December 15, 2014

hej! 

I’m still alive!! I survived one big snow storm this week. I thought it was never going to stop it just kept going for days and days! You have to hold on to your belongings and your companion because they very easily get stuck in a snow bank! This week was sad and happy it is always hard to say goodbye to a companion going home. I have done it four times now and its never easy, but it is also so cool to see all the amazing things that they have accomplished on their mission. Sister Rios is such an amazing missionary and I'm so happy i got to spend her last transfer together. She strengthened my testimony with her strong conversion. 

I picked up my new companion on Wednesday! Her name is Sister Arriaga and she is from Denmark, but her dad is from Spain so she has a wicked Spanish accent. She has been out one transfer less then me, but she has been in her first area for the whole time! nine transfers and only two companions. She was in the country, country the capital of Poutine so she is trying to get use to this busy down town stuff! She is a crack up and we never stop laughing she usually has the whole metro cart cracking up and no one can trick her because she knows so many languages. I am excited to help this area grow and grow with her!

As missionaries we have all been really focusing on the "he is the gift" as missionaries we have hand out cards to give everyone to see the awesome video! We try to give out as many as we can a day and we keep running out. Its such a great conversation starter to talk about Christ and the real celebration of Christmas. We have been getting some good potential people to teach through this contacting. 

This week we had our awesome investigator come teaching with us and he did such a great job. He was testifying about how he know this church is true and how he knows he can communicate with his father and heaven. He brought such a great spirit to the lesson with his testimony and it was cool for our less active to see someone who isn't even a member yet with a great testimony. We also got to teach a less active this week that i have heard about since I was first with my trainer Sister Houde because it is her best friend! It was so cool to meet with her and help her! 

This past Sunday i gave a talk in our branch. Giving a talk is one thing but doing it in another language is another thing! I gave my talk on becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ and by having the five principle of Jesus Christ faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end we can become his disciples. 

This week we are going to have a busy week because my companion and me have training at our Christmas zone training. I wish you all a happy week and snow from us to you!

Love, Sister Dick

 My MTC Companion and my current companion!

 Me and Sister Kinghorn (we are related somehow!!)

 Flash mob

 Me practicing my Latino pose, says  Sister Rio!

December 8, 2014

Salut!

Last week of the transfer flew by packed with activities! We finished our last two exchanges with our last two teams this week. The first one we were sent on a scavenger hunt on one of the universities here trying to find a referral we received. I’m getting pretty good at getting into all the dorms around here! The second one I went on was on my 15th month mark and I got to spend it with my MTC companion and another sister we came in with! I was in the area of my first companion Sister Houde she had us over for breakfast and we got to help her set up a family mission plan with her and her husband. This week I had my first mission leadership council. This is where all the zone leaders, Sister Training Leaders, The assistants to the president and President Patrick get together and council for what this mission needs and then come up with a plan of what to train on for the next zone training. It was really cool to be apart of and we got to plan all the Christmas things going on. As most of you might know the church has come out with the "he is the gift" with the video, the banner on YouTube, the banner in new york city, and the he is the gift give away cards. We have been able to get them in English, French, and Spanish and have been a great contacting tool! With this being Sister Rios last week everyone has been feeding us, which is weird in young single adult wards. I have never had so much poutine! One of the ways we have been finding new investigators is calling some of our potentials on our list. We called this one number and asked for the guy and she said he had died last month we testified of the plan of salvation and how families can be together forever and if she would be interested to learn more. she said yes and we were able to meet with her. She is really awesome and has been searching for churches because she wants to be baptized but she hasn’t found the right one! This past Saturday was the flash mob that the Montréal stakes did. We started at the stake center here practicing and getting into groups. They had certain groups at a time ride the metro to this big shopping center here in Montréal. They had all the groups stationed in different areas we were to act as normal as possible until one girl started singing coming down the escalator and then 6 men started to join her until one group started and then the next until we were all singing and moving in to the middle of the center. It was super cool and sounded amazing! It was so great to spread the real Christmas spirit. there were cameras and go pros every where to get it on film after it ended we all had cards to hand out to people telling them to find the video on line. it will be ready on the 13th and you can see it by liking the Montréal stake on FB! Transfer calls were on Saturday and I’m staying and receiving Sister Ariaga she is from Denmark but half Spaniard so she can speak Spanish! I’m excited to work with her in this awesome area! I love you all so much and I’m so thankful to have you all with your support. Always remember the true meaning of Christmas!

-Sister Dick

 Some of the sisters we go on splits with

 Thanksgiving dinner

 Sunrise from our apartment

 Fixing a meal with Sister Rios

Great get together with missionaries and friends

Hello Family and friends!          

