My Missionary Commission

MY MISSIONARY COMMISSION

I am Called of God. My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and he has chosen me to represent him. To stand in his place, to say and do what he himself would say and do if he personally were ministering to the very people to whom he has sent me. My voice is his voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are his words, and my doctrine is his doctrine. My commission is to do what he wants done. To say what he wants said. To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous latter-day work.
-Elder Bruce R McConkie
If any of you have received any letters or great stories from Dylan and would like to share it, we'd love to have it and post it here. When Dylan is done we are going to make this blog into a book for him. So any contributions are welcome. Just email them to dawn@thurlowonline.com



Feel free to make comments as they are automatically emailed to Dylan. He would love to hear from you. Even if it is a small comment.


Dylan's Photo Album- check back on Mondays when he (hopefully) uploads more each week.

Relief Society Visit (10/9/2011)

So, This week...hmm...well....lets start off with sunday, I went to relief society this week, I felt like one of those people high in the church that go around from class to class and the teachers trips out cause they are in there but really, the secret is they just do not want to go to priesthood :) which is what I did haha, I went and chatted with all the women, pretty legit, I walked around a little but I do stay for all of them, but while I was walking around I saw the stake president and was like ohhh noo!! he is going to make me teach, so I ran back to relief society all huffing and puffing and the ladies thought it was hiliarious, cause I told them I wanted to learn and all them called me a vehivavy :) that class was better though, I get to just sit haha :) freaking legit though, so this week, everyone got sick except clark who was sick last week, like lunt was throwing up hard core, but the thing that made it funny was he said three days he was due to get sick, just made it so awesome haha, prochnow had some weird thing going on with his stomach and just big ol pains and I got something called tazo, it is like a cold just a little different, so that just made the week awesome, we did not work half the work lol, just bleh!! got to pick it up this week if I do not get moved, just goodness gracious, kind of was nice though, a nice slow week to relax but we still worked somewhat, do not get me wrong here, so one of the days, there are these things called pousses, it is a two seater cart pulled by someone and we were walking and I was in a I dont give a care right now, sohe asked me if wanted a pousse, I said if you sit and I drive, and holy cow it was freaking hard and I only did it for a good 5 minutes and woowee what the heck!! it was rough, then about 10 minutes later there was two oxen pulling a cart, these things are everywhere and it was going in the same direction so I asked if I could just sit down and they said yea, I was like really?? they said yea so I got a good 20 minute ride and the funny thing was all the pousse guys were just shocked cause I was getting a free ride, I jsut laughed so hard and they smiled but just shocked lol made my day much better, so another thing while we were in a time I was pretty sick in, I told the lady I was sick and she shouted you must pray!! Clark!! pray and heal him, so we did not argue and clark asked for me to be healed, woowee, I walked out and asked him if he really did that and he said I could not argue with her!! was so funny, that same time she gave me this medicine you sniff and I sniffed it and she said you are doing it wrong, do it like this, so I grab the bottle and sniffed it real hard but I swung it too fast and got it everywhere, that stuff had a RANK smell haha, it was rough that day, I had that smell on me for a good hour walking around, but it cleared my nose up :) First general conference is this week on saturday and sunday in malagasy, going to be a long day haha, I can grasp the people speaking but that is something completely different! We did two more baptisims on saturday, that made the goal 60 for mahajanga complete!  Do not remember if I told you this already but we were walking down a thing to go to the beach cause we were done with work and this guy started yelling at us to come over and we are like the heck whatever, lets just go, so I started talking to the drunk guy in english, cause when people are drunk they get really good at english and when they are not they talk only french to white people, so after that he bought us soda, then another girl wanted to learn and we bounced haha, kind of legit getting free drinks, that guy had some interesting stories for sure, half of it was hard to understand but I got the jist of it!  the ladies in the ward are loving on me, got a couple that say if you guys need a break just come stop by, my house is your house, lol so this week being sick we took some breaks and got some food, loved it :) pretty sure that is it!! love you guys!

