Sister McKay Dickson: Week 7: "Does anyone have a handheld microphone in this hotel?"

What is up friends and family! I hope you all had a great week, because I did too! I don't have a ton of updates on our progressing friends, but we are still working on teaching and loving them all, and hope to see some great miracles soon :) This week we had some exchanges, zone conference, and my brother got married on Saturday! Congrats to Braxton and Jane, I am so happy for you two! It was fun to get permission to call them on their special day and congratulate them. And I am so grateful for the blessings of the holy temple, and the knowledge that families are eternal (sorry Jane, you're stuck with Brax and the rest of the Shoe Crew now!). Okay back to missionary work haha. This week was so amazing and full of fun and super spiritual experiences, every day I am grateful for this opportunity to be a servant of the Lord.

Things to know:

So like I said, we had more exchanges this week! I went with Sister Bachman (the other trainer in my apartment). It was a party and we got to have lessons with a lot of friends and meet some new people too. There was also another wedding this week haha! But this one was for a lady named Shelly that Sister Wilson and I were teaching. All I will say about it is that it was a very different environment than my siblings wedding haha. And then we had ZONE CONFERENCE! ZC is the best thing on the planet. Three zones meet up and get to hear our mission president and wife speak. It was super bittersweet because this is President and Sister Thompson's last transfer :'( (I'll talk more about this later). We ate lunch together, had trainings + spiritual experiences galore, and saw/met all the missionary friends. Since I'm new I really only know the missionaries in my zone, but I definitely made lots of new friends and also got to see my favorite sister... SISTER MADDY SUE CLARK! She is a friend from high school and had been waiting to see her again ever since I got my mission call! It was such a sweet reunion.

Stories of the week:

My subject line is a quote from President Thompson at zone conference haha. He asked if anyone had a microphone in the HOTEL instead of the chapel and it made us all laugh so hard haha. He is so funny. Another thing is that the weather here is SO HOT. These last couple of days and this next week will all be over 100 degrees... and of course our apartment has no AC haha. So President told anyone without an AC to go stay the night at a members (and also that all the missionaries from Arizona praying for heat need to knock it off haha) and my apartment got to have a sleepover at a cute old lady's house in the ward. It was very fun, and a miracle we got to stay somewhere with AC. BUT, then God decided to send us another miracle! Two of our other members literally bought an AC for us and came and installed it yesterday. Now our apartment is feeling nice and cool instead of like the inside of a toaster oven! Hopefully we will all survive the extreme heat now that we have AC; but prayers would still be greatly appreciated so we don't get heat stroke or melanoma :D

Spiritual Thought:

Since it was his and Sister Thompson's last zone conference, you know they had to make it really good. Meaning it was full of tons of spiritual experiences and TONS of tears. I have never felt the spirit so strong, and it truly testified to me that there is nothing better for me to be doing right now than be on a mission. I know that Jesus is my Savior, and I have felt his love through my mission presidents. I have only known my mission president and wife for one transfer, but they have loved me so much (almost more than my own parents if that gives you an idea haha) since the moment I got here. Having to say goodbye was hard for me (you already know I cried my eyes out lol), so I can't imagine how all the other missionaries who have spent more time with the Thompsons are feeling. They are truly angels on earth, and I have learned so much from them during this last transfer of theirs. I will miss them tons, but I am also so excited for President and Sister Lebaron to come this week! I know that these two sets of mission presidents are exactly what I needed in my life, and I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending me to be with them. God knows what we need, and he will place us exactly where we need to be, with the people we need most. So look around and be thankful for those around you and all that God has blessed you with! Because there is so much to be thankful for :) The end.

Alright that is all for my week! Sorry that this is kinda long, but thank you to anyone that read this far haha. I love and miss you all so much and hope you have an awesome week and 4th of July!

Lots of love,

Sister Dickson