Peter Pan...!

Dear Family and Friends,

     What a wonderful week to be sharing the gospel! Definitely not an easy one, but doing the work of the Lord was never meant to be easy. Elder Anderson and I have had some great opportunities to teach the gospel, and great opportunities to be punted (have our appointments fall through) many times as well. But in spite of not being able to teach as many lessons as we wanted, I have felt the Lord trying to teach me further patience and persistence, especially when it comes to working with people.

     We have a two separate families we are working with (the Oller's and the Eisma's), each with three kids, all of whom are ready to be baptized. However, due to situations with their parents, none of them yet have permission for baptism. This is somewhat frustrating as a missionary, being so close to something wonderful and yet feeling stuck. This past Friday as we were visiting the Eisma's, I had an idea pop into my head that we should have the children teach us a lesson instead of the other way around. While this was a slight divergence from our normal plans, Elder Anderson ran with it, and we were both impressed my the Eisma children's knowledge of and excitement to teach about the gospel. Truly the light of that message has influenced them profoundly and they know it is true, despite the current delay in their baptism. The Spirit I felt during that lesson stands as a testimony to me that the Lord is truly mindful of us all, despite the frustrating and trying circumstances that we all face. If we turn to Him and have patience in His timing, everything will work out for the best. 

     Okay...random story time. On Wednesday we decided that we were going to go and visit a man that Elder Anderson had met on the beach before I arrived in Agoo. This man had told Elder Anderson to come back and teach him, so we figured we better follow through. As we walked down the beach to find this man, we just kept trekking further and further away from civilization into abandoned coastline until I realized we were in the very far reaches of our area. Then we ran into a stream running in from the ocean...and stopped. Neither of us really wanted to jump right in since wet, sandy shoes are a bit nasty to walk in...but we didn't know what else to do. Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea, "Let's build a bridge to get across!" 

     For reasons unknown to me, Elder Anderson answered "Okay, let's do it!" So we dragged/pulled/pushed a huge pile of rocks and fallen branches over to the edge of this stream and started building a bridge. By throwing all of the branches and rocks into the stream. Ya...didn't work out so well. So, we resorted to plan B: taking off our socks and shoes and walking carefully barefoot. This plan actually worked...but we looked completely ridiculous in the process. We could only conclude that we looked like the lost boys from Peter Pan in their British getups walking around on the beach.... 

Anyways, we trekked even further down the beach until we saw smoke spewing into the sky and discovered...not native Filipinos dancing around a fire in warrior outfits...but a gigantic vacation resort. Go figure. Turns out the "Beach Man" is actually a worker at this resort and he and his fellow maintenance worker were cleaning it up after the Typhoon last week by burning everything that had blown into the premises. We actually were able to sit down and teach them about the Restoration (despite a group of very large turkeys running around us squawking) and they told us to come back and teach them more. Blessings from above. :)

     On our return trip, I followed Elder Anderson through the water and somehow managed to step on some very sharp rocks that he completely avoided (despite the fact that we both walked along the exact same path) and I ended up with a wounded foot. Good adventures. While I was fixing the wound, Elder Anderson found two massive shells which turned out to be pretty good picture props. (See below). All in all, it was one of those days where you look back at and wonder what in the world you were doing, but smile at the memory of it nonetheless. :)

    Well, I think that's quite enough of my story telling, so please take care and know that my prayers are with you! Have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Dickison

Pictures:

1) Pine trees actually exist in the Philippines!

2) Elder Anderson is a Lost Boy

3) Elder Dickison is Peter Pan

4) Blowing our shell-trumpets...because we can!

Don't Walk too Close to Grazing Cows...

Dear Family and Friends,

     What a wonderful week it has been! Full of many adventures, great new people, and the testimony of the Spirit! Little by little, I have am growing in my ability to function here in the Philippines. I can now understand roughly 30% of what is being said to me and Elder Anderson, and I can turn on our bathroom light on the 5th try instead of the 15th! :P

     Anyways, the work is definitely picking up in our area. We taught a few dozen good lessons, found a couple dozen new people (including multiple families!) and have made good progress teaching the gospel with others. Although Tagalog still doesn't slide off my tongue with ease, I feel much more confident sharing my simple testimony and teaching doctrine simply in this foreign language. More than anything else, I have been (kind of desperately) praying for the help of the Spirit of God, and I have truly felt it's presence every time I share my witness of the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. I know that the Spirit can carry the power of the message far more effectively than I can. So long as the people Elder Anderson and I teach can feel the Spirit through our faith and diligence, we will have successfully shared the gospel.

