Week 14

May 23rd-

I think that might have so we asked the bishop to approve again that I could start my papers and then it worked again. Maybe its being weird because you are on a different computer then the one she started her papers on. Stuart his getting married!?!?!? Thats awesome! Yes please do send me pictures.

Way to go Connor!!! I'm sooooo excited for him! How is Brent doing? Is he staying for long? Yes I got your letter. Thank you so much for writing that all down. I have learned now that I need to write those types of things down. It has some amazing things in there and I forgot about the 3 Nephites. Maybe they are native american?! I will keep my eye out for them and tell you all about it. =)

I can't wait to have some kids of my own... well I guess I can wait. =) When Elder Case says how he can't wait to have kids I always say yes you can. Sorry inside joke. Brother Shumway has 3 boys and a 4th on the way. They are so awesome! The one that is 3 is really attached to me. His name is Jack. Way cool. Can't wait to have a little Tanner running around. Then again that is going to be a little scary. =)

All my scratches are fully healed but my hip is sore again because I wrecked my bike again. Yeah you hear me right. I wrecked my bike again. But it wasn't as bad as getting tazed or sprayed in the face by bear spray. =) Yes I did those too. Funny thing though I was wearing the same pair of pants that I wrecked in last time which is good so I don't have two pairs of torn up pants. I'm wearing them again today so will see if I wreck a 3rd time... Like Dad always says things come in sets of 3. So I will be extra careful on my bike today. Yes I always wear my helmet. I already learned my lesson on wearing my helmet when I was little. Last time my head kind of just scrapped so I was fine but this time I kind of did a front flip so my head didn't even touch the ground at all. I was being careful following Elder Case like 30 feet behind and then a guy said "Hey Elders" and starting walking towards us. So I looked forward again to see if Elder Case stopped... and he did. He was at a dead stop in front of me so I swerved as fast as I could to not plow into the back of him. But I clipped him and once again went flying through the air. But I learned from last time to tuck and role faster to prevent scuffing up my elbows which I did. You could see the marks on both my elbows where they barley touched the ground. Elder Case said I just did a roll and popped up then smiled. I'm getting really good at falling. I guess from falling so much dirt biking and snowboarding I have finally mastered falling. =) Its very useful to learn to fall right. Ask Brother Farr.

Yes I got tazed. A kid we know had one in his car and I have always wanted to get tazed. So I did. I still have burn marks on my ribs both my legs and butt. Yes I got tazed more then once and had to try it on myself. Then bear mace. Another kid we know had bear mace in his car so we decided to shoot it off in the church parking lot. Elder Rae did so and it went to the side. But when I sprayed it the wind shifted and it came back into all 3 of our faces. I couldn't see anything because I was crying so hard was coughing and almost through up. Man did it burn for a long time. I guess you aren't suppose to use bear spray on people... I would rather get tazed instead of getting maced.

We also caught 21 scorpions. I picked one up with my bear hands. We put one on a string and made it our pet. I also found a way to put them in this epoxy. They are floating in it. I will have to send you one. It looks way cool. Then I got 50 pounds of ties. So many good ties in it.

Spiritual wise we got Brother Lawton to come to church!!! Then we are working with the ward council process and getting that up and going and trying to find more investigators. Besides that just trying to work hard everyday. It suppose to start getting hot now. Not looking forward to that. Love you!

~Elder Tanner Dickson

Week 13

May 16th-

I will start off with the pictures.

736/740 Yes I wrecked my bike.

748 Elder Case and I have way too much fun!

751 We cooked hotdogs in our fireplace when it was 103 outside.

759 The power of the priesthood. =)

So when I was on exchanges with Elder Thomson (Zone Leader) on Tuesday I was riding as fast as my bike can go with both the gears on high and pedaling as fast as I could. The speed check for cars said I was going about 24. =) I like going fast. But later on I figured out that its not very safe to go that fast on the sidewalk... Like I said I was going way too fast on the sidewalk and there was a curve in the sidewalk. I guess when I went around it I came off the sidewalk then while getting back on it the ledge stopped me. The bike flew out from underneath me and I slide about 15 feet on concrete then 5 in rocks. I'm ok but my pants aren't and neither is my shirt and my shoes got some road rash too. My pants war almost all the way through down the leg and have 3 nice holes in them. But guess what! My garments didn't even get touched on my pants or shoulder. Garments work. Yes I know I was protected. Elder Thomson said that was the scariest crash he has seen. He didn't think I would get up. But I did and just started laughing. Hip is still sore and knees is too but I thought I would take a picture of my elbow for you.

