Dec 17 – One week until we facetime with Tommy!!

hey mom and dad so i am sure that you heard the absolutely exciting news about the car getting broken into last night. typical. anywho transfers have been crazy. elder johnson has been transferred to adeliade and elder mcdonalds new companion is elder siaw from malaysia. my new companion is……….elder salcedo from america. im not quite sure which state but thats where he is from. yes i am still in darwin. ok so for skype next week can we do it at 11am darwin time? which would be 6:30pm calgary time. it will probably be facetime. so other than that we have had a great week we have met an absolutely solid family from sri lanka the have left hinduism behind and want to be christian. super solid.

love,

elder dickson

Tommy got his wallet stolen yesterday – we figured out everything we need to replace and all is good.  The best news is they didn’t take his bag or scriptures.

Brent – So what did you think about Phil Boyte being in Adelaide and meeting those missionaries that know you. Cool huh

T- yeah that is so cool he met elder Li (came to the mission together), elder maddock and elder huot

B- Tell me about your new family you are teaching. How many times have you met. Where did you find them. How many are there?

Krista – I’m here at the Nativity …. only email possible. Looking forward to seeing you

T- we actually haven’t taught them yet we just invited them to church and they came. the family loved it so much that they wanted to stay longer than 3 hours. and they are a family of 4, 3 over 8

B-

‎That is exciting. Coming to church is a big step.

What are your plans for Christmas eve and day, other than talking to your awesome family?

K- Benny is very enamored with the sheep and being a shepherd…. drew is having trouble hiding

T- for christmas day we have some activities planned zone wide that are still being nailed down

B-

Sounds fun‎. Mom will get the card to you asap.

Parks gave his farewell today. He did really well. The church was full to the back of the gym. Lots of non members there. He explained what a mission would be like and why he was going.

T- what is the mcmullen crew up to?  – thats awesome he (Parks)will do a great job as a missionary – wish him good luck

B- ‎McMullins are doing well. Brenton had a baby last summer, a boy. So Tim is an old Grandpa. Kristen is in her third year of some kind of veterinarian care at Uof A. Ryan is in Gr. 12. Not sure what his plan is next year. And I think Jared is in Gr 9. He was collecting bottles to build a home on Central America.

T- thats good to hear!

B- ‎I am planning on seeing the Nativity on Tuesday. Taylor will watch Jake. Gotta see Drew as head angel with my own eyes. Have you done any specific things for light the world?

T- yeah we have had a lot of stuff for light the world. this week we ran a three day booth in the city with baloons and oass along cards a stand up tv and a lot more was a huge hit and will hopefully continue that this week

B-

‎Nice. I have been using the ideas for a #bekindatchristmas campaign on the Canadian Student Leadership social media. The Mormon Leadership kids have been noticing some striking similarities.

Do people talk to you much at the booths?

T- yeah its really cool because people are pretty interested

B- So here is a Mom question. How are the shoes. Do they fit? Did you get a Christmas card from Grandma Dickson that you make into a Nativity.

T- yeah they fit and yeah it is sitting on our kitchen counter right now  – gotta go love yous!!

B- ‎That will make Grandma and Mom happy. – We will chat / face time next week. Light the world Elder!!!

Dec 9 – scroll down for pictures

Hey mom and dad so firsts things first mom i repented and uploaded more pictures in the nightcliff folder and they are ones president parker took. So this has been a great week having zone conference and having the parkers and the assistants up in darwin. really great zone conference and really great time with the parkers. thats great to hear that grace got her call and where is parks going again? oh also about skype i havent been able to organize a family yet but will be hopefully this week. i think it would be easiest if we just did facetime like last year. as for light the world this week we are doing a zone service project picking up marine debris.

great week overall

Love,

Elder dickson

Krista – Marine debris… that sounds interesting. I’m glad the zone conference went well. What did you learn? Did you do a skit?

Brent – Parks is going to Portugal. Same mission as Joel Patterson. He leaves a week from Monday.

T- yes we did a skit and it was based off of key and peel’s substitute teacher skit. oh cool maybe they will be companions

B- ‎A Aron!!! So how did you put a church spin on it?

K- Ok that is intriguing to me… did you pull out your drama skills? Tell me a little more.

T- yeah so we had a substitute distrike leader and a fake training about no-ah getting the 8 condements

B- ‎I am guessing mom may not know the skit. We will bring her up to speed later.

