Friday, August 15, 2014

Pictures from Elder Deans "Hump Day"

Elder Dean made it to HUMP DAY! (WAYYYY back in January!) 
In his "Hump Day" Package was a sweet t-shirt and camel! 

Funny thing is - He had no idea what the tshirt was from! The commercial that used the hump day camel came out AFTER his mission! 

Look you can hardly tell he was in a major accident before his mission! 



His companion was sick so they ended up staying in the Apartment all day. 



Monday, August 11, 2014

Cute missionaries of Newport, Vermont

Sister Burton, Sister Wray and Elder Dean

Elder Dean, Elder Farnworth, ?, ?, Sister Burton, Sister Wray

August 11, 2014

HEY MUM!!!!!! 

First off pictures from last monday! 

IT was a ton of fun i forgot my camera in my zone leaders car this last thursday (i had to go on exchanges with them, sucks...)  but i wish i had some of my pictures from my camera these are all from my companions camera, it was a really good day.

So this week was transfers and i am staying and still a co district leader. I am happy that I am staying but  it still kinda sucks though, because me and the two sisters who were serving in the same  area as me .... well we all three became really close friends.  We called ourselves the "awkward trio" and i dont know we just clicked, and one of the sisters is leaving so that bites.

Other then that not much else this week

i talk to tim who i am buying the sub from to confirm it and i should be sending the sub home in about 2 weeks, its so big it will be a pain to ship home gosh, but overall it was an ok week not much happened just the same normal stuff kinda..

I love you mum

Love elder dean




I hate that he doesn't seem to fear a lot of things.....


August 4, 2014

Letter to Joel:



Hey!
that is awesome that you were able to go out with the missionaries Joel! i can tell you that they defiantly would have been so grateful, i can personally tell you its hard at times to get members and we are always so appreciative of those that are willing to sacrifice to come out, Did you teach him anything? Were people fairly receptive in taiwan or was it hard to get them to overcome the tea? thank you though for writing me Joel i really appreciate it, and i hope you are doing good and that things are going good. also thank you for all that you taught me growing up. Joel i am really appreciative of the example that you set for me and how you helped me to be who i am today, just want you to know that one of the reasons i am out here is you. i love you man have a good week!!
love elder dean!

July 28, 2014

Hey Mum,

So i guess i will just write a weekly letter, um not much really happened this past week we did get into a prank war with the sisters though so that has been quite enjoyable!!! i started it by putting sticky notes on their car, so they retaliated with cookies all over ours so i bough silly string and those chalk window markers and covered their car, so then Saturday we were at one of the best families houses and they were coming for dinner we had been doing service and they stuffed our car full of balloons with glitter inside of them in our car, so when we popped them they exploded glitter all inside our car and they also stole my camera and pumped it full of pictures, and videos so fun time i am still working on my revenge, there has also been some other small stuff but its funny they only do a lot of the pranks to me because my comp doesnt think any of that is funny and gets really upset but i just laugh and think of how to get them back and so they only do things to me but its fun. 

So theres this guy named tim, he is super cool, he is twenty and he is no kidding one of the best people i have met on my mission he is moving out to st george ut to get away from some stuff here and so i am super pumped because we have plans to hang out after the mission when i get out to utah! um not a whole lot of other stuff happened this past week, it was pretty good!!! love ya. PS. you need to answer my question!!

July 21, 2014

**** This week there was no "letter" Bryson and I just sent short clips back and forth for a bit, but he was only on for a really short time.

....not much we dont have much, the sisters wanted to do something with us today but none of us could think of anything so we are going to come up with ideas and try next week,

...yeah so cabot is in my zone leaders area, along with the ben and jerrys factory.

.....huh yes i will next week sorry i have to go to day though bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 14, 2014


Hey Mum,

so the area is really good it is way more boon then i am use to. its so different form my past areas we dont even have a walmart in our area and its all pasture land and farms and so its kinda odd, the people have been good so far we got sworn at by our downstairs neighbor because apparently we are to loud, at like 5 in the morning he said, so that was lame, now we have to be really quiet as we exercise so i will probably get really fat here, i was finally starting to build muscles back up with elder gardner, we biked and walked everywhere. but thats ok i will just have to worry about the working out when i get home. but its been good so far, my new companion is elder farnworth,  he is good... he is different then my last companion for sure, the work here though is much different then my last areas. we have a few people we are teaching but none that are really solid right now. some i dont even know if i would count as investigators but oh well.and also no i can go into canada

this past week was good, i had to on exchange with one of the elders in my district so that was ok, i dont like exchanges. i have another two this week one with the the zone leaders and one with the other elder in the district, and so that will be interesting. um this past week wasnt too bad things are going good so far and its good. ugh not much else i had something that i wanted to ask but i cant remember guess it wasnt important oh well. love you mom!!!

