Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Make it rain make it rain with MIRACLES!๐Ÿ’๐Ÿผ

Oh my goodness this week has been very eventful so prepare yourself for some fun because this one is gonna be a good one!

Tuesday was the BOMB! We started off with doing some service for Sister Leeman. Sister Leeman is awesome and she always so willing to bring people to church and to come to lessons with us. So we wanted to do something nice for her to thank her for all of her awesomeness so we swept and mopped her floors for her. Then after that literally all of our appointments except for two canceled. It's very frustrating when this happens. So we went to our first appointment the HopeSmith family who are some recent converts. We talked about temples and family history and they are all planning on going to the temple this Saturday to do baptisms. And they also set the date of April 12 to get sealed as a family. So you can assume that lesson was awesome!
Our second appointment was with the fantastic Paul, Charlene and Tyler. They also have set the date to go to baptisms in the temple for the first time on Saturday. So we contacted the branch president, Pres. Sternal, and we arrange a big temple trip for all of the recent converts to go to. It's going to be awesome because Saturday is a special recent convert day at the temple so they are having the temple president come and speak and they are going to make it very special for them. I AM PUMPED for them. But I am also slightly sad because we can't go because missionaries have to be in a 2 hour travel radius in order to go to the temple and we are about 5 hours away. But that's ok I can be there in my heart with them. (Ahhh, tender moment.)

Wednesday we had a great district meeting! We also go the coolest text from our branch president. He told us that a bishop from Michigan called him. Now let's back up a minute. Remember Brandon and Keesha who were baptized back in November? Well like a week after they were baptized they moved to Michigan because Brandon got a job there. We haven't been able to get in contact with them so that we could send missionaries there to teach them. Then our branch president informed us that missionaries tracted into them and now the bishop there is working with them. Haha you can sure run but you can't hide!! Just kidding, but not really. God definitely knows how to take care of His children that's for sure.

So they have changed how exchanges work now. It used to be that us and the sister training leaders would switch companions and go to each different area. But now we both go to the sister training leaders area and then go on splits with them. It was interesting having all four of us in the apartment. It was a party! But I didn't even get to the best part their area is Bangor!! Bangor is a "city" by Maine standards anyways. But Bangor has a mall, a target, an Olive Garden and so much more. So we took our dinner hour in Bangor and went to Olive Garden. It. Was. The. Best. Thing. Of. My. Life. No jokes, no jokes.

Thursday we were in Bangor all day. I was on splits with Sister Duncan. We went to do service at a thrift shop, then went and contacted and taught some members and less actives. Then we went to a members house. Well her dad isn't particularly found of us Mormons. But he was kind. This is what he said to us word for word "why don't you offer them something to drink. We've got whiskey and coffee!"
"Dad, we don't drink that kind of stuff in our church." The daughter said
"They didn't allow whiskey when I went to church but that didn't stop me from drinking." Then we looked at us and said "Shoot, you could have 3 drops of whiskey and you'd be out in the dooryard having a party." Then he asked me where I was serving and when I told him Milo he looked me right in the eye and said with all seriousness "Milo?!? What in the world could you have done that was so bad that they would have put you in Milo." He went on for no joke 20 minutes trying to figure out what I did that was so bad that I would get "sent" to Milo.

Milo isn't that bad folks! Haha geez!

Anywho I cannot forget to mention the absolute best part of my day. After were were done with exchanges we took our dinner break and went to the mall. Guess what was in the mall guys guess?!?!

A BATH AND BODY WORKS!!!!!!!

To make matters even better they were having their semi annual sale and everything was like 3 dollars. I felt like a man who has been lost at sea for 6 months finally stepping onto dry land again. There is a God there is a God. I got a new lotion, body spray, body wash, wallflower scent, two new hand sanitizers, some soap and some travel size body wash. I'm sorry mom, please don't ever mad but I couldn't help myself! It was FABULOUS!

Then we came back to Milo. Dirt roads, no stop lights, no shopping, hardly any people. We got back into our apartment and planned for the next day. We started getting ready to go to sleep. And I went pee. You know just like any other regular night. But when I went to flush the toilet... It got clogged. Now, how it got clogged I have no idea. I plunged and plunged and plunged. Nothing happened. Sister Jensen plunged and plunged and plunged. Then the toilet started over flowing and flooded the bathroom. So our landlord and her son came over. He plunged and plunged and plunged and it just kept getting worse! So two hours, two plungers,two pressure hoses, a ShockVac, some tears, and some frustration later we ended up with a broken toilet in our garage and no toilet in our bathroom.