T- yeah it was really funny, made some pretty good jokes. i can send you a video when the parkers get it to us

K- That sounds funny…what else did you learn at the conference? That breakfast with the Parkers looks amazing! – Oh ye of little faith …. of course I know the skit! I loved seeing the pop up booths. Were they successful?

T- the breakfast was actually at 3 in the afternoon but president really wanted pancakes – we learned alot about effective baptismal invites – yeah they were really good and we are having one downtown tomorrow

B- ‎Sounds like a righteous man. So it has been super warm for December. Is it raining a ton?

K- And it looks like some fun Christmas stockings…. did you get your decorations?

T- no wet season hasn’t come yet which is really late this year. and yes i got the decorations 🙂

K- Hurray!!! Makes a mom’s heart happy to know you have at least a little desk tree. When you do the pop up booths how long are you allowed to have them up? Are there special rules?

T- yeah for the pop ups we cant leave the booth but we can invite people over. and they can be there all day we just have to rent the space

B- ‎Sounds creative and a change of pace. What do the booths say to grab attention?

K- That’s awesome… must be a nice change and pretty effective. What is that picture with the stairs and the projector?

T- yeah they are big ad flashy. i added a picture in the googe drive – oh we ran a city activity about ight the world at the ymca so i was presenting – putting aslc experience to work

B- ‎Tell me more. What was the Y presentation all about?

K- That’s cool…. looks like you had a few people there. I’m sure you are good at coming up with creative ideas. Boy from minute to win it to Canadian pancakes and pop up booths you are certainly doing missionary work in interesting ways

T- we had an activity to present light the world to the community and to have an activity to bring investigators to

K- How is it going with your investigators? Do you have anyone who has committed to babptiam right now or are they still in progress? I have lost track… remind me of names

B- Very cool – did you do the Chevy Van cheer? Maybe not appropriate. Though if you can make Key and Peele work I believe in you.

T- yes we found a man yesterday, his name is daniel and he recently quit smoking and drinking because he wanted to change his life around and then we knocked on the door so right now he is on date for january 13 – haha no

K- Good for him and good for you. How is Peter’s family doing?

B- ‎That is very exciting. It seems like you always have someone to teach. That is the good stuff!

T- peters family aren’t really interested at this stage but he is doing awesome. he is going to efy in adelaide in january

B- ‎EFY should be a real boost. It makes a difference to meet other people the same age who share beliefs.

T- yeah he is really excited

B- So do you have some new shoe sor are you using duct tape?

K- That’s great… did they get the funding in place for all the kids who wanted to go? I know I saw a thing about Katherine youth. Do they still need donations?

T- i have one pair of shoes that i am wearing

K- Ok well if you hear anything let us know… that will be great! Are transfers next week ? I guess the only certain thing is you will be getting a new companion

T- yes transfers are next week

B- Have you been spending any time at the University?   Any cool animal stories for Benny?

T- no the malak elders do the uni

K- Darwin, Darwin!!!! Hear me chanting … wherever you go will be right and wonderful but I’m a little biased I think Darwin is GREAT!

T- yes benny we have seen a few monitors around. on the way to katherine we saw a few emu’s and dingoes

Benny – Benny. Hey that’s really cool what is a monitor again

T- like a min komodo

B- Benny has disappeared. Mom has him on basement cleaning duty. It is Gingerbread houses tomorrow. Lots of crazy before and then a great night.

K- Are dingoes as frequent as coyotes here? Where did the Katherine elders stay for zone conference? With you too? I have 2 handbells rehearsals today, one with beehives and one with deacons. It will be interesting to see the difference !

T- no not as frequent but still around – ok i gotta go love you heaps mom and dad

Dec 4

The Sr. Couple serving in Darwin with Tommy, the Leas, sent us these pictures of Tommy before a service project.

 

hey mom and dad,

This week has been great! we have been gong full speed ahead with light the world! this week was the beginning of the pop up booth in the ma in palmerston. (We found out that people like talking to sisters more than elders so they are running it now). as well like you mentioned we had “canadian pancakes” for a toy drive we were doing at the church. this next week we are going to try to get a stand in the city mall so EXCITING!!! today the assistants and the parkers fly up for our christmas zone conference. As for the zone we just had a baptism on saturday in katherine so things are picking up. we are definetly going to hit the zone goal of 40. the cool thing about the goal is that the original goal for the year was 23 but we hit that in july so they reset to 40 and now we are at 35. Elder and sister lea put up the ornament that you sent them and are really grateful for it

Love

Elder Dickson

Krista – That is cool about the malls… will you have sisters at the one downtown too? Did you get any community members for your pancakes?

