Week 58 in the Field - Losa, Korean Guy, and Eternal Principles

Weekly Letter November 30th 2015

Hey guys, I hope you've all had a great week.

This week I was able to go on splits with Elder La Rosa which was pretty neat. He's in Minerva, my old area, and I got to go there and see some people I haven't seen in awhile. Elder La Posa is from Chile and is a very patient teacher. He's very familiar with the scriptures and very obedient as well. Great guy.

While we were on splits Elder La Rosa took me to teach a lady named Losa. Losa is from Washington and is married to Carlos who was born here in Guatemala but moved to the states at age 4. Last year Carlos was deported for something related to Marijuana and he and Losa ended up here. Neither of them speak Spanish very well, especially Losa. Losa was baptized when she was 13 but has been inactive for most of her life. It was really cool to have a lesson in English and help her with a few problems she has. It's really different speaking to someone who lived in the states for a few years and supposedly knows English compared to someone who was born there and is culturally American. For example, Losa uses phrases like "awesome sauce" and "cool beans". At the end of the lesson I was able to give Losa a priesthood blessing. Losa is of polynesian ancestry and polynesians have crazy last names. I had to pronounce her last name for the blessing and it was something like Ta'mulikifalawakahandoko. Pretty crazy but I managed to get the syllables to stumble out of my mouth and give the blessing. Anyways, Losa is pretty cool. She doesn't go to church because she says it's too dangerous which isn't really true but then again around the corner from her house a grenade went off the other day because the owner of the internet cafe didn't pay their extorsion fee to the gang and a boy lost his leg in the explosion. So yeah, I guess Guatemala is pretty crazy.

This week we also met Oscar, a 29 year old man who is an inactive member and who was sent to a United States military academy when he didn't behave as a teenager. We also met Brother Kim, a Korean guy who moved to Guatemala at age 36 and at age 38 married an 18 year old member of the church but has never joined the church himself. Hopefully you'll hear more about them in the future.

This week I cam across a quote that I love from Joseph F. Smith. He taught, "eternal progress can be enjoyed only when the principles of eternal life are associated with man's daily existence". Truly, as Dieter F Uchtdorf has taught "The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is a way of life".

I've met alot of people in my mission who seem to have forgotten that "ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ: as Nephi taught. God does not want us to be race horses who can sprint for a short period but quickly get tired. No, he needs us to be like a constant work horse. We need not get  to salvation with style, or grace, or speed, we just need to get there despite the disadvantages and trials we may have. "There is no one great thing that we can do to obtain eternal life" taught David O. McKay. In the end we will be saved through the atonement of Christ and our own obedience and ability to persevere. Let us remember our divine nature, as so beautifully taught by Eliza R. Snow:

For a wise and glorious purpose

Thou hast placed me her on earth

And with help the recollection

Of my former friends and birth

Yet ofttimes a secret something

Whispered, "You're a stranger here,"

From a more exalted sphere.

As we incorporate the principles of eternal life in our daily life, we nurture the seeds of our divine nature. As we let the truth of the gospel rest upon our minds continually the desire to do good will be absorbed by our souls and we will be transformed in this life and lifted up to that exalted sphere in the world to come.

I love you guys; have a great week.

-Elder Dawson

To Mom:
Did your bees come back?

Nope, they´re gone now.

How did your Thanksgiving turn out?

Pretty good. Ate at a barbeque place for lunch and a part member family ordered pizza from Dominos and invited us to dinner. Pretty cool over all.

Do you think you will be transfered next week?

Probably not, Zone Leaders stay in for 6 months in this area usually.

Week 57 in the Field - Divorce, Bee Hives, and Humility

Weekly Letter November 23rd
2015

Hey everyone, hope you've all had a fantastic week.

We've had kind of a wild week over here. Just about all of our investigators have problems with the law of chastity and need to get married or need to get divorced with their former spouse and then married with the current one. One of our investigators in fourteen and pregnant. One of our ward's recent converts was about to get his endowments but today, after a year of sobriety, he fell back into his old alcoholism. We had a beehive at our house and I sprayed it with bug spray and knocked it down, luckily only getting stung once. Anyways, crazy week.

On the bright side we had a week full of great ward activities. Monday was a ward family home evening, Tuesday ward temple trip, Wednesday bonfire and dodgeball, Thursday movie night, Friday talent show, Saturday pot-luck dinner and Sunday ward conference. We had six investigators at church and found seven new investigators. This week was like the Book of Mormon say, "And they did fellowship one with another, and did rejoice one with another, and did have great joy." (Helaman 6:3)

This week I'd like to comment a little bit on Helaman 4:13. In chapter 4 of Heleman the Nephites go to war with the Lamanites; but because of the wickedness of the Nephites the Lord ceases to bless them and protect them. The verse reads:

"And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smittten..."

