D.C. North Week 5 "We look up to Elder Summit!"

Monday, August 24, 2015

This week has been great! I was transferred to a different zone in the English program. The zone is called Suitland and my area/ward is called White Plains 1. There are 2 wards in our building. Its half of the peninsula on the D.C. side of the Chesapeake bay. Its a biiiiiiig area! It takes about an hour to get from one side to another. I am still getting fed too well! I get fed every night and have left overs alll the time!!  But I do get to save a lot of money every month. My companion is now Elder Summit, and his name fits super well because we all look up to him because he is 6'7" and he reminds me a tooon of Daniel and his first name is Daniel as well. I also have roommates who are Elder Coombs and Elder Carroll all three of them are from Utah and act just like Utah boys. Elder Coombs reminds me a whole toooon of Ben and its kinda freaky. haha

THAT IS SO CRAZY THAT YOU MET HER**[See picture and story below]! hahaha When we skyped with her and her Angolan friend it was super fun and it made me super excited to go to Angola.

So about my week! 

Monday: Just a normal P-day, I got laundry done, emailing, played games, an then went to eat dinner at the Prices! Whoohoo!! The dude is Loaded. He invented a vaccine for a important disease so he gets a huge check each year and lives in a 15 million dollar house. His wife runs a non-profit organization for Autistics, and people with PTSD. (The farm that I worked at). He has a 10,000 volume library, and all of David O. McKay's personal journals, and a lot of other books, and statues that the church doesn't have or are very rare. Needless to say I felt very out of place there but he is a super cool person. 

Tuesday: I pretty much got packed that day after Zone/District meeting and then we went to a members house a had Tacos!!! We had El Pastor and Lingua tacos! They were soooo goooood! 

Wednesday: TRANSFERRSSSSSSSS!!! It took a while and it was good. President and Sister Cooke talked, and all the Missionaries who who leaving bore their testimonies, and then we got told who we were going with and where! It was a good time. We then went to our apartment, Elder Summit and I. It was about an hour and a half drive away and then got myself set up in the apartment and went out tracting! (We don't really have any investigators so its a lot of tracting). We had a member meal that night and then we went and checked up an less actives!

Thursday: Zone/District meeting! That took till about 1, and we pretty much just introduced ourselves and got to know everybody. We then went to Cafe Rio where Elder and Sister Rose bought us lunch!! Whoohoo! We have all of the Older Couples and Sisters in our zone and it is great! We then went tracting after, had a meal appointment, and checked up on less actives!

Friday: We had studies, and lunch and 12 week till about 2:30 and then we went and helped a brother out in the ward put up storm windows. And then we went back home and ate dinner cause our dinner appointment cancelled, and we went tracting for the rest of the night! I placed my first Book of Mormon, and we also had a great discussion with a couple of black ladies about our beliefs and what makes us different from other churches and everything. They wouldnt accept the Book of Mormon which was a bummer but they did say they would check out Mormon.org so it was pretty great! 

Saturday: We had studies, lunch and 12 week! Then we went and checked up and less actives and got to talk to both of them! Super great! And then we ate dinner with the Amoah's. They are from Ghana, and we had peanut butter soup! It was actually really good, and kinda spicy. We then went to a wedding reception because they asked us to be there in case their non-member friends show up, but they didn't so we got outta there pretty quick cause it was super awkward. We then went to a members house and fellowshipped with them and she played her piano for us. She is super good! Their names are the Beals. 

Sunday: Church! Ours starts at 9 and we had ward council at 7:30. President and Sister Cooke spoke and so did the bishops daughter who leaves this week on her mission. President cook called me and Elder Summit out. He said that I was forgetting my language while I am here visa waiting, and we all look up to Elder Summit. haha He is a super chill funny guy but strong in the Gospel. We then went and took a nap during lunch and then planned and did 12 week and some studies. We went and checked up on some less active in the farther away places of  our area. And then had dinner with the Slaughter family. They are super cool and really funny. They are a younger couple kinda. haha They have 4 kids and he works on C-5 planes for the military! It was super cool! We then went and tried to have a "surprise visit" to a less active. His dad's a member but his son is less active; but his son wasnt there so we visited with him and watched part of Meet the Mormons cause he hasn't seen it. 

