A Brief Testimony

Dear Friends and Family,

       The last couple of weeks have been very busy and full of lots of unexpected things, but life is never boring now, is it? The change in missionary rules allowing us to video call our families on a regular basis has been a big blessing for me. Being able to more directly interact with them has been a strength to me, and helped inspire me to work harder and make the very most of every day.

       It has been great to see the transformation that has occured in my ward in Guisad. When Elder Torsak and I arrived, missionary work in the ward was struggling. With our work and encouragement, we now have many more members participating in the work with us, and their support is a huge help (not just because they speak the native languages here). The Spirit that a sincere and loving member of the church can bring into a missionary lesson is astounding. The difference is a real, tangible feeling, and I'm realizing more and more that Israel cannot be gathered successfully without the help of every member of the church. There are roughly 70,000 (I think) missionaries serving right now. That's a lot...but nowhere near enough to give all of God's children a chance to hear the Restored Gospel. On the other hand, there are roughtly 17,000,000 members of the church in the world, well over 100x the number of missionaries, and that number continues to grow. The only way for the world to be prepared for the second coming of Jesus Christ is for everyone who knows the truth to make every effort to share that truth. 
     
       So of course, I invite each of you to find a new way to share the gospel, be it talking to a friend about your beliefs, working with the missionaries, sharing an uplifting message with a family member, etc. No matter what your past missionary efforts have been, try something new. You never know what might happen. I've seen miracles occur from small attempts at sharing, both during and before my mission. And no effort is ever wasted. No matter what the result is, God knows what you did, and will bless you for it. I bear you my testimony that God lives and loves His children, us. I can feel his love in my heart when ask sincerely. And I know that He wants us to love and care our original, spiritual brothers and sisters. If serving and loving them is our goal, he will surely bless us with the power to reach that goal. Thank you for all you do, and for your support. God bless your for your goodness and as you do His will! 

 Love, Elder Dickison

 Pictures! 
1) Elder Dickison and a giant banana 
2)Elder Torsak getting swarmed by children
3)A giant, fuzzy caterpillar on my slacks

Spider Signal...?

Dear Family and Friends, 

 The past week has been productive, though filled with many weird, wacky or bizarre moments. We received transfer news this past Saturday, and no one from my apartment was transferred! So Elder Torsak and I get to stay together for at least another 6 weeks, and I get to finish his training. :) I am especially grateful for this since Elder Torsak and I get along really well and become better friends and a more united companionship day by day. So even sometimes when it feels like the people we are teaching are not progressing as fast as we want, at least I can see my companionship and companion progressing.

 We were able to find quite a few new people to teach this past week, which was good considering how much of a struggle that had been the past few weeks. These new people range from construction workers to drug overdose survivors to bakla. It's always hard to tell which of these people are the legitimately interested ones... but we'll keep visiting, teaching and figure that out. We are also teaching a man, Reo Navarro, who has actually come to church a few times now and has an adorable family with two little girls. I'm hopeful that he will ultimately choose to be baptized, but the situation is a little tricky because he's not married to his partner...so we're trying to help him build his testimony and desire to keep all the commandments. I can tell that our testimonies are having some effect on him, but he has to find his own testimony of the truth before he will really decide to move forward. Before I arrived in the Philippines, I heard plenty of crazy stories about crazy animals that live here. Thus far, the stories have proven to be mostly true. On a daily basis, we kill at least two or three massive cockroaches in our apartment and every few days there's a giant spider to go with them. The dogs in Baguio are also nuts, and seem to be literally everywhere you go. So much fun. :) 

 Thank you all so much for the emails, videos and pictures! I appreciate so much getting to see you all! Please take care of yourselves!

Love, Elder Dickison 

 Media!
 1) Elder Torsak and I were trying to follow up on a referral. All we found was a pit full of dogs, which we ultimately chased off and took a companionship victory selfie.
 2) There was a giant spider on the inside of a mesh cupboard, so we shined a light through it and make an makeshift spider signal. :) 

Huwag magtanong ng mga malalim na tanong!

Dear Family and Friends,

     I've had a really interesting week here in Guisad. Sometimes it felt super interesting and productive. Other times it felt really slow and frustrating. Every week has it ups and downs, but maybe this week felt more that way than a lot of others. At any rate, good things happened, progress was made, and I'm hopeful that the coming week(s) will be just a tad bit smoother (wishful thinking, right? :P).