Wall of Bryson at the Sharon Spring Ward Building!

Brysons name is the top on the second column - he is an eagle scout! 

All of the super cute kids serving missions from our ward. We have out grown our board! Three more kids are heading out soon! 

The map with all of the areas that missionaries are serving in from our ward.
Close up of Bryson

Google Street View

This is where Bryson is living! 

The cute porch is part of Bryson's apartment home! 

View across the street!

July 7, 2014

The new address:


 71 eastern ave #3 
Newport, VT 05855

haha sadly i cant go into canada because its not in my mission but i did see the border the other day, and the border crossing and i have a picture of a street sign that says canada with an arrow, and a sign that says bonjour Quebec!

July 7, 2014

Hey i am on and you will never guess where i am!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VERMONT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEWPORT VERMONT!!!! i am touching the canadian border!!!!!!

June 30, 2014

Hey mom, 

So we didn't meet with Jane and John this week so I have no clue what will happen with them because i leave tomorrow morning, i have to drive 3 hours to Manchester to go to transfer meeting to then find out where i am even going, so I wont find out if they prayed or got an answer at all, so that kinda sucks. And also i have been called as a Co-District leader, whatever the that means, (a district leader is over a small amount of missionaries and he teaches a weekly lesson and takes reports of numbers and how missionaries are doing) SO THAT SUCKS!!!! i have no clue how a co district leader works me and my companion are both the district leader and so thats weird, it also means i dont get to drive all the time but i have to share driving which bites. I am really happy for tim that is awesome.
I have a good bit over 6 months, thank you very much, I have 7..... today is my 17 month mark..... weird....... it kinda weirds me out to think in 7 months i will be home thats not a long time, then i have to grow up and get a job and go to school and start actually dating and ugh crap.......
honestly i am not that at peace with them no but not much i can to do change that everything is in the past and i can change i single thing now.
Not much else from this last week at all, sorry i dont have my camera or i would send pictures i love you mom,

love elder dean


Sorry I feel a little frustrated inside today.

June 23, 2014

Hey mum

so again not much happened this past week as usual i had to go exchanges which all jack with my weeks and make them so much faster, but we had interviews with president stoker this week, and then we did really nothing major, taught Jane and John and we have come to a stand still and so this week we talked for a while and asked if they had asked God if it was all true and they hadnt and so we told them to pretty much just lay it all on the line to find a quiet place in the house and just to lay all of it before God and ask, and that also just as important as asking they had to have the intent to act on the answer despite what the answer was, they said they would and so we will follow up with that later on and hopefully they did it, cause if not I am not sure what to do. we will see. other then that not much, just a normal week.

Elder Dean

June 16, 2014

hey mum

so not much happened this week we just walked and biked a ton and tried to see people but not much luck in any regard, we biked 40 miles on thursday and then walked 15 on saturday so thats fun. but we have interview this week and i have to go on an exchange again.... but yeah love you mom hope you have a good week.

Lochlan is complaining? that sounds like so much more awesome of a summer then sitting at home doing nothing......... anyway not much this week, i was one exchange so i missed Jane and John lesson and not much else happened all week, i suck at finding. but yeah hope you have a good week love you mom

Hey since you probably cant get on i am going to go i have some things to get done love you have a good week!!!!

love elder dean

June 2, 1014

Hey mum! 

this week wasnt much at all we biked.... alot, no really we biked A LOT. on thursday we biked 35 miles in one day and over the whole week probably biked close to 55 miles because we had no miles on the car at all we came close to going over but luckily we didnt. and so that was good. we taught Jane and John, which was really good and there is another lesson set up for tuesday but i am on exchange so i wont be there. i hate exchanges a lot. but any way not a whole lot happened as usual sorry the letter sucks and is super short, but im sending a package home this week with a flash drive but i need it back i dont have the moeny to buy any more flash drives and so please actually send this one back... but thats it I really love you


love elder dean

May 26, 2014

hey mum,

So not much happened this past week really at all it was kinda just slow and not much, Jane was out of town so we couldn't teach her and so we biked around a lot and walked a ton, we have no miles for the car and so had to go walking every where, yeah sorry not very good this week but just nothing happened,

love elder dean

May 19, 2014

Mum!