Another funny thing that happened is that we stopped and talked to this old man, I'm guessing around his 90's who was walking down the street with his little walker. We talked to him and figured out his name (Harold). Then I was prompted to ask if he needed any help. I asked 3 times before he said he could use a ride but he didn't have a money for a cab. I then asked where he was going. He said his parents house. (RED FLAG!) I then asked him how old they were. He said 60's. Long story short we knocked on a house and asked if Harold lived there. She said yes. Then we were like well you might want to go catch him. He is about a half a mile down the street. She got her car and went and picked him up. Right when the lady stepped out of the car Harold was like "how did you find me?" We saved an old mans life that day. She said he has had 3 heart attacks in that last few months. But he was a determined old man and he said he used to be really good at running. I said well next time Harold you might make it.

Wow a lot is going on! Thank you for the updates. Don't have time to respond to each one individually today. Yes Elder Case and I are getting along very well. I have a feeling we are going to be here in Chandler for a while as companions. We are picking things up and working with the Bishops to get involved in the ward council process. While on exchanges with the AP's this last Saturday I learned a lot of what I'm doing good and what I can improve on. I have potential and I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to use that and get the area up and going. It would be awesome to stay here in Chandler for a long time and be able to see my work and see the area progress. There is a lot of potential for the area to be a good one it's just really dry right now. I can't wait to see it grow through the work I put into it. Love you and it was good to talk to you. I just realized that I didn't say happy mothers day. Well HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!! Your an amazing mom. I know you always worry about me. I'm doing great because of the way you raised me. Always remember that I love you and appreciate you for who you are and the sacrifices you have made to raise me and the rest of us. You are an amazing mother not only to your kids but to everyone around you also. I love you.

Your (Nephi) and full time Missionary,

~Elder Tanner Dickson

Week 12

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. Here in Arizona there are so many less active people! All we really focus on is less active and part member family's. In a way I feel like getting someone to come back to church is more satisfying then baptizing someone. In that they have to go through so much, they normally have tons of challenges they have to overcome and I love when you can see the change in their lives. You can see a light that fills their eyes when they start coming to church and reading their scriptures again. We actually had a less active family come tochurch on sunday that we had been going over to and teaching for about 3 months now. The father had previously been in the bishopric and had been on a mission. It was way awesome to see them there! I will continue to stop by and visit those less active members and encourage them. Thank you for your support. I will try my hardest to live up to the bar of being a Dickson. My Grandparents and parents have set it pretty high but I know I can surpass that bar and I hope that my kids will become better then me.

~Love Elder Tanner Dickson

Yeah not much to say... The time was fine. Elder Case was talking the whole time I was and the Shumways didn't mind. Adrienne and Winston are coming down?! Thats awesome! Any specific reason?

Jeremy finally got back to us. I guess he lost his phone but he also moved into his girlfriends which isn't good because now if he wants to get baptized he has to marry her or move out. Frustrating. Naoko said a prayer again! And she has actually been reading now!!! She is so funny. We have two new investigators who we are going to start teaching next week. We have been praying for new investigators and on sunday we had two people talk to us and gave us someone they want us to teach. Trying to get this area moving more then it has been. People say Chandler is the dead zone of the mission but we hope to change that by working hard everyday.

Its been in the hundreds the past couple of day and this morning its in the low 80's. Its weird to say but I was kind of cold when I went outside this morning. But I guess that means my blood is thinning out and I'm getting use to the heat, which is good. Loving the work and the sun. The weeks are flying by right now. We are already half way through the transfer. Crazy! I want to get out of Chandler but I don't want to have a different companion. Elder Case is way awesome and we are going to hang out in Rexburg when I get back. I talked to his parents yesterday and they said I was invited over for sunday dinners. =) It would be way cool to serve on ASU campus or up in Show Low on one of the Indian reservations. Then I could see some snakes, and spiders, and the cactus that shoots spikes at you when you get close to it. But will see what happens. Maybe I will just stay here and get the area moving. Where ever I go I know its where I'm suppose to be.

Love you ALL!!!

