Monday, January 27, 2014

This article in the Montreal Gazzette is about my mission.  Click on the red words below to go to it

Montreal Gazzette, Mormons on a Mission

Enjoying the winter snow outside our house

Hello!

Another week in the book! All my weeks just blend together now. I can’t believe I am already half way done with this transfer already! This week was really good. We have been doing lots of less active work, which is really cool! My mission president has really wanted us to focus on them because he wants us to realize that instead of adding new flowers to the garden we should take care of the ones we already have! On Wednesday, I went on splits with the sister training leaders. I went to Gatineau, QuĂ©bec and my companion stayed here to run the area. It was really fun and scary because it was all in French and it wasn't young single adults we were teaching, but old people! I am afraid when I get transferred out of this area I am not going to know what to do having to speak a new language and a whole new age group! In May the Montreal temple is closing for 13 months for repairs and I was super sad because that meant that I would never be able to go to it, but President Patrick just told the mission that they are aloud to go once a transfer until it closes! I am so excited to be able to visit it =) President Patrick also told us something really cool he heard in his last mission president conference. Elder Anderson the apostle came up and asked him what mission he was presiding over and President Patrick said the Canada Montreal Mission. Elder Anderson said I just want to tell you that we have sent the very best missionaries the world has ever seen to that mission. It was so cool to hear that because I really have seen so many amazing missionaries here and we rarely have problems here plus some how we have all managed to not turn into popsicles out here, which is just amazing in its self. Good luck this week in everything!

“Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.” Alma 36:3
-Sister Dick

Monday, January 20, 2014

Taylor's baptism

1st Baptism!!

Good Afternoon!

Life as a missionary is pretty crazy specially when you are in this young single adult branch, but this week was extra crazy! I have never done a baptism before on my mission so preparing someone for it was all new! Luckily my new companion knows lots. All week we had lessons with Taylor to prepare her for her baptism. I learned that even though you decide to be baptized doesn’t mean you are exempt from having trials. She is such a strong girl and has pushed through so many trials to be baptized! Sister Olson and I have been so blessed with the people we teach! We are teaching two people that are progressing so well. It is amazing to see how fast people can progress even if they have never had a stich of Christian background. As soon as they put their faith in Heavenly Father he is able to reveal so many things to them and allow them to retain so much information. We teach a really cool girl that has been coming to all the activities and always having such great questions. On Sunday she was having a rough day because it was her sisters three-year death date. She asked me if we could have some kind of prayer or something after church because she was really struggling. A thought came to my mind to ask her if she would want a blessing. She had no idea what that was so we explained what it was and asked our ward mission leader to give her one. Immediately after the blessing was over she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said what did you tell him how did he know how to say all those things? We explained to her that it was the spirit and she said she had the most peaceful feeling ever and didn’t want it to go away. It was so touching to see that the priesthood could give her such a peaceful feeling when she was feeling so sad before! Sister Olson and I have been working super hard this week and it paid off we were able to break the record for most members at our lessons in our area! It was super cool to see our hard work pay off. Unfortunately with lots of hard work and lots of cool weather I ended up with a bad cold! I was kind of bummed out because when the baptism rolled around on Saturday my voice was practically gone! I was still able to give my talk at it and they seemed to be able to hear me! The baptism was so awesome I know I’m being biased because it was my first but I couldn’t of been happier my heart was so full to be sitting there knowing that if we didn’t talk to this girl on the street she wouldn’t be there. The really cool thing was Taylor brought three of her friends to her baptism and one of them was the girl that was with Taylor on the street when we contacted her. She was the first person to respond when we contacted them and she told us she was NOT interested she didn’t believe in god and she didn’t want to listen to us! So as you could see I was very excited to talk to her on Saturday when I saw her there. She was a really cool girl and enjoyed being there! Sister Houde was able to come and it was so cool and weird to see her again. She didn’t have a nametag on and everyone kept calling her Anna I was like no it’s Sister Houde it will always be Sister Houde! She gave a really great talk and after Taylor bore her testimony about how thankful that the sisters found her and that she was so happy to say that she is finally a Mormon. I am so thankful to be a missionary even when times get hard and your boogers freeze automatically when you go outside! Its so worth it =) There is never been a happier time in my life. Serving my heavenly father is so rewarding and I’m so thankful for all your support. I love you all tons!!


-Sister Dick

Monday, January 13, 2014

 Steve my favorite Chinese member, me, Taylor and Sister Houde
 All the sisters at transfers
 Saying good bye to Sister Houde
Me and my new companion, Sister Olsen

January 13, 2014

HELLO!

