You can call me Tropicana because I'm an islander!

I LOVE MY NEW AREA! It is so awesome here! I am so blessed to be serving in the Bangor area!

So the town that I live in is called Old Town. It's one of 3 islands of the Penobscot River. The other islands are smaller then Old Town and are called Indian Island and French Island. I haven't been to French Island yet, but I have been to Indian Island a few times. It's an Indian reservation so we can't prostyle on it or else they will shoot us. But there are some members who live there so we get to go visit them.

We also cover Orono which is where the University of Maine is. I am in a college town! Ah! It's so great seeing people my age. Haha Life here in the "city" is defiantly a lot busier then good Ol' Milo.

This week we have had so many fun adventures. Tuesday transfer day was hectic crazy! A lot of missionaries were getting new cars, so a lot had to go down to Manchester. The Dover Elders wrecked their car so we had to drive them to Auburn, ME where we stayed and they took the Jeep to Manchester. It was fun staying in Auburn for a few hours with Sister Hoopes and Sister Adaline. I didn't get to my area until 8:00 at night. So much driving!! Ahh! It was nice to get out of the car!

Wednesday we get a call from a former investigator and she leaves a voicemail and you can tell by the tone of her voice that she is in panic. She asked us if we could do some service for her so the next day we went expecting to help her patch holes in her kitchen and paint.. But that was not the case at all. She was trying to put up some new shelves in her kitchen and when she pulled off the cupboard she discovered that her whole kitchen wasn't insulated. She was a wreck. She told us that all the walls needed to come down and handed us sledge hammers.

I have never used a sledge hammer in my life.. Especially not to knock down walls. But it was literally the best thing ever. All the stress and worry I have ever had was all let out on that poor poor wall. "All I wanted was to put up shelves" our dear friend kept saying as she banged her hammer into the wall. If her life wasn't falling apart at that exact moment I totally would have filmed me making complete destruction, but I am sure you can all just picture it in your head.

Well everything was fine and dandy until Sister Hallam stepped on a old rusty nail from 1929. She the next day we had to go to the insta care and get her a tetanus shot.

Saturday the weather was literally perfect! We were out walked a lot and talking to so many people! Oh my, there are so many people here! I feel like I am slightly in culture shock, but I'll get used to it because it is so awesome! Our apartment is a famously known in the mission as "the Bangor Mansion" because it is HUGE! Ah! I am so blessed.

The members here are so sweet and I have gotten to meet so many! It's a hard adjustment come to a new area where you literally don't know that much. Especially coming from Dover where I literally new everything about everyone. But I have got my stalker board all ready so I will know everyone here pretty soon.

Well on for my spiritual thought!! Sister Hallam gave a really great talk where she told a story about a little pioneer girl. She was so tired and really just wanted to ride on the wagon. But nobody offered her a ride. She walked and walked just about to the point where she couldn't go any longer. Then one of the men with a wagon asked her if she wanted a ride.

"Yes, please sir." She responded. She was so relieved to give her achey legs and feet a break. Her relief was soon cut short when the man grabbed her by the hand and made her run faster then she thought her little legs could go. She ran and ran along with the wagon and she was so angry at the "mean" man who was making her do this. Then unexpectedly the man swooped her up and wrapped her in a blanket putting her in the wagon.

While the young girl was snuggling all warm, in the blanket she realized that the heat for her exhausted body was keeping her warm in the freezing winter weather. The man she thought was so mean actually had saved her from freezing.

Life is like that a lot I think. We go through hard trials and when we ask for help from God things just always seems to get a little bit harder. Why is that? Why doesn't God just take away our pain and make our lives easy?

I think it's safe to say that God is so much wiser than we are. He is all knowing and He knows what is best for us. When trials get harder and we think there is no way we could possibly go on, take a moment to consider what the blessings are and look at life with an eternal perspective. Is God helping us to grow and become better? Is He keeping us safe from unseen danger? Is He preventing us from freezing in this cold and dark world?

Someone once said that we should be grateful for all the cracks that we have. The cracks that are in us from trials and hard times. Because without those cracks the light couldn't shine through.

