Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Hello!
Prayers do get answered! My mom has been praying lots for me to
get fed while I have been out here on the mission, but with being in a young
single adult ward you do not get fed very often. This week though with my mom's
prayers and her feeding the missionaries back home, Sister Verdin and I were
fed five times this week! It was like breaking History in the ward, but we
weren't complaining =) This week we taught many lessons on Family History work
and it was really neat to see that even the young adults that we teach see the
blessings of family history work! This week we also started a 50-day Book of
Mormon challenge with all the people we teach and the members. It has been
really cool to dig deep and study the Book of Mormon with them. The Book of
Mormon is the keystone to our religion so to have people we are teaching
understand it is so great! Since I have been on the mission our mission
president has put a HUGE urge on helping less actives come to church. Its what
we spend a lot of our time doing. Just these past two weeks we have gone over
the ward list many times to try and contact these people. The result of this
through out the mission has been tremendous with many less active members
coming back to church. Today president announced that we are switching our
focus to convert baptisms and he wants us out there finding more. This is
exciting and it will be cool to see the result of it! It looks like I will be
hitting the streets more with lots of Street Contact =) it’s a good thing the
weather is getting nicer! I really enjoy being a missionary and to be able to
wear Jesus’ name on my heart everyday! Sometimes I think my tag has a blinking
light bulb on it because everyone stares at it. People are not use to seeing
the words Jesus Christ written on them because people do not include him in
their lives anymore. I can testify and I have many times out here on the
mission. With having a gospel centered home you can have a better life. For
awhile I always wished I had a cool conversion story to tell people when I told
them how I first knew about the church, but then one day a wise companion of
mine named Sister Olson told me that I should be proud that I grew up in the
church because my story is living proof that the gospel does bless families! It
made me realize how much I have been given in this life. I am so thankful that
my parents taught me how to live and that trying to follow the example of Jesus
Christ is how I could one day return to live with my Heavenly Father! Time goes
by too quickly as I approach my eight month mark this Sunday. That’s why we
should always live to our full potential! I love you all bunches.
Love,
Sister
Dick
Monday, April 21, 2014
Hey!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. This week was
really great because we got to hear and share so many messages about our Savior
Jesus Christ, which is always so great. This week went by so fast it’s a blur
its just one of those weeks I have to sit back and even remember what I did. I
know that the weather is getting nicer which means people are coming out of
hibernation and that means we get the chance to speak to more people! I have
been sick for three weeks with a cold and this week I came down with a sinus
infection. It’s no fun but it’s clearing its self up! This week I went on
splits with the Gatineau sisters and Sister Verdin stayed her and I went to
Quebec. It was really good and it was neat to see that I could understand so
much more French. I have been praying lots for the gift of tongues lately even
though I’m not even in a French area and I know that my prayers had been
answered because I could see the difference from this time and last time. They
had a ward sports activity that we went to with people they teach and I never
knew it would be so hard to play sports in a language you didn’t know so well.
I finally just started waving my arms instead of getting their attention with
my broken French. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed my time there. Church was
awesome as always and I loved all the talks on Jesus Christ. It really helped
me get a better perspective of what he really went through. I know we will
never be able to fully understand all the things that he went through but even
trying to see a bit of the things people did to him helps me to gain more and
more love for him. The senior couple in our branch invited the missionaries in
the ward to eat at their place on Easter because with young single adults we
don’t get fed very easy. It was a really good meal and it was a good way to
celebrate Easter! Today I had to take Sister Verdin to see Parliament so she
could experience the coolness of Ottawa Canada’s capital. It was really cool
even the third time I have been because this time we took the tour in French.
The people probably thought we were crazy because two of the missionaries were
Asian, one Mexican, one Jamaican, one Haitian, one British all going through
the French session it was a great conversation starter about the church for the
people wondering why we could all speak different languages.
Well this is it for this week. Have a great one!
Love,
Sister
Dick
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Hello!!
First day ever in Canada with out a coat! It’s been half a year
here in Canada trucking along with a coat on and today for the first time I did
not have to wear a coat! It was actually 83 degrees out there. The sad news is
its suppose to snow tomorrow, but I thing spring has officially come! Easter is
around the corner, so today Elder and Sister Adams our senior couple missionary
in our ward had all of the missionaries get together today for an Easter egg
hunt and coloring egg party it was a lot of fun and it brought me back to when I
was a kid coloring eggs.