Then Saturday night we come home expecting to see the usual no toilet but was surprised to see a brand new spanking toilet. But not only a new toilet but brand new floors too!!! It was so awesome!! I most definitely will never forget that night. Our landlord is awesome!!

I also got a sweater that say Wicked Mainiac. It's on fleek!

Well also on Saturday night we had dinner at Paul and Charlene's house. Right when we got there Charlene was showing us all the neat stuff they got on lds.org. She ordered a ton of pictures of temples and temple posters. She ordered a ton of church history books and DVDs. She also ordered for the Strength of a youth and a true to the faith book. They were all so excited for it! They can't wait to go the the temple and they have been finding their own family names to take to the temple!  During dinner they were talking about familysearch.org and how Charlene has had to fix a lot of Paul's tree on there. Someone had put his grandpa in as himself and himself again as his own son. Then Paul blurted out "I'm my own grandpa!" I died laughing it was so funny!

Sunday was oh my gosh such a day full of miracles again! Ashley came to church again and right when she saw us she came running up to us. She was screaming and waving her Book of Mormon up in the air. "Sisters, I have been waiting forever to show you all that I have read in the Book of Mormon!" She read 7 chapters and highlighted all of the things that she liked. It was fantastic! With all the excitement going on I didn't realize that it was time for church to begin and no one was there to play the music. So, of course with all my luck, they asked if I would play the opening hymn. Thank goodness they let me change it to Sweet Hour of Prayer (otherwise known as the easiest hymn in the history of hymns) then the regular organist showed up in time to play the rest of the songs.

It was the most terrifying thing of my life. But it was chill, Heavenly Father definitely helped me out.
Later that night we had dinner at the Leemans and they invited Ashley over. Right in the middle of dinner Ashley's had shot right up in the air. "Guys ok Can you just tell me what I need to do to be baptized now!! I have been waiting so patiently, I just really want to get baptized!" My heart was so giddy with joy! So we told her what she needed to do and that we still needed to teach her some more lessons and we set her baptism date for February 27. Gahh!! I am so excited!

This week has been AWESOME!

So I guess I could share a spiritual thought now. This morning I was reading in 1 Kings 18. This chapter of freaking hilarious!  So the prophet is Elijah in this story. So he goes to the wicked King Ahab who worships the false god Baal and tells him to gather all 450 false prophets that he has them meet him in the mountain.

So they all are in the mountain and Elijah wants to prove that there is only one true God. So he tells the wicked prophets and priests to build an alter and then pray to Baal to have him set the sacrifice on the alter on fire. So they do that and they pray and pray and pray until the middle of the day. They start cutting themselves and crying out to this pretend God and nothing happens. Elijah starts mocking them, which I think is hilarious. In verse 27 it says "And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." So Elijah is just sitting there while these people are like cutting themselves and crying and praying and he's just laughing at them.

So Elijah tells them to stop and he builds his alter and then he tells the people to get four barrels of water and dump it on the alter. Then he tells them to get four more barrels of water and do the same thing. Then he tells them to do it again. So this alter is like floating in 12 barrels of water then Elijah says his prayer to God and immediately the whole alter like starts on fire. In verse 38 it says "Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench." Everything burnt up!! Then it says in verse 39 "And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God."

I want to testify to you that this story is true. And that that God is our God. The only true and everlasting God. He is all powerful and all knowing. But not only that He is a loving and a merciful God as well. And just like back in biblical times He still performs miracles as mighty and wonderful as that one I just told. I see them happen everyday. He can heal the deepest wounds, fix the most broken of all hearts, change the harshness and the anger and evil that we have in us. Because of Him our "mistakes don't define us, they refine us." As long as we are willing, and full of faith-just like Elijah.

The fact that I could actually read that story in the bible and understand it enough to tell it again is a miracle in and of itself.

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.
For with Him we can do all things.

I love you all so much!
Have a great week!















