How to be Humbled in One Easy Step...

Well, after two weeks spent in the Scottsdale Mission, it feels like some parts of missionary life are becoming more normal. Yet somehow every day manages to throw another curve ball at me. It's probably for the best I suppose.... as has been reiterated to me a lot recently, the comfort zone is the enemy of improvement.

The people that Elder Smart and I interact with regularly with have come into clearer focus as we've worked this week. I've met most of the Ward members and leaders as well as the majority of the people we are teaching. The people we are teaching include a woman that writes a horse periodical, a woman with a pet pig, two single-mom families with difficult pasts and a couple wacky/crazy (literally) old men. As I have prayed for, planned for and worked with these people daily, I have truly felt God's love for them. They are His precious children, and I hope that I can help guide them to the gospel, which will bring them greater happiness and peace in their lives.

This week I've had a couple good lessons in patience and persistence. Almost daily I've been out knocking doors trying to find those who are willing to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 99% of these attempts are met with some form of failure, ranging anywhere from getting yelled at to being handed a bottle of water and sent away. Interestingly, that 1% of people willing to listen almost always come at the very end of a long day of door knocking. Literally the last house we try. Had Elder Smart and I given up any sooner, we would have found no success. But persisting through to the very end of the time we have has made all the difference for us. This is a witness to me that God really is a good tutor, even if the journey of being taught is a hard one. 

On Thursday, I got to go on my first exchange with one of my zone leaders, Elder Macy. Since I am still unfamiliar with my area and missionary work in general, I assumed that I would be traveling to the zone leader's area where I would just be tagging along for the ride. But instead, they decided to send off Elder Smart for the day, leaving me to try and lead my area with Elder Macy who knows nothing about Cave Creek. What followed was in essence a very embarrassing day in which I realized I still know very little about anything out here. :P I became the designated driver of our vehicle with Elder Smart gone, something I had been hoping to avoid. Not knowing the complex street systems well, I was relying almost completely on Elder Macy to navigate. Only afterwards did I discovered that Elder Macy is universally regarded as the worst navigator in the entire mission. :P Needless to say we spent more time lost than found, and discovered some very strange parts of Cave Creek that even Elder Smart didn't know existed. Ultimately, we did get some good finding done and made it to our scheduled lesson. There were just a few (dozen) hiccups along the way. Again, the Lord is trying hard to teach me patience.

Last night, we traveled to our zone leader's area and spent the night with them. Then, at a horrible, unspeakable hour of the morning, we woke up, packed into our little Toyota Rav4 and drove to the tallest mountains in the valley: "Four Peaks". Unlike the oddly named "Three Peaks" of Cedar City, we actually found four very distinctive and very tall peaks to hike up. After run-ins with rabbits, coyotes, rattlesnakes, quails and roadside puking, we finally made it to the trail head. The hike was beautiful with lots of overlooks and blessed pine trees to make me feel at home. :) Unfortunately, we ended up taking a wrong turn that lead us to a rather vertical cliff face. Like the mountain goat I wish I was, I quickly scrambled up to the top of the cliff and turned around to find my hiking-mates looking at me like I had just pulled a motorcycle out of my backpack. Despite my best persuasion, I couldn't convince any of them to follow me, so I had to climb back down and be content having almost made it to the top. 

I hope you've had a wonderful week, and I will be praying that the Lord will bless you with what you need. If there is ever anything more specific that I can pray for for you, please let me know. Enjoy summer while it lasts!

Love, Elder Dickison.

Out of the Frying Pan, and into a Vat of Molten Gold

It's been almost a week and a half since my last proper P-day, and so much has happened that I hardly know where to start... I guess I'll try the beginning.

My last couple of days at the MTC were filled with many pictures and goodbyes. It was hard to leave the friends I made in my district and zone, but it was definitely time to go nonetheless. Travel to the airport was a bit crazy, but without any major hitches. I traveled with two Elders also waiting for visas to Baguio, and our flight was short but fine. After we had landed in Phoenix and met my new Mission President, we walked outside and I noticed a strange brown...wall...on the horizon. Looking more closely, I realized it was moving towards me. Having seen the movie Interstellar, and not particularly wanting to die, I decided to ask one of the Zone Leaders we were with what it was. "Oh, that. It's just a giant dust storm. It happens when huge monsoons hit the valley..." ...... 8O .....

Anyways, there was another flight of new missionaries coming in to Phoenix after us, so President Robinson left us with the Zone Leaders and sent us straight to work. I immediately helped teach a lesson over Skype, followed by some good old door to door tracting. By this time rain and winds were blasting down from the monsoon, drenching us and uprooting trees, cacti and umbrellas. We then learned that the other plane of missionaries was grounded in Vegas due to the monsoon, so we went and taught another lesson, were fed some crepes and did some more tracting. Finally, tired and rather damp, we made it back to the mission home and called it a night. So much for gradual entry into the mission field. :P

The next day started with some pictures and trainings, followed by the trainer/trainee assignments. I was paired with one Elder Spencer Smart from Pocatello, Idaho. Elder Smart is an awesome missionary, very enthusiastic and friendly. He's been in Arizona for about a year, though he's still slightly younger than me. (I guess I'm more ancient for a missionary than I thought) As I was grilling him for information about our area, he just kept laughing, saying that we have by far the strangest area in Arizona as a whole, not just our mission. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that, especially since there are multiple Native American reservation in our mission. Finally, we drove to the Cave Creek area, and as we were driving along I started to realize what Elder Smart was talking about. Suddenly every ninth car we passed was a Porsche, every 20th car we passed was a Ferrari and every 50th car was a Lamborghini. 8O. We took a brief drive through what Elder Smart called an "impoverished neighborhood" consisting of several dozen multi-million dollar mansions. 8O. Finally we got to our apartment, which we have to ourselves, and it was actually normal. (Phew).