So this past week was really good, we saw a huge blessing with Jane. we taught her this past week, and the entire time so far we have been teaching her she is struggling with the churches stance on homosexual relations , so after putting a lot of thought and prayer into it elder gardner and i decided that the best thing to teach her would be the law of chastity, and teach her what Gods standards are for all relationships not just homosexual and why, and so we met with her and we had a Member, Amy, (who is amazing at missionary work!) come to and so we just started teaching her and we talked a little on faith and the week previous we had taught and committed her to watch the motherhood video and we used that to move into the law of chastity, so we start teaching what it is and we talk about how there are no sexual relations at ALL outside of marriage. and how that is Gods law, we asked what she felt about it and she said she understood but still disagreed with it since her sister (who is Bisexual) seems happy in her relationship and she cant understand why God would say no happiness, and so we then explained the reason why families are so essential and that procreation and bringing children into this world is Gods first commandment. 

We told her that by us choosing to follow on those feelings of homosexuality, that we are denying other spirit children the blessings that come with a mortal body, we are deny some else the Gift of AGENCY, and that the only way for children to come into this world and be raised properly is inside of the marriage between a man and a women, and that that is why homosexual relations are bad. We laid the law down and there is no budging on it ... the worlds view may shift and change but God's laws are not and will not ever change, regardless of how the world sees it. 

Then we just sat in silence for like one to two minutes and the spirit was so strong and she sat there and almost started to cry, ( we think that the tears are the fact that she knows its true but that she is frustrated over her sister, not sure though), and so we pointed out the fact that the spirit was so strong relating it to Galations 5:22-23, i kid you not i could have cut the spirit in there with a butter knife, there was no way she didnt feel the spirit. Amy the member said she loves to come teaching with us and that we are a power house and she loves it so much!!! kinda cool. 

And so we set up another lesson and had it the next day and this one her boyfriend, John, was in town and he had been to church once and sat in on a lesson so we met at the church and again taught them both we focused more on him so as to not overwhelm Jane, and just try and see where he was at but it was a good lesson, we had cookie cake to celebrate Jane's birthday and then latter that night at like 940, John called us and he wanted to meet again this time just us and him the next day, and so we agreed and met with him the next day! It was super cool because John is a Jew so he has no real knowledge of Christ and little of the bible beyond the Five books of moses. It was very interesting because we talked for a while and he said he has never felt like what he feels like, that at first he just came to support his girlfriend but that now he really wants to know and that when we met with us he said he felt like we were the best people he had ever met before and that he felt like we would do the right thing in any circumstance, which blew me away since i WISH thats how i am.... that is how I try to be.  

We talk for awhile about why he wanted to meet and then we started to discuss the plan of salvation and Gods plan for us and he thought for a while and just said it makes so much more sense that way and that if he were God thats how he would design it, since it allows for the perfect amount of justice and mercy to be involved and that also the God we worship is a lot more loving then he thought the God of Christianity and that he felt love meeting with us. He was was just overwhelmed by the spirit saying he had a "fountain of light" inside him and that it felt like what the seven dwarfs mine looked like in Sleeping beauty, and just how he was disappointed that the feeling had left him last night and he didnt want to lose it again so we committed him to a soft baptismal commitment!!! it was really cool and both he and anna are gone for the week and both should be back next week so we can continue teaching them then!! 

