Week 45 in the Field - The Year Mark Approaches, Jaime, Jovanny, and Free Ties

I apologize but I didn´t type up a letter this week so this might be brief.

This week I will be completing a year in the mission field! I´m really excited and I´d like to thank everyone for the constant support and love I recieve. It´s been a great year and I´m hoping for another great one.

This week we made over 140 street contacts and found some great new investigators. Jaime is a 50 year old man who looks like Peter Pettigrew from the third Harry Potter movie and carries around a revolver adorned by his crocodile belt and boots. Rough looking dude. But he was excited to have a lesson with us, he said he would be baptized if he knew the church was true, he told us he wants to change his life, and he prayed sharing-time style repeating the words after I did (at his request!). 

Jovanny is a new investigator who we have that is blind. He knows how to read braille but Guatemala doesn´t have a lot of braille books so he only has access to the bible so he knows his Bible pretty well. He told us at the beginning of the lesson that we was born Catholic and that he´ll die Catholic but after talking about the Restoration he was intrigued by the thought of the apostasy and pointed out some elements of his church that were likely the results of the apostasy. He agreed to be baptized when he knows the church is true and he offered to say the final prayer to finish the lesson.

We contacted a stranger this week at his doorstep and he told us we wasn´t interested in our message but that he had a bag of ties saved to give to us and so he gave us 4 really cool ties so that was neat.

This week we baptized a lady named Magnolia. Her boyfriend is a member and her family basically will disown her once they figure out she got baptized but she was willing to do it for her salvation. She´s great and we´re happy to know her.

I hope everyone has a great week. Talk to you next week!

Answers to Mom's questions:

How was the broadcast?

It was cool. unfortunately the transmission was cut off halfway through but it was still cool.

Is there anything crazy going on in your area with the upcoming election?

Guatemala is super corrupt so they´ve already sent the Vice President to prison, they sent the mayor of our city to prison, and they are trying to send the president to prison too. There are like ten major candidates for president but everyone says they´re all corrupt. Surprisingly despite all this everythings been peaceful. We´re not to close to the action but we might have to stay home on election day this Sunday. In years past they haven´t even have church because I guess it´s illegal to be in groups on election day? The church and the Lord will keep us safe with whatever happens

Do you take selfie pictures with your camera or do you use it with a phone?

Camera. Just have to put it on the self timer.

Thanks for the pictures mom, love you lots. Maybe if you could send me a few recipes to use in an oven and in a crock pot now that we have both that would be great. 

Book of Mormon in Quiche (Pronounced Kee-CHE), a native mayan dialect that some people speak here (but our mission hardly has any people that speak it so none are assigned to speak Quiche here. Although in other Guatemalan missions missionaries do speak Quiche)

Triple combination in Q'eqchi' (Kekchi), another dialect, and a photo at the baptism we had.

Guatemalan-sized bathroom.

Baptism of Magnolia

Stuff to make tortlillas

Week 44 in the Field - Elder Nelson, Priesthood, Package, and the Restoration

Weekly Letter August 23, 2015

Hey guys, I hope everyone has had a great week.

Things are going really well here in the zone with Elder Jepson. This week we were able to see three miracles that were really cool. The first one happened while searching for an old investigator that we had found a record of in the area book. The name on the record said Raul Marroguin but didn't have an address or phone number. We thought, "How are we going to find this guy?" right when a young guy stepped out of  a house. We asked him if he knew Raul by chance and he said "Uh yeah, that's me" and so we found him. The second miracle happened when we entered into a gated communnity and a guard introduced us to a family of ten in the community. The guard isn't even a member or anything but he introduced us to them in an area where we hardly have any contacts or investigators so that was great. The third miracle happened looking for a lady named Delmira. We found her house and knocked on the door. She answered and was surprised to see us, first off because she's an old investigator that hasn't attended church in a year and secondly because she was just thinking about attending church the following day when boom, we showed up. She came to stake conference with us and we placed a baptism for the 26th of September. Overall, we've seen a lot of blessings and miracles this week.

We were really exicted for the multi-mission conference that was going to be held on Tuesday with Russell M. Nelson but, due to security concerns involving the upcoming Guatemalan election, the conference will be hled in El Salvador and we will be viewing the broadcast.

On Sunday, I was able to give the Melchizedek Priesthood to Ronny Mendez whom I helped reactivate. He is 18 and planning on serving a mission. It's amazing how the spirit is felt during priesthood blessings and I felt a tiny bit of what a father must feel watching his son take a huge step forward, the son becoming a little bit more like the father himself.

