First Dog Attack in the Mission and Las Lajas Pictures.

Que mas Famila, Parseros, y los demas!

Hey everybody. Sorry about my email last week. Super short and no pics. Halfway through writing we got a call and had to cut it short. Joys of being a zone leader... Anyway, I sent some pic this week of the pics I wanted to send last week. This week was good, bad, and in between. BUT I was thinking the other morning - what a blessing it is to be a missionary right now. I love my family. They love me. I have the gospel in my life. I have many blessings. And it's true. Last Monday night a dog attacked me. Bit me on the leg right behind the knee. First dog attack in the mission! Whewwwwww! But it's all good. It didn't break the skin, and super lucky the dog had its shots (rare here in Colombia). I called the office and they told me to wash it out, so I did when we got home to the apartment and... I'm alive. A few days ago I completed 10 months out in the mission. Nice. Not much to say this week. Just trying to work hard. We've been running into some walls lately, but we will keep trying and working. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. I love you all. Conference is coming up in a few weeks. Super excited for that. Also we have mission council with all the zone leaders and President Prince coming up in 2 weeks I think... First mission council. We'll see how it goes. That will mean another 8-10 hour bus ride to Cali. YUCK. Ha! Anyway- love you all. Hope you all have a good week. Hey. Quick idea. This week I challenge you all to take an Ensign and a snack to a less active member you know... There is a difference to be made. :) Talk more next week.

Elder Dean

 

 

Baptism of Luz Elena and Maria Jose about 14 days ago here in Pasto. President Prince came down from Cali to baptize them.

 

 

  

Las Lajas. Just standing by a creepy angel with "holy water" no biggie

 

 

 

Las Lajas. 5 min away from Ecuador. Creepy church. Pretty cool though...

 

Almost my whole zone (missing 4) at Las Lajas

 

Pasto, Baptisms, and Las Lajas.

Howdy from Pasto Pues...

Hey all! How goes it? Here I am, in Pasto- about 2 hours from Ecuador, way up in the mountains, looking at an active volcano... Nice! My first week in Pasto has been good... I left my hijo (son) in Popayan at 4 in the morning a week ago, and got on a bus alone, and drove 8 hours south to Pasto. Andddddd I got sick. Nasty cold, but I'm feeling better. It gets chilly here for sure. Gotta have a sweater, but nothing a Utah kid can't handle haha. So getting to know my zone and area was a lot, but we're doing fine. This weekend we had 2 baptisms. A lady and her daughter that have been investigating the church for about a year finally got baptized. President Prince came down from Cali in an airplane to baptize them. It was stressful getting it all organized, but it turned out great. For p-day today we went to Ipiales, to a place called Las Lajas- a super old catholic church in a canyon. Cool for sure. We were about 5 min away from Ecuador. I gotta head out. NO time. Yikes. Love y'all.  Have a good week.

Elder Dean

 

Pics next week - ran outta time!

Baptism and Transfers.

Heyyyyy Thurrrrr.

Hey all. Hope you all had an excellent week. My week was good, and then Saturday and Sunday came and it got crazy. Haha. So the week went by pretty normal. Slow parts some days - just working away. It's been raining cats and dogs here in Popayan. Rained all week. Super gloomy, that's for sure. Saturday came and we were able to have Franny's baptismal service which was really simple, but really nice. Good way to go out of Popayan (Spoiler alert!) Saturday night, we came home and Elder Eliason and I were just chattin' when he got a phone call from President Prince. He went into the bathroom and talked to President for a while, and then came out like he had just seen a ghost. President called him to be the next AP. He has 4 months left in the mission, so he'll end as the AP. He packed up his bags right away and headed out the next day- Sunday afternoon. Franny got confirmed- no problems. It was a rough goodbye saying chao to Eliason after 4 and a half months together in the same house. No more quoting Dumb and Dumber and talking about baseball.... :( He'll do a great job as the AP. Sunday night came, and about 9:30, transfers came in. I got a shock. I'm headed out of Popayan Wednesday, and headed to Pasto, a town about 8 hours south (that's cold). They called me to be Zone Leader. I will be opening up my area with an Elder Named Elder Delgadillo from Guatemala. He has about 9 months or so as a zone leader, so he will have to show me the ropes for sure about how to run a zone. I enjoyed my time here in Popayan, and I will miss a lot of people- that's for sure. A little nervous about these next few days and weeks, but I'm sure it will all turn out alright. I'm glad to be a member of the church, and especially glad to have the opportunity to serve a mission for the Lord's church. I love the gospel. I know it's true. There are hard times and moments, but if we keep truckin' along, trusting in God, I'm grateful that we have the promise that everything's gonna be alright. Love you all. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. Have a good week everybody. Chao Popayan!

Elder Dean

 

 

Colombian Mullets.

Helllo errrbody.

Hey guys. How are ya? Good? That's good :) I'm doing good here in good old Popayan. Nothing too new going on... Just out here trying to preach the gospel. Vamos bien! This week was pretty normal. Nothing too crazy going on. We will be working hard to try and have a baptismal service this weekend, so thanks for your prayers and thoughts. Transfers are coming up this Sunday. We'll see if I'm headed out of Popayan or no... I think not. I think they are leaving me in for another inning... Anyway, today for p-day was pretty chill... We played ping pong for a few hours and then went to get our hair cut. We got it cut normal. I wasn't paying much attention until we were walking to the grocery store, and I noticed that the lady left Elder Silverio's hair long in the back- like a mullet style soccer player. I started laughing and told him, and then he looked at me and busted up laughing and told me that she left my hair long too! My laughing turned into a serious face and sure enough, I felt my hair and it was long in the back! Crap! We looked like a couple of Colombian mullets... No worries though. We had Elder Joglar buzz the back of it in the apartment just barely... Pretty sure I look like a fool, but it's all good. Hey. Love you all. I hope you guys have a good week. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. The church is true. Let's all try to be a little better this week than we were last week. Have a good week! (Sorry the letter's short and no pictures. I'll do better next week :)  )

Elder Dean

Life In Colombia: 9 Months In

Hellllo.

Hey all. What's happening? Happy 9 months to me. Completed 9 months in the mission this past week (little golf clap) annnnnd moving forward now. So- good news. Jonny made it to church this week and was confirmed. Sweet! Elder Silverio confirmed him in front of everybody in sacrament meeting... Or at least the 25 or 30 people that were there haha. I was proud of him. I remember how scary it used to be standing up in front of everybody and giving a talk or confirming somebody in a different language. I had to whisper the words in his ear to confirm him, but it's all good, and after he gave him a little blessing, too. Way to go Silverio. Mom, you would be proud of me. Elder Joglar and I DEEP cleaned the apartment today. It's almost Diana Dean approved. But not yet haha. Today was a pday. A little more relaxed. We cleaned, cleaned, cleaned, and then went to the church (Elder Eliason, Joglar, my comp, and I) and played ping pong for a while. Then we went and ate lunch at a recent converts house from a different branch, then went back, went grocery shopping, and now I'm writing! It was actually kinda nice just to have a laid back p-day, and not play soccer for once... Anyway. Better get a new week started here. P-day's finished! Love you all. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Say your prayers everyday. Read the scriptures a bit, go to church, and be good boys and girls :) Haha. Love you all. Have a good week!!!

 

 

Quick pic of Jonny at his baptism last week. I need a haircut- that's for sure.