Week # 21

Dear Family-
It is pouring over here!! Oh boy being a bike missionary in the rain
is SOOO fun :) Anyways, this week was better than last week. Dad,
thanks for your advice. Elder Grose and I will do exactly what you
suggested. Well just to scare you all, I finally have a dog story....
Last monday after email, I was bit by a pitbull... But in that, I
witnessed a miracle. We were riding our bikes and we had to pull off
for a minute. I was right next to a chain link fence without really
realizing it. It was right next to a really busy street so I couldn't
hear the dog barking, but right on the other side of this fence was a
GIANT pitbull. All of a sudden I felt a really sharp pain in my hand.
I look down just as the dog is releasing my hand from its mouth. When
I get my hand back, it looked pretty bad but wasn't bleeding. But we
said a prayer right there on the street and within a half hour, there
was not even a mark on me.
I am so grateful for the power of prayer. I know that my Heavenly
Father was and is looking out for me and I am eternally grateful.
The rest of this week was good. We had a stake Christmas program
last night and all the wards sung a villancico(christmas hymn).
Because our ward's choir was very small, all us missionaries helped
out and sang with them. Then we also had a song that was sung by a
special missionary choir that I got to take part in.
OH MY GOODNESS.. Christmas is coming up ! I am not entirely sure when
I will be calling still but i will know for sure by next pday. We only
have church for one hour on Christmas so we will be done by 12. But we
might have a baptism so I will let you know exactly next pday. I
received a card and tie from the Montez family this week. I really
miss them ! I also got a card from Grandpa Phil and the Nutz as well.
Thanks for the cards everyone ! They are definitely appreciated. Next
Tuesday we are going on a San Fernando Valley missionary temple trip.
All the spanish speaking missionaries in the Valley have a special
session in the LA temple. I am way stoked!!! \

That is way scary for Kayln's family I am sure. Her and her family
will definitely be in my prayers. She is such a sweet girl and
hopefully things will go ok.
Well, I think that is about it for the week. and Dylan, stay bundled up!

With Love,
Elder Dutson

Week # 20

Dear Family-

It is December!!!!
Last night was the Christmas devotional, and I hope all got the
opportunity to watch it. I loved it. It reminded me how much I love my
Savior and how much I am indebted to him.
Mom, the new ward theme about recieving, trutsing and following
personal revelation is key. That is something that I struggle with
sometimes is trusting and following. As a missionary, I definitely
recieve alot of help from Heavenly Father, but sometimes I dont follow
it as well as I should. If we do strive to follow the counsel we
recieve personally from Heavenly Father, we will become stronger
examples to all around us.
My training went ok this week. My district leader called me like 5
minutes before we left and asked me to do it in Espanol and I had
already prepared it in English. But I just translated it in my head as
I went. I thought it was a little rough but everybody told me that
they enjoyed it. Heavenly Father must have helped me out with it.
Nikki, BE NICE TO JAMES! :)
I sure do miss my Primary kids. Children are so much sweeter and
kind hearted than adults can be sometimes.
This week was pretty slow for us. We are trying super hard to find
some new people to teach and we have not had much luck. We did find
one really awesome one though named Mirna. Hopefully things go well
with her. And mom all those baptisms got pushed back :( Kevin's is the
25th now because his dad is in prison. He wants his dad to be there
and he gets out the 22nd. And the one that was gonna happen in my old
ward was pushed back too. Our other dates, The Saldana family is
struggling. They wont come to church and ever since we set a baptismal
date, they have been cancelling appointments. We are praying really
hard for them and hoping that we can help them, so we will see. Their
dates are the 18th, but since they have not come to church, that will
probably be pushed back as well. It has kind of been a frustrating
transfer thus far. We have not had as much success as in the past. It
has made me a little sad but I know that I am doing all I am supposed
to be doing so I will just have to wait for the success. Elder Grose
is still amazing and continues to progress everyday. :)
And Dylan, good luck with your greenie - busting ! Before you know it,
you will be training ! and maybe even AP by the time you hit a year ;p
Anyways, I love you all !!!!
- Elder Dutson

The "Family Tree" Elders Gose, Dutson, Tienda (Elder Dutson's "father", and Gomm (Elder Tienda's other son). 