This week has been very busy teaching more then
usual! We have been running around meeting with people all over town. This past
week Arzaan one of Sister Olson’s and mine recent convert graduated his first
year of institute. He has been going since he was introduced to the church 3
months ago! It’s amazing what he has learned from going. There is no doubt that
as a missionary Sunday is your favorite day! You get to see all the amazing
members and you hopefully get to see all the people you teach come to church.
That was the case for this week because so many of our people we teach came to
church it was awesome. It was fast Sunday this week for us and testimony
meeting here is incredible people stand in line to be able to bare their
testimony it is amazing. The coolest thing ever happened though this fast
testimony meeting two of our investigators bore their testimonies. Carolyn we
have only taught twice and she was a referral from a recent convert she is so
smart it amazes me most of the members were scared to even go up and share
their testimonies after her because they said they never quoted general
conference before and she did many times. She was nervous to share it so she
typed it out on a piece of paper before hand and she told me I could share it
with you all!
“Brothers
and sisters, a few Sundays ago I listened to Sister Olson bear her testimony. I
sat in the pew as she explained that a testimony was like a car. You need to
fuel it in order to keep it going. Prayer, scripture study and going to church
are a few of the ways you can fuel your testimony.
I tried to look
back and see if I had a testimony myself, and I was sad because I couldn’t
think of anything. But I prayed to Heavenly Father to help me open my heart and
really look back and see what the Gospel has taught me, and through Him I was
able to see.
Before I go on,
I want to do a small introduction of myself. My full name is Carolyn Joan Simon
and I am new to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- like this is
my 4th time here. I wanted to bear my testimony this Fast Sunday
and here I am, standing here, doing this. I’ll apologize now, because I’m a bit
nervous. All of the “googling” in the world could not make it go away. :P But,
as mentioned above, Sister Olson’s testimony helped me to pray so that my
rather small testimony can grow.
A couple of
weeks ago, I had a wonderful lesson with Sister Dick and Sister Verdin and my
best friend Meaghan about the restoration of the Gospel. Of all the things that
stuck with me, it was their strong urge for me to pray for answers to my
questions. Matthew 7:7 says “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall
find; knock and it shall be opened unto you”. I realized that, in order to get
the questions answered and for my faith in Heavenly Father to grow, prayer is
the only way. I just need to talk to him.
The past month
hasn’t been a walk in the park for me. It’s been quite a challenge. But when
Meaghan invited me to this church I decided I’d go. Through it all, I was strongly
urged to quietly pray and speak to God about everything I’m going through and I
was constantly reminded I’m not alone. So I did. I prayed to Heavenly Father
for the strength to carry on with what I was doing, I asked Him to make things
easier and, this time, I actually hung on to Him.
I watched the
sessions at General Conference and learned so many new things. It really felt
like God was speaking to me as I sat in the chapel with tears running down my
face. I learned that being thankful in any situation will bring you peace and
joy in the long run, I learned the power of prayer can help carry us through
difficult situations.
I’ve started to
read the Book of Mormon. Although I’m still on 1 Nephi, I feel a huge
admiration for the spirit of Nephi. He’s an example I’d love to follow. The
faith he had in Heavenly Father through all of the attacks he’d suffered is
incredible. My goal is to have faith like Nephi, I know if I can have that I
can get through anything.
I know that if
I continue to Pray, I will be able to hear God tell me the answers to my
questions. Is the Book of Mormon true? Is this Church true? But I need to be
very quiet, because we all know he isn’t a loud person.
He’s answered
my prayers and I know it. Through my praying, I was blessed with 4 wonderful
weeks here with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I was blessed
with wonderful people in my life, and he’s giving me peace. Now things for me
haven’t been ideal, they’ve actually been quite tough at times. I didn’t think
I would be able to pull through. But he’s given me the strength when I actually
thought I would die. Guess it’s not in his plans for me to leave yet. As
I was mentioned in General Conference, I think these burdens are what gave me
the traction to continue.
Matthew 11:28-30 says
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and
ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light
This scripture follows
me everywhere, I’m not even kidding! I hear it everywhere, especially after I
began praying for God to reveal himself to me.
Philippians 4:13 says,
“I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me”.
These are the two
verses our Heavenly Father keeps telling me to reflect on. He wants me to give
myself to him, and he’ll make things bearable. It’ll make me stronger. And it’s
true! I’m still here when I thought I wouldn’t make it.