Brent – Hey, hey I am at the Bishop’s house right now. We had a dinner for all of the Bishopric families. Singing some carols and the heading home for the First Presidency message. Mom came with Jake for a bit. He focused on desert.

T- yeah we had heaps of investigators come not so many off the street though. and we will see in the city, really depends on how it goes

K- That will be exciting to see the Parkers and assistants. Do the assistants stay in your flat ? How long are they in Darwin? Is you Conference tomorrow?Maybe they will bring your decorations?

T- yeah they stay in our flat. they will only be here for three days and yes the cnference wll be tomorrow

K- Do you know the assistants? Do you have responsibilities for tomorrow? What a great way to start December!

T- the assistants are elder miller and elder pickett. i have no clue if we will have resposibiities

K- Have you ever been in the same zone as Elder Miller or Pickett? I’m glad the Leas got the ornament. We sent one to the Parkers too. Jake and I are watching the Christmas devotional right now. I guess dad and the boys must be watching at Hansen’s. I’m actually amazed Jake is sitting here watching. Granted he has his earphones in but he is staying put… must be the pull of MoTab! Maybe he is hoping for his favourite hymn…Called to Serve

B- Maybe serve some Canadian Pancakes at Zone conference! ‎We aren’t watching. Oops. Singing carols and planning to watch the recorded devotional. Bishop’s fault!!!

T- yes i was in marion with elder miller  – haha blame it on bishop, tell him i say hi

B- I will, we are now heading home. Doing the long walk from his house to ours.

K- Awesome! How are your investigators doing? What was the best teaching moment this week?

T- they are doing great. it was cool t teach our investigator rikki this week. we taught him the book of mormon and before we even started teaching he said “i have a question, if god loves all his people than why is the bible only written f the people in the middle east”  we were like “oh rikki do we have an answer for you”‘

K- Gotta love that moment when you get to testify of the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. Stake Conference today had a lot of missionary work talks. one of the best I thought was Drew’s friend Cole who spoke about a missionary experience he and Drew had this week in Mc Donald’s with a homeless man. They had a 2 hour discussion with him and gave him the missionaries phone number

T- thats awesome!!

B- YES, a golden question. I’m home now. Drew and Ben ditched me so I had to walk alone. So sad.

K- Dickson superstars! Now selection from the Messiah in the broadcast… Still think Jake is holding out for the good stuff…may have to pull out YouTube version of Called to Serve. When do you see the broadcast?

T- we wont see it until christmas eve

B- ‎…and I am just finding out about it now. Drew shares so much. :). So I am getting big on the church speaking tour. Speaking at a seminary Morningside Dec 20. Don’t want this to become a habit.

T- love you but we gotta go to pick uo the assistant from the airport

B- ‎You are awesome. Always so glad you are my son.

K- Love you heaps… have a great week!

Nov 26

hey mom and dad how are you?

this has been a pretty cool week. elder ellingson and i are leading the zone hard out into light the world. for example on the second of december it is jesus christ is the living water or something like that, so the mission has bought us 700 water bottles that we have relabled with the light the world logo and are going to be handing out on the saturday. as well we are putting up these huge banners in the new mall in darwin (first time a mall has let missionaries in, ever). as well we have soo many zone wide services planned so it will be an awesome light the world season. i havent gotten the decorations but i have received the big cloth. its possible that sister lea thinks that it is the christmas package so she could be holding on to it until christmas. This week as well i was able to go on trade off with the katherine elders! i love katherine, it is soooo unique. we are still working with peters family and a new investigator who is really solid and is on date for the 30th of december. he is aussie background and has had some really serious struggles in his life but he is doing awesome. when he called his mom to tell her he was meeting with the mormons she had only great things to say. awesome week.

Love,

Elder DIckson

Krista – Awesome…. maybe ask Sister Lea. It was full of decorations. ! I think it is awesome all the things you do for the zone… that is great!i think that is cool about Katherine too who are the elders there ?

Tell me something cool about what you’re teaching the investigators

T- elder arnaud and elder atkinson are there now – i think the coolest thing is to see the atonement of jesus christ work in their lives. the just so readily change in order to follow christ.

