Sister McKay Dickson: Week 54: A week of R.I.P.'s

**Important message for Sister Skinner, Allen, or Bird if you are reading this** >>

Please bring my sunglasses and boots to ZC and give them to the office staff so I can get them on my ZC! Thanks love ya'll :)

Haha sorry about that everyone! I put that at the bottom of my email a couple weeks ago but the attempt was unsuccessful, so now I'm trying it at the top. Anyway, this wasn't a super exciting week, but that's okay. There is joy to be found even in routine or "uneventful" days! (I put it in quotations because the days are still eventful, even if it wasn't 'the usual'). My title is "a week of R.I.P.'s" because a lot of things died this week: literally & figuratively.

Things to know:

- The reason why it was more uneventful is because we had a hard time getting in contact with everyone this week. No one responded to us about visits and when we stopped by nobody answered :,( (R.I.P. #1 - everyone is "dead")

- Our friend William was on date for the 28th but he has also been ghosting us, and didn't come to church this week :(( Please pray for William that he will be able to have the faith and desire to overcome his WOW struggles! We are worried he is ghosting us because he slipped up & feels ashamed. (R.I.P. #2 - William & his baptism are "dead")

- We did have a great lesson with April and Allen though and they came to church! We can always count on them. Allen is a huge miracle as well, because the sisters only got him to join in on one lesson before I got here, and April has been taught for a long time! His heart has truly been softened.

- Something exciting as well is that I got to exchange with Sister Belnap! She is such an amazing missionary and I loved every second with her. We saw lots of miracles and cows together!!! Hahaha it was great.

- Sooo sad news. Our mission is getting rid of Instagram for anyone who isn't in YSA. Honestly I'm pretty bummed about it because it feels like everything I worked hard for in tech was for nothing. Swag. But it's okay, I know that the Lord needed to teach me some really good lessons that I could only learn while on tech. Hard to explain but those transfers taught me how to truly rely on my Savior and know that He is there for me. And now we just get to use the tool that has seen more success in finding: Facebook! (R.I.P. #3 - Instagram is "dead")

Stories of the week:

- So its last pday. I'm just vibing, getting ready for the morning and messaging friends and all that good stuff. I go to put my laundry in the washer, and I see something zoom past me on the floor. A death-defying scream exits my body, and Sister Hart comes sprinting out of the bathroom to see what happened. She thought I got murdered. Sadly no... it was much worse. A RAT! Hahah sorry I was having fun making that a dramatic story. In reality I did scream really loud because the mouse scared the crap out of me. We got some mouse traps from our housing coordinator and set em up. We come back from exchanges on Tuesday night and the Lil sucker was caught. Actually was tragic, he was so tiny and pure and was just trying to get some food. But that’s what happens when you aren't paying for rent. Haha we held a funeral for him and laid him to rest in the garbage next to the confiscated material from William last week. (R.I.P. #4 - Lil mouse is dead)

- Not really a story but we ate at the most BOMB mennonite cafe in one of our lil towns Deary this week. Definitely gonna bring the fam back after the mish. We also do service for a thrift store next door and they let us get a whole bag of clothes for $3... it even has a fun name: Bag day! Needless to say I accidentally got more thrifted t-shirts than necessary last week. I also found a treasure and got to reminisce on my days of rock before the mission... pic attached below.

- Oh also had this homie named Chris try sooo hard-core to bible bash and anti us, and honestly it was awesome. I was not afraid of anything he was saying, and Sister Hart and I stayed calm and bore powerful testimony that confounded him at least 5 times. Totally reaffirmed my testimony of the Restoration of the gospel!!! (R.I.P. #5 - Chris' argument)

Spiritual thought:

This weeks thought goes along with my title haha since lots of things "died". I was feeling a little blue because of other peoples agency (something I have always joked about as the hardest part of missionary work haha), but then I remembered one of my favorite sections in Preach My Gospel! Its under the section called "A Successful Missionary" and it says: "When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself". Other people may choose to ignore us, disregard our message, or avoid change; but as long as we are doing our part and striving to teach and love them as Christ would, we won't be discouraged in ourselves and in the Lord. Grateful for this lesson I've learned on my mission of trusting in the Lord and doing my best :))

This next week we have zone conference and more exchanges and I'm so excited!

Hope you all have a great week!

Love you all

Sis Diggy

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