Also something cool is that it was transfer weekend and so we didnt know if we would leave or not and so he was super bummed and in a prayer was like asking heavenly father if we could stay and that might be selfish but he really wanted us too and he asked for our email addresses in case we left it was cool,\ and when we found out we called him and he said that we had just made his day and was so happy!!! it was really cool!!!! 


thats it this week as far as they go, if you post this to the blog i dont know if you are but will you change names for me... thanks! also on sunday i had to sing in church. oh yeah and im staying with elder gardner and one of the sisters in the area is leaving this past week one of the sisters had hit her year mark so elder gardner and i made her a Camel cake!!! and today we have to make a music video for bohemian rhapsody for the other sister! Who bytheway also i talk to her while sister escobar and elder gardner practice portugese together and she said you sound really cool!! thought id throw that in there!!! anywho love you mom!!!!!1

love elder dean

May 19, 2014




This is a drawing of me!! Sister shipley is an artist and we had this game that all four of us would play to try and help sister escobar and elder gardner learn portugese and she drew little pictures of us for game pieces. I stuck it to my name tag because I think that is is really cool.

May 19, 2014

I LOVE that I just sent this Tie to Bryson this week in his package! I love that he loves to laugh, I love this kid!
Brunswick, Maine
Bryson's apartment and  his collection..... I am really hoping that his companion is also addicted to Mountain Dew and that this is not all Brys!



The sunglasses that we sent to Bryson! Will you look at that FACE!!! It is amazing! 

May 12, 2014

Hey!

So things are going good here, we are still teaching Anna, and things are going really good, she couldnt come to church this week it is finals week for her and so she is super busy but we plan on teaching her again on Wednesday and hopefully we can start seeing some progress. my companion is still waiting on his visa to go to brazil he has been here in the states now for 11 months and he is hoping to get it really soon yeah things are going good have a good week.

Love elder Dean

PS.
hey this is really random but with your business what exactly do you do?
My companion was tell me that his brother makes wedding rings and he was telling his mom about you and well me too i guess.  but anyway his mom asked if you'd be interested in a brochure of his product for your customers i told him i don't know what you exactly do but that i would ask

May 12, 2014

Bryson took some screen shots of google maps and outlined his mission.




Mother's Day Call

Skype was not working very well - we could only use it for about 10 minutes. It was GREAT to see his cute face and to hear is voice.


May 5, 2014

hey mom!

So on early this week, we have to go down to Yarmouth, do something with the district and so it messed our whole day up this week, so I have very little time today, but not much happened this week, we taught the investigator that we have twice and I think that that is going really good… or I hope it is going well, We are just trying to help her pray and get an answer to her own prayers. That is what we are really focusing on right now - just to try and help her progress. Not much else happened this week… same stuff every day, it was kinda long. I feel like I am not getting any good work outs in and making me feel all sluggish and fat, but there is just no time and my companion does not like to work out

I got my hair cut by my companion…. Really dumb move on my part but I was trying to save money. It is a three all over my head pretty much, i look stupid and it also really shows my hair line has receded way up there, but not much i can do there but yeah,

hope you have a good week love you mom.

love elder dean

April 28, 2014

hey mom!

so this past week was good we didn’t do to much, on wednesday to thursday i was on exchange so i didnt get to teach anna this week, but she did come to church so that was good, the member we have coming to the lessons is a huge help and doing really good at friend shipping and helping. um on saturday one of the sisters in our area got emergency transferred to burlington vermont and so we lost the car all day and walked in the rain, um yeah not a whole lot this week sorry, hope you had a good week. I really love you

April 28, 2014

I found these pictures of Bryson on the Manchester, New Hampshire Mission facebook page!

HANDS DOWN.... cutest missionary out there! 

Monday, April 21, 2014

April 21, 2014

April 21, 2014

Hey mum

So first off, you will never guess what???!!!!!!??!??!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!

Anna, the girl who was our referral, the college student who is 19. Well it turns out that the friend that she has who is serving a mission in Lyon France is named Karson Pape. This is the funny part – She was one of Tori’s companions in France!!!!! Her friend is one of the reasons she has decided to learn a little about our church! How great is that? So we taught her again this week and that went really good. Her one hold up is the church and its position on the same sex relationships. She feels that if God wants his children happy and he says no acting on same sex feelings then why would he make them that way. Any way we are trying to work with that. I am praying I find the right things to say. I feel if I can she will progress for sure.