Mission President's Visit (10/2/2011)

hahahahahaha, good ol mother falling asleep, love the snoring part. Really cheered me up a little bit right now so thank you for that



This week was slow/fast. It was the actually work week because the first one is him getting here and getting settled in and what not. but this was the actual first one. So, we put in some work this week, and on friday I planned out where everyone lives so we can be in that area that day and put in more work,   But besides that fact, this was not a bad week. So a week or two ago this lady told us she wanted to learn, so we went back and some other lady let us in so I was not sure if this was the right lady but I did not fight it, then this past wednesday we saw her again and said she was the one that was supposed to learn haha, so we go back to her house, and I met the cooliest lady ever, her name is Malala, which means beloved, she is soo freaking smart, gonna have a kid soon and her friend is dope too, the friend was the one who approached us, but gosh dang, am stoked to go back, when we were leaving the friend named Jasmine asked us if it was alright to bring friends, so I asked how much, and she said a lot haha, so yea, wednesday is going to be a sick day, which is when we go back. gosh dang she is so dopĂȘ!! President came up and is still here this weekend, we had to hardcore clean the house but we are moving houses as well now, the contract runs out in 4 days haha, we found some sick house, one has the best view in mahajanga, even if we do not get that house Ill get back and take pictures, it is the highest house you can live in right now :) some places here are soo nice, they are about 500 a month as well if I remember right, but shoot, they are so good stuff. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting right? so I wrote mine down to make sure I had it all solid in my head and in malagasy, by the way which is getting pretty good, After awhile you do not have to translate and you just say the stuff, it is pretty nice, but I was headed up and sat next to a little girl, I told her I was s kind of scared cause there was a good amount of people and she said ask for strength and did the finger to your head chest and shoulders, the cross, made me laugh :) I offically hit my 6 month mark on mission on Thursday. 4 month mark in country.woowee, 6 months..... president came and taught with us, we would translate for him and he would usually speak in french, but he came to teach a family that is way sick but never come to church cause they are so diligent with their church, which is no worries you know, ability to choose, but president came with us and we tore it up, they came to church haha :), once we met up with president we saw a car catch fire and for like 5 minutes was throwing dirt on it and everyone was just watching then all the sudden we had like 20 people trying to put it out, it was cool haha, everyone was so amazed at first then boom, my white shirt got a little dirty then =/ but that is why we got washers haha, oh shoot, this tripped me out, we were watching a primary training video which was translated into malagasy, but set in africa so they sang in english but I did not know that, I was listening to them sing and I could not pick out the words, it was not malagasy but english and i did not realize they were singing english til it was over, tripped me out bad. All I got :)
 Enjoy your week please.
 love you guys.

6th month anniversary (burning day) 10-6-2011

Happy 6th month Anniversary Elder Shaw!  It has been a wild ride so far. From Provo, Utah to Chicago, Illinois to London England, to Johannesburg South Africa to Antananarivo Madagascar, to Anjanahany Madagascar to the 14 hour trip to  Mahavoky, Mahajanga.   Here's to much more success in Spreading the gospel to the good people of Madagascar over the next 18 months!





3 new baptisms (9/25/2011)

So, stories, I made sure I did not forget my planner so I could write a good amount today :) To start it off, had 3 new baps this past saturday, the water felt sooo freaking good that day, goodness, like 4 and just felt awesome!! We also had transfers this week, I got a new elder and his name is clark, he is pretty freaking legit, pretty laid back guy and prochnow got a new elder as well and his name is lunt!