I love you all so much!
Have a safe and happy week!!
Xoxoxo
Sister Dickson

They say when a door closes...

Another one opens.

Ahh! My head is just going crazy right now! So many great things happened this week!

Well.. The time has come and this week has definitely been bittersweet for me. I am being transferred. Oh man, ok well let me at least start from the beginning.

Tuesday we did a lot of service. We helped one of our investigators paint in her house, and we helped a member with yard work. I love doing service! Wednesday was the usual teaching and such.

Thursday morning we got some bad news when our landlord's daughter knocked on our door. She came to tell us that our landlord's husband had passed away. He was old and it was expected, but still such a shock. We spent a big part of the day with them and their family. These people have become like my family. I have spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter with them. They are such wonderful people, and I am so grateful for the knowledge we have that death is not the end. Because of Jesus Christ we will all be with our loved ones again.

Even with that knowledge it is still hard to be separated from our loved ones for a time. Sister Hoopes and I were pretty down in the dumps. We decided we were going to spend the day cheering up others because we know that the best medicine for sadness is service.

We went down to Dover in the grocery store (the store here in Milo is just way to expensive) to look at some flowers. We saw that they had these beautiful big bouquets for sale for only 4 dollars each. So of course we bought pretty much every kind of flower there was.. Enough to make 19 different flower bouquets to be exact.
Oh my! It was so fun playing florist. We put the flowers together in different arrangements for the single mothers in the branch, and also for a few other special women who have really blessed our lives. We also wrote a cute quote and a love note for these amazing women.

It was so fun surprising all of them! Especially when we gave our landlord some big bright happy yellow flowers. I am so grateful for such wonderful women in my life. Shout out to my beautiful mother who has and continues to do so much for me! Thank you so much! I love you!

By Saturday though my nerves were shot. I don't know what it is about transfers that are so stressful, but I am pretty sure I have high blood pressure because of it. When President Stoker called us that night and told me what my fate is, I was in complete shock when he told me I was being transferred to Bangor, Maine and will be a sister training leader.

AHHHHHH! I am soooo excited!! I am also completely and utterly terrified. But since I already have been on exchanges in Bangor 3 times I know the area decently well and I already know my new companion, Sister Hallam, who is a doll. Plus I will be Sister Hoopes Sister training leader so that means I get to go on exchanges with her! Woot woot!

It has been completely terrible saying goodbye to all of my friends here in the Dover area though. I love all of these people so so much. I feel so grateful that I have so many new friends here and for all of the wonderful experiences I have had.

I ended the week on a great note though, getting to video chat with my wonderful family! Haha they are as crazy as ever and so fun!

So for my spiritual thought I only find it fitting to talk about mothers,
"There is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood." -M. Russell Ballard
"There are few things more powerful than faithful prayers of a righteous mother." -Boyd K. Packer
Mothers have been given the highest and most holy calling ever. They are essential to Gods plan of happiness.
Thank you so very much to my wonderful mother. She has done more for me then I could ever ask. She is so unconditionally loving and I would be proud to become half the women she is, if I could become just that I would be going to the Celestial kingdom for sure.

I am so grateful for my knowledge that I have of the plan of happiness. I know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. I know that there is a purpose to life and that death is not the end. It's beginning. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has the fullness of the gospel and the truth, which helps us make it back to Heavenly Father again.

Ahh! I love it!
And I love all of you!
Have a happy day!
Xoxo
Sister Dickson

Refiner's Fire

It feels like everything is just going by waaaay to fast! 10 months already!!
Ahhhh! Just slow down time, ok?

A sister can dream.

Anyways this week was pretty good! We saw sooo many miracles.

Tuesday we were on exchanges with the sister training leaders in Bangor. I went with Sister Hallam, who was companions with Sister Bee right after she got done training me! So we had so much fun! We went walking around all day tracting and potential hunting in the snow.

Yes, the snow. SNOW, I am really not a fan.

And my foolish dreaming innocent self thought that since it was just about May that it would be warm. I was wrong, so horribly wrong.

