Conference, in general ...

Elder Dickson and Elder Kallon, two serious missionaries.

Hey, guys!
Wasn't General Conference awesome?! Perry and Holland threw down! And I always love Pres. Monson's and Utchdorf's talks; conference, in general, was great! (Get it? Conference, in general? I crack myself up, if not anyone else lol...). We watched it at the church; we aren't allowed to watch it at member's houses... Unfortunately, no one came; we'll get 'em next time!
This was my last General Conference in the mission... now that it's over, it's kind of a sad thought. I have never appreciated Conference more in my life then on my mission; it's like the super bowl out here for missionaries! It gets me pumped for the work, and I always find not only answers to my own questions, but for our investigators as well! Most of us don't realize how incredibly unique and special Conference is; how many other people on the earth have been able to witness so many prophets speaking to them as regularly as us? There may be over 14 million members, but that's less than 1 percent of the population at this moment, not to mention all the other people in the ages of the world who had no prophets on the earth at all, or else didn't know there was one. It is a rare and valuable opportunity for us to be witnesses AND participates of the dispensation of the fullness of times. I always looked at people going about there everyday business around Conference time, and think: "These guys have no idea what they are missing? Do they know what day it is? God could have a very special message for them and they don't even know it!"
My week:
 Tuesday we had a long district meeting, and I gave a training on the Vision of the South, by President Kimball: "Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir man's souls."  "This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together.""There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, and members of the Church of Christ, Methodists and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see the church veering off to the right or to the left of those basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth. And as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence, we will see the time when we will baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands. In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be Temples plural in the South States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people.""These missionaries love the South. We are making great strides and expect to continue."
I love this! It's a prophesy, one that is being fulfilled as we speak, about the destiny of missionary work in the South. Most people here have resigned to the fact that baptisms just don't happen here, and it's true that we don't baptize as much as some other missions, but I was asked to train the elders about forgetting the past and looking to the future, and that it has been promised us of the Lord by his prophet that baptisms will and are happening. We just need to believe it.
Anyway, we also had interviews that day with the mission president; he's a really good guy. He asked me about how I think I have improved since I have been on my mission, and what I wanted to work on before I left. I feel a lot more confident about everything in general, but especially about teaching. Still struggle to initiate first contact with someone on the street, but when I do it, everything else comes easy now. I talk way too much in lessons, which bugs my companions sometimes lol. I told him I want to keep focused and keep my fire going about the work so I could finish strong.
After the meeting we had a companionship exchange; I went with our District Leader, Elder Bridge, to Covington, while Elder Free came here with Elder Kallon. It was pretty fun; we taught a pretty cool gator named Paige who is pretty elect, and it always feels good to teach a lesson and feel that the spirit is working through you, and the gator feels it too. Elder Bridge and I talked all night pretty much about everything you can think of, then on Wednesday we went and helped out at a food bank this baptist church had going on. Service is my favorite way to preach the gospel; it shows an example without appearing overbearing or arrogant because we are smiling and helping rather than teaching and testifying (which are great as well, but the wicked take the truth to be hard; that which they call anger was truth...). Then we switched back around lunch and went back to work. That night we saw an old gator of mine, Keisha! She and her kids we taught for awhile when I was here last, but they were dropped after I left. It was always hard to teach them; it felt like we were dragging them to everything, and we had to work hard to get them to talk to us. We went with Sister Nolden, who is a ward missionary, and our mission mom pretty much; Sister Nolden rocks! It was a good meeting; we really just visited and got to know them again and told them about conference; they said they would watch it on t.v. We'll have to check up on them this week to see if they did...
Thursday it rained all day, so we spent a lot of the day doing indoor activities, like weekly planning or making phone calls...
Friday we biked around all across our map to make up for yesterday, and saw a few people and invited them to conference. Talked to some 50 year old guy who does nothing but play D&D (Dungeons and Dragons); again, not judging, but I don't think that pays really well...
Saturday was conference, and we spent the day at the church, and between sessions we went wherever the zone leaders wanted to go because they got the car lol. Same with Sunday; after the last session, we had someone turn up who was looking for a good church (they missed it by that much...). We'll go over this week and teach them.
I found out that Elder Youd has to go home early because his knee is really giving him problems again; this time, he'll be back for good. He would have gone home in May otherwise... anyway, I called him last night and talked to him; he was one of my favorite companions, and he still lives in Orem, so if you guys see him at a stake conference or something, say hi for me!
That's about it this week. We don't have a washer, so we went over to Sister Nolden's to do that real quick, that's why I'm e-mailing so late.
In response to your e-mail:
I should have asked P. Dub (that's what we call President Wolfert... behind his back, of course...) in our interview about where I would be flying home to; I'll have to call him this week. I want to fly back to Utah as well...
I love you so much, thanks so much for being an awesome family, Take Luck!
Love,

