Monday, February 24, 2014
Good Afternoon!
It’s a good week to be in CANADA! Everyone here was raving about
all the Gold they are winning in the Olympics and how they are having American
tears for the soup of the day! Canadians are so mean to us Americans here.
There is no greater way to start your week off other then taking a trip to the
temple and that is what I got to do! Elder and Sister Adams the senior couple
that is serving here brought us to Montreal to go to the temple. We did not
think that a lot of missionaries would choose this day to go because the next
day was transfer day so you would think they would be all home packing but we
were so wrong! When we walked into the temple doors there were 40 missionaries
there! You could imagine the temple workers were a little stressed. We actually
didn't even get to do what we wanted to do at the temple because there was so
many people there but it didn't even matter you couldn't wipe the smile off of
Sister Olson and i's face. The temple was so pretty and we felt such a
wonderful spirit there! We got to teach a lot more this week which is so great
because that is what missionaries are suppose to do! We had a zone training
this week and got training on lots of good things by our new zone leaders that
just came in this past transfer. On Friday the Chinese elders had another
Chinese baptism that I got asked to talk in. The Chinese are so strong here and
its amazing to here there testimony's about the gospel, but I have decided if I
am going to keep getting asked to speak and pray at there baptisms I need to
learn more Chinese! Saturday was a crazy day we helped clean the church and
then had a really cool lesson with Caleb and his friends that introduced him to
the church were on Skype to join in on the lesson. I had never done that
before, but it was really cool the members have this adorable eight year old
and she just got baptized in August she bore her testimony about her baptism and
she shared her favorite scripture out of her quad scriptures that are almost as
big as her. After the lesson a member took us to eat at Costco and never in my
life had I seen so many people in one place Costco was so packed that you
couldn't even walk I started to get Closter phobic. After lunch we went
downtown to teach a lesson with Caleb because we wanted him to bear his
testimony to this person we have been teaching for a while but is still having
a hard time understanding her feelings about the church. We went to the mall to
teach the lesson and it was so packed as well. We couldn't find a place to
teach because the joys of teaching young adults is you never teach them at
their house. As we were crossing the street to go to the mall I had my head down
because it was so cold and the wind was blowing it is a terrible habit but
anyways I was following Sister Olson and Caleb across the street when all the
sudden I had heard this honking nose and I turned and a buss was about to run
me over and then all the sudden I was slammed off the street by Caleb.
Apparently Caleb and Sister Olson realized fast enough that they were not going
to make it across the street and me with having my hood on was not paying good
enough attention. Luckily Caleb was paying attention and grabbed me. My heart
was racing for a long time but that wasn't the worst of it as soon as we sat
down with who we were going to teach they started yelling out all these
terrible things about Mormonism. I couldn't even defend my self before they
were yelling about something else. My heart started to beat faster and I
realized I couldn't handle it anymore I was so Closter phobic with all the
people and almost getting ran over by a bus and now this! I started to cry
because if anybody knows me they know I can’t get yelled at because it turns
into automatic tears! They started to calm down and realized they were being a
little harsh! After that we went and helped Taylor move out of her apartment
and it helped me realize what I’m really hear for to serve other people and
help bring the gospel to those that have been prepared! I love you all and I
can feel your prayers for me everyday!
Love,
Sister
Dick
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
I am staying =) =)
We received transfer calls this past Saturday and Sister Olson
and I are both staying! This means that I will "kill" Sister Olson
off her mission because this is her last transfer of her mission. This transferred
we have seen that President Patrick is not transferring very many people
because he really likes to keep people in their area for awhile this transfer a
bunch of people are staying in there areas for 9 months! This gives me hope
that I will be able to stay in this area for nine months! On Tuesday it was
Taylors birthday so we made her a red velvet cake and brought it to her. A
special gift that my awesome companion has is that she can beat box. She is
super good at it so we got the other sisters we live with and we sang happy
birthday to her while Sister Olson beat boxed it turned out really cool and Taylor
loved it. I felt very loved on Valentines Day from the packages I got! NO one
could wipe the smile off my face! Another Valentines gift we got was 1 1/2 feet
of snow! It was so great because Sister Olson and I went around shoveling people’s
driveway for them. It was such a fun service project and it got us to be able
to talk to people. One of our really great investigators got a date this week
to be baptized on March 8th. We are very excited for him to take that step for
baptism. He is member’s friend who she introduced to the church and it’s so great
to see the support he has from the ward. The institute program of our ward put
on an all day conference for all the young single adults in the Stake. The
missionaries got to help serve all the meals for it and it was so much fun and
cool to see how strong the program is up here in Canada. Sister Houde came to
the conference and it is so weird to see her not as a missionary hanging out
with all the people in the ward that we served together in! She is still awesome
though and always makes my day when I see her! Since last week in my email I
talked a lot about member missionary work I wanted to share something really
cool! We are teaching this guy named Caleb he is super awesome and he was
introduced to the church by one of his co-workers from Nevada. His story is
such a good example why member missionary work is so important. He wrote down
his testimony and he told me I could share it will you all. I hope you enjoy it
and feel the spirit that I felt as I read it.
