Week 16: Thriving!

 Hey! What is up everyone! I'm loving it here in North Spokane! My new companion Sister Pardo is my twin and we have so much fun together, and the sisters in my apartment are the funniest people alive haha! And I absolutely love my new zone, we are all best friends already and it makes missionary work so fun. And I absolutely LOVE being an STL! It is so much fun. Ahh so happy.

Things to know:

We are teaching a ton of really cool people. One of our most progressing is a 10 year old girl named Adora. She really wants to get baptized, but her dad is catholic and made a deal with her to take the missionary lessons for a year and then see if she still wants to get baptized (anyone getting deja vu? it sounds just like Amy's situation... haha). Her mom is a member though, so hopefully we can convince them to push it up. Another thing, I get fed by members like every night here now, and I seriously am going to get fat haha. 

Stories of the week:

A super cool miracle happened this week! We had a really spiritual lesson with an inactive member about faith, and yesterday she came to church for the first time in 30 years! So awesome. Another miracle was a recent convert brought his nephew to church, and we taught him a lesson after church and he seriously loved church. He answered a question in young mens, was praying during the Sacrament, and is already reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon! He seriously will probably get baptized! So cool. Okay last one, we met the coolest couple street contacting and they said they have been looking for a new church to raise their daughter in, and they were super interested in what we had to share! So many miracles!

Spiritual thought: 

My spiritual thought is on being happy where you are. My cousin Kenzie gave a farewell talk that I loved and was able to listen to during my free time, and she shared how we can't just wait for things to get "better" or "happier", because we will always be waiting! Find joy in the journey, and always look for the positive and you will be amazed at how much better and happier your life will become! And don't forget to say your prayers and thank God for all the good things you've been given :)

HAVE A GOOD WEEK! LOOK FOR THE POSITIVES! 

Love you!

Sister Dickson

Said bye to Sis Wis

A fun pic

Saw my bestie Sis Bird!!!

Got my new comp!

My roomie Sis Fotu and I

Week 15: See ya Idaho!

Honestly I'll just get right into it this week! :

Things to know:

Crazy transfer news everyone, I'm leaving Idaho! We got calls yesterday and I'm headed over to Spokane! I'll be in the North part of the city, and I could not be more excited! My new comps name is Sister Pardo, and she seems so so awesome. Even crazier news, we will be Sister Training Leader companions! I got called by President on Saturday, and I'm feeling very very excited to get to serve in leadership already! Kinda crazy to get called so early into the mission haha, so everyone pray that I'll be able to fulfill my calling! But just wait! It gets crazier, Sister Bowman got called to be an STL too, and so we are both leaving our area! We were kinda stressed thinking we had to prepare it for two new missionaries, but we found out Sister Sprehn (the Danish sister in our apartment) is taking over both areas with her new companion! So that is also crazy that two areas will now just be the Silver Valley area! They are getting senior missionaries in the Valley too though, so I'm glad they won't be alone because that would be stressful!

Stories of the week:

Honestly not too many noteworthy things happened this week besides transfers, but we had some more exchanges and I got to go with Sister Sprehn again because the sister in my zone has Covid. Good thing we don't live close to them so they found out beforehand and could quarantine! I have already started packing and saying bye to my friends. I will miss a lot of the amazing ward members and my friends I've been teaching, but I know that they will be guided by the Lord after I leave. We are having our last p-day with the zone today and I'm actually super sad to be leaving because I have loved serving in this zone so so much. The friendships I made with my apartment, my zone leaders, district leader, and all the other missionaries makes it so hard to say goodbyes. Sister Wilson goes home on Wednesday too and I am not excited at all to say bye to my best friend for a year haha :'(

Spiritual Thought:

As I reflect on my last two transfers of my mission, I've really learned so much about being the missionary that Christ wants me to be. Sometimes it's rough trying not to compare yourself to other missionaries who are seeing the fruits of their labors (like tons of baptisms haha). But I know that as long as I am committed to find those to teach and baptize, that I will be seen as a successful missionary in the Lord’s eyes. And it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks! This applies to real life as well, so just remember who's opinion matters most next time you go to compare yourself! As long as He is pleased with us it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Remember that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.