So yeah! Thats my week!

I love being a missionary and am super excited to continue serving the Lord and growing in His Gospel and in turn helping other Come unto Christ!

I am going to get so fat here...

I miss you guys a ton.

Amo voces muito!

Ate mais!

Elder Dawson

Vanessa and Mom selfie

**Written to Andrew:  Sunday 8/23, there was a sister from the Atlanta area visiting with some new members of our ward...who found mom at church that knows who you are. Her name is Vanessa. She said you would know her as the random American in Angola along with some members who you skyped with just before you left the MTC in July. She wanted to let us know what a fine young man you are and that you really did a good job speaking Portuguese. She said you will want to get some money exchanged to Kwanzas before you leave and also to have some American money with you that some of the members might want to exchange with you. (You might want to check if that's okay with the mission president first). She did say how expensive things are there, and that if you want to buy a meal at McDonald’s it’s about $26.  She said that you will be eating a lot of beans! (yum) And they usually serve them with other food items. She said there were about 120 people in the branch she attended… that you will love it there and will love the people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D.C. North Week 4 "Transfers Next Week!"

Monday, August 17, 2015

Olá! Como Vai!?
I am doing great right now! My my bike injuries weren't that bad, they are pretty much healed right now, you can only see where the scabs were.

I'm really grateful I can go [to the temple] too, I love going to the temple and feeling the Spirit that is there. I was actually studying about that earlier this week, in D&C 109:15 it talks about receiving the fullness of the Holy Ghost in the Temple, I learned that we feel the fullness of the Holy Ghost in the Temple because it is the only place on the earth where it can reside fully just because outside of the Temple there are all of the worldly things and bad things that are happening so the Spirit can't fully dwell.

So for the Cholula and lime juice, you just get a bag of Doritos (the small ones work the best just so you can put as much as you want in) and then you put in as much Cholula as you want, shake up the bag, and then put as much lime juice in and shake it again. All of this is just to your taste, if you like a lot then put a lot and if you like a little then put a little!

I actually already have an iPad, that's what I emailed on last week and this week too. We each have one, mine is just a loaner until I go to Angola.

I haven't been able to go to the consulate yet but that's good to know that my visa is getting worked on! Hopefully it will be soon!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!! That's cool that you guys got to go and see Garrison Keillor. I have always wanted to go and see him in person.
Soo about my week,

Monday: we just cleaned, emailed, played Munchkin, and Catan, and two dinner appointments first one we had hamburgers and strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert (homemade too so it was soooo goooood!!) and then we had Bean soup at the next one (that's what they called it) and there was meat in it and you also put Créme, Queso fresco, pico de guillo, and avacodo. It was actually really good! But I was soooooooooo
stuuuuuuuffffeeeeddddd. I feel like I am hungry all the time because the Spanish program has stretched out my stomach and I have to eat a ton to get full haha but I try not to.

Tuesday: we had zone and district meeting, we went home and had lunch and went to the Trainer/Trainee meeting, we then went to a members house and made papusas!!! Woohoo! I love papusas.

Wednesday: I got full studies!!! Woohoo! So we did that, and then we went and helped a member with putting together shelves, and then she fed us lunch, we then went tracting as a district (not all in the same place) for a certain area because their area was new and they were having a hard time finding investigators. Unfortunately we didn't find anybody.

Thursday: Farm day!! Whoop whoop! We got an hour of studies in before we went to the farm and then we painted a shed and a fence for 5 hours.  We then went home got showered and went to a members house to eat. Then I went on splits with Elder Parker (the other greenie) I came out with.

Friday: me and Elder Parker helped move in a new apartment some Elders are going to be living in, and then we went and got lunch and went home and had studies and went tracting! We had dinner as well but it was mostly tracting. haha

Saturday: we went on another bike ride with our investigator, and I didn't crash this time. haha We also went to play soccer with the sisters investigators which was a ton of fun! Our roommates took us to their dinner appointment where we had ribs, baked potatoes, broccoli, and key lime pie!

