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

Elder Dixon makes it to Iquitos! Huzzah!

Can you find Elder Dixon?

(hint at bottom of page)

Note--It is next to impossible to read Adam's handwritten letter, so I will type it here so you know what he said.

Hey there family,

Here's a shout-out from Iquitos, Peru! I was able to arrive here safely, and boy is it hot down here! I got off the plane and my hands began to get moist. If there was one word to describe Iquitos, it would be 'moist'.  Another cool thing is that the dominant vehicle here are motorcycles, and rickshaws aren't far behind.  It's uncommon to see a bus and even more so for a normal car. And like Lima, there's never a dull moment here. There's always something going on. I know there's not much about the city right now, but as time goes on, I'm sure there will be more that I will discover.

How is everyone doing up there? Is Dad OK? How about Katie? Is Emily having fun in China? Halloween is coming fast! I want to see a lot of pictures They celebrate Halloween down here in Peru too, but I'm not sure just how yet. Guess I'll find out soon though. Anyways, I'm running out of time and room on this paper. The email is written before it's sent,  P-day's on Monday and today's Tuesday. I love you all and wish the best for you!

Love,

Elder Dixon

(he's the best looking missionary in the pictures!)

Halloween!

Halloween Time Again.......

Time for all good little ghouls and goblins, 

to come to Oma's and Opa's house

for 

Trick or Treating.....

there will be eats at 

5 pm 

then you can go and

Scare the pants off the neighboorhooooood!

don't beeeee late!!!!!!

We will be haviiiiing

Funeral sandwiches this yearrrrrrrr!!!

But I've saved all the GOOD candy for those

who stay and watch the scary movies with

ME!

bwaaaahaaaahaaaaa!!!!!! 

Operating Room Open House

Do you have an itch to poke a cow heart?
Do you want to perform surgery on a real live pumpkin?
Do you love handling expensive surgical equipment?
Do you want candy?

If your answer to any or all of these questions is yes, then the Primary Childrens Operating Room open house is for you!

I'm going to be volunteering this saturday at the open house and after sitting through a meeting on all the fun activities, I thought that maybe some of you might want to come. It's going to be lots of fun, with mock surgeries, lots of candy and games for the kiddos.

If you wonder what I do at work all day, feel free to come this saturday 8:00-12:00.

Adam's October 15th Email

Hey there, Fam and Friends!

 

How is it all going? This week has been pretty much a blast! A spiritual high! I decided I'd start with the spiritual, testimony part first and go to the fun stuff after. So this week, I've just been a little down in the dumps, mostly because I was worried about you guys, the language isn't coming as fast as I'd like, and overall, I've been having a tough time focusing. Yesterday, on Tuesday, I came up with the question, "Out of all the places in the world, why would Heavenly Father send me to Iquitos, when I'm clearly more suited for a mission like ____insert mission name here______?"

 

That night, there was a devotional given by a general authority that answered my question like a punch in the teeth! I can't remember the exact words he said, but my testimony spiked because of it! The answer I recieved was that "Heavenly Father knows that I can do this. There's someone in Iquitos who desperately needs my help, and by helping them, I bless the lives of me and my family. A loving Heavenly Father won't send a missionary somewhere to fail." The feeling I felt once I ran over that as I wrote in my journal was so strong. It was awesome.

 

Also, an elder in my district told me to read Alma 26 from the standpoint of a missionary. It was extremely amazing! I advise all of the future missionaries who might hear this (especially the ones who only have a few years left, like Steven, Chris, and Kelsey), to read it with the standpoint of a missionary and you will know that what you and I will be doing out in the field will be blessing enough! I know that Heavenly Father has sent me to Iquitos because it is the best place for me to be at the time I will be there! There's someone who desperately needs my help, and through the gospel, I can let them hear what they need so badly. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

 

 

Anyways, other than that, nothing else really happened. We had an earthquake drill, which gave me the weird dream that an earthquake actually did happen, and me and my companion were the only survivors. Good thing it was just a dream, huh? I also had another weird dream that everyone was born without hands. An elder in my district told me about how he would trigger these "lucid dreams" (kind of like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" dream, where you're aware what's going on and can act on it). I tried it the way he did. I had the earthquake dream rather than a lucid one. My mind is playing tricks on me! :P

 

Speaking of mind tricks, has it already been more than a month? What happened to last week? Wow! It's so hard to believe that a week from now, I'm going to be in the Amazon jungle! I leave the MTC on Monday night/Tuesday morning and take the much-anticipated flight down, er, up to the city. This is my last week here! I gotta make the most of it!

 

Also, Mom, when I get back in two years, let's go to the temple as soon as possible! Today was my last temple day for two years! I'm going to be so deprived! (BTW, thanks for the picture!)

 

So recently, I heard about this epidemic called E-Boli that's been spreading the globe. Have you heard about it? If so, could you tell me about it so I can know what I can do to prevent catching it? I don't think it's in Peru yet, but it doesn't hurt to be careful.