     Last Monday after emailing we visited the huge park in Baguio city- Burnham. You can sort of think of it Baguio's version of New York's Central Park. We had a McDonald's picnic, bought some funky souvenirs, got confronted by a homeless lady who had previously stolen a missionary's bag and went quadricycling (like bicycling except with four wheels...sort of like man powered four wheeling). We actually did quite a bit of finding/talking to people while we were on the quadricycles, so I suppose it was worth the time. Some of them actually texted us back after we gave them pass-along cards. :)

     Then Elder Torsak started getting pretty sick, and ended up not being able to work Monday night and all of Tuesday. This meant I spent a lot of time studying, cleaning the apartment and watching all of the Church videos available to me. I did greatly enjoy getting to study in the Book of Ether about the Brother of Jared being blessed through his faith and whole-hearted prayer to have his language preserved, be guided through the wilderness and ultimately see Jesus Christ Himself. All of these incredible experiences and blessings were wrought through faith and sincerity of heart, which things I desire to see in myself.

     I really want to make a difference in the lives of the people I'm teaching, and my testimony is growing that through my faith unto diligence and heartfelt prayers, God will grant me the things I am asking for. They are good things, so I believe that God is, in His own way, granting them unto me. Even if I don't always see all the effects.

     Elder Torsak and I also had to travel to San Fernando for Elder Torsak's "follow-up training." This involved a review of how each companionship from Elder Torsak's batch was doing and a training on how better to teach the message of the Restoration. It was a good training...though I think I kind of derailed the teaching practice we were supposed to do. The Assistants to the President started giving us and example of how to apply the things they were teaching us and I, role-playing an investigator, started asking them semi-deep questions that I was honestly curious about. This lead to President Bangal stopping the whole practice to hunt down scriptural answers to my question, and we ended up running out of time before any of the trainees could do the role-play themselves. Whoops. :P

     

Love you all so much, and please take care of yourselves!

Love, Elder Dickison

Pictures/Video!

1) Our zone went Canadian bowling together this P-day! Not as tasty as Canadian bacon, but a good time nonetheless!

2) We found a giant party hat in Burnham Park! (Or maybe a Christmas tree? Still not sure...)

The Farmer's Daughter's Restaurant...

Dear Family and Friends

     It's been a good, although challenging week in the Misty Mountains. Elder Torsak and I made some real progress- one of the people we're teaching finally came to church, and we found several new people with good potential! On the flip side of that coin, most of the seemingly solid appointments we had for the week ended up falling through. :( I guess that's missionary life sometimes, but it's still disappointing. Nevertheless, I really want this area to be able to baptize somebody(s) in this area, so I'm gonna give it 110% more this week and watch some miracles happen!

     Despite getting punted 90% of the time, Elder Torsak and I were recipients of some awesome miracles! One of those included going to visit a very large inactive part member family, the Ronquillos. This family spans four generations, all of whom live in the same massive house on the side of a mountain. There's four different entrances into the house, so you're never quite sure who's going to answer any given door and what kind of reception you'll get. The last time Elder Torsak and I visited them, we were met by an elderly woman who basically told us none of their family was interested in letting us visit them. Then this past week, we tried again...but nobody answered any of the doors. Then we tried again a couple days later, and a middle aged man answered, invited us in and gave us cookies. :) We were able to share a brief message after getting to know him, and he expressed sincere thanks for our visit and a real desire to return to activity! There's still hope! Apparently we caught him at just the right time, and I really felt impressed by the Spirit that it was important that we visited him at that time. I don't know for sure how it will all turn out...but I know I really felt like the Lord had guided us there at that time.

     Elder Torsak and I also decided earlier in the week to try finding/exploring in a section of our area we had never gone to before, which turned into an interesting adventure. We were expecting to find some neighborhoods of people, but instead found an entire semi-hidden village in the mountains with a gazillion tourist attractions called Tam-awan. We got some cool pictures, but didn't find quite as many people as we were hoping. My favorite discovery was the (aptly?) named Farmer's Daughter's Restaurant, which we have yet to enter, but I'm still getting a kick out of the exceptionally random name. 

     Elder Torsak's aunt, uncle and cousins also showed up out of the blue on Sunday, and joined us in sacrament meeting. It was great to meet them, and they brought us chicken fajitas for lunch, which was the perhaps the best food I've eaten in the last few months. Funny how much difference real cheese makes. 

     Overall, all other things are pretty good. I love my bahay (apartment and the people in it). They are all good missionaries, people, and good friends. Elder Torsak and I continue to become better friends, and become better at working together. I bought some cereal for my birthday! It was ridiculously expensive, but I guess it's only my birthday once a year.