I hope you all have an awesome week with everyone starting school back up! Message me on Facebook or email me if you want! :)) Talk to you next week from Washington!

Miss ya!

Love ya!

Sister Dickson

I'm gonna miss my homies

For real they are the best

John made this picture for us since we are leaving HAHA

Some of my cute favorite kids I said bye to

Last day of church with my 4 best friends :(

Enjoying my last week with my comp :(

Dressing up as gangstas lol

Exchanges with my favorite again

I am going to die tomorrow saying goodbye hahahaha not kidding

Week 14: Broken Retainers = Miracles

Hey everybody! Hope ya'll had a good week, I sure did! I had interviews, some more exchanges, hit my 3 months, and had some huge miracles! So get ready

Things to know:

-There was a mama moose and a baby moose just chilling in one of our lessons this week haha, it was cool but I was kinda scared because they were so close.

-Today we went to President's house for pday and it was so fun! Sister Wilson and I lived up to our pickleball wizard shirts by beating him and Sister LeBaron hehe

-1/2 John's decided he did not want to be taught anymore so that was sad. One of the hardest parts about being a missionary is other people's agency haha! 

-The other John that we found on Facebook is still going strong, but we had to push his baptism back to Sept 6th because we found out he was struggling with some Word of Wisdom issues. After we taught him about it and how many blessings we can receive from sacrificing and becoming clean and prepared for baptism, he has been tobacco free! He came to church yesterday and told us and we were so happy! So that is one of the huge miracles

Stories of the week:

Okay so the biggest miracle of them all has been in the process since last transfer. I went to the dentist with my trainer because my permanent retainer broke. The dentist is a member and is the coolest person ever, and we found out that one of his hygienists named Kendra said my companion and I had so much light and happiness, and she literally asked him for a Book of Mormon like a week later! And said she has been questioning her church for a long time and knows that our church was the answer she's been searching for! We just found out this week about all of this, and that he has taught her basically everything and she came to church yesterday and LOVED it! And she said she already wants to be baptized, so Sister Wilson and Sprehn are teaching her and she seriously will probably be baptized within the next month! SO AMAZING! GOD IS SO GOOD!

Another story is Sister Bowman and I had to clean the nastiest bathroom ever haha the floors were covered in poopy and were completely brown haha it was so fun.

Spiritual thought:

My thought this week is kind of just a continuation of what happened with Kendra. It really showed me that while we are here on our missions to try and teach people to get them interested in our message, the Lord is also preparing people for our message! And just being your happy, Christ-like self will guide them to the truth! Sometimes you have no idea who you are influencing until a bit later, but as we are kind to others and act as true disciples of Christ, they will have a desire to know what we know! So this week, go spread your light and your love for others. You will bless more people than you know!

That's all for now! Hope you all had a good end of summer and are prepared for school to start these next weeks! I can't believe how fast summer flew by! Anyway, you know how much I love ya'll, thanks for reading my email!

Love,

Sister Dickson!

3 months old with my comp!

Kendra at church with us!

The funnest p-day ever!

Mama and baby moose!

No explanation for this one.

Exchanges with my favorite again!

Week 13: The Forbidden Gondola

Hey all! This was another great week (I don't ever think I'm going to say it was a bad week because the mission is too awesome, and there is something positive you can find every day!). We had exchanges, ZONE CONFERENCE, a few random fun things, and some nice miracles this week. Also I have been a missionary for 90 days... How is it flying by so fast?! My official 3 months is on the 12th, but seriously so crazy. I know I just started, but I never want my mission to end! Every day is another day to grow closer to my Savior Jesus Christ and learn more about Him and myself as I help others come unto Him. Sorry I'll stop blabbing now and get down to the nitty gritty (*read in Nacho Libre voice*) hehe.