K- I love that…. that is a lesson I need in my life right now! I’ll be excited to hear about all of those initiatives. What is the investigators name that will be baptized?

T- his name is rikki – update on the game?  – (I told Tommy the Grey Cup game was on)

K- I’m so happy for you and for him . What else is happening in the Darwin Branch right now? Does Elder Ellingson go home this transfer ? – I’ve told dad to email you…

Brent – Stamps 14 Argos 8. 2 min left in first half. It is snowing pretty bad. No team is kicking. They go for 2 on converts. – ‎You are earlier than usual. You sound fired up and busy. That is awesome. I love the waterbottle idea! – ‎The Argo touchdown we a 100 yard catch and run to the end zone. Doubt it would happen without snow.

K- Tell me about some of the other service your zone is planning

T- wait so the argos just scored a 100 yard touchdown, and yes he goes home this transfer

B- wait so the argos just scored a 100 yard touchdown, and yes he goes home this transfer – ‎Tell us more about Katherine. What do you like about that place. I think Darwin is a good fit for you. Sounds that way.

T- katherine is 70% aboriginal and is a town of about 1500 people. it is just really cool because you teach people by sitting in the dirt and talking

B- ‎That is cool. Sounds like more humble people. Hopefully not so many pitbulls too!? Jake is jamming out right now to ABBA. He knows what he likes!

T- lots of dogs just roaming around,

B- As long as they are friendly and don’t chase you. Maybe this could b E your chance to punch a kangaroo. Benny would be so impressed.

T- not very many kangaroos around but i did see a few dingoes

K- I have seen quite a few baptisms in Katherine. They must be really growing that branch. I also saw the Darwin Branch had a baptism this weekend and she is a friend of Peter?

B-

‎Awesome!! A dingo stole my baby! I bet they aren’t too impressed if you say that.

So no arrests by drunks this week? I thought that was a really funny story. We would always get cussed out by drunks in Sweden. It is where I learned my first Swedish and Finnish swear words.

T- the have tripled the branch in size in this year alone – yeah peter spoke at her baptism

B- ‎See, Mom is all over Facebook. I loved the picture of your shoes. Sad but funny.

K- Wow that is awesome. How often do you go to Katherine?

T- haha no drunks this week and haha no babys snatched  – yeah my shoes were pretty trashed, we go to katherine once a transfer

B- ‎So Shania Twain is performing at halftime. It is truly a Canadian experience. The drummers cymbals have snow sitting in them.

K- Do the Leas go with you?  When is the next transfer? I’m wondering if that package of decorations is with the Parkers? Do they come up soon?

T- haha thats crack up – no we go our self and next transfer starts december 17th

K- Well if Elder E goes home you may be staying put…. a few more weeks of Darwin heat!

T- i would love to stay in darwin the rest of my mission if i can

B- ‎Makes your papa happy to hear you happy. That’s what happens serving others. Enjoy every minute.

T- its awesome

B-

PD plans today? Maybe an ocean view to make your dad a bit jealous?

K- I’m glad,  that would be cool . Somehow I think that somewhere in your future President Parker will have a surprise for you 😋

T- oh dad we have an ocean view everyday

and what do you mean mom?

B- ‎I think she means you probably have another move in you before the end and I bet you will love that place too.

K- You have been surprised by transfers before. You never know inspiration may send you somewhere else before your mission is over. If you stay in Darwin …. great ! But you never know… maybe eventually back to Adelaide????

T- i don’t want that to happen though, hopefully the suprise will be “Elder dickson you will staying in darwin for ages!”

B- ‎Delayed start to second half. They had to snow plow the field. – ‎Great attitude but I will pull a mom on you. Singing – i’ll go where you want me to go dear Lord. 🙂

K- You will be great anywhere! But I know you love Darwin!

T- haha ill go where god wants me to go but i hope its here 🙂

B- ‎No rule against praying in your request.

T- haha i guess not

B- Uh oh, Argos just scored a touchdown. Calgary up 17-16. I will email you a final score even if you are gone. You can check later.

K- Good attitude…. we are proud of you!  The Leas are awesome, we are so grateful for them and their help! Take a picture of those shoes from the top. I want to see if they really “ look ok from the top” like you claim!

T- ok love you lots but i gotta go,

bye

K- Love you too! Have a great day!

B- Have a great week. We love you!

