Sister McKay Dickson: October 2021

Monday, October 25, 2021

Week 24: Emails only club

Sup everyone! Yeahhh so we got news that we aren't allowed to message friends on messenger anymore sooo everyone blow up my email inbox if you love me.

This week was awesome!! Honestly these take me way too long to write so I'll just update as quick as I can:

Things to know:

- We put our friends Mario (the dad) & Isaac (the son) on date for Nov 13!!!

- We met a new friend Maggie while visiting some apartments and she started coming to church with us!! She is so awesome.

- Had dinner with someone named Shaun and he wanted to learn EVERYTHING and we gave him a Book of Mormon!!!

- We street contacted on U of I campus this week and made a bunch of new friends!!

Stories of the week:

-Lol I got pulled over for not having my lights on. Long story short, our car door never closes all the way and so if we don't turn our lights off every time we turn the car off, the battery will die. Guess I should do better at remembering to turn them back on haha.

-We gave a training to the entire mission over zoom on Tuesday about how to have better Social media content and it was so nerve-wracking but it was awesome!!

Spiritual thought:

Been thinking about how important it is to choose to believe!!! Read President Nelson's talk "Christ is Risen; Faith in Him will move mountains"

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/04/49nelson?lang=eng

You can also read my most recent fb/insta post for more thought since I know nobody really reads these anyway haha.

I HOPE YALL HAD AN AWESOME WEEK! Loving my mission more and more every day, and learning how to better trust in my Savior Jesus Christ and show my loyalty to Him through serving with my whole heart!

Love,

Sister Dickson

Best Archie

Carving Pumpkins!

David is the coolest

Fall colors on campus!

Moscow views

Our new friend Maggie!

Straight facts

The Salty District

Monday, October 18, 2021

Week 23: I peed my pants...

Hey everyone!

This week had some ups & downs again, but that's life right? It's crazy how much trial can strengthen your testimony, I am growing so much, and I am so grateful for the important lessons that I'm learning to help me better trust in my Father in Heaven!!! I had so many prayers answered and saw lots of miracles so let's get right into it:

Things to know:

-Sister Archibald and I found 3 new people to teach in one day and it was so awesome!

-One of them told us they weren't interested and then we shared The Restoration and he said actually I want to learn more & come to church with ya'll!! Miracles!

-We are super close to putting a dad & a son on date for baptism, the mom is a member and the son really wants to get baptized but his dad us just a little hesitant. So pray for Mario & Isaac Torres please.

-Russell hasn't been responding to us about meeting for lessons sadly, but we are just hoping it was a busy weekend. Pray for him as well so we can keep helping him progress! :)

Stories of the week:

Another miracle we saw had to do with a lady named Patty these other sisters referred to us. We had been texting her and hadn't been able to set up a time to meet yet, but God does not cease to be a God of miracles! For some reason we felt like we wanted to go to A & W for dinner that night (Seriously the first time I've ever craved that place) and while walking inside we said hi to a cute old lady with her car windows down. She says her name is Patty and we were so shook! We told her we were the sisters that had been trying to meet with her and she couldn't believe that God led us to her like that! It was so amazing. We shared how much God loves her and set up another time to meet and she said her son wanted to learn too!! So awesome.

I don't have a ton of other stories but Sister Archi & I have some really good laughs together hahaha. All I gotta say is make sure your companion isn't scared of shadows or else she might scream if you get out of bed at night. I have never laughed so hard from scaring someone, and it was completely by accident!!! We may or may not have both peed our pants.

Spiritual thought:

This week I wanted to talk about personal revelation! Yesterday was stake conference and a general authority seventy came (Elder Wright) and spoke! It was sooo awesome. He shared about how a lot of times we don't recognize personal revelation when it comes. But He shared how if we are following God's commandments and trying to do good, He will lead us. The key word is trying. NONE of us are perfect (the hard lesson that the perfectionist in me has been learning lately haha), but God will magnify our "trying" and guide us through personal revelation. You might not always recognize it in the moment, but you will always be able to see His hand. So I invite you to trust that He is with you and He is leading you, and I can promise that you WILL see those answers and miracles come!

I LOVE YA'LL. YOU'S THE BEST (inside joke with some of my friends here, but it still applies) Have a good week and don't forget to pray! :))

Love,

Sister Dickson!

Eating cereal at night :))

Can you tell Sister missionaries like to wear docs?

My favorite season

Hahaha the YSA activities are so funny. I have no way to explain this picture

We weeded in the rain & it was so fun!

Got tacos for lunch with the whole zone

Happy 8 months Sis Archie!!!

Accidentally tracted into a members home and had a great lesson with the young women

Monday, October 11, 2021

Week 22: #Stressed But #Blessed

HEYYYY! I hope everyone is doing good! Miss ya all lots and hope you followed @comeuntochrist.pnw ;)) Okay but yeah let's get it:

Things to know:

This was actually the most stressful week of my mission, and arguably the most stressful week of my life hahahah. I had no idea what I was going into being called a tech missionary, and I only got less than a day of training so I really was not prepared haha. I was really stressed because I didn't know what I was doing in tech or in my new areas, and thought that I had to have everything figured out. But this week I learned SO MUCH about how important it is to not demand perfection from yourself, especially when no one else or the Lord does. I may have had a mental breakdown or two, but I also had a lot of spiritual experiences and was really able to feel how proud God is of me. As long as I am striving to do my best, magnify my calling, and use my talents for His purposes, that is all that matters! I also was able to learn what missionaries true feelings about tech missionaries are haha, my new comp and I are 2 hours away from the rest of the tech council and our new district was not very nice to us this week so that also may have contributed to my stress. BUT we are making progress with them and it's been getting so much better learning how to balance technology work and work in the YSA & family ward. My companion Sister Archibald is a true angel and has lifted me up so many times this week. I do not deserve her!!! She is the only reason I am still alive haha. We live just us two in a swaggy apartment and it's a party!