✨Swimming in Sparkles✨

If I were to describe this week I would say that it was like playing in a pool full of sparkles- somewhat messy and stressful, but glorious and fabulous!

 So can I just please take a moment to brag about Paul, and Charlene and Tyler? Oh my gosh they are so awesome! So they just became member of the church and they are already giving us referrals, signing up to feed us, they are finding pictures of temples on Pinterest and setting it as their wallpaper, and coming to other lessons with us. They are such a blessing I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am that I get to teach them.

It's so cool thinking about to the first lesson we had with them and then seeing where they are now. They have changed so much and they are so happy! I love hearing their testimonies and seeing the gospel work miracles in their lives.

Sister Jensen and I had a lot of fun this week. We baked cookies for all the single ladies(please insert Beyoncรฉs "Single Ladies" song now. ๐ŸŽถ all the single ladies put your hands up! Whoa whoa whoa! ๐ŸŽถ๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿผ) in the branch. And we had a spa night. We called it our pamper and pancakes night. We just got done working on the cow farm (where I didn't kill any baby cows this time in case you were wondering) so we deep conditioned our hair, did face masks, and ate blueberry muffin pancakes and drank homemade hot chocolate. Also Sister Jensen did my nails all cute and pink and sparkly. It's awesome!

Oh! So funny story. So on Saturday we were trying to find this less actives house and so we pull up to the drive way and then we get out of the car and see this big truck pull in right behind us and a man hops out.
"Do you have a birthday?" Was the first thing he said to us
"Well yeah I have a birthday- it's not today. But I have one. Do you have a birthday?" Sister Jensen asks.
"Well yeah I have a birthday. It's not today either."
"Oh ok then." We say
"Well are you Holly?" He asks
"No I'm not Holly."
"Oh, you don't live here?"
"No, we don't do you live here?"
"No, I'm just the delivery guy!" He says as he pulls out all these princess balloons from his truck.
Probably one of the strangest conversations I have ever had.
He was a pretty cool dude.

So another miracle that happened was that our investigator Ashley came to church on Sunday! Ashley.. How would I describe Ashley. Probably as a spicy white chick burrito stuffed full of love and humor. You never know what a lesson is going to be like with Ashley, but I know it will never be a boring one! Well we have been working with her for awhile on helping her come to church and on Sunday she finally came! It was awesome! She was glowing. We asked her how she liked it and she described it as she felt like she was home. Later that day we had a lesson with her and she said that the weirdest stuff kept happening to her. Like how whenever she goes to a church she is super nervous, but right when she walked through the doors of the chapel she didn't feel nervous at all and she felt happy. Also weird stuff like how answers to her prayers were in the words of the sacrament hymns and how she just felt welcomed and she never once felt judge.

At this point while she was talking about how much she loved church, you could imagine me jumping around in sparkles and singing hallelujah, because in my head I was. Then Ashely said the greatest thing, "I have decided that I would like to go to church every Sunday if that's aright." I mean, sure Ashley, if you want to go every Sunday I mean don't let us get in the way. And also she said "So like, who can I talk to about being baptized there?" Us Ashley.. Us. You can talk to us, and I am pretty sure we can set something up to make that happen for you.

BOOYAH. ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿผ

So also on Sunday we had a lunch appointment with the sweetest lady Sister Harmon. Her son Scott was there and his non member daughter and her friend. Well after we ate we started to share our Restoration Apostasy Jenga lesson that we had planned to share, and it became quickly obvious that that lesson was not what they needed at that time. Then Sister Jensen starts bearing her testimony on prayer and on how much God knows and loves each and everyone of us. Let's just say the Spirit put words into our mouths and in a few minutes there wasn't a dry eye in the house. You could cut the spirit in there with a knife it was so strong.
I can honestly say that was the strongest time I have ever felt the Spirit on my mission-actually I take that back, it was the strongest time I have ever felt the Spirit in my whole life.

