Elder Dees w/Mission President-Pres. Cannon and his wife and Elder Dees first companion-Elder Kurtz

Elder Dees w/Mission President-Pres. Cannon and his wife and Elder Dees first companion-Elder Kurtz
Elder Dees w/President and Sister Cannon and first trainer / companion, Elder Kurtz

Monday, May 14, 2012

BAAA BAAA

ELDER NICHOLAS DEES
1106 1/2  2nd Ave N.
Payette, ID 83661


Mother’s Day was last Sunday, and that is one of the few times (4 in two years, Mother’s Day and Christmas) a missionary gets to call or skype home.  Elder Dees’ mission allows them to skype so it was nice to hear and see Elder Dees.  He looked good.  He said he and his comp. run a few miles each day and has trimmed up some.  He just reached his 8 month mark.  Please keep him in your prayers that he will love his mission and want to serve honorably.  He has a slight Idahoan southern accent :) .  Pray for all our missionaries.  As you will read in his email below he has been blessed by all the prayers.

Monday
May 14, 2012 4:49:00 PM
Subject: Hey I'm on

Elder Nicholas Dees: 
Elder Nicholas Dees after accident.  He was in the front,  passenger side.  Airbags deployed.  He had a little bit of chemical burn.  But hey----HE'S ALIVE!
So Hello to everyone out there, who will be reading this letter. This week has been an interesting one for sure. I have finally been able to skype home again and I shared with my Family one of the major things that happened to me this week. My companion who has been out 19 months was our designated driver. We were on the way to go out on splits with our Ward Mission Leader and my companion pulled up to the stop sign at an intersection where the other road doesn't have a stop sign and their speed limit is 45mph, well he is a horrible driver, he stopped for a split second and pulled out without looking both ways. I was paying attention to the surroundings and saw that there was a vehicle coming and i screamed at him to stop but he didn't listen. We were hit on my side of the vehicle but thankfully on the back door instead of on my door.  Attached are some pictures of what happened to our vehicle. The vehicle he hit was a Ford F-750, which is essentially a semi truck and there is a picture i pulled off google of it and imagine that exact truck with the back loaded, and i mean loaded, with sheep. Luckily none of us were hurt to bad. i have some bruising on my arm, ribs and stomach but nothing serious. we were for sure blessed. Now i am the Designated Driver and i feel so much safer haha. Luckily the mission happened to have an extra vehicle so we went from the decent 2011 Ford Fusion w/ under 6000 miles to the ever so lame 2009 Chevy Malibu (aka the Maliboat) but once again I'm grateful to be in a car area and have a car in general. Other than that the week hasn't gotten any worse. Well that is all for now.



Mom:  Hi Son--just getting this.  Are you there?
You were sure blessed.  I know you know that......but don't forget that.  Be a good missionary to receive these blessings.  Love, Mom

Elder N. Dees:  yeah I’m on. Whats new? i got your letter i sent dad another email about what else happened last week.

*******  *******
Email from Mom: 
Mon,
5/14/12
Hi Elder Dees,

It was good to see your smiling face yesterday for the Mother's Day Skype!  

I've been concerned about you yet in the skype you seemed to have a better outlook.  Be patient honey.  Be compassionate to your companion(s).  Your life being spared in the accident should help you put that into perspective.  I have repeatedly thanked Heavenly Father for sparing your life in that accident.  I need him to know that I know it was his will that you two were protected at that time.  Members around the world pray fervently for the safety of the Lord's missionaries.  Live worthy to receive those blessings.

Always remember that you can stay one more day than you think you can and eventually you will long to stay and serve.  Become converted-find your testimony.  You were called to serve.  Do it.  You have great potential.  I hope you read your patriarchal blessing like I asked you to for my Mother's Day present.

I forgot to ask you if you received the letter I sent last week?  Let me know.  I want to make sure I have the right address for you and to post on the bulletin board.

Madison getting ready to go to Mormon Prom.  Thanks to Tiffany R. and fam. for letting her ride in the limo!
Pippin is so tired as we are all are.  The Mormon Prom has wiped us all out.  Lots and lots of work.  Sister Roedel took some pics of Madison so I attached one.  

Be loyal to yourself and follow rules sweetheart.

I saw a nice quote on pinterest the other day.  Kristin had it posted on her account.  It reads:

"I refuse to lower my standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs."  Steve Gamlin

Nice quote to remember in times of decision making.

Well, I will try to look for you to get on the comp.  We may have to run out to a clean.  Your dad has to check first.

I love you.  I pray for you.  I cry for you.  I'm happy for you.  Serve well Elder Dees.  Be a missionary that Pres. Cannon can count on.  Pray to align you ways with the Lord's way.  Prayer will work.

Love,  Mom :)

Comments from family and friends:
***Goodness!! Should any of those guys get to drive???? I think his comp needs to be on foot or a bike.......
Wow. I am really glad no one was hurt, however---that is the main thing.
Our friends' son is in Mexico City--he is currently in the mission home, and had a nice conversation
with his mom on Sunday. He has 9 months to go.
It is surprising how quickly the time goes. Pretty soon John will be out at school.
Thanks for posting the pictures that you do. I don't FB, and Earl does only occasionally, and I don't think
he is connected up with y'all.  Genine

***Thank goodness that he's okay.  That looks like a close call....not good if it had been his door!!!!!!  He was watched over!!!  It was fun to visit yesterday!!!  Leslie R.
 ***Sister Dees;  I pray for the missionaries every day from our ward and stake and for all missionaries every where, and for my Michele in Japan. I hope my prayer helped Elder Dees. I will pray for him to get well soon, also for him to be happy with his mission.  M. Smith

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

ANTICIPATING "MOTHER'S DAY" SKYPE



Hi Elder Nicholas Dees.
5/8/12  Tuesday

This is mom.  How are you doing?   Your spoke of teaching a lot of discussions and that’s nice to hear.  Many will accept the message and many will not.  I suppose it was the same in the time that Christ walked the earth, even with him among the people many still denied him.  I pray you are studying to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and if you believe they are real, because only then can it change our actions, goals, etc.   Do you read the Book of Mormon and Bible?   I need to finish the Old Testament.  I don’t fully understand all of it but I do receive the witness of the Holy Ghost sometimes, testifying of the truths I read but unless I read I can’t receive that witness.  Anyway, I hope you are studying. 