 

Anyways, I should probably ske-daddle! This language isn't going to learn itself!

 

...Okay, that's another thing. I don't remember if I included this in the last email or not, but I am truly being blessed when it comes to the language. I came here with 0, and now, if I focus, I can carry on a conversation! The lessons I've been teaching my fake investigators have been so much better since the first couple of weeks! The best feeling in the world is when you are teaching someone, they ask a question, your companion doesn't know how to answer in that language, so you dive in and nail it right on the head! With the good moments also comes some of the bad (funny bad) ones. There are those times you mess up a word in a language and it completely alters the meaning of what you were saying. Here are some examples of some blunders I've made in the past month:

 

"Jesus Christ atoned for our sins" turned into "Jesus Christ atoned for our fish".

 

"I'd say it's about thirty and a half" turned into "I'd say it's about sad and a half".

 

This might be my favorite one:

 

"I am so embarrassed!" turned into "I am so pregnant!" That one is never going to get lived down!

 

Alright, just had to get that out there! I love you all!

 

-Elder Dixon

 

(P.S. Jim, those pictures you sent me were adorable! Geoffery's going to be a lady-slayer when he gets older!)

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!

My Collection

I have been able to find some photos of my collection on the runway and thought I'd share with the rest of the fam!

CONFERENCE TIME!!!

CONFERENCE TIME...Best time of the year!

Come to Mom and Dad's house

and watch conference!

Starts at 10 am on Sunday

October 5th.

 

We will have a soup bar between sessions

(yum)

 *****

Questionnaire

What is your favorite General Conference Treat? 

Do you like to do an activity like color or draw etc..

or write what the speaker is saying? Or just listen?   

Which speaker inspires you the most?

What do you think is the most important thing we can do to make Heavenly Father happy?

Who loves Oma?

******

There will be things for the younger children to do while they listen to conference. Also paper, pens, notepads, etc...

*****

 

Also.....girl party during the priesthood session. 

 

We will be watching the women's session since we missed it because of our trip. BUT, bring your favorite snack and wear your pj's!!

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

(don't forget to reply to the questionnaire)

Adam's Emails for the past 2 weeks!

Week we were in Disneyland

Hey family and friends!

 

Can you believe it's already (or only) been two weeks since I got out here? Measuring time in the MTC is so weird! The days are super long, but before I know it, an entire week has zipped past me! This week isn't quite as eventful as the last one, but there are a couple of things that I want to write you all about! First off, funny story.

 

Every lunch and dinner, the MTC cafeteria offers soup, and I would usually get a bowl or two of it every day (by the way, I noticed that I've been losing weight since I got out here!). The soup usually tastes pretty good, especially with some lime juice squeezed into it (everything tastes better with lime juice). One night, in particular, I had nearly finished my soup when I noticed a ginormous, dead fly at the bottom of the bowl. Yep. Haven't had soup since. It's really funny too, since I didn't think that having flies in the soup was an actual issue. For the rest of the night, I had the Far Side comic stuck in my mind with the bowl of soup poured on the human-sized fly. ("Excuse me, waiter! What's this soup doing on my fly?")

 

My language is still coming along. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to go out into Lima and proselyte for a few hours. Me and my companion were assigned to work in a super-ghetto place, where finding almost 300 stray dogs was a daily thing. Most of them would just ignore us if we ignored them, but later on that night, I heard that one of the Hermanas (Sister Missionaries) got bitten on the ankle by one of them and had to go get a rabies' shot. She was super bummed-out by it too, since it stopped her from proselyting any further (she's OK).

 

Anyways, during the proselyting, me and my companion were taken around a ghetto neighborhood by a member who lived there. We taught an inactive member and an investigating family, both of which we got to commit to coming to church that Sunday. At least, that's what I picked up. The Spanish in the real world compared to the Spanish in the MTC is like a bullet train compared to a snail. When RM's would tell me that they thought the MTC taught them the wrong language, I didn't worry too much when it came down to Spanish. But now, I understand what that's like! The scariest part is that I really need to pick up the pace in learning Spanish or else I'll be out in the field with no idea what people are saying or how to talk to them.

 

Also, serving in that place gave me some culture shock, mission blues, and an irritating cold. I wouldn't go down without a fight, though! The blues went away first, and then the culture shock. The cold is now the only thing that's brave enough to mess with me! It's pretty ironic and funny too. The more I researched about Iquitos, the more I thought, "There is no way I'm catching a cold on my mission!" Then two weeks into the mission, I've got a silly cold. I can already feel it going away now, thank goodness. Being sick is no fun.

 

Shopping on P-Day is a blast as well! I finally gave into the MTC tradition and bought myself a jersey. (It's a Uruguay jersey, but I just got it because it was light blue). The jerseys are bought in a store called Gucho's, which is kind of like a shopping mall and a claustrophobe's nightmare mixed into one. It's really cool. There's one shop that even sold birds, pet mice, and, I kid you not, hedgehogs and armadillos. I didn't even know those were considered pets!

