Happy Easter.

Hey all!

 

Happy Easter! Hope the Easter bunny was good to you all and brought treats... I don't think the Easter bunny exists here. I mentioned it, and I'm pretty sure I just came off as crazy... But it's all good! This week we had an awesome combined ward activity. Friday we had a "salvation route". What we did was do a tour of the plan of salvation with the organizations in different classrooms to do acts for each part of the plan. For example, the primary was the Garden of Eden with all the kids dressed up like animals, and the teachers explained the garden, and like that we went through the chapel with us missionaries as guides through the plan of salvation. We all took groups of 15-20 people through, and to end we all ended up in the "celestial kingdom" and watched a movie about the atonement of Christ. It was really good. I think about 100 people showed up. We even ended with a snack :) Best missionaries ever. So transfers came in, and it looks like I will be with my companion Elder Delgadillo one more transfer. It's his last transfer in the mission. I will be his last companion. There are a lot of changes in my zone, and that's always stressful as a zone leader getting everybody in and out in one piece. But that's it. 1 transfer down here in Pasto! Anyway, this last Sunday morning I woke up thinking about the resurrection... I just want to share my testimony that I have felt in my heart that Christ lives. I want to tell you all that in my short 11 months here in Colombia I have seen him change lives. I know he is our Savior. I also know that through Him and only Him we can find true peace and happiness. The church is true. He lives and guides his church today. I love Him, and I hope with all my heart that everyone of us, no matter where we are, or what our circumstances, can accept him and let him into our lives and hearts and minds. I love you all. I know that the Savior loves you all. And this little testimony I share with you in his name, Jesus Christ, amen.

Just An Ordinary Week.

HI EVERYONE

Hey everybody. How's it going? Good? I'm glad ;) Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts. I'm feeling better. I think I got over my bug! After I wrote you all last Monday, it got worse for a few days, and then Thursday/Friday I started to get over it. Whew. Not fun stuff. SO this week was pretty ordinary, other than President Prince and Sister Prince and the APs came down to Pasto for interviews with all the missionaries. Best part was eating Sis. Prince's banana bread. Good stuff.  I'm gonna miss that for sure. Always love talking with President Prince, too. Awesome guy. That might have been my last personal interview with him. He's going home in June... Yikes! If I'm lucky though, I might have one more. We'll see what he does... Anyway the assistants slept over at our house, too. Good to chill with Elder Eliason again. Love that guy haha! Those were great times in Popayan with him- 4 1/2 months in the house. Good stuff. Anyway, just truckin' along here in Pasto. We are doing fine. Keep up the good work at home, and I'll keep working here :) Lots of people to help wherever we are. Lets go get it! Love you all. Hope you have a good week. This is the last week of the transfer here coming up. Almost one transfer down in Pasto! Love you. Talk to you later.

Elder Dean

Pictures from last week at Zone Conference in Cali (Pictures from Cali Colombia Blog)

Zone Leader Coference and General Conference

Hey all.

Hey everybody. How's it going? I'll just start of by saying that conference was awesome. There were a few talks that I liked more than others, like Elder Uchtdorf's talk of gratitude, as well as Jeffery R. Holland (he's always awesome). We watched conference on the family history center computer in the chapel with Elder Jolley, Hansen, Kendrick, and Payne. Gringo club. It was nice to be able to watch it in English. I loved priesthood session as well. I shared the Utah tradition with all the Elders in my zone, and we bought ice cream right before the priesthood session started. Good stuff. This past week I also went to zone leader conference in Cali. We started off in a bus Wednesday morning, and got to Cali Wednesday night. The conference was all day Thursday. It was good. We talked about a lot of things- about how we can improve as a mission and in our zones, and it was awesome to be able to talk to old buddies (Eliason, Wilcox etc) We hopped on the bus Thursday night and got home at about 4 o'clock Friday morning, and then got up again and we were working in our area all day Friday! I was pooped out, that's for sure. I can't wait for the Ensign to come out to be able to read the conference talks. Anyway, I hope you all got the chance to listen a bit to conference, and if not, you can just hop on the Internet and watch a few. Love you guys. I'll attach some pictures this week for sure. I've been feeling kinda sick lately- bad stomach and other things, so thanks for your prayers. I'll keep working hard. Thanks for being awesome friends and family. Love you all. Hope you have a good week!

 

Elder Dean

Gringo group watching conference

 

 La Cocha

 

7 days ago (last p-day) when we went to "La Cocha" as a zone

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