"I started looking into the church because I was on a phone
call with a work friend of mine, and they invited me to sing and pray with
their kids. From the first time we did that, I could feel the spirit and the
connection between the family. I wanted that in my life.
However, I was worried, I had heard a lot of
stories about the church, and how wrong it was, and for the next few months I
looked for everything wrong with the church and shared it with some LDS
friends. The amazing thing is that every time they replied with what they
really believe... it just made sense, I cant really explain it.
A few months ago I was drinking coffee, smoking
cigars and drinking alcohol. One morning I woke up and quit coffee... A week
before I had my last drink and nearly 2 weeks my last cigar... From that day
forward I gained a testimony of the word of wisdom. I no longer rely on coffee
to get me going, or cigars to de-stress me. There are so many blessings I have
gotten from living the word of wisdom.
Then, I started reading the conference talks and
every time I read one I had a feeling that this is what God would want to tell
his people right now... I couldn't deny that there was a high chance these were
real modern day prophets.
A few weeks later I saw a challenge
in a Mormon marketing group I had joined to see what the church was all about
to read the Book of Mormon in 40 days.. A few days later I felt an overwhelming
prompting to read the book and do the challenge and I challenged two Mormon
friends to join me.
The first time somebody asked me if I knew the
Book Of Mormon was true, I froze... My body was covered in this warm and cold
feeling (and it freaked me out!), however over the next couple of days I
realized that I knew the book of Mormon was true. I read the chapter 3 Nephi 11
and I know that the spirit testified to me that it was true. A couple of
days later, I knew the Book Of Mormon was true.
A few weeks ago I was driving and i
burst into tears, I stopped at a spot specifically close to my heart and said a
prayer. I asked God if what I am doing is right, and if the church is the real
church he wanted me to go to.
All of a sudden I had to drive to the church, and
as I sat parked around the corner from the church, i texted the missionaries
who for some reason had a feeling they should stay at the church... 2 hours
after the service had ended.
As I pulled into the church I realized that all
the fear and anxieties I had about going to church were gone... and I went in
confidently.
I know that the church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints is the true church restored by the prophet Joseph Smith. I
know that the Book of Mormon is true. I'm so glad that I've accepted this as I
know it will bless my life today, and forever."
Caleb is so amazing and the gospel has really changed his life!
His parents are very against the church though and they are very mad he is not
going to their church. All he wants is his parent’s approval. We introduced
Taylor to him and had her tell her story and that helped a lot! We were able to
also get him a baptismal date for March 15th! I am so privileged to be able to
teach him, but I really don’t feel like we do anything for him its all in his
member friends that introduced him to the gospel!! I know this story could
happen to one of your friends if you introduce them to the gospel.
Tomorrow Sister Olson and I are going to the
Montreal temple with the older couple from our district. I am so excited
because I have not been to the temple in 4 1/2 months! I love you all so much
and you are all in my prayers!
Love,
Sister
Dick
Monday, February 10, 2014
Hello Sunshine!!
