FREE STUFF!

I've been doing first-of-the-year cleaning!

I have a bunch of stuff I gotta get rid of.  I want to put it up for dibs with you guys first before I send it off to DI.  Here's the haul!

2 lavenderish 18-inch pillows

An IKEA magnet board

2 red and black seat covers (pretty much new)

4 light fixtures and 1 smaller one

IKEA grayish end table--never been used

Also 2 2-lb weights.  I don't think these belong to me.  Do they look familiar to anyone?

Here's a lovely ceramic pot that I had every intention of painting and taking to be fired (which costs about $4.)  I've realized I'll never have the time to paint it.  It comes with the paint.

Elder Adam's Last email of 2015

Dear Family,

Gee, it was the best being able to see and talk to you all on
Christmas! That really renovated my week! I'm glad each and every one
of you is doing well! It's weird to think that there's just one call
home left.

My Christmas was pretty great! We went up to Iquitos for Thursday to
have a Christmas Conference with the President, in which he gave us
some Mexican candies (he's from Mexico), and we got to break open a
piñata! Yours truly nearly destroyed it. :P We also managed to see a
Christmas parade passing through the streets, with Santa and Missus
Claus throwing out candy to all the kids. Us four missionaries from
Nauta were walking in a part of the road that had no people besides
us, but Santa still threw candy to us adults. Awesome!

For Christmas Day, we went and explored Iquitos a little bit and saw
some sights that I never knew existed (such as a cruise ship that's
been dried out of the water). We bought a few things (like Cup of
Noodles!) and I talked to you guys afterwards. It was pretty much the
best out-of-America Christmas ever!

Afterwards, this Sunday, we managed to find a family that has so much
family love that it nearly surprised me. When we ask people how
important their families are to them, they say "They're important" and
move on. This family, however, began spilling out their hearts on us
about how much they love each other. I could feel their love radiating
when they were talking. They're pretty much the best family we've
found so far!

It makes me think how much we love each other in our family. It made
me ask "When was the last time I did something nice for a family
member just to show my love for them"? That's a question I'd like you
guys to ask yourselves.

How's everyone been in the past few days? Is everyone having a Holly
Jolly Season?

Love,
Elder Dixon

It's Christmas!!! And Adam's Call!

Christmas Day at the Dixon's

Dear Wonderful Dixon Family,

   Christmas is coming so fast and we have so many blessings to be thankful for this year! Katie is home from the Huntsman center, and although she has to stay at her house in isolation, she and her family get to celebrate Christmas together. We are so grateful to Heavenly Father for this blessing. Thank you so much for all your prayers, fasting and faith in her behalf.

    Also, Missy flew in from Boston last night, and is here until next Saturday. It is heavenly to see her again!

    Adam phoned this morning....yes, that's right, I talked to him for about 45 seconds on the phone and he told me he was going to Skype us Christmas day at 11:00 our time. 

So, this is the plan....We will start serving breakfast at 9 am. It is Belgian waffles. Then hopefully start our Christmas gift exchange about 9:30. I'm hoping we can work something out with Katie and Skype (we will look into that and talk to Katie and Robert).  Then because we are so organized and clever we will all be ready to Skype with Adam at 11:00 am.

How does this sound to everyone?

Dad and I want to tell you how blessed we feel to have such wonderful children and their sweethearts and grandchildren. We love you all so much. Thank you for being the best family ever!

Let us know if you have any questions about Christmas Day!

Love,

Mom and Dad

CAN'T WAIT! CAN'T WAIT! CAN'T WAIT!

Dear Family,

So, this week is Christmas, and since it's on a Friday, that will be
our P-Day, so today, they only gave us half time to write, so I only
have time for a little mini-email, which is lucky, because this week
didn't quite stand-out from the others (though I DID get to hold a
baby bunny, a baby otter, and a baby crocodile. My life is complete).

I will be calling to coordinate the call today. Yes or yes. I will be
calling about an hour or two after you get this email, so be ready!
I'll be calling through skype again, this time through my companion's
account, which is:

marce.maldonado4

I love you more than pizza (which I've had a hankering for lately)!

Merry Christmas!

Elder Adam's December 14th email

Dear Family,

Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas? It's got to be the best
day out of all the days. I love it more than I love cake.

Recently the mission began an indicative where we share cards and a
video for our first visit, and it's been running smoothly! The new
Christmas video the church put out is awesome! I'll share the link
with you guys!

christmas.mormon.org

We've been sharing this video with pretty much everyone, and it's been
working super well! We've been getting in so many doors and getting
more investigators! I love sharing the message about the birth of our
Savior and teaching about what he's done for us! I've come to realize
and appreciate the Atonement, and to know that whatever pain or
temptation we've felt, he's felt too. We always have a close friend to
rely on whenever we need help!

Aside from that, the lights are beginning to blossom! The main plaza
of Nauta has Christmas lights, a Christmas tree, and a huge nativity
scene now! One thing I learned about the traditions here is that they
don't put the baby Jesus in the Nativity scenes until Christmas Eve.
Everyone's starting to get a little festive, including me. I often
find myself singing Christmas songs around the house now.

Congratulations on the new baby, Kristy and Tom! She looks very
beautiful and healthy! And congratulations on the baby girl that you
are about to have, Erin and Jim! I hope everyone is doing well up
there in the states! Stay safe with all the snow!

Love,
Adam

P.S. To Mom, I should be calling sometime this week to coordinate the
Christmas call.

 
Dear Family,

After a baptism bash of four people, our area in Nauta is starting to go through a downhill stage. We've got a lot of new recent converts and we're very low on investigators. Every investigator we've found that has potential travels a lot and usually we can't find them in their homes. But when we do find them, we always have killer lessons! The Spirit takes over and the investigators understand everything very well! 

One investigator we have is one we actually found a few weeks ago, but due to his work, we haven't been able to find him very much. His name is Jesus Emmanuel (because his parents names were José (Joseph) and Maria (Mary) and he was born on Christmas Eve at 11:59 in the night. I'm not kidding!) He always listens and he understands everything extremely well! He explains his thoughts openly and we're able to resolve his doubts super well. 

Another thing about him is that he knows a lot. He's very, very smart. He knows how to play piano, he knows English, Spanish, and German, and he knows a ton of trivial, yet interesting facts. For example, the other day, before one of our lessons, he explained to us how the common types of neckties came to be. I forgot the entire story, but what they're supposed to represent are swords, which is why they're shaped like one. Perhaps this is the sword of truth in the armor of God? Just an interesting fact that I wanted to share with you all. :P

This week, too, I've been studying like crazy. I've been studying about knowledge, and how we can learn to know more and more. I've learned that with the spirit of prayer and a faithfulness to the gospel, we can be able to learn things about the gospel that no man has ever known before. When I read that in D and C, I was very impressed. With the diligent study of the scriptures, we may be able to resolve whatever worry or doubt we may have, thanks to the spirit and the love God has for us.

In short, we didn't have much progression in the area, but I had a ton of progression in my study. It was a pretty good week!

How is everyone up in the cold, cold states? Is Katie feeling any better? You're going to have to tell me about Kristy's baby and the name she and Tom will give! You're going to also tell me about Erin's upcoming baby! And Lilli's also going to have to tell me more about Belgium and the Netherlands (after learning about her call, I got super interested in learning more about it!)

I love you all! I keep praying for you every single day! You are all the best!

Love,

Adam