It was FABULOUS! ๐Ÿ’๐Ÿผ
Well this coming weekend is another social media split. So look for the hashtags #lds #socialmediasplit #iammormon and you might just see some awesome pictures of me doing some awesome work. ๐Ÿ“ธ
Ok so for my Spiritual thought this week I would like to share a scripture I found. It's in D&C 78:18 "And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours." I LOVE this scripture. More then I love Mac and cheese-and that's a lot of love. A part that sticks out to me is where is says for I will lead you along. We are never ever ever alone! We can lift up our eyes and see all the good and hope that the gospel brings. As we embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ and love by His teachings we have His promise that He will help us through hard times and that the reward will be the riches and blessings of the Kingdom of God.

Guys... This Gospel is so true. I am so lucky and so blessed to be a missionary at this time in my life.
I love you all so much. Thank you for all the support and love you show towards me. Have a good and safe week, and remember to keep calm because He will lead us along.

Love, Sister Dickson\


















They wanted to hear our message about Jesus- even if the silly humans didn't want to. 

Icicles on my eyelashes ❄️

Let me tell you, nothing is more rewarding then missionary work.
Monday night we had a lesson we Paul and Charlene and Tyler (our amazing now recent converts) all about temples. They are so excited to go do baptisms for the dead now! Seriously these people are so olden I can't even handle it! All day Monday everyone was telling us how bad it was going to snow on Tuesday. Which was hard for me to believe because of the "horrible, dreadful, scary" 3 inches of snow that was on Sunday.

But oh man it snowed soooo much. We got about a foot of snow and I got to finally wear my awesome big snow boots! Now people really don't understand that even when the weather is "bad" we still have to go out and save souls. So we were out and.. We got stuck twice! The first time we were stuck for 45 minutes and I was out there digging out around the tires. The second time I used my big strong arm muscles to push us out! Along with the help of a teenage boy.

Wednesday was wicked cold. And so was Thursday... And Friday.. And Saturday and Sunday. Especially today. It's like cold to the bone.

Paul and Charlene and Tyler all got confirmed on Sunday and it was beautiful! I'll never forget the look I saw on Paul's face when we bounced back to his seat after receiving the Holy Ghost. He smiled from ear to ear and I could just see the light shine from each of there eyes. I am so blessed to get to witness something so awesome!

So our new mission vision for 2016 is to have every member have a family or individual over to their house to be taught by the missionaries. So we have been working a lot with members teaching them the lessons and then inviting them to pray for someone who the can invite over. We already had one referral from it, which is awesome!

Wanna know something awesome?!?! We saw a moose on Sunday. But not just one moose, but two! We were driving down the road and they were off to the side eating some stuff. It was so sick!!

On Saturday we went back to the cow farm.. And I have bad news ๐Ÿ˜” last time I fed a sick baby cow too much milk. I didn't know I fed her too much and I thought I was helping her but then Brother Bissell informed me that she is in the beautiful green field in the sky.  Ah I feel so terrible! Brother Bissell says it probably wasn't my fault, but still I feel terrible.

So on that happy note it's time for a spiritual thought!

So Sister Jensen and I have really been putting our noggins together trying to figure out what would be best to help this area. And we have it figured out! It's through the members and strengthening and uplifting them. And satan is not happy with the plans that we made. And he has been trying so hard to break us down and distract us. So Sister Jensen and I asked the Elders for a strengthening blessing. And last night we were talking with Sister Simpson (the mission nurse) and she told us a quote from Brigham Young, " If you have a bad thought about yourself, tell it to go to hell because that's exactly where it belongs."

We are all children of God and we are all important to Him. Period. End of story. No ifs ands or buts. It's true that when we do good and follow God that the devil is going to try and attack us as hard as we can. Why would he try to drag down the ones who he already has? But God is so much more powerful and as long as you endure faithfully He will be there every step of the way.

I am so grateful for this gospel and the wonderful blessings that it brings!

I love you all sooo much!
Have an amazing week and stay safe and warm!
Love,
Sister Dickson





Friday, January 1, 2016

๐ŸŽ„Christmas and cows๐Ÿฎ



Oh my oh my there is just so much I want to tell all of you that I just don't even know where to begin!
Monday we had a lesson with Paul, Tyler and Charlene where we talked about the Holy Ghost. Then we had dinner with Sister Price. Sister Price is such an angel and she brings us dinner every Sunday! She pranced around the whole chapel last Sunday and was just giving everyone gifts. She reminds be of a little happy Santa fairy. We are so lucky to have her in our ward. All night Monday there was freezing rain. Right when the rain would hit the ground it would freeze instantly into this little bead of ice. It was the oddest thing, but pretty cool.