Elder Casey Guy Dickson

Happy Easters, everyone!

How do you like our new look?

Happy Easters!

Sorry for the short letter; thanks so much for the package! I love peanut butter and chocolate; it's almost all gone now lol...

How was y'alls Easter? Our Easter program was just ok; they sang a medley of I Believe in Christ and Beautiful Savior; they have only two men, so it was interesting. It was kind of fun the first Sunday to be back and see everyone, but now I feel like I have been here forever; like I never left Conyers. It's been hard; most days I'm good, but my companion and I have been at odds a little bit... It's really the first time in my mission when I have struggled to get along with someone. It's not that bad, I just haven't had to do it before; we'll get it figured out! 

For Easter dinner we ate at this old black lady's house, and had some rather poorly cooked soul food; mostly I just drank the Kool Aid, and got sick anyway. But she was nice; the missionaries mean a lot to her, and I was glad we could make her day. 

Anyway, my week: 

We biked A LOT and didn't get too far yet, but every drop of sweat counts! We found some new investigators that dropped us before the week was over, but we'll keep on truckin'! Also gave a lot of blessings this week, to members and missionaries and gators. It's cool, since I'm still pretty new to priesthood blessings, to get to see how important it is to have people who can help you that have God's authority to do so. Other churches claim they can help you, and I'm not discounting prayers on behalf of others, but I have seen miracles, large and small, in the mission. 

Our top investigator Gary is moving to Covington, so we'll pass him along...

With General Conference coming up (my last one at that!), I'm trying to see what questions I need God to answer; every time I come with a question, it gets answered. God and I have done a lot of chatting lately lol...

Also trying to get everyone to Conference so they can get baptized! Keya, Jerry, and Author got baptized, and they all came to conference; therefore, attending Conference + pure intent and sincerity = Testimony and Conversion, for members and non-members alike! 

 

Thanks for being awesome! Take Luck! Love ya bunches!

Love, 

Elder Casey Guy Dickson

 

P.S. The pic is of me and my last companion, Elder Schmidt, with snazzy bow ties we got from little Isabelle.

Here I am again, in Conyers

Hey, guys!
Things aren't so bad in Conyers; it has been weird to bike places I've been before, to talk to people I knew a year and a half ago, and to do the same thing I was doing the last time I was here; contacting, tracting, finding potentials and formers, etc. Still, things are okay; my companion is pretty cool, he grew up Muslim in Liberia, then moved to Texas for school with his sister 10 years ago. A few years after that, he found the church and was baptized in 2007! He is like 23, so he's a bit older, but he's cool; he is much easier to understand than Elder I lol!
 
I'm surprised on how many members in Conyers remember me; when I was here last, I never said a word to anyone (I was a scared little greenie lol). This week felt very long; time passes super slowly here, just like it did last time; but it's all good, we got a lot of people to see and teach! Not a lot of them are that elect, but a few are, and I think something big is supposed to happen here; else why would I be sent back here unless there was something I missed last time?
 