                                                   Elder Dutson and his "son" Elder Gose

                                                  Elder Dutson and Elder Oaxaca (the DL)

Week # 19

Dear Family-
This week was long haha. My new companion (Elder Grose by the way)
is very cool. He is from Bear Lake Idaho. Wednesday and thursday were
really long because I had to pick him up in Santa Clarita and then the
next day was all day training with President Martin. The training was
very nice but it was alot. I am glad you were able to get a letter
from President. I didnt know he did that for trainers. Elder Grose is
really amazing and he bears his testimony very strongly. His spanish
is decent but I will teach him as best as I can. He is not used to
biking all these hills though haha. He reminds me of me when I first
got to this area. But because I know how it feels I make sure not to
leave him in the dust.
We love our new apartment but our neighbors make it a little tough.
Since we have moved in, there has been two rough domestic disputes
with cussing and pushing and crying and it is not fun to listen to.
The walls are very thin so it is hard to escape. It certainly makes me
grateful that I have a loving family that doesn't have those kinds of
things go on. We are working very hard with a less active family
right now named the Arjon family. The hermano Arjon has problems with
faith. He has to know everything and have a reason to do everything.
He knows he needs to have faith but he would rather just know. We also
plan on visiting our investigator family tomorrow and invite them to
be baptized. We are very excited. We just had another person be
baptized yesterday from when I was with Elder Tienda. The kid really
wanted me to go to that baptism but the misioneras in our ward had a
baptism and I was supposed to sing again. Man, thats the second one
where I have been asked to sing a duet with a sister missionary. It
went well but its weird. I dont think anybody even girls would have
gotten me to sing a DUET with them before my mission. But now that I
am out here serving teh Lord, I will do it for Him.
I am glad Courtney and Santiago got back from their honeymoon safe.
Hopefully they enjoyed it. Bummer to hear about his grandfather
though.
I am certainly grateful for a lot of things too. I am most grateful
to be out here serving the Lord. I have been learning so much and am
having the time of my life out here. I am grateful for my family, for
loving, righteous parents who have taught me what is important in this
life. I am grateful for the gospel and the joy and peace it brings to
me. I am grateful to my Savior for His loving sacrifice for me. I hope
everybody pauses to think about all the wonderful blessings we have at
this time of the year and make a commitment to thank your Heavenly
Father for all the wonderful things He has given you.
With Love,
- Elder Dutson

Week # 18

Dear Family-
Dang my sister is a married woman ! That is crazy. I am so glad that she had such a wonderful time. I hope everyone is recuperating well from the reception. Polynesians and Hispanics are very similar in the fact that they like to party and they are good at it! haha. The work continues to advance here. We have been doing a ton of knocking and we found many many new people to teach. Yes mom, Elder Thacker did know Braedon Talbot. Sadly, Elder Thacker is leaving me though. He is going out to Palmdale. I will certainly miss him. He is an extremely hard working missionary. I will be training a new missionary now for the next little bit. He comes in on Wednesday so I am teaming up with a missionary in North Hollywood for a couple days. That means I will be in a car for a bit! Yay ! haha but the new missionary's name is Elder Grost I believe from Idaho. I am way nervous to be trusted with that responsibility but I am extremely excited :) We set another baptismal date with Kevin so things are starting to look up with him as well. The thing was that his parents put it into his head that he needs to know us for 6 months before he should be baptized. the average time it takes is usually like 1 month and a half soimetimes two. So that is why he has been pushing it off. But he committed to being baptized December 4th. Dylan I hope all is going swell in Washington. My former zoneleader goes home the 16th of this month. He is from Vancouver. His name is Benjamin Browning. If you happen to come across him or his family let me know :) I guess my final note would be that I absolutely HATE that California changes the stupid time. It has messed with my internal clock soo bad haha. I wake up at 630 and I feel like I slept in and then by 8 at night I am falling asleep. GRRRRR... anyways I am glad all is well and wish Dad luck on his tests!
- Elder Dutson

Week # 17

Hola Familia !

 This week was kinda crazy!  We knocked into a family and at first they were not interested but both me and Elder Thacker felt the impression to ask them if there was anything that they needed help with. It turns out their house has been without water for like a year and a half. Their pipes are all broken. They turn the water on for 15 minutes in teh morning and they all shower and fill up a bucket to wash clothes and dishes for the day. Then they turn it back off. When tey explained that Elder Thacker and I got a huge smile on our faces. Elder Thacker used to lay water pipes for the city he lived in and he knew exactly how to do it. We told them we could do that for them and they gratefully accepted. We dug for two days this week and figured out our course of action. We are going to install a brand new water line for them. Then we moved this weekend so that was hectic as well. My new address is 13520 Foothill  Apt 209 Sylmar CA 91342.  I also got the opportunity to go on exchanges with my district leader Elder Riggs. He is an awesome missionary and it was nice to be able to learn from him. We are all getting ready for transfers  as this is the last week. We are pretty sure that that Elder Riggs is leaving and that Elder Thacker is leaving and Hermana Blackburn(the one that reminds me of mom) is leaving so that would mean alot of change. Its kind of a bummer because I have really enjoyed being with Elder Thacker.