Then on Tuesday we taught a lesson to some less actives and her kids. They were running around like mad so I am not to sure how much they got out of our Christmas message but we tried! Then we had a lesson with our new investigators Alan and Sherri. They are such sweet people and they have been through a lot. It's so awesome being able to see the Gospel bring peace and comfort into their lives. Then after that we went to sweet Sister Call's home for lunch. Sister Call is 88 I think and she lives all by her lonesome. She is the sweetest little lady and I love her so so much! She fed us the yummiest home made sweet and sour Chinese food. Then she had pineapple pie for dessert. Then we went over to our Recent Convert Danielle's home and I cut her hair. All I did was trim her layers and frame around her face and trimmed her bangs, but she loved it! The Elders told us that when they saw her she just kept talking about how much she loved her new hair cut. Then after that we went to the church and did some top secret missionary soul saving work. Then headed to the Atwaters for dinner. The Atwaters are a HUGE family. 9 kids aging from 20 to 7. They were a hoot! I don't think I have ever seen so much food on one table in my life! Needless to say we were STUFFED full. Sister Jensen and I wobbled our way back to the car like little rollie pollies and headed to our investigators Waltor and Judy where they gave us a Christmas present. Which was a cute homemade snowman apron! I love them so much! They are so sweet.


Wednesday we had another lesson with Tyler and Charlene while Paul was at work and we practiced being baptized and talked about the Sabbath day. Then after that Sister Jensen had a really bad tummy ache from all the food we ate the day before, so we went back to the barn and I made apple pies for people while she rested with the rice bag Grandma and Grandpa Dickson sent me for Christmas - which I LOVE by the way, thank you! Then we went and had a lesson with John and then Robert who are both less actives. Then we had dinner with Sister Small - who by the way is going to Utah next week so I'll give her your info family so you guys can meet! She is an angel and she feeds us every week! She gave us a Christmas present too. She gave us the cutest reversible apron and hot pad with yummy good smelling stuff in it. I love her dearly. Then we had a lesson with the Wests, who are less active, but oh my goodness they are awesome. Only God knows why they don't come to church, because they have the strongest testimony of the Book of Mormon. But they are like my 4th set of grandparents-after my biological ones and The Wrights from Berwick. (Love you Minus and Donna!!)


Thursday we had District meeting which was so spiritual. I love being able to have all these awesome spiritual experiences all the time! It's so cool. Then we went and helped our Branch Mission Leader, Brother Bissell, on his cow farm again. I never thought in a million years I would be working on a cow farm on Christmas Eve. It was pretty cute when we got there Brother Bissell looked at us and told us we needed to put on our uniforms. Then he gave each of us a Santa Hat and we listened to country Christmas music. We feed all the baby cows and I helped put the milking machines on the cows. It was a pretty fun night, a Christmas Eve that I will always remember.


Friday, Christmas. The day every missionary just can't wait for. I remember Sister Bee telling me about her first Christmas in the mission and she told me she wished she would have made it more special. So that's what Sister Jensen and I decided to do. We woke up early and made hot chocolate and opened our presents. By the way, thank you to everyone who thought of me this Christmas and sent me something. It was so special!! We bought bacon and eggs and egg nog a few day before and made cinnamon French toast with homemade bread that Sister Small gave us. We ate our yummy festive breakfast while we listened to the Mercy River Christmas CD. Then we snuggled up in our blankies on the couch and had a really good Christmas companionship study together. Our Landlords family invited us over for lunch and we had all the works. Then we went to Sister Gushue's house and skyped our families. I was kind of freaking out at first because for some reason the skype wasn't working and was glitching a lot. But it all worked out because we got to FaceTime on our iPads instead. I am grateful for the blessing of being able to video chat with my family ๐Ÿ’— After that we went over to the Picott's for dinner and had cheeseburger soup. I LOVE CHEESEBURGER SOUP! It was an awesome Christmas!