Tommy will have to wait until next week to see who won the Grey Cup 🙂

Nov 12

hey mom and dad,

this has been a great week! so first of all elder johnson is doing great, we instantly recognized each other when we picked him up at the airport! so thats cool. for mom he is from strathmore and the greatest thing is that he is a (for dad) FLAMES FAN!!!!!!!!!!!! jokes, its pretty cool having another elder from the calgary area because we can talk about things and people from back home. so about the baptism. they are a part member family, the mom is a member and the dad is out of the picture but now the kids are baptized. its sooo cool because the mom has made huge strides even from when i was here in june in coming back to church. #eternalfamilies. So peter is doing great as well. he is giving a talk at a baptism this saturday for the sisters because turns out that their investigator is one of his friends. he is really excited. Other than that it is definitly the build up season because it s hot and humid but never rains.

also up here in darwin we are getting really onboard with the light the world initiative again so it will be great!

Love Elder Dickson

Brent – Sounds like great things are happening for you warms my heart. Sorry about the Flames thing. Opposition in all things. President Yee just asked me to speak in the adult session of Stake Conference. 7 minutes on Family Councils. Could test some members faith :).

T- we actually had a similar talk in branch conference this week

Krista – That is so cool about Peter. it sounds like he is really progressing. How did you recognize Elder Johnson? Dances???  How are your investigators doing?

B- ‎Then help a brother out!! What did they say?

T- they focused on how when elder ardern was here he said “participation invites revelation” then they talked about how much we need guidance in this ever changing world and how family councils are ways to gain love respect and most importantly revelation for the whole family

and yes peter is doing really great, yeah i recognized him from dances and turns out he was watching the provincial final verses foothills in lethbridge

K- That must seem really strange to connect halfway across the world.

B- Perfect. I am quoting you in my talk. Good that Elder Johnson got to see some amazing Coyote Rugby. So will you have him do something special for the first PDay?

T- nah i think they are doing something with an nvestigator

B-

CFL update. Saskatchewan beat Ottawa in the east semifinal and play Toronto in the East final. SK finished fourth in the West and crossed over.

E skies beat Winnipeg in Winnipeg and now play the Stamps in the West final. Go Esks!

K- That works for me.  Have you started planning for the Light the World campaign? It would be cool to do those activities here too. I will have to look at LDS. org again Is this a ward or a mission focus?

T- go stamps!!!

B- ‎Do you have any memories  of family meetings we had that stand out to you? Looking for more talk material.

T- not particularly  (ouch 🙂

T- both and we are going do be doin lots of things here

K- It sounds like The Darwin Branch is really growing and doing interesting things. Remind me again how big the branch is? Do they have any youth that you work with?

Benny – ‎Benny. Hey Tom so on Thursday we won all our games in volleyball to end off the regular season and loving your bed trololololololloolloollool

Brent- ‎And Benny is off to the basement. 🙂

T- the brach is about 200 people and we work with both of the preists and the ysa

K- So tell me an experience you have had this week that has been significant… a teaching moment, some inspiration, a cool thought from what you have been studying…

Tommy shared some C.S. Lewis quotes

B- ‎So what will the rainy season be like? Hotter? More humid? How much rain are we talking here?

T- it is called monsoon season so a lot and it will cool down a little it will start in december

K- He has such an interesting way of looking at Christianity.  I love his Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity. When you get home I will make you watch one of my favorite movies ” Shadowlands” which is about his life and the death of his wife

B- ‎So hopefully more time in a car rather than on the bike? Drew is off to Parker Byam’s playing Smash Brothers. A proper sabbath activity cause he is with family. 🙂

T- no even in the rain we bike

B- I can endorse that movie. A good one. We will also have to watch “In the good old summertime”. We are keeping it on the PLT just for you.

T- is it still on there?!

K- You also may not remember but we are still saving “In the Good Old  Summertime”  on the PVR until you are back… the brothers claim we can’t watch it without you but lets just say they MAY be trying to avoid the MOST AMAZING MOVIE!… ok mom geek out time.

B- Absolutely ‎- we will have a watching party when you return and then a ceremonial deleting

K-

That cracks me up that dad sent that while at the same time i was typing about that AWESOME movie!

What are your plans for Pday today? Is this Elder E’s last  transfer?

T- wow…… i thought you were kidding  – yes it is – and we are doing some service for a member – hey mom and dad i love you email next week!!