Stories of the week:

Okay this one will be short because my last paragraph was fatty. Big time miracles, I was able to meet in person with my friend Russell that Sister Pardo and I met over facebook last transfer. Now he is coming to the YSA activities, church, and is still on date for baptism so LETS GOO! He is the coolest. We also saw some cool miracles tracting some YSA apartments, we met someone who said God told them we were coming?! Like WHAT! His name is Eric and he now comes to all the YSA activities and it was so awesome. We also met the sweetest old lady Mimi who said she wasn't interested in meeting with missionaries in the past, and then we went over and she said she wanted to keep learning and asked for a Book of Mormon! #Thepowerofsistermissionaries

Spiritual Thought:

Okay I basically already gave my spiritual thought but I just really wanted to emphasize how important it is to see the good in yourself and recognize God's love for you. If you haven't been able to feel His love or see how good you are doing, please read/listen to "worthiness is not flawlessness" by Brad Wilcox! That talk helped me so much this week and if you get anything from my email it should be to study that talk and think about what God's message is for you. Because GOD LOVES YOU SO MUCH AND IS SO PROUD OF THE GOOD YOU ARE DOING!! I love you too :)

I hope you have an awesome week and enjoy fall break whenever that is for y'all!

Love,

Sister Dickson!!!

Bye Sister Pardy :((

Elder DuQuette!

LOL

See ya Spokane!!!

Sister Archie!

Sister Bowman!

Sister Woolston!

Monday, October 4, 2021

Week 21: Bye Spokane...

(Facebook messenger is down so send me a Google hangout, email, etc if you need to talk to me today!)

Happy (late) Conference weekend! They say Conference on the mission is the best ever, and they are completely right!!! I hope you all had the chance to listen to the awesome messages that were prepared by our inspired prophets and apostles, and that you had a good week! My week was awesome:

Things to know:

Yup you read the title right, I'm getting transferred... again. Haha I actually had a hint a couple weeks ago, so I wasn't too surprised. What happened is the AP's called me randomly on the 18th and asked me to be a Tech Specialist!!! I get to oversee the missions Instagram page so I'm super excited and a little nervous haha, but know that the Lord called me to do this for a reason. So follow @Comeuntochrist.pnw for some awesome stuff! When I got the call they didn't tell me I was for sure being transferred, but I figured I would go to Spokane Valley (where the rest of the Tech missionaries are). I am here to announce that I am being transferred to Moscow Idaho!! Haha I was super surprised but so excited because I will be over the YSA because the University of Idaho is there! The reason why we got called so early was because the two current missionaries over Instagram and Facebook are going home/to their original assignment, and so they wanted to be able to train us before they left. So on Wednesday I got to go on exchanges with Sister Clark from my high school! It was soo fun. I also got to meet my new companion because she was on exchanges, her name is Sister Archibald and we are the same person. I love it. I am super sad to leave this area and Sister Pardo though :(! Oh yeah forgot to mention that Sister Pardo is leaving too, so we are sweeping out of this area and Sister Archibald and I are sweeping into our new one! Adventures. We have said some bittersweet goodbyes already to the members, those we are teaching, and my friends in the zone :(( But I am looking forward to all those that I will meet in my new area!

Stories of the week:

While I was on exchanges with Sister Clark, we saw a HUGE miracle! We were at a church in Cheney, Washington to film a story for the missions pages, and this man named Sonny walked up to church building and tried to open the doors. He started to walk away but we ran up and found out he has been going through some tough times, so we shared a message with him and he said he is totally interested in meeting with the missionaries and coming to church!!

Sister Pardo and I also found someone named Russell over Facebook and we put him on date for October 23rd so that was awesome!! He lives near my new area so I'm hoping to get to go teach him in person so we can get him baptized! Such a miracle.

I also got to see my aunt Lisa this week!!!!! My mission president allowed me to go for an hour and share missionary experiences with her and it was so great to see someone I love so much! Makes me look forward to the day I will get to see you all again.

Spiritual thought:

My thought is on general conference (no surprises there) and how willing Heavenly Father is to answer our questions. I prepared some questions during conference and received multiple answers throughout all the sessions and it was so amazing!!!! I have been loving learning more each week and how truly blessed and loved I am as a daughter of God. I know that He loves me, and that I can show my love for Him as I serve those around me. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission and learn more about Him, my Savior, and myself. I have been learning and changing more each day and cannot wait to see where I will continue to go with His help. Please write down a question and listen to conference if you didn't have time for it. Don't be too busy to receive answers that God is waiting to give and bless you with. He loves you, pray and ask Him for help and He will show you the way.

I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME WEEK AND IM SO EXCITED ITS OCTOBER WOO #SPOOKYTIME. For real tho follow the missions Instagram @comuntochrist.pnw and follow me too (@mckaydickson) if you don't already because I'm about to be back on insta posting some Christ centered content and use social media as a tool in the Lord's work woo!

Love ya SO MUCH

Sister Dickson