It has been rainy here, which is weird; all my memories of this place was in the blazing heat lol! We bike A LOT; maybe I'll lose some weight before I get back, that would be nice...
Elder Holland said something like, "When He (Christ) comes, I so want to be caught living the gospel. I want to be surprised right in the act of spreading the faith and doing something good." We never know when someone will need us, so we must always be willing and worthy to serve. 

We just got a bunch of missionaries this transfer; I don't know how many, but they have split a lot of areas and put sisters in them, as well as opening up some area that have been shut for a while; it'll be interesting to keep watching how the mission changes, especially when the Macon mission is in full blast this summer; we'll probably have to give up some of our mission area and some missionaries to the other mission...

Go, Cougars! It doesn't hurt as much as the last time to miss all the BYU stuff, but I am excited to catch football this year! 

So, my week: 

Monday I was still in John's Creek, and we played soccer all day in a member's backyard; Tuesday we had district meeting, then ate lunch at Wild Wings and took pics and said goodbye and such. Spent a lot of time packing and talking with Schmidty; I'm going to miss that kid, he is fun and is very very spiritual; more so than any other person I have met! Keep an eye out for him when he becomes a Seventy lol! 

So Wednesday morning we had a member drive us all the way to the Conyers Stake Center (took about 2 hours) and swapped companions, then went to the apartment; the one we live at now is right next to the one I used to live in! Weird... We biked a lot that day, and I saw some people I taught last time (they haven't changed much lol...)

Thursday we tracted and found this guy who used to work at a car dealership a PM guy owned; I recognized him! It was kinda crazy we just happened to knock into him... good thing I don't believe in "just happens" anymore. Got to meet the zone leaders that day too; Elder Yates and Elder Diehl. Both are pretty cool guys, Diehl came out with me and Yates came out one after me...

Friday we had some team-ups in the morning; we taught a Muslim guy who didn't seem very open to the idea, but was nice. Biked some more and then had dinner with the Casey's, on of my favorite families from the last time! And they remembered me! Yay!

Saturday it rained pretty good; luckily we got a ride to most of our appointments; we also got to help clean the church! Yay, service! Changing lives one example at a time! 

We also saw that guy from the car dealership, Gary, again with a member; he said he couldn't make it to church, but he said he wanted to get involved in Scouting, so we are meeting him at the church next Wed. for a church tour. 

Sunday was pretty good; had fun saying hi to everyone, and an old gator we taught that week came to church! She said she would come to Easter Sunday and General Conference as well! Yay! 

We then packed up to spend the night at the ZL's apartment; ours doesn't have a washer, so we go over to use theirs. It was pretty fun. 

Today we have just been e-mailing and shopping; there are some days were I am happy and have desire to go and work; some days I'm frustrated to be back here and am tired of talking to ghetto people who are nice but won't commit or change.That first day I was just depressed and upset; the people here, for the most part, are not smart enough to understand or accept the gospel. However, it's nice to have people be nice to me for a change; John's Creek people are super rude... Anyway, I know that's an unfair judgement, and I was sent back here because there is someone here I am supposed to find or teach...I want to go out with a bang, not a whimper. I know this church is true, and that I should not be so judgemental, and that God has a plan for every single person here in Conyers, even me! I love ya, thanks for all you do, expect some packages to be sent your guys way; should I send them to Mom or you? I got a lot of stuff I can't fly home with because I don't have enough room in my suitcases...

Anyway, take luck, y'all! 

Love, 

Elder Casey Guy Dickson

 

Back to the beginning ...

Elder Dickson, Elder Schmidt and the priest quorum in the John's Creek Ward.

Hey, how y'all doin'? Happy Saint Pattie's Day yesterday! Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

So, transfer news, I'm going back to Conyers Inner, where I started my mission ... I'm not sure how I think about it. I mean, there are people there I miss and am excited about seeing, but I never saw much success there, and that's selfish of me, but I kinda put that area behind me. I'm going to be with Elder Kallon, who is pretty new and is from Africa, so he is still learning English (here we go again...) and Elder Schmidt is staying here and getting Elder Kilmer. This will be very interesting...