Funny story from this week - on Thursday we were supposed to go to Bath which is where the sisters are living. They had the car and we needed it. So we needed to get to Bath and get the car. We had no ride to Bath so our only option was to bike! We start biking there on this nice really nice little bike path, and suddenly we come to these barricades and the path has flooded because of all the ice that is melting and coming down from the rivers and there is water all over the path. Me and my companion stop and look at the water for a bit and then I start going though it … figuring it can’t be too deep. I think that I can just bike through it, well when I get in deep enough that the water is up to my pedals the bike stops! I have to step off into icy cold water! At that point I figure what the heck! My feet and ankles are freezing and I am going to be wet any way and how deep can it be any way? I start walking across the path and the water gets deeper and deeper till it is almost to my crotch! It WAS DEEP! And it was SOOOOOOO COLD! I kept going figuring if I was already wet why stop? Besides that at this point my companion is already following me so we are both wet and cold now so we might as well keep going forward right? We both make it through and get back up on our bikes and keep going. We are very cold. Do you want to know the only problem with water proof shoes? It is that they don’t just keep water OUT – they also keep water IN! So that part was no fun, but we keep going and what do we come up to? A SECOND flood! This time I think that if I can get the bike going fast enough I can just go right through. So I get the bike going as fast as I can and hit the water attempting to pedal through….. Needless to say I didn't make it … at all.... and again I walk through waist deep water but luckily that was the last flooded part! After that we just had a 6 mile bike ride left to the sister apartment. Oh also this whole time I have a bike rack,(You know the kind to mount bikes on cars) strapped to my back, so we could get the bikes back after we pick up the car! Mom, it was a blast! I mean it was tons of fun! I only wish I had a video or pictures of it, but we were too cold and didn’t think about taking pictures until it was too late. I guess I came about as close to swimming on my mission as I will ever get! I still really like my companion. Things are really good, I am happy to be here and I love the gospel so much mum, I am so grateful to be serving a mission, to be able to have all of these experiences.

So yeah I love you mom, have a good week

love elder dean

NEW ADDRESS!!!!!!!!

Elder Bryson Dean 
1 Cedar St. # 8
Brunswick, Maine
04011

April 14, 2014

April 14, 2014

Hey Mum,

Hey so that sounds fun with girls camp and all that, It should be a good year.

You will never guess what happened this week though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we got a referral last week for a girl, going to college,(we live in a college town) I called the number and she was willing to set up a time! On the phone I asked some questions as to why she was meeting with the missionaries and she said she had a friend serving a mission, I thought nothing of it and THEN!!! …. We went and taught her on Thursday and picked her up as a new investigator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway as I was talking with her and asking her some questions I asked her about her friend who is serving a mission. It turned out that her friend is serving in the Lyon France mission! I said I have a friend there and she asked what her name was and I told her that it was Tori Beeny and she was like no way! I have seen that name on my friends mission blog!!!!!! So Tori knows this girls friend!!!!!!!!!! Way cool!!! Anyway we taught her and she is now and investigator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is 19 and going to college. She seemed to be way interested, she was all over mormon.org and lds.org she has watched a ton of videos, and she really seems to be golden!!!!!!!!!! So hopefully something comes of this.....

Grant sent two pictures in the past two weeks of his three baptisms per week he has had…. I am happy for him. I just wish I could maybe have one. oh well.....

I got really sick this week, I mean really sick. I threw up so many times and couldn’t eat at all and was just crappy, I lost ten pounds in two days, it was bad, I felt so gross, for two days all I ate was like a bowl of soup and I had to muscle that down, even the thought of eating made me want to puke, ugh!!!!!! I am happy to say that I am all better now!!

Lochlan wants a long board? That was something I was not into... interesting. But cool.

My new companion is super awesome, he and I are a lot alike, I don’t want to curse it yet but he seems really good, He is from Grand Junction Colorado and he is just a good guy. He is waiting for his visa to Brazil.

I spent a ton of money on food today, 65 bucks, yikes but I needed what I got, chicken and milk and spices and some can goods, and just a lot. I got this interesting thing, its powdered peanut butter, they press all the oil out and so its healthier and I am going to use it in shakes and stuff only problem is it is expensive.. oh well!!

Well that is it from me hope you have a good week mom!

I really love you

love elder dean

April 7, 2014

April 7, 2014

Hi mum,

So this has been a really good week. We were REALLY feed a TON this week! We had big meals every single day, Indian on Monday from a sweet family the Mullins, Chilean food, on Tuesday, the burritos on Wednesday, we took it easy Thursday and then another member meal Friday. We went to Five Guys before the priesthood session on Saturday and then a ward potluck on Sunday between sessions, so TONS tons of food both me and my comp feel gross. It’s a good thing this is not how it is every week or I would be the size of a house by the end of my mission. We have an apartment on the second floor so I am not able to do insanity, but luckily the weather has started to warm up so I will be able to start running more often.