I don’t know what it is that you are wanting to tell us.  I had fasted for you this past Fast Sunday.  I hope it is good news but with your hesitancy to readily tell us I must say I am worried.   Is the mission a blessing in your life? 

I receive Elder Bennett Maxwell’s emails via Brittney and I was thinking you might enjoy this past email.  I hope you will read it. He seems to be doing good as a missionary. 

Email of Elder Bennett Maxwell:  5/7/12

MISSION LIFE
This week was so awesome and flew by. I got my travel plans Saturday and I am really leaving Tuesday the 22. Meaning I get Monday for a pday then we all spend another night at the mission home which I am way excited for. I have gotten pretty close to the mission President because I am so close to him and see him almost weekly. My flight leaves to Salt Lake City at 8:10 and arrives at like 10. Then I leave to San Diego at 11:10 and arrive at 12 pm their time. Then I guess I will just drive across the boarder and finally be in Mexico!!!!! I have been writing my friend who is in Tijuana mission and he said he doesn't speak any English. haha I am so stoked but at the same time a little sad to be leaving. Being a missionary here is seriously awesome and we see the funniest/craziest stuff daily. haha


MIRACLE STORY
First off our baptism last week got moved to this week because of family issues meaning this week we have 3 baptisms!!!! I have been so lucky to see so much success in the short time I have been out here. All three of them have been coming to church and are way solid. One has 3 little girls who are way cool. Yesterday was obviously testimony meeting and I sat by them and told the oldest (who is 6) to go bear her testimony and she did! She has only been to church a few times and already had the faith and courage to bear her testimony! She ended up going up there and saying a few words then coming back to me crying but hey, she tried! ha
After I realized that I didn't bear my testimony and that would be my last time to do it in English so I was pretty disappointed in myself. But last night we had a recent convert fireside where recent converts bear their testimonies and it was so awesome! And at the end I was one of the 4 out of like 50 missionaries to bear my testimony which I am so grateful and even more surprised that the Lord let me go up and redeem myself.
So all that is cool and I consider them to be miracles but the biggest miracles come from the converts. First off, our convert who was baptized a month ago spoke and did awesome and on Saturday I got to go up with him to the temple and do baptisms for the dead and I was the one who baptized him! It was so cool! There was another convert who went to school for 4 years and graduated to be a Baptist minister then went to Salt Lake, was handed a Book of Mormon, completely converted and is now baptized. He threw away everything for the other church! Him joining the church means that he lost his career and is now working construction after completing college. Only the true church can have such drastic changes on people. It's such a miracle to see the faith that people have who are so new to the church and the gospel. 


SPIRITUAL THOUGHT
The stripling warriors are seriously so cool to read about. We all know the success they had but there are several things they did in order to be successful. I just want to quickly talk about one of those things and it's found in the 21st verse of Alma chapter 57 it says "yea, and they did obey and observe to preform every word of command with EXACTNESS; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them" I don't know about you but exactness to me doesn't leave much room to mess around to say the least. ha Anyone who has served a mission knows that their is a huge emphasis on exact obedience but it applies to everything in life. "and when we obtain any blessings from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated" D&C 130:21 The only way to be completely victorious like the stripling warriors is to obey with exactness. It's after obedience that we see the miracle of all their lives being saved. I really believe that the miracles I see daily come from my obedience.



CHALLENGE
Since the last transfer (3 weeks ago) me and my companion have tried hard to "tune up" our obedience. It was small things that we struggled with like listening to a Spanish CD that wasn't approved (even though we couldn't understand it anyway) ha and me having to stand behind the car every time he backs up. It's little things like these that made us go from one baptism last transfer to 3 this transfer. Even though we may think the commandments are stupid and they don't all apply to us, they do. I hope we can all find those small rules that don't seem to have a point and obey them anyway. I promise that as we do that we will see the blessings. God gives us commandments so he can bless us.

Well familia y amigos. I am loving life and growing daily. I hope all is well back home and if you're super bored, I guess I wouldn't mind if you sent me a letter every few weeks... haha if not that's fine too because I will be calling home Sunday at like 1ish but maybe not until like 3. but Have skype ready so we can chat it up! My whole family better be at my house so I can see their ugly faces! :) haha

Love Elder Maxwell

I love that you are serving.  Do it well.  No regrets in the next 16 months ahead!  You will be proud to have served and served well. 

We pray for your safety, health and strength and testimony on a daily basis. 

Looking forward to seeing or hearing from you on Sunday.  We have church from 10-1.  So that’s 11-2 your time.  Of course it will take us sometime to get home but we look forward to it ---- if you even want to call me/us.  I will not say anything negative.  I can’t function like that anymore. 

I love you,  I pray for you, I long for your success as a missionary, young man and hopefully someday a family man.

Love mom.