     In slightly less important matters, we were able to go on a couple of activities including a trip to a small zoo in the mountains last P-day (after email) and a hike up the mountains earlier today. The hike was a real adventure, consisting of climbing roughly 20 flights of stairs up a mountain, discovering a bunch of false idols at the top of that mountain, realizing we were in the wrong place, trying to hike around that mountain to the right place, having a slightly upset cow chase us back down that path, climbing back down the 20 flights of stairs, taking a tricycle to the other side of the mountain, climbing up that side of the mountain until the path disappeared, bushwhacking for another 20 minutes and then emerging at the cross at top of the mountain! As we exited the bushwhacking section, we looked behind us and found a sign that said "Not a path, do not enter." Whoops. :P  Anyways, during the hike, I was really astounded by the beauty of this country. Green, so much green! Coming from the desert, this place seems like the Garden of Eden. I love the animals, views and friendly people of the Philippines.

     I've really enjoyed being companions with Elder Anderson and getting to learn a lot of things from him. Everything from language to how to do laundry here to directing tricycle drivers, etc. He is patient with me and helping me to grow little by little every day. I'm grateful for him as my trainer, and I have high hopes to baptize multiple people before our companionship ends! As long as we work diligently, pray humbly and stay obedient, I know the Lord can work miracles.

     Well, that's probably enough...I'm going to try not to write a novel. :P Enjoy wonderful life, and know that God is mindful of you always!

Love, Elder Dickison

Pictures:

1) Elder Dickison at the Bukid (field)

2) The biggest eagle you've ever seen

3) Elder Anderson and I in front of our church building

4) The Cross at the top of the mountain

5) Sweaty, disheveled Elder Dickison with Indiana Jones bag at the top of the mountain 

Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

Dear Friends and Family,

     I'm so happy to be here in my mission in Baguio! My first few days have been amazing, hard and filled with many opportunities to grow. My new trainer (or re-trainer) is Elder Anderson. He's from Northern Utah and has been out on his mission for about a year. Being American, he's still learning Tagalog himself, so we get to learn the language together everyday (thankfully he's much better at it than I am). My first area is called Aringo which is near the city of Agoo. Kind of in the fields below the mountains of Baguio city itself. It is a pretty poor area...not much good housing to go around. The people are incredibly humble and friendly though.

     The cars and trucks of Utah have been replaced with an endless army of tricycles and buses on the roads. Every time we ride anything with a motor, I have to laugh at what happens to traffic without any stop signs and almost no stoplights...it's a bit chaotic. :P But no matter how many times it seems like we're surely going to crash head on into another vehicle, I trust that the Lord will protect us.  

     Our apartment is...well...in pretty bad shape. There's no running water it's all concrete flooring. Bucket showers na lang! :) Just about everything in that building has some sort of funny gimmick to it in order to get it to work. You have to jiggle the bathroom light switch just right...and then it barely stays on. You have to hold and crank our water pump just right...or else the handle falls off... You get the idea. The whole apartment is more or less held together by spit, some rusty wire and a whole lot of prayers. :P

   Our teaching pool right now is not very big. We just stopped teaching a couple of people on Saturday, so this week we get to find lots of new people to teach! The good news is that it's about 1000x easier to get into houses here than it was in Arizona (though I still love Arizona! Always!) Hopefully by the next time I write, we will have found lots of great new people to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to!

    Every day, my grasp on Tagalog grows a little bit stronger...but it's a slow process with plenty of hurdles. For instance, the Baguio mission is home to another Filipino language dialect: Ilokano. Supposedly it is one of the most difficult dialects to learn, and most of the words sound absolutely nothing like their Tagalog counterparts. Thankfully basically all the people understand Tagalog, but a lot of them speak Ilokano to me, and I haven't the foggiest idea what their saying. 8P It's just going to take a while for me to be able to really understand them. I feel surprisingly confident in my ability to express what I want to say in Tagalog...I just have no idea where the conversation is at most of the time due to their accents and the Ilokano. :P Someday I'll get there, by the Lord's grace. 

     Nevertheless, the lessons that Elder Anderson and I have taught have really felt powerful. Despite my ability to say and understand only a little, I can still feel the Spirit reaching out to communicate the feelings of my heart to the people, which is more important than anything I say anyways. Proof to me the God truly does keep His promises. He delivers me from the bondage of my own inadequacies. I hope and pray that He will continue to do so for me and for each of you as we face our own limitations every day. God truly gives to those who truly ask. 

   

 Please take care and I will look forward to writing again soon! Know that I am praying for you!

Love, Elder Dickison

Pictures this week include:

1) Me and my Manilla MTC companion Elder Newby in front of the Manilla Temple

2) A reunion with most of my original Provo MTC district

3) The flooded plains of the Philippines

4) A lovely little squid that I ate my first night in the Baguio mission. Masarap!

5) Me and Elder Anderson in the Baguio mission office

6) My badly lit bed.

P.S. For those of you who have to know, they fed us Balut for our last night in the Manilla MTC and I did eat it. It was a little odd...but I'd eat it again ;)