Week 81: How far away is that plane?

Ahhhh. It's a weird feeling writing your last weekly about your last week as a missionary. I have had so many mixed emotions this week. I get excited, then nervous, then sad I'm leaving, etc haha. But I know that's normal. Most of all I have just felt super fulfilled with the end of my mission. And this seriously was the best last week ever!!! So stay tuned for the last email you ever have to hear from me!:

Things to know:

- Had 8 friends come to church for my last Sunday to hear me speak and it was amazing . Best last Sunday ever!

- Had lots of good last lessons and things this week, and said lots of goodbyes too:,( This place is literally my second home, I'm going to miss it soooo stinking much 

- Had a FUN Thanksgiving!!! We ate at our bishops house and got to call family too!

- Went to fun places for lunch for my last week, and had a fun last district lunch today before I go home. Gonna miss the Lewheezer District a whole lot #fomo

- Found 6 new friends this week and there were lots and lots of miracles for my last full week as a missionary! God is good 

- We also went to a members baptism in the ward and his step dad is a non member we are teaching and he said he "felt something". KARL IS THE BEST!!!

- Had my last district council and my district had a funeral for me haha #rip 

- Finished the Old testament today so I could say I read the whole standard works (Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants) on my mission! The scriptures are awesome and they sure are true.

- Tomorrow I go up to the temple with the other 19 missionaries going home with me, and then we get to have dinner and have fun together at the mission home. And then I fly home Wednesday! I'm so excited!

Stories of the week:

- One of my favorite last miracles on the mission was having my new friends the Seay's and their family come to church. They were the friends we met only last Sunday, but this week we had a great first lesson with them and then they invited us over for pie on Thanksgiving! Their daughter Annie was there and we started talking with her and literally found out she is a member?!?! Like what!!! She got in a bad car accident right after she was baptized like two years ago and was paralyzed and hasn't been to church since. But she said she has been feeling like she needs to come back and was so happy she met us. We invited her and her parents to come to church and THEY CAME! And they said they loved it. Annie asked for my phone number to stay in touch after my mission because my "soul shines to her". Ahhh. God is so good. I'm going to miss witnessing so many miracles firsthand like this!

- Funny story for this week was the APs called us on Friday night to tell my comp that she will be training. But before they did that they asked me to go off speaker. And i was like ??? I thought you were calling for Sister Peterson and they were like no go off speaker and I was like ... okay. So I do and Elder Anae says: "On behalf of President LeBaron we are inviting you to extend your mission". I was like uhhhh you're kidding right. They said yes. Oh my gosh they got me good. I was like I mean I probably shouldn't say no if they're serious but like cmon don't ask me to do that 5 days before I go home.

Spiritual thought:

- I really don't have anything profound to say because I'm sure you'll all get to hear my testimony when I come home. But I just would like to say that serving a mission has absolutely changed my life. It was one of the best decisions I have ever ever ever made. I know who I am and I know who my Savior and Father in Heaven are because I chose to serve. I have seen countless lives changed, including my own, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ! He lives, and is my Savior, Friend, Healer, and King.

BEST 568 DAYS/18.5 MONTHS OF MY LIFE

ALSO THE HARDEST, FASTEST, FUNNEST

IM GONNA MISS THIS LITTLE BLACK TAG

BUT ALSO

CANT WAIT TO HUG YOU IN 2 DAYS MOM

And the rest of you too hahaha

God is good

Thank you all for the support

See ya!

Lots and lots of love,

Sister Dickson signing out

Homecoming info:

December 11th at 12:00 pm

10860 South 3200 West, South Jordan, UT 84095

Zoom link:  https://youtu.be/8eAjk3z9XPk

 

Lunch after:

1:00-3:00 pm

10637 S Bison View Cv, South Jordan, UT 84095

Pictures:

Light Contacting

Acai in Lewi

Best District

Brad

Bye Stinky

Church!

Coordination Crew

Gonna miss boonies

Hanna + Cat

Lewiston lookout

Lunch last pday

My BFG

My funeral

Nail day with besties

Ratatouille

Rip Petey X Diggy

The best

The dream team

The Gammills

Turkey Day!

