Week 33: A Christmas miracle... I'M FINALLY NOT GETTING TRANSFERRED

 Merry Christmas everyone!!!! Christmas as a missionary is by far one of the best experiences ever. I was pleasantly surprised by how fun it was, and how I wasn't just out of my mind missing my family (Don't worry I still missed ya'll, just not a trunky amount)

Things to know:

-Yup you read the title right, I am finally staying in an area for a second transfer! And just wait it gets even better: IM STAYING W SISTER ARCHIBALD AND OUR WHOLE ZONE IS STAYING TOGETHER. So excited for 3 transfers w/ my best friend, and the most goated zone!

-Christmas Eve we got to go to President's house for dinner and our mission's Christmas Devo, and lemme just say that was by far one of my favorite times on the mission so far!!!

-Got to talk to LINDSAY PERRETT on Christmas Eve because she went over to my grandparents house back home, so that was so much fun!! Miss you Perry

-Did lots of shovel tracting and carol-acting with the zone and made some of the best memories of my whole entire mission

-Got to see our friend Christina we hadn't seen in awhile on Christmas day! The rest of our friends have still been MIA bc of the Holidays, so hopefully soon I'll get some more updates to share.

Stories of the week:

-We did see a huge miracle yesterday though, Sis Archie and I were just chilling in Sacrament when this member comes up and says there's someone out in the foyer you should go talk to! So we go meet this man named Brian, and he says that he had been walking by and decided to come into the church that morning. He listened to all of Sacrament meeting in the hall, and said he enjoyed it. Then we asked to meet with him again and he agreed, we shared about the Book of Mormon and baptism and he said both sounded really awesome! MIRACLES! Praying good things come with our new friend Brian 

-Not too many funny stories from this week besides when one of my Zone Leaders jumped face first into a pile of snow and cut his face open

Spiritual thought:

- Honestly my thoughts will not do justice to what I learned this week! Sister Archibald and I gave a training on having our focus on Christ and I loved learning what I can for better to focus on Him. When He is the focus of our lives, then nothing else matters. As our dear prophet said: "My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives, and everything to do with the focus of our lives"! We did a role play bearing our testimonies without being able to mention Christ, and then did it again being able to bear true testimony of Him and it was amazing to see how much we are truly blessed with because of Jesus Christ. He is the cornerstone of my testimony, and I am so grateful for this time in my life that I have to gain a deeper, more lasting relationship with Him. If you do not have a testimony of Christ, it is not too late! Start focusing on Him and applying the Atonement to your life,  and you will see that He lives and truly is YOUR personal Savior. Same thing applies for anyone who wants a deeper relationship with Him, it will come; but only if you are willing to put in effort like any other relationship. 

I am so grateful for the Christmas season and how it allows us to show even more gratitude for all our Savior has done for us. Give Him a little thanks for some blessings He's given you if you haven't in a while ;) I love ya, have a Happy New year!

Pictures:

Best Present

Breakfast

Carol-acting with the Zone

Christina :)

Christmas Eve DC

Cutest gift from Leslie

I love shoveling

Lindsay! (Sister Perrett)

Matching pj's - lets go!

Merry Christmas!

Red Robin

Snow - 1, Elder Mullins - 0

Ur fav duo still together!

Week 32: Slippin & Slidin... into a tree

 Merry Christmas week!!! I can't believe it's only 5 days until Christmas!

Things to know:

-Said goodbye to Sis Perrett (Lil perry) and it was so sad. Feeling very jipped I only got 4 weeks with her, but I am SO grateful God made us companions! #ohmygosh

-Had MISSION CONFERENCE this week and it was the BEST THING EVER!! It was so happy to see all of my friendsss and it was such an uplifting experience! And we got to watch the nativity scene from The Chosen

-We had a day of service and we got to walk stray dogs (funniest time of my life, they were psycho and running everywhere) and we went to the food bank. We also shoveled a bunch of driveways after a big snow storm and it was so fun!!!