Then on Saturday we made some chicken pineapple salad and a chocolate cake for the potluck that was on Sunday, then headed to Paul, Tyler, and Charlene's home for their last lesson before their baptism! Then we had lunch with Sister Sternal, the Branch Presidents wife, and helped her clean the chapel. Then we went and had dinner with the Clukey's. The Clukey's are legit like the coolest family ever! They asked us what we wanted for dinner and we told them something healthy. So we had the best dang chicken tossed salad I have ever had! Brother Clukey told us some cool stories back from when he was a missionary in Colorado.


On Sunday the whole state of Maine shut down because it snowed like 3 inches. It's was nuts. I thought the people here were supposed to be used to snow but no. I am not even exaggerating a little bit. Everything shut down. *cough.. wimps.. cough cough* So we went to church to find out that they canceled the last two hours of church because of the "snow storm". That didn't stop Paul and Charlene and Tyler from being baptized though! About 20 people came to church and we had the baptism right after Sacrament Meeting. It was perfect! The Spirit was so strong! Brother Clukey baptized them all and then we had the potluck after and there was just the right amount of food for everyone. Sister Jensen and I taught Paul and Tyler from the beginning. Charlene was taught before I got here and then she brought Paul and Tyler to church. I never thought I would be able to say that I taught and baptized someone from the start. Let alone baptizing an actual family - But it happened! It was so cool to see the happiness the gospel has brought into their lives. It was hard for me not to tear up when they bore their testimonies of how happy they have been since the church has been brought into their lives. God is so good for blessing me to be able to witness something so beautiful.


So I guess it's that time for a spiritual thought. Heavenly Father has really been helping me learn more about the Atonement while I have been on my mission. I know I have mentioned the enabling power of the Atonement before. It's so cool to have the Atonement there to not only save us from sin but to strengthen us as well. While I have been learning so much about how awesome it is and all of facts about the Savior I thought to myself, well that's so cool and great but how did I access that enabling power? Then at Zone Conference last week my question was answered!


President Stoker talked about the 6 P's of accessing and applying the Atonement:


Pray. Distinguish sin from Weakness. Ask for help
Ponder. Scripture study and listening to the Spirit. Ponder in our hearts.
Plan. Set goals. More than a desire and discipline.
Prioritize. Decide what is most important now. One thing at a time.
Patterns. Establish holy habits and righteous routines.
Patience. Keep trying. Don't give up. Be humble.


Pretty simple huh? I love how simple the gospel is. We get all these wonderful blessings and miracles from God and they are so simple to access! Once again God has answered my question -and I hope this helps you as well. I have a strong testimony that life is hard. But we don't have to go through it alone. All because of the wonderful Jesus Christ.


I hope you all have a wonderful week!
God loves you
And so do I๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ’—๐Ÿ˜˜
Love,
Sister Dickson


Oh hey, I am back! You probably want to know what's happening with transfers huh?
Well Saturday night we didn't get a your safe text. Usually if you don't get a text by 9:40ish that means you are getting a transfer call.
9:40 came -no text
10:00 still no text at this point Sister Jensen and I were depressed with the fact that we were going to get a transfer call. We tried to hold back the tears when...
10:15 came and again nothing
10:30 nada
So at 10:45 we texted the assistants and told them we never got a text or call


Where they told us that Sister Jensen and I are staying together for another transfer!
Woot woot!!!!! ๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰๐Ÿ’๐Ÿผ
Alright bye now love bugs๐Ÿž๐Ÿœ๐Ÿ›๐Ÿ










Ho Ho Ho Tis the Season ❄️๐ŸŽ„



Just hear those sleigh bells a ringle ling ting ting tingly wingly pingly doo!
It snowed ladies and gentlemen, it snowed๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿฝ❄️
But.. It's pretty much all gone now so, ok. Bye Felicia.
It's funny to think about, last year in Utah there was like no snow and here there was like nothing but snow and this year it did a flip flop.
It's cool, I'm down! But it is like cut you to the core, goosebumps to your bone, toes will never be warm kind of cold.


We have literally been running around from appointment to appointment all week. It's AWESOME! I am so tired when I get home at night that I am out like a light right when I hit the pillow. Fabulous! ๐Ÿ’๐Ÿผ


We got two new investigators and received two referrals this week in addition to all that we are teaching. It's crazy because next week is like already almost full with all appointments. I have never had that happen before and I am pumped. We have been showing everyone we can the A Savior is Born video and it's so awesome how much people have loved it. The Christmas season is so awesome, it seems like everyone is happier then usual.