So this is how much the Spanish program has stretched my stomach, I ate about 8 ribs, two full potatoes, two big servings of broccoli, and a piece of key lime pie, I would have never been able to eat that before the Spanish program. haha

Sunday: we had church, and a meal with a member, we then went to Why I Believe! Woohoo! It's a program where they have famous Mormons come and talk about why they believe yesterday it was Jason Hinds an Olympic runner, But I didn't go... Because Me and Elder Cruz also had the opportunity to give a little tour of the Visitors Center to a
Brazilian family who were visiting. The son was marrying a girl from Brazil, and her and her family were not LDS. It was a great experience and the Spirit was so strong and I was able to bear my testimony in Portuguese, so I hope the spirit was able to make up for my lack of knowing the language. haha I hope that they felt the Spirit and will want to learn more.

And Alec, I was talking to a member and he said Argentinians sound like they are singing when they speak Spanish. haha

And about transfers I might be going to the farm that we work in so I might need to buy quite a few clothes. Like jeans boots and t shirts but I do not know I will let you guys know if I need them or not and if the mission will give me money or not!

Thank you for all the love! I miss you guys and am so grateful to be here on my mission doing the Lords work and hope that I will be able to make a difference.

Tchau!
Amo vocês!

Elder Dawson

This is us dressing up like prophets
to tell stories to the primary

Me and a member at the visitors center
looking up at the "Angels"

Just having fun...

D.C. North Week 3 "Nooooo More Meetings!"

Monday, August 10, 2015

Oi! Como vai??

My investigators are coming along, Chachi (a nickname) came to church last week which was great! I try to help them feel the spirit since I can't speak Spanish and that's pretty much the only tool I can use in teaching them and hope and pray that the spirit makes up for what I can't do. Every investigator is different so we pray and try to teach to their needs so it's all different!

Yeah they gave me a card in the MTC and they put 130 bucks on each month, and no I didn't get money, I will get some before I leave DC and change it into kwanza when I get it. I did hit my head! It's healed fine and the scab came off a couple of days ago. An with the Cholula you coat the Doritos with the lime and hot sauce.

That's pretty crazy that Sean had his senior pictures. It's weird to think he is going to be a senior! And that text [included picture] is actually from our stake president. He was there with us at the game. The other people in the picture were my companion and roomies (Elder Harston and Elder Billeter) and Elder Cruz who is in our district. Elder Harston is technically a visa waiter for Brazil and goes home in a week haha. I did not get a hot dog because I wanted to get a Jersey buuuut the one I wanted was 75 bucks... And they didn't look that good. They honestly looked like hotdogs you would get at Walmart.

And tell them [the ward members] I love them and miss them and thank you for everything they do!!

So about my week...

Monday: I went and played Ball at the stake center by the temple which was tons of fun! And after we went to shop at a Navy Exchange store which is like a discounted Macy's for military peeps. We then went to eat at Hibachi and then went to Nordstrom Rack, which is a discounted Nordstrom and it is suuuuper nice. Then we went an emailed till six and we went and had dinner at a members house which was good!

Tuesday: We had zone and district meeting and I taught a workshop on PMG Chapter 7 which I thought I did pretty good on haha but I don't know! We then went to the DC Stake Center and had more meetings!! Whoop fun!!  we had appointment the rest of the night and it was super cool!

Wednesday: TEMPLE!!! Oh Yeaaaahhhhh!! We went as a mission and did a session which was pretty cool! I love the celestial room in the DC Temple. It is suuuuper big. But then again so is the temple. We then went to a sealing for one of Elder Springers recent converts it was a really cool experience. Then that night we went to two meal appointments and I almost died I was so stuffed! I had two plates of Spaghetti at the first meal appointment and then 4 Papusas at the next meal appointment so my stomach felt like it got beat up after we ate all of that haha.