Well this week we taught a lot of people and members. We did a lot of yard work service and flower planting. And we helped a lot of people who have a lot of hard problems that we can't do anything about except teach them of how the Savior can do to help them.

It seemed like every lesson we had the infamous question always came up. "Why does bad things happen to good people?"

For example there is a member here that we teach, and with her permission, I would like to share some of the hard things she has been going through.

She has tried her whole life to be good. She reads her scriptures, went to church, prayed, raised her children the best she could. But then health issues came up. She has been through cancer already twice before I met her 6 months ago. And offer the course of that 6 months I watched with her as she went though more cancer, resulting in her finger being amputated. The battle that she thought was finally over suddenly popped up again when the doctors discovered a malignant tumor in her cheek that has spread to her temples, jaw, and neck. She is now going through test after test, in the process of moving an hour away to be closer to the hospital, and she can barely open her mouth all the way.

Along with her problems there was a member with 3 deaths in the family. Another member going in to surgery today, another member going through radiation, and other member was just released from the hospital after a sudden attack which could have killed him. Another members dad just got admitted to the hospital after almost dying and now she has to take the role of taking care of him.

These are all good people, why are all theses bad things happening to them? They have been faithful, and have always relied on Christ. What's the deal?

In the Book of Mormon class we were teaching, this subject came up. A sister shared of how her sister died of cancer and while she was dying she asked, what did I do to deserve this?

We all have problems, some worse than others. But as it has been pointed out to me, life just happens. God doesn't sit up in a cloud thinking of different ways that he can afflict us. He doesn't ask Himself, "hmm... What can I do to cause the most pain and heartache possible?"

Now back to this sweet sister with cancer in her cheek. We had a lesson with her and we asked her to txt us or call us a miracle she saw from the Lord everyday. Well, last night she texts us and says, Sisters, I NEED you to call me asap.

So we call her and she tells us this story. About a month ago she was at the hospital for a check up. While she was waiting for her son she was looking at some shirts at the gift shop and saw one she really liked. With all of her medical bills she couldn't afford it. A lady she had never met before came over to buy one of the shirts and struck up a conversation. After hearing a little bit of what this sweet sister was going through this kind lady grabbed the shirt she liked and bought it for her. This sister was so overwhelmed with such a small act of kindness.

Well the month goes on and this sister is in the laundry room of her apartment complex  doing laundry when a familiar face walked in. It was the kind lady! She had just moved into that same apartment complex and was there to stay! Well these two women start talking and this sister expresses more of her cancer and how it has spread in her mouth and neck when the kind lady started tearing up. She had been through the exact same kind of cancer and offered so much comfort and counsel.

Along with the comfort of the Holy Ghost and her faith, this sister has another companion to help her through this difficult time. She new that God had heard her prayers and knew her fears. But He never has and never will leave us alone.

So I guess this whole letter is just one big spiritual thought,
But bad things happen to everybody. No matter what kind of life you live or how strong your faith is.
Things happen because that is life, that is what it is like to be mortal. Our Heavenly Father knew how hard it would be. So that is why He gave His son, Jesus Christ. Who suffered EVERYTHING we have and will ever go through. Everything. Every tear, every heartache, every pain imaginable He has felt it.

James E. Faust said, "Here then is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong... In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd.
Into every life there come the painful, despairing days of adversity and buffeting. There seems to be a full measure of anguish, sorrow, and often heartbreak for everyone, including those who earnestly seek to do right and be faithful... This change comes about through a refining process which often seems cruel and hard. In this way the soul can become like soft clay in the hands of the Master in building lives of faith, usefulness, beauty, and strength. For some, the refiner’s fire causes a loss of belief and faith in God, but those with eternal perspective understand that such refining is part of the perfection process.
In our extremities, it is possible to become born again, born anew, renewed in heart and spirit. We no longer ride with the flow of the crowd, but instead we enjoy the promise of Isaiah to be renewed in our strength and “mount up with wings as eagles” (Isa. 40:31)."
This letter may seem a little sad, with all of the heartache and pain that I mentioned. But, I am just filled with so much joy and gratefulness towards the Savior. Through hard times we are never ever ever alone.
Ah! So many miracles that I am so grateful that I get the privilege of witnessing.
The church is true my friends,
Christ is the Savior and God is our loving Heavenly Father. We can be happy during the hard times as well as the good. There is always a miracle that God provides for us every single day.
Have a happy day loves!!
xoxox
Sister Dickson

The true meaning of April Fools...

