2/24- the 1%

This week has been pretty great. We had exchanges, where a Sister Training Leader comes to our area and one of us goes to their area for 24 hours. I stayed here and Sister Doman came here, and we had a very fulfilling 24 hours. On Wednesday, her and I went to Wincrest, a retirement home that has a memory loss facility. There we chatted with many people who are beginning to lose their memories, and they were so sweet. After, we went to Solange, the assisted living place that we have been playing Bingo at. It was so fun. Then we went tracting for a little bit, no success, then ate dinner at Noodles & Company. One of the workers there is actually from the Roxborough ward, so while leaving we left them a little note of encouragement. It was snowing outside, so we began scraping a few cars. While we were scraping one beside ours, a man nearby saw what we were doing, got out of his car, grabbed a scraper, and said "I can help too." We worked together to scrape a stranger's car, then waved goodbye. It was so fun and heart warming. 

On Friday, we were able to go to Prepare My Heart, a beautiful performance about the women of the Old Testament. It was written and directed by a lady in my zone, and it was phenomenal. The songs were gorgeous, and every women who sung had such beautiful voices.

While meeting with a Young Women who is preparing ot go on her own mission, my companion mentioned that weekly emails are not always accurate, and that missions are hard and such %99 of the time. I wanted to argue to the fact and say it was much lower then that, but even if at times it feels as if most of it sucks, we need to remember the %1. No matter how hard it gets or how much of a failure you may feel you are, that %1 makes it all worth it. They are the moments where you are able to see tears of love and gratitude in another's eyes, or when you are able to witness the miracle of prayer or forgiveness, or when your own prayers are answered, or when you can feel God's arms are rapped around you, or when God's love and awareness becomes a tangible, undeniable fact in your life or the life of those you are serving. In those moments, no matter what else, those are the moments that count. I would say that a mission "sucks" maybe %80 of the time, sometimes %50, but no matter the percentage, it is so much sweeter to count the blessings. Often times people will say that there are countless problems in their lives, so instead of counting the negative I think we should work harder to count the blessings. As I do this, it is almost impossible to feel down or depressed or upset. I can tell you for a fact, that the blessings will always outnumber the negative. God has given me two eyes to see the blessings and beauty around me, two hands to serve, two feet for me to travel by, a mind to allow me to study and ponder, and a heart that I am able to love so many with. These are only a few of the blessings I will write right now, but there are SOOO many more. I KNOW that God loves each one of us, and He is aware of what we are going through. 

It's funny the way attitude can affect our life. Honestly, most of the time I sit excitedly, waiting to go on my mission, then I feel shocked that I'm already on my mission. This has been something I have been dreaming of for so long and that I never knew if I would get the opportunity to do. No matter how much I miss home, no matter how many doors are slammed in my face, no matter how sick I get over and over again, I remember that I am on the Lord's errand right now, and as long as I am working, I am making God proud. I am forever grateful for this marvelous chance and for my decision to serve a mission.

2/17

This week has been pretty fun. Last Monday, while talking to my family, it started snowing outside. Our dinner lives on top of a hill in the park and she called us and told us we probably shouldn't come, because the roads were really bad and it sounded like there might have even been a crash on the roads, which was making it really backed up. We said it would be fine and rescheduled to have dinner with her family for another time. She didn't want us to go hungry, so she ordered us pizza which was delivered to the church building! We were so excited and grateful to her. After we ate our fill of pizza, we went out and shoveled elderly member's driveways and sidewalks and scraped a few cars for the next hour and a half.

Then, on Tuesday, we went to the local library and asked if there were any service opportunities. There were a few events coming up and she said she'd be more then happy to see us there and still had plenty of spots she needed to fill with volunteers. We are looking forward to it greatly! Afterwards, we went out to the parking lot and scraped some cars. The library is the second story of a large building that has a Safeway, library, dentist, insurance, hair stylist, Subway, and bar. There were PLENTY of cars that needed scraping. As we were, a few people talked to us. One guy came up to us and asked us to scrape his friend's car. It turns out he worked at one of the second story businesses and he and his friends saw what we were doing, and his friend wanted us to scrape his car, and even put arrows in the window pointing down, hoping we would see and help him out. We didn't see. We agreed, and the man offered us $20 to scrape two cars! We said that our service is simply a way to help the people of the community, and he didn't need to pay us. We went over and began scraping those cars and a few more, which were parked outside the bar. The bartender saw what we were doing and came out and thanked us for what we were doing. He offered to buy us both a drink, as long as we were both 21. We told him we were alright to serve for free. 