Thursday: MORE MEETINGS!!! noooooo I don't like so many meetings. But it was a specialized training to get ready for us to get our *drum roll* IPADSSSSSSSS!! YESSSSS!! Im actually not that excited for it its just useful to have. We then went to lunch with a member and got ice cream after. Elder Springer had a migraine so we went back to the apartment, and he went to sleep while I studied and cleaned.

Friday: we went to the mission office and fixed bikes till about 12 then we went and ate lunch at Sardi's which is a Peruvian chicken restaurant and it was soooo good! They had these fry things called Yuca and it's the heart of some kind of food but I don't remember what it was exactly. We went to a couple appointments and then went to dinner at a taco truck with a member and the tacos were delicious!!!! I had Carne Asada, el Pastor, and De Langua, all of them suuuuper good!! He made us get so many tacos and take 10 home. Hispanics give soooo much fooood!

Saturday: BEST DAY OF THE WEEK!! We made an appointment with an investigator to go mountain biking and we were getting ready to go, and my tube tore while I was trying to pump up my tire so we had to go back to our apartment and get another tube, and then we fixed that and we started down the trail and my chain slipped off and got caught on the pedal! Wahoo! So after we fixed that we finally got going! It was a lot of fun and after we passed the halfway mark on the trail we were going down a hill and there was a drop in between a thin part of the trail. Well with my luck I went down the drop and somehow hit my front brakes and flipped over the front handlebars! It was actually pretty fun! I bruised my arm pretty bad and scraped my calf on something haha so yeah! It was a good time. That night was the Nats game!!!! Yeaaaahhhhh! We were way up in the nosebleeds which is actually a way good view for baseball games! It was a lot of fun and the Nats won
6-1!! Wohooo! We didn't get home till about 12:30 so we were super tired for church the next day.

Sunday: church was really good, we taught Sunday school and had really good brownies after, and we attended young men where we talked about the importance of eternal families which I really liked. We went and ate a meal at a members house after which was really good!

So yeah that was my week!

I love you all and miss you tons! I know that this is the Lords work and that he knows all things and I am so so glad to be a mouthpiece for his work.

Até mais!
Amo vocês!

Elder Dawson

D.C. North Week 2 "I Wanna Go To Africa!"

Monday, August 3, 2015

Oi!

The Mission office Address:

11700 Falls Road

Potomac, Maryland  20854

My 2nd week in D.C. has been great! There has been a lot of things happen this week. Yes they do encourage us to get up and exercise in the mornings but its still hard for me to get up so I don't regularly exercise. I have not yet gone to the consulate which is very disappointing... I WANNA GO TO AFRICAAAAA!!! I have actually done two sessions in the temple and will be able to do another on Wednesday and after attend the Sealing of some converts! Super excited!

I am actually not really needing to learn Spanish because I was told by president that I am going into the English program next transfer, but the Spanish is messing up my Portuguese! I tried convincing an Elder who is from Brazil that Bano is how to say bathroom in Portuguese, buuut its not... It is definitely Banero, so yeah! That was a good time. haha I am attending a Spanish ward right now and its kinda hard to pay attention cause all I understand is random words that are the same or really close to Portuguese.

We do have investigators and I am not 100% sure on their names or how they are progressing mostly because everything is in Spanish and I can only do so much with Spanish! Sorry! We do have a lot of appointments this week with them so I am excited for that! and it is great because I can always feel the Spirit when we (meaning my companion :p) teach!

So about my week...

Monday: We went to the Church and Played B-Ball, and played Bang and Munckin. We also ordered Pizza so that was nice and Relaxing! We had a Dinner appointment that night which went kinda late so we went and visited (tried to at least) less active members.

Tuesday: Was District meeting and Trainer Trainee Meeting! I gave a spiritual thought on fireflies, and how we catch them in glass mason jars to see them glow and how we need to catch all of the fireflies of this world (the good things in life) and be a light for other people to come unto Christ, it was pretty cheesy but I liked it! haha Then trainer trainee meeting was pretty much a mass therapy session which was kinda a waste of time but we have more this week! Whootwhoot! We then went to the Cheesecake Factory because cheesecake was half off and I got Salted Caramel Cheesecake! It was heavenly!! and also only 4 bucks! 