~Elder Tanner Dickson

Week 11

Going to make this brief. Elder Case get along and work so well together at lessons. We also know how to make things fun throughout the day contacting people when we don't have any lessons. We are really trying to work on getting new investigators and the ones that we have to start progressing again. Jeremy is moving into our area but his girlfriend is very against the church and has been having problems with that. So he is hesitant to get baptized or even praying about it and we haven't met with him sense the easter pageant. Naoko is still progressing slowly. She is so funny. She called us at like 10 one night freaking out because she didn't read before the lesson like we told her to and she feels that she is wasting our time because she is stuburn. We told her that she needed to read when we asked her but that she is coming to church and is wanting to learn. She gives up and makes room for us to teach her 1-2 times a week. Then on Friday she said her first prayer! It was way awesome. Our area hasn't had a baptism since December so I hope to break that.

Yes he is finally dead! Hopefully nothing was in place. Spring break... A break would be nice. I'm just working and working. Its good though. Schedules keep you happy and you have a purpose everyday. There is a lot of less active people that we are trying to bring back and we focus on part member family's a lot. Finding new people to teach that aren't members is very hard here.

Mothers day. I'm going over to the Clayboughs on Sunday who say that they have a web cam I can use. I will call around 6:30 Can't wait to see you and the family. You should have Connor, Zach, and anybody else come over and see me on Skype. It would be good to see Zach and Connor and get to talk to them. So if you could ask them that would be awesome!!! A case for the camera would be nice. I tried to find one at Walmart but they didn't have any that would work. I know costco would have one. Pictures of the family would be nice. Never can have too many pictures.

If you have noticed I spent some money at the grocery store. I ran out of money and needed to buy some stuff. Then we didn't have dinners for 4 days in a row and my comp and I were completely out of food so we went out to eat twice. We should be good this month because he transfered in and left food at his old area then I'm getting better at budgeting my money. But just to let you know what I was spending it on. Love you!!! Can't wait to see you on Sunday!

~Elder Tanner Dickson

Week 10

It's okay if you call me Tanner. But it does sound a little bit weird because I don't hear it, ever. I can't call you or send you a message but I thought it would be okay if someone else did. =) Still trying to figure out someone for Skype. I only got a week left to figure it out. Elder Case and I went with Jeremy. It was good for him and he enjoyed it. Afterwards I talked to him about how Christ was baptized as an example for us, and how John the Baptiste said if Jesus was baptized and he was perfect how much of a need he had to get baptized because he was imperfect. It really brought to light how much we really need to get baptized and that's what he needs to focus on and pray about, instead of trying to understand every little detail of doctrine. He needs to have some faith. Plus he has a girlfriend that is completely against the church and we are not sure if that's part of whats holding him back from baptism. Then he said he would be at church on Sunday and we tried to get in contact with him 3 times but he still hasn't responded back. Between him not progressing Naoko just being Naoko and Amy not calling us back its been pretty tough. So all we have been doing is contacting and OYMing (Open Your Mouth) to try and find more people to teach.

Shane got his call!!! I bet its somewhere in the states. Like Montana or somewhere down south. Ahhhh I want to know. Then Brook hasn't told me where he is going yet. Britt told me though. They are probably so busy that they wont tell me. That's how I felt at least. So I don't think they would mind if you told me. =) Tell Connor to hurry up! I can't wait to see where Kyle goes. I'm guessingChina, or Taiwan or somewhere Asian.

Rain... I miss it. I miss not sweating all day and worrying about if I should put sunscreen on or not. Its getting hotter every day here. Connor would be willing to help move stuff off the boat. To bad I'm not there to help them. Physical activity is always good. I need to work out more. Just riding my bike around isn't cutting it for me. I can't wait to see the house. You should send me some pictures of it when they get in!

That is what this life is for. Overcoming the natural man. Learning to discipline yourself and become better. To progress forward and become more like Christ. I'm sure I can find some time to read those scriptures. =) Missionary work is becoming my life. I tried remembering song names and artists and can't. Everything I'm doing and thinking about now is missionary work. Still haven't had a dream in my pros. cloths yet. When I do I will have become a real missionary. Love you!

~Tanner

Week 9

April 20th-

Things are challenging but that just means I'm going to grow some more. Feeling good. Just got a new companion named Elder Case. Still in Chandler didn't move. Elder Lee was called as a Zone leader and went to Tempe. I already know Elder Case and I are going to have tons of fun! And get work done of course. =) Why isn't Courtney going? Too unsafe? I don't know whats going on because I don't watch the news or read about it. I only hear stuff through members.

