Week 12 - Frias

Monday, December 30, 2013

I dont have a lot of time to write you today. Right now I am in the bus station waiting for our bus to head back to Frias with my new companion. We will be arriving back in my area at about 8 [pm] or so my time.

Next week I will be able to write to you a little more about transfers and your week. I really enjoyed talking to you for Christmas. I am excited for when I can talk to you again in May. 

But my new companion is from Mexico and his name is Elder Ramirez. He has about a year on his mission. I am excited to work with him and to be able to learn. 

I hope that you had a great week and that you will have a good one this week too. Happy New Years mom and Dad. I love you so Much!!! 

Elder Dawson

Week 11 - Frias (Christmas)

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Alec’s P-day was on Christmas this week. We waited all day and finally heard from Alec about 3:45 pm our time.  We were able to SKYPE with him for about 45 minutes.  The connection was not as good as we’d hoped, but we were SO glad to see him and talk to him. He was using a computer at a part-member’s house in a small room.  Alec and his companion, Elder Moreno, and a part-member was in the same room with him the whole time.  Alec looked thinner and his face was sunburned. He said that he gained 15+ pounds while he was in the MTC and was down to his normal weight, and he and his companion actually get to wear a straw cowboy hat to keep the sun off. 

Week 10 - Frias

Monday, December 16, 2013

So I will start off with my week.

Monday: That morning we went and played soccer with some youth. Some of Claudias kids, a few members, and friends. It was a lot of fun. I am okay at soccer. All the kids can do tricks and stuff but I cant. I still can do enough to be able to score some goals! It was a lot of fun and it was hot too. Afterwards we went to a Members house and had lunch. Empenadas! So good! I think it is my favorite food so far! I am going to make them all the time when I get home! Then later we went to the church and did emails, later bought our groceries and finished washing clothes! That night was slow. We had two lessons. One with an investigator, and one was a RC/LA lesson. 

Tuesday was good. We had 5 lessons with investigators. We found a couple new people to teach, received some referrals and all. 

Wednesday we traveled to Santiago for the conference with Presidente Levrino, Sis. Levrino, and Elder Ferreira from the 70 with Sis Ferreira! It was an awesome conference! We learned a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, also of the role of the Holy Ghost. A lot of why recent converts are so important, just different things that we can do to help accelerate the work in our zone… members, church attendance, a lot. It was a great experience. Elder Ferreira was the first AP in the Salta mission and he also served in Santiago.

Thursday we had weekly planning morning and half of the afternoon, and that night we had 3 lessons with a member present. We hadnt been able to have a member come with us until this day. 

Friday and Saturday were also days with not a whole lots of lessons. We were able to go by a few more RC [recent converts] and LA [less active] members. Some were home and some were not which left us with a whole lot of walking. Contacted a lot of our referrals and received some more. They weren´t way bad days.

Sunday we had some lessons in the morning and committed them to church in the afternoon. We have church at 7pm now instead of 6 pm. Its a little bit better because everybody complains that its so hot and people come late most of the time anyway. There is literally like no one in the streets, and if they dont have to, people would rather not leave their houses. At church we had 31 people in Sacrament meeting. We had 3 investigators there. It was a pretty good meeting. 

And then now it is today and I am writing you. Now I will answer your questions.

We are making sure this week that the members have skype. But if not and I wont be able to use it I will be able to contact you one way or another. Our PDay will be on Christmas next week. I would have to just be able to send you an email to let you know about when.

So the package, the APs sent out an email talking about packages that are sent through DHL and all, and I thought that they probably sent it because of mom and dad. Then I read your email and Dad had called them. hahaha But I am sure he told you guys the same things he said in the email. That it is safer to send packages through normal mail. 

It sounds like you guys have had a pretty good week. I hope your Christmas program goes well! 

Its just going to be getting even more hotter. I hear that the province of Santiago is one of the hottest in Argentina, and I am going to be here all Summer long. Well for you all winter. 

Anyway it is time for me to go now! I hope that you have an awesome week! I love you guys!

Merry early Christmas!!! 

Elder Dawson

Week 9 - Frias

                                                                                                        Monday, December 9, 2013

So for the Mate tea...we can drink it but it depends on how we drink it. We cannot drink it in Bombia´s which are like a cup-type thing that the people put the herb in. They put water and sugar in it then drink it with a metal straw thing that has holes in the end to keep the herb out and only let the water through. We cannot drink it this way but we can drink it from tea bags. We can have the herb, but we have to filter it.

