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.

Seek Strength

Week #25

Two weeks, two baptisms. I have pictures of the second one. The first was Denis last week and the send, his cousin Felipe, was yesterday. To meet somebody and two weeks later baptize them is something I not expect to see. The people let you in, they let you talk, they do what you ask them to and choose to be baptized. It's exactly what they made it seem like in the MTC. Everybody will at least talk to you for a few minutes and most of them will listen to The Restoration. It's amazing.

I've been doing a lot of thinking these past couple weeks. (I have lots of time for that since I can't really talk to anybody yet). A lot of it is about obedience. In Colorado, there were many missionaries who would justify disobedience to the rules of the white handbook by saying none of that was actually a commandment. Depending upon your definition of commandment, this may be true, but a couple days ago during my studies, I started thinking about Samson and being a Nazarite. He was expected to live a law above that which was given by the Ten Commandments. He wasn't to cut his hair, drink strong drink, obviously harlots are an issue and he wasn't to touch any unclean thing, such as a dead lion. In the few chapters that cover his story, he breaks nearly all of the rules he was expected to live and then, at the hands of the one who enticed him to sin, his strength was lost. Notice, he doesn't break all of them. Unless I missed one, he didn't ever partake of strong drink, but he broke enough that he lost that which the Lord had given him.

The higher rules of the mission are much like those of a Nazarite. For this time we are set apart and are thus corban or given to the Lord. In doing this we promise ourselves to living and doing that which He would have us do. If we willfully fail to perform according to His standards, we are in danger of losing our strength. 

The same goes for members of the church. Though not missionaries and with other things to do, we are given rules to follow and many of them have the promise of strength, spiritual or physical, attached. Seek strength. 

This morning I was reading the first chapter of Abraham. The first verse is funny, (it would be needful to obtain another place of residence if your father is trying to kill you) but the second verse is wonderful. Abraham seeks knowledge, righteousness, happiness, peace, to be a father of many nations, and to keep the commandments of God. These are various forms of strength and obviously it's good to seek them. 

Apparently I can't access a USB device at this computer. How frustrating. User restrictions are wonderful, but when you're running a business of letting people use a computer, you should probably let them use flash drives. No pictures this week. The two Elders in the second picture from last week are Elders Cabral and Frazao, my zone leaders. We live with them. They keep everybody in line pretty well.

Still loving the food. I am getting just a little bit bored of feijao, but it's broken up enough by the other things like stroganoff, Pepsi, sausage, Coca-Cola, cucumbers, Guarana, tomatoes, rice, Pepsi, and Coco-Cola. I don't think I've had this much cola of any type in my life. At every meal, they pull out one or two bottles of at least 2,5 liters (often 3) and it disappears. Guarana is much the same way. It's actually really funny going into some members homes. The soda is cheaper than the milk here (milk comes out to equal about $4 a gallon) and it seems to be a staple of the members food storage. They buy 2 liter bottles the way we buy 12 oz. cans. Some kitchens have a corner devoted to pallets of Guarana, Pepsi, or Coca-Cola. There are probably ten bottles on each pallet. The only other things they drink are water and artificially flavored drink mix. Sugar is a main food group here. 

The only things I haven't liked here are the desserts. I swear all they do is take a bowl of sugar and add just enough food coloring or flavor to make it gooey and serve it under different names. One thing was sugar and egg white mixed together. I miss real fruit. Nobody in Guajuviras actually eats it though. The word for juice is suco, but they use it to describe anything that is a non-carbonated liquid and has sugar added. The only really good fruit drink I've had was last night. They just called it suco, but it's the best thing I've had here so far. It was just pineapple blended with a little bit of sugar and water. It was so nice to be able to taste the fruit more than the sugar. I don't think I'll ever eat sugar again when I get home. 

The woman who made that wonderful drink is hilarious. She's the first ward member I met here and I loved her right off. I have no idea how to spell her name (I can't even say it), but she's like a much shorter Brazilian version of Aunt Blythe. She even says no and shakes her head the same way. She's like the mom of the missionaries here. Even the Mission President and his wife know her. I'll have pictures next week. 

For now, I'm hungry for a hot dog with real ketchup. They have the wrong idea about hot dogs here and ketchup is all wrong. They even spell it wrong. They don't put ketchup or even catsup. Here it's catchup. They also like mayo with a lot of things. They even advertise food and make sure they put the word maionese in big letters on the sign. 

Subway is horrible here too. A 30 cm sandwich cost R$ 15,90 ($8.00) and tasted a little bit better than the paper it came in. The lettuce was sad, the cheese was all processed, the bread was half-baked and the vegetable had no flavor. Never doing that again.

Anyway, time's up. Tchau.

Elder Dickson

A Whole New World

Week #24 

Que?

Estou perdido. 

I don't know what anybody is saying. I don't know what they want me to say. I don't really know what I'm eating, but I like it. It goes with the rice.

That's basically this week. Lots of travel with people I cannot understand, teaching lessons, attending a baptism my first weekend, typing on a Portuguese keyboard. Such fun. 

My companion's name is Elder Medeiros. He's Brazilian, has two transfers left and has had a baptism 13 times in the last 13 weeks. That's more than the monthly average for the whole Fort Collins mission. Talk about a white field already to harvest. 

I'm happy to be here, but I really don't have all that much to say. Maybe when I actually know what's happening I'll have some stories to tell. For now, I've already used thirty minutes and look how much I've written. Portuguese keyboard. 

The members here are amazing. The chapel is small, the ward is smaller, the baptisms are frequent and their food is amazing. I actually only eat one meal each day. Incredibly, I'm not hungry enough to eat another one.

Everybody here drinks four things: Guarana, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and water. There are a few other things like disgusting warm boxed milk and a drink that I can never remember the name of. Whatever it is, it tastes like hot alfalfa water. Somehow I like it. 

Our housing is... different. It's old, falling apart, has three real rooms and kind of half walls that make two more. All the floors here are tile or cement and the walls are usually some sort of brick. To control the temperature, we open the windows and doors to whatever extent we need them and sit somewhere in the breeze. 

The weather is a lot like summer in Vermont. It's about the same temperature and humidity and you always feel dirty. (I forgot to mention that a couple days ago the city had no water. We had no shower, no toilet, nothing to drink and almost had to move the baptism to another city.) I'm told it's going to get ridiculously hot and then ridiculously cold. I'm not really excited about the hot part, but hey, Christmas is Christmas even without snow. (Christmas here is called Natal.)

I just asked Elder Medeiros what our address is. Luckily he speaks English pretty well. Here it is.

Elder Dickson

Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

Porto Alegre-RS

CEP 91010-971

Brazil

I'm not really sure about how that works outside Brazil, but that's all he knew. 

Mother, you should know that I am well taken care of. It turns out that Americans are told to bring much more than anybody else. Everybody else has one suit case and I have three. I'm not sure I'll even use most of the stuff they told us to bring. Hopefully, I'll be able to wear out lots of stuff so I have space to spare in the future. 

Wow, I swear time goes faster here. Bye for now.

Elder Dickson

Elder Cabral and Elder Frazao

Elder Medeiros and Elder Dickson

Out Into the World

Elder Dickson is now in a far away country! He flew into Brazil on Tuesday morning and although we haven't gotten a letter from him yet, we did get his new address and a picture! 

Elder Dickson

Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

Porto Alegre- RS

CEP 91010-971

Brazil

Because Elder Dickson is in a foreign country, there are some strict guidelines for sending packages. If you would like to send him anything, please check with his mother before mailing it off to ensure that these guidelines are met. 

Letters, of course, are always welcome and wanted. 

President and Sister Wright with Elder Dickson