Love, Elder Dickison

Pictures include:

A Companionship Unity Selfie

An Igorot (Native Filipino Tribe) Warrior Statue

Elder Dickison and the Psychedelic Gekkos 

Elder Dickison in the Misty Mountains

A...tower?...spa?...bed and breakfast?...giant tiered wedding cake...?

Rats!

Dear Family,

    

     The past week has been good, though challenging at times. As Elder Torsak and I continue to sort through the information given to us when we arrived, we have had to drop (for one reason or another) almost all of the people who were investigators before we arrived. This means we've been doing a lot of finding among part member families in the ward and on the streets. Thankfully I can talk to people on the streets without too much problem, though I do wish my vocab was larger so I don't feel like I'm repeating myself over and over again so much. 

     Elder Torsak is really learning pretty fast, which I'm grateful for. I'm trying to teach him about the culture, language, and the gospel as fast as I can, but of course I'm not a Filipino or a Seminary teacher. :P Thankfully he really is willing to work hard and be obedient, so I'm very grateful for that. Elder Torsak is a good guy and missionary, and we really get along quite well. He likes basketball (he's so tall I can't even block him when we play on P-days), listening to music (including some of the same "epic" music that I like to listen to) and spending time with friends.

     I personally am holding up pretty well considering all the random challenges and stressors that have showed up. Another one of the Lord's many blessings. I definitely won't say that I wanted to whitewash a struggling area with very few active members and train a brand new non-Filipino missionary all at the same time...but I just keep focusing on all the counteracting blessings. :) 

     Thankfully, we've had some good progress made in our area, despite the difficulties. We went into a lesson with one of our new people (Estalin) ready to teach a short lesson about the Book of Mormon. After starting the lesson, he started bombarding us with questions about Joseph Smith seeing aliens, plural marriage and whether or not children can sin. Needless to say I starting praying really hard interally to not say anything stupid and know how best to answer Brother Estalin's concerns (the internet can be a dangerous place to get information :P). Putting my old scripture chase skills to use, I was then able to hunt down a scripture in the Book of Mormon to answer every one of Estalin's questions, effectively keeping focused on the Book of Mormon while still letting Estalin's needs guide the lesson. It was kind of a crazy experience, but I felt incredibly blessed to know what to do. God truly is aware of our needs in every moment and will give us what we need if we ask sincerely. 

     In the semi-crazy-Philippines story category, this week's experience comes from Elder Cuaco and Elder Van Drimmelen (our apartment mates). Shortly after finishing a lesson last night, the two Elder had only walked for about ten seconds before they were ambushed by two gigantic dogs who apparently wanted to eat them. In an epic missionary moment, Elder Van Drimmelen started dueling one of the dogs with Ang Aklat ni Mormon and a pamphlet, while Elder Cuaco grabbed an orange out of his bag and nailed the other dog directly in the face with it, causing a very juicy explosion. After jumping into the road (and traffic) to try and escape the dogs, their attackers finally decided missionary steak wasn't worth it and left. Never a boring day here. :P

     Anyways, thank you so much for you letters and prayers! Please remember I am praying for you every day! I love you all so much! Please take care of yourselves!

Love, Elder (Joshua) Dickison 

Pictures this Week:

1) A very steep hill we climb up three times a week

2) A very large rat drinking out of what appears to be a rat-feeding-bowl 

God Will Sustain

Dear Family and Friends,

     The last week has felt really wild and overwhelming in many ways, but I am grateful for all of the blessings that have accompanied it, for they are many. On Tuesday, the missionaries in Guisad A area took me on a tour of my new area, Guidsad B, and tried to show me as much of it as possible. This was super helpful and much needed, although I definitely didn't have everything figured out after only one quick pass through the area. I then traveled down to the lowlands again to wait for my new trainee who was arriving Thursday. 

     Wednesday we had a trainer's training (oxy-moron?) and I worked with some other Elders in San Fernando (near the mission office) but started getting quite sick to my stomach later in the day. Not wanting to interrupt the other Elder's work, I threw up a plea for mercy to heaven and kept plodding onward. Eventually we were able to find and teach a super prepared man who wants to join the church already, which was miraculous and a great blessing. 

     Thursday I finally picked up my new trainee, Elder Torsak! He's a super-tall Elder from Utah who is actually half-Filipino. It was so great to finally meet him face to face and start getting to know him. During the course of this "Meet you trainee" meeting, I developed a fever and started shivering (not good timing), but I bluffed my way through it by bouncing my leg, making my vibration seem more normal. :P The things you do for meetings. 