So this week has been hot and we worked hard. We have a lot of people that we are working with. Some are progressing and some are not. We are finding different people around our area. some are interested and some are not. This past Sunday we didnt have any investigators in the church. This is the first week that we havent had anybody. We dont know why. We had people committed for sure. At least 6 or so were supposed to come for sure but no one did. We set some goals last night so that we could work harder to do it. We feel that we are losing time trying to talk to those that arent chosen or prepared and arent ready for the gospel just yet. One of the goals that we set is we are going to try harder to find by the Spirit the people that are prepared and are willing to act on the message that we share, to be able to recognize with the people that we are working with in one way or another are ready and are willing to act and progress. Its hard work, but its necessary. 

Today we played Soccer with a couple members and some of Claudia´s kids and friends. I am alright, but all the kids are younger and can do all sorts of tricks. It was tiring. I am a little burnt in some of the places that are usually covered by my church clothes. It helps so that I wont be looking completely like a hillbilly when I get back. I have a tan line all the way up my neck. It looks weird when I wear a t-shirt. Afterwards we went and ate empanadas with a PM [part member] family. Also the family of Maxi. We are still trying to work with him. This last week was hard to be able to talk to him and really have a lesson. 

By the way today is Ben Hadlocks birthday! 

On Wednesday we are traveling to Santiago in the afternoon. We are having a conference with a member of the 70. I dont remember his name but he served in this mission a long time ago also. I am looking forward to this opportunity I have to learn more about the gospel and what the Lord needs of me right now. 

That is my week! Im happy that your week was good! Thank you for the recipes! [deviled eggs and egg nog]  I will see what I can do with them. Translate them first. ha 

I hope that you have great week with work and school. I dont remember if I told you but here they just got out of school. Its weird cause back home its winter and chilly, but here its hot and summer break. But anyway I love you all! Hi Jared!

Elder Dawson

Week 8 - Frias

                                                                                                        Monday, December 2, 2013

So yes we still go by that family [the family in his last email where the boyfriend and girlfriend had a confrontation]. Its not awkward or anything. We go by that area a ton. This family is a part member family and the mom is probably going to be baptized this month. 

So your question on food. Hispanic food in Texas is spicy! They love things that are hot. Tortillas, meat, cooking out and all. Here in Argentina is more kind of like European style stuff. Noodles and meat. Almost everything has some sort of meat in it. Its hard to find something here that is spicy. They think something is hot if they eat a little ball of pepper. 

So today I was finally able to send a couple of letters that I had written like 3 or 4 weeks ago for Uncle Dale and Aunt Cheryl and Grandma Walker. Tomorrow they will be sent to Salta. Then from there I dont know where they will go. I also sent one for Grandma Dawson. 

Yesterday morning we were in Claudia´s house (Recent Convert) and we were all talking about different things. We started talking about halloween. They asked me what is the meaning of halloween. Why do we celebrate it. I didnt know why. haha 

So this week I was on exchanges with Elder Poettcker. I stayed in Frias. We traveled to Santiago on Tuesday, had District Meeting, I also exchanged $40 into Pesos. It was an exchange of 8.5 pesos for $1. So I got 340 pesos. That is a good rate. But then we traveled back to Frias and he stayed with me that day and all day Wednesday.

Also yesterday we were able to confirm Eliana. She wasnt able to come last week but this week yes.

Saturday we were suppose to have a baptism but we didnt. His name is Maxi. This last week he had some doubts and then there was elections and so things got complicated. He isnt sure about baptism anymore but he also knows that things we have taught and that he has learned are true. We are going to talk to him today. He is a great kid and really has great desires. He will be baptized. We just need a little help from the Lord and the Holy Ghost! 

So thats about all I have for this week. I dont have anymore time left for today. I hope that you guys all have a great week! I love you tons!

Elder Dawson

Week 7 - Frias

This week was a good week. Pretty interesting too. 7 months gone and 17 more to go. Its going to go by fast. I feel like it wont be enough time. haha

The [Youth] Activity sounded fun. All the sandwiches and food. I miss a lot of the food back home but I like the food here also. I am glad Sean knew the answer.[Editor's Note:  At last week's mutual activity, the youth had a cooking competition. There was a tie for first place and a member from each team had to answer a tie-breaking question which was, "How many cups are in a pint?"].  The other day I was making some Jello and I needed to know that too. I had to translate from spanish, figure out what it was in english then put it back in spanish. It took like 5-10 minutes. 

