Week 29: Missionaries at the bar?!...

 Happy late Thanksgiving everyone! I am grateful for all my wonderful friends, family, and others that support me as a missionary! I hope you all had some time to reflect on your blessings this week. I know I did! So here's my week of blessings:

Things to know:

-Patrick came to church again, he is the COOLEST and has such a strong desire to learn more. Literally made a church account for the gospel library app!

-We made some new friends this week, but I don't really have any updates on anyone else we are teaching yet!

-Went on exchanges with Cepta Grimes and it was the BEST time ever, she is such a great example. And we laughed a ton.

-We had a fun Thanksgiving with some members who brought their friend that isn't a member to dinner, and it was awesome!

-Went to the kookiest member dinner ever hahah and got to be a pirate and have a parrot on my shoulder.

Stories of the week:

-Hope nobody panicked at the title too much, I have to do a little clickbait sometimes because then maybe more of ya'll will read my emails hahaha. We didn't go to a bar, a member in the stake just owns a pool house and rented it out on Thanksgiving for just us missionaries. So we got to go play pool and I may or may not have won a couple of rounds.

-While on exchanges with Cepta Grimes, we drove all the way out to CDA (where here area as an STL is) and realized her companion forgot to give us the sim so neither of us had service to text anyone lol. We go to the church to get wifi and tell the sisters to come meet us halfway at the church in Post Falls. We get there and wait FOREVER and the church there had no wifi so we can't call the sisters and see where they are. We say a prayer and ask for help and find out why the sisters are taking so long, and no sooner than like 2 minutes later I realized I had taken the car keys with me. We laughed ALL the way back to Spokane Valley to give them the keys and trade for the sim. I was so embarrassed, but decided the only thing I could do was laugh. Aha I love the power of prayer, who knows how much longer we would have waited before I figured it out lol

Spiritual Thought:

This week I read a scripture that I really liked and I wanted to share it with ya'll:

Alma 29:3 - "For I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me"

This really struck me because lately I've been getting caught up in all of the ways that I don't measure up. It reminded me that it is important to remember all of our talents and gifts we have been given, and to be happy with what we have been blessed with. When we recognize this it will motivate us to do better and focus on improving/increasing our abilities instead of becoming discouraged at all our faults.

I invite you to think about your gifts and how you can use them to bless others this week. I can promise you will see God's hand as you serve others with your gifts.

God is good, I love you all! Have a great week!

Cepta Grimes

Costa Vida CR

Happy Thanksgiving 

Parrot

Pool house

Three Amigos

Week 28: "High on the mountain top"

 Helloooo!!! I know I say this every time, but I hope you had a good week!  I only have a half p-day today until 12, and then the rest of my p-day is on Thanksgiving from 12-9!

My first week here in the Valley has been great, but I don't have a ton of huge updates!:

Things to know:

-Realized how much I miss Moscow... its fine. I was so sad to leave all the amazing friends I made, and it definitely didn't hit me until I was gone.

-My new comp Sister Perrett is THE BOMB! She is from St Louis and is a fireball since she goes home soon. Which is also sad bc I love her! Killing a companion is bittersweet (missionary term for being their last companion before they "die", im not actually killing her...)

-Being in the Valley has been sooo nice for tech! We get to go in person for meetings and we have a sweet tech room at the mission office with LED lights.

-Had interviews with President and let me just say that I have the best mission President in the world :))

-We made 10 new friends this week from tracting a whole apartment complex and it was lit! TRIO POWERRR! One of the new friends named Patrick came to church and he said he loved it and felt so at home, and he carried his Book of Mormon with him.

Stories of the week:

-Soo if you're wondering what my title means, let's just say an old man teaching Sunday school made a joke about the state song for Colorado with two of our friends there.

-Literally this one member feeds the missionaries meatloaf every time they come over... She even calls it "missionary meatloaf".

-Cool miracle this week: we got a referral from President Clark in the old mission presidency and this guy ASKED to meet with us! His name is Jerry and he said he wants to join the church but every time he asks God says no... but he has never read the Book of Mormon so we invited him to do that and promised him he would get the answer he was seeking! It was awesome.. He came to church with us too!

Spiritual thought:

This week I wanted to share the scripture Alma 1:25: "Now this was a great trial to those that did stand fast in the faith; nevertheless, they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God, and they bore with patience the persecution which was heaped upon them". As members and missionaries of the church of Jesus Christ it can be hard to withstand all the hatred that is thrown at our church today. But this verse helped me see that the church has always been persecuted, because Satan works very hard to prevent people from finding the truth. How lucky are we that we get to be defending the truth and withstand persecution right beside our Savior! My companion Sister Perrett said to someone this week: "We are in good company when we are treated poorly, because Christ endured it too". It isn't easy to stand up for the gospel sometimes, but as we do we will be blessed beyond measure. I can promise you that because I have seen so many instances of it on my mission! I invite you to reflect on how much the gospel means to you; and if it means enough for you to defend it.