Week 80: "Back in my day"

 This week flew by holy! Its starting to feel real haha. I hit single digits which is insane. I had a couple of lasts and lots of other things that qualify me as "old" in the mission. Hence the weekly title lol. That's the best I could come up with and I'm

running out of creativity for weeklies at this point.

Things to know:

- Had exit interviews with my mission president and he gave me the good old thumbs-up and some good advice for life haha. It went really well! I love President LeBaron. That one definitely made the bones feel a little rickety. I had a fun road trip with some Moscow sisters and even got to see Sister Bird and Woolston for a second so that was fun! We also got to hear Tanner and Zach sing their musical auditions for us.

- We had a fire lesson with our friend Mike Nash and I just straight up asked him what was holding him back from joining the church haha and he said going to church is hard for him so we taught him about the importance of it, how it blesses us, etc. Our fellowship was awesome too. He should be coming not this weekend but next.

- A recent convert named Brad's birthday was this week and we went out to lunch for it! May or may not be my 4th time to KCs burgers haha don't worry about it tho.

- We had a mission zone conference zoom connect and it was a good last one for me!

- One day we raked leaves and put them into a huge pile and jumped into it haha! Almost paralyzed myself doing a cannonball and landing straight on my legs lol but it was all good. And it was fun to bring out my inner child for a moment.

- Our members gave us money for helping rake their neighbors; so we got some Dutch bros of course (no coffee don't worry).

- Went on my last exchange this week with Sister Lundell :,))) So crazy. Excited to be on the plane together tho, I love her stinking guts!

- Our members brought the coolest friends to dinner and MIRACLES we are teaching them now. God is good! We also made a tech new and the story is legit! Long story short a couple months ago this girl requested to follow me and I usually don't approve random peoples requests, but I felt like I should accept hers. So then I do and she messaged me and said that she doesn't ever remember requesting to follow me, but that she had been praying to God for a sign and I approved her friend request. She had met with missionaries in the past and was praying to know if she should again and lo and behold there was a friend request from a missionary! So we started teaching her this week because she's finally 18! Super cool miracles.

- Random exciting side note: I finally learned how to do the "thop" noise!!! #iykyk #gocougs 

- Also my friend Aisha got married this week, congrats best friend I love you!!! 

Stories of the week:

- Uhh so this ones not really a story and I forgot to mention it last week and it goes along with the "old" theme. I officially got my first grey hair. Not joking. Proof of the stress a mission causes. Or maybe I've just become super wise?? Either way. I got a grey hair at 20 years old.

- I had a massive migraine this week while we were at our friends for service. She wanted us to help her put up wallpaper in her China cabinet but it was honestly a one person job because the cabinet wasn't big enough for both of us to reach inside of. So I asked her if I could sit down on her couch since my head hurt. She said yes and then she asked if she could pray for me and of course I was like psh yes who would say no to a prayer. Little did I know she was going to lay her hands on my head and try to heal me. Felt a little apostate but thats okay lol how was she supposed to know women can't do that. Long story short after the prayer and sitting on the couch for awhile I suddenly feel someone shaking me awake lol. I had fallen asleep for all of service. Haha I was so embarrassed. More proof that I'm old since I fell asleep on a burkalounger lol. It was a very nice nap tho and I woke up feeling refreshed! I guess naps and the "laying on of hands" really do heal you if you have enough faith.

- Also I'm absolutely shook. This week while doing family history (yep... still old) I found out that a woman that was married to multiple men can be sealed to all of her spouses after passing away. We even looked it up on the church's website to double check! So yeah the church is true.

Spiritual thought:

- Read some bomb verses this week as I am finishing up the Bible before I go home:

1 Peter 4:12-14 says "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified"

When we suffer, we are like Christ. Bad things happen to good people all the time. Jesus Christ didn't deserve any of the things that happened to Him, and yet He still chose to submit to His Father's will. Its a hard pill to swallow, but I know that our trials and sufferings are for our benefit. Just think of this scripture next time you're going through it :))

Anywayyyy 

You only have to hear from me once more

Can't believe it's my last full week ahhhh

Definitely excited to go home 

I guess that makes me trunky 

Don't worry I'm still working hard 

Like a wise friend once said to me

"Trunky talk not trunky actions"

Bc I know I'm going to miss this black tag

So cheers to one last grind this week

Send your prayers my way!