Canada has been a lot nicer this week with the weather! We have
had a couple sunny days and it gives me hope that one day there will be
springtime in Canada. This week was really great because we had Zone
Conference. Which is where all the missionaries in Ottawa get together with
President Patrick and the Stake President and different missionaries and the
presidents give trainings. This was my first one on my mission and it was
really cool! Most of the trainings were on how to strengthen the ward. Which is
something every ward can work on. Another training was on how to receive
referrals from the members. I never new as a missionary that most of the people
you are suppose to be teaching are given to you by members. My impression of a
missionary before I was one, was knocking on doors all day. The church has come
to find that knocking on doors all day is not effective we are wasting time
doing that because as a missionary we are suppose to be teaching. They have put
a huge push on member referrals and as a missionary its easy for me to think
YES give us referrals because that means less scary street contacting, but
lately I have tried to put my self back in my old shoes of being a normal
member back home and think how hard it is to introduce your friends to the
church. Its very hard to bring up religion sometimes, but I have come to find
on my mission that so many people have questions about religion they just do
not know who to talk to. Luckily our church has FREE, pretty intelligent
missionaries that know a bit about religion. Our most progressing person we are
teaching right now is a referral from a member in our ward and he is so awesome
and it is because he already has friends in the ward! I would love to challenge
everyone this week to bring up religion with one person! I know most of you
live in Utah and the first thing you think of is well, everyone I know is
Mormon, but I know you can find someone!! Along with zone conference the
whole Ottawa Zone had interviews with President Patrick. I loved my
interview so much it was so nice to get to talk to President Patrick about how
everything was going. He told me when I got off the plane my first day in the
mission I had the normal “deer in the head light” look, but now he said he
is amazed because I am so confident and radiant. I told him it was because
Sister Houde was such a great trainer! He asked me if I took
advantage with having sister Houde as a francophone companion meaning I had a
companion that could speak French fluently. I kind of laughed and said ahhh
well.. I tried to! He said good because you will be speaking French soon and I
told him well I love Ottawa and I could stay here my whole mission! He looked
at me again with his soul staring look and said Sister Dick the Lord called you
in French you will be speaking French! I didn’t disagree with that and told him
I was excited! This past week it seemed that everyone we talked to had
watched Sister Wives this past week and had lovely comments about it. It was a
lot of fun trying to defend our selves. I wish some people would realize that
the church is more then what you see on Sister Wives and South Park. This
past Sunday the Chinese-speaking elders held a Chinese dumpling making get
together. It was really cool because who doesn’t love Chinese food and Chinese
people! It was super fun and they were delicious! Transfer Calls are this
Saturday, but President pretty much told me that Sister Olson and I would be
staying because it is her last transfer in the mission, but you never know! Well
that’s all for this week HAPPY VALENTINES this week! I love you all
Love,
Sister
Dick
Monday, February 3, 2014
Happy February!
Today is a nice sunny day here in Canada. We even got out of the
negatives for the first time in awhile! This week started off a little
rough with being my normal self and not very coordinated and pocking my self in
the eye with my hot curling iron! For some reason it was too funny for anyone
to give me any sympathy. Its not my fault the clippy thing is slippery =) I
went to the doctor who is a member here in Ottawa and its just a scratch and a
burn under my eye. It feels lots better now but then I couldn’t open my eye and
that makes it very hard to teach a lesson! This past Saturday our ward had a
baptism for a girl name Julia she is from China and the Chinese elders have
been teaching her. She is really awesome and has been coming to church for a
while now. I have always sat with her at church and practiced my Chinese on her
and she laughs and corrects me. She asked me to give a talk at her baptism and
i felt so loved that she would ask me to do that. It was such a great baptism
and she brought so many of her Chinese friends that got to see it. At the end
she bore her testimony in English and it was the sweetest testimony I had ever
heard. She said that she had told people back home that she was about to become
a Mormon and people asked her why? She said this is what I told them, when I
first came to Ottawa I was very scared because I didn’t know English and I didn’t
know Canada very well. School was very hard and I didn’t know what to do then
two Mormon missionaries found me on the street and these white boys could speak
Chinese! They taught me who God was, and how to pray. When I started to pray I
stopped worrying about school and my English. I just had a peaceful feeling
that everything will be okay. I am so glad that I can now always pray and have
god with me. The spirit was so strong when she was bearing her testimony
and it helped me to realize how important prayer really is and that it can help
you form that relationship with your heavenly father. On Sunday it was fast and
testimony meeting and it’s always a really great meeting in the ward because
the members bare such great testimonies, but today was really great! Taylor got
up there and bore her testimony about her whole conversion story and what she
had to do to get baptized. It was so powerful and so natural it was like she
had been a member her whole life. She thanked me for coming into her life and
showing her the true gospel. I thought my heart was going to burst from the joy
that I felt. She told me this week if she would be able to prepare to go on a
mission because she really wants to go. I told her it’s never too early to
prepare to go on a mission. Its crazy to think by helping her I will have
helped so many just by her going on a mission and helping so many people! The
Holy Ghost is truly the teacher when we are in lessons I’m blown away from the
knowledge that recent converts have because they are so in tuned with the
spirit. The spirit is able to teach you so much and allows you to retain so
much information. This week we are having a big training with all the
missionaries in Ottawa and President Patrick. I am very excited because
President Patrick announced today that we are having one of the 12 apostles
come and talk to us on March 22! There has also been some crazy news about the
mission splitting or something because it was announced on Lds.org that Canada
Montreal is getting a new mission president and President Patrick has only been
here for 7 months. Only time will tell with this crazy news. Today we were able
to go to the winter Lude is a big festival thing here in Ottawa and it’s really
neat there are lots of ice sculptures you can look at. It’s also a great place
to talk to people because everyone asks us about our tags. It’s amazing how
many people know who we are! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister
Dick
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