Tuesday, March 25, 2014
An Apostle!!
HELLO!
Wow was this week an awesome crazy week! We started it off
with St. Patrick’s Day on Monday and Sister Olson and I got asked to give the
lesson for family home evening. We gave a fun St. Patrick’s Day lesson and then
got to play volleyball and Dance Dance Revolution with them all and some of our
recent converts that came! They have the funnest things here for activities it
is so easy for them to invite their non-member friends out to them. This week
we prepared to meet elder Anderson at the end of the week. President Patrick
gave us some talks to study and ponder about so we could be prepared. We left
for Montreal on Friday around 2:30 with the sisters we live with to tackle the
2 1/2 hour drive ahead of us. They took us to the temple because we got asked
if we wanted to go because we haven’t gone this transfer yet. There were tons
of missionaries at the temple, but Sister Olson and I were the only sisters.
The temple was amazing and it was so great to be able to go. You feel so much
peace when your there and you just feel at home. When we got out of the temple
we didn’t realize that it was so late but it was 9:30. The other sisters told us we had to hurry
because we were suppose to be on the other side of Montréal by now at the place
we were staying at for the night. Sister Olson’s gps broke and we did not have
a Montréal map so we became so lost. We were clear on the east side of Montreal
when we were suppose to be on the southern west side of Montreal. Caleb our
recent convert happened to call us and he was able to look up directions on his
phone and direct us to a road that looked familiar. The zone leaders kept
texting us and telling us to buy a map that would of been a good idea if there
was even a store in sight! We finally made it to our destination down town
Montréal and took another half an hour trying to find parking. Montreal is like
a whole new world, I felt like all of us coming out of Ottawa looked like folks
coming out of the country! We stayed with the Montreal Young single adult sisters
and we finally all got to bed by 12! The morning was interesting trying to have
six sisters getting ready all at once, but we managed to all be ready by eight
and running out the door with dry pancakes in our mouths. As we pulled into the
big stake center parking lot of Montreal there was just a sea of missionaries.
Having been stuck in Ottawa for six months I felt like I didn’t recognize very
many. I did get to see my whole MTC district though, which was so cool. We
tried to catch up on all of our crazy story’s from these past few months but it
was impossible! I just want one of them to come to Ottawa and serve by me. A
cool thing was a Sister came up to Sister Olson and asked where I was she
grabbed me and said “right here” she told me she recognized Sister Olson from
my blog because she has been reading it and she has only been out one transfer!
It was so cool to see that people have been reading my blog and I’m not just
talking to myself when I write these! The Conference was beyond amazing When we
first got there president Patrick told us that he really didn’t know what was
going to go down all he knew was that Elder Anderson was in
charge. It started off with Elder Anderson introducing him self and
everyone who was there in FRENCH. Who knew that he could speak French, but
apparently he was a mission president in France. Then he had all of us come up
and shake each one of their hands. It was so cool and special! Then he
had Bishop Gerald Causse of the presiding bishopric speak in French because
he is from Paris. I could understand a lot of it, but for sure not
all of it! Then Elder Donald L. Hallstrom one of the Presidents of the first
quorum of the seventy spoke, and Elder David Homer the Area Seventy who
supervises our mission. Elder Anderson then called random people that he
wanted to bare their testimonies. One of
them was President Patrick’s son who just got called on a mission to
Tahiti, French speaking he was sooo nervous standing next to an apostle!
Finally Elder Anderson spoke and little did we know how funny he is! He told us
that the apostles are so old that they have one foot in this world and the
other in the next and we have to keep pulling them back to this one.
He was saying all sorts of funny things, but as soon as he started to
talk about our Savior Jesus Christ it was like this literal wave of the
spirit just smacked us all in the face it was so intense. He talked
to us a lot about the atonement and how we should get more and more
familiar with it. He challenged us to know more about it in the Book of Mormon
and it was amazing how many scriptures he could just say off the top of his
head! He told us how they decide where missionaries go on their
missions and how they put a lot of thought into it because it changes your life
forever! All of the speakers put a big press on knowing that right
now as missionary’s we should not have any regrets because this is the
only time that we will be serving 24/7 and when we get back from our
missions we will have lives but right now we should put
everything we have into our missionary work. It was so amazing to get to hear
wisdom from our amazing leaders and from a witness of Jesus Christ. It got
me so excited for general conference coming up! On the way home from
the conference I was reading a letter I got from my bishop from Hawaii and read
that a friend I knew in Hawaii passed away in December it was so sad to
hear and helped my testimony of the plan of salvation grow even stronger. I know
that we will get to see him someday and I will always remember his service to
me! Sunday was so great Taylor gave the lesson in Relief Society
which was sooo good, Caleb got the Priesthood and that was such a neat
experience to witness him receiving the authority to act in gods
name, and another recent convert we teach taught priesthood, and another
talked in sacrament, so it was an amazing Sunday as you could see. This
week is going to be sad because it is Sister Olson’s last week on the
mission. She has to start saying goodbye to everyone and she is not ready
to, but who is ever ready to say good-bye? We also get to go to the temple with
Caleb this Saturday for him to do baptisms for his ancestors. We get transfer
calls this Saturday and I am excited to see who my next companion will be.