lunt is from duncan AZ! But clark is mine and he is dope, we got big plans and I think we are going to enjoy the next month or two together, plus our house is sick! So yea :) haha before I forget, we have tennis balls in the house and prochnow was trying to get me, and you have to remmeber how hot it is here, and he threw it and got one of the best funs and straight busted it hahahaha, that was such a funny day, Also, when I was with reynolds, we went to petite plage, one of the best beaches to go to on the island, besides grand privoiore, which we are going to both of those probably today :DD, petite plage is a lot of people and the other beach is opposite, hardly any people but gorgeous, we also revamped the house because prochnow and I became the bosses ha, deba is malagasy for boss by the way :), we put all the beds in one room and all the study stuff in one room, cleaned the house which took us two houses to clean two rooms!!

freaking crazy!! we cleaned it the night Reynolds and oyoukou were leaving, so we decided to pull another all nighter, so from 3 to 5 we cleaned the house and they left then they others got there at 8 :) it was a pretty big party night, so with Reynodls leaving bought a good amount of things, went to BOLO!! a straight italian runned food place in madagascar, oh my goodness, the spagetti reminds me of dads ol spagetti, woowee, I was in heaven!! Also, nex tweek we are getting shark, all I have left to eat here is sea turtle, seagall, bat and yea, I might get the seagall this week hopefully!! we saw it at a resturant kind of thing, also on a side note, president is coming up again on saturday through monday! hahaha, guess also what I ate, freaking liver, probably one of the better foods I have eaten here too, woowee was it good, the vazaha(white non mada) guy made it :))) he is such a good cook I love it! Also, a fomba or like a custom I guess you would call it is when it is someones birthday you throw flour on them, cause then it turns them white :) lol just kidding!! but that is really what you do, and Reynolds and I got to do it to one of our favorite members, it was so awesome :) saw my first lightning storm from far off and goodness gracious, I am excited, that sucker was huge, and one things that happens here is there is no sound from the lightning, it does not make sense scientifically but it is freaking cool haha! so sort of longer story for you!! so, when clark came here I gave him the keys, he went to go play basketball with lunt while prochnow and I went and bought things, that night we went to the board, a big place to eat, and got a taxi home and we get home and go to bed, wake up and I ask clark if he has the keys and he could not find them!! so we freaked for awhile and said whatever, went out to work, came home and waited for the other two because we could not get in, then I realized I dead bolted it so noone could get in lol, so I had to jump on the balcony and break a door, no good but it had to be done!! then later that night we go to that restuarnt place and a guy walks up to us and in broken english says you left your keys at the basketball place!! and he had ALL the important keys, so yea we hurry and get over there and we do not see him so we go ask some people playing cards where he lives and one guy starts being really persistant and asking us all these question and after abuot 10 minutes clark is getting pissed haha, I tell him lets go ask somebody else and right then he yells at us and says he has the keys, it was awesome :) also!! I decided what I am doing with my uku!! I am going to bring it around with me, then get a rosewood at home!! hopefully it works out :) if I remember right that be it!! hope you enjoyed!! lots of jumping around!! Ive been dreaming in malagasy so yea..brain is starting to get mixed up, sorry, love you :)

Missionaries Coming Home Video

This is a sweet video about missionaries coming home to their mothers.  I have this up here, because our own Elder Shaw is in it and plus its just pretty darn awesome!

NGA (goodness gracious) 9-18-2011

Goodness gracious. I did enjoy this email very much! By the way, I love how you were thinking about Shirley :)) lol that part made me laugh too much :) (surely)




