to-door missionary-style, everyone lights up their Christmas trees, pops open a bottle of soda, and sit around, watching the TV. It's definitely a family holiday, so lucky for us, we got a lot of lessons in that day.

Speaking of Halloween, those were awesome costumes!! My favorites were Mom's (I seriously laughed aloud when I saw that!), Tom's, and Heather's! Everyone looked amazing!

Anyways, sorry this email was a little short. I want to thank everyone for your prayers! I'm glad Katie's doing really well, and the same to Dad and Emily! I love all of you a lot! I hope you'll have a good week! You'll be in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Dixon

Elder Adam's report on Iquitos Peru

Dear Family,

 

It sounds like any Christmas packages that are going to Adam need to be sent fairly soon. I am planning on getting his Christmas package off to him by November 10th. Hopefully that will give it plenty of time to get to him. Those of you who have been on missions to South America, if you don't think this is enough time let me know. I'm also sending a package right away for Thanksgiving. Hopefully he will get that in time, probably iffy. 

 

If anyone would like to include something in with any of these packages let me know.

 

Also, on Halloween we are drawing names for Christmas, and I will post them on the blog. I can't believe that time is speeding by so fast. It has been 1 year since Geoffrey and Alice were born! And Malia is right behind! Where does all the time go!

 

We love you all so very much!

Mom

(Oma) 

 

Hello, everyone!

First off, let me apologize for the fact that there are no pictures. I forgot to bring my camera cable to the internet cafe where I'm writing this. I PROMISE that there will be pictures next time!

Anyhoo, this past week has been pretty big! Huge, in fact! For those who haven't heard, I'm out in the field now, serving in the city of Iquitos (I'm not in the deep jungle quite yet. Looking forward to that), and it's super moist down here. Sweating has become a normal thing for everyone here, especially indoors. On Saturday, however, it rained a ton! My companion said it was still hot and a recent convert (who had lived in India before) said it was super cold. Honestly, though, the rain made it feel just right. I must be the baby bear of Iquitos or something.

The people down here in Iquitos are super nice! They're the kind of people you can just say "Good morning" to on the streets and they'll return the salutation with a smile. They're also super humble down here too, so getting new investigators is easy. The hardest part about teaching investigators (aside from the language) is that the appointments fall through more than they work out. There is literally never a dull moment here, so the people are always out and about doing something. Even as I type this, there's a huge fiesta right outside the building. If we get an appointment to work out, it's either because the investigator is super interested or because we're lucky. The weekends, however, are the toughest because those days are what we call the "Dias de Fiestas" (The Party Days). EVERYONE is out having parties, and catching them in their homes is tough. When we do get the opportunity to teach them, they're always really good about listening and doing their commitments. We have yet to have someone say "no" to a commitment or a future appointment, but I suppose that'll eventually come.

I've been assigned to be a companion to a latino named Elder Uribe, who knows pretty much minimal English. It's been hard to communicate with him for the first few days (because it seems that the MTC didn't teach me the right language), but he's really good at explaining some of the grammar stuffs of Spanish. I've learned more Spanish in two days with him than I have in one week at the MTC. My biggest problem with the language now is understanding what people are saying because they talk so darn fast!

As for the animals, since I'm in the city, I actually haven't seen many jungle animals (but I did see a parrot making rooster sounds!). The majority of animals here are stray dogs and cats, and the occasional chicken. They're pretty much everywhere. Some are adorable and some...well, not so much. They're pretty good about minding their own business as long as we mind ours. I can't help but wonder if the animals here own their own Mafia or something. To answer Heather's question, no, I don't have a pet monkey, unfortunately, but there is a small white/orange cat that hangs out with us everyday at dinner. It's pretty cute. I'll send a picture of it next week.

The food here is pretty good too! The people down here LOVE their rice, potatoes (usually in french fry form), and chicken, so it's weird to get a meal without one of those three things in there. We get a maid that cooks for us, and she's a pretty good cook (not as good as Mom, of course). We usually walk a mile every morning to get to her house to eat, so chances are, I'm gonna get ripped. 

Also, I might have mentioned this before, but the majority of vehicles down here are motorcyles and rickshaws (I think that's what they're called. Down here, they're called Motocarros). Seeing a car or van down here is just as common as seeing a motorcycle up in Utah, so it's somewhat uncommon.

Anyways, how is everyone up there? Mom, that story about the onion truck is the funniest thing ever! How many onions did you get? I also heard you weren't feeling well. I hope you get better soon! I'll be praying for you! How is Katie? And Dad? I wish you the best! I know that through faith in Christ and the power of God, you can all be healed and/or comforted.

Oh, and here's the address of the mission home for letters and packages:

Misión Perú Iquitos

Napo *hashtag* 478

Iquitos, Maynas

Loreto, Perú

Sorry about that hashtag thing. I don't know how to type that on a Spanish keyboard. Anyhoo, letters and packages take about 3-5 weeks to get here...I think. I'm actually not sure. Guess I'll find out!

Anyways, I'll be thinking about you! All of you will be in my prayers! 

Love,

Elder Dixon