It was interesting to come across this verse this week in my personal study and read a related story in my ancestor Benjamn Franklin Johnson's book My Life's Review. At this point in his life Benejamin is in his early twenties and is serving a mission sometime around 1841. He finds a good field of labor in Union District, some miles north of Tononto. "I preached twice a week to large congregations," he writes, "and perhaps began to feel a degree of self importance not approved of by the Lord." In one occasion, Benejamin planned to address his congregation and speak about the prophecy of Daniel. "With a degree of self-confidence," he says, "I went to the stand with a feeling akin to exultation in the large congregation, and in what I felt so sure I should be able to say to them. I opened the meeting as usual, took my Bible and began to read from Daniel, but the scripture that had seemed so full of light was now dark. I turned to others, but all were dark. The light of the Lord had left me, and I stood there alone before that large congregation, alone in my own strength, and in my nakedness I almost felt a horror of myself. I stood there speechless, and mortified. And oh, the sense of ingratitude to the Lord that came over me. To think that He had helped me, and that all I was He had made me, and now I stood there in my own strength, and was humbled to the dust...I was but a plow boy sent out like the apostles of old, to preach by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and that without it, I was nothing."

Bejamin later asks God for forgiveness and receives the spirit again. In fact, just a short time following this incident, he has the spirit so abundantly that he preaches to a tribe of Mohawk Indians in their native language through the Gift of Tongues. But certainly in this occasion Benjamin learned the truthfulness of the Lord's warning in D&C 42:14 "And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach."

Surely we must show gratitude to the Lord for what he gives us. If we fail to do so, God may leave us alone to show us how much we really do need him. President Joseph F. Smith taught, "The spirit of gratitude is always pleasant and satisfying because it carries with it a sense of helpfulness to others; it begets love and friendship, and engenders divine influence. Gratitude is said to be the memory of the heart. And where there is an absence of gratitude either to God or man, there is the presence of vanity and self-sufficiency."

Thomas Gibbons expresses the ungrateful man thusly:

That man may last, but never lives,
Who much receives, but nothing gives;
Whom non can love, whom noe can thank,
Creation's blot, creation's blank.

Let us all be more grateful towards the Lord for our bounteous blessings. As we do so we will surely be blessed with his spirit and will not be left alone.

I love you all, have a great week.

-Elder Dawson

Beehive in our House

Ward Talent Show

To Mom:

Is your zone/district going to get together to do anything? 

We are going to buy pumpkin pie and see if we can make funeral potatoes in the oven at the stake center. Turkeys are really expensive here but we might buy a chicken.

To Grandma:

Just wondering if you ever get to accompany on the piano at your meetings?  

No. There is a piano (but not an organ) but no one knows how to play. Fortunately it comes with all the hyms on it so you just find the hyms and press play and it plays itself basically. So we have a ward "pianist" but he just presses play on the hyms. I don´t have any time to practice so I never play hymns.

Also, were The photos you sent from the Mall---Is that Mall new or is it the one with a really nice theater in it? 

That mall is new, it opened less than a month ago. You may have went to Miraflores or Metra Norte? 

Any requests for your Christmas package?  Did your seeds produce anything?

If you could send some pictures that would be cool. Not sure if you still have pictures from the trips Jayden and I took with you guys when we were kids? We have the supplies for the garden project but we need to set apart some time to plant still.

Week 56 in the Field - Stake Conference, Good Works, and Time

Found my new car

Naranjo Mall

Week 55 in the Field - Working with Youth, Ammon, and The Holy Ghost

Weekly Letter November 8th 2015

Hey everyone, hope you guys have had a great week.

This week was pretty great. We've been trying to work in sectors and divide our area up a little bit this week and we've also been working more with members to gain their confidence. We found 9 new investigators this week and have seen many blessings from the Lord.

A new mall opened up in our zone so after I'm done writing we're going to go check it out. Supposedly it has Papa John's and sushi and a bunch of other stuff.

One thing we've been trying to do is work more with the youth in the ward who can soon go on missions. It's great to be friends with them and encourage them to serve. I'm lucky to serve in a ward with a bunch of return missionaries who are also great examples to the youth.

We had our Primary Program this Sunday and it went well.  Our attendance went up to about 210 people in sacrament meeting (normally its about 170). For some reason they only let the older kids speak and each age group learned one song and the age groups sang separately rather then all together. Overall it was good but I did miss the primary program from home.

I'd like to share a quick thought this week about one of my favorite verses in the Book Of Mormon. In chaper 18 or Alma, Ammon is preaching to King Lamoni. As part of the lesson he teaches Lamoni, he teaches with power who he is and what his purpose is. His statement is a motto for missionaries everywhere:

"I am a man, and man in the beginning was created after the image of God, and I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true. And a portion of that Spirit dwelleth in me, which giveth me knowledge, and also power according to my faith and desires which are in God."

