Sister McKay Dickson: Week 8: Miracles galore! And spiders...

Hello all my people! Happy late 4th of July! I hope you all had a fun week with family and friends. This was such a great week full of lots of miracles & fun (and spiders)! Which you'll get to hear more about down below :) This week was also my brother Schyler's birthday and I got to call him for a bit (I'm allowed to call for any family special occasions, like birthdays and weddings) and that was super fun! So happy late birthday Schy Last week for Pday we got to go to Coeur d'Alene and it was so fun! We ate at a nice restaurant on the resort, got a huge ice cream called gooeys, walked on the dock, and souvenir shopped! It was super fun. Also so sorry everyone, I've been trying to keep these emails short but its hard because there is so much to talk about. So thanks for bearing with me haha.

Things to know:

President and Sister Thompson are officially gone :,( but President and Sister LeBaron are officially here!!! They had a mission wide zoom on Friday night to introduce themselves and I got to say the opening prayer for it! I'm so happy they are here! They said the mission is going to have lots of exciting changes with more tech and social media, so if you know me you know I'm hyped for that! This week we had more exchanges, I went with Sister Bowman on Tuesday while our trainers were at the last Mission Leadership Conference with President Thompson. So the greenies took over the Silver Valley!! We had a super fun and successful day and our trainers were glad we didn't burn down the valley haha. Also for the main miracle this week: Your prayers are working people! We got AMY'S WHOLE FAMILY TO CHURCH! Her mom included! I was so so SO happy. Her mom Rindy listened to two of our lessons with Amy this week and said she wanted to come to church and we couldn't believe it. Our prayers to have Rindys heart softened were answered! She brought all of Amy's siblings and they said they loved church and are coming again next week! Everyone pray we can just baptize the whole family now okay?! :D

Stories of the week:

Okay so the spider stuff is because I killed/encountered 3 spiders this week. On top of like 3 last week too. The main spider story happened while we were helping Shelly move out of her house since she just got "married". She asked us to come help sweep, and I am pretty sure her house hadn't been swept since she moved in to it. So nasty. Anyway, I was sweeping a dark nasty corner in one room, and a HUGE brown recluse straight up ran out. MY NUMBER ONE FEAR PEOPLE. I have been terrified of those guys since I read a book in 4th grade about what happens when they bite you. After I screamed super loud and jumped ten feet away,, Shelly and Austin run in and kill the spider and then laugh at me for screaming. They acted like it was normal to have brown recluses in the house. Anyway, back to the miracle stuff. This week we took Amy for a temple tour with a cute member from our ward and had an awesome lesson about the temple! Amy loved it and said she wants to go inside and do baptisms so bad it was so special. While we were about to leave, two elders walk out of the church building across from the temple, and you will never guess who it was. MY GOOD PAL FROM BYU, ELDER ROCKWOOD!! I was so so excited and I ran up and gave him the biggest handshake (Such a missionary I know lol)! It was so fun to finally see him, and such a miracle we happened to be there at the same time!

Spiritual thought:

My spiritual thought this week is on miracles! Haha. All you have to do is ask for them and God is waiting to give them. I see so many miracles as a missionary just by being obedient and asking. And they don't always come in the way you expect or right away, but if you are paying attention you will be able to see so many throughout your day. There is no such thing as coincidences, accidents, or 'getting lucky'. This quote about miracles from Sister Thompson explains it perfectly: "The only different between a miracle and a coincidence is you don't give God the credit". I love that! So start looking for those tender mercies and miracles, and I promise that you will be able to see at least one a day. God's hand in our life is so real, sometimes we just forget to ask or look for those miracles! So don't forget :) Love ya'll!

Have a legendary week everyone! Love you lots and talk to you next week! :)

Big love,

Sister Dickson!