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life and for the opportunity to serve a mission. I love and miss you all so much, but wouldn't want to be anywhere else for the holidays this year! :))

Love ya!

Sister Dickson

Big Dawg Techies

Boolin 

Bye Samuel

Interviews

Patrick!

Rip to the YSA :'(

Sister Schmidt!!!

Trio Power 

Week 27: Back in business... in Washington!

 SUP gotta keep this one short because you heard the news^^ TRANSFERS! So yes, this will be my 5th transfer in a row that I have moved to a new area and get a new companion. I am going up to Spokane Valley to be companions with Sister Perrett! I am so sad to leave Moscow, the people I have met here and the two areas I have served in have been amazing! Anyway here's some more fun things about my awesome last week in Moscow:

Things to know:

-PLOT TWIST tho...Sister Archibald and I are staying together!!!! :D We will be in a trio until the end of December when Sister Perrett is done with her mission. We are moving up to Spokane to be closer to the rest of the technology council and President, so we will both still be doing tech!

-Mario & Izaac got baptized on Saturday!!! It was so so amazing and special to be a part of it. Izaac wrote Sister Archibald and I a note at church on Sunday after being confirmed and said "Thank you sisters I will never forget you" 

-I hit my 6 months this week, and next week Sister Archibald hits her 9! Missions go so fast ya'll and I don't want it to end. Seriously tho, I am learning the true joy of coming to know my Heavenly Father better through aligning my will to His

Stories of the week:

-The coolest miracle happened this week. We got a call a couple days ago from a girl who ASKED US if she and her boyfriend could take the lessons from us?! She told us she was an inactive member and her boyfriend wanted to be baptized so they both wanted to talk to us!?!?! SO COOL. so yesterday we went over to meet Bailey and Jonas, and put Jonas on date in the first lesson! And the craziest part was that we found out Bailey was the sister of a youth named Paige that Sister Archibald and I had met a couple weeks earlier. Paige had talked with us and asked for our number so that she could give it to some of her friends, and after telling her family about us her sister asked for our number! This is my favorite example of seeing that God is definitely in the details!

-This one is scary haha. We went tracting with a YSA on Saturday night at this trailer park and someone was straight summoning demons outside their trailer. He was crouching under this little hut and holding a chicken while screaming and muttering. Literally as soon as we saw him my companion and I turned to each other and said "we need to leave" at the exact same time. Never fast walked so fast in my entire life lol. Haha not sure what would have happened if we hadn't left right then, but I'm so grateful for the Spirit and the promptings we get to keep us safe!!!! We have a good laugh about the whole thing now too, I feel so bad for our YSA friend that was with us. She is probably scarred.

Spiritual thought: 

As I reflect on all that I have learned this last transfer it is amazing to see God's hand in all things. Even when I thought I was completely alone, I'm now able to look back and see the strength that he provided me with to overcome my fears and doubts. He is always there to guide and support us as we council with him in prayer. I now know the true meaning of trusting in God, through the good and the bad, and that I don't have to be completely flawless to feel of His love. It's crazy that you come on a mission to tell other people about the love God has for you, and you're able to find what it means for yourself! 

"God’s message is that worthiness is not flawlessness. Worthiness is being honest and trying. We must be honest with God, priesthood leaders, and others who love us, and we must strive to keep God’s commandments and never give up just because we slip up" - Elder Brad Wilcox

Anyway I hope you all have an awesome week, and I hope my family misses me in Disneyland today.

Pictures:

1/3 WHAT?!

6 months ahhh

Izaac's Note

Lunch with Deanna & Rusty!

Paige, Bailey, & Jonas!

Sushi date w my bff

The best day ever

The bestie STL's

The Book of Mormon!

Tracting with Anne

Week 26: Silver Valley part 2?!

Hellooooo! Wow. This was probably one of the best weeks of my mission so far. It was so awesome & miracle filled!!!! Lemme tell you about it:

Things to know:

-Zone Conference was this week in Hayden and it was amazinggg! It was with half the mission so I got to see all my old friends that I served in Idaho with.

-My companion sang at ZC and we got to go up and do exchanges in Timberlake (an area in Hayden, my old zone!) the night before so she could practice with a missionary who plays the piano! It was so fun to be w/ Sister Lind, & we found some new friends! 

-We got permission from the AP's to get to go through the temple with two preparing Sister missionaries in our ward!!! I wish I could write my whole experience, but just know that God's love is so real, and I have never felt it more than I did yesterday.