     We traveled back to Baguio City, which I don't really remember (fever brain) and after getting lost driving around in a taxi for ten minutes (the driver didn't recognize the address I gave him, and I was too new to be able to guide him) we finally made it home. At this point I was feeling pretty bad for Elder Torsak since his trainer was basically out of commission and he was a brand spanking new missionary.

     Friday I really still wasn't feeling good, but I started praying really hard to be able to function and work so that Elder Torsak could have a normal first day of work. after much medicine taking and too many trips to the CR, we made it out the door and time, and started working our brand new area. We talked to a crazy number of people that day, and despite my head not being super clear, I found that I always had words in my mouth to say in solid Tagalog. If that wasn't the Gift of Tongues at work, nothing is. Elder Torsak, being brand new, doesn't really understand what the people are saying yet, but the Spirit truly sustained me in body and language to be able to do the Lord's work.

     Sorry for the nearly blow-by-blow narrative there, but I was really impressed by how God provided the strength and ability for me to accomplish hard (or seemingly impossible) things in response to my prayer. The past week may have been the most physically difficult in my mission thus far (my area is also insanely steep), but God truly will provide a way for us to do hard things if we pray in faith, desiring to do good.

      Thank you so much for your love, friendship and support! I so appreciate every prayer, email, and well wish. Enjoy 2019, and take care!

Love, Elder Dickison

Pictures!

1) Working with the Elders in San Fernando (a 4 year old was taking the picture)

2) A delicious Sinigang we created with our aparmentmates

3) Elder Torsak and I at our first meeting

4) A pretty view of Guisad from way up on a mountain

New Year, New Area, New Trainee...Here we go!

Dear Family and Friends,

     Happy New Year! With this arriving year, there are all sorts of changes arriving in my missionary work. I have been transferred from Agoo up into the mountains of Baguio! Officially, I am in the La Trinidad Zone of our mission, but my new area, Guisad, is essentially part of Baguio city proper. This move has brought a major change in sights and people... going from a very rural area to a highly urbanized one. I'm currently writing from a computer shop in a 10 story building, instead of the tiny, dinky computer shop in Agoo. I'm not much of a city boy...but I love the people, so everything will be great. :)

 In addition to moving areas, I have been asked to become a trainer! My trainee is not yet in the mission, so I don't know who he is yet, but he will arrive later this week, so I will be sure to give an update on him in my next email. For the time being, I am in a trioship with two other Elders, one of whom I arrived in the mission with me. I'll admit...I feel pretty inadequate as far as training a new missionary goes. But, I am determined to provide a constructive, friendly and helpful companionship and environment for my trainee. Hopefully with lots of prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit, that will be enough.

     The past week of crazy Fililpino Christmas celebrations was fun, though it was honestly quite difficult to get good missionary work done. Almost everyone we visited or talked to seemed to be partying, singing Videoke or drunk, making teaching nigh impossible. Elder Garcia and I were however able to visit our recent convert, Sister Maria Cardona, and I was truly touched by her desire to share the gospel with her family. She literally spent about an hour just telling us about all her plans to help her children start coming to church with her and learn about the gospel. :) She is an incredibly sincere and devoted person, and it was (is) hard to leave her and the other people we were teaching. I suppose the excitement of moving and gaining new experiences is always kind of tainted by the sadness of leaving behind meaningful people and experiences.

     All in all, my experiences in Agoo have convinced my beyond and shadow of a doubt that the Gospel is true. As I've watched it work miracles is the lives of others and in myself, my testimony has been greatly strengthened. Particularly in this time of many new and unknown things, I will be relying on important things I have learned and the supporting hand of God to do His work. Thank you for your prayers, support and good wishes. I truly do feel their sustaining effect. Please take care, and enjoy the New Year!

Ang Tagapagligtas natin, si Jesus Christ

Dear Family and Friends,

 Merry Christmas! It is so wonderful to have this opportunity to remember Jesus Christ this season, in our thoughts, and especially in our deeds. I hope that you have found joy in serving and showing God's love to others these past few weeks of December! Truly the greatest happiness in life is found in doing good and being Christlike, no matter the opposing messages the world constantly sends. I am so grateful for the Savior's example in how to live a joyful, peace filled life.