We havent talked to anybody about the Skype. I am sure we will find out a little later. I will be able to let you know before though. 

The highlight for this week happened yesterday morning. We were walking to a Part Members house to have a lesson with them. We came up to the street and the PM´s son was on the corner with his GF [girl friend], the neighbor. We said hey and shook hands and told him we were going to his house and to join us. He said okay. Things didnt look to good between him and his GF when we walked up. We went to their house sat down and talked for a little then pulled out scriptures and were about to have a prayer when there was a bunch of commotion and yelling outside. Come to find out that BF and GF were fighting. I guess they were hitting each other. About 5 min later the whole family walked in and started to sit down but then the GF comes storming into the house. This girl is a big girl. She is as tall as me and big. The BF was in the hallway and she was trying to get back there. The Dad was at work. It was only the mom and the kids. The Mom is pretty small and the kids are about 13, 12, and 8. The BF is about 17. But it took the whole family to stop her from getting in the hallway without the help of BF. As missionaries we really couldnt do anything and get involved. After about 10 mintues the GF left and went around the house to get in the window but then she came back around. The GF´s mom came and was trying to hold her back from going into the house but couldnt do it. She got back in and everybody was at the entrance to the hallway. The mom was sick and it was hot and the whole struggle made her feel worse. She almost passed out but they got her into a chair. For this everybody was crying and freaking out. Then the GF went outside and grabbed a rock, about the length and half the 3/4 the width of the computer in the computer room, and threatened to throw it. Then I finally stepped in and stood in the way. I wasnt going to let her throw that thing. She was relentless. She finally put it down but tried to go in the hallway again.

Finally the cops came, about 5 or 6 of them and everybody went outside and talked. Apparently the BF stole about 50 pesos or something which is I think around 6 dollars or so. The cops took the BF away to take him to his uncles house across town so they wouldnt fight anymore. When the cops were leaving the GF was trying to get at the BF again. The cops were covering him up and pushing her away. After about 30-45 minutes or so it was all over.

We finally sat down, shared a quick scripture, gave the Mom a blessing and then went to the neighbors house and gave the other mom a Blessing of health also. Then we left back to our appartment. Itwas a crazy situation. I hadnt experienced anything like that before at least from what I can remember. 

But anyway thats mainly about my week. I am going to try to send a couple pictures. I hope you have a great week!!! I love you!

Elder Dawson

Week 6 - Frias

I have heard that we could use skype but with permission from presidente. But a phone card would probably be good. You would have to make sure that I would be able to call from outside of the US into the US. But yes, when the mission recieves a package they have to pay for stuff. They send emails out that tells who has a package and the amount that it costs. 

My Spanish is improving little by little. There is so much to learn. I dont remember the last time I had a dream. Really I just lay down to go to bed at night and them I am gone. I think the last time I had a dream was back in Texas.

On Saturday we baptized Eliana. The daughter of Claudia who we baptized the week before. We talked to her and she was excited to be baptized on Saturday. It was a huge miracle. But unfortunately she didnt come to church yesterday and wasnt able to be confirmed.

Saturday and Sunday were stressful days just working to get everything to happen correctly. We think something might have changed. We dont know what or why. We are going to find out. We have to rely on the Lord to help us overcome all challenges and problems! We will see how this week goes.

Today is the first day of my 5th transfer in the field. On this coming sunday I am going to hit 7 months in the field. It has gone by fast.

We dont know if we will be able to have a baptism this week because the majority of our investigators didnt come to church. We have been able to get somebody to church every Sunday. But we need to do a lot better. We know we can do a lot better but we dont know how. We are still trying to figure out what we need to do and what the Lord wants us do to. This last transfer we taught 141 lessons.  This last week we taught 21 and the week before we taught 29 lessons. We are working hard and trying to work harder.

I havent been able to send pictures yet because I keep forgetting the cord to connect to the computer. I realized that I forgot it again today also. I am sorry. I will make sure that I bring it next week. I will send pictures. Promise.  I hope that you guys have a great week. I love You!!!!

Elder Dawson