So this week was a good one not a lot happened. We got to go on exchanges finally! We havent gone on any this whole transfer, until this week! I got to go back up to Jamestown New York. I have been there a lot on my mission.... A lot more than i would want to ;) Ha nah i really love all the areas but that place just is in need of a lot of repairs ;). And i also got to go to Knox PA that was fun! I actually loved both exchanges a lot! In Jamestown i went with Elder Crook, guess where he is from.... Brigham City! He was a cool kid! I actually really liked being with him for the day. We just talked all about our sports and all the things we loved to do each others towns and we knew a lot of the same people and it was just awesome to be with someone that was near home and we know the same places, it was just really nice actually! And in Knox i got to be with both Elders Cooley and Jones. When Elder Cooley came in to the mission it was my first day being here in Pitt 5th ward and i was going around meeting all the new missionaries that had just come in and i got to Elder Cooley and i gave him a hug and asked him his name and all he said was Hon-solo and walked away! HA at that time was like hmmm okay that is a weird kid. But after spending the day with this Elder I loved him!! He is a little on the bigger side of things but like it all just goes so well with his humor and his personality! I LOVE HIM! And also Elder Jones was an old ZL with me and we got to know each other pretty well before so it was nice being with good Elders and just working and having fun!

When i was in Knox we walked all over this small town! Visited tons of Less actives and lots of potential investigators! So they decide that we dont have a lot to do so we go and see this lady who is an investigator but she was something else! She used to be the drug lord for that area like no joke! She had a CRAZY past! Now she is like the nicest lady of the face of the planet. But we were there and we went inside and were just talking to her while she was finishing up her dishes and all that jazz and she was manly talking to Elder Jones, so i was looking around the trailer and it was not the cleanest place in the world.... And all of the sudden i look over at Elder Cooley who is just poking this picture that her kid had painted and she pined it on the wall. So i go over to him and ask him what the freak he is doing. And he just looks over at me and says watch this! So he gives the picture another poke and this was a really hard poke and all of the sudden cockroaches of all sizes just come pouring out from behind this picture!! Like honestly i thought i was having some kind of nightmare or this was some really crappy scary movie!! It was the worst thing ever! HAHA man do i love my mission.

 So yesterday we had an Elder stay with us he was heading home early... It was kind of sad seeing this all take place he came out with me so i kinda knew him but not really. But just seeing how sad he was to leave all this behind was really hard. But the cool thing was actually seeing him be this sad, it doesnt make sense but let me explain. So this Elder has struggled his whole mission with obedience and was one of those Elders that when in this position just stresses you out cause he seems to not get what he is really out here to do. But now that it has come to this point i see and understand why he struggled so much for 18 months. He was not ready to come out. So with him going home Elder Shields and i knew that he would come stay with us for a little while and honestly i thought i was going to hate my life for the last few days. So i did the only thing i could think of and that was to pray. So i prayed and just asked for my Father in Heaven to make him okay.... That was a mistake on my part. But i also asked for love for this Elder, cause i honestly do not do well with disobedient missionaries. So he got here Saturday night, and the weirdest thing happened when we opened the door i saw a totally different young man then whom i knew before. The atonement of Jesus Christ had changed this Elder in to a humble and meek young man! And all i could do was love him. The atonement is the power of change. It will make weak things become strong and raise you up out of the deepest and darkest depths of self misery and sin. I know because i have changed through the power of the atonement, its just like Ammon after a long while working and laboring with the Lamenites converting thousands! He boasted of his God and not of his own strength cause it is through Him that we all can do all things! I now know that this Elder will go home and stay converted! He will have a lot of challenges ahead but he is one of the greatest Elders in my eyes at this time! He knew of the power and he applied it!

I love you all! I miss you all so much! 
Elder Dennison  

Ahh man this week was another slow one... Well they all fly by it seems like but just doing the normal grind here! We have this lady we are teaching and she is going through chemo right now her name is Suzanne so if you all would pray for her by name that would be amazing :). But we are meeting with Suzanne tonight at President Johnsons place and having ice cream after! The Johnsons are pretty much amazing! I really do love them! Mom I am not at 18 months yet ;) Not until next Monday ;) hahaha but it is gettin really close to my 6 months to sexy, so i gotta start watching what i eat and start working out hard core so i can have my summer bod just in time for winter ;P. 

So i am kinda getting the feeling that i wont be leaving here until September! This will be the longest time i have ever been in an area! 5 transfers! Ha but that will be fun i really do love the members here in this area! And i really do feel like this area is gonna be picking up a lot! And after that i will just put myself in to downtown pitt and walk every where and talk with TONS of random people every stinking day! That is my dream for now haha :). 

Last week on monday we got to go to the Zoo here in Pitt with one of our members and her non member husband. We have been teaching him for ever his name is Nick. But that was super fun i will have to wait for Elder Shields to send me the pics so i can send them to you cause guess who forgot their camera.... My bad! But it was so sweet there! Well kinda.... I was really excited for the polar bear cause he is really funny i think there are videos of him on youtube look it up if you can. But it is stinking matting season so they were all put away.... And the Giraffes and Zebras were put away. And there is a place where you can pet the elephants but that place was closed that day... So this epic zoo wasnt all that it cracked up to be... But i honestly still loved it! There was this small little red panda and they are the coolest little things alive! And i got to pet tons of sting rays! That is always super fun!

