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!

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

Had the best zone touchdown ever, I'm gonna miss my friends so much :((

Said a hard goodbye to our friend Michelle, she is definitely the reason I was called to North, but now its time to go.

Last week with my bestie :,(((

The best lunch ever!!! I love you aunt Lisa!!!

Miracle with Sonny!!

Comp portrait!

My tech mom!

The funnest exchange ever

Tech Council!

Awards!

SIS ARCHIE!!!!

Week 20: Short & sweet

Hi everyone! This weeks is gonna be super short because I don't have any time to send this out haha. 

I had a good week, not too much to update on! My companion and I are continuing to work with my friends and got a couple to church and saw some good miracles finding this week! I also am loving eating with members so much! We had Zone Conference this week and I learned a ton and have lots of things to improve on haha but life is full of learning and growing! :))

I hope you all have a good week and take some questions to Conference this weekend because you'll be able to get answers! I'm so excited to listen to the Prophet and his apostles speak and give us guidance.

Love ya!

Sister Dickson

 My comp and I are at opposite points in our missions whattt

My mom sent me some awesome socks

I have the coolest zone ever thats all

My twin and I again :))

Does YOUR mission president wear clout goggles for a picture?

More clout goggles (it means cool sunglasses)

I love President and Sister LeBaron!!!

My fave Sister Schmidt <3

The Council! Aka the best ZLs

Week 19: Farts on the floor

 Heyyy errybody! This week was full of ups and downs, but I'm so grateful for how much I learn and grow each day! Honestly I don't have a lot to update on, but somehow this email will still be long.

Things to know:

- Sister Pardo and I put two more of our friends on date! But they are sadly struggling with the Word of Wisdom, so we are continuing to work with them because they really want to be baptized.

- Our friend Brayden wasn't able to get baptized on September 18th like we planned, so we pushed it out to December and are trying to do all we can and keep trusting in God's plan :)

- Our friend Michelle I talked about last week came to church again, along with some of our other friends, and she came to a relief society potluck and now has lots of friends in the ward! 

- One of the missionaries in our zone got emergency transferred to be a zone leader this last week so we said a quick goodbye :( Our zone is small now after two missionaries have left.

Stories of the week:

Not a ton of stories, but one of the nights this week we went to a member dinner and brought the Elders, and our member is a little interesting and made us sit on the floor haha so it was just super funny. One of the elders farted and I was laughing SO HARD. I would use the excuse that the mission has degraded my humor, but honestly I just have always had little boy humor haha. Another funny story that happened was I went to a member's house for dinner and found out that she went to high school with my aunt Brittany, uncle Brandon, and mom (her name is Heather Wilson for my mom's family reading this)! So I got to see some fun pictures of them all haha and it was fun to make the connections. Small world!

Spiritual thought:

My thought this week is on the importance of using your talents and spiritual gifts. I have been learning that we are all given different gifts and abilities, and we need to use them to bless the lives of others. Whether that be your family, friends, or others, we can all bless others around us with our talents and skills. So don't try and be someone else, be yourself and be who God created you to be. People will be drawn to you for who YOU are. So yeah that's all :)

I LOVE YOU HAVE A GOOD WEEK

Sister Dickson

See ya 

I love my apartment of sisters

Spokane's sunsets are almost as good as Utah's

Cat woman (the cat has some nice eye boogies yum)

I love this ward! They are the best

Everyone in the whole mission on our weekly zooms :)

I love my companion!!!! 

Finally got to wear sweaters

Happiest zone on earth! They are my favorites

More clout

Week 18: Milked my second goat!

 Hey everyone! This was a super fun week, and I know it was a pretty fun week for everyone back home that's a BYU fan ;) Haha I wish I could have been there for the game! But I'm on the Lord's errand so it's all good. Here's my week :)

Things to know:

- We saw a bunch of miracles, this couple just randomly showed up to our ward BBQ and said they had been wanting more friends and a new church to go to. So of course we invited them, and they came to church with us on Sunday! So awesome, God is so good. And our other friends came too!