I went on exchange with my Sister Training Leader Wednesday and we saw miracles! Her name is Sister Eddington and she is from Oklahoma. She taught me so much about being bolder and talking to absolutely everyone! She is so kind and she is so spiritually in tune. It was so great getting to learn from her. I also got to drive while on exchange and I drove about 3 hours to zone conference! No dents, deaths, or accidents so I say it was a pretty dang good day.
Then on Thursday we had an awesome Christmas Zone Conference. I am going to talk about that more in my spiritual thought so stay tuned. There was also a talent show after conference, no I didn't participate. I know #lame. But it was so funny getting to see everyone else's talents!


Then Friday it was the same, running around from appointment to appointment. Then on Saturday it was the Branch Christmas party. They had a pot luck lunch and they set up different Nativity Scenes and had Christmas music playing. It was really nice, and what is even more awesome are our investigators who are getting baptized! They came to the party and afterwards had their baptism interviews and passed.
Can I please just take a moment and express to you all how awesome these people are.
They gave up coffee and smoking in 3 days so they could be baptized. They read the scriptures everyday and they love church! Also, the husband told us that while he was at work he wanted to listen to the radio, but then he decided to listen to General Conference talks instead. Keep in mind that we just barely explained to this family what General conference was like a few days prior. But not only did he just listen to them at work but he listened to the whole stinking October session of conference and re listened to ones he couldn't hear very well. They proceeded to tell us that they like having milk instead of coffee and how they pray every morning, night, and while they walk the dog. I probably looked funny as a sat there listening to them with my mouth dropped to the floor catching flies, because this is unheard of! They come to every church function and they come to church every week. WE ONLY STARTED TEACHING THEM LIKE IN A MONTH AGO! They are more committed then half the members.
They are so golden I can't even believe what I am typing right now.
We blessed, we blessed. Heavenly Father has prepared them so well I barely even feel like we are teaching them.
Being a missionary is so cool. I love it!
On Sunday us and the Elders gave a talk in sacrament meeting, it was kind of different because the Branch President asked us to teaching the congregation like how we teach in lessons. So Sister Jensen and I were both up there together at the same time teaching about the Savior just like in a lesson. We explained that even though we plan lessons ahead of time, that's usually not what we teach. The Spirit leads us into a different direction in order to fit best what the person needs to hear if what we planned isn't what they need right now. So that's how we gave our talk. It was pretty different but awesome! The Spirit was so strong in that room. It's so true that we are not the teachers, the Spirit is.
Which leads right into my spiritual thought. At Zone Conference, President Stoker asked us 3 questions.
1: what has Christ given you this Christmas?
2: what are you giving Him this Christmas?
3: what do you want for Christmas?
Ponder those questions in your hearts.
You know, I dreaded thinking about Christmas time while out here. I didn't want to be sad and homesick. I didn't want to see everyone else's Christmas Tree and wish I was home decorating mine with my family.
But with God nothing is impossible. Yes my lovely family I miss you. But I am not sad. I am not homesick. This is my first Christmas away from home and I can't help but rejoice!
All the lights, the gifts, the trees, the food, the music is such a great comfort to me. But that is not all, there is so much more to Christmas then just that! It's Christ! It's all about Christ.
I have heard that a million times before, you know. I have been reminded and taught ever since I was little that Christ is the true meaning of Christmas. But it never really hit me until now. Now that I am gone and I don't have a tree, or the Christmas movies, or even the time to do all those Christmasy things that I did before.
I am so grateful to be away this Christmas because I have come to discover the true gift. The greatest gift of all. The gift that was made possible all because a miracle baby was born.
I can rejoice and celebrate without my family and be happy, because of Him I am with my family forever.
And now I get to witness miracles as others discover that their families are forever too.
I know what I am giving my Savior this Christmas. What are you giving Him? Receive the gift that He has given you. Receive it gladly and thankfully!


Glory, glory to God in the highest and peace on earth good will to men.
Please have a happy happy merry Christmas. Celebrate and laugh and smile!


I love you all so very much!
Stay safe๐Ÿ’—
Love,
Sister Dickson