Sacrifice Brings Forth the Greatest Blessings

Week #29

Yes, I'm at the beach. It's hot, but it's always windy.

Last week we had transfers. I left the wonderful Guajuviras and came to the city of Osorio. I'll spend the next six weeks here. Yes, the address is the same. In fact, I'll have the same address for my entire mission. 

Osorio is about 20 km away from the beach and is a much wealthier area than Guajuviras. The food is a little bit more varied and they eat beef instead of chicken. Some of the houses here makes me feel poor. In some ways it's not surprising that there is only one branch here. They don't even have a chapel. 

My companion is Elder Angus. He's an American from Berthoud, Colorado which happens to be in the Colorado Fort Collins Mission, and has been on his mission a little bit more than a year. He's awesome to work with and we just about equal each other on the nerd scale. We compare principles of the Gospel to Calculus and talk about the different experiences we've had with computers. Possibly the nerdiest companionship in Brazil right now.

I don't know if I've told anybody this yet, but Rio Grande do Sul is a state in Brazil with some very big religious problems. Here people do voodoo and a lot of other strange things that are intended to harm people with the supernatural. The scary thing is that much of it is real. There are curses and other things of the devil on every street corner and just two days ago we had to command a spirit to leave a man. The comforting thing is that the power of God is greater than the power of the devil and with only a command, they leave immediately. Evidences of the power of God come after faith, but they do happen. Miracles and angels are here to assist the work of saving souls. The Lord does not abandon us. 

Now that I've scared my mother, don't forget to study the scriptures every day. Pray, go to church, pay your tithing. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven. The only thing that is truly ours is our ability to choose. All else can be taken. Thus I believe it makes a great deal of sense that the greatest sacrifice brings forth the greatest blessings. Isn't that what Christmas is about? The birth of the one person who submitted His will to that of the Father and paid for us.

I'm excited for Christmas in Brazil. Tchau para voces!

Elder Dickson

Transfers

Week #28

Elder Dickson has been so busy that he hasn't sent a general email for the past two weeks! But here is a portion of a letter he wrote to a family member.

Strengthen the families and we strengthen the world. Strengthen the practices of the family and we strengthen the individuals. The decisions of what we allow at home determine the destinies of those residing therein.

I did just find out that I am leaving my area, but I do not know where I'm going or who my companion will be. Transfers were very different in Colorado. We knew who was going where, with whom they would be and had two days to prepare. Here, they told us today who would be leaving and where to meet in Porto Alegre. Time to pack.

Felipe's Baptism Pictures

Felipe's baptism. He's nine and is one of the coolest kids ever. Very smart. 

From left to right: Joao (the little one) Denis (was baptized the week before) Elder Medeiros, Felipe, Felipe's mother (I still have a hard time hearing names. She's also a non-member) Amanda (will be baptized this week and likes to hide behind people), Elder Dickson (who likes to stand in a different plane than everybody else.)

My favorite picture.

Of Ketchup, Ranch Dressing, and Holidays

Week #26

No Thanksgiving. Such a sad thing. I didn't even realize until the day after. The heat during November and December is ruining my internal calendar. It's December. It's hot. I wear a short-sleeve shirt because a long sleeve one is virtual suicide. Christmas is much smaller here so far. It's December and there are a few advertisements here and there saying "Grande Promocao de Natal" but nothing else. Nobody is talking about it except the missionaries. It's kind of nice though. Christmas in the U.S. starts way too early, especially if you're a musician, even more especially if you're a musician in multiple groups. I like this.

Another baptism this week and I forgot my camera, but I have pictures from the last one and a few from our temple trip yesterday. We also moved to another house. The new one is much better structurally, but the water is yellow and we don't have a sink. Also, the walls are a lovely shade of pinkish purple. Uma casa boa. I don't think I've ever seen any Americans so good at stacking stuff higher than it should be. Throw three Brazilians and one African on the job and they will make it fit. One-trip like a boss!

Life without ketchup is different. I bought a hamburger yesterday and it had no ketchup. They didn't even have it available and the sizes of drinks and fries are sad. Far too small. (Not that I would want to eat many fries without ketchup anyway). There have been a couple families who knew I was an American and provided what they call ketchup, but it's not the same. I don't think they've ever heard of a green salad before either. Salad seems to mean tomatoes with corn, onion and vinegar. 

I don't think I've told the biggest difference yet. I had heard about this from other missionaries that went to South America, but I didn't expect to see it so much. Here, if the baby is hungry, mom feeds it, no matter where she is, what she is or isn't wearing or who is around. This includes trains, Stake Conference, missionary lessons and malls. You get used to it pretty quickly, the the first time was on my first day here on the train to my area. Very surprising. It makes me laugh about mom getting in trouble for nursing her child discretely in a kindergarten class. 

Funny story. When I was in the Atlanta Airport with the 30 other missionaries going to Brazil, one of them asked me if I was going to Porto Alegre North. He then handed me a box of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix and told me it was for Sister Wright (my Mission President's wife). When I handed it to her, she didn't believe it was actually for her and said she might cry. Apparently, she has been missing ranch dressing for a very long time and went around to all the sisters in the mission office telling them if they were good, she might share a little. Most of the sisters are Brazilian and had no idea what it was. One of them even asked, because of how excited Sister Wright was, if it was chocolate. I guess chocolate is important everywhere.

The temple was amazing. The new film is much better and the building much smaller. When I showed one of the Brazilian Elders a picture of the St. George temple, he said it was half Mormon, half Catholic. I'm guessing he was referring to the size. This temple has a baptistry, laundry room, one room for the endowment, one for the veil, a very small Celestial Room, changing rooms, a waiting room and I think I saw three sealing rooms. Don't forget the laundry room. Very small. I kind of miss the big ones.

Anyway, I don't know what else to say right now. Maybe I'll think of something special in the next 30 minutes. For now, I'll send more pictures.

Love you all,

Elder Dickson

Sofia. She's six, she gets in a lot of trouble, her mother feeds us a lot and she really likes anything I happen to have in my bag. Camera, pens, sticky notes, American coins. She also loves to tell me things very slowly because I don't understand.

This is a sister in my mission who knows my MTC teacher. Small world. Also, Brazilians are horrible photographers. Also, temple. 

Temple, suspenders, Brazilian photographer. 

My first fast food receipt. It looks more expensive than it is.

Probably the strongest flavor I've ever had. I like it though. Lime and mint soda.

Bacon flavored Ramen. Another thing that is a brilliant idea, but it was very poorly executed. It tasted nothing like bacon. More like powdered TVP.