Things to know:

-Thursday was our first zone conference with President and Sister LeBaron and it was so amazing. I always come away so spiritually uplifted and hyped after ZC haha. And you get to see your missionary friends from other zones too so that's a party too! I love ZC so so much.

-John came to church yesterday! He even bought his own church clothes at Walmart the day before (most people just wear jeans and a t-shirt lol bc they say they don't have nice clothes to wear). He said he loved it so much :)

-Had exchanges with Sister Christensen this week and they were so great! She is so fun.

-Also got to ride on the longest Gondola in North America today! It was so fun. It took us to the top of Kellogg (a city in both the Silver Valley sisters areas) to a ski resort. No one has been allowed to do it for the last three years but President LeBaron said we could so that was swag we got to ride the forbidden Gondola.

Stories of the week:

-On Saturday we went to Pinehurst days during our lunch hour and saw the car show! It was so much fun and I was reminded a lot of my high school car show haha! We saw lots of cool cars, like Bel Airs and Corvettes, and took pictures with them. One guy even let us get inside his '58 Bonneville Pontiac! It was awesome. 

-I went on a short exchange with Sister Wilson Saturday night and it was super fun to be back with her. We visited some of the people I used to teach and it was so great to see them! We even put my old friend Dale and his son Aiden on date for September! Exchange miracles woohoo!

-It also finally rained this week and the smoke has cleared up so that was a miracle too! And Sister Bowman and I danced in the rain hehe.

-I keep seeing way too many spiders... someone we visited had two huge ones in his bathtub and said they were his friends... nasty. He even named one. Reginald was one ugly sucker.

Spiritual thought:

This week I had a lot of humbling experiences haha. In Zone Conference we learned about what true conversion is, having faith and ACTING on it. Everyone has a testimony (knowledge or experiences about Christ), but until you act on what you know or start to share it with others then you are not truly converted to the Lord. I realized that I had been doing great at the faith part, but not the action. So I got down on my knees and repented and asked for help to become more converted. And I ask you to do the same! It won't happen overnight; but when you truly align your will with Christ's, He will help you become a more converted disciple. Whether it's helping you serve more, obey more, share the gospel more, study your scriptures more, and so on... He will help you accomplish what you've been wanting to change. So just do it! Don't wait and say you'll change tomorrow. Start now and show the Savior that you truly love Him and want to do everything to follow Him. And know that I love you and you can always message me if you're struggling. I can't respond til P-days, but I will always respond! And I will always pray for you!

Anyway thanks to anyone who still reads these haha, I know you're out there somewhere! Have a good rest of the Summer everyone, can't believe it's almost time to go back to school! 

Love you almost as much as Jesus does!

(only because it's physically impossible to haha)

Sister Dickson

Me driving the Pontiac!

I love President and Sister LeBaron SO MUCH

 No explanation for this picture

Me and Sister Wilson in our cool shirts

Gondola ride up the mountain

The coolest zone to ever live

Twinning with Sister Christensen on exchanges

Fantastic 4

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Mi companera

Speed, I am speed

Week 12: New Race Unlocked!

 Hey All! Hope you had an awesome week! My week was SO great! Probably one of my favorites in the mission so far. One thing that made it so great was we got news that President LeBaron was changing the rules on messaging friends and family at home, and I'm now allowed to message everyone on Facebook Messenger on p-days! So if you're like me and hate emails haha feel free to message me throughout the week on messenger and I can respond on p-days! :) 

Things to know:

Sister Bowman and I put our new friend John ON DATE! WOO!  I found John on Facebook last Friday and sent him a video introducing my companion and I and what we do as missionaries. He loved our video and wanted to meet to learn more, and we have been meeting with Him every day since Wednesday! He shared that he had been searching for more direction in life and he knows that God led us to him and wants to learn everything from us! We taught him about baptism on Saturday night while reading in 2 Nephi 31 and I felt the spirit so strong to ask Him to be baptized, so I did and here we are! He is so excited and wants to do it as soon as possible so he is set for August 23rd as of right now so we can still help him prepare. I am just mind blown at how technology finding works and you can see such great miracles from it! I also saw my good friend from BYU Camryn Hinckley this week and it was the biggest miracle. I was so happy to see her!