-Had a Christmas party last pday: we played white elephant (I got a fanny pack) & had a gingerbread contest! Also Got Sushi with the tech council for dinner this week

-Haven't been able to meet with like any of our people because of the Holidays, fr everyone just ghosts us :((

Stories of the week:

-Yeahhhh so I may or may not have slid on ice and straight into a tree because Spokane doesn't plow their roads. Say goodbye to Simba the gold equinox, & hello to me never driving again lol. So embarrassing, don't ask me how long I cried for. Now its a meme tho so it's fine, you just have to laugh about those kind of things because what else can you do 3 other companionships got in accidents that night too bc the roads were so gnarly (Hallelujah I wasn't the only one)

-We saw a cool miracle, someone we haven't been able to get in contact with was at the breakfast restaurant that we took Sister Perrett to on her last day! And he had never met Sis Archie and I, so if we hadn't been there with Sister Perrett he wouldn't have come to say hi! It's so cool to see God's hand in this work :))

Spiritual thought:

Obviously with Christmas coming up, I have to share my thoughts about the true meaning of the season :)) At Mission conference we talked about the 3 different levels of celebrating Christmas. The first being about Santa Claus, presents, family, etc. The second being about the birth of the Savior, the nativity, angels, etc. And the Third being about the adult Christ and His Atonement. When you celebrate with the first two, the true meaning is lost. OF COURSE it is wonderful to celebrate family and baby Jesus, but the only way we can have TRUE joy is because Jesus grew up and gave us the gift of His Atonement! And that is the best gift any of us could ask for, because we would have nothing to be grateful for without his Atonement. If you are seeking for more in your life, you will find it in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. His hand is ALWAYS outstretched, but you have to grab on if you want to feel Him there. I can promise that! It isn't always going to be easy, but by the enabling & redeeming power of His Atonement He will give us the strength, joy, and peace that we are seeking. I am so grateful for the BEST gift that was ever given, my Savior & Redeemer AND His infinite Atoning sacrifice. 

Have a wonderful Christmas, and I hope after a week of celebrating the first two levels of Christmas that you kneel down and give thanks for the third.

I love you! Merry Christmas :))

Sister Dickson

Pics:

(Sorry in advance for the overload from Mission Conference!)

Best Mission!!!

Bowie!!!

Bye Perry

Christmas Party

Day of Service

Elder Mcghie

Elder Biscoff (haha)

Hermana

 Mimi!!

MISSION CONF!

My mission Mom and Dad :)

Porty

Sprehny Baby

Tech Sushi

The Triplets!

Snowy Car

Week 31: Miracles in Coeur d'Alene!

 Hey family & friends!!

This week was awesome!!! I hope you can all say the same :))

Things to know:

-Went on the most FIRE exchange in CDA with Sister Archibald and our STL Sister Lundell! We saw some awesome miracles that I'll tell below.

-Sister Perrett leaves 

-Also hit my 7 months yesterday! I swear time doesn't exist on a mission. Its going wayy too fast and don't want this to end :,)

-Had soo many tech meetings this week, so honestly haven't taught very many lessons. BUT we got the best news from Salt Lake, they are coming out with a new tool that will help our mission pages run smoother on Facebook and we are PUMPED!!!! God is really raining down blessings for us after all the hard work and prayers for tech!

Stories of the week:

-Short lil story about the power of the Priesthood! I got a blessing yesterday from one of the AP's because I was feeling very sick. As soon as the blessing was over I immediately started feeling better! By the end of the night my migraine, nausea, and stuffy nose were all COMPLETELY gone! I LOVE THE POWER OF GOD! Not to mention the Spirit spoke directly to me through my blessing and heard exactly what I needed to hear!