 During His mortal life, Jesus was renown for the many miracle He performed by the power and love of God. During my mission and especially the last week, I have seen the continuation of His many miracles in my own life and work as a missionary. Elder Garcia and I were able to baptize one of the people we've been working with, Steven Abubo! He is only 9 years old, but the happiness on his face during and after his baptism was very sweet to me. Joy and Jason, the young couple we have been teaching, have committed to get married (even though they don't know exactly how and when) because they truly believe in the message of the Restored Gospel. Elder Garcia and I found a new person to teach, Mark, who honestly wants to find the truth. Our long time investigator, Sister Sheina finally came to church again after a roughly 6 week hiatus! These are but a few of the many wonderful works of God in my life here and now. I am looking forward to seeing what miracles the Lord will provide for me as His weak, but striving servant.

 Christmas Eve and Day in the Philippines has proven to be full of much fried chicken, sweet spaghetti, rice cake and loud noises. There's literally a tornado warning signal that sounds across all of Agoo every hour, on the hour (but of course there's no tornado...it's just for the sound :P). I'm fairly sure I've already eaten my body weight, and will probably do so again before the day is over. The people here are incredibly hospitable, friendly and welcoming, always willing to invite you into their homes and feed you. That's something that I hope to take home with me as much as possible. Although there may not be any snowball fights and my Christmas tree is one foot tall, Christmas is still Christmas no matter where you are. Please enjoy this holiday no matter where you are, what you are doing, or who you are with! My love goes out to you, and I pray that you will find happiness on this Christmas day!


 Love, Elder Dickison

 Pictures:
1) A picture from Steven's Baptism. :)
2) The Abominable Snowman followed me from America!
3) There are missionary Legos...? All the things I never knew.. :P

Christmas Caroling...With Benefits...?

Dear Family and Friends,

     The past week has been full of so many blessings! It certainly had its hiccups along the way, but I am always so grateful to see the hand of the Lord in the countless wonderful things that are happening. Unfortunately Elder Garcia was out sick for the first half of the week, making our work a bit trickier. Consequently I ended up going on companionship exchanges with Elder Barrado (one of my apartment mates) for a few days in a row in order to try and keep our work going. The Christmas season is definitely a busy time in the Philippines as it is most other places. A lot of people are gone or busy, so our teaching opportunities were more limited than usual, but we definitely didn't stop trying the entire week. 

     I loved finally getting to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last week, and President Nelson's invitation to more fully accept Christ's gifts to us struck me very strongly. Truly all the Savior wants for us is to find true happiness in this life and eternity. That's the purpose behind everything he has ever done. What a profound love that is. And it is equally profound that the best way we can accept His gifts and show our love for Him is to follow His example and focus on loving others instead of ourselves. I love this totally simple yet most powerful truth about eternity. And I love the reminders of the Christmas season to consider the Savior's plan for us, instead of our plans for ourselves.

     Though it is sad to say, I don't think I'm going to see much snow this Christmas. But on the flip side of things, there are lots of Christmas carolers here...pretty much everywhere here... :) But unlike the Christmas carolers from my home, these children aren't asking for figgy pudding. Rather, they expect money in exchange for their singing.   They are very cute and I feel kind of guilty because I'm not allowed to give them money as a missionary, but I do kind of have to laugh... I never thought of caroling as a lucrative business before now. :P 

     I wish I could visit home just briefly, because I just became an uncle this past week! But I am so grateful to be here serving the Lord, and I will look forward to meeting my niece when I return home. I hope this Christmas season finds you well and happy, and know that I am praying for you to feel the Savior's love during this time of remembrance of Him. Merry Christmas to you all!

 Love, Elder Dickison

P.S. Just a couple of pictures this week from the stage in our chapel.

Maligayang Pasko!

Dear Family and Friends,

     I can hardly believe there's only two more weeks until Christmas Eve... As a matter of fact, last night the Agoo city government put up a whole bunch of Christmas lights and decorations in the central city plaza, and upon first seeing the new lights, I couldn't figure out why they were there. Despite the fact there there were a bunch of stars and flashing reindeer. I think I need help. :P

     This past Friday, we were able to have our annual mission Christmas conference in Baguio city proper! This was a nice change of pace after seeing the same sights and walking the same paths for almost 4 straight months. We woke up ridiculously early in the morning (3:30) and rode in a van up the mountains with the most insane driver I have ever seen or heard of. (I'm pretty sure we were going 90 mph around tight mountain curves with steep drop offs). Good thing we have missionary protection. :) The conference itself included games, a talent show and the all-important-arrival of Santa Clause (see pictures below). Activities aside, it was a great opportunity to have a brief reunion with many of the missionaries who arrived in the mission with me, and to get to meet new missionaries as well!