So this week:

Tuesday we had our Zone Training at our stake center, which was alright; I don't know why, but this zone training was just kinda blah; the best part was seeing Elder Ball and Elder Spear and all those guys! We had lunch at Olive Garden (I haven't eaten there for the longest time; I can't even remember the last time I ate there...). That night we had a split with the High Priests, which is always fun... we saw a member who is still potentially crazy, but less so than usual, so it wasn't so bad. Then we saw the guy with the robot again, and asked him to pray to see if God loves him. We hope to see him come soon.

Wednesday we had our apartment inspection (which we passed, don't worry, Mom lol), then we biked all day with minimal success, then had dinner with the Gunnels, a very fun young couple with hilarious kids! We had Spanish with us there, because the Gunnels knew ElderTarver from their old ward, before he left on his mission; crazy! Brother Gunnel also cut our for us; free haircuts!

Thursday we saw a less-active family, who are HUGE BYU fans; finally, my large reservoir of BYU football and basketball knowledge is getting me somewhere lol! Who says I know tons of useless information? I just used the talents God gave me to fellowship with a less-active, how cool is that? I was actually super nervous, since I don't really know the new stuff, but we had an hour long conversation about just BYU and Jimmer lol. Go Cougars!

Friday we spent a lot of time on the phone for weekly planning session; got a hold of some referrals and other 'gators who had recently been off the grid, so Elder Schmidt and his new comp. should be busy this next week. Then we played indoor soccer with the Spanish elders and their branch members; indoor soccer is so much more fun then regular soccer lol! I even scored a few times! Go me! 

Saturday we taught Sam, the old man who knows everything, and yet nothing. We asked him if he knew God loved him; he was silent for a while, then shared with us a story of a son of a friend of his, who had polio, and how he overcome polio by prayer. He said he has had times in his life when he knew God loved him, but has never been certain. We ate lunch at this Italian restaurant, then went back to leave the Savior's Peace and Blessing in his home. As we finished, my companion shared a story about his many surgeries he has had, and how he used the Atonement to get relief from the pain, and he commissioned Sam to pray to see if God is there and if He loves him. He said that he would; it was the only time I have seen Sam quiet was during Elder Schmidt's testimony. He is making baby steps...

Sunday was really good, very eventful; Elder Schmidt and I got the chance to bless the sacrament (not because of the lack of priests, the ward has so many; it was because we asked if we could); I miss getting the chance to help stand in the Savior's place and offer a prayer to be able to provide the congregation with the remission of sins. It is a much bigger deal than I realized as a youth, and I really enjoyed doing it this past Sunday.

We had a good lesson in Gospel Principles; Brother Gunnel brought a friend to church, and she loved every minute of it! We taught her the first lesson, and she asked for a Book of Mormon (she promised to read it in two days; nice!). She made awesome comments in class, and had a ton of fun in relief society, so we are trying to get over to her house, Brother Gunnel is going to set that up for us.

Priest's quorum was good as always; the picture is of those guys. I hope they all go on missions, they can do some spectacular things with the Lord's help. They are a good group of boys...

After church we went over to our Ward Mission Leader's house for a correlation meeting, then went with an 18-year-old elder waiting to go into the MTC with us to go teach Desire, a man from the Ivory Coast of Africa. It was difficult to understand him, but we had a good lesson, and left him with a BoM, which we said he would read, and wanted us to come back next Sunday. Nice!

Then we went over to the McGuires for a traditional Irish meal, corn beef and cabbage, which was really good! You guys are going to be surprised what I eat now lol; even salad is starting to taste good! Brother McGuire then took us to Brother Lakips again to have a lesson with a Part-member family from Russia, and their Inactive daughter. At first, there was a bit of arguing about prayer and God having a body, which Igor (the husband) and the daughter was against. We both bore very solemn testimony, and we saw the spirit carry it to their hearts; by the end, they were speechless. It was cool to see the change that took place when we started to testify instead of debate. 

