TRANSFER TO JUJUY!

Elder Dawson was transferred yesterday, March 24.  He is now in Jujuy (north of Salta) and his new area is called Chijra. His companion's name is Elder Shellenberg, and he is from Arizona and has 16 months in the mission. We are eager to hear how his first week goes in his new area.

Week 24 - Last week in Frias

Monday, March 24, 2014

Buen dia!

So right now I am in Jujuy. My new area is Chijra. I have no idea about it only that it is a big place. It is definitely different from Frias. It is only my second area here in Argentina. Only my third area in the mission. 

I will start by telling you about my last week in Frias. 

Monday we talked with Florencia the hija de [daughter of] Debora. She had to come to church this week in order to be baptized the other Saturday. 

Tuesday we traveled to Santiago to have Zone Training. It was a good meeting. We had to leave early in order to catch our bus back to Frias. That night we talked to Florencia again. We talked to her and also Daiana who is her aunt. Daiana is also the sister of Debora and also Claudia that are now my recent converts. We invited Daiana to be baptized on Saturday and she accepted. She was excited to do it. 

Wednesday we had a great day. We had a lot of lessons. Nine lessons with investigators. We also received 10 referrals. We talked a lot with the people and were asking everyone for people that they knew we could visit. 

Thursday it got cold and it started to rain a little while we were working. It was just drizzling but it was cold and we didnt have our jackets or anything. But we had a good lesson with the Zingales Family. He studies a lot about the church. He had studied about all the history of the church and he had some questions about exaltation. We had to explain a good bit about that. But to us it seems that hno Marcelo [Bro. Marcelo] has lost his fire. He wants to take things slow and one thing at a time. He wants to know every detail possible. He is relying a lot on the knowledge of men. We actually talked about that in Zone Training. We need to teach him the doctrines of the gospel more clearly. He needs to understand now and act now! He is a great guy that really wants to make the right decision.

Friday it was still a little bit cold. We talked to Daiana a little bit more before her baptism on Saturday. She was excited for it. Her family is also happy for her. 

Saturday! We worked hard and got nothing. But we walked a lot and contacted a lot trying to talk to someone. But in the afternoon we had the baptismal service of Daiana Moya. It was great. She was happy, all of us there were happy. She is my last baptism in Frias. All part of the Moya family. 

Sunday we didnt have a lot of success either. We had a couple lessons. In the afternoon during studies I started to pack some of my stuff. Then we left to go remind people of church. We had church and we didnt have a single investigator there. It was sad. Especially in my last Sunday there. But we had the confirmation of Daiana. I gave a talk. I cried a little, some of the members cried. I was surprised to find that a lot of the members liked me a lot and were sad to see me go. We took some pictures said goodbye to some of the people. 

I leave Frias with a happy heart and hopes for all of my converts. I leave with nine converts. Heiler Renteria, Carmen Medina, Erika Alomo, Claudia Moya, Eliana and Pablo Luna (kids of Claudia), Debora Moya, Agustìn Moya (son of Debora), and Daiana Moya.  

I love the Moya family so much and I hope the best for them. I will be so excited to see them again when I will be able to return one day. 

So that was pretty much my week. 

I am glad to hear of all the things at home. Its weird to hear of Andrew and Sean growing up. It will be even weirder to see them in a year. 

I hope you all have a great week. Tell all the family that I love them! 

Hasta Luego! Chào!

Elder Dawson

Week 23 - Frias

Monday, March 17, 2014

Buenas Tardes! 

Como están? Estoy feliz que tuvieron una buena semana. Especialmente que tuvieron la conferencia de Estaca. 

So first yes I am doing a lot better. Nothing happened at all the next day. Just started working again like normal. Elder Purser was in the MTC at the same time as me and the McAllen mission. But he wasn´t in my zone there. But we still knew each other. But Claudia and her family are doing a lot better. A bunch of them came to church again yesterday. It was great. 

My super good week!

Monday we worked like normal. We had a good start to the week. Taught five lessons, received a couple referrals and contacted them. We ended the night at about 12 or so preparing all of our stuff to go to Santiago in the morning for Zone Conference. We had to be up at 4 am and leave the apartment at 5 am to get to the bus. 