Wednesday: Nothing much happened on Wednesday, until we got home...  We got home a little early so Elder Springer and I caught about 50 fireflies and released them into our roommate’s room, so when they got home they had a ton of fireflies! Then they caught them all and then released them into the bathroom while Elder Springer was showering so he was a little freaked out when he got out. haha 

Thursday:  We had more meetings! -_- those went till about 1 and after that we went to Breusters! They have half off Banana splits if you bring your own banana! So I got a huge banana split for 3 bucks! It was a good time!

Friday: We spent a lot of time at the Church getting ready for a Baptism on Sunday. We had to get the fliers ready and the Baptismal Record and all of that jazz so I did some Indexing! That night we had a dinner appointment at a Peruvian restaurant with a member, He is waaay cool! I love Hispanics! Then we went to a Members house and visited with them for a little bit.

Saturday: Baptism Day!!! We spent the whole day pretty much preparing for a baptism and getting our oil changed. I also hit my head on a piece of wood and made it bleed! I was throwing away some trash in the dumpster outside the apartments, but I missed and it fell on the ground so as I was coming back up I hit my head on wood and made it bleed!

The guy who got Baptized name is Carlos, he is way cool and the Spirit was definitely there at the Baptism and since it was an Hispanic baptism there was a lot of food! Yum!

Sunday: fast and testimony meeting! I really liked it. We are doing this thing called the Process of Purification where we pick a few things that we can do better on and fix it as we go along our mission. I picked Obedience and Christlike Attributes, both things I reeeally need to work on. I also got to help confer the Holy Ghost to Carlos which was a way cool experience!

I love being a Missionary and am so happy doing the Lords work! 

Dad, you have to try Doritos, Cholula, and Lime juice! you mix them all together and eat it! Soooooo good! you will have to experiment with it and find out how much you like! 

I try not to sleep in too late! and I do get my laundry done!

anyways...

Eu Amo Voces!

Are Mais!

Elder Dawson          

D.C.North Week 1 "DC IS SOOOO COOL!"

July 27, 2015

I'm doing super great! DC is really cool and I am perfectly fine with staying here to wait for my visa. President and Sister Cooke are really cool and will help us with whatever we need. My companion's name is Elder Springer and he is from southern Cali. There are some people here who speak Portuguese but guess what!? I'm in the Spanish program right now so I will be learning Spanish for now so I'm gonna learn two languages on my mission :p

I will take pictures! I haven't been taking a whole ton but I will start to take more!

I have had a lot of Mexican/Hispanic food since I have gotten here and it is waaaay good! I'm also super excited for the food in Angola. I heard it was really good! We didn't do anything out here for Pioneer day cause as you know... its not that big of a deal.

About my week...

Tuesday: We got in and met President and Sister Cooke and then they took us to the Daily Grill (they said it was one of their favorites) and it was sooooo expensive! It was right next to a Mortons Steakhouse if that says anything. I kinda felt bad for making them spend so much but it was sooooo good. We also had a little "transfer meeting" that night to meet our companions. 

Wednesday: Elder Springer had a lot of stuff to do so we went to a meeting that morning, went home and I pretty much chilled the whole day while he did stake stuff. 

Thursday: WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!! We got to see the temple on Tuesday and it is soooooo biiiiiggggg!! And it is sooo beautiful! We got to take a tour of all the engineer stuff under it which was way cool. When we go again on the 5th, we will get to take a roof tour! Im so excited! ahhhhhhhh!

Friday: Friday we went shopping for ourselves, which was fun! We also went to check up on some less active members and we went tracting a little. It was fun because we were on bikes! And we had an interesting conversation with a drunk/high black guy who refused the BoM because he said that we wouldnt leave the house if he needed us if we couldnt help over the phone haha so it was a good time! 