This week I'd like to share a few quotes and thoughts about the Restoration of the gospel. Bruce R. McConkie taught about the restoration in the following way:

"Once or twice in a thousand years a new door is opened through which all men must enter if they are to gain peace in this life and be inheritors of eternal life in the realms ahead. Once or twice in a score of generations a new era dawns the light from the east begins to drive the darknesss of the earth from the hearts of men. Now and then in a peaceful grove, apart from the gaze of men, heaven and earth share a moment of intimacy, and neither are ever thereafter the same. Such a moment occurred on the beautiful, clear morning in the spring of 1820 in a grove of trees near Palmyra, New York. Man asked and God answered.  Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son."

Joseph Smith taught, "It is left for us to see, participate in, and help to roll forward the Latter-day glory," To help us, "the Spirit of God will be showered down from above, and it will dwell in our midst. The blessings of the Most High will rest upon our tabernacles," and we will bring to pass a "work that is destined to bring about the destruction of the powers of darkness, the renovation of the earth, the Glory of God, and the salvation of the human family."

I bear testimony of this latter-day work. The man the world knows as Joseph Smith, Junior I know as Joseph Smith the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. The work he established is divine and his legacy shall be eternal.

I hope everyone has a great week. A couple white people showed up to our Stake Conference in Guatemala and they're from Midway, Utah (the same place as my companion.) We entrusted them with a couple of packages of souvenirs. The lady's email is annefitz25 (the typewriter obsiously doesn't have an at sign but there's an at) gmail.com. She'll bring the stuff to E' Jepson's parents.

-Elder Dawson

A vegetable supposedly called masapan, perhaps similar in flavor to a potato. More like Yucca but perhaps that´s unfamiliar to you guys haha.

A map we printed out of our area. Picture taken in the Bishop´s house.

Guatemalan birthday party for an 87 year old guy in our ward.

Fighting with a Chicken named Po

Birthday Party

Week 43 in the Field - Horus, Mariela, and Ronny

I apologize but this week I wasn´t able to type up a nice letter. I will have to be brief but I will try to inform you guys of everything that´s going on.

This week we were really happy to set a baptism date with a guy named Horus. His mom and brother are members (his brother is currently serving a mission) but Horus has always kind of felt intellectually superior and has always had doubts about the church. This week, after the spirit softening his heart over the course of a few months with the missionaries, we were able to place a baptism date with him for the fifth of September. We are super excited for him and his family. 

Mariela, an investigator I taught, got baptized this week in Minerva. Since my new area is right next door we got to attend the baptism service. She bore her testimony after her baptism, testifying of the spirit she felt during the ordinance and sharing her desire of being a missionary. 

Ronny, Mariela´s brother, whom I helped reactivate, is similarly preparing to serve a mission. He asked me today to give him the Melchizedek Priesthood after stake conference so I´m really excited I´ll get to do that!

Elder Jepson and I are working hard and having a great time. This week we contacted 70 people, found a bunch of less actives, and have improved our relationship with the members. 

I love all you guys, have a great week! 

Week 42 in the Field - Zone Leader, Elder Jepson, and the Holy Ghost

Weekly Letter August 10, 2015

Hey guys, I hope everyone has had a great week, I certainly have. This week I had changes but fortunately I stayed in the same zone and just went up as Zone Leader. My new area is called Lo de Fuentes and it's right next to my old area, Minerva. It's so close in facts, that we go to the same chapel on Sundays. I get to see my converts in church still which is really cool.

My companion is Elder Jepson from Midway, Utah. He just has six more weeks than I do in the mission and he's a fantastic companion. He's been a Zone Leader for only 3 months so we're both really new at this and have a lot of ideas to implement in the zone an in our companionship. As a Zone Leader you have very little supervison because you practically are the supervision, so we have a lot of freedom in how we want to work as a zone to see a lot of success. This change (six weeks) we will be focusing on Family Home Evenings with investigators and members, ward lists, maps, and member references.

Elder Jepson is really easy-going. He's 24 years old and he waited to go on a mission so that he could go at the same time with his two brothers. All three left on the same day, one to Monterrey, Mexico: one to Santa Ana, El Salvador; and one to the Guatemala City East Mission. Elder Jepson is always smiling and taking pictures, has a great understanding of the gospel, has a great attitude, and wants to work in the smartest, most efficient way possible. In short, he's an amazing companion and he doesn't think he's above me so we are truly working as equals.

In other news, my investigator from Minerva, Mariela, will be baptized on Wednesday. Now whenever she is taught she'll say things like "I really liked that, I'll be sure to use that example when I go on my mission." She really has a desire to be baptized and to progress in the church, go to the temple, and go on a mission. I'm usper happy for her and really glad that I will be able to be present at her baptismal service.

My new area, Lo de Fuentes, is great and we have four people preparing for baptism. This week we found two new families to teach and we are seeing an increase in confidence from the members in the ward.