I hope they will take up the challenge we have been leaving with everyone recently, about praying to God to see if He is there and if He loves them; I ask all who read this to try this for themselves; we may know that God loves us, but I don't think I have ever asked. I have recently, and a warm feeling washed over me and I felt like I could baptize the world; with God's help and strength, I feel like I can not only finish my mission strong, but to go out with a bigger bang than I came in (which I get the chance to do, since I'm going back to my first area lol). I again ask you all to ask God if He is there and if He loves you, and I promise He will answer, and that answer will give you more comfort and peace and strength than you can possibly imagine. I know that God lives and loves us, and so does His Son, our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ; they love us with a love that is perfect and want to give us the peace that this world can't provide us, even if it wanted to. I know this church is true; how can it not be? I know that prayer is God's way of staying in touch with His kids who are far from home, so that we can stay as close to Him as we can. I know that the scriptures our a way that God speaks to us, and they have the Words of Life. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 Thanks so much for being the best family in the world! You guys rock! I love y'all so much, write me please!

Love,

Elder Casey Guy Dickson

He looks tall in this picture, doesn't he?

Hey, guys!

I heard about Grandpa and Grannie Sheila's mission call, they e-mailed me; that's so cool! And ya, I could use a job, I'd love to work in Utah so I can save up money for school! I am still considering athletic training, as well as physical therapy possibly; I'm still praying about where I should go and what I should do; all I know is that I want to go to school in Utah, but I got to get a job. I'll get back in July, school will start in August, but you're supposed to apply way early and I missed it, so either I will live and work in Utah or live with y'all in Nebraska and work. Do you know if I am flying back to Utah, or Nebraskaaaa? If I fly into Salt Lake, we would have to find someplace to stay and to hold all my luggage and whatnot, but that's where I wanna be; if I fly back to Lincoln, I can drop off my stuff at home and then we could drive over for a couple weeks or days or so. I'm not sure; whichever works for you guys!

Also, has there been any news on the driver's licence? Because I haven't gotten a packet to fill out, and I need at least an I.D. in order to even get on the airplane lol! I gotta get a Georgia driver's licence if I can; I would need my birth certificate, and to have that fine paid off in Utah, and then I could try to get stuff done here. Let me know! Sorry to pester about it!

Anyway, my week: Tuesday we had district meeting, then we had a team up with a high priest and tried to see a bunch of people, with minimal success; at least we know where they live now! 

Wednesday we went with our ward mission leader, Brother Lakip, to see a new family from someplace in Africa, I forget. They were both pretty cool; the husband is an RM who is looking for work here in the states; he is an accountant, but he'll take whatever they can get! Afterwards, Bro. Lakip took us out to Outback. Nice! 

Thursday we ate lunch with one of our gators, Sam, this old guy who knows every single stinkin' thing about every single Christian religion, which is frustrating; not that knowledge itself is bad, but knowledge without a witness of the truth, reason and logic without faith, is like a one-winged airplane; they don't fly that far. He seems to be warming up to us; Schmidty and I are gonna cook him a Spaghetti dinner! That ought to do it! That night we ate dinner with one of my favorite ladies, Sister Koch, and her crazy little girl, who is a hoot! We gave a blessing to her son, who was sick (Sister Koch is divorced, so us and her home teachers are the only priesthood she gets...) Then we went out with Bro. Oyervides and got a hold of some less-actives and set up appointments for next week. 

Friday we saw the Kelly family; they are still doing great! Little Isabelle is reading her scriptures still and praying every night; so is her mom. They came to church two weeks in a row, which I think is the record lol! 