I am really hoping that I get to stay here at least another transfer because I
really don’t want both Sister Olson and I to leave this area with all of our
amazing new converts. I know that Heavenly Father will take care of this
area no matter what! I love you all
-Sister
Dick
Monday, March 17, 2014
Happy St Patrick's Day!
I had another fantastic baptism week. This week was really great
and even better weather! Sister Olson and I were able to meet with lots of
people, and we also got to give a training to our district this week about how
to be optimistic and have hope. It was really great and helped us realize how
fun missionary work really is and that we must always be hopeful in our work.
On Friday the sisters we live with were cooking caramel for their wards
pot luck and Sister Gerday open the can of boiling caramel and it splattered on
her face her companion Sister Zelaya shoved her face under cold water and
had to peel the hot caramel off her face. It was pretty scary but she
recovering well with only a few burns on her hands and face. Ultimately
this weekend was the best out of everything. Caleb's baptism was on Saturday
and it’s a baptism I will never forget! We have been working with Caleb for a
long time on getting him able to tell his parents about his choice to be
baptized. After many spiritual messages and pep talks he was able to tell them.
Like I said they were not happy. They went back and forth this past week in the
decision of coming to his baptism or not. They finally made the decision that
they would come as long as no missionaries would talk to them or as they referred
to as "keep the dogs away" Sister Olson and I were pretty nervous
that something would go wrong. Many people showed up for his baptism even from
his hometown, which is 2 hours away. The spirit was so strong; the strongest I
have ever felt at a baptism. What was really cool was when Caleb was getting
dressed we had a testimony meeting and people were able to bear their testimony’s
if they wanted to. Sister Zelaya and Sister Gerdays less active member and his
daughter came. He went up and bore his testimony about how he went to bible
school and found the church and its not an easy rode but it’s worth it. The
testimony was really good, but it wasn’t anything mind blowing, but to our
investigator who came it was really great because she had gone to the same
bible school. After the baptism they were able to talk and he was able to
answer all her questions from her side of view. Caleb’s parents stayed and
many members talked to them it was so great to see that his parents came and
supported him! Sunday was even more amazing many people that we have been
teaching came to church. Caleb received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Arzaan received
the priesthood. These are both amazing gifts that our Heavenly Father has
given to us! After church I got to do something that I
never thought I would get to do. All sister missionaries were invited to attend
the Ottawa stake fireside. We were kind of confused why we were invited
but by the time we walked out of the meeting we knew exactly why
we needed to be there. The entire meeting was focused on hastening the
work. Which has been the topic in many meetings lately, but this one was done
so well. A recent convert of 6 months talked who that night had just
been announced worthy to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He spoke
of his conversion and the joy that he has in his life now I couldn’t help but
shed a tear as he described what he had been
looking for. A young man talked about how he has been
going out with the missionaries and how the youth can help hasten the
work. A member of the stake presidency talked about missionary work and
how its not just about baptisms but also about less actives he shared a really
cool talk about how a bishop was reluctant to ask a less active to talk in
church, but how it made people realize he was a lost sheep. Then the Stake
President asked Sister Gerday and sister Zelayas less active member who was the
one who bore his testimony at Caleb’s baptism to come up there and bare his
testimony. He had us look right and look left and then close our eyes and
picture who is not here but who you would like to be there. He said brothers
and sisters I was that lost sheep after many, many sister missionaries who came
to our house we have come back. He complimented Sister Gerday and sister Zelaya
for not giving up on his family. The spirit was so strong I looked up to see
our mission president, President Patrick sobbing as he was baring his testimony
that the sweet sister missionaries spirit touched his heart. President Patrick
got up next and shared that at the last mission president conference he
went to President Anderson told the mission presidents that the ARMY of sister
missionaries would come out and be able to touch the hearts of stubborn men. He
laughed and said I’m so happy to see that come true. That meeting was one I
will never forgot, and there was no doubt it was a priesthood meeting when
we walked in to the gym for refreshments there were only a couple bowls
of potato chips on the tables... boys =) I felt like nothing could get rid
of the spirit that I was feeling last night until our district leader
called to tell us that a recent convert that I had met when I first got to the
mission had emailed his bishop and decided to take his name of the church
records. I was devastated... I had looked up to him so much of being only a
recent convert of a couple months. This only testified to me stronger of
the importance of finding those lost sheep of never allowing sheep to be lost.
It is so important in these days to keep your testimony strong and help others
with theirs as well. My mission is a roller coaster of emotions but I know if
we didn’t have the tough times we couldn’t enjoy the good times. I am
excited for this week of getting prepared to get to see an apostle! Today for
p-day I lined the elders shoes up to polish them so that they look good for the
apostles... Elders need a little help sometimes! =) I hope that everyone has a
fantastic week I love you all!
-Sister
Dick
Monday, March 10, 2014
Hello!