Stories of the week:

Okay so this one has to do with the subject of my email haha since I know you're all wondering what it means. At least once a week on the mission I have someone ask me what ethnicity I am, and they never believe me when I say I'm white. I have gotten just about every race you can think of, so every time I get a new one our apartment jokes by saying "New race unlocked!" haha. I apologize if that is insensitive at all and I really hope that doesn't offend anyone, but I have to joke about it so I don't get offended myself (because some peoples comments are not very nice haha but oh well). Sister Bowman and I have also been killing it and everyone is super proud of us so that's what's up hehe. 

Spiritual thought:

Here is your spiritual thought for today! It comes from the Daily Joy book by President Nelson: "Of course, we are keenly interested in conversions, baptisms, and strengthening members of the Church. But if you have only one convert during your mission, I hope it would be yourself. Teaching the gospel is sacred work. There is not a better way to get the gospel of Jesus Christ into your heart and mind than for you to be a missionary and teach to others the resplendent and glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ." Just thought this was a great quote and that is all:) 

LOVE YALL

Sister Dickson

Chopped some wood and my whole body is sore now

The prettiest sunset because its so smoky

Wallace is the best

SAW MY PALS

My cute comp

My cute apartment

Exchanges with my favorite

Week 11: Offroading on empty

 Waddup everyone! Hope you all had a good Pioneer Day this week! I miss the fireworks a lot because we can't do them here since we have been having a lot of fires. This week wasn't too exciting until today haha so I'll have to tell about it in the stories section. Tomorrow is my new sister-in-law's birthday so if you know Jane, wish her a happy birthday! :) 

Things to Know:

We are continuing to do tons of finding here in the Silver Valley, and it is hard work lemme tell ya haha! But its very worth it and I really am just loving being on that missionary grind. We saw a cool miracle this week on our way to contact this lady named LeeAnn who had dropped the missionaries in the past (they didn't want to be taught anymore). Sister Bowman and I both felt the spirit prompt us to go visit her, and so we show up and she isn't home. As we are walking away, we walk past this garage a couple houses down and see a man working on a motorcycle and we both felt prompted to talk to him so we looked at each other and then walked over. Turns out this guy was LeeAnn's husband, and after we talked to him for a couple of minutes, LeeAnn came home and met us and we had a super awesome lesson and found out she is interested in meeting with missionaries again! Miracles woo! We also had a new friend of ours invite himself to our church so that was awesome. As far as our progressing people, we don't have any news because a lot of our people have been sick or out of town. So fingers crossed for next week!

Stories of the Week:

Today we wanted to go on a hike as a zone, because one of the other members wanted to take us up to one in our area in Wallace. We were in a rush because some elders came but had to leave right after the hike, and so I didn't have time to get gas. After driving halfway up a mountain on almost empty, we stopped and I told the member we didn't have any gas. So he tells us that his cabin is 10 minutes up the mountain on this other dirt road and he has some extra gas tanks so we were like okay sweet lets go. So we start driving and I am straight up offroading in the Idaho mountains in a Chevy Equinox. It was so bumpy and full of rocks and I literally have never been so stressed in my life. Pretty sure I was seconds away from going into Cardiac Arrest. TIWI (what monitors our speed and driving as missionaries) gave me an aggressive driving, and I was really close to bottoming out a couple of times. We finally got up to the cabin on the VERY TOP of the mountain and I had been driving on empty for 30 minutes. It was so stressful I just sat and cried after we got up to the top lol. BUT, everyone survived! We got filled up on gas, and now I can say that I went offroading in a road car haha. The hike ended up being super pretty and the view was so worth it! And lesson learned in never going below a quarter of a tank haha. Also on a short little random note, Sister Bowman and I had another member from out of town pay for our meal haha!