Tuesday we woke up late. We didnt hear the alarm or anything. We were suppose be up at 4 but we woke up at 7. We completely missed the bus and had no way to get to Santiago. We called a couple people to see if they would be able to take us there. Nobody was answering. So our last option was a Remis which is a taxi. We hurried and got prepared and called a Remis to take us. We had to be in Santiago by 12 o´clock. The Remis came and got us and we were off to Santiago. The bad part is that it costs a lot to take a Remis there. It was $500 pesos. Which is about $80 or $90 dollars. A lot of money :( 
But the conferencia was super super great. It was pretty much all about "acelerar la obra", "espíritu de urgencia". Accelerating the work, a spirit of urgency. It was super great. What the lord expects of us is to talk with more people every day. Doing a lot more contacting with people that we see in the streets and asking every single person for referrals, those that they know that we can visit. It was so great.

Wednesday we returned to our area and started working. We had a great day. We had a lot of excitement to be able to apply the things that we had learned in the conference. We had 9 lessons that day and received about 10 referrals. For lunch that day we had cow tongue. I dont remember what the dish was called but it was cooked with vinegar, oil, and it had carrots and a couple other things with it. It was all right. Not like tacos with tongue which are super super good. 

Thursday we had our weekly planning all day and in the afternoon we worked. I heard a couple American songs that were oldies. It was interesting to hear them. I dont know if the guy knew English and just liked the songs or not. I am pretty sure that he does know English. That night we talked a little bit more with the daughter of Debora about baptism. She is 10 years old, and super awesome. She will be getting baptized Saturday. Well she wasnt able to come to church yesterday. But we have to talk with President Levrino because she can still get baptized. Possibly two other people from the family. 

Friday we walked a ton. Almost everything failed. All of our lessons. But we were able to contact a lot. We received 11 referrals that day.

Saturday we also walked a ton but we were able to have a little more success than Friday. We also received 11 referrals again and contacted a lot. We were walking down a street in some fields and we saw a super super big pig. I took a couple pictures of it. It was really tall. It came up to my waist. Which is pretty much the [waist] height of Andrew and dad also. HUGE. The biggest pig that I had ever seen in my life.

Sunday not a lot happened. We had a couple lessons in the morning and had church in the afternoon. Seven investigators came to church. It was really good. We had a good number of people in total at church including Claudia and a number of people from her family. 

We ended the week with 31 lessons which is the most I have had in a week. We had 44 referrals. We found a lot of new investigators. And we are going to work harder this last week of the transfer. 

Transfers are on the 24th and I will most likely be changing areas. I will let you all know where I will be. I have six months here in Frias. Time to say bye...

But thats all to my great week. I am excited to start another and a new transfer. 

Also on the 24th. I complete 11 months. Wow. 

I love you all and hope you have a super week also. Besos :D

Les amo mucho! Chao!

Su hijo, 

Elder Dawson

Week 22 - Frias

Monday, March 10, 2014

Buenas Tardes! 

Como estan? Estoy feliz que tuvieron una buena semana! 

Its interesting to hear about all of the changes that have been happening back home. It sounds like there are a ton of church activity going on. It will be interesting to see how the ward is when I return. 

So yes we have been able to go and visit with Claudia more. She is doing a lot better. Still a little bit sad but she is doing a lot better. We are working with them a lot. She is a super great person. 

I have zone conference tomorrow. Usually when we have district meetings it is every two weeks but sometimes we aren´t able to do it because we will be doing other things or its not worth the trip of 3 hours there and 3 hours back. But we usually try to do it when we can. I dont know anything about the mission. I am at the very last area. Three hours away from anyone. I will learn a whole lot more when I go to a different area. 

Alright, so here is my week!

Monday we started out not to well. We weren´t able to really get anything done. We walked a lot. 

Tuesday we were able to do a little bit. We had only two lessons the whole day but we were able to find five new people to teach. For lunch we ate with the Ballespín family. We had steaks and pig. Just slabs of meat, with a salad and bread. The pig was super good! Then that night at eight we had to travel to Santiago because my companion was going to travel to Salta again. When we arrived we got a call from the secretary that he won´t need to go because they lost one of his papers and it will just be a waste of time. So we stayed that night with our district leader Elder Santa Maria and Elder Purser who is from my group. He was also with me in the other mission [Texas McAllen]. 