Ahhh!! Oh my.. There is just so much I need to tell and not enough time!! Ahhhh! Ok, ok, first thing first...

I FREAKING LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! AHHH!! I literally just don't want it to end!!

The weather this week was wonderful!! There were two whole days where it was like 71 degrees with a slight breeze.. Man, a girl can't ask for more then that!

I know truly understand the full meaning of the phrase "April Fools". April here is Maine is a mean, mean month. First off, the weather app will tell us that it's going to be in the high 50s and 60s all week.

So, of course, us sweet little unsuspecting, trusting, innocent, sister missionaries fold up those winter leggings and put away our jackets as the warm sunshine is beaming though the windows. We finally have that spark of hope of warm days and the depression of dark -20 degree weather has been lifted off of our backs. We run outside only to find that the weather man failed to mention that it would be 68 degrees that day, with a wind chill of 30 degrees.

Darn you April fools... I am very much looking forward with hope to a kinder May.

Anyways this week has been great! We did a lot of service! On of the members is moving so we helped paint their staircase, front porch and doors. We also helped other member rake up leaves. Oh yeah and we also helped, well by helped I mean attempted, to pull down these huge branched off of a tree.
I LOVE doing service!! The members here are so sweet! I love them!

We also picked up a new investigator this week!! Woohoo! Her name is Sue and she is hilarious. She had been taught by missionaries before a long time ago and really like reading the scriptures with them. She really is the biggest sweetheart.

On Tuesdays we had interviews with the mission president. So there I was talking with President Stoker when he mentions the fact that this will be our last interview together.   Well we both start tearing up and all these memories come flooding into my head. President Stoker's mission ends in July so they will be packing up and heading back home to Arizona soon. We sat there and talked about memories and how fast the time has gone since the first interview I had with him when I was in his office at the mission home just about 10 months ago.

Ah! It was so emotional. President and Sister Stoker are both some of the kindest people I have ever met and have really become my mission parents while I am away from my parents. I am so lucky to be serving here!!

I also got the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting on prayer. It was a last minute talk that they asked me to give because the member who was supposed to talk was sick. I love this branch and all of the people in it!!

President Stoker shared with me a really great poem that I want to share as my spiritual thought..

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed.
The die has been cast; I have stepped over the line.
I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I won't look back, let up, slow down, or be still.
My past is redeemed, my presence makes sense, and my future is secure.
I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.
I don't have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.
I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with penance, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power.
My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven.
My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear.
I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided, or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the mass of mediocrity.
I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the name of Christ.
I must go on til He comes, give til I drop, preach til all I know, and work til He stops me,
And when we returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me, my banner will be clear.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believeth...

Romans 1:16

"Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Joshua 3:5

Have a happy happy day!!
I love you all!
xoxox
Sister Dickson

Weeds and seeds

Oh my goodness.. Can I just say how awesome our God is. This week has been SUCH a huge blessing! It is so great!

So Tuesday was a really rough day. We didn't have any set appointments so we went tracting. Oh, and did I mention that it was raining cats and goats? We only got a little drenched. We were in a small town called LaGrange, and sadly no one was interested. One lady even slammed the door ON Sister Hoopes... Like hit her with the door. Needless to say it was a pretty rough day. So we head back to Milo and we are trying to find this former investigator, but the house number listed didn't exist. It was so discouraging, because both Sister Hoopes and I felt like we really needed to find this lady. Well we decide to just tract the street, so we knock on this door and lo and behold!! It's the lady we were looking for and her sweet husband that we met at the Food Cupboard.
Well they let us in and we taught a lesson to them and they became new investigators!!  Their house was literally the last door we knocked on, and the only one that listened to us the whole day.. More like the whole week before actually. But man, it was so worth it.