B- You da bomb. We pray for you daily!

K-

Love you!

Mom

Tommy Was Part Of A Baptism – Pictures From Darwin Nov. 6

Nov 5

hey mom and dad!

so the big news is that i am staying in darwin longer this time! 🙂 so the big changes are that elder shortland and hammond are leaving along with sister ceaser and sister angoy. this week was amazing. peter as you know was able to be baptized this weekend. i will never forget the first thing peter said as he came out of the water is “i feel so clean”. he is a solid convert. we hadn’t really been able to go into depth about fast offerings yet his first sunday as a member he paid them. other than the preperation for that it has been a normal week. we were able to get a few new investigators that were referred to us by a recent convert named sumit. in regards to the degree i want to do special education so does the route have to go through a nromal degree in education and then to specialize?

Brent – ‎You are now a Darwin Man! That is a great memory with Peter that you will never forget. All the hard work you put in every day makes that possible.

Krista –  I am so thrilled about Peter. That is amazing that he is so dedicated already. What a wonderful spiritual high that must have been for all of you.!!! Are you still teaching his cousin and brother?

T- its really cool because he asked how he can serve a mission so president chick wants to start working with him so he can go and serve

K- Wow that is impressive. Good for him

B- ‎Cool to think you play a part in a new missionary being sent out.

T- he is so prepared he is currently bring us all his cousins to teach

K- Will you be getting a new district leader, or is a missionary who was already in the zone taking over that responsibility?That means a new flatmate… do you know who it is?

T- you’ve got it mom and elder mcdonald will be the district leader and he will be training a new missionary

K- That will be fun to have a greenie in your apartment! Do you know where he is from?

B-

Sports report

Astros beat Dodgers in 7 – an epic series Drew is sad

CFL Saskatchewan crosses over to the east and plays in Ottawa. Winner plays Toronto.

West Edmonton plays in Winnipeg – winner gets Calgary.

Weird Eskimos season. Won first 7, lost next 6, won final five. Stamps looked like a lock but lost last three. We shall see.

Raptors look okay. Oilers are surprisingly horrible and Flames are 500

T- we won’t know who he is until wednesday night – who do the raptors have this year? – i also hear ben simmons is carving it up, is that true?

K- I hope he is from somewhere warm… coming to Darwin might be a little bit of a shock. I was talking to grandpa today and this will not surprise you at all, he told me a fun fact about Australia. I guess somewhere (maybe he was saying all of the Northern territory) there are more crocodiles than people???? Who knows.. just laughed that he remembered that. Have you seen a croc yet?

T- that is in katherine. and yeah but not in the wild – sorry a little town outside of katherine

B- Same people. Added CJ miles who is a great 3 point shooter. It will be tough for them to get past Cleveland.

Yes‎ hopefully he stays healthy

K- What is on the map for PDay today?  Do you have to help Elder Shortland? Where is he going? – I love the new pictures, especially the baptism pictures. It will be wonderful to be able to talk to you about them and hear the stories. you’re looking good!

T- elder shortland flew out at 7 this morning to alice springs. he is a new zone leader – i have lost heaps of weight up here with sweating so much 😛

K- My poor baby… drink lots! Do you still have those little spray fans I sent you?

B- ‎Maybe I should try the missionary workout. Super hot, ride a bike in shirt and tie etc. I would like to lose heaps too

T- i used the enitrety of their lives  – entirety

K- Oh dear… guess they were meant for Canadian heat, not Australian heat! I think that is cool that the font in Darwin is outside.. I guess you don’t have to worry so much about heating the water like we do in Canada

T- yeah everyone loves the cold water – i gotta go mom and dad love ya!

K- Love you lots… you are a ROCKSTAR

B- Be amazing. So proud of you. Jake just belched in your honor 🙂

Oct. 30 – tons of pictures and YouTube clips

 

hey mom and dad so the has been an awesome week. i got the christmas tree fabric im assuming you set me? we got to have a district p-day where we went up to ee point ad went looking for seshells. the cool thing is that we foud a whole unch of crabs and sea cucmbers. so naturally we played with them. so update on the weather here. so it doesn’t rain very much right now ecause we are in the “build up”. so instead it is just humid as all the time and really hot and cloudy. but i am managing fine. just hotter thn my body is used to. So the really exciting thing coming up this saturday is peter’s baptism this saturday. he is sooo keen. he asked us how he can apply to be  missionary and is going to fly to adelaide for fsy (basically efy). so also i got my halloween pckage about a month ago so i already ate it…… it was really good thank you. where is carter going again? its exciting to see the missionary crew heading out!