Saturday we ate dinner at a part-member, and gave another blessing; Sister Morgan is a sweet lady from China, and her husband is a very nice Catholic man; we're trying to get in there more so we can teach! We spent the rest of day working on our missionary presentation to the Priests, which went really well; We showed them two Mormon messages: Sanctify Yourselves and Stay Within the Lines (both by Holland, of course) and shared some stories about an elder who was fairly uneducated who bore powerful testimony to a knowledgeable basher, who got baptized because of his sweet, simple testimony. You don't need to be a fancy speaker or a Scriptorian to be a missionary; you need to be a clean and worthy vessel of the Lord, who knows that only by the Holy Spirit can you hope to teach. Then Elder Schmidt shared a powerful story about an old woman who the missionaries found, who, after she got baptized, saw that in her patriarchal blessing that if a certain missionary had accepted his call to serve a mission, she would have been baptized 25 years earlier... that shook the priests pretty good. The spirit was so strong, and hope every one of those boys got something out of what God was trying to tell them, and that they all will serve faithful missions. Only time will tell. 

That's about it for the week. 

Yeah, it has been a long time; it's closer than it ever has been, though! Not that I am getting trunky (at least I hope not), but when it's time to go home, it'll be time to go home. I promise to finish strong, and I can already see how my mission has changed me; still doesn't mean I can't wait to see y'all! 

I know that God is in the details of our lives; he does not take away trials, but gives us the strength to handle them and overcome them; he makes them more bearable. I know God lives and loves all of us, and that as His servant, I have been able to enjoy seeing His hand in all things; I left my home and family because I knew God would take care of you guys. Take Luck! 

Love,
Elder Casey Guy Dickson

Is spring here yet?

Smile big, you're a missionary!

Hey Family!

Thanks for the email! How are things?

It's staring to get cold finally, but not nearly like it should be. Ah, snow! It is not even cold enough for a long sleeve shirt here, but people are freaking out! There is no one outside for us to talk to, so we've been knocking a lot of doors; everyone is inside or heading to Florida! There was some small baby snowflakes the other day, and everyone was bundled up; It is funny to see, but I know that when I go back to Utah or Nebraska I'm gonna die because I'm not used to it. When spring gets here, the pollen will break out like crazy lol! I'm glad I don't get that bad of allergies, but still. 

Anyway, my week: 

Been spending a lot of time knocking and walking to no avail, so we decided to get a GPS to find our way around, and to try to focus on Part-Members or Less-Actives, as well as finding gators. Tuesday night we gave a recent move-in a blessing, then went out with Bro. LeCheminant to see a referral and some less-actives; ran into some people who never want to be contacted again; oh well. 

Wednesday was Zone Conference, which is always good. We had our Mission President talk about the Abrahamic Covenant and how it pertains to missionary work; it was quite interesting. The Old Testament part of Seminary I may or may not have been awake for lol! We had his wife and our assistants (my good friend Chugg, who you guys said hi to on Skype, and his comp) spoke as well, and a testimony meeting of the departing missionaries; Elder Youd goes home in May! And I go home in July! Ahhhhh!! 

We then had dinner with the bishop and his kind wife, which is always good; if you are on good terms with the bishop, the work is sooo much easier lol...

Thursday we had an awesome, very spiritual lesson with Ian, our top gator; he is in his late 20's or early 30's, has a fiance, and is very interested in finding a faith in Jesus Christ. It's weird to meet someone who has lived in the South all their lives and they haven't been brought up religious... anyway, he is uber-prepared; he answers questions, and asks all the right ones! We felt impressed to use the Finding Faith in Christ DVD for our lesson; it was one of the most spiritual lessons I've had in a while! His only hang up is that he doesn't feel ready to get baptized yet, which is fine, because that will come. We just have to make sure that he understands that when he knows this is true, he is judged by that standard, and must be baptized soon after that realization. It's a tricky thing to know when people are ready; it's all case by case, and by the spirit. the criteria in our mission is they have to come to church twice, and receive all the lessons. Rarely have I seen someone get baptized in two weeks; most of the time it is a month or more; some take years. It's all about not giving up on them, and also helping them know what having a knowledge of the truth means...

