Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Memorial Day
Happy Memorial Day Everyone!
We do not have this holiday here, we had a holiday they call
Victoria Day last Monday, but I hope that you enjoy it! This week was a great
week and a very busy one! Since I have been here people always told me how slow
it was in the summer time because all the students go home so it is really hard
to find people teach. Never did I think clear back in October that I would
actually still be here in the summer to experience that, but as we all know God
has a great sense of humor and I am still here in the summer seeing what the
people meant by slow. It has been harder to find people to teach lately and so
Sister Verdin and I set a goal to just talk to everyone young and old and teach
them. We started this goal with a fast last Sunday and I can testify that
fasting and talking with everyone works wonders. This week we were able to find
5 new investigators. With two of them already having been taught by
missionaries when they were younger. We have also been able to give a Book
of Mormon out everyday this past week. These people are older and we will
have to pass them off to missionaries, who are with family wards, but we still
feel very accomplished with our missionary work and that is what counts. Our
District leader told us something that I really enjoyed he said, "The lord
knows you are doing good work and teaching his children. He will bless you with
younger people to teach if you just keep finding his children that have been
prepared to teach."
I tried to be more Canadian this week so I made a
shepherds pie and what do you know it was editable and it didn't kill anyone
who ate it! I guess its not to late for me to try to learn how to cook! This
week we were able to help a former investigator clean here house. She had told
us a couple months ago she didn't want to be taught anymore because she liked
her church more. Well she called us because her church or her family wouldn't
help her move out. It was cool to be able to do a service like that because she
was so surprised that we were willing to still help her.
This past Sunday was super busy because most of our YSA
ward went to Palmira New York to a conference there and they new the missionaries
couldn't go anywhere so they assigned some of us to give sacrament talks and
teach classes. I was able to give a talk in sacrament on Alma 41 it was so cool
to be able to really research and dig deep into this chapter. It made me
realize that we cant just sleep until the resurrection comes because the people
we are in mortality will be the people we will get restored to when we are
resurrected. My favorite scripture from the chapter is
10: Do not suppose, because it has been spoken
concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness.
Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.
One of my favorite members is leaving on her mission to
Vancouver Canada this week and we helped her set up a farewell get together
after church. She has helped me realize what kind of member missionary I want
to be when I get home and I am excited for her to join the team as a missionary
in Canada.
I love you all tons
-Sister
Dick
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Tulip Festival
Hello!!
I hope everyone had a great week this week. May is just flying
by as we are in the last full week of it. I got to experience the true meaning
of April showers bring May flowers. In Ottawa this past week it has been a
tradition to have a Tulip Festival. It started a long time ago with the
Netherlands giving Canada flowers. The sisters in the apartment were able to go
this past Monday and it was so cool! There are just rows and rows of tulip beds
that are just full of different colors of tulips. As we gathered for district
study this past Wednesday we conversed over how pretty they were. The Adams the
senior couple in the District told us how they had no one to take their picture
so they would ask people to take them and it would bring a great conversation
with them. The Adams challenged all 10 missionaries that some time this week we
should do it to contact.
CHALLENGE
* Go with companion and have different people take your picture.
* Take other peoples pictures.
* Ask lots of people questions about the festival and Ottawa.
Winner- gets a free Beaver Tail (pastry) from the
Adams and of course bragging rights.
The
Elders were very excited for the challenge and started as soon as the meeting
was over. We had a hard time finding time to do it, but on Saturday I was on
splits with Sister Wright and all of our appointments fell through so we were
able to go! On the bus over there we ran into a women and two children who are
Mormon from Washington they were also headed to the Tulip Festival. We helped them
get there and when we arrived she took our picture and sent it to our moms. We
ran into many members there and were able to take lots of pictures for other
people and have people take pictures for us. This indeed brought up some great
conversations about the church and we were able to hand out cards and receive
contact information. I made a best friend with this Chinese girl who I took a
picture for, I told her I could say a sentence in Chinese and when I said
it she was so amazed and I told her you just wait until you meet my missionary
friends who can actually say more then just a sentence. She then wanted to
take a picture with me and told me how big my eyes were compared to her
squinty eyes. Have I mentioned before how much I love Chinese people
because they are the funniest!
The work is going well here and we have been contacting a lot!
It’s been really fun and as scary as contacting can be sometimes the reward is
all the funny people you get to meet everywhere. I never knew how many ways you
can start a conversation until now. Its easy to sit down on the bus, doctors
office, restaurant, airplane, etc... And just not say anything to person next
to you, but how are we going to share the gospel if you don't open
your mouth. We should be praying for missionary opportunities and how we act
upon them is by taking action and that starts with talking!
D&C 123:12 "For there are many yet on the earth
among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle
craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept
from the truth because they know not where to find it"
A funny for this week is as you all know here in YSA we
never get fed.. Well for the sisters we live with it is the opposite they get
fed too much and many nights come home dying because of all the food they have
had to stuff in their mouths. This is a funny story from this week with
one of their many instances of eating too much I thought you would enjoy!
"There is a wonderful family from Nepal who we are teaching
and they make dinner for us and feed us right after week teach and they insist
on feeding us as we are feeding them the word of God.