Surely, Ammon understood the answer to the question posed by the Lord himself in The Doctrine and Covenants, "Unto what were ye ordained?" The Lord proceeds to answer that question, saying "To preach my gospel by the spirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth,'

"The Holy Ghost is a revelator," taught Spencer W. Kimball, "He is a reminder and will bring to our remembrance the things which we have learned and which we need in the time therof. He is an inspirer and will put words in our mouth, enlighten our understandings and direct our thoughts. He is a testifier and will bear record to us of the divinity of the Father and the Son and of their missions and of the program which they have given us. He is a teacher and will increase our knowledge. He is a companion and will walk with us, inspiring us all along the way, guiding our footsteps, impeaching our weaknesses, strengthening our resolves, and revealing to us righteous aims and purposes."

Teaching without the spirit is convincing someone rather than converting them. With the spirit we plant seeds that will, in time, grow into grand trees of gospel strength. Without it, we will vaccinate people, giving them just enough to develop a lifelong immunity.

I am grateful for the guiding influence of the spirit that I have felt throughout my mission. I hope that the words from this hym will be the prayer of us all:

Today thine unseen purposes

By faith's rare light we feel

Dear Father, make us pure in heart

To us thy will reveal

Father, let thy light divine 

Shine on us, we pray

Touch our eyes that we may see

Teach us to obey

Ours the sacred mission is

To bear they message for

The light of faith is in our hearts

Truth our guiding star

Love you guys, have a great week.

-Elder Dawson

Week 54 in the Field - Elder Perez, Rejection, and Charity

Weekly Letter November 2nd 2015

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

This week I was sad to see Elder Jepson and Hebberth leave the area. Both of them went to Zone 18 which is one of the most dangerous parts of the mission. They should be fine there though.

My new companion is Elder Perez from Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. He has 16 months in the mission and is really easy-going. I am now the Zone Leader1/  Lead Zone Leader in my zone. I'm glad to have this additional responsibility and I'm glad to be here with Elder Perez.

This week we were happy to find 8 new investigators and set 4 new baptismal dates with people. We were sad to lose a family of investigators, to whom we had given two copies of the Book Of Mormon last week. When we showed up on Saturday they returned the Book Of Mormon in a plastic bag, saying that it wasn't for them. A first for me on my mission. I'm glad to live and serve in a country where we normally face very little rejection.

This week we celebrated Halloween in the States and the people here celebrated the Day of the Dead. The celebrations normally take place in cemeteries and we don't have a cemetary in our area so we saw very little celebrating. Attendance at church was very low due to the fact that many were with their families. I did learn that here in the capital rich people sometimes celebrate Halloween. In malls they also give candy away to kids and Halloween decorations are sold at Walmart, all of the costumes and masks and inflatable pumpkins and stuff.

I came across an interesting scripture this week that I'd like to analyze a little bit in this letter. The scripture is found in the Doctrine and Covenants and reads:

"And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace."

I love the use of the symbol of a mantle in this scripture. A mantle symbolizes power and authority. Thus, in the story of Elijah and Elisha, Elisha inherits the mantle of the former and straightway uses the article of clothing to divide the rivers of the Jordan River. Like a mantle, charity grants us with spiritual power.

Joseph F. Smith contrasts the symbol of a mantle with the symbol of a shell. The former is warm and soft while the latter is hard and cold. Although they both serve as a covering, yet they are very opposite in their connotations.

The prophet teaches:

"The cultivation of kindly thoughts and sentiments towards others is always helpful...to lift ourselves out of our own shells in which, by our surroundings and habits of thought, we are encrusted, and place ourselves in the positions which others occupy in life."

If we cover ourselves with the shell of our own happiness we will always be looking in. Others will see us as cold, hard, and encrusted. However, if we take upon ourselves the mantel of charity we will be looking outwardly. Others will see us as warm, soft, and tender. We will be enveloped in the powers of heaven. Thus, the Lord's constant invitation to soften our hearts rather than harden them.

"The test, then," teaches Joseph F. Smith, "of our soul's greatness is rather to be sought in our ability to comfort and console, our ability to help others, rather than in our ability to help ourselves and crowd others down in the struggle of life."

"Kindness is the essence of greatness," teaches Joseph B. Wirthlin, "and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have know. Kindness is a passport that opens doors and fashions friends; it softens hearts and molds relationships that can last lifetimes."

My invitation to you is to throw upon yourself the mantle of charity. Emblazen everything you do with a stamp of kindness. Look out, not in. Clothe yourself with power and speak with the tongue of angels.

Certainly I too need to work on being more charitable. To achieve this goal, I have tried to follow the counsel of Moroni who said:

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God, that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure."

I love you all, have a fantastic week.

-Elder Dawson

Bus Shot

New Companion - Elder Perez

Having fun with my Halloween package