  That is crazy that some of my friends are already on their way home! How is Elders Olmstead, Neher and Montez doing ? 

   Wait, what is going on with Kayln ? She didnt get better ? Thats a bummer. She is one of the absolute sweetest girls I have ever met. Her family will definitely be in my prayers.

   Kevin is still pushing off being baptized but I feel like we are making progress with him. Hopefully he will make the decision here soon. Yesterday Darian( Elder Tienda's and I's investigator ) was baptized. I was able to attend. It was a really cool experience for us and the Arleta ward. That ward is turnimg around. Before Darian, nobody had been baptized for like a year and a half. The wardw as so excited that most of the ward turned up for the baptism. We took pictures that hopefully I will send to you guys soon. 

 

Hope all is well

 Con mucho carino,

Elder Dutson

Week # 16

Querido Familia Mia-

I hope that everyone's halloween went swell. Mine was very fun! We had an activity with our whole zone and we dressed in costumes and played volley ball. My zone Leader ( Elder Riggs from Mesa AZ) dressed up as one of the sisiters in our district and that sister dressed up as Elder Riggs. Haha I love my district. Elder Riggs is a very good friend. His companion, Elder Ellsworth is also from Mesa . The sisters are crazy but that is to be expected from sister missionaries haha. One of them reminds me of you Rachel and the other one reminds me of Mom. They are both wonderful missionaries as well. We were told to not go proselyting on Halloween night so we went out to dinner with Elder Riggs and Ellsworth. On the way home we had an egg thrown at us haha but it missed! This past week has been absolutely amazing though. We assisted a baptism Sunday of a kid in our ward. She wanted the sisters to sing and those crazy sisters suckered me into singing with them. One played the piano and the other one and I sang. We will be doing it again for the next baptism. Elder Tienda and I have been keeping in touch and Darian( the investigator we found will be baptized this Sunday. I am wayy excited for him.


This week I have just been really studying about the things we need to do to return to God's presence. I have also been reading alot about the beginnings of early Catholicism and it made me sad to see all the different things that happened to lead the people farther from the truth. Something I run across alot in the mission field is people that believe that it doesn't matter what religion they profess as long as they have faith in God, thus believing there are many paths that lead to God. Likewise, in the Roman Empire, the city of Rome was one of the greatest and busiest. Why was that ? Because the emperors were smart and in the road building process, they made all roads lead to Rome. Everyone had to pass through Rome on the journeyings. I feel like that is the view of the world sometimes.. That just like all roads lead to Rome, it is believed that all roads will lead to the Celestial Kingdom. That is just not true though. There is only one road that leads to the Celestial kingdom and that is through this beautiful gospel that has been restored. The gateway to this path is baptism and that is the ONLY way we can live with our Heavenly Father and our familes forever.

Well thanks for the package, I did receive it! I especially loved the card from Conner with his drool on it haha! I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week.

OH! and one more thing. I will be moving this Friday to a new apartment. My new address is 13500 Foothill. I am not sure of the apartment number yet but I will get it to you all as fast as possible.


- Elder Dutson

Week # 15

Dear Family-

   It is starting to get a little chilly here ! I forgot to tell you mom that I busted out the rainjacket/overcoat thing like the first week I was in Sylmar. It was pouring rain and freezing. I didnt think I would ever use that here in sunny California. Well, unfortunately, Kevin was not baptized yesterday. He chose to postpone it more. We are not sure how to help him since he isn't telling us exactly what is going on. I have an interview with President Martin tomorrow and I will ask him for ideas. Well, what else is new back home ? How is Notre Dame doing Mom ?  I heard that the World Series is already going on... Geez haha suprisingly, I dont miss all the sports as much as I thought I would. I really only miss it on like Saturdays. Elder Tienda called me and told me that one of the guys that we found like 2 weeks before I left named Darian is going to be baptized this next Sunday. Hopefully I will be able to make it down in the valley for that. I was way excited.  Elder Thacker and I continue to work hard and we have found many new people to teach that we are excited for.  Morgan, how is Japan going ? Are you getting excited for your wedding ? 

   I look forward to the package mom ! Elder Thacker recently got two and he has been sharing the goodies with me. I will make sure to share a little bit with him. :) Anyways

I love you all !

 Keep being awesome,

Elder Dutson

Week # 14

Hey family

Finally I get some good timeto email ya'll. The new area continues to amaze me. Sylmar is a really nice place.We actually live very close to where they filmed the race scene in Little Rascals! This past friday we finsihed our apointments a little early so we went across the street and watched like 10 minute of the high school football game. It reminded me of when i would have to be at those games for marching band.

  NATE!!!!

