Welcome Home Elder Dawson!

Tracking the flight to Los Angeles

He is back - 90 pounds lighter! We didn't recognize him! This is a picture of all the cousins - just missing Jayden who is in Colombia.

Grandma and Poppa!

Madi, Elder Dawson, Tatum

We are so proud of you!

Welcome Home!

Week 97 in the Field - The Best Two Years

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

I'm coming home; I'm coming home. Tell the world that I'm coming home.

Well it's finally come to an end. Soon I'll be singing "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" but this time it won't be directed towards a companion, a fellow district member, or an area. No, this time I'll be singing to you Guatemala, the country of the eternal spring. I'll be singing to the Guatemalans I have come to love so dearly. I'll be singing to handmade tortillas, ancient pyramids, and Mayan ruins. I'll be saying goodbye to members and converts. I'll be saying goodbye to the best two years.

The best two years? Absolutely. Without a doubt. And also the sweatiest, hardest, most challenging and yet most gratifying two years.

Am I glad I went on a mission? You bet. Am I the same person I was when I boarded that fateful flight two years ago? Not by a long-shot. But you know what? That's what it's all about. My mission experience has taught me to put others first, to set and achieve goals, to develop charity, to exercise patience, to work diligently, to forgive quickly, and to love truly.

Perhaps the greatest dividends of missionary work are paid in the words of testimony which I can now say. The phrases are short and you've heard their contents before; but these ones are different because these ones are mine:

I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is God´s son. Joseph Smith was a prophet. The Book of Mormon is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's kingdom upon the earth. The temple is the house of the Lord. Families can be together forever.

Am I perfect? Not even close. In the words of Robert Frost, "I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." My greatest challenges lie yet ahead; and though I see great, tall peaks looming in the distance, I look back and remember how far I have come. I may still stumble and I may yet fall along my journey; but my savior has lifted me up before.

After one particularly tough climb the Israelites made in antiquity, "Samuel," the record states "took a stone... and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

Samuel looked back and saw that the Lord had been with him the entire time. As I also look back, I see the same. I conclude with the words of a favorite hymn that expresses my gratitude towards my Heavenly Father for these, the best two years:

Here I raise my Eben-ezer

Hither by thy help I come

And I hope by thy good pleasure

Safely to arrive at home

See you Wednesday. 

Stake Patriarch

Sister Selma and her family

Farewell Party

Week 96 in the Field - Straight Outta Compton and The War is On

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

These last few days have been pretty cool. We had a training meeting on Thursday with President Crapo that went really well. We´ve been focusing a lot more on baptism in all of our contacts and other teaching efforts. We had six investigators in church on Sunday and we have several people progressing towards baptism.

Today I´m heading off to the central market of Guatemala to buy some souvenirs. Should be pretty fun.

Hope you guys are all doing great. I´ll be enjoying my last few days as a missionary. I´m so happy for all of the personal growth I´ve seen in my own life and the work that God has been able to accomplish through me in the lives of other people.

I love this quote by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

"The war is on, and we have conspicuously enlisted. And certainly it is a war worth waging. But we are foolish, fatally foolish, if we believe it will be a casual or convenient thing. We are foolish if we think it will demand nothing of us.... I truly believe there can be no casual Christians, for if we are not watchful and resolute, we will become in the heat of battle a Christian “casualty.”...Surely our sometimes clichéd expressions of testimony and latter-day privilege don’t amount to much until we have had open invitation to test them in the heat of battle and have in such spiritual combat found ourselves to be faithful. ...When gospel principles get unpopular or unprofitable or very difficult to live, will we stand by them “for the duration”? That is the question our experiences in Latter-day Saint life seem most determined to answer. What do we really believe, and how true to that are we really willing to live?" 

I hope that we will be dedicated to our covenants and strive to be more that just casual Christians. I hope that we will make a concerted effort to be disciples of Christ. I´ve learned that this requires more than a passive acceptance, rather in necessitates an active commitment.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Video of the service project from the other day

Your typical street in Guatemala

Week 95 in the Field - Trio #6, Service Project, and The Temple

Hey guys, I´ve had a great week and I hope everyone else did as well.

I´m in a trio once again (woo!) and that´s actually not a sarcastic woo because I love being in a trio. My new companion´s name is Elder Busker. He´s from Georgia and has a year in the field. 

This week we did a service project which involved delving into the depths of a valley to bring out fire wood. Pictures/videos to come.

Today we went to the temple and that´s why I´m writing on a Wednesday.

I love Brigham Young because that guy didn´t care at all about what everyone else thought. He only cared about the kingdom of god and its progress. Of temple work, Brigham Young said in his day:

"You have got to do the work, or it will not be done. We do not want any whiners about this temple. If you cannot commence cheerfully, and go through the labor of the whole building cheerfully, start for California, and the quicker the better. Make you a golden calf, and worship it. If your care for the ordinances of salvation, for yourselves, your living, and dead, is not first and foremost in your hearts, in your actions, and in everything you possess, go! "

Love you guys; have a great week!

Pre Service Project

Temple

R2D2

Trio

Temple

Trio

Week 94 in the Field - Now what? and Eternal Vigilance Inbox x

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

This week went well, I am getting along with my companion and we are making progress in the area. It´s hard to open an area because once your plans fall it always comes to "now what?" and we have no idea what to do sometimes. But that´s okay, we´ll keep on working.

I have a lot to do today but I want you all to know that I love you! Hope you guys have a great week!

I enjoyed this quote I found in my personal study by Spencer W. Kimball:

"Perfection is a long, hard journey with many pitfalls. It’s not attainable overnight. Eternal vigilance is the price of victory. Eternal vigilance is required in the subduing of enemies and in becoming the master of oneself. It cannot be accomplished in little spurts and disconnected efforts. There must be constant and valiant, purposeful living—righteous living. The glory of the Lord can be had only through correct and worthy marriage and living a clean, worthy life."