The Ogden open house would be so sweet! I miss the temple so so much! Like that is one of the first things i want to do when get home!! I miss the peace and quite that place has to offer! Mine and Elder Shields favorite song to sing is "we love to see the temple we are going there in 7 months" its a good song ;). But it sounds like everyone there is having a blast and summer is in full swing! Here they are already putting stuff out for school sales haha crazy huh! I feel like they all just got out of school! 

So this week my mind has focused a lot on the power of a testimony. The power of such a thing is amazing! I studied a little on the life of Paul this week. The story of Paul is amazing! Its pretty much the same story of Alama the younger. Paul was going around destroying the church and the members and persecuting those that were believers and putting them in prison or sometimes worse. When one day he was on the road to Damascus when he had this glorious vision. And he heard a voice say Paul why persecutest thou me? And it went on and eventually he was converted. And after that day Paul was forgiven of his past sins for all that he had done. There was not one sin that was over looked. And from that day on he devoted his life to serving the Lord. His missionary work was extensive, grueling, and just flat out hard! He was tried many times he was persecuted he was thrown in prison he was stoned and he had many ships that were wrecked and he lived through all of this and still kept the faith. Some people may call it crazy that he kept in the path that he was on but we know that he did it because of his testimony of Jesus Christ being the Son of God, our Savior, and Redeemer. And there is a lot more you can take from that story like no matter how bad you are or were all sins can and will be forgiven you and you will become clean. But its a simple testimony of something that you know to be true that will get you through all trials in life. And sometimes it is those trials that build your testimony! I know it is my testimony that keeps me going day to day through the hard times in my life. It is the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father giving His only Begotten Son for us to pay the price of sin! I have had a lot of wonderful experiences in the past months of my life where i have seen my testimony and others testimonies carry people through all things in life! And what is a testimony it is small and simple truths put together for your knowledge of a living God. Small and simple truths that is all it is :) 

I love you all so much! I love this Gospel and i am so glad that you do as well! :) 

Elder Dennison        

Dang so let me tell ya something that i haven't gotten to say in like over 5 months! I got to work in our area all week long no distractions!! It was probably the nicest thing i have ever experienced ;) ha. We got a new investigator that moved in to our ward this last week her name is Suzanne and she is stinking awesome! She is so ready for baptism! She had the date of the 12 but she was moving and all that jazz and still needs to be taught some things before she is baptized. So we pretty much had a baptism fall in to our laps... Praise the Lord ;). 

It was actually a pretty sweet experience. The whole stake was asked this last sunday to fast for people to teach for us the missionaries. And there have been some amazing things happening here in the stake! And one of the is Suzanne! She just kinda fell in to our laps! We have known about her for a while now that she might move in but i guess she officially has! And she was at church yesterday and it all was pretty sweet! She is just so ready for the gospel and all that jazz she is great! 

But we were able to meet with our Bishop as well this last week and he just dumped tons of people on to us for us to go and teach! We honestly have seen so many amazing miracles this last week! And its honestly like the coolest thing in the world to see how our relationship with the ward is helping us so much! The people here in our ward are stinking the best people in the world! I love this ward! They are pretty much the only reason i would stay here for the rest of my mission ;). But speaking of these people being the best! The Krafts the family that let us Skype over at their house this last time, they are moving to Utah!!!!!! :D:D:D I love this family so much! They honestly are some of the most amazing people i have ever met! And now they will be there when i get home! They just came up to me yesterday and were like "Elder Dennison we have some bad news for you.... We are moving." And when they said this i was devastated! I love this family so much! But when they saw the devastation on my face that is when they told me that they were moving to Utah!! One of the happiest days of my life :)!

Anyways so all i can say is that this week i have felt your prayers in my behalf! I needed them a lot! It was not the most enjoyable week but at the same time this is the feeling that i have missed ;) For the longest time we have had just enough work to get us through the week when our week was shortened by a few days. But with this week Elder Shields and i struggled to find things to do to keep us busy this week! Its like fallowing up in an area where two Elders just sat around all day in the apartment and didn't do anything in the area. So its been a tough one but i have felt more like a normal missionary this week then i have in a long time! We even got Yelled at by the most random lady ever! So these names we got from the Bishop were all these families that have moved in in the last 4 months and haven't been to church so we went out to find all these people and most of them ended up in the sisters area but that is how the cookie crumbles. So we go to this one house that was in our area. So go up and knock on the door and no one answers but the Pennsylvania door bell... their million dogs. So we are waiting and we knock again just to make sure when all of the sudden some demond old lady just pops out of the ground... Like honestly i have no idea where this lady came from! But she starts yelling at us and is all "Uhhh what do you want!?!" So we try talking to over this yard and the old lady can't even hear us so she yells at us again "GET OVER HERE!!" So we walk over there and we start trying to tell her that the people that live here are members if our church and we were just trying to stop by and see how they are doing. And i will tell ya what never in my life have i ever wanted to choke out some old lady until that day.... She just looks at us stops us in mid sentence and looks at our name badges and says "this family does live here but they don't want anything to do with your Latter Day Saints!" And again she was yelling at us when we were right in front of her. And she continues " they just had a baby and its cranky and all you are doing is trying to wake this baby up get out of here!" Oh man i am lucky i am on a mission... Like i don't feel like me telling you all this story does it any justice haha! So Elder Shields is just sitting there and i could tell that he was going to blow up any second. So all i say is am sorry mama God bless ya, but i hope you know that you confirming that they live there just means that we will have to stop by some other time God bless ya :) and walked away. HAHA Oh man! I get all worked up just telling the story. We plan on going back later today ;D.