Dude you are getting pretty old man, I kinda sad that I couldn't wish you a happy birthday ON your birthday but i hope that you had a good time !

      You bought me life saver gummies and butterfingers?? YAY!!!! I miss the dumb cat too.Everytime I see a cat I wanna pet it!

 Mom along with the pictures could you send a pic of the family ? I don't have one out here.

Well we should have a baptism this next sunday. He is a 14 year oldkid who is way cool.  His parents are trying their hardest to scare him off though.We will see what happens.

Oh so i found something way cool in my aprtm,ent this week.It is a New Era magazine from1978. It is way cool. I was reading it and their was a really cool article. IT was entitled," How well can you fly it when everything goes wrong ? It told the story of this guy who was a very good pilot.  He was test flying a plane for an insurance guy before he bought it.The pilot was pretty confident he would do fine as he had flown this type of plane before, but as they started to take off, the insurance guy told him I have complete confidence you can fly this plane, but can you fly it when everything goes wrong? It then goes on to say that during that whole flight, the insurance guy simulated a bunch of emergencies. He would turn switches on that were supposedto be off and turn switches off that were supposed to be on.Finally they returned to land and the insurance guy told him he was very good and that he would let his wife and kids fly with him. It continues to make the simile with life.Many times and I have witnessed this alot, that when life is "good",people are happy but when it is not, people become angry with God. This makes me sad. As it says in the scriptures that I give unto man weakness that they may be humble.If they will humble themselves before me I will show unto man their weakness and it will be made a strength. God tries us in many things but it is forour benefit.It is to test our faith and to see if we will remain faithful to him even during times of trouble. I would just like to ask you.. How well do you all fly when everything goes wrong ? Are we quickto blame God and others for our problems ordowe recognize blessings and persevere through them? I would just challenge all of us to learn to fly better when everything goes wrong. I know that we will be blessed in doing so. I am so grateful to be out here in the workof the Lord and even though it is hard sometimes, I recognize the blessings that you and I recieve fromit.

I love you all,

- Elder Weston Dutson

Week # 13

Hey family :) sorry about the delay.  My first week in Sylmar/ San fernando was way cool. Elder Thacker IS a really hard worker and a really great guy too. The area is cool but I am dying biking up all these hills haha. My new address is 13140 Dronfield AVE apt 111 Sylmar CA 91342 :)

Well unfortunately i am already out of time. I dont have a library card. I promise next week will be better :) love

Elder Dutson

-- 

con amor,

- Elder Dutson

Week # 12

Dear Family-

 I hope you all were as uplifted by the prophets this weekend as was I. Conference was absolutely amazing and i recieved answers to my prayers.I already cant wait until April rolls around and I get another opportunity to hear from them. Transfers went well. I am getting transferred to Sylmar, CA. I am not training, but I am the senior comp to a younger missionary. Elder Tienda is training. We will miss each other alot. We expected to be split up but when we finally heard it, we were both sad. Yesterday after conference, I said goodbye to all my investigators and it was tough. But I am not too far away. I will still be on bike :) Other than that, not too much to report. I dont have my new address yet but i will have it by next week. Well I love you all and hope that all is well at home.

- with love

Elder Dutson

oh by the way, I forgot to mention that my new comp is Elder Thacker from Utah. He is a hardworking farmboy and a really cool kid :) 

Week # 11

Dear Family and Sunbeams :)

Yes there is expected changes at transfers and that would be this upcoming saturday.  What do I eat for breakfast ? Well Usually I will have either some Frosted Flakes or some toast, but somedays I forget to eat breakfast! What time do I go to bed ? The missionaries have to go back home by 9:30 and by 10:30 they have to be in bed. My favorite part of being a missionary is getting to see how happy the people become when they are taught the gospel. And yes, I definitely miss home but i know that i am getting blessing for being here.

   I am way excited for conference! I remember listening to conference in Vegas and how awesome it was. I am definitely looking forward to getting answers to my prayers.

  Some sad news.... I recieved an email from a friend who told me that a mutual friend had committed suicide earlier last week. Very sad.

 Elder Tienda and I had the most success this week that we have had since I got here. We taught a lot of lessons but we still fell below our goals. We are going to work super hard this last week of the transfer so that we can feel good.

