"No, Jack, don't chew on the table!"

Elder Dickson and Elder Youd ... um, wow.

That quote in the title is from the Hoffman's little boy; as we were leaving one night, we heard the dad say, "No, Jack, don't chew on the table!" LOL! That little kid is so funny, we try to make him smile and laugh, and he just stares at us. 

What is up, everybody! (the way Baby Brent says it)

Thanks for the e-mail! It's been good P-day so far; though I hate shopping I needed to. With the three of us, we go through toilet paper pretty fast lol (that's probably too much information, isn't it?)!

Washed the car (it needed it), and am planning to go play some ball in a second; I really need to sit down and write some letters; I still need to send some thank you letters to all those who gave me Christmas cards! I'm terrible at returning mail; I just don't have any drive to write letters save for the days I get one, then it goes away after a few minutes! The only way to get mail is to write mail, though; I like e-mails better as far as sending stuff goes, but it is always nice to get a letter.

Anyway, I'm babbling.

I'm doing wonderful! Why wouldn't I; the church is true, so of course things are great and couldn't get better!

 It has been a long but good week!

I can hardly believe I have been out almost 8 months either; it's inconceivable! More than a fourth of my mission is over; where the heck did the time go!!!???!!!???!?!?!?!!??!!? It feels like I've been out 8 days, let alone 8 months. At the same time, though, I feel like I've been doing this my whole life. Two years isn't nearly long enough, that's for dang certain.

We got a new investigator this past week who has a baptismal date! Yay! She was found by the elders in Woodstock, but since she is a young single adult, she falls under our jurisdiction (yes, I spell-checked, don't judge me). She is pretty funny and has made friends with most of the YSA branch already, so I think good things are a-comin'! Unfortunately, prior obligations kept her from church this week, so we'll get her next time!

We met her on Monday, then taught her on Tuesday and Friday as well! She is eager to learn and enjoys all we tell her; my only qualm is that I'm not sure if she understands that if this is the true gospel, it is the only true church and everything that is not true is false; most people we run into have the mindset that as long as someone is worshipping Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what faith they are. If, let's say a family was attending a baptist church in one state, then moved to another, and the closest church is a Methodist church, they'll just go to that one for convenience. Not everyone is like that, and I'm not here to condone any one's beliefs or any church specifically; I'm just saying we view these kinds of things differently.

Anyway, babbling again.

Tuesday we had Zone Conference, and Elder Gaberet of the Seventy and his wife came and spoke to us. It was pretty cool, even though his Spanish accent was pretty thick, the spirit speaks all languages. I learned a lot from the both of them.

Oh, I also found out that the Rudisills (in Dahlonega) and DeAnna (in Dawsonville) got baptized. Yay!! Even though I wasn't there, I am so happy for them!

 We also had dinner at the Babcocks that night; she cooked some dang good rolls and chicken with garlic and brown sugar; sounds weird, but it was excellent!

Wednesday, Elder Bowers had a doctor's appointment in Macan, s we had a temporary exchange with Elder Thompson, who is a cool kid. The greenie he is training, Elder McCallister, went to my high school! I didn't really know him, but he was famous for balancing things like ladders and lawn movers on his chin; no joke!! Check out some of the YouTube videos and see for yourself (keywords Timpanogos talent show or Morgan McCallister or chin-balancing)! When Elder Bowers got back, we taught Sarah, a really cool recent convert Elder Bowers baptized a few months back (before I got here). She is absolutely hysterical! And she is rock solid in her dedication and testimony in the church; she makes me want to be a better member when I get home.

We also saw the Smalls this week 9the family we baptized a few weeks back); they are officially moved in, and are now officially out of our area; they go to the Allatoona ward now. That Wednesday night a sister in the ward gave up a lot of her furniture to give to them, and we moved it all in; they only had a mattress before. We also moved in some furniture from some other members that Thursday morning; I'm so thankful for the ward's Christ-like attribute of charity, it really helped them out!

We went beast mode on KSU the other day; we talked to almost 50 different people, and got plenty of return appointments; it was awesome! Our Zone Leaders (one of which is my trainer, Elder Nielsen) challenged us to talk to at least 70 people this week, and by Sunday, we talked to 80! We rock! They also asked us to extend baptismal dates at every opportunity we get; as a result, we got 3! There needs to be more teaching and careful analysis before these are legitimate, so we'll see. Still, it was cool; when we opened our mouths, the spirit testified of the Gospel of Christ which we spoke; it's a very powerful and humbling and kinda intense feeling.

We also had an awesome Cafe Rio style type dinner at the Dunbabbinses on Wednesday, one of my favorite families here; they are a young couple who kid and joke with and understand us; their best friends, the Hoffman's, who are also a young couple in the ward, are frequently over there when we are. They also pointed out a family moving in their neighborhood, and we all jumped to the help! They tried to pay us, but, of course, we politely refused, and they were amazed! It is interesting how people marvel at kindness, like it is a thing of the past.

We saw Sister Fletcher, the funniest old lady in the world, on Saturday. She has so much civil war history; her whole family for generations have been in the military. She used to work at a History Museum (which I still want to see) here in Kennesaw. She is also super sassy, and is hysterical! 

We also found another new investigator who had her husband recently pass away, and she said we could come back. i got a good feeling about her. 

Sunday, unfortunately, we didn't have anyone of our investigators make it to church; we're trying! We have lost contact with a few of them, so we pray and hope to find them. 

That's about all that happened this week.  

Hooray for the Lady T-wolves! Congratulations, Mom and Shelby! I knew they could do it! I'm glad you are doing so well!

Hi, Mom, Dad, Devin, Shelby, Aunt Nina, Aunt Darcell and co., Grandpa and Grannie Sheila, and all others who actually read this!

I'm surprised I haven't had more allergy attacks out here; I always do when the seasons change. I heard that it gets even worse in the spring; everything turns yellow, there is so much pollen!

Take luck, and feed the missionaries!

Love, your grown-up son/best older brother you can imagine/ favorite relative of some sort,

Elder Casey Guy Dickson

P.S. Thanks for the picture of snow, Dad; I had almost forgotten what it looked like lol! It's still warm enough to wear short-sleeve shirts; it's nuts! I am trying to send more pictures, but this library computer won't let me. We'll see where else I can try. Take luck!