My week has been interesting for sure. We had a missionary leave this week, that was pretty weird cause he is the group ahead of me and he had to go back to america to get surgery, and I realized I am 2 weeks from 6 months!! almost a fourth!! gosh dang haha, I forgot my planner today so I can not remembner what I was going to write....BUT! Ill wing it :) This week I learned a little bit of french haha, been studying it here and there because a lot of malagasies speak french, that is like there dream stuff, if you are good at there you get a lot of good jobs and what not so yea!! figured why not, I speak malagasy all day and can learn french while I am here as well. But going back, I learned this phrase, J ai rougeurs sur mes.... the guy I said it to, he is fluent in french and still learning english, from congo, so funny, he freaked out once he understood what I said he said oooooo crap!! You are screwed in broken engish haha that night was awesome, aiyah!! I remember one!! This week we were working with a member and at night we thought we would get shiskabobs with him for helping us, then there is this ALWAYS drunk guy, he came up and starting dancing and slowly sitting next to us, but the owners did not like that, and started just beating the crap out of him, but he is always happy and he thought it was the funniest thing. Then the next day we were walking around our area and a bunch of kids saw us and started to run away, but one in particular, looked back to see if we were running and smacked right into a car lol, straight out of a movie, then jumped on a concrete thing and slipped, he was so sketched out by us lol so funny though, he was like 4 :) we had a time this week too, Elder Prochnow and I, we had a bunch of member presents and made everyone share their testimonies and some of them had CRAZY stories, and the investigator Zara, starting crying, she is WAY cool though! I figured out how to say goodness gracious this week too, it is Nga!! you raise your voice and the ending and that is goodness gracious lol That is pretty much all I got!!
 Love you guys :)
Peace, stay good
 Aza Maditra ianareo :)

Shark (9/11/2011)


So, not much happened this week, Tonga dia vita. So, there is four missionaries in our house.  On Wednesday, I went on splits which means splits, I went with the other missionaires, so we just switched pretty much, and it was sooo fun, usually the mornings are not that fun but the afternoon is just awesome, so many little Congo culture things that are just hilarious, and broken English just makes it ten times better, like he says bizarre a lot, It is just bizarre! love it :) we got shark this week too :))lol freak, umm... YEA! TRACTING!! 
doing missionary work all week!! Putting in work haha, should be pushing 13 baptisms soon!! thats my week :)

A letter from Taytum (9/5/2011)

DEAR DYLAN

I MISS YOU HOW WAS YOUR DAY TODAY HOW IS ELDER REYNOLDS

WHAT ARE YOU AND YOUR COMPANION HOW IS BREAKFAST WHAT DID EAT AND
WHO DID YOU SIT BY IT IS NIGHT TIME IT IS AMOST TIME FOR ME TO GO TO
BED. HOW WAS YOUR DAY LIKE. WHAT IS ELDER REYNOLDS DOING RIGHT NOW.DO
YOU SWIM IN THE OCEAN LIKE.DO YOU HAVE ANY FRIENDS.DO YOU SLEEP ON THE
TOP OF THE BED.OR THE BOTTUM OF THE BED. IS THERE A PLAYGROND THERE
BECAUSE I LOVE PLAYGRONDS THERE FUN.HOW MANY PRIMARY KIDS ARE
THERE.WHAT IS MATAGASGAR LIKE.WHAT IS YOUR FAVROITE SONG IN CHURCH.ARE
THERE SHARKS IN THE OCEAN . WHAT IS THE WETHER LIKE IS IT COLD OR HOT.WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR DENNER TO NIGHT.

love taytum

DYLAN'S RESPONSE:

Dear Taytum!!
 my day has been really awesome!! we got to go see BUNCHES of leemers and way cool animals haha, this morning and usually every morning I go to a certain store and get this piece of bread with noodles and spagetti, it is SUPER good!! and the lady at the store is usually way cool :) how has school been?? I heard you have been doing really good and started karate again!! do you like it?? haha I actually have my own bed! and there is playgrounds, I see them all over theplace cause I go walking around ALL day!! and have not seen much sharks but I will be eating shark and seaturtle and seagall and stingray VERY soon :) I should bee eating rice tonight, what about you?? I miss making food withyou!! hope you are doing good!!
love ya!





Food, Glorius Food (9/5/2011)

A'ight g!! here we go again!! I have been trying to write a lot lately so yea... It is most likely going to be a lot haha :) haha first off, when we were teaching a time, we got about half way through and I heard off in the distance can you feel the love tonight, and since we are in Muslim central it sounded like it was coming off one of those and tripped me out bad haha, but i laughed so it was all good, I also met a lady named Olga, totally fit her name too, hairy legs but most malagasys do not shave their legs, broad shoulders, deeper voice, just straight and perfect description!!! but she was not half bad though!!