Elder Okazaki got a weird rash this week and he is miserable. Poor Guy. He is very itchy all  over and has rd bumbs all over his body. he is going to the doctor today so hopefully they can figure something out. Anyways,

I love you all

-Elder Dutson

Week # 10

Dear Family-

  Hahaha six months dang!!! Elder Tienda and I both burned a tie the other day to celebrate :)  Thanks for sending the Gospel Principles Book.  It might be here. Friday I recieved a note from FedEx on my door since I was not home saying they attempted to deliver a package. They will try it again today. This week was pretty good.  We continue to find many people that Heavenly Father has prepared for us. President Martin has been very pleased with our district and the turnaround it has had. Before we all got there it was the worst area in the mission, now it is one of the strongest. Elder Tienda and I are most likely going to split up this transfer. There are many other elders that are requesting him as a companion. We were very close to being split up last transfer. There is actually a pretty good chance that I will be training a brand new missionary next transfer. There is a bunch of new missionaries coming in and a shortage of capable missionaries here. My zone leaders, the presidents' assistants and even President Martin have told me that there is a big chance I will be called upon to train. That idea scares me haha. I just graduated from my "greenie status" so it is really fast.

   It is still pretty warm over here. It is still cooler than Arizona but its supposed to be like 90 all week over here. We are trying to work really hard with the ward over here because previous missionaries have lost their trust. If we could win the trust of teh members our work would be soo much easier.  It finally rained over here tooo. It was exciting ! 

   So what ever happened with Lucy ? Did Kurt pursue any legal things ? Did you give Lucy away or what the heck happened ? It sure seemed pretty weird to hear that she had attacked anything.

   Anyways, I hope all is well and I will hear from you all next week

 Love ya

Elder Dutson

Week # 9

Hey Family!!

 Sorry the email came late this week. It has been a really roller coaster type week. We had zone conference with a member of the quorum of the 70 yesterday so today is our P-DAY. Well, like I said, this week has been really crazy. Jenny who was our investigator that was to be baptized Sept 11 called us and said we cant come around anymore. It really broke mine and elder Tienda's hearts. :( We were pretty sad all day and we didnt feel like going out, but we went out anyways. We found like a bunch of new investigators that day and taught many lessons. That was a huge testimony that God loves us and is there. We were feeling pretty down about missionary work but we went out anyways and we were blessed :)

  Also we went to visit some other really good investigators the next day and when we showed up to their door, we could tell something had happened. We went to the door and realized that there had been an immigration sweep in that complex. We had several investigators in there they were all gone. Apartments empty drawers and cabinets open stuff pushed around. It was very scary. That bummed us out as well but once again God blessed us with more success.  Finally we got to have the zone conference with Elder Golden of the 70 from South Africa. It was very very uplifting :)  Everytime his wife talked, it reminded me of Princess Diaries because of her accent.  haha.  Well I hope all is well at home. Sorry for the short email again this week.. Im emailing at Bestbuy lol really awkward. I am starting to be a little nervous for transfers which is coming up in like 3 weeks. Everybody thinks I will be training... I feel way too new in the mission for thatt I know there will be change though because President wants to split Elder Tienda and I up.

  I am doing pretty good on finances right now thanks mom ! They just raised our monthly funds from 130 to 150$ so its preety sweet.  Thanks for the cookies grandma they were super yummy. I ate them pretty fast lol. Oh actually mom, could you get me a Gospel Principles book in spanish?? I have one in english but it doesnt help much. It would say Principios del Evangelio on th front. Thanks !!

 love Elder Dutson

Week # 8

Querido Familia -

 This week we got a lot more missionary work done. We tripled our lessons and had lots of success. Elder Tienda really likes soccer and there was a Mexico Soccer game on that he really wanted to watch. He had set up a time where we were going to go over to a members house and watch the game(this member unfortunately helps the missionaries break rules). I talked with Elder Tienda about sacrifice and blessings will come if he sacrifices the soccer games. He agreed and the Lord backed me up on my promise :)!! We had much success that dauy with several lessons taking place during the game. We had a bit of a scare this week though.  There was an earthquake here!! hahaha Grandmas don't be scared :P It was a smaller one registering at like a 3 or 4.0 but it was interesting. Sorry the email will be short this week. It is labor day so we could not go to the regular library today. we are emailing on there computers at the iTunes store and it feels very awkward. But I love you all and wish you all a good week!

- Elder Dutson

Week # 7

Hey Family-

This week was not a productive missionary work week. On Tuesday Elder Tienda and I were being silly and running to our district leaders car when he tripped and landed face first on the  street. His face was pretty cut up and swollen so he wanted to stay inside this week.  He is much better now, I just worry that it will be tough to get him in the working mood now that he got to relax... We shall see. I have not moved and now it seems like we wont move anytime soon.  I am really glad that the Payson picnic went well. I certainly missed it as I am sure Dylan did as well; but we are extremely glad to be serving the Lord.

 

  Nate - Good luck on your show dude. I have not heard of "Anything Goes " but I am sure you will have fun and enjoy it..  How is freshman year goping ? Hate it or love it ? I remember my freshman year :) I was a crazy little guy !!