Oh as for transfers my companion is leaving and I’m staying, so that’s good. That is SO crazy that there is three sets of missionaries in our ward now, I can’t believe that! that is crazy!!!!!! Holy cow that is so many!!!!! I can’t believe that.

This week I realized how long I have been on my mission, I’ve seen 3 conferences on my mission, when the next one comes on I will only have 3 months left - how crazy is that!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Time for me mom has gone SOOOOOO fast it really does feel like only yesterday that I entered the mtc. One of the crazest things is that out of my district from the mtc four elders came to this mission. There was 20 something that came out with me, but 4 from my mtc district. So out of those 4 - two went home so from my district its only me and one other elder left. The coolest thing is he is a zone leader who just happens to be over my zone! This past week it was awesome, I got to go on exchange with him! It was sweet just remembering the mtc and how much time has passed. It was really fun.

I loved conference! I thought it was really good, I loved elder Oaks talk in priesthood on women and the priesthood, it was UNREAL!!!!!!!!! SO cool!!!!!!!! You should totally watch it!!!!!! but yeah not much else this week. I got Greek yogurt this week in shopping, I have started buying it every week, since I’m trying to eat healthier.

oh and the sisters gave me and my comp these notebooks they made – they are really great. I forgot to bring pics with me to the library, but they made them as a thank you for all we did for them this past transfer, which was cool!

I love that I was able to watch conference! I love that I am on a mission, I am so grateful to be here mom.

Yeah love you mom have a good week!!!!
love elder dean

March 31, 2014

March 31, 2014
Hey Mum, 

I know I say this all the time, but not much was different this week. Things are sadly mostly the same, lots of walking, lots of knocking. Not much else. 

So after emails last week we tried to clean the new apartment. It was pretty gross. We tried to vacuumed the apartment but the bag was SO full, in fact it was overflowing. So we went out to try and buy new bags, but we could not find the bags ANYWHARE. The mission office ended up buying us a new vacuum. We must have spent an hour vacuuming our apartment. I think that we pulled up about 5lbs of gross dirt from the carpet. It feels so much better in here. 

So I went on exchange again this week. I went with the Elder that stuck his tongue on the frozen pole…. the really lazy one. Remember I told you about him….. Yeah, I don’t want to talk about it. It made for a long week. 

Guess what I bought? A Boston Redsox world series hat this week. I figured since I was less than 45 minutes from Boston when the red sox’s won the world series it would be a cool memento.




Love you mom

Love elder dean

Fellowship of the Unashamed

Fellowship of the Unashamed.

I am a part of the fellowship of the Unashamed.
The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made.
I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow
down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense,and my future is secure.
I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions,mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear.
I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I've preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until He returns, give until I drop,
preach until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear for "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.." (Romans 1:16)

March 24, 2014

March 24, 2014
At Zone Conference! 
Elder Whitehead. 



A trip to the pet store! 

March 17, 2014

This is what you find when you take over the Sister Missionaries apartment: 

THE WORLDS LONGEST HAIR 
EVERYWHERE! 

March 10, 2014

March 10, 2014

Hey mum,

So Loch’s just invited them all over for dinner – without checking with you? Or even telling you that he invited a whole family over for Sunday dinner until you were on the way home from church????, THAT IS GREAT! haha what a goof ball!!!!!! I love it! How was it with them over? I really love that family.

How is Lochlan doing in school? How is Alexander doing, also before I forget I need you to send me a list of all the possible people you can think of and their birthdates last year I spaced everyone’s and so I don’t want to do that again.

Dang, Lochlan is so lucky, I really wish I could go to Philemon with them too, tell Joel I feel his pain.

Thank you for sending the root beer cookies!

So as for this week not much else happened really, things are still really slow, I heard from the peacocks in my last area and they have THREE new investigators back in Derry…. I really wish I could have found them when I was there. um

The ward had it’s dessert auction so we went to that and they were selling stuff off. Some members give us some money, so we asked the sisters what one dessert they wanted and they wanted this lemon meringue pie. We used ALL the money that the members had given us to buy it for the sisters! It cost seventy bucks and that was all the money the member had given us. but we got it!!! I think we shocked some of the members in the ward the ones that didn’t know we had gotten money from members were shocked at how a missionary had that much money it was fun!