Brent – BAPTISM!! So awesome. Carter is going to Tennessee Nashville. He gave his farewell today and reports on Wednesday. He did a great job. I am ocean jealous again. What a cool PDAY. If it is feeling too hot for you I am guessing I would be dying!

Tommy –

thats right, thats realy good to here he is doing well!

its like 35-39 every day with 70% or higher humidity

Krista –

I’m so happy to hear about Peter. That will be a great experience for him. Is any of his family interested? The fabric is supposed to hang on your wall like a decoration. You should also be getting some more decorations in the next month or so.

Holy Cow…. it must be a sweaty experience! Do you have AC in your apartment? How much have you been on bikes

B-

President Craig says hi. I am actually at Stake Priesthood right now. We split into quorums for instructions. I went with the Teachers. Then I saw your email and ducked out

Pres Craig just walked by and said I am doing something more important. They introduced about 18 new Deacons. Pres Craig wants you to know he remembers introducing you and it seems like yesterday.

T-

we are on bikes every day almost so really sweaty, i have lost 5 kgs. and yeah we re acually starting to teach his brother and cousin

K-

That is great about his family! How old are the brother and cousin? How are your shirt’s holding up? Do you need a fresh one or two?

B-

That is very cool. The connections you make when teaching one person can go on directions that surprise you.

The exciting news now, Daelene is hosting a cinnamon bun party right after Priesthood. It is good to marry a Steed.

T- Peter’s brother is 13 and his cousin is 23

Benny – It is Ben so MidSun junior boys volleyball is practically awesome. So yeah how are you

T-

realy good ben we found heaps of animals at the beach and have seen lizards as big as my arm

K-

That is awesome!  It’s so exciting that Peter is already thinking of his future in the church. He is 18 right? How long has he been in Australia?

T_

he is 18 and is a refugee from south sudan and has been in australia for about a year and a bit

Ben –

Ben-what color we’re they oh and I’m being the great hambino/sandlot for Halloween –

Benny. That is really cool about Peter

T-

the crab was brown and the lizard is called a goana so basically the aussie iguana and it is yellow and brown. it’s a monitor lizard and we have one that hangs out around our house –

usualy in our front yard

Ben – Benny. Send a pic of it it would be really cool to see

K-

Yeah photos! I love them. I was showing Audrey M some of your photos of animals last night at the party. She really liked them!

Oh wow! I LOVE the photo of peter and his brother. What a great family to teach!

T-

we couldnt get a photo of te lizard because it was  going to attack us but yeah just the same type as before

Ben – Benny. Aww that sucks that you can’t get pics but it’s okay. Drew’s Marty mcfly for Halloween

K-

Ok… that makes a little more sense! When are your next transfers? A couple of weeks??? How much longer does Elder Ellingson have before he goes home?

T-

i heard, what is jobs going as?

Ben – Benny. I think a baseball player again like always

T-

haha ok transfers are next week and i gott go love ya

Brent –

We love you. Benny misses his roommate. Happy Baptism on Saturday

K –

Love you lots… have a great week. Excited for your baptism!

Mom

Oct. 22

hey mom and dad,

so this has been a fantastic week! so i forgot to tell you that for a period of time we were kicked out of the city for proselyting but we are back! president worked some of his legal magic and we are able to be back in the city. peter is doing really well and is set for the 4th of november for baptism. also dad yes people are just giving us mangoes left right and center. soooo many mangoes. so funny story this week, we were knocking doors and in darwin everybody has a large gate and usually a big dog, so as we come to go in a gate to knock on a door we usually whistle to see if there is a dog. so this time elder ellingson was leading so he whistled and no response so e proceeded to the door. when we were about 20 feet from the gate a huge pitbull woke up from his nap and was not happy we were in his yard. we proceeded to yell “go, go, go” to elder hammond who lead us as we ran as fast as we could for the gate. just as the dog was about to chomp down on elder ellingsons leg the heaven sent owner comes running out to stop her dog. i am convinced that we were protected there. so that gave us a jump this week but it definetly brought some energy to door knocking!