 

   Nicole - Good luck in Volleyball ! What position do you mostly play ? I remember watching your volleyball and softball games with mom and I will certainly miss that. But you will do great!! You still work at triple P ? How is that going? Oh by the way my district leader wants to write you :P haha l;ove ya

 

  Wow thats crazy about Cody, I am glad that he is doing better though. I bet his mom way way freaked out ! Was he bummed that he is staying stateside now ?

 

Anyways I learned a pretty cool lesson this week. We were at a store and I saw some soccer jerseys. On the Mexican soccer jersey written on the tag was the inscription " Somos Guerreros." That means We are warriors. I thought that was way cool. They go out on their "battlefield" and "fight till the death". We as members of the church are also warriors. We are enlisted in God's Army which is the greatest army ever created. Our enemy is darkness and our weapon is our testimony.  I am often reminded of the Hymn We are Enlisted. The lyrics are different in Spanish. It starts off Somos los Soldados que combaten error; that means we are the soldiers that fight against wrong.  Later on it says a la batalla id sin tardar, con la verdad podreis conquistar. That means  to the battle go without delay, with the truth we can conquer. That is so true! The world is full of darkness these days, but there can be light wherever we are!  But Just like you wouldnt want to go into battle with a dull or broken sword, you dont want your testimony to be dull or broken. We need to "sharpen" our testimonies. How do we do this ? By reading our scriptures, praying and serving faithfully in the church.  If we fight this battle faithfully to the death, we have been promised a great blessing. Back to teh hymn it says, " un hogar celestial vamos a ganar. THat means a celestial we shall win. That is our reward. ETERNAL LIFE. The greatest gift possible. I want to invite all of you to be a light in the darkness. to stand up against Satan and his warriors. I can promise you that if you do so, you will be blessed beyond belief and in the end, we can recieve eternal life.

  Well I love you all and take care !!

- Elder Weston Dutson

Week # 6

Hey family !

 

Once again another week has flown by!  I guess i want to start off and say thanks mom for the little package. I was the envy of the district with my new pillowcase :) The ABC's of missionary work is pretty cool too. I am trying to work one letter each day and focus on improving in that area. Well now I guess I will get to the transfer news! Elder Tienda and I are are staying together !! Yay !  We were both pretty excited about that.  My district leader will be training so we said goodbye to Elder Villegas, and Elder Aranda has completed his mission, ao Elder Okazaki will be getting a new companion as well. There is a really good chance that Elder Tienda and I will be moving to another apartment complex this transfer, so I will keep you all updated about a possible change of address.

   The past week was soo good. It was our district's turn to have interviews with President Martin. Man do i love him! He is such a loving and fun man ! Elder Tienda and I set a baptismal date with Jenny ! It was way cool, before we even finsihed asking her, she said I want to be baptized so we asked her if Sept 11 would be too soon. She said that it would be perfect ! Oh and I heard from Elder Welker. He is back down in teh Vegas valley. he visited Amelia Lopez ( mother of the kids whom we baptized while I was there) and he sadi she was asking about me :) he is going to give me her info :)

  Along with the baptismal dte, we have been teaching a guy from El salvador named Tony. He is an incredible guy.  He is a Catholic, but he has a sincere desire to learn the truth. We met him knocking doors and we gave him a book of Mormon. He promised to start reading it and he said he would call us. He called us on Wednesday and we met him at a park. he had already the first 5 chapters in 1st nephi and is very curious.

  This week while I was studying in the Book of Mormon and I came across something that I thought was really cool. It is in 2nd Nephi 2:6-8. It says :

 6 Wherefore, ^aredemption cometh in and through the ^bHoly ^cMessiah; for he is full of^dgrace and truth.

 7 Behold, he offereth himself a ^asacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto ^bnone else can the^cends of the law be answered.

 8 Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, ^asave it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who ^blayeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the ^cresurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.

I can definitely testify that is true. Our purpose as missionaries to bring others to Christ; in teaching that we testify of the great gift of teh Atonement. That he suffered for everyone who is willing to come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  But my favorite part is the last verse. Us as members of teh church, not just as full time missionaries have the great priviledge and responisbility to make those things known to the inhabitants of the Earth.  Sometimes as worldly human beings we fel afraid to open our mouths, but every time I feel that way, I am reminded of Lehi's attitude in the Tree of Life dream. He talks about that great DESIRE that everybody partake of the fruit because of how much he enjoyed it. I definitely am soo grateful for teh gospel in my life and I am blessed to have all of my immediate family in the gospel. But everybody is my brothers and sisters. I dont want anyone of them to get lost, to to wander off into strabge paths as it says in the dream.  So I challenge you as I have challenged myself, to take on this great priviledge and responsibility and "make these things known unto the inhabitants of teh Earth, that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits and mercy and grace of our Holy Messiah.."  I promise you that as you do that, your hearts will swell with charity and you will find the great joy that comes with sharing the gospel.