So the Williams, our recent converts, are literally the coolest people ever as you all know. I can go on and on about what miracles they are. Well a general authority, Elder Dudley, heard about all of the miracles that occurred with them so he decided he wanted to meet them. It was stake conference this weekend so Elder Dudley was up here and he asked Charlene to bear her testimony at Stake conference. Now, Charlene said the last time she tried to talk in front of a group a people she passed out.  But she had faith in our wonderful Savior, who would give her strength to do the things He asks her to do, so she got up on Sunday and bore the most beautiful and simple testimony I have ever heard.
I felt like a proud momma bird and it took everything in me to not run up to her and give her a big hug!! It is such a blessing that Heavenly Father has allowed me to witness Charlene and her family grow closer to each other and to God.

Nothing, literally NOTHING, is cooler than seeing the spark in someone's eyes as they learn about the gospel and feel the Spirit.

Well can I just say THANK YOU all so much for all of the birthday wishes.. This week Sister Hoopes and I have been spoiled with so many birthday parties! It was so fun getting to celebrate with Sister Hoopes, since our birthdays are only two days apart. The members here are so sweet.

On Friday, the Picott's threw a party for us and they had the sweetest gifts, including a neck pillow that Sister Picott made. Also Brother and Sister West got Sister Hoopes and I matching scarves.
Then on Saturday, Brother Bissell, our branch mission leader and the cow farmer, called us up and asked us to stop by. When we arrived he has a HUGE chocolate cake that he had professionally made just for us.
And the Williams, took us out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's in Bangor!

All the missionaries had to go to stake conference a little early for the Saturday adult session so we could practice the song we were singing on Sunday, well in the middle of practicing Sister Hoopes pushed me into the middle of the room ( along with another Elder who has the same birthday as me) and all the missionaries start singing happy birthday. Haha

Then on Sunday Sister Leeman through a birthday party for us too!! She also got me the cutest scarf and a photo album.

Oh my.. I have never eaten so much cake in my life. Hahaha. It has definitely been a birthday to remember.

Something kind of cool that happened is that the Williams took us to go see Stephen King's house in Bangor. I didn't know he was from Maine, but we saw his HUGE mansion with gargoyles and all. It was waaaay cool.

Sunday's stake conference was so good. I got the privilege of conducting the missionaries in singing "Behold a Royal Army". Why they asked me to lead.. I have no idea. But really, it's the coolest being able to see about 40 missionaries sing about leading a righteous army to victory.

AHHH! Being a missionary is so cool!!

Well my spiritual thought for this week stems off from what Elder Dudley said at stake conference. He talked about two things that President Hinckley taught him while he assisted him in finding a location for a temple in Connecticut back in 1991.
Elder Dudley said that President Hinckley was not afraid to step on weeds, to trample on them and to get rid of them. He also learned that President Hinckley collected seeds from every place he visited and planted them in his backyard.

Elder Dudley asked us to consider what the "weeds" are in our life. To identify them and then to stomp on them. Trample them, crush them, pull them out and throw them away. Weeds have no place in the lives of God's children.
Then he asked us to consider taking a seed that we learned that day. Something that the Spirit taught us, and to plant it in our hearts. To water it, nurture it, and then see all of the good fruit that will come from it.

I would like to invite you all to pick a seed from the gospel.
It could be faith,
Kindness,
Compassion,
Charity,
Or any other Christ like attribute that you want to develop and then plant it your hearts!  Nurture it by scripture study, prayer, church, and by action.

I most definitely can promise you that the good seed will grow, and become a beautiful tree, which will bless you by bringing more purpose into your life.

I KNOW that this church is the only church that has the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which tells us what we need to do to make it back to our Heavenly Father. That the Book of Mormon is truth that helps us to learn more of Christ and a tool to use to help strengthen our testimonies. And that we have true prophets on the earth to lead and guide us safely back home.

Miracles are all around us.

I love you all!
Have a happy day!
Xoxoxo
Sister Dickson

This week... Well it has been a week

Well hello again!!