And thus I realized that God had decided to place me in the absolute antithesis of the Philippines. Cave Creek is packed with extremely affluent white people living in gated or guarded communities, most of whom don't think much of the LDS missionaries. The Philippines is mostly packed with relatively poor brown people whose homes are humble and like Amercans in general. I guess I'm living proof that God has a sense of humor. :P

My days since then have been filled with plenty of tracting, interesting conversations, searching for people who aren't home and meeting some of the most unique people I could ever dream up. Last night I actually had a recap with Elder Smart to make sure I hadn't forgotten any of these people...so here we go. During the last week, I have met/talked to:

1) A legitimate professional DJ (one of our ward mission leaders) who uses the name "Whip-Dog" in his line of work.

2) A former MLB player (also a ward mission leader)

3) An Arabian Stallion breeder by the name of "Old McDonald" (Still not sure if his first name is actually Old or not...)

4) Stephanie Meyer (Yup, that Stephanie Meyer) and her family

Well, now that I've talked about basically everything that has nothing to do missionary work, I suppose I should probably get to that. Elder Smart and I have a small pool of people we are teaching / working with right now. A couple groups are families with children and teenagers who have not been baptized yet. Others include a retired businessman going through heart failure, a woman who writes a horse perodical, and a half Filipino woman (YES!) who I have yet to meet. So thankfully, we do actually have people to teach. Unfortunately, many of the people who live in Cave Creek are gone to their "summer homes" in the cooler parts of the country right now. And those people who are still here aren't exactly the most humble group on the face of planet Earth. So the missionary work is slow and sometimes frustrating, but not impossible. I trust that so long as Elder Smart and I work diligently and obediently, miracles will yet be worked and great good will come of our efforts. Already I have had the opportunity to testify to members and non-members of what I know to be true, and have felt the Spirit confirm my words. In spite of the challenges that do exist here in Cave Creek, so long as I can testify, invite and help others to learn of their Savior, I will have done what I set out to do.

So, that about sums it up. I have high hopes for the future of our three little wards here in Cave Creek, and plenty of work to do in the meantime.Thank you for taking the time to read through this small novel. I wish each of you a wonderful week! Thank you for your friendship, and I'll look forward to writing again next week. :)

Love, Elder Dickison

In our Lovely Desert...

Nope, that's not a misspelling- Desert, not Deser-et.​​ The gavel has finally fallen and I have been deemed unworthy to enter the promised land of the Philippines. Instead, I am being sent to the scorching desert where my agony may ascend like a flaming fire forever and ever... Just kidding...that's all a load of baloney. :P Except for the part where I'm headed to the desert. I found out this week that as of now, my visa to stay in the Philippines has not arrived. So I have been given a temporary reassignment to the Scottsdale, Arizona mission! There is still a very small chance that my visa could come in the next couple of days and I'd actually go straight to the Philippines; but much more likely than not, my destination next week will be one of the driest, hottest places on earth. Home sweet home! 

     Due to some recent changes in the way the Philippines issues visas, the process has become much longer and more difficult. For the last several months, the vast majority of missionaries headed there end up getting temporarily reassigned. Consequently, my reassignment isn't exactly surprising. Within my own district, only 3 of the 10 of us (as of now) are headed to the Philippines on Wednesday. Thankfully, one of my district-mates, Elder Christensen, has also been reassigned to Scottsdale, meaning I have a friend to travel with on Monday!

     Though I definitely wasn't hoping to get reassigned, I feel at peace with the situation. If I actually believe in the gospel I am preparing to preach, then I know that God has an absolute control of my visa situation. If it is His will that I should be in Philippines this upcoming week, then that is exactly where I will end up. But if on the other hand I am needed in Arizona, then that is where I am meant to be. As has been reiterated to me several times recently, my calling to serve as a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ is much more important than exactly where I serve or how long I'm there. And so, I choose to trust that where ever God chooses to send me, there is a purpose behind me being there. :)

     As far as other happenings go, this past week has had at least one interesting event. Our 4th of July was kind of an odd hodge-podge of completely normal MTC activities and a couple completely abnormal activities. We attended our normal classes, had regular meals and weren't allowed to dress any more patriotic than normal. (Not that that actually stopped the sisters in my district...) However, at 9 pm, after our final class of the day, we had a "Religious Freedom" devotional followed by watching the BYU firework show. The actual show was awesome, and a very nice break from normal MTC activities. It reminded me of the annual Summer Games firework show in Cedar City, though we were watching from a towering building instead of sitting on the grass right underneath the explosions. The fireworks ended around 11:30, much later than we had ever/will ever be permitted to stay up again and we headed to bed. Unfortunately we still had to get up at 6:30 the next morning... :P

     Thank you each for your friendship and kindness! I do so appreciate having people to write to. :) Every day that I'm able to spend as a missionary grows my testimony that God lives and guides the paths of His children. I feel His Spirit daily, and I cannot deny the witness I have received of the truthfulness of the restored gospel!  I know that God listens to those who speak to Him. Prayers offered with a sincere heart are heard and answered! So please, if you feel lonely, downtrodden or stuck, ask your Eternal Father for what you desire, and He will grant unto you what you need. Never doubt the power of the Master of the Universe. :) My love goes out to you all. May you find peace and joy in all the good that you do. 

Sincerely, Elder Dickison