Casey's Mission Adventure: Sticking around for Thanksgiving

Elder Dickson has many moods ...

Heyy...

Transfer news is coming in from the southeast... I'm staying for the holidays! Yay! So is Elder Rogers; not much changed to our zone except for a few leaving for home, one who is training, and Elder Rogers is District Leader now. The assistants told him that President Wolfert wants him to be a zone leader this next transfer (duh duh duh), and that I might train in the next few transfers; with all the new 18 year old's flooding in a lot of people will be training for awhile lol. I still don't want to train or be in leadership, but I am more OK with it then before; I want the Lord and the President to be able to trust me, so I gotta step up my game and serve diligently. Still, I'd be just fine if I wasn't ever given too much responsibility lol.

By Feb., 80-100 new missionaries will be coming to our mission (more than half of them sisters); we are not getting more cars and they are not dividing up the mission boundaries yet, so it'll be very crowded here lol. Almost everyone, even the sisters, will be biking; they are predicting that there will be 4-6 missionaries (2 of them sisters) in every unit, and that almost all the areas will be divided in halves or thirds. It's going to be nuts here for a good bit, but we'll get the hang of it. I'm excited to be out here as the changes happen! Go Elders! Baptize!

This week I went on exchange with Elder Jarman, who is a little strange but is a good guy, and we talked to a lot of nice people in his area, and I ate dinner with Elder Everett (my former District Leader who serves in the same ward as Elder Jarman), which is always a pleasure; he's a funny kid!

We spent a lot of this week biking, which yielded some fruit; we have plenty of potentials we need to follow up on, and we actually ran into a few less-active members we were looking for; what a co-wink-a-dink.

Saturday there was a baptism for an 8 year old named Fil Fil that we got to help out with; I love going to baptisms, there is an awesome spirit there, and it's the perfect thing to invite investigators too! We also contacted a referral we had gotten last week and have tried several times to see; a kid named Qwik (not kidding. I love Georgia!). His brother converted and has like 2 days left on his mission in Brazil; his mom is a non-member, and hasn't shown too much interest, but his brother had some questions about the church and the Book of Mormon, which we were happy to answer. He seemed to like what we shared, but wouldn't give us a definite time in which we can come back, so we'll see.

The less-active family with the unbaptized daughter we were hoping to get in with all got sick this week, but they apparently came to church and sat in the back and left before we got back there to say hi lol. Next time, baby!

We also got volunteered to do a sharing time in Primary (we get volunteered a lot lol), so we went in and talked about how they can be missionaries now, and invite their friends to all our holiday activities; the ward is putting on this HUGE nativity festival that apparently is a pretty big deal, and very well attended. We have been asking members to each bring at least 1 non-member friend to it; this should definitely invite a great spirit of Christ and plant a lot of seeds! Happy Christmas!

A priest also invited his girlfriend to church, and we talked with her and we might be going over this next week to share the first lesson; keep your fingers crossed!

Keithe didn't make it to church this week, and will be out of town for the holidays for a while; we taught him Thursday at Brother Colton's home and had a good Restoration lesson. We finally dragged outta him his concern; he doesn't know too much about the priesthood or the need for authority, so we focused on that. We also got him a big print BoM so he has no excuse about reading it, lol! Early christmas present!

Thanksgiving is at the Dewberry's house; they are a nice family, so it'll be good. Plus, the turkey bowl will be that morning! I can't wait, I haven't played football in FOREVER!

That's about it for now.

While it's probably not as cold as Nebraska or Utah here, it is a lot colder than last year (which is weird to think about... last year at this time I was on my mission...). We have some very pretty fall colors, but nothing beats our red and orange mountains in Utah at this time. Biking has been fun lol; I was in a car all last winter, so we'll see what happens if it snows or whatever. Members have been good with giving us rides when we need them, I just don't like asking people to do things for us but we kinda have to so I'm always in a state of conflict when we need to call someone for something lol.

Go Huskers! Go BYU! I heard the cougs lost this weekend... bummer.

I hear from Dad about the investigators you are fellowshipping ... going slow is frustrating for me, but some people need time, and some need a push. Sometimes both. Go by the spirit, and work together with the elders to see when they need to be reminded that their excuses are lame... push too soon and they'll disappear, push too late and they will lose the desire, if there is any. You and I both know that other peoples agency, especially when pertaining to salvation, is the most frustrating thing on the planet! I don't know how God puts up with it; I mean they know it's true, and you know that they know it's true, and they still don't want to do anything about it. I've had my fair share out here that just don't get it, and it makes me sad... but of course I shouldn't complain about having free choice; it's better than the alternative. Just keep praying and being their friend, because investigating the church puts them on the devil's radar; never give up on them, because Satan won't either. Tell them they are missed at church, and that they are needed.

I wish I could be there to here mom and dad talk; I only remember that happening once or twice in my lifetime where I heard y'all give talks. We talked about conversion this last Sunday; there was an awesome quote by Mother Teresa the speaker shared about her seeing lack of success in her ministry in India: "God does not require that we be successful, only that we be faithful." That quote meant a lot to me, because I haven't felt like I have seen too much success out here; I learned it is not the baptisms that measure success, it is my own personal dedication to what I have been asked to do.

Anyway, good luck with your talks, I know that you'll do great!

Thanks for the news, I love to hear about all the things that are going on in y'alls lives. You guys are the best family I know (and I've met quite a few now), and I miss ya plenty, but I'm having too much fun to stop!

I don't mean to be greedy and ask for things, but I am in need of some new sturdy black shoes; I have gone through 3 pairs lol. Some new short-sleeve shirts and G's would be cool too...

I'm super grateful that Mom let me use her quad out here; it means a lot to me, and I treasure it. A new mini-quad that I can mark up and make missionary tab bookmarks in would be nice, but not necessary.

Also, if maybe I could borrow someone's watch, that would be stellar; mine broke in Dawsonville.

Ties and CD's are always acceptable, especially this Oct. general conference on CD. A small 2013 Temple calendar would be fun...

Candy, money, and baked goods are always a staple lol! I also would like this years BYU T-shirt if that's ok... all my T-shirts are worn or too small, so any kind of T-shirt would be good lol.
Last thing is I had gotten a call from the mission vehicle coordinator who said that President Wolfert wanted to know if I can be a driver soon... I'm not sure what that means, but if I was to get one present this year, could it please be having the fine at the Utah DMV paid off and a copy of my birth certificate sent to me so I can get a Georgia licence?

Thanks again for being an awesome family, and I look forward to chatting it up with all y'all together at the same time lol! Take luck!

Love,
Elder Casey Guy Dickson

P.S. Also something I would like to know about peoples like Devin and Shelby and Ethan and Myles and people in our last ward's mission plans...