Friday we had a referral we set up an appointment with that fell through; gotta keep trying! We also tried to see a Less-active family with one of our ward missionaries, Bro. Nichols, but they had something come up, so we ended up going over to dinner with our team-up and had some Korean food (it was interesting... I'm glad they also had burritos lol!). The food, coupled with Elder Schmidt's health issues, just about did him in that night, and it lasted till today... We had to stay in mostly Saturday and Sunday so he could rest. It's all good, though; now I can finish Jesus the Christ and be able to start the Book of Mormon again with all the extra reading time! 

Sunday was still good, though, because Ian came... half an hour early lol! Most of the members don't show up until 5 minutes in lol...

Elder Schmidt was dying, but still had enough strength to go up and bear his testimony, which was powerful, as always; this kid is a trooper! 

that's about all that has happened recently; today we are giving Schmidty some more time to relax so we can tackle this week with all our heart, might, mind, and strength! 

Sorry this isn't super long, we have a limited amount of time of the computers at the library...

I want a change just because this area has been very slow; things have picked up slightly, though, so maybe staying wouldn't be so bad. It's just hard to be on a bike in a large area, everything we do depends on whether we can find a ride or not; shouldn't complain, this ward is pretty good about rides and dinners. My companion is great, so we'll see how long the keep me here. 

Despite my best efforts, I am about thinking about home lol... the term in the mission is Bump, Hump, Slump, Dump, referring to 6, 12, 18, and 24 months; I'm in the slump lol. I'm trying my best to stay strong and stay focused, and I know I am here and the Lord's time and I need to use it well. I'm grateful for this chance to serve my God, and I feel like I have changed a lot; however, one of the most important parts of the gospel is to endure to the end, and I am trying to live by that principle. Thanks for being an awesome family, know that I love ya'll and am grateful for your examples. Take Luck! '

Love, 

Elder Casey Guy Dickson

Prepare, prepare, prepare

Don't they look handsome?

Hola, Dickson clan! 

This week was a pretty good week; we found some new investigators and got in with several LA's (Less Actives) we haven't been able to get a hold of. It was a remarkably easier week than last week; either this was our reward week for being good during our trials, or it's the calm before the storm lol...

Tuesday we had our district meeting, and later that night had a short ping-pong game with a member when we were over there for dinner; I hung in for a while, but Elder Schmidt and Brother Gunnell are WAY better than me lol. Then we had a team up that evening with a cool old guy Brother Lang and saw a inactive member who calls himself a "free-thinker". Oh, brother. There is a lot of that kind of attitude out here, that as long as you got Jesus, you're good, that there are many ways to get to heaven, and we just got to find the one that works for us. I can see the appeal of not getting mixed up in all the doctrinal confusion that sets these churches apart, but we know that authority or permission from God is necessary to preform the saving ordinances, as well as correct knowledge of the plan of salvation is required. We need to change ourselves to God's ways, not find or create a church that conforms to our ways. God doesn't and shouldn't change for us, we change for Him.

Anyway, ranting again.

Wednesday we had an appointment with Ian, a person we had contacted on the street a few weeks ago, who had called us back and asked if we could meet that day. We met him at the Chick-fil-A by his complex and taught a first. He is way legit; he bought us lunch, first of all lol, and he asked a lot of good questions. He doesn't have much of a religious background, which is kinda nice, since those who do are sometimes more difficult to teach, because they tend to hold to the traditions of their fathers; a clean slate to start on is almost better. He did have a concern with the Church's view and response to same-gender attraction. He has family who are gay, and while he isn't, he can't grasp why God would hate on what he sees as a personal decision of preference, and that if they are happy and love each other, it's okay. I have been hearing about the boy scout thing, and the Church's statement about it is on http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-cautions-against-speculation-on-scouting-decision, while additional information about the Church's look at this is found on the Church's official websites, such as Lds.org and mormonsandgays.org. That's the same answer we gave to Ian, and I'm not sure if he was satisfied with that. It's a hard thing to explain sometimes, but the Scriptures are clear about how God feels about that kind of behavior, as well as the Church's The Family: A Proclamation to the World. It's all stuff I'm going to have to do more study on.