Wow what a week! This week was a really crazy fun week here in Montreal. It seems like so much went on and then when I look back I’m confused what week it is. I started this week off with going on splits with the LAVAL sisters my last area! I went with Sister Hinkson my old companions new companion. It was so cool to be able to go back to my old area and see people that I love so much! Those sisters are doing such an amazing job in that area it is amazing to see how an area can just keep growing every day. My favorite part of the split was to go to the parents of Carlos our ward mission leader in here in YSA and teach them about temples. I have taught them from the beginning and I love them so much. Of course the spirit was stronger then ever in the lesson as always with them. I love talking about temples and all the blessings of them. They are preparing to get baptized in the next little bit and in a year from January go to the temple for their 30th anniversary and be sealed for time and all eternity! It is so cool to see the gospel blessing a family life!! After the splits the Laval sisters spent the night with us for zone conference in the morning. Sister Rios and I had our training and we were a bit nervous doing it in front of 50 missionaries and President, but it went really well. President gave us a broad topic of how can the Savior enable us as missionaries. We decided to focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We teach these everyday to our people, but are we doing these things that we teach. There was a really great spirit there and I really hope people got something out of it. We have such an amazing calling as a missionary and we need to do our best to lean on the Savior in all ways that we can so that we can help others do the same thing! Sister Rios and I were quit relieved after that was finished! After all the trainings at zone conference they had the missionaries going home go and bare their testimony. Sister Rios testimony was out of this world! She is only a convert of two years and her testimony of the gospel that she was able to find was so cool! She testified of wanting to find someone on her mission that loved the gospel so much just like she did when she joined the church and that she had found Carlos who loves the gospel and is so engaged and the neat thing was Carlos came to the zone conference at the last second and was able to hear her bare here testimony.  

Every week we do a sports night at the gym of our chapel and it seems like every week more and more non members come it is really cool way to find and talk to people that are not members and all ready have member friends plus Sister Rios is also a sucker for soccer so we get to play it together! 

It was American thanksgiving this week of course meaning Canadians have no idea ha-ha. Luckily the amazing senior couple here in the branch put on a big thanksgiving dinner and invited us and some other Americans to join! It was so great to have a delicious thanksgiving dinner American style! 

As some of you saw on Saturday we had the media blitz where different members followed us around all day to take pictures and flood Facebook with what real Mormon missionaries do an a daily basis. It was a really great time and fun to have the members with us all day long! Sunday was branch conference and we sang in our choir for sacrament it was a really great meeting with the stake presidency there. After church one of our branch missionaries held a fireside at his house for just investigators, less actives and their fellowships. We had dinner and then two special guests who told their conversion story. It was a really cool activity to help the people we teach. Weeks go by to fast and this is Sister Rios last one we get transfer calls this week so we are going to live it up with only two more splits left!! 

I’m so thankful for this calling and this ability to teach what I believe in. This gospel is the true gospel on the earth. I know that everyone’s life will be blessed by it if they will just begin to ask heavenly father! I love you all

-Soeur DIck

 Poster in every subway station

 Going on splits

 3 sisters teaching

 Our crowded metro transportation

Frame a sister missionary

November 24 2014

HeLlO,

Firstly I want to apologize for my short email last week I had quit the distraction with a drunk guy on one side and a lady on the other side questioning me why latter day saint people were stocking here because she sees them everywhere and she has told us on Facebook she doesn’t want us following her! Anyway this week was another crazy one of course always filled with adventure! This week i got to do some exchanges with sisters in my own area so i was able to better understand this area and the people we teach. I even managed to not get us lost on the metros. This week we helped put on a big dodge ball tournament for our branch and a lot of non-member and less actives it was a really good turn out. We met with our mission president and branch president to help see how the wards and branches in the stakes could better their missionary work. It is really cool to see how the work is hastening in each unit here. We had a girl in our ward do a mini mission with us this past weekend. She was our third companion and we showed her what a real mission is like.  She did so awesome and it was so great to have a third companion testifying along side of us.

This Sunday the announced that my last ward I served in got split into a ward and branch. I was sad to hear they are splitting all of those wonderful members up but so cool to see how that ward is growing and growing!  Next week we have our zones conference and my companion and me are giving a 40-minute training on how Jesus Christ can enable us. We have been studying up and preparing for that this past week. It has been so great to see how the atonement can carry our investigators and us on this journey.  I am nervous to give my first training with President Patrick and the assistants but I know that if we go by the spirit we cant go wrong. I am excited for this next week tomorrow I get to go on splits with my last area Laval. I will be great to see everyone and see their progress. We also have the big media blitz this Saturday so don’t forget to check my Facebook all day Saturday! I love you all so much and wish you all a great week

-Soeur Dick