Spring is in reach. This week the weather was a lot better! It’s
still not warm, but it’s almost out of the negatives which means the Canadians
are taking their coats off! This week was really good it started off with going
on splits with the sister training leaders. Sister Wright and I stayed hear in Ottawa
and tackled the young single adults while sister Olson went to Québec. I showed
her how to be a missionary young single adult style and it was really fun. We
street contacted a lot in a blizzard and caught snowflakes with our tongues. I
am sure the people we talked to thought we were crazy doing this in the snow,
but we didn't care! We had another zone training this week with the whole
Ottawa zone. I think President Patrick is getting us ready for the Apostle to
come March 22. We found out today that it will be Neil L. Anderson! We are very
excited for that. We have institute going at all three university campuses so
we are having fun taking people we teach to those. It’s so great that the
church is getting in to schools now to help spread the gospel. We have been
helping our investigator Arzaan prepare for his baptism this week. It was this
past Saturday and it was so amazing. There were so many people there it was unbelievable.
He had invited everyone he knew. He even picked up an investigator of the elders
and brought him to his own baptism. He was so excited and so was Elder Adams
the senior missionary in the ward who baptized him. We went to the church three
hours early to feel the font and Elder Adams was already there feeling the font
with hot water by the time the baptism started Elder Adams had made him self a
hot tub! Elder Adams cried through the whole baptism because he has come and
helped with almost all of the lessons we have taught him. It’s so great to have
a senior couple in the ward. On Sunday at church he received the Holy Ghost and
it was very special. He came in his brand new suit looking all nice and no one
could wipe the smile off his face. Sister Olson and I taught Relief Society on
Faith and Repentance. It was really good and the spirit was so strong many
people came up to us and thanked us for bringing such a strong spirit. Caleb
passed his baptism interview and we will be having his baptism this Saturday!
He has been struggling with telling his parents that he wanted to be baptized,
but finally on Sunday he was able to find the strength through many prayers to
tell them. They are not totally happy about it, but that was to be expected and
they even might come to it! I hope they do because the spirit they would be
able to feel if they came would be so strong and they would be able to hear
their son’s testimony of the church. Caleb has such a strong testimony of the
church its amazing I know he will be able to blow them away with it. I feel so
blessed to be in this area with all these amazing people. I really feel like I
have not even done that much with these two because the members are doing it
all! We have had a fun P-day today we were able to go to an Indian place for
lunch with our district and then to Parliament of Canada and go inside. It was
really neat I felt like I was in a castle from hundreds of years ago. I wish
you all a great week!
Love,
Sister
Dick
Monday, March 3, 2014
Hello,
And yet another week has sneaked past me. This happens
frequently out on the mission since tomorrow is my 6-month mark. I feel like I
left on my mission yesterday and now I’m here a third way through my mission.
Last p-day we played volleyball all day so this whole week I have been walking
around a bit sore. Apparently just because you walk for miles a day doesn’t
mean you’re necessarily in shape! This week Sister Olson and I were little
tricksters. We live with two other Sisters and they are always playing
tricks on us so Sister Olson and I decided our trick was to still there
missionary name tags and put them in jello. They woke up in the morning and
were searching everywhere for them, but they were on the counter inside a big
mound of jello =) another trick we played was the elders in our ward bought us
dinner one night because we didn’t have time to go get some then everyday after
that they bugged us and bugged us for their money, so for district meeting we
baked them a beautiful cake and we got there money in all dimes and we stuck it
in the cake and we gave it to them! When they cut open the cake their reactions
were priceless!!
Arzaan our awesome investigator who was
referred to us by a friend is getting baptized this Saturday. We are so excited
for him, but we really can't take any of the credit. The members in the ward
have really been the ones who have helped him gain a testimony of the church.
He comes from no Christian background and now it is amazing what he knows! He
walked around church and was inviting everyone to his baptism. He has even
helped one of his friends that is less active come back to church. I’m so
excited to see him take this step with being closer to his heavenly father.
Caleb who is still planning on getting baptized on the
fifteenth is still doing great as well. He is still struggling with telling his
parents his decision on being baptized. I have seen so many people go through
this while I have been on my mission. Its heart breaking to see and its hard to
relate sometimes because I come from such a supporting family. All I know is
that no matter what your parents have to love you and that even though you have
very tough life decisions to make you have to make them for yourself.
This Sunday was Fast Sunday and Taylor my recent
convert got up and bore her testimony on the power of prayer. She said
that she told her parents this week that she got baptized and that they were
very mad and threatened to come up and take her home again. She said she prayed
a lot and she couldn't help to feel very at peace and she knew that was the Holy
Ghost helping her. I always sit in amazement when recent converts bare there
testimony on the gospel.
Another miracle that happened this week was my first transfer
here we tried to find this less active girl and we drove a long way to her
house to find out that she doesn't even live there anymore. Afterwards we went
to the church and I over heard a conversation between two members that this
girl worked at payless and they had said hello because they knew they hadn't
seen her at church for a very long time. We took this great opportunity to get
new boots ha-ha and to hopefully run into her. We were in luck and invited her
to church she came and she has been coming back ever since. This week at church
she gave me a big hug and that she has decided to serve a mission! I am so
excited for her and her decision to strengthen her testimony in the gospel. I
wish you all a great week!!
Love,
Sister
Dick
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