Brothers and sisters,
if just four short weeks ago someone told me I’d have a testimony to bear, I
don’t think I’d have believed them. I didn’t even know I had a testimony until
I prayed and I opened my heart. But it’s incredible what the Gospel and the
Book of Mormon have taught me. Faith. Prayer. It all can give a person the
strength to continue through hard times. I know that the Book of Mormon is
true. I know that it is comforting too. It’s helped me so far, and I know that
if I continue to love Heavenly Father, I can get through just about anything.
And I say all of this through Jesus Christ, Amen.”
I sat in awe as she bore it and that is not all. After church we
had a stake choir performance and she sang a solo in it! People would think
that she has been in the church for years, but she is a witness that it does
not take much to realize how amazing this gospel is it just takes a little
effort! It looks like this week is going to be just as busy and I also get to
go on splits with sister training leaders in Québec speaking French so I am
excited for that! I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday and think of
the real reason why we have Easter. I am so thankful for what Jesus did for us!
As i grow and stronger testimony of Jesus Christ everyday I become more and
more thankful that he would endure such pain so that we can one day live with
our father in heaven one day! I know that even if Jesus had to go through all
of that just for you he would! I love you all
Sister Dick
HOLA,
This week went very well, but seem to be a very long week. I
think it is because through out this week I had three different
companions. It was really hard to say goodbye to Sister Olson. She has become
my best friend and I couldn't count the miracles on my fingers and toes that we
saw together! I dropped her off at the bus station and Sister Gerday and I got
to spend the day together teaching Old people ha ha, jk but older then 20's. It
was really cool to see another view of Ottawa. We picked up both our companions
at the bus station later that night. Sister Verdin’s new companion is Sister
May who is Jamaican originally form England but has lived in Montréal the last
five years! She is super awesome with a really cool English accent. Sister
Verdin is a fireball. She is the human form of Dora the explorer and she is
hilarious. She is not afraid to tell anyone what she thinks! I hit my seven-month mark this
past week I don't even know where that one went?? Right before conference a
recent convert I have been teaching since I have been here opened his mission
call! He will not even be a member for a year until next week! He is going to
Madrid Spain and I am so excited for him he will be such an amazing missionary!
Conference this weekend was so amazing and I hope everyone was able to watch it
and if not I hope you take the time to go and watch it. Sister Houde came up at
watched it in Ottawa and of course took really good care of us. She gave some
of our investigators a ride to it and then after conference took Sister
Verdin and I out for dinner and dessert. I love her sweet spirit so much. I am
so lucky to have one of my companions close by to see all the time. One of our
investigators has been having a rough time in life right now and she came for
conference on Sunday. As soon as Conference started it brought her to tears to
hear what Dieter F. Uchtdorf had to say about gratitude. She continued to cry
through out the rest of conference while taking intensive notes on all of it. I
know everyone loved conference, but I have to say it was so cool to be able to
see first hand how the words of prophets can affect people. After conference we
asked her is she wanted a blessing and she said yes. I asked the recent convert
who just got his mission call to give her a blessing. He was super nervous
because he had never given a blessing before but he did such an amazing job.
She even said when she was getting the blessing she felt like a whoosh of wind
just came in the room and made her feel better! All of the talks in conference
touched me and I got all my questions answered. I loved Elder L. Tom Perry’s
talk a lot because I think the best analogy’s are with horses =) I have used my
knowledge of a team of horses working together a lot on mission. I have
realized it is crucial that as a companionship you work together and pull
together that's the only way you will be able to be the most effective! Now
that I have seen Elder Andersen in person I feel like I can relate to him more
and I really enjoyed his talk about spiritual whirlwinds. Times in the church
are tough and they are not going to get easier. It comforted me to hear talks
that helped us to fight back with the evil in the world. To end my email I want
to tell a story that I have seen unfold on my mission lately. We teach a recent
convert and her non-member boyfriend. They are always inviting their friends to
church and to meet with us. The other week at church a friend of theirs came.
This friend is not the normal friend you would see at church. This friend happens
to be someone who has the struggle of who they are and dresses as a girl. They
are very nice and really enjoyed church, but as you might imagine the ward had
a really hard time with it. I thought to myself why is this? We as Latter day
saints preach everyday that we are ALL children of God no matter what. Why
wouldn't they want someone that is confused like this at church rather in the
streets trying to figure out what to do? I realized that Heavenly Father put
this in the wards path to learn from it and they have they have learned to
realize that they are just like us, a child of God. I hope that is how everyone
can see each other I promise if you do then you will be able to have the love
Heavenly Father has for them. I love you all have a great week!
Love,
Sister
Dick
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