Week 16 - Frias

Monday, January 27, 2014

Sorry but I have not time at all. P-Day is about to end. The internet was down and we couldn't write. I will answer all of your questions and tell you about the two weeks that I have had in the next email.

This week I got a card from the Champion family. Please tell them thank you!!!

Well I will see you next week. I love you!!! Have fun!

Elder Dawson

Week 15 - Frias

Monday, January 20, 2014

I will start with your questions. 

·  Yes, I bought some clippers today. Before my other companion had them. I made a mistake though. I forgot to put the protector back on after I cleaned some hair off today and I shaved a little extra of my hair off... :) but its not bad.

·  Yes we get all of our emails from the mission [home] on Mondays. 

·  Yes I am still taking photos. I will try sending them again sometime when I have a little bit more time. Its hard to find a little extra time.

·   For responsibilities, we help Pres. [Branch President] with whatever he needs: Give classes, and talks if we need to. We do tithing. Its not a whole lot.

I wish that we had a little cooler weather. The only cool weather that we get is when there is a storm. If it lasts for at least a day. If not it usually is super humid. 

I will start with my week now. 

This week we had Zone Meeting in Santiago. Afterwards we left at 4.30 [pm] and arrived back in our area at about 7 [pm]. It was a bus ride that was hot and long. This time I went back to our area with another missionary for exchanges. His name is Elder Casanova, from the same state at my companion in Mexico. He has one month in the mission. Has a lot to learn about mission work ;) haha.

Wednesday night Elder Ramirez and Elder Santa Maria traveled to Frias to end the exchange. They stayed in the apartment for the night and then left early in the morning. That night we all ate facturas, which are like, I dont know how to explain it. Look it up :) They are super good.

This week the Z Family left out of town for a family trip for 10 days :´( They told us that they are going to continue reading and studying the church Sunday school pamphlet. I cannot wait until they get back! I love and miss that family. We are also teaching another family that is pretty big. Like 9 or so. But we are only talking to about 6 of them. Including a boyfriend of one of the girls. They are a cool family and like us. I made eggnog this week :D  Oh man it was so dang good!  I made it two times!!! haha  I have missed eggnog so much. I dont remember if I told you but I also made deviled eggs a while back. They were alright. Not like the ones at home. 

This week a house in our area was set on fire. I guess it was a guy that got mad at his wife and set his house of fire with him, his wife, and his baby all inside. The baby is still alive, last we heard; but the couple have died. We actually happened to walk by when it was burning. There was a lot of people but nobody knew that people were inside. 

At the church we had eight investigators come. It was a good meeting. And definitely good for the people that came so that they can prepare even more to be baptized. Saturday we had the baptism of Pablo. He is the son of Claudia which is one of my converts. Its a good family. Claudia, Eliana and Pablo are now members. We confirmed him in Sacrament Meeting. 

There is my week. I have to go. Out of time. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all!!!!

Elder Alec Dawson

Week 14 - Frias

Monday, January 13, 2014

So first I will start out answering your questions.

Frias is pronounced like Free-us. Elder Ramirez lives in the state Sanora or something like that. He lives about 5-10 minutes from the ocean that comes up between Mexico and the California-Mexico part. At the top of that part. My shoes are fine, they dont need to be fixed or anything; and yes there are plenty of places that can fix them if I will need too. Yes I can buy sunscreen here. I just recently started using it. 

That is weird about the weather. This last week many people have been telling us that the U.S. is super super cold. They are saying -50 below zero. I dont know if that is in F° or C°. But that people have been found frozen to death and its just abnormally cold.

So, I will try to remember what I did this last week. I need to start writing stuff down again to remember. I keep forgetting. But we have had lessons with the Zingales family. They are super cool. We talked about the plan of salvation, well they pretty much taught the lesson to us again. They read the pamphlets and just take everything in. It all makes sense to them. Yesterday for the second time they came to church, and really enjoyed it. They all participated in the classes and the members think that they are great. He has study materials from the church and they study that in preparation for church. He has even gone on the internet and studied stuff and obviously saw what other people say about the church but he didnt care. He loves us, he has invited us to stay the night at his house if we ever needed to, swim in their pool if we feel like taking a break, and we are going to eat and their house with them soon. But they are a cool family. 

The cool thing is that yesterday at church we had 11 investigators come. It was a fourth of the whole attendance of 45 people. We were excited and the members are getting a little more excited too. 

That is pretty much about all I can remember. I will do better this week to write stuff down. 

But anyway, I will see you again next week. I love you all and hope you have a good week. Love you!!!

Elder Alec Dawson

Week 13 - Frias

Monday, January 6, 2014

So this week has been pretty nuts. Monday we had Pday and transfers. Elder Moreno and I left Frias at about 5:30 AM and arrived in Santiago at about 8 AM.  He then left with some other missionaries. He is now in Tucuman as a Zone Leader, his first leadership calling in the mission besides Senior Comp. Then from there I stayed with Elder Trinidad for the day. He is one of the ZL´s (his companion left too). We went to his apartment and stayed there until about 4 PM when we returned to the Bus Station and our companions arrived. My Companion came from Salta and so it was a 7 hour bus ride.

Elder Ramirez is my companion and he is from Mexico. He lives about 30 minutes from the border beneath Arizona. He knows a good bit of English. I really like him a lot. He has 13 months in his mission . . . 5 months older than I.

After they arrived we then hurried to some computers in the Bus Station to write you guys. Then at about 4:30 PM we left on our bus back to Frias. It was a common bus which means they have stopping points. The direct bus doesnt go around in the afternoon. It was a 3 hour ride back. It was hot, hot air, and full of people. We arrived at about 7:30 PM or so. Then from there to the apartment and then we worked.

Tuesday and Wednesday there was rain storms. Everything in Frias was fine. A little rain, cool wind, cloudy skies; but in Santiago they had tornados. Super bad rain, wind, and hail. But there was nothing in Frias.

But this week we have worked pretty hard. We are teaching a family named the Zingales Family (Parents and 3 little kids - two over 8 yrs), and one day we left them the pamphlet for Lesson 1 of the Restoration to read and also the introduction to the Book of Mormon. When we came back he showed us a power point that he made of what they had learned and read. He pretty much taught us the complete lesson. Talked about everything, including the testimonies of the three witnesses and the eight witnesses. It was super awesome. They also came to church last night! Pretty awesome week.

I read and copied your letter to print so that I could read it again later. I will talk to you guys again next week. I love you!!

Elder Dawson