Wednesday we arrived back in our area at three in the afternoon. We have a good day of working. We were able to have a number of lessons with some people, we received some referrals, found a couple others to teach. It was a good day.

Thursday was alright. We did weekly planning all day and for lunch we ate hotdogs with guacamolé with Pepsi! Yum Yum!

Friday we worked a ton! Had some really good lessons. We received a bunch of referrals and contacted all of them. We found some new investigators. We set a couple baptismal dates, and we had some LARC [less active recent convert] lessons. It was a great day.

Saturday! Woohoo! Baptism of Debora Moya! She is also the sister of Claudia. But she got baptized and she was excited for it. Some of her family members came for her baptismal service. It was really great.  

Sunday was interesting. So it got pretty hot yesterday and in the morning I started to feel a little sick. My stomach hurt but it wasn´t bad. I ate KiPi (thats not how it is spelled but that would be how its pronounced) and it was really good. Then in the afternoon we worked and went around to visit a couple people before church at six. We contacted a person and later we left and were walking down the street. I walked to the side of the street and threw up three times. Once we went out to work I felt bad. At church afterwards I threw up three more times. My companion said I looked completely yellow. During church a storm came through super fast. It didnt rain but there was a ton of lightning. That also a reason for why a bunch of people didnt come to church. We only have two investigators there and also Debora was confirmed which was good. But in the night I felt a lot better. 

And right now I am doing fine. I dont have any problems. Just need to make sure that I keep drinking enough water.

Well I will talk to you all next week. Tengan una buena semana! Les amo mucho! Chao!

Elder Dawson

Week 21 - Frias

Monday, March 3, 2014

Buena Tardes! Como andan? [Not sure, but we think he means "How's it going?"]

So its been raining on and off this past week. But yes I have been using my boots and umbrella and jacket. Sometime the water rises and my shoes get soaked including the boots but we have a heater in the apartment to dry them. The person that was going to be baptized is Debora. She didnt get baptized on Saturday because she had to work and had a bad family situation. But she will be baptized this Saturday for sure. But no I havent gotten sick or anything. 

So now I will tell you of my week. It was a good week but turned bad at the end. 

On Monday it rained off and on all day. We had a good start to the week. Had a couple lessons and one was with Debora that was going to be baptized.

Tuesday it rained all day long without stopping for even 10 seconds. So we went out in boots, umbrellas, and everything. It got pretty cold too. We worked a lot and later bought facturas. The lady also gifted us a cake to eat! We were so happy. We had almost no lessons because of all the rain. We went back to Deboras house, shared a scripture and watched a church movie with them and then ended the day. 

Wednesday it was cold outside so we had our sweaters. We received a ton of referrals and were contacting a lot of people. We found a good number of investigators also. 

Thursday, I dont think much happened because I didnt write anything down. I know that we did weekly planning that day and for lunch we ate hot dogs and we made guacamole! Super good!

Friday the main thing was that we had a lesson, good lesson with the Familia Zingales. They are doing good. We learned a lot more of their needs and what they need in order to progress to be baptized. Also we were walking down the road and you couldnt guess what we saw! We saw a Chevrolet Camaro! Holy smokes it was sick! White, with dark windows and wheels! It wasnt a basic Camaro, it was a super good one! Its like the first super nice car I have seen here. Very rare, and you can only have it if youve got $$$. 

Saturday is where things got bad. We got done eating lunch, and we started doing our afternoon studies. We got a call that the son of Claudia Moya, my recent convert, had died. During the entire day everyone in the city was talking about it. That night all of the family was in the grandmas house. We passed by for a while and we talked with them. 

Sunday morning. It rained heavily all morning. The family of Claudia called us and asked us to come by and say a prayer. We went by and there were a ton of people in the house. Erik, is the sons name that died. His body was there. They wanted us to say a prayer before they all went to the cemetery. We said the prayer, and everyone was crying super hard. I cried because I had known this kid for almost six months. He was 19 years old and I saw him almost three times a week. But afterwards they all went to the cemetery. They had to wait to bury him because his grave was full of water. 

Church came around. None of the family was there. We had three investigators there. But it was a good testimony meeting. 

I am excited to start a new week and to work hard and to help all of Gods children come unto Christ!

Aside from all that, I hope that you all have a good week! I love you tons!

Elder Dawson