Elder Adam's May 25th email

Hey Family! How is everything going?

Well, changes happened last week. I didn't get changed, but my old companion, Elder Nina, did. I'm companions with an Elder called Elder Figueroa. We met each other a while back in Iquitos, when I was still being trained. We were in the same ward together. He's a pretty cool guy, and has tons of awesome examples that he uses to teach investigators. He's a superb teacher! I can learn a lot from him.

This week, we had another dog follow us around. We had nearly forgotten about the old dog that followed the other companionship, Rocky, until this new dog showed up. It began to follow us and Elder Figueroa affectionately named it "Jack". 

I kinda liked the dog at first, but then it kept following us. And following us. And following us. And wherever we went, it came with us. Even when we think we lost it, it would just show up out of nowhere and follow us again. And wherever we went, every dog on the street wanted to bark and attack Jack.

It got to the point where we couldn't stand it anymore, so we went to the police station (which, luckily, was in my area), and had them take care of it. However, Pucallpa doesn't have a dog pound, so the only way they could take care of it was to hold it back as we got away. It's worked so far, but I still have that foreboding feeling we're going to see Jack again. :P

We had an awesome week this week! Me and my comp were able to get four people to commit to baptism! One family (with two young men and a girl in primary), and a lady named Jennifer that already has a testimony! Things down here are going really well for me.

But how are things up there? How's Katie doing? And Lilli up in France? Is she having a good time? I've noticed that I've missed a couple of birthdays, so I want to wish everyone up there a happy birthday!

I love you all and I pray for you every day!

Elder Dixon

Elder Adam's May 18th Email

Dear Family,
Dad and I just want you to know how very grateful we are for such wonderful children (this includes in-laws, and grandchildren), You all worked so very hard in the rain and cold and you didn't complain! You are all just amazing and we love you and are so proud of all of you. 
Thank you. Words can never say the way we feel. You are wonderful! We feel Heaven has noticed all that you have sacrificed and the love and service you have given.
We love you so much,
Mom and Dad

Dear Family!

I'm so happy to hear that Katie's fundraiser went well! I had that in my mind all throughout Saturday, thinking "I wonder how the fundraiser is doing?" It's such a blessing to see that kind of miracle happen for you guys!

I saw a little miracle down here too. A little one, but it was still pretty cool. I was reading from the "Our Heritage" book that Mom sent me, reading about the miracles that can happen as long as the people had faith first. A day later, we ran out of money, apart from a single S/.100 bill we had and that we had to find change badly.

Now, the money and inflation thing down here in Peru is super weird. Everything that's not made in America is cheap-as-dirt, however, Peru likes to make more paper money than coins. That's bad. They had that problem nearly 40 years ago and had to change currency, and now they're doing it again. As a result, people have more paper money than coins, and if you're stuck with nothing but a 100 bill, then you're outta luck.

So when we had nothing but a 100 bill, my comp figured we were in the pickle of the century. When you've got a valuable bill down here in Peru, you're NEVER going to find change. The only place you can go to is a bank, which was nearly 30 minutes by vehicle out from where we were. 

However, the stories from the book inspired me to tell my comp that God can make anything happen as long as we had faith in him. I felt confident that things would turn out. He agreed and we asked the first taxi vehicle if they had change for a 100 bill. They said they'd go check at the gas station.

When we stopped at the gas station, they did have change. In fact, what they had was nothing but coins. That never happens. Now we've got enough change to last us a few weeks now. It was cool to see something like that happen out of faith.

It got me thinking about Katie's situation, how her white blood cells are returning and how many people are supporting her in her fight. I believe that the faith of all of us can get her healed. It's really amazing, what faith can do.

We had another decent week this week (I got to hold a bunny :-D). Transfers are this week, and everyone's pretty convinced that I'm either getting transferred to a new area or that I'm going to train a new missionary. Or both. I guess we'll see how things turn out!

I love you all!

Elder Dixon

Amazing Family

I just want everyone to know how grateful I am for everything and all of your time and help and sacrifice for us.  The Dixon's are an amazing group of people!  Tomorrow at 4:00 we are having Hawiian haystack and birthday cake for the May birthdays in the family.  Everyone is invited and we'd love to really sit and chat since we didn't have a lot of time to do that today.  I love you guys so much!  Thank you forever!

Elder Adam's May10th Email

to me, Glenn

​Hey Family!

It was so great and awesome to talk to you all and see all of your happy, bright, sun-shiny faces! It certainly made my week 100x better! I was kinda down because Ludwig wasn't able to get baptized because there was some confusion with the Baptism Permit and his mother wouldn't sign it for nothing because she's a die-hard Catholic. :( But seeing your faces made me happy again!

There's nothing much to report this week, since I told you most of it through the video, but I can satisfy your curiosities as to what the people here do for Mother's Day. Here, it's pretty much the same. Kids make breakfast. Sing. That kinda stuff. The mothers in church also recieved flowers from their children.

What was a bit different, though, was that the entire city of Yarinacocha, Pucallpa did something similar. The children of the city gave their mothers fans. Like the kind you plug into the wall. I thought it was sweet, thoughtful, and rather expensive. But they were willing, so ok. :)

I've got nothing more to report, so I'll finish with some pictures!! One of the baptism with Max and the other taken with a sparkle on my best-defining feature! :P

I love you all!

Elder Dixon

Mother's Day and Elder Adam's email!

Dear Family,

Guess who I talked to yesterday? ADAM! He tells me that he will be calling on Sunday (Mother's Day) at 6pm. So anyone that would like to talk to him, that is when we will be able to see and talk to him!! I LOVE missionary calls!!! Life is good!

Dear Family!

This week, we had originally planned on having just one baptism. On Saturday, we baptized little Max Sandoval! But earlier this week, there was another kid who lived in a family of members who wanted to get baptized, so we got to baptize him as well! It was pretty sweet (and super short notice, but OK!)

Our Sunday sacrament meeting was rather odd this week, though. Most of the members had traveled to Lima to visit the temple. They had planned to come back right before church started, but their flight was late, so we had to start without them. The ward mission leader had to direct the meeting and we got to bless the sacrament in Spanish. When Max was about to get confirmed, I had expected some of the adults of the ward to do it. Instead, the mission leader called me to do it. I confirmed Max by reading the ordinance out of the mission manual. Gotta study those harder!

Other than that, nothing much has happened this week. I'm seriously trying to think of something newsy I can tell you guys, but my mind's drawing a blank. 

Oh, there's something else! The zone leaders visited me and my companion to see how well we teach a lesson. So we taught them as if they were investigators, and they were clearly impressed. They told us what they liked, what we could improve, and after everything, both of them looked at me and said, "Elder Dixon, you're ready to train a new missionary."

I didn't quite know how to take it. I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for that yet, but if it turns out that I'm training someone next change, I'll do it happily! I was just psyched out at that level of compliment. Someone else told me that they thought I'd be a good district leader. Many more people told me they think I'm going to get married right after my mission. I have no idea why they keep saying these things. :P

How are things going down...er, up there? Is Katie's fundraiser going well? How is she doing? That's so cool to hear that Kristy's expecting! Congratulations to her! Good luck with the fundraiser (that package Jim and Erin made looks like it'll sell like hot cakes!)

Also, I'm going to call this Sunday! I want to call (probably via Skype) when everyone's around. Happy Mother's Day!

Love,

Elder Dixon