Dustin's April 25th Letter

2011 April 25


Dear Mom

Easter here was pretty much like a normal day. There were a couple more families gathered together and Saturday night a lot of partying (but I am not sure if that is just every weekend in Iquitos). Oh yeah, and the whole day everyone in their house had movies of the life of Christ playing cause that is what came in on all the channels I think. So it was and is cool to see how everyone here, whether they are members of a church or not has a knowledge of the Savior. Sounds like you guys had a good Easter holiday like always and I cannot believe that you had TWO extra cheesecakes!!!! I would die to have a cheesecake! You know very well if I was home there is no way that there could be left over cheesecake :) And now, for my new area: First off, my new area is tiny compared to my old one and we have a ton of paved roads and there isn`t a ton of mud cause the ground here is sand not dirt, so that is good. I still have a part of my area that is flooded like my other area but the difference here is that it is still raising and in Pucallpa it was already going down. So we are in for more rain and more wet. My first week in Iquitos was awesome! We only have one ward here, but there used to be sister missionaries here. Which means that me and my Comp. are new here. My companion is Elder Zuniga and is from Nicaragua. He has about 3 months in the mission and came from an area in Lima. The area book was not a very good help as I thought it would be. There were a total of 5 teaching records and 4 of them were new with less than 1 lesson taught and 1 progressing, Nada Màs. But we have 13 new investigators now but we only taught 20 lessons this week, but it is all going great! We have one baptismal date for the 7th of May, we had two but one went back to Lima and is going to get baptized there. This area is the best and I am learning a ton here. My companion is pretty new to the mission thing but isn`t afraid to talk. He also has a strong Nicaragua accent when he talks he also uses a lot of slang from there but he is super cool. Yes, I did fly in, and I was alone :/ it felt super weird. When a got to the airport I figured my comp. would be waiting for me and that he had already been in Iquitos for at least one transfer, but when I got there, no one was waiting, or even planning on coming! Haha ha. I waited for 30 min. thinking they were just late (cause everyone here is always late to everything) then I called the assistants cause I don`t know the number of the Z/L and they came about an hour later and I found out that my comp. just got there about 2 hrs. before I did. The next day was my birthday and no one knew about it and I even forgot, Haha ha, but don`t worry cause the zone and the members in Pucallpa already celebrated it cause they knew I was leaving.

I love you mom, and I am doing great here. I hope to lose a little bit of weight but we`ll see.

Love,

Elder Divis

Dustin's April 18th Letter

2011 April 18


Dear Mom,

Thanks for the birthday wishes! In two days I won`t be a teenager, crazy eh? My week has been great!!! We had a baptism this week! Woo hoo! His name is Roel Rebeiro. He is awesome and already is a strong member. This week was kinda crazy with him. He works from 7am to 8 or 9pm so we woke up at 5 to be able to get to his house and teach him before he went to work but it all paid off in the end :) A lot has happened this week but it was a great week. I don`t if I already told you but I have a bike. We are the only area in the mission, and I think Perù that has bikes but we are testing to see if the rest of the zone can get them. I`ll have to take a picture :) Crazy to hear that there is still snow falling there!!! Here it is getting hotter and hotter, Summer is almost here :/ don`t know if I am ready for that quite yet.

To answer your questions: I will send another pic, SOON! My sheets now are a tan color but it really doesn`t matter what color you send. And now for a little bit more news. I don`t know how to tell you but tomorrow there are transfers and I have been here in Pucallpa for 6 months now, so I am getting transferred. I am not leaving the good old amazon rain forest, but I am going a little bit further in. I am going to Iquitos (E-key-toes)!!! It’s situated right at the head of the Amazon River and they say it is an island cause there are 4 rives that surround it so it is enclosed with water. It is an island in the middle of the jungle. SWEET! It is kinda hard to leave an area after being here for a fourth of my mission but the Lord need me somewhere else. I will let you know what it is like next week. Love you mom and I am grateful to have such a wonderful mother :)

Love,

Elder Divis

Dustin's April 11th Letter

2011 April 11

Dear Mom,

My week was great! It was better than the other weeks actually. We haven`t had a ton of success with baptisms this change but in this week four investigators accepted baptismal dates! We have some great investigators that the Lord has placed in our path, now we just have to take care of them and show them the path that leads to eternal happiness.

I feel that my letters don`t let you know about more than a hundredth of my mission (haha ha, sounds like what the prophets always say in the Book of Mormon) but it’s true. Hope it’s enough information to let you know that I am doing well and that God is blessing me and guiding me in everything I do, so you really don`t have to worry about anything cause I am in the best hands there are.

I am glad you got to have a fun spring break (they don`t celebrate spring break here :( .... Haha ha) and I am pretty sure I wouldn`t have been much of much help with the curtain activity cause my ¨muscles¨ aren`t doing so good, just the spiritual ones. It`s always nice to hear from home and how everything is going. Keep up the good work and say hi to everyone for me. I love you mom!

Love,

Elder Divis

Dustin's April 4th letter with pictures

2011 April 4
Dear Mom,
Conference was AWESOME!!! The first two sessions on Saturday I watched
in Spanish but for the priesthood session Elder Bylund (an elder from
my group that was with me in conference in my first area too) and I
got to watch it in English. It is so good to hear the feeling and
emotion and spirit in the voice of the prophet (it’s just not the same
as a translator) and the Sunday sessions all the ´gringos´ watched it
in English in the stake pres. office. There are 6 of us in this zone.
I received so much instruction, knowledge and revelation in this
conference it is unbelievable! I took 10 pages of notes this time
cause I know I probably won`t get the Liahona for about 3 or 4 months.
One of the quote I liked best of conference was in the very first talk
of our prophet Thomas S. Monson, he said, “La obra misional es la
sangre que da vida al Reino`` roughly translated according to my
ability, Missionary work is the blood that gives life to the Kingdom!
So true :) and there are many many more things I love from conference.
Also, I am sure that the talk that the Prophet gave in the priesthood
session and the other talk given on Sunday about marriage made Cameron
even trunkier! Haha ha :) and all the other missionaries for that
matter.
William looks like he`s loving it in the mission field (are you going
to send me his e-mails) I want to know everything about his mission!
How his companion is, his area, the members, investigators,
Conference! everything.  I just know he will be an awesome missionary.
He is humble and loving, even more than he lets us see. I love you
Will!!! The pictures of the family are always welcome too :) Della is
looking as good as ever and i am glad to hear that Riah is getting
better. I love you and am grateful for all the things you taught me
since I was born. You have been the ideal mom that has followed and
continues to follow all the counsels of the prophets. Thank you for
that.
Love,
Elder Divis
P.S. I didn`t realize how many people read this letter and I still
don`t know but I read in Jackson Kings emails that my mom sends me
that he get my emails too. So thanks to everyone that supports me and
whatever other missionary. And remember your duty to help the
missionaries in your ward too :)

The first is of a fruit that looks like a watermellon but grows in a
tree :) crazy stuff like that happens here, even in nature!
The second is the last baptism we had. they all aren`t super big.
sometimes we have some with one of two people and other with like 20
but only when the zone does a baptism together.
The third is another picture of what my area is like