-Here is the exchange miracle! So a couple weeks ago I went on exchanges with our other STL Cepta Grimes, and I got to teach a lesson to their friend named Jared that has been taught for 6 months. We talked about baptism in that lesson and he pushed it off saying he wasn't ready. Well I came back again to teach him again with Sis Archie and Lundy and we put him on date for January 10th!!!!! It was the most spiritual lesson, and Sister Archibald was so inspired and bold with her invitation. Not to mention the fellowship was awesome and related the gospel to Star Wars, and promised him blessings!!! It was so awesome.

Spiritual thought:

My thoughts/testimony are on the power of Godliness because of my blessing this week. I keep thinking about the importance of His power in our lives, and as how we take the sacrament and make & keep sacred covenants with Him, His power WILL be manifest in our lives. I look forward to Sunday every single week because I depend on the Sacrament for that cleansing and renewing of His power in my life. I invite you all to think about how important the Sacrament is to you this week. If it is not one of the best parts of the week you are doing it wrong ;)) Haha all jokes aside, I can promise that if you truly take some 1 on 1 time to ponder the meaning of the Sacrament and how it can cleanse you, you will feel the power of God in your life! 

I love my mission more and more every day. If you are thinking about serving, I can recommend 100% that it is the best decision you could ever make!! But pray about it!!! & If you want to ask me any questions or anything please do!

HAVE THE BEST WEEK! Happy Holidays :))

Pictures:

Baptism in CDA!

Coeur d_Alene P-day!

Food Bank

Jared!!!

Let it snow! 

Only one week :(

R2

Sister Lundy

Kitty

Cutest

Week 30: Sister Vader

 Hey everybody! This was a pretty good week. Honestly not too many updates with those we are teaching, everyone is canceling because of the holidays:// I hope you are all enjoying Light the World and the Christmas season so far!

Things to know:

- Last P-day we went to Coeur d'Alene and got some Gooey's (the huge ice creams) and hung out with our STL's and their district so I got to see some of my pals!

- I sang in a choir of missionaries for a Christmas Devotional our mission is filming, and I got to see Sister Bowman and a bunch of my old friends there! 

- We had a youth named Sarah come out with us, and it was such a fun time. We even had these two random guys ask us to carol for them.

- My mom's birthday was this week so I got to call and talk to her! And my brother Braxton's birthday is tomorrow so happy birthdays all around.

Stories of the week:

- Had a cool miracle when Sarah came with us, we met this lady named Elizabeth who was a pastor's wife. She invited us into her home and she is super knowledgeable of the scriptures, we taught her the Restoration and she said everything made sense! We also gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she had always wanted one! It was so cool. She texted us and said she has already been reading it and enjoying it!

- Funny story of the week was while we were helping with a drive-by Nativity one of the stakes put on, my companions and I got to direct traffic and talk to cars waiting to go through. I got to hold a red baton and it looked like a lightsaber. A bunch of the families were calling me "Sister Vader" and I loved it. Lets just say I took the nickname a little too far and may or may not have reenacted the Obi-Wan and Anakin fight scene after the Nativity was over with my zone leader hahaha.

Spiritual thought:

Lately I've been thinking about how the only difference in where we are now and where we want to be is our thoughts. Once our thoughts improve, so do our actions. I read this scripture in Alma 60 that went along with it pretty well. It says: "Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also". I loved that! We have to be pure in our thoughts if we want our actions to be pure. If you want to have more charity towards others, start with your thoughts towards others. If you want to have more confidence in yourself, start with the way you think about yourself. It's not easy to change our thoughts, but I know that it is possible because the Atonement of Jesus Christ allows any change; whether of mind or heart! I hope everyone who reads this will try and be a little kinder in their thoughts towards themselves and others this week, & know I'll be doing it with ya! 

I love you all so so much! I hope ya'll have the best week ever, let me know if there's anything I can pray for!

(P.S. If you ever want to be taken off of this email you can email me with a "remove" and I will not be offended. I know how it is to have an inbox full of missionaries weeklies!)

Devotional Time

HBD Katie Mom!

Sarah!

Sis Bowie!!!

Sister Vader

Techies

The CDA Pals

Three Amigos