This week... Well it has been a week. Not a bad week. And not a particularly interesting week.

We still don't have any new investigators. We did a lot of finding this week and sadly everyone we have tried to come in contact with wasn't interested in eternal happiness and floods of blessings.

Speaking of floods, it rained cats and goats like crazy this week. Plus it was like 30 degrees. Oh gosh and today it snowed! Ok go look at your calendar.. It's APRIL! And it snowed! Ahhh! Noooooo stop!!

We have been getting very creative with finding new people to teach. On Monday though we went and did yoga because a potential investigator is the instructor and she set up a return appointment with her for this coming Sunday! So that is really great!

We visited a lot of members and did a lot of service and such. Thank goodness for wonderful members. We have really been working with them and getting them excited for the new mission vision. Which is to have every member invite someone in their home to be taught by the missionaries. So we have been setting a date with them as to when they want to have someone to be taught in their home. So far we have set 7 dates with families. Which is like 1/3 of the branch, so we are off to a good start. I can feel the miracles a coming our way!!

Oh my goodness, I am so sorry that this email is so boring!
But nothing really crazy happened this week.. We didn't even get lost or almost die or anything!! Sorry I will try to have crazier stories for next week!

Oh I remember something funny that happened at church on Sunday. So it was fast and testimony meeting right, and the funniest things always happen during that. So this one member gets up (who we taught the mission vision to) and he starts baring his testimony about missionary work, since he is a convert. Haha and then he says, "the Sister's came over yesterday and they asked what blessings I have seen from living the gospel."
Then he says, "how do you answer a question like that? There are just too many blessings! It would be to hard to put it into a short summary. Might as well just ask me to write the history of the world in 3 sentences!" Well he goes on talking about blessings and such. He told of how he felt like there was a huge hole in his soul before he joined the gospel. Then he said, "Everyone who doesn't have the gospel is like a donut! They are just walking donuts with big holes. Well guess what guys! WE HAVE THE DONUT HOLE BABY!" He yells!!

Well guess what guys, HE IS RIGHT! WE HAVE THE DONUT HOLES BABY!!

Well.. I guess I will now go forth with my spiritual thought.
So as you can probably tell.. Nothing really happened this week. We worked hard but we haven't gotten anyone new to teach. But we still saw small little miracles and tender mercies of the Lord every single day. He helped us to stay busy, and we met many wonderful people.

So story of all of our lives, not everything is going to always go our way. Not everything will be easy. In reality everything that is easy isn't really worth it. Here is a quote from a Elder Holland in an article he wrote for the March 2001 Ensign, "Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?
          You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane."

I think we could replace missionary work that Elder Holland is talking about here and put there anything that any of us may be struggling. Testimony, self worth, and trial or any repentance process.

It'll all be worth it in the end, and that Heavenly Father is aware of all of us. And there is a point and a plan for everything.

This church is true.
Jesus is the Christ. He lives.
The Book of Mormon is the true word of God.
God is our loving Heavenly Father.
We have living prophets with the priesthood authority of God, and all the tools necessary to make it back home to Him.

I know this is true.
I love you all!!
Xoxoxox
Sister Dickson

Hardest.. Yet the greatest

This week was really the weirdest, saddest, hardest and best weeks of my whole mission. Being a missionary is just so awesome!!

Being in a district with all elders is... Well you know.. The same as being in a room with a bunch of awkward 18-20 year olds. The conversation at lunch consisted of super powers, nerf guns, wishing that the more you eat the buffer you get, and food. Super intelligent.

Wednesday was awesome! So they changed choir practice from Sunday's to Wednesday right before Book of Mormon class which is great because so many people came to the class!! It was awesome being able to read the Book of Mormon and feel the Spirit with all of my Dover friends.

On Thursday a cute little old couple took us out for lunch at a cute diner called the CountrySide Diner in Corinth. This couple were some former investigators we taught, but who are all set in their own church. But we are still friends because they are awesome.

So this week has been way hard because unfortunately we had to drop all of our investigators. They weren't progressing and none of them had that desire to change, so we dropped every single one of them.