  

   I want you all to know I love you and pray for you everyday!

 

con amor,

- Elder Dutson

Week # 5

Hey Family!

How exciting to hear about the wedding date ! I am way jealous that you all get to be there and I dont, but you will all just have to give her a biggg hug for me! Congratulations Nate on making Student Council, way cool! even though i never did like those Student Council kids :p I am glad that you and dad get the chance to have a little getaway ! And definitely take the opportunity to attend the Snowflake temple. Temples are so amazing. One of the many reasons that our message we share as missionariers is a happy one is because of the joy of temples and the sacred and eternal things that are done there. I am way excited for Courtney and James to be able to do that together.

  Congrats Nikki on making Varsity VB even though that isn't much of a suprise. You are way talented and I am pretty sure that even if I would have tried harder in school, I would not have been as smart or as athletically talented as you are! Thats a bummer about kayla Keith not getting in. :( But there are many other fun activities that she can join now !

  Elder Iver and Elder Gray are companions now ? Thats way cool. I have stayed in contact with Elder Gray even out here in CA and it sounds like he has had an incredible mission. You will have to send Elder Iver and Elder Gray my love !

    I really like that glove idea ! It is cool because those five things are essencial in being baptized. They have to have atestimony that we are all sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father, that he sent His Son to die for us; that the proper pristhood authority was lost upon the earth with the death of Christ and his apostles. We have to know that our Heavenly Father has never kept that guidance that teh priesthood and prophets have, from permanently leaving the earth. That he has sent the people many prophets in the past, even after they repeatedly reject them. And because of that, Joseph Smith was called as a Prophet of God to restore the true and complete church of Jesus CHrist, and that he will never take prophets from us again. It is such a beautiful message !

  WOW! thats crazy about Dusty! Hopefully he will be ok and he and his family will be in my prayers.

  Hey Grandma how is Johalan's family doing ? Hopefully, they have been able to feel of his Spirit as he tries to let his family know that he is ok!

 

   This week has kind of been a rough week. Our whole district had little success. We had many appointments scheduled, but Satan works really hard to create interference and most of our appointments cancelled this week. We have high hopes for this week though and we have planned to extend a baptismal commitment to our top investigator. Her name is Jenny and she is a very nice lady. We have been teaching her ever since I got here. Elder Tienda and I really believe she is ready for baptism and she has a sincere desire to do what her Heavenly Father wants from here. I will keep you posted! As for the rest of the work, we are having a blast. Our district is way close and we enjoy hanging out on our preperation days! Transfers are coming up next monday so we are all hoping to stay the same.!

 I have heard that we are having a mission tour in a few weeks. One of the Seventy will be coming to our mission but I have not heard when or who just yet ! I am way excited and it brings back memories of when I was in teh MTC during the new mission president training. I got to be in a meeting where all of the Twelve were present and I got to shake several members of ther Seventy's hands ! Well, i definitely love ya all and miss ya ! P.s. my official six monthy mark is in like 3 weeks ! I will have to burn a tie but its kind of sad. I dont want to think abouty time gone, just time i have left!! I love the mission so much and the experience and knowledge that it is bringing me.

  Elder Tienda and I recently read a talk entitled Consecrated missionaries. We have recommitted ourselves personally and as a companionship to be completely consecrated missionaries and give our all to the Lord.  I am constantly reminded of my weaknesses as I have many, but like it says in Ether 12:27 that i have weaknesses for a reason. Ha I am already pretty prideful somethimes, so if I didnt have weaknesses my head wouldnt be able to fit through any doorways. Weaknesses and struggles gives us opportunities to change better ourselves. But just like that scripture says, that if I will humble myslef and come unto Christ totally, being a totally consecrated missionary, that those weak things can become strengths!

 Love you all,

- Elder Weston Dutson

Week #4

Dear Family,
 Haha you guys have 8 o clock church i forgot :P My ward starts at 11 which is like the absolute perfect time :) But its a little weird. Hispanic people are always late to like everything(which drives me nuts ) and so in order to get more people to Sacrament meeting, they have all the classes first and Sacrament meeting is the last meeting of the day. It took some getting used to. This week was way amazing though. Elder Tienda and I had been struggling to find investigators since I got here and we had been holding on to some people thatw e really should have dropped, just so that we had people to teach. But we prayed about it and decided to drop all those people that needed to be dropped. Well the Lord definitely blessed us, because as soon as we did that, we found many people that the Lord had prepared for us. We found NINE new investigators this week. Way Awesome !
    The neighborhood continues to be scary haha... This past week there was like a shooting every other day. We constantly see police and people being arrested, but we know that we will be protected as long as we are doing what we should be doing. Most of the bad guys respect us anyways because we are brave enough to walk around on the streets.
  Tell Steve Congrats ! thats way cool :)  What is relationship situation? has he got engaged yet ? Courtney told me about the job situation thats kind of a bummer but it will work out !!
  Lucy attacked another dog ?! Is she sick or something ? she is like the least aggresive dog i have ever met... I hope Kirks' wifes' dog will be ok and I hope that they are not too mad at you guys.. We have a lot of fun pictures that i will try and send ! Give all the family my love!
-Elder Dutson

