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