So now we are working on getting new investigators who are prepared and ready to receive the gospel. The 2016 mission vision is to have every member invite someone to be taught by the missionaries in their home. A really cool miracle happened with the Lincoln Elders where they were teaching two members to didn't know of anyone they could invite. Well the Elders set a date with the members to when they would be having someone to be taught in their home and said they would come that day to teach no matter what.

Well the days came and at the first members house there was no one to teach- except for when the mailman showed up. Who is now an investigator by the way. Then at the second members home the same situation happened until one of her friends just decided to show up and became a new investigators too.

Moral of the story is that God will always provide a way to get the thing he has asked accomplished.

So that is what we have been working on with a lot of our members. Setting dates with them and sharing with them these miracles and asking them to act in faith. I know God always pulls through, especially as you are seeking to do His will.

Now, let's get down to the good stuff. General conference. Oh my heck guys this conference was so good I could barely handle all of the Spirituality!
Here are some great quotes that I liked from conference.

"In today’s world, no matter where we live and no matter what our circumstances are, it is essential that our preeminent identity is as a child of God. Knowing that will allow our faith to flourish, will motivate our continual repentance, and will provide the strength to be “steadfast and immovable” throughout our mortal journey" Donald L. Hallstorm

"It is never too early for you to prepare for missionary service. … All of your preparation, … whether you serve as a full-time missionary or not, will accrue lifelong benefits to you as a member missionary." Gary E. Stevenson

"One key to forgiving others is to try to see them as God sees them. …
Too often we look at the offender the way we would look at an iceberg—we see only the tip and not beneath the surface. We do not know all that is going on in a person’s life. … Please do not misunderstand. To forgive is not to condone. We do not rationalize bad behavior or allow someone to mistreat us because of their struggles, pains, or weaknesses. But we can gain greater understanding and peace when we see with a broader perspective. …" Kevin R. Duncan

"As you do, I promise that you will feel nearer to God. Natural tendencies to childish whining, disgruntled entitlement, and derisive skepticism will dissipate. Those sentiments will be replaced by feelings of greater love for Heavenly Father’s gift of His Son. As we draw closer to God, the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ will come into our lives. And … we will find that the Savior has been nearby all along." Dale G. Renlund

"As we contemplate the decisions we make in our lives each day—whether to make this choice or that—if we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice." Thomas S. Monson

"To assist us in our search for peace amidst the daily challenges of life, we’ve been given a simple pattern to keep our thoughts focused on the Savior, who said: “Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me. I am Jesus Christ” [D&C 19:23–24]." W. Christopher Waddell

"Loving the mother of his children—and showing that love—are two of the best things a father can do for his children. It reaffirms and strengthens the marriage that is the foundation of their family life and security... We call on all fathers to do better and to be better… Despite our inadequacies, our Heavenly Father will magnify us and cause our simple efforts to bear fruit." D. Todd Christofferson

"Our Savior, the Good Shepherd, knows and loves us—he knows and loves you.He knows when you are lost, and He knows where you are. He knows your grief. Your silent pleadings. Your fears. Your tears.It matters not how you became lost—whether because of your own poor choices or because of circumstances beyond your control. What matters is that you are His child. And He loves you. He loves His children. Because He loves you, He will find you.. While our loving Father desires that all of His children return to Him, He will force no one to heaven. God will not rescue us against our will." Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Only the adversary, the enemy of us all, would try to convince us that the ideals outlined in general conference are depressingly unrealistic, that people don’t really improve, that no one really progresses. … Don’t fall for that. With the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the strength of heaven to help us, we can improve, and the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed... Please remember tomorrow, and all the days after that, that the Lord blesses those who want to improve, who accept the need for commandments and try to keep them, who cherish Christlike virtues and strive to the best of their ability to acquire them. If you stumble in that pursuit, so does everyone; the Savior is there to help you keep going... Brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. That’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength… Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever." Jeffery R. Holland

I know that this is the true gospel. And here we can find the most peace and happiness in this life.

I hope you all have a great week!!

Love you and stay safe.

Xoxoxox

Sister Dickson