Oh I saw a guy flip his bike over while doing a wheelie… it looked painful.

I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I am so grateful to be serving a mission.
I love you mom

have a good week.

love elder dean

March 3, 2014

March 3, 2014

Hey mom,

I got the package thank you!

That game is way fun and a blast to play! We will have to play when I get home.

Can you believe I only have 11 months left on my mission? It seems like it has gone by so fast to me. I am worried that time is slipping away. There is still so much I want to accomplish here on my mission.

So sadly there it still doesn’t seem like we do much here. I don’t know how to help this area and my comp is ok, he and I aren’t really that alike at all. It is frustrating at times to be with someone 24/7 and not have many things in common and to be so different. If I disagree with anything he says, he won’t argue but he gets really upset and annoyed, he won’t say anything but it’s almost worst the way he acts, I would rather slug it out and get over it. I get so irritated sometimes, I don’t really know what to do … except pray.

Funny thing, I went to a catholic mass, talk about feeling out of place, it was weird............... Never. Again.

Ummmm, I’m sorry this is going to be so short this week and not a lot, because not a lot happened. How is Grant doing? Only two kids from the ward got into BYU? That’s crazy?

Oh that sister you talked to on the phone was probably sister pettingill, she and elder pettingill are the office staff they are awesome!

Guess what? I actually got a package from one of the families that I was close to in Derry this past week! How cool is that? I still email them. I really miss Derry i try not to dwell on it or anything like that, because I’m not there - I’m in Topsham and I know that I am here for a reason. but at the same time i really loved that ward a lot.

Anyhow I love you mom,  SO much

love elder dean

February 24, 2014

February 24, 2014

Hi Mum,

Ok so you haven’t sent the package yet? I thought you had so I’ve been looking for it all week.... ok guess it’ll come this week then.

So I didn’t get transferred this time and neither did my companion, so first time other then training ive had a comp longer then a transfer.

We helped this less active lady set up for a huge fundraising dinner she was having, we set up tables, clean up and moved stuff. We also did dishes and other stuff so yeah it was good! I had a really good time. She made this AMAZING seafood Paella that was UNREAL, she is from Columbia and she makes amazing food and every time we go to her house we leave with so much food in our stomachs! It is GREAT! She served us some of the best paella I’ve ever had …. It was so good. It had octopus and calamari and scallops and mussels and it was AMAZING.

I had this unreal experience while on exchange with my DL this last week, my companion and I had a guy who we thought was a good “potential”. So my DL and I were in this guys house and my DL starts talking about how we have to turn away from sin and this dude blew up. He was also drunk… did I mention that? Anyway he looks at him and says you shut the F up in my house, you f this, and f that. He looks at me and says ‘you never return to my house with this B- word( but not the female dog the other word)’ My my DL is like almost smiling because he is so blown away (NOT because he thinks it is funny) and the guy looks at him and says " stop f-ing smirking at me! I could f you up, do you know that?" Needless to say we got out of there!!!!! But SOOOO crazy!!!! it was ridiculous!!!!! Never going back there in my whole entire life!

I bought protein powder this week, and PowerAde, and mangos, and Greek yogurt, and turkey and cheese and a scale and a black light bulb, and....... I think that’s it

oh yeah and we had dinner this week with a family the Norton’s and they were awesome, they have five kids, all under ten and they are awesome just crazy running around the house jumping all over us and Sister Norton I swear she is like a twin to Sister Puzey, looks really similar and just awesome like her, but yeah

So mum I’m pretty sure our house is the coolest one in the entire area, even my friends would always come over there and always say that it was the best. I loved how you trusted us to know and do what was right and if we mess up there was always a consequence…. but you always had so much trust in us. I think your trust and not really having rules that we had to follow was probably the best thing in the world for me. Personally because I knew you trusted me I had no desire to rebel and I did what was right because I wanted to keep your trust.

I love being here on my Mission, I love the gospel so much.
I love you mum.

Love Elder Dean

February 17, 2014

A few pictures from Bath, Maine!



The Apartment in Bath, Maine






Bath Iron Works, the shipbuilding yard and life blood of Bath