This week was super crazy.  Lots of things going on, let alone receiving a new companion! On Tuesday we were able to meet lots of people before Sister Houde left the next day. Everyone was so sad to say good-bye but not too sad because they knew she would be back soon. We were able to meet with Taylor and it was such a great meeting.  We committed her for baptism on January 18th this Saturday! It is so exciting I can’t believe that I am going to have my first baptism. Special because she is the most amazing person I have ever met. It has been a lot warmer here this past week, but that’s not always a good thing because we have also been having freezing rain, so it’s literally a slip-n-slide around here! You just plant your feet real good and slide down the sidewalks! Sister Houde and I watched from across the street 10 people hit the ground hard on the same ice patch! Someone probably should of put a sign up, but I think everyone was too preoccupied watching how many people could possibly slip at the same spot! As missionaries you are not aloud to do winter sports but many times I feel like I’m just ice skating along the street trying to keep my balance! With slippery condition there is some good aspects and that is helping older ladies with there groceries.  We were able to do that a couple times this week and it’s so cool how service helps missionary move a long! I also read Alma 18 and its so amazing how service can show people that we are representatives of our Savior Jesus Christ!! I received my new companion on Wednesday and she is super awesome! Sister Olson has been out for 15 months she started her mission out in Ottawa in the ward that’s by us and was there for six months and then she got transferred to QuĂ©bec and was there for 7 months so this is only her third area. She is from all over the place because her dad is in the military her most recent home was Great Falls, Montana.  Her mom is from Sweden so her first language is Swedish. She is super shy and has already taught me that I talk too much. I am really excited to help her finish her mission out with a bang! She has already seen how busy this young single adult ward can be. We have had many lessons with people that have all come back from break. We had a zone training meeting with all of the Ottawa missionaries and even President Patrick came to it. Its really cool they have these trainings for missionaries because even though we are studying all the time its nice to get more trainings on things. This week we got someone new to teach in the funniest way. This girl was praying and asking heavenly father to please help her find a church. She was driving around trying to find a Baptist church and she accidentally took a wrong turn and got lost in our parking lot!  Someone invited her to come in and she decided to do so. We were able to teach her and she is super awesome she went to bible school for two years so she is super smart. She came to church this last Sunday again and I thought she was texting through sacrament meeting but she was actually taking notes and writing every word down that she didn’t know that the speakers said. After church we were able to answer all her questions that she had. We also got a member referral this week and it’s amazing how great it is to teach members friends. They are so responsive and they already have a great fellowshipper. The senior couple in the ward are really great help to us, they are like my parents. They come to a lot of our lessons and they feed us when we have no more food in the house. They are from Utah and they came out the same time as me, and they will be going home the same time as me. Taylor even asked Elder Adams the husband to baptize her.  He was so happy he started to cry. They have seven daughters so they really know how to deal with girls! Sister Houde called me yesterday to see how everything was going and if there were any lessons she could go to this weekend. She is coming up to go to Taylor’s baptism and she was asked three weeks ago to give a talk in a French ward by Ottawa. I’m so glad that she doesn’t live to far so that she can always visit. This week is going to be so great and I wish you all could come to Taylor’s baptism. I love you all so much have a fantastic week!!!

Love,
Sister Dick


Monday, January 6, 2014

New Years Eve party with some members
Our District all wore black in mourning of Sister Houde's leaving



Me and Sister Houde doing our exercise!!

January 6, 2014

Happy New Year!

2014 is here and it’s so exciting!! This year will be a year that I will be a full time missionary the entire year. The Bishop invited us over for New Years dinner and we had a good time celebrating with his family the New Year. This week has been CRAZY cold it has been -30 and -47 on Tuesday. When you go outside your nose holes just freeze shut it’s an interesting feeling! Since were not aloud to street contact in colder then -25 we have a good time doing bus contact. This week has started to really pick up with everyone coming back from the holidays the students might not be happy that school is starting back up, but all the missionaries are very excited! We got transfer calls this Saturday and the news is, I am staying in Ottawa and....... my new Companion is Sister Olsen. I don’t know a lot about her other then she is really cool and she is almost done with her mission, so it looks like I will be killing her off the mission as well. This week has been sad knowing that it’s the last with my trainer Sister Houde, but I know that she has prepared me so well. Our Last District meeting this week we all wore black in honor of Sister Houde’s funeral for some reason she didn’t think it was as funny as we all did! This Sunday was so special for her it was Fast and Testimony meeting and one of her recent converts was passing the sacrament for the first time, one bore an amazing testimony about how thankful she was for sister Houde changing her life, and the other had a meeting with the bishop to start his mission papers. Sister Houde has really changed this ward with her sweet spirit. Yesterday was a day that I will never forget as I have mentioned in e-mails previous we taught a girl named Taylor who is an amazing person, but unfortunately her parents did not agree with her decision in wanting to join the church they came to Ottawa and moved her home two providences over. Sister Houde and I were devastated the whole ward loved her sweet spirit and could she what a great person she was. We stayed in contact with her over the holidays, but the phone calls with her were never good. She said her parents told her she could join the church or have a family. Yesterday after finishing our second fast of the week for her we got a text from her say "I have really good News! I'm on the train right now going back to Ottawa. Decided to be independent form my parents. So I’m Staying =)" When I read the text I started to cry and I couldn’t believe that after so many prayers and fasting that Heavenly Father had answered my prayers!!! We called her and she said that her family had taken her Book of Mormon and cut it to pieces and threw it away in front of her. We comforted her telling her that we are with her all the way and that heavenly father is going to help her so much. She also asked us if She could still be baptized soon. I’m so thankful for all of your prayers for her I know it helped her to make this decision and I know they will still continue to help her as she keeps going with this journey. I’m so thankful to be a missionary and to be witnessing these miracles. I Love you all so much and hope you have the greatest week!!


-Sister Dick