Elder Dutson also mentioned that he had the pleasure of eating "Cow, Goat guts tacos" and he thought they were "Way Yummy"

                                                                    Elder Okazaki

                                                                     Elder Tienda

Week #3

Dear Family- Thank you for gettiong all the mailing addresses set up :)  This week was definitely interesting lol. Our area is really rough and in fact, there are a couple streets where we are not supposed to be on past like 7 or 8 because it's dangerous.  We witnessed like 5 people get arrested this week. And while we were on a certain street, probably like 2 or 3 blocks down the same street, there was a shooting. It was way crazy ! And Friday night/ early Saturday morning, i was woken up by a police helicopter circling our apartment complex and shining the spotlight looking for somebody. It was way scary.
   What you said about obedience is absolutely true.  We have witnessed, how sacrifing something that you want to do, that would comprise one of the mission rules and doing whats right,  we have had added power when we teach. It's soething I appreciate very much. I have some pictures that i will try and send you as well.
  Elder Tienda and I are going to start a fast of our so that we can find people to teach, since we still are not having much luck.
 Last Monday we ate dinner at a members house and it made me laugh. They speak perfect english and they wanted to speak English with me. They are BIG Lakers fans and when I told them I was a Celtics fan they teased me( just like tyhe Montez's would do :P). They are really fun though. We are eating over there again today.  Thanks for all the love )
- Elder Dutson

    Elder Dutson and Elder Tienda

First Email from California!!!

Dear Family- 

Wow that week went by fast!  Elder Tienda is really cool. He was born in Mexico in the state of Chihuahah but has lived in Arizona for the last ten years. He lived in Avondale. It has been cool having a companion that knows all about Arizona. He has the same amount of time in the mission as me( 4 1/2) months and we are both new to the area so we dont know hardly any members or know anybody to teach. That means that there  is a lot of work to do! To make matters more interesting, the elders that have been there for like the last 8 months have done like no work. That means we have alot of finding to do! We have been going through the area book and trying to find which past investigators seemed promising. We made a list of like 30 potentials and visited them all. Most of them had moved and alot of them no longer seemed interested, but there are a few that we found that we are going to start teaching the lessons to again. Elder Tienda and I are knocking alot of doors and passing out alot of pass along cards but not a whole lot of luck just yert. I think tomorrow we are going to set up a table with DVDs, BOMs, and other material to pass out and teach. There are alot of parks around here so we will probably just pick one. We have one investigator that  we are going to commit to baptism this week so we will see how that goes. Because we have to do alot of finding, I have been studying in ch 9 of Preach my Gospel alot. That chapter is all about how to find people to teach. It talks about not having fear to talk to everyone you know or see and to stress that to the members that we visit. I definitely agree with that. Members are a key in bringing somebdy into the gospel and retaining them. Hmmm.. what else... Oh, being on bike isnt that bad. It doesnt get near as hot here in Panorama City as it does in PHX. Plus our area is very small( like 1 1/2 square miles) so its fine. The bike that they gave me is kind of lame though. My first day of riding it the pedal fell off. A couple days later the chain fell off, and now saturday, the tire went flat lol. Luckily dad showed me how to fix all that so im ok. Anyways, I am allowed to email other people and i know that  there were people interested in that, so if you could write my email address like on my FB wall or something, that would be great. My mailing address right now is 14690 Nordhoff st. Apt # 108 Panorama City 91402 so if you or anybody wants to write letters, they can do that as well. I did spend about two hours with President Martin when i arrived and he is a very neat guy. I had a 7 hour training session with all the other new missionaries last wednesday as well. Maybe next week i will have some pictures to email you as well. Is Courtney doing a blog thing for me as well ? Any news from Elder Montez lately ? I sure do miss him. Elder Tienda reminds me of him in some ways. I did hear from Elder Gray( MTC companion) and he is doing well. I also heard from Dylan and Elder Welker. Dylan seems very excited for the field. I have yet to see Elder Ackley but i probably will sometime in the future. I love you all !

- Elder Dutson