The mission is amazing! I went on splits with our stake presidents 1st councilor this last week, and he was one of the most spiritual men i think i have ever met! He was telling me his story and he said something that i will never forget! To get anywhere in life there are only to things that you need to obtain and remember, first is maturity, and second is the Lord. And he went on and told me stories of how he obtained and remembered these two very important things, every story that he told came from his mission. And at the end he pointed that out to me. And said "there is a reason all those stories come from my mission. That is where i obtained maturity, and that is where i grew a solid testimony in the Lord. And if i hadn't gone on my mission i would have none of the things i have today." The mission is important, and at some point and time there will be a moments and time in our lives where we will be in a situation as if we were on our mission, if we haven't gone on one, were those two things will be given to us. I know and i believe that those two things are a key to a successful life. We take our plans to the Lord and He will help us with those plans just as He did with the Brother of Jarred. :) 

I love you all so much and i thank you all for your prayers and support for me out here in the mission i feel them daily. I want you all to know that the work is hastening and we all can do our own part in hastening it in our own lives and in the area around us. Start with your self and see the blessings of Heaven be bestowed upon you and your families :) I love you all!

Elder Dennison

Well this week was a good one! We traveled the mission again.... This stuff never stops!! ;) It was kinda fun though cause we drove with the Johnson. I really do love them. It was nice to really getting to know them though. We spent like 9 hours in the car with them so i better know them by now huh ;). Not a lot happened though like we traveled around and i got to see all the missionaries, which i think is always my favorite part of all this stuff! So this last week we found out that we are getting a sold investigator moving in to our area! She lived in the Pitt 6th ward and we are in the Pitt 5th ward. So its still the same building and all that jazz just a different ward different people and a different meeting time ;). Nah but we get to meet her on Wednesday to have kind of a switch off lesson and its gonna be amazing ;) Ha 

Well the 4th of July was AMAZING!!! We had a ward BBQ at the Bushmans whom i love they are an awesome family! But it was great!!! Well besides this one random lady was there and she is like 28 or something like that... She served her mission here in the Pittsburgh mission like 7 years ago! And she has moved her and is living with some members and came to the ward party, she usually goes to the single ward. But she was there and she was talking to Elder Shields and i and we had some of the most awkward conversations.... Like how she is not sexually active and how she went on this date with this guy but she dont like him.... It was probably one of the worst awkward moments on my mission.... hahahaha Ah i love my life. But other than that the party was AMAZING we played ultimate Frisbee i was in stinking heaven! But we started playing  really late so we thought that we would only have like 30 mins to play so we were playing and the next thing i know fireworks were going off and i looked at the time and it was 930!!! So luckily President Johnson was there so we ran over to him and we asked him if it was still okay that we were there and he told us that he couldnt think of a better place for us to be than with the members and with him!! So we got to watch Fireworks with the members and it was AWESOME!!! I loved my life that night!!! Ah it was great!

Well this last week i have been thinking a lot about the Book of Mormon. In the ward here we are trying to read the BOM before the school year starts this next year and the ward is on fire! It is amazing to see how the BOM will change someones life! You can see the effect it has on some of the members! I know it has a huge effect on me! I have learned so many simple little truths from the Book of Mormon! And they are the small and simple things that i have built my testimony on! And i have gained so much faith and knowledge from those things. But at the same time those things being so simple and small i can see how easy they would be to forget. I have seen a lot of people forget those things sense i have been on my mission. And i can now see why some of those people back at home have strayed away. Its because they have stopped reading the BOM. Or in some cases have never read the BOM, so they do not know what they are missing out on. I have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. I know that it is the word of God. And i know that it will lead and guide us in these latter days. The book is blue, and the gospel is true ;)

The stink in the apartment is gone only to be recovered by a new smell of smoke from us grilling with some other missionaries on the 4th.... My bad... ;) The garments.... well they are still stained... Its best if i just throw them away its that bad.... But i also had some of my white shirts in there so it would be nice if i had a little extra somethin somethin to go buy maybe one or two shirts.... :D But i told of the sisters here what happened and she went out and bought me this mexican soap that is supposed to help and be all amazing.... But i have to do my laundry in the bathtub so its been a fun experience :).... But the results arent amazing yet... We will see what happens. Well i love you all! I hope that you all are doing good :)

Elder Dennison      

Okay so this is me and the Tophams! I love them!