Saturday: They have a horse farm that we go do service for every week and the farm is used for therapy and stuff like Cheyenne does so I got some pictures and a video cause one of the horses was a champion jumper! But yeah they had a tour this week to kind of promote it and we helped park people and ate free food and shaved ice and got to pet the horses and I got to lead one of them to a field! I really liked it. And that night we went to a super delicious pizza place and taught a member a good lesson (in Spanish so I didnt really understand) but the spirit was definitely there.

Sunday: We had meetings at church from 9-6:30 and my first Spanish sacrament meeting. It was good even though I couldnt understand anything but random words, and a member of the stake presidency read a talk in Spanish that sounded pretty bad but props for trying haha. And then a member I was sitting by leaned over after he was done and asked "Does my English sound as bad as his Spanish does?" hahaha It was super funny 

So just some random things that are cool about the mission! 

1. We get to go to a Nationals game on the 8th of August!!

2. They are really lax about music so we get to listen to pretty much anything as long as doesn't have bad lyrics or a heavy beat or drive away the spirit!

3. We get to sleep in as long as we want on P-Day! 

I'm sure there are other things but I don't remember. 

Thank you all for the love and the pictures! I'm keeping you guys in my prayers!  

Ate Mais!

Elder Dawson

Arrived in Washington D.C.!!!

Note from mom: I received a phone call from Andrew from the Salt Lake airport Tuesday (21st) morning while he was waiting to board the plane to Washington D.C. He sounded so good and excited to be headed out into the mission field. He also talked to Sean and Jared individually and then before the call ended, he requested to be on speaker. He bore the most wonderful testimony in Portuguese, and we felt the spirit even though we could not understand the language.

President Cooke of the Washington D.C. North Mission called later that evening to confirm that Andrew and the other elders had arrived safely. He and Sister Cooke took them to dinner at a good restaurant and their stomachs were full, had a great visit, and sent them off with their companions. Pres. Cooke indicated that they get a lot of VISA waiters and love having them, and that they will do all they can to help them get their VISAs to Angola!


I pulled this picture off President and Sister Cooke's blog:

Sister Cooke, Elders Parker, Davis and Dawson, President Cooke

MTC Week 6 "Heading for D.C."

[Andrew was able to email us yesterday (7/20) with his flight info and confirm he is leaving tomorrow morning for Washington D.C. ]

July 20, 2015

That sounds way busy!! Can you send as many pictures as possible? I really like getting pictures. :p Definitely tell Sean to email me about EFY! It was one of the best experiences in my life.

Thats so crazy that Logan is home already! I'm kinda sad that I wont be able to see him for another two years! 

There is only one of us going to Cali. Elder Christensen, Elder Smith, and Elder Bradshaw got their visas, but Elder Bradshaw got his tonsils out today so he is here for about another 3 weeks. But yeah me, Elder Davis, and Elder Parker go to D.C tomorrow and report to the Travel office at 4:35 AM.

Thank You Tons! 

and tell Logan 

Eu amo ele! e eu muito animado a ver ele! 

Por que nos falamos portuguese muito! 

e meu portuguese e nao muito bom 

so dont make fun of me haha

I love you all! I will send pictures when I get to D.C. 

Elder Dawson 

Reassignment Update

So I got my reassignment today!! They lied last week and told us that we were going to Cali, buuuut we got our real reassignments today and Elder Parker, Davis, and I are all going to the Washington D.C. North Mission!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  But I have heard that they are planning on us being there for about 4 weeks while they work on our visas! But I was just told to tell you guys and am sooooo stoked! 

I love you guys and miss you tons!

Elder Dawson

MTC Week 5 "Reassigned"

Tuesday, June 14, 2015

Oh yeah! It was a great birthday! And thank you tons for the packages! I loved everything I got! And Angola is now a no suit mission so I wont need to bring my suit!! The food is weird cause its probably been processed like 20 times before putting it in the package to eat. And they have some interesting food choices! haha The Portuguese is coming along... I can speak it better than I could six weeks ago! haha  I usually get on [the computer] at about 7-730 buuut that probably gonna change since I got reassigned.