I did teach the guys in my house about the hand sanitzer stuff lol that was interesting, it is when you put a bunch of hand sanitzer on your hand and lite it on fire and it just chills there, freaked me out cause I have not done it in so long but they loved it! There is this one place called DAllas, it is the best rice and loak (the stuff you put on the rice, I do not know what it is in english) place EVER!! I get this stuff called coco shrimp and oh my goodness gracious each bite is apart of heaven!! hopefully we are going there tonight :D by the way, you know how in third world countries you always hear about cock fights, and goodness gracious they are interesting, it is so simple but they just happen everywhere and I am going to try and get a picture soon! they are really quite interesting! On saturday I did baptize a kid in the ocean!! it was legit, he just glowed haha, but we had a time before that and we were waiting for somebody and I decided to sit down without looking and sat in poop, that was just a great start to my day haha, but it was legit, then he was late for church and my comp was really freaking out!! but Elder Prochnow and I just did our thing :) Reynolds and I did get an idea as well, after every example our scripture in our teaching we are going to try and switch off, so that is definitely going to be difficult at first but should be way cool!! OH! along with Dallas, there is also called this beans called tsaramaso, supposedly in the states it is called butterbeans, THEY ARE SO FREAKING GOOD!! but not better than the coco shrimp!! I should be getting some tsaramaso (which litterly means good eyes) on wednesday when I do splits and go with the other missionary! :) Still talking about food, in malagasy brownies are called cockaroach bread, or mofo kadradraka, so people really think we get bugs and crush them up and that is where the color comes from! we were telling our favorite family that and saying it is soooo good!! and they were freaking out lol, but we are going to make it soon and Ill tell you how they react :) We gave 3 solid baps out this past week too! so we have 1 this weekend and 3 next week! got to love it!! putting in work!! some people are way cool too!! we would have 5 but a freaking husband is being a butthead! Oh my bad, on saturday, we were walking around and it was pretty dark, I look at the ground, thought it was good, jumped and just a big ol puddle, just lovely haha. OH SHOOT!!

last monday, I was in score, it is the same as shopright, like a mini walmart, and I see some white people and it is kind of weird all the time now, but one of them comes up to and me and says hey whats up, and all I could say whoa brother, you speak english!! he had a crazy story, he was born into madagascar, went to kenya when he was 15 to study, then seattle then back on a baptist mission, really cool guy, but a lil weird. I believe that is it cause that is all I wrote on my planner so yea OH SHOOT!! I did a hug from ma girlfriend this week, she is about4 and her name is sabrina haha, she is the coolest lil girl, she told Elder Prochnow to shutup during church. Amin manaraka

:)



So! You could add totsie rolls, the red green and orange one ONLY!!

blue and white be nasty!! and the chocolate ones :))) fruit slices!!

smarites and skittles :) do not forget licorice too!! and some paydays if possible, which by the way, payday means gay in french if I remember right haha, if you can send an upload thing, a 3 point 0 thing that would be cool!! umm...oh freak!! if you can fit it put in vanilla frosting!! yea the rings are alright, can you put on the blog or if anyone asks to send a package, either say wrap that sucker up TIGHT!! or put it in a brown paper and write the address on the paper!

one of the two! I believe that is it! By the way, I realized the family picture you sent me, Ill always remember richard just looking mad haha, I might need a new one soon :P



I'm his little Thuglet!

MOM: So what are the rules on the water there? Are you guys allowed to go into the water on your p-days? Boy are you ever white!


DYLAN: Haha no water on monday, only Baptisms!


MOM: Had to get the "official" word. As every mission is different. Ya know g?


DYLAN: Haha I hear ya, that is kind of a sketchy rule, so will not be breaking that one, I hear ya lil thuglet :)

A real Vazaha!
The Big Thug!