Anyway, that same night we had dinner with the LeCheminant's, who are a very interesting couple; they asked Elder Schmidt if he could arrange some flowers she bought for them (I don't know if I told ya, Schmidty is a very talented florist). He was very excited to do it, but wasn't nearly as excited to see Sister LeCheminant show it off at Church to the Relief Society lol! We're expecting phone calls with requests soon lol!

Thursday we had a team up, and we saw some referrals and a LA who is building a robot; it was so creepy, and so awesome! We need a robot to knock doors for us lol! The future is now!

Saturday we had lunch with Sam Chambers, a guy who has been an eternagator in Florida for like 5 years, and just barely moved here. He is very knowledgeable about all Christian religions and their history, which is his downfall (2 Nephi 9:28-29, Jacob 4:8-10). He is a super nice guy, though, who tries to find people for us to teach. I don't get it; our religion is not good enough for him, but it is for his friends? Oh well; it'll be fun teaching him, I'm sure lol.

Sunday we gave a missionary presentation to the High Priests, and we threw down on them! We had quotes from Prophets and scriptures and bore powerful testimony of the work; I hope we didn't scare them too bad lol. I made sure we expressed our love for them and our desire to work together to further the Kingdom, but we were pretty bold; hopefully we shook them up enough to get them a-movin' lol! We were nicer than my companion wanted to be, though; he's a firecracker lol!

Also we sat in as the Priest's Quorum practiced teaching the Plan of Salvation to one of the priest's non-member dad. They stumbled here and there, but didn't too bad. The best part is when my companion was impressed to tell them that the son needed to bear testimony to his father, and when he did, a very sweet spirit was in the room. Hopefully this will open the door for us to get in and teach this guy soon!

That night we had dinner with the Hawkins, and we went to see a part-member family the Browns. The non-member husband didn't join us, but Sister Brown was a hoot! She was a sweet old lady who was funny and spiritual at the same time; we all enjoyed the sweet spirit that was there. It made our night to make her night :)

That's about it for now.

I have been thinking a lot, and I realize that I was certainly not as prepared for my mission as I should have been; I spent my time doing things I would miss doing, which isn't a terrible thing; the problem was I spent more time goofing off rather than reading Preach My Gospel or developing mission skills. I've spent my whole mission playing keep up with everyone else out here. My new companion is not only a better missionary than I was when I was his age (can't believe I said that lol), but he was the most prepared greenie I have ever seen! Makes me want to be better. I know everyone has different talents and whatnot, but I feel more like the man who buried his one talent paired up with the servant who made 10 additional talents aside from the ones he had previously. You guys know I'm pretty lazy, and I have a hard time finding the drive to accomplish something. Devin and Shelby, please prepare now, because when you're out here it is almost too late lol! 

I had a small epiphany yesterday that I am maybe not taking my mission as seriously as I was earlier; just like how we go to church for years and it just kinda becomes routine, and the spiritual experiences are sorta taken for granted. Talking about the gospel has become second hat to me; not that is necessarily a bad thing, but it hasn't felt as special as it really is. We talked to a family in the ward that had a son on a mission, and they really enjoy his spiritual experiences he shares. It makes me want to write better e-mails lol; it's REALLY hard sometimes to write e-mails and put lots of detail into it aside from the day by day events.
Things are kind of up and down here; some weeks there is a lot going on, others when we can't find anyone. I know that they are out there, and I'm doing my best to stay excited about this area. It has been kind of dragging for me just because I have been hear a while and I have had a bad attitude about it. I'm getting better, though! 

I love you all! Please write! I wanna know what y'all are up to! 

Take luck! 

Love, 

Elder Casey Guy Dickson