Love you all and see you so soon,

Sis Diggy

1/2 of the WSM

9 days

Sister Dawson

Brad's Birthday

Exit Interviews

Home on the Rez

Last exchange

Lil Nez Perce in me

Pile of leaves

Sandy

LOL

Week 79: CPR in the Arby's parking lot

 Wow. This week was an eventful one to say the least. I don't even know where to start. But I'll just hop right in like usual! Stay tuned for an insane mission story also lol:

Things to know:

- I hit my 18 months. Still don't know how to feel about it haha. So weird. Never thought I would get to this point

- Had my last zone conference ever :,( Also very weird. I got to say a couple words... which means I'm definitely getting old haha. And I didn't even cry until they played the closing hymn "Called to Serve" and it started to hit me that I wouldn't be called to serve for very much longer. Sad life.

(To Elder Cabaniss: They made pork for lunch)

- Our friend Samantha came to church! And so did a couple others but Samantha has a fun story of how we got her to church hah. We gave her a church tour this week and she said it made her more excited to come! Then she texts us saying her washer broke and she has to go to her parents Sunday to do her laundry. So we respond with: "We are coming over to grab your laundry and do it in our machine!" of course. We go and get it and then throw it all in the wash! And voila! She was able to come! Lol the things we do to get people to church.

- Haha we also got pulled over, and it finally wasn't my fault! Tiwi failed us tho because apparently you can still get pulled over for going 5 over?? Anyway we got out of the ticket because you know... #blessings 

Stories of the week:

- So now for the craziest part of the week. We roll up to Arby's to have a lesson with our man JR (Can't go to his house alone because he is a single man yanno). As we pull into the parking lot there is literally a man laying on the ground unconscious. He was probably around 80 years old. His car door was wide open and he was just lying right there on the pavement next to it. There's a man standing above him calling the police and everyone is staring. We park and I'm like there's no way we are just walking into a lesson and just gonna leave this man here!?! Even though Sis Petey did not want to help. So I run over to where he is laying right as this other girl comes over and starts slapping his face telling him to wake up. I tell her I'm CPR certified (even tho I've never actually had to save someone's life with it) and she says she is too and that she's a nurse. She starts doing CPR right then and there and his head is fr just banging on the concrete so I jumped down and held his head while the girl did CPR. Honestly it was kind of scary because his face was purple from not breathing and his eyes were rolled back into his head. I thought he was already dead. And the last thing I wanted was someone to literally die in my arms on the mission. So I'm praying my guts out and after the 2nd round of CPR he starts breathing again! He was still unconscious tho, and then the police and the ambulance started showing up. They got him into the ambulance and drove away. I don't even know what this guys name was?! Or even if he lived or not. But I pray he did. And yeah. There's the story of the time I (kinda maybe hopefully) saved someone's life by helping do CPR in the Arby's parking lot as a missionary.

Spiritual thought:

- With my experience above I was reflecting a lot about how incredible God's timing is, and how He leads us to be at the right place at the right time. Even if we have no idea what will take place, or that we were being guided by the Spirit in the first place! This exact reflection reminded me of an awesome scripture:

"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do" - 1 Nephi 4:6

God knows all things, and He surely works in mysterious ways. He knew that we would plan to meet our friend JR at Arby's, and JR wouldn't even show, just so we could be there to help that man. I wish that I could say I did more than merely hold his head, but I'm just glad I was there. Trust that the Lord is guiding you in ways you do not see or don't even plan on. It will happen exactly how and when it is supposed to.

I LOVE YOU ALL

Can't believe this wonderful time

is almost to the end credits 

Let me know if you still want a 

homecoming announcement 

Love,

Sis Diggy

Pictures:

.5 + Sunsets

92 to 98

Big 18 months lol

Christmas time

Craziest night ever

E Summerill

El Sombrero

Hermana Fowler

It was cold

Justin

Last ZC

Lewis + Clark

Martinellis Sponsor

My bestie

Not 21, just 18

Samantha came to church

Sis Foote

Sis Fotu

Sis Lundy

Sis Mauga

Sis Nygard

Tiwi failed us

Yuppp

Sus