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!)