I was able to study a little bit about the gift of the Holy Ghost. "The Holy Ghost," taught Spencer W. Kimball, 'is a personage of spirit and comes into our lives to lead us in the paths of righteousness." This personage of spirit helps us to develop certain Godlike qualities, and the right to his companionship and constant help is dependent upon the reception of the ordinance of confirmation and the personal worthiness, faithfulness, and righteousness of the recipient. Those who are in tune with the spirit through the compliance to such prerequisites are able to receive certain spiritual gifts which "enlighten, encourage, and edify the faithful so that they will inherit peace in this life and be guided towards eternal life in the world to come." (Bruce R. McConkie)

The companionship of the Holy Ghost and the reception of its accompanied gifts have the eternal purpose of helpingus to become more like God. Parley P. Pratt taught that "An intelligent being, in the image of God, possesses every organ, attribute, sense, sympathy, affection, that is possessed by God himself, But...these attributes are in embryo, and are to be gradually developed." Pratt continues to explain the role of the Holy Ghost is developing divine attributes, saying, "The gift of the Holy Ghost adapts itself to all these organs or attributes. It quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands, and purifies all the natural passions and affections, and adapts them, by the figt of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates, and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindres feelings, and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity...Such is the gifts of the Holy Ghost"

My invitation would be that we accept that the words pronounced in the ordination of confirmation, "Receive the Holy Ghost," is not a passive remark but rather an active mandate. Let us purify our lives, increase our faith, and augment our personal righteousness so that we may become new creatures through the Holy Ghost.

Let your passions, brute and wild

Be tuned by spirit, meek and mild

The strings of life shall clash and din

Unless you let Him enter in

I love you all, have a great week.

--Elder Dawson

Ward Council

Ward Council

Eating Pizza

Selfie stick in the streets of Guatemala

Car photo with my companions selfie stick.

Adolfo Barrios, a new convert in my new area.

A big Rottweiler.

Week 41 in the Field - Ch-ch-changes, Danny, and Repentance

Weekly Letter 3 of August 2015

Well, it turns out that I will not be sticking around here in Minerva for long because I have changes. Tonight I'll receive the details about where I will be going and also any potential leadership assignments I will have.

This came as a surprise because we thought for sure that I would finish Elder Alarcon's training before leaving the area but oh well, I'll go where you want me to go.

This week I had the opportunity to get to know a guy named Danny. Danny was born in Guatemala but at the age of five his family moved to Reno, Nevada. He went to school and everything in the United States and a few years ago joined the church there. However, he began to distance himself from the church and began to start some bad habits. He came to Guatemala three months ago to get away from his past and two weeks ago he came to church for the first time in a couple of years. He speaks English way more than he speaks Spanish, which is cool, and he really wants our help to start a new life.

This week I had the opportunity to baptize an eight year old kid in the ward named Edgar. It was a neat experience and I'm glad I was able to do that for him.

In other news, I bought new ink for my typewriter and I can now write in red so that's pretty cool.

This week I was able to study a little bit on the topic of repentance. Certainly such a topic often conjures up images in our minds of tears and frustration, confession, guilt, and shame. At times, these elements of repentance are certainly crucial, but it is my belief that perhaps they draw our attention away from the images of smiles, relief, rebirth, peace and forgiveness which should come to mind when pondering repentance.

Repentance should be one of the most joyful and glorious words in our gospel vocabulary. "True repentance," taught President Joseph F. Smith, "involves...a thorough reformation of life, a vital change from evil to good, from vice to virtue, from darkness to light." According to President David O. Mckay "the first step" towards such a spiritual reformation "is the belief in a higher and better life, or conversely, a realization of the meanness of one's present state. repentance is turning away from that which is low and striving for that which is higher.

Hugh B. Brown taught that "the need for repentance will continue while life lasts" and that "We cannot replace a bad life with a good one by any single word or act; there must be a continuing process of replacing err and wrong-doing with truth and right-doing; of going from bad to good and from good to better..." He continued that "A growing conception of the good life must be accompanied by constant adjustment thereto if one would achieve harmony with the will of God."

Elder David A. Bednar has taught that repentance and the atonement of Jesus Christ can be compared to a hypothetical machine filled with black sand. In said machine, if one places a grain of white sand in one end, a grain of black sand will leave out the other end. Black grains of sand represent sin and the natural man while grains of sand represent righteousness and spiritual rebirth. When we use the atonement of Christ and repent, we replace the black with the white, the bad for the good. It is a slow, perhaps meticulous practice, but it allows us to purify our lives to the point that we only have white sand, we only have righteousness, we have been, as Moroni puts it, "found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day."

It is my prayer that we might believe and trust that wickedness never was happiness and that the path of discipleship is also the path to happiness. May we be willing to adjust our lives to the will of God and therefore lose a life of sin and gain life eternal.

Our investigator who will be baptized the 12th of August

A Rabbit

The picture I am giving out to say goodbye to people in my ward here. It says, ¨write me, I´m here to listen :)¨