-Lost my wallet...oops. But God is good and answered my prayers: someone nice found it outside and didn't even steal it! #blessed

Story of the week:

-Since we were in ZC in Hayden, we contacted some old friends in the Silver Valley and got to GO BACK to where I was born (missionary slang for your first area) to film some conversion stories for tech!! It was seriously the best day ever to go back and see my old friends, and cool to go back with Sister Archibald since her and I taught some of the same people! One of the people I got to see again was Kendra! Not sure if any of you remember her, but she was someone that started meeting with the sisters after I came to the dentist, and she got baptized a couple weeks ago!!! We filmed her story, and she told me that she was so grateful I met her that day, and she said that my light led her to join the church. I am SO thankful the Lord places us in people's paths, and that even our example can influence them. I am so so grateful I got to meet Kendra and that I've been able to truly see lives like hers change from coming to know Jesus Christ. I wish I got to be at her baptism, but getting to see her again and hearing her share her story was the best experience.

Spiritual Thought:

My thought this week comes from Zone Conference. I honestly had still been struggling with some things these last few weeks, and our mission president shared that "If a missionary is struggling, its because they are focused too much on themselves". The Spirit smacked me right in the face, but it was awesome because I had been needing to hear that!!! I was able to have a huge change of heart and recognize that I needed to be more focused on making my weaknesses strong through Christ, than letting them discourage me. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ to help me change and learn how to truly forget myself and go to work. I am forever grateful for the growth I've already seen on my mission, it was the best decision I could have made to serve! I wasn't going to share this because I was worried about others opinions, but I'm learning to care more about what God thinks of me than what others do. Plus (spoiler alert!) its a good reminder that no one is perfect, even missionaries ;) 

Anywayyy sorry I haven't responded to any messages yet, my p-day didn't start until 1 today! I hope you all have a good week, don't forget to say your prayers and tell your parents you love them!! 

Love ya heaps!

Sister Diggy :)

Exchanges in Timberlake

Elder Neerings!

The Zone😎

Sister Pardo!

Sister Sprehn!

Elder Mcghie!

Kendra

Bob & Debbie!

The Honnerlaws! 😢

Jody & Walter!

Comp unity or something...

Elsie 

Temple

Addie

The Best Day Ever

Week 25: Bill & Ted's EXCELLENT week

 Heyy Happy Halloween everyone!! Hope you all had a fun weekend and got so many cavities from candy. Holidays are weird on the mission, it just feels the same as any other day haha. Anyway, this was a great week!! >>>

Things to know:

- Our friend Chris is getting baptized! His date is TBD for right now haha, it was going to be the 5th but we have to push it back so he can be fully prepared ! :))

- We had a booth at the farmers market and it was really fun! We handed out 2 Books of Mormon and met some new friends to teach! It was awesome!

- Sister Archibald and I also made 9 new friends total this week!! So awesome

- I went on exchanges with Sister Wilkinson and it was so much fun! I got to be back in the boonies for a day and it made me reminisce on my first area :')

- We had interviews with President and it was sooo good to get to talk to him and Sister LeBaron, I had so many things I wanted to talk to them about and I received so many answers!

- We had a ward trunk or treat and all our families we are teaching came to it, and then they all came to church the next day too! I almost cried I was so happy

Story of the week/Spiritual Thought:

- Had a huge miracle this week! I lost my favorite tag on Monday night, and wasn't able to find it anywhere for a whole day. My companion and I said so many prayers, and God kept telling me to "look outside". We looked everywhere anytime we went to the churches and anywhere we had been the day before. I said another prayer and felt like God was now telling me that someone had found my tag, and no sooner than 30 minutes later did we get a text from someone that they found my tag outside the church!!!!! So not only were my prayers answered with me finding my tag, but I was able to recognize him guiding me and that everything would be okay! I have been learning to better trust in my ability to hear the promptings from the Spirit and this experience was so amazing to be able to see that He is providing me with guidance if I am listening and trusting! Sometimes I think we way too easily doubt if the Holy Ghost is speaking to us or if it's our own thoughts. My advice is from the quote "Every good thought comes from God"! 9/10 times the first prompting or thought we get is the right thought (learned that from the Prophet Joseph Smith but I can't remember the exact quote!), we just need to trust in ourselves & the Spirit and act in faith. I promise that if you act on that first prompting you will see miracles, because I have seen them in my own life as I act on the first good thought that comes to mind. Plus, wouldn't you rather trust the first thought and be right 90% of the time?

I love you all and I hope it was a fantastic week for you all. I love and miss you all dearly, and just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has influenced me up to this point in my life. I am so grateful to be on my mission and to be learning things that will bless me for the rest of my life. Missions are awesome even when they are hard, because the end growth is so worth it!! 

I love you!!!

Sister Dickson

Our Halloween costumes for p-day

The inspiration if you don't know who Bill & Ted are from reading the title :))

Funnest time on exchanges!

Our Family fun booth 

Celebration pic after my lil miracle

Had a great Halloween day!

The Slaysman Family! (Teaching the mom Angie and the dad Chris)

The Torres Family (Mario & Isaac who are getting baptized on the 13th!)