So.... we have an appointment that was right after them so
sister may and I agreed that we would eat quickly and them excuse ourselves and
run to the car pick up the member and then go to the lesson. So as soon as the
blessing over the food was done we attacked the heaping piles of rice, curry
and chicken that were on our plates. I guess we didn't think out our plan carefully
because the message that we sent to them was not "We need to leave
soon" it was "we are starving" and as I was eating as quickly as
I could with my spoon Sister May was right beside me with a spoon in each hand
shoveling food into her mouth. They looked on with amazement as we devoured a
mountain of food and then they started piling more food on and we couldn't say
anything because our mouths were full of food and they didn't seem to
understand our gestures to please stop.
And something else about this food was that it was really spicy.
Burning lips and burning mouth spicy.... I thought I was stubble in hiding the
fact that it was a bit much for me but Sister May said that my watering eyes
and running nose were evidence as well as the fact that I was drinking lots of
water.
This family was laughing at us so much and they kept putting
more and more on our plates as we insisted that we were full and then they told
us that we had to finish because it was rude not to. After wards they asked me
if it was spicy for me and I admitted that it was a little spicy and they about
died laughing. Those shriveled black and red spicy peppers are so hot.
Then we couldn't run to the car... it physically hurt to
walk!"
This week I was able to get a wonderful priesthood blessing from
Elder Adams to start this transfer off right! It was an amazing blessing and
really made me grateful for the priesthood that we have here on this earth. I
have seen many people already on my mission receive a priesthood
blessing. They were not even members and didn't even know much of anything
about a priesthood blessing and yet every one of them could feel the spirit so
strong. I am happy that I was able to feel that spirit this week with
a priesthood blessing of my own.
If any of you did not catch the Elder Ballard CES
Broadcast that was broadcasted 2 weeks ago go and watch it because
it is amazing! I love you all have a wonderful week =)
-Sister
Dick
Mother's Day
Hello!
There is not to much to say this week because I got the awesome opportunity
to talk to my family over Skype yesterday for mothers day. That was so awesome
and I hope everyone had an amazing mothers day. This week the weather has been
gorgeous no coats all week. We have been able to do a couple of service projects
like putting pipe to water a garlic farm, Cleaning a park with a couple of
other faiths in Ottawa, The soup kitchen and Cleaning the church. Its so great
to be out in this wonderful weather doing service. We had some unfortunate luck
with everyone canceling this week. We thought it was some kind of curse because
we would have days where everything would cancel, but the good thing is there
is always something to do with missionary work! The young single adult ward I
am in did not have a service yesterday because of mothers day so we had to go
to the family ward and it was so weird there were babies crying and there were
old people ha-ha jk but really it was weird being in a family ward I have been
to use to my young adult ward!
Transfer calls were this past week and I am STAYING for my 6th
transfer and Killing my 3rd companion =) I could not be happier though this
area is amazing and I love the people here so much. Ottawa is being all mixed
around with missionaries. In August we are loosing 1/3 of our entire mission
because with the age change they all came out and now they will all be leaving.
President is getting ready for it i am sure. I am excited to see what this next
transfer has in store for me. I wish you luck and lots of love this week
-Sister
Dick
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
HOLA,
Happy CINCO DE MAYO =)
How cool is it to spend this day with a real Mexican.... Super
cool ha-ha and it gives us a great excuse to eat lots of Mexican food!! This
week was just another great week in the city of Ottawa. In Canada you get all
the seasons in intense ways, so it has been raining lots here. This week was
Sister Verdin’s birthday and we went out to eat yummy food with the Adams. The
Adams have been taking us around Ottawa trying to find Less active members and
this week we have had a lot more success with it! We stopped by this one girls
house and she was finally home she welcomed her in and we taught a short lesson
on faith. We set up a ride for her to take her to church the next day and she
came and even bore her testimony about how we answered her prayers because she
has been really wanting to come back to church but just to shy to ask for help.
I love fast and testimony meeting here the young single adults are so awesome
here there is never a quite moment someone is always up there baring such a
spirit filled testimony. We also had a really great relief society lesson on
prayer. The Relief society president said she had something else planned but
felt really impressed to talk about the power of prayer she really involved all
of the sisters there and discussed how people have answered our prayers and how
we can be an answer to other peoples. at the end she had us write down a name
that we did not see there that week and to contact them this week. It was
really cool to see how many experiences people have had with answers to their
prayers. I have had a couple of cool experiences of people saying that we have
been an answer to their prayers. I believe that you can be an answer to a lot
of people’s prayer if you will seek those opportunities. Pray and ask Heavenly
Father how you can help other people and then be in tune with the spirit so you
can act. Next week we don’t have church in the ward because they let the young
adults go to their family ward for mothers day so I am really hoping I don't
get transferred because I wont get to see any of them next week if I do.
Everyone keeps telling me that I am leaving but I am convinced that I am
staying here.... well that’s just what I am really hoping for! Sister Houde
came this week and it was good to catch up with her. Sister Houde couldn't
believe I had hit eight months yesterday because she says she feels like she
just barely picked me up yesterday to start my mission. This week we had a
really intense zone meeting talking about the mission’s goals of changing our
direction from less active work to convert baptisms. It was really cool to see
the affect of getting people to church in our mission 1 out of the 4 people
that come to church get baptized. The key is just getting people to come to
church! We have also still been reading the Book of Mormon with people with our
50 day challenge and it has been really cool to hear the members response on
their reading. I know that I have learned and read things that I never even
knew were in that amazing blue book! I hope you all have a wonderful week and
all the mothers out there have a great and happy mothers day!
Love,
Sister
Dick
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