Spiritual thought:

One of the days this week I had a hard day because every door we knocked on had rejected us and I was super worn out and bummed. The next morning I read in Nephi 1:16 when Nephi breaks his bow and Laman and Lemuel sit and complain about all the bad things that happened to them. Instead of complaining, Nephi trusted in the Lord, and went out and made a new bow and thanked God for all the blessings he had been given. I decided that I did not want to be like Laman and Lemuel and complain, but trust that this is the Lord's work and go out and work hard even if I get rejected, or "break my bow". I know that as I go out and work hard like Nephi, that I will be able to see blessings from trusting in the Lord and His timing. This is his work and I am just called to assist! I challenge you all to try and trust in His will this week and see the blessings that come from it!

I love you all and hope you have a great week this week!

LOVE,

Sister Dickson

muchachos tacos

found my favorite book!

the sisters sqaud!

me & mimi

happy 24th of july lol

painting summers house!

the hike that made it all worth it

the 3 amigos!

my sweet bowie

Week 10: Free the Greenies

 Hello everyone! Hope you all had an awesome week! I don't have a ton to update on, but I'm jumping into the work here in Silver Valley B. Sister Bowman and I are trying to work super hard to prove that greenie missionaries are 100% capable without trainers! We've been constantly tracting, contacting, and doing other finding methods to try and find others to teach. Its been awesome so far because we both have the same excitement and drive for missionary work. Also on July 12th I hit my two months! So crazy how time flies. I love being a missionary!

Things to know:

Silver Valley B is so beautiful, and just as awesome as Silver Valley A. My last area was the west side of the valley, and my new one is on the east side. The only hard thing is that the apartment is at the front end of the valley, and so we have to drive 15 minutes just to get into our area. There's not as many friends being taught, but Sister Bowman and Sister Bachman put a friend named Sharee on date! She is a single mom of 3, and one is a brand new baby! And we are also hoping to put one of our friends named John on date soon. The new sister that came into our apartment to be with Sister Wilson is named Sister Sprehn and she is from Denmark! She is so cute and so awesome. We all have so much fun together. And I love being companions with Sister Bowman, we have the same humor so it's a blast. We definitely have to rely on the spirit tho since we are both still super new!

Stories of the week:

While out in one of the cities in my area called Wallace, Sister Bowman and I were getting dinner at a restaurant and ran into some members from Utah! They asked to pay for our dinner and they sat with us to eat and it was so fun. I guess you can still get spoiled as an Idaho missionary! Haha!

Also its super smoky here from all the fires here and in the West coast. A bunch of accidents on the freeway have happened these last 3 weeks, and like 3 semi trucks have overheated and exploded. Its so crazy! 

Spiritual thought:

This week my spiritual thought is on being responsible. Sometimes its really easy to make excuses, especially in missionary work. But I have learned this last week that you can either make excuses, or you can be responsible for your mistakes and do better next time. Satan is the one who wants you to make excuses, point fingers at others, and deflect responsibility. A BYU speech called be 100% responsible talks about this: 

"When Satan tempts a person to avoid responsibility, that person subtly surrenders their agency because the person is no longer in control or “acting.” Instead they become an object who is being acted upon, and Satan cleverly begins to control their life". 

Don't let Satan gain control of you! Take responsibility for your actions, repent, and change! Making excuses will only make you more miserable. I have seen the Lord hand work miracles as we turn to Him with full responsibility. So I challenge you to be responsible this week and see what great changes and blessings it will bring! 

I love you all so much!! I pray for you all and hope you have a great week and a great 24th of July this weekend!

Lots of love,

Sister Dickson

My cute new comp Sis Bowman!

Last day with Sis Wis as my comp:(

Saw a sign with my sisters name!

"Goodbye" to Amy (I will see her at church still haha)

Dinner!

Hehe don't worry we didn't knock

Pickleball