This week was pretty much the same, a lot of class, a lot of teaching in Portuguese, a lot of joking and messing around, except for I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS TO GO TO ANGOLA!!!! All of us got them and we were all so excited and confused because most of us hadnt gone to the consulate, so we all went talked to the travel office and they said "Oh thats just in case your visa does come....." Seeing as how they didnt care about our feelings we decided to take a play on theirs and act really disappointed so they would tell us where we got reassigned to and all of us are going to Southern Cali. Im going to Redlands, and others are going to Arcadia, Bakersfield, San Jose... so yeah thats probably the only exciting thing we had happen this week besides our Nerf duels we have with the Nerf guns you sent! So cool! 

Im gonna send some pictures later!

Love you alll!!!
Elder Dawson

My Zone

My Roomies

Sisters that were leaving

Sisters that were leaving

July 3 - Festival in Provo

Just having fun with my camera

MTC Week 4 "Spiritual Prison"

Tuesday, July 8, 2015

[We didn’t get an email from Andrew but we received a written letter from him on Monday, June 13 - typed below:]

Hey Mom!

I didn’t get an email and didn’t have time to write one so I am just going to write a letter!

Um, this week at the MTC has still been about the same.. Weird food, extreeemely looong classes, and teaching lots of lessons! I did have a couple cool/funny things happen this week! I got to clean the Temple today! (Tuesday) which was a way cool experience! We cleaned the initiatory (idk if that’s how you spell it), and the youth waiting area, also the waiting room for sealings! We were there for about 3 ½ hours but I didn’t feel like it!

I am still waiting to hear about my visa (I think I am going to get reassigned). We have gone to the travel office a couple of times but they are completely useless and do nothing but sit in front of their computers…

Could you look up “You Never Know” on Mormon Channel? It’s a website and the whole video made me think of the way you are! Thank you for all you do!!

But some things that were funny this week… We started teaching each other and me and my companion taught Elder Parker and Delano; neither like each other very much, and their personalities clash like nothing else. haha  So we started teaching and when we teach we like to find out about the investigators and Elder Parker (Brandon, his investigator) mentioned he liked to play the trombone. Well Elder Delanos face lights up (He was a “member” in the lesson) and he just blurts out “Eu trombone tam bien!” (I’m trombone as well!) All of this is in Portuguese by the way, but then Elder Parker pretty much yells in English “Oh! You’re a trombone too!?” So yeah haha it pretty much ruined the lesson, but it was sooo funny!

But yeah, I wanna go to Africa sooo bad!! It’s the worst… We call the MTC the Spiritual Prison on Earth. haha  It’s honestly the weirdest thing to think that I’m not gonna see you guys for 2 years and it’s only been 4 weeks! A lot has already changed with my plans when I get back… I don’t know which school I wanna go to, if I wanna come out here to work or just stay out there… but that’s all stuff I can figure out after the mission.

Anyways… Tell me about everything that goes on! I miss you guys!

Love you!

Elder Dawson

MTC Week 3 "Amazing!!!"

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Oi! 

Things are going great so far! I HAD THE MOST AMAZING THING HAPPEN THIS WEEK!!!!! I will tell you about it later. haha Teaching is coming along. Its is still hard but I am getting better as I study and try to learn what we are teaching. I did not get the chance to Host this week and no I didn't go to DC. I don't know what the travel office is doing but I don't want to be a visa waiter!  

The other Elders are my companion (Elder Christensen), Elder Montes, and Elder Smith. [He is talking about who was in the pictures he sent last week.] But yeah he is the one with the blonde hair, and Elder Montes is from Laredo/Denton, Texas. Um the tie draft is where everyone brings one or two ties and they put them in and then they write their name on a piece of paper and put it in a box and someone draws their name and you just keep doing that till all the ties are gone! I have gotten some pretty sweet ties from it.

And I also think I have psoriasis... haha I am getting a rash type thing around my wrists where my watch is and its really red and the skin is really dry but idk!

Sounds like you had a busy week! I miss you guys! But being here is so much fun too!