I picked up that package at the mission home today when I went there for transfers! Thank you! So you found the helmet? The pillow protector was in it. The helmet I have now is pretty good but the one at home is better. When this one wears out you can send me that one. Thank you for the picture book its perfect! Thank you Lauren for the small one. I have a perfect use for both of them. Now you just need to send me pictures of you guys so I can fill it up. I don't have a picture of Zach =( I haven't got the chance to read all of the letters yet transfers was crazy then we dropped off Elder Cases luggage then headed straight to the library to email. I can't wait to read them. I saw that there was one from Rennie and Connor!!! I'm so excited to read that! Then Lauren wrote me 2. Then I got one from you and dad. Good day. Change is good then you throw a big package in there and it made the day so awesome. Then its also p-day so thats good. Our P-day is actually switching to Mondays starting this week. So just FYI and we will have another P-day on the 25th. Two in one week! Not sure if we will email that day but most likely will. Easter Pageant was amazing! So many people. We went there last Thursday. We went around talked to people and asked for referrals. Got two of our investigators to go with us this week. So I will get to see it 2 more times. Its about a 15 minute drive from where I live so not too far.

Don't know who's house we could go to for mothers day yet because I'm not sure who has web cameras or not. I will start looking around and try to figure that out. You didn't tell me but Grandma did. Thats to bad but yes he is in a better place. Its only been three months? Yeah it does seem like a while ago. Have you worked that all out yet?

Yeah its getting hot. I'm getting a little bit more use to it but they say its nice out when its 90 or 95 out. I guess it would be if it was 115 for a few months straight. I should be fine though. Drinking a ton of water and sweating it all out. I will have to take a picture so you can see how much I have been sweating. Oh just to answer your email from last week about wearing garments. I haven't taken them off except to shower. I even wear them when I'm playing basketball and haven't got hurt playing yet. I don't plan on taking them off. I like wearing them. Although they do ride up when I ride my bike but what can you do. On average we ride about 20 miles a day. The farthest I have road in one day was 34 miles. Burns off those extra calories which is good. We have the largest biking area in our mission. Elder Case has been in a car the last 6 months of his mission so I will have to whip him into shape. Riding my bike is so easy now that its basically just like sitting down all day in a car. I will have to start working out in the morning. I can feel myself getting out of shape its gross. Its going to be really hard to not get fat. But I can do it. I will not let it happen!

There is 123 in my account right now is that including the 100 you said you would put in it? I'm trying my best to just use the money I have on my card here and not use that money. Elder Lee had a SD to usb converter that I used to upload my pictures so I will have to buy one of those at Walmart today and I will need a bin to carry my bedding in for next time I move. But besides that I will do my best to budget myself on the 115 dollars I get every month.

Shane put in his papers?!?!?! YES!!! Then Connor is getting them in soon?! Thats SOOOOOOO awesome! Kyle turned his in too correct? I'm so proud of all of them. Still praying every night for them. Oh man that makes me so happy that they are all going on their missions. So happy!

Thats an awesome quote. I feel like I have grown some so far on my mission but in one of our Zone Conferences they told us that its hard to see how much we have grow spiritually, but we will and have so much. Elder Case was like are you sure your a Greenie? Your second companion is called your breaker. He is my breaker and he was like are you sure your a greenie? (Greenie normally means you have been on your mission for less then 6 months.) I was like, yep! He said I don't seem like one. I said that I could be less confident and become like a greenie if he wanted me too. So I guess I have come a long way. Thanks to Elder Lee. I was pushed in everything I did with him. Learned a ton! Way good trainer and guy. It was way good to have Elder Lee as my companion/trainer. He is exactly what I needed in a trainer. I have learned so much and look forward to learning more with Elder Case. So far he seems like a pretty cool guy. Transfers are inspired. Our investigators are progressing. Some slower then others but still progressing. Elder Lee and I decided that would needed to drop several people so we did before the transfer, but that means Elder Case and I will have to go get some more gators to teach. Still working on Naoko praying and getting Jeremy to pray about baptism. Personal study and District meetings have helped me so much in that I get answers to my questions about what I should do and not do with my investigators. Going to continue to work my hardest. Love you!

~Elder Dickson

Week 8