Week 93 in the Field - Pigeons, Blonde Guatemalans, and The Atoning Axis

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

This week has treated us well. We have several cool investigators and we are enjoying our area.

We live in a five story apartment building that is infested with pigeons and someone thought it would be a good idea to put the sink out on the balcony so we are in a constant struggle against the pigeons when we wash our dishes. Their sole desire is to poop on all our plates. Freaking pigeons.

Our bishop´s son is blonde which is extremely uncommon for Guatemalans and so everyone in the ward says he´s my son. Maybe we do look alike? Picture attached.

So yeah everyone is like already saying goodbye to me and congratulating me for my service as a missionary. Less than a month to go. We´re still working hard though. Like Disney´s Hercules, I can go the distance.

Thanks everyone for your emails; I love you guys a lot. I love being a missionary. I love being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I echo the testimony of Neal A Maxwell:

"I testify that Jesus’ grip on Himself in that atoning axis between Gethsemane and Calvary was really mankind’s grip on immortality. Jesus finished His preparations, as He said, unto the children of men (see D&C 19:19). Now it remains for us as mortals to claim the blessings of the great Atonement. Our gratitude for Christ and His Atonement will grow with the years and the decades. It will never cease growing. And the scriptures foretell that we will praise Him forever and ever."

I love you all; have a great week!

Week 92 in the Field - Elder Lozano, Kennedy, a Wise Improvement Upon Every Little They Receive

Hey guys; I hope you´ve all had a great week.

This week I got transferred to an area called Kennedy (shoutout to my brother who is also a former resident of another, different Barrio Kennedy) in Zone 18 of Guatemala City which is basically like the Compton of Guatemala but I´m actually in the only part that's safe so good for me I guess.

My new companion is Elder Lozano from Peru (shoutout to Perusalem) and he´s a humble, amazingly powerful convert of less than a a year and a half to the gospel. I love this guy.

We are opening our area and had 16 new investigators this week and placed two baptismal dates. The ward here has a lot of strong members.

I don´t have a lot of time but I want you all to know that I´m doing great!

I love this quote by Brigham Young:

"The people [cannot receive the laws] in their perfect fullness; but they can receive a little here and a little there, a little today and a little tomorrow, a little more next week, and a little more in advance of that next year, if they make a wise improvement upon every little they receive; if they do not, they are left in the shade, and the light which the Lord reveals will appear darkness to them, and the kingdom of heaven will travel on and leave them groping. Hence, if we wish to act upon the fullness of the knowledge that the Lord designs to reveal, little by little, to the inhabitants of the earth, we must improve upon every little as it is revealed."

Shoutout to Elder Jepson and Elder Perez, my former companions, who ended their missions!

Elder Jepson, Elder Dawson

Elder Perez

The Trio is Back in Town

Elder Lozano

Week 91 in the Field - Transfers, Jumique Family, and the Common Law of Life

Well, I´m being transferred to Guatemala City to finish my mission!

Teculután has treated me well. This week we placed a baptismal date with each of the members of Henry Jumique´s family. They´re reading the Book of Mormon and want to know if the church is true. Henry says he already got his answer and he´s helping his family a lot.

I like this poem I heard in a talk by Sterling W Sill:

“The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil to live,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

“Good timber does not grow at ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, in rain and snow,
in trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold council with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.”

I Love you all, have a great week!

Elder Ruiz, Kimberly, Andrea, and the Lobos Family

Branch President, President Morales

Week 90 in the Field - ´Murica, 4 Investigators, and Edward VIII

Weekly Letter 4th July, 2016

Hey guys; happy independence day! I hope everyone has had a great week.

This week was great. We met the mission goal for this week, had four investigators in sacrament meeting, and had several lessons with our golden investigator Henry who will be baptized on the 30th of this month.

77 people came to church on Sunday and with attendance levels at 50 or 60 a couple of months ago things are looking pretty good in Teculutan.

This week we will get news about transfers. I think I will get transferred for my last change but who knows.

I enjoyed a quote I heard this week attributed to Richard L. Evans, "If you don't change directions, you're gonna get where you're going". At first impression, this is just a statement of fact but for me it has a least 2 profound lessons: 1. If we are on the right track we're gonna make it to the celestial kingdom and 2. If we're on any other track we're simply gonna make it somewhere else.

I find that this eternal truth has a lot to do with a story I heard in a talk by Spencer W. Kimball. In the address, President Kimball discusses the life of Edward the VIII. Born a child of promise and royalty, Edward the VIII was destined to be king of the British Empire. In his youth he was a literal Prince Charming and perhaps the most loved of any British Prince ever. He ascended to the throne as a single man and ruled over a fourth of the world's population but eventually fell in love with a married woman and was forced to abdicate the throne and he died as a common citizen.

We, like Henry VIII are heirs to a royal throne. If we don't change directions we may be forced to abdicate. I love you all.

-Elder Dawson

Murica

River selfie