Um so about my week... It was still a lot of classes and teaching but I like it cause we are learning a whole ton. I am studying about Christlike attributes in PMG and am trying to develop them more so thats a challenge. Um the food this week was pretty good because of the Mission president seminar... We had Costa Vida, Chick-fil-a, taco bell, and subway! So that was a nice change from the "food" they serve us in the cafeteria. haha So this week when we were doing service some of the elders in our district were cleaning the bathroom, and then Elder Delano flushed the urinal to finish cleaning it and it didnt stop, and kept going, and going, and going haha so all of us were dying laughing while all the employees were freaking out trying to get it to stop. And theeeen Elder Bradshaw was laughing and he wasnt paying attention so he spilled a toxic chemical all over the floor and onto himself, which made it 10 times funnier. haha  Needless to say they got us out of there pretty quick.

But yeah. so that interesting thing that happened... THIS IS SO AWESOME!!! So last week me and my companion passed the sacrament in church and there were a couple people who were waaay impressed. Then on Wednesday, me and my companion got pulled out of class and were told to go put on our suits and meet back at 1M (The big building where everything happens) and this is all during the mission president seminar by the way, so nobody was allowed to go into 1M. So we get changed really quick and run over there, and then the guy we met said that we have been picked to pass the sacrament to the first presidency, quorom of the 12, and all of the mission presidents. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. So we practiced what we were going to do on Wednesday, and then on Sunday we did it! I got to see all of the first presidency, 9 out of 12 of the quorum and a lot of 70's and their mission presidents. And also Elder Nelson came over and shook all of our hands!!!! It was the coolest thing ever! It was amazing to be in the same room with all of them so personal. 

Oh and by the way, Johnnys new mission president is here. I actually got to talk to him but I didnt know it was him at the time haha how crazy is that?? So thats about my week...

Oh and also I dont remember if I mentioned this last email I am missing the middle page to my patriarchal blessing?? So can you send that to me? 

  

But yeah so thats pretty much my life right now.I love you all and miss you!

Ate Mais! 

Elder Dawson

MTC Week 2 "Haha"

June 17, 2015

Hey guys!

My first week was really good. I am so ready to leave! I am getting into the routine pretty well, It kinda reminds me of school so that's probably why it was easy. Thank you tons for the fritter! It was so good I ate it all that day. haha I do have a [laundry] stick for my collar and it works wonders! And I got a regular towel from an elder who left yesterday so Im good on that. But the micro-fiber towel is kinda weird. It works on drying off really well but its hard to keep a grip cause its slick and it will stick to your body. I have a guy in my district going to Johnny's mission!!!!! He didnt get his visa so he came to the Provo MTC. That is way crazy. But yeah I am gonna need cash. Cause we change our money from dollars to kwanza when we get over there.

It was good when the Elders went to LA. They pretty much got interviewed and got their fingerprints done. But I dont know when we will be going to DC - it will be me, Elder Davis and Elder Parker. Elder Davis is from Ohio and Elder Parker moved around a lot so Im not really sure where he is from so yeah! And I dont really know about the rest. When we go the travel office will tell us all of the details. 

But anyways about my week... Um We got to Host this week which was really cool. And when we were hosting guess who I saw! Elder Birch! (He is in Aunt Susannes ward) that was way crazy to see him. The food is still way iffy and Im pretty sure I am gaining weight which is what I do not want. haha But I also just saw Newel Cobb! He didnt really know who I was which was kinda funny but yeah! But other than that it was the same as last week. Lots of classes, lots of studying and being way tired! Learning the language is coming along and I am doing better than I was last week but I still have a looong way to go! But yeah I really like it. (its sounds way cooler than Spanish too :p)

By the way HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD! I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU

And also Elder Montes (the one going to Johnny's mission) is the first missionary in his family so he hasnt really gotten any packages or letters. So when you send packages could you put some stuff in there for him?? Thanks a ton!

I love you all and miss you! 

Take care,

Elder Dawson

Andrew with Newell Cobb (He is from our
Stake-going to school at BYU & works at MTC)

This is my first ever tie draft! I got some sweet ties out of it!