     Much of the message of the conference was focused on loving others as our first priority. It was good for me to hear the quote "Never let a problem to be solved become more important that a person to be loved" from President Monson. Sometimes in the midst of my frustrations with others, I know I become more focused on what the others is doing wrong, rather than focusing on how I can lovingly help them to improve and support them in the good things they are doing. Jesus Christ's example to us is of course one of great patience, but also one of always exhorting and helping to do good. The more I ponder on this idea, the more convinced I become that sitting in frustration with other's problems and flaws is pointless and foolish (no matter who the person causing the problem is). The best thing we can do for others and for ourselves is to obey Jesus' commandment, "Feed my Sheep." Only by loving, serving and exhorting others unto righteousness can we find fulfillment in any situation.

     Yesterday, Sister Joy and Brother Jason once again made it to church, and I am again to humbled by their true desire to follow the Savior. I am privately hoping to be able to witness personally their baptism, though I may be transferred to another area before the happens. At any rate, Elder Garcia and I have a baptism scheduled for the 22nd of December for one of the Part-Member-Families in our ward, so hopefully we will be able to baptize at least once more person before I leave Agoo. Truly the Lord's vineyard is a wonderful place to work, no matter how hot the sun may sometimes be! Thank you for your prayers and support, and may God bless you in the season of remembrance of the Lord, Jesus Christ!

Love, Elder Dickison

Pictures this Week:

1) Elders Dickison and Hollister. Elder Hollister is my mission grandfather (my trainer's trainer).

2) Reunion with Elder Villipaz. When my trainer was sick in the hospital, Elder Villipaz temporarily served in my area with me.

3) All missionaries present at the conference who arrived with me in the Baguio Mission.

4) Elder Dickison and Santa Clause (in the flesh :)

 

 

Christmas...? Is it really...?

Dear Friends and Family,

     It has been a good week here in the 'Pines, but I'm starting to feel really weird about the season. Everyone keeps telling me Christmas is close, and we sang Christmas hymns in sacrament meeting yesterday, but there's no snow...and it's hotter here than when I arrived. It feels like summer here!! Man, being in the tropics is a weird experience after Utah for 20 years.

     Anyways, Elder Garcia and I have seen some wonderful progress in the people we are teaching. We recently found a young couple, Joy and Jayson, who have once again astounded me with their humility and progress in learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it seems like they are teaching themselves more than anything else. (Not kidding. Our last lesson plan was to link faith to attending church. We started by asking them what they though faith was, and they responded with "Well, it probably means we should go to church." 8I Elder Garcia and I look at each other and silently communicate, "We didn't say anything about going to church yet....what the...?") Their faith is really something else, and I really hope they continue to read, pray and receive the joy of the gospel into their lives. The Lord truly has been leading us to wonderful, prepared people; what a blessing!

     This week as I have been reading the book of Helaman, I've been struck by how critically important it is to exhort others towards doing what is right, especially the people we love most in our lives. In the earlier part of Helaman, the Nephites found themselves in a real pickle where their own military strength was simply insufficient to beat back the Lamanites. So what did they do? They didn't invent some new weapon of war (like an Iron Man suit). Instead, Nephi and Lehi preached the Gospel to them, the Lord converted them, and they willingly gave up they lands they had taken by warfare. Perhaps it seems like a bizarre, round about way to solve the problem, but it proves that they answer to every problem in life is greater faith and diligence in doing the Lord's will. A great many problems in life seem ultra-complicated, or simply impossible to overcome. But no matter the complexity or difficulty of the problem, living the Gospel in it's fullness will provide a solution. Consequently, if we really want our loved ones to find success, joy and peace in their lives, they best thing we can do is to exhort (very powerfully invite) them to live the Gospel, and all other things will work themselves out. 

     Well, that's probably enough writing out of me. Thank you all for your support and any/all prayers! Please know that you are in my prayers daily, and I ask God every day to prosper you in all your good desires. Please take care of yourselves! Until next week!

Sincerely, Elder Dickison

Pictures!

1) Proof that white turkeys do exist! Not the greatest picture...but I was so surprised to see this thing, I had to capture it!...on film. For some reason I didn't think turkeys could be white...

2) Elder Garcia found the path to Narnia. Also proof Elder Garcia is crazy (look at the umbrella he bought).

3) Elder Dickison found the path to Narnia. Also proof that Elder Dickison was transfigured. (Glowing with heavenly light. :P)

4) The cute Christmas tree my family sent me. :)