 

Well, that's pretty much my week. 1/3 of the way to getting out into the field! I'm getting pretty excited!

 

So, family, how is Disneyland?! Tell me EVERYTHING! Did Mom and Dad go to the Blue Bayou yet? Have you ridden on the Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Carribean rides 100+ times? How was Midieval Times (probably butchered that spelling)? Most importantly, have you gone on Space Mountain yet? Send me lots and lots of pictures! Especially the ones of Mom on the Hollywood Tower of Terror (if she hasn't gone on that yet, MAKE HER!). Also, tell me all the Disneyland characters you see! I want to know if you saw more than I did last time I went there.

 

Anyway, I probably ought to let you get back to having fun! But before I go, I just want to leave with a thought. I recently watched a devotional given from one of the apostles, telling all the missionaries in the MTC to not only have a good mission, but to have a blast. A lot of the missionaries I talked to said that they had trouble deciding if they wanted to go or not because of the amount of work it was, in which I told them the exact same thing. It's possible to have so much work to do and have fun with it at the same time, because this is the Lord's work, and he wouldn't have us serve a mission save there was a way to get through and come back as a better person. God has a plan for his missionaries, and I'm confident that, despite all the hardships I'll face, it will make me grow into a better person. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

Adios!

-Elder Dixon

Week of September 29th

Hey family and friends!

 

What is up everyone? How has your week been? I heard that Disneyland was a blast! Did you remember to go onto Space Mountain for me? Man, I LOVE hearing from you guys! It's one of the biggest highlights of my week! I'm so glad that all of you are doing so well! Sorry about the sunburns, though. They sound pretty nasty. Although, I heard that down in Iquitos, the missionaries will get tanned EVERYWHERE. Their arms, legs, heads--and even their ties make a tanline! I'm looking forward to the day where you are at the airport, expecting my squishy old self and instead, you get a crispy version of me. I can already imagine the looks on your faces!

 

Speaking of faces, mine has been acting hilariously strange all week! I think it might be the sudden change in atmosphere or something, but the cold I had last week has somehow clogged up my ear. Weird. I could hardly hear anything from that ear now, but it impresses the people I talk to about it. One of the conversations actually went like this: 

 

"You went one whole week with only one ear?" they asked.

 

I turned around to hear them out of my other ear "Wat?"

 

"You went the entire week with only one ear?"

 

"Yeah."

 

 

...I hope you weren't expecting anything funny from that. It was just funny at the time. :P That's another things I love about the MTC here. My district is full of some of the funniest people ever! We all sing in the showers (the men do, anyway). There's pretty much an inside joke for each of us, along with a title of sorts. There are 12 district members, and unlike some of the other districts, there's absolutely zero animosity between any of us! It's the best! In our district, there's:

 

Elder Mann - Killer Smile

Elder Van Uitert - The Brains

Elder Dixon - The One Who Can Beat Up Anybody (somehow?)

Elder Arns - The Silent Comedian

Elder Dahlin - The One Who Is Without-Fail 100% Photogenic

Elder Christensen - A Head Full of Fire, Both Metaphorically and Literally

Elder Burgoyne - Burgy

Elder Foote - Elder Foote

Hermana Wight - Secret Fan of Everything

Hermana Hall - Secret Agent

Hermana Frame - Mom

Hermana Jesperson - Dad

 

That pretty much sums up what our district is like (believe me, it's the best), other than some of the inside jokes we come up with. Yeah, my district is pretty much tha best.

 

On Sunday, because it's General Conference this weekend, we had our fast a week early. We didn't eat Saturday dinner or Sunday breakfast, which wasn't that bad, but for lunch on Sunday, they spoiled us! There were multiple desserts, more food on our plates, and a chocolate fountain! Man, it was great! I felt like I could explode and be content about it afterwards. Pretty much the best meal I've had here! Also, for General Conference, I stocked up. I had planned to buy jelly beans to keep up the tradition of having jelly beans during Conference, but the price of them down here was insane! It was nearly $4 (American dollars) for just a pack smaller than my fist! I decided against the jelly beans and decided to get some peanuts instead, which is a pretty close substitute. I also got myself some little cookie-type things called Casinos. They're super popular down here at the MTC. It's hard not to see a missionary hiding a package of them wherever they went. I won't eat them until Conference, though. They're too good for that. (They're kind of like Oreos, but they taste good without milk too).

 

How are things down...er, up there? Is school going well? I'm glad everyone had a fantasmical time at Disneyland! It sounded like a blast! I hope you all have a great time at General Conference! Make sure you send me your favorite talks and I'll send you mine! I'm so excited to hear what they all have to say! I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, and that the apostles are apostles of God. I'm super grateful that we have this opportunity to hear from them every six months!

 

Have fun at Conference!

-Elder Dixon