Love

Elder Dickson

Brent –

Pit Bulls. Not making me a dog fan. What do you mean it was illegal to proselyte in Darwin? Glad to hear your investigators are doing so well. Baseball update. The Houston Astros are playing the Dodgers on the world series. The Dodgers beat the Cubs in 5. Astros beat the Yankees in 7. Astros won 2, then Yankees 3, then Astros 2. I like the Astros and are bandwgonning them so Drew and I are on opposite sides.

T-

so the city had specific rules where we weren’t allowed to talk to people. Go astros

B-

So how did your Pres get it overturned? Tell them What is your problem? I’m a raging Canadian.

Tonight I am heading to Noah Laycock’s open house. Any message for him?

T-

the second counsellor on the mission presidency is a supreme court judge. open house for what?

B-

Nice bringing a little heat from a judge. Open house for leaving on his mission to California. Mom an di both would have gone but she ditched me for LA 🙂 – Any Mountain biking today? Those pictures were awesome. You made me beach jealous!

T-

nah no biking today

B- Maybe some interpretive dancing on the beach? You could be the Canadian Moose.

T-

haha maybe the birth of a flower?

B- I gotta Head out to his open house and then pick Benny up from Steed’s. Anything else exciting we need to talk about?

T-

not really hope you enjoy the open house!

B-

Love you tons. Rock Darwin this week

Dad

T-

love ya bye

Oct. 15

hey mom and dad

so this has been a great week, we had the parkers come up from adelaide to do our zone conference so we hosted the assistants in our flat for 4 days. that made it so we had 8 missionaries staying in our flat! crazy hey? good to hear that the stamps are still beating the eskimos. thats crazy seeing waterton. so on the future note i have been really thinking about it and i was thinking of studying special education at the university of alberta.

Krista – That is very cool. I’m sure that having all of those missionaries was a blast!

Would you like me to look into applying in Edmonton? You could start out at Grant McEwan and then transfer if your marks are not good enough. Calgary?  I will do some investigating.

Did you do anything special for conference with the Parkers?

Ok… I can look for information here too. i wasn’t sure what the process was with you on a mission. I didn’t want you to be distracted on your mission.

Do you do any different things with Zone Conference? Special meal?  What did you learn from the Parkers and the assistants? Benny wants to know what other position you played other than setter?

Tommy –

yeah we have a special meal with the parkers and assistants for lunch. and for volleyball i played outside hitter and right side

K-

Any crazy 8 missionary stories from the flat? Did you have the Katherine elders with you too?

How long do they stay 2 days?

T-

no so elder hammond has joined us in  trio for the rest of the transfer and there are three assistants. they stayed for 4 days and the coolest story is that elder rupe shouted us a giant feast at kfc

K-

Nice!… he is going home soon isn’t he?

 

How is life in a trio? Was Elder Hammond in Katherine before? 4 days is a long time. There must have been a bunch of interviews and other business. Do the assistants teach and tract with the Darwin missionaries?

T-

yes he goes home at the end on the transfer. yes so elder hammond was in katherine but is now with us. and yeah we go on splits with them. –

because the northern territory is a district president parker is basically the stake president for the nt as well as misson president,

K-

That’s great.It must be interesting to have different combinations of missionaries. How are your investigators? Any potentials?

Hmmm… I never knew that. That is a big responsibility. Very cool to see the branch in Darwin and the people there? Do they go to Katherine too?

Brent –

Just put Jake to bed. You would be an amazing special ed teacher. I think Edmonton would be a great decision.

Sounds like you have been zone conference busy.

T-

our investigators are doing awesome, our investigator peter is the man. he is from south sudan and is 18 years od and is keen to be baptized –

yeah so they travelled to katherine as well

K-

Wow, that is great. What is Peter’s story? How long has he been in Australia? Does he live with family?

T-

yeah so peter is living with his aunt and uncle in darwin so he can finish high school in an english speaking country. he is really really interested in god

K-

That is very interesting. I’m glad it is going so well with him. We will pray for him and you. How did you first find him?

T_

he came to sports night and was really loving it so we asked if we could come by some day

K-

That’s great. Is sports night at the Darwin chapel? Have you been running other activities?

T-yeah so sports night is still at the chapel – the p-day plans are to meet with elder and sister lea about school and then no plans past that

K-

How close do the Leas live to where you are?  Are they in an area where there is a companionship?

T-

yeah so they just live near to the chapel in our area  – i have to go love you

K-

Love you heaps! Have a great week. Know that we are always praying for you!