- I went to my first Mission Leadership Conference and it was AMAZING! Its almost the same thing as Zone Conference, but for ZL's and STL's. I felt the spirit so strong and learned so much and it was so fun to see all of my friends there. It was honestly one of the best days of my mission so far.

- Also I went on exchanges with Sister Fotu for 24 hours and it was a party! And I hit my 4 months! Not really a big milestone but it's fun to keep track and see how fast the time is already going! :)

Stories of the week:

So yes I did milk another goat. This lady we do service for has them and we got to milk her goats, and here's the exciting part: She makes you drink its milk straight from the udder...yummy. Haha I wouldn't have minded it if it wasn't warm... she also shot it into my mouth like a rocket launcher lol. If you want to see a video of it you can ask my mom for it because I can't get it to attach sadly. 

A cool story from this week is from the less active member I mentioned in my first email. Her name is Michelle, and we had the most spiritual lesson with her about Christ's Atonement. Towards the end of the lesson she turned to me and said "I feel like I knew you even before I came to Earth" and I just cried. The Spirit told me that I am here in Spokane to connect with Michelle and it truly has just been the most amazing experience with her.

Spiritual thought:

This week my spiritual thought is on seeing ourselves as Christ does. At MLC we bore our testimonies as if Christ was speaking about us and it was the most spiritual experience. It also made me realize how many people doubt themselves and their abilities. If Christ loves us enough to sacrifice himself for us and God forgives us each time we fall, then why should we not love and forgive ourselves? The only person holding yourself back from your full potential is YOU (and maybe Satan but let's just ignore that guy). Doubting yourself is saying you don't trust God's judgement, because He believes in you and loves you so much. So believe in yourself like God believes in you, and know that you are loved and can do anything through Him. Never give up; keep trying and using the gift of the Atonement, and you will see His hand in your life.

I LOVE Y'ALL 

Go spread the love

<3 Sister Dickson

Got to see all my favorite Hayden homies again

Exchanges with Sister Fotu!

Michelle with us at church :)

Fun rainbow wall pics for my 4 months

We bought clout goggles today hehe

Got to see Sis Bowie and Sis Sprehn, I love them SO MUCH

Picture with AP Pulu and Sis Pardo bc we are all brown

Week 17: I love to see the temple!

Hey Ya'll! I'm doing awesome, but this week week is going to be shortish because there's not a ton of updates, and I know everyone loves shorter emails!!! :D

Things to know:

- I GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!!! Sister Pardo had a recent convert from one of her past areas invite her and we got permission to go. It was the most amazing experience I've ever had to have him baptize me there. I love this gospel!!!!

- Had exchanges with a Sister in my apartment named Sister Schmidt and it was so fun!

- Sister Pardo hit her 1 year! So exciting. Some members fed us a steak dinner for her special day and it was so good.

- One of my ZL's left to go to his original assignment in Canada this week and we said bye. Sad day :(

Stories of the week:

This week we continued to work with our referral Brayden I mentioned last week! He is 14 and made good friends in the ward, and even went to the young men's activity this week! He came to church again and loved it, and we met with him after. We had the most spiritual lesson ever, and ended up putting him ON DATE for September 18th!!! He was so excited and so were we!! Until today, we got a text from his uncle who has been bringing him to church. He said his mom doesn't want him to get baptized :( So please please pray for Brayden that he can get baptized. We need a miracle!!

Spiritual Thought:

This week my thought is on how the Atonement is a privilege. I read a talk by President Nelson that talked about how beautiful it is that we get to wake up every day and start fresh. The Atonement is such a gift, and I'm really starting to understand the importance of it in our daily lives. If you have daily detailed repentance, you will find so much more joy and happiness! The Lord does not expect us to be perfect, so stop beating up on yourself. He is just waiting for us to ask for forgiveness and He will give it to us if we try our best to improve! I promise that if you repent every day, it will help improve your day and your attitude! And you will see so many blessings!

Have a good rest of your Labor day weekend!

Love ya!

Sister Dickson

Our best friend Brayden!

Saying bye to Elder Moncur

Exchanges hahaha Sister Schmidt is so funny

My companion is old whattt

Sister Fotu and I being little kids again

THE TEMPLE 

The Happiest Zone on Earth