The next day I made Valentine Day cookies! My mom sent me a sugar cookie recipe, and we borrowed some cookie cutters from a member, and I got to work. We didn't have a rolling pin, so that was fun, but it worked out. It took forever to make them all, and the frosting was difficult as well. The bag with the frosting ripped a few times, and it had taken way longer then expected to make the cookies, so I rushed through decorating them and the cookie decoration looked... interesting. I called it abstract. Luckily the cookies tasted good enough, so people didn't seem to mind. 

Speaking of baking, last week I made chocolate chip cake, but seeing as we didn't have a bunt pan, I had to be a little creative and make them in muffin pans, which turned out fine. It made it a lot easier to hand out to people. I had baked a few batches, and on the last batch I forgot to put spray oil on it before hand, and they didn't want to come out. A few of them did and looked a little wanky, but good enough. For the rest I got to eat it from the pan with a spoon. Haha, that was fun. Some missionaries eat cereal, I eat cake. 

This week we got to help out with Project Linus! It was so fun, where volunteers come together and make blanket, felt, quilt, etc. for children in need. Sister Harvey and I helped out with broken blankets, blankets where people forgot to do a step and cut off the trim before putting it all together, so we went through and cut them off for them. It was so much fun, and it turns out that while Project Linus is a large operation with factions all over the place, it was started here 25 years ago. We were able to meet the founder and everything. It was such a fun experience. 

My mom is so sweet! This week she sent me a package with snacks, things I had forgotten at home, and valentine goodies. She even sent some stuff for Sister Harvey, which she absolutely loved. She also sent us music, which is so nice. Sister Coburn had a USB that connected to the car and was full of church music and uplifting songs that spoke of Christ and beautiful piano and guitar music, but when she left she had to take them with her. Sister Harvey and I had been listening to the same two discs for a week or two, which isn't terrible, we're just grateful to have a car, but it was beginning to sound repetitive to our ears. My mom, being the awesome person she is, found some music disks to send to us. It's been great. 

This week, we have nearly hit our Teaching and service goals! Last week, we had 15 lessons, three of those lessons with people interested in the church. Then last Tuesday we made a goal to get at least seven hours of service in a week, and yesterday I counted it up and we had done nine hours of service! The new mission goal is to reach ten hours a week, but lately we had been getting five or six. We still have one more day and we hit nine hours!!! 

Also, another exciting event happened on Saturday, the 15th. It was my Great Grandmother's 100th Birthday! I was able to receive special permission to call in and talk to her on a day that wasn't P-Day and it was so fun! I got to talk to her, my grandma Sharon, and my Grandpa Lynn. It sounds like at the gathering there were around 75 people, all related to grandma. It was so great being able to call home and talk to three people I love so dearly. It brightened the rest of my day.

I've also been working on the Prophet's invitation, and I've been learning so much about the first vision and the restoration! I've also been studying the Doctrine and Covenants chapters that he invited the women of the church to study, and so much of it talks about missionary work. It feels so personal to me, like he extended the invitation to help me while I am out here on my mission. It has been such a great experience and I have become more and more excited about General Conference because of it!

That week has been so busy, but in the best ways. I love being able to make something myself then hand it out. I'm a crafter and I love having something for my hands to do, and I also love service, so baking is the perfect combination. So far I've made two batches of mini chocolate chip cakes and one large batch of valentine day cookies, and I am excited to try making the other recipes my mom sent my way!

2/10

In this last week, I don't know why but I've been feeling very frustrated. As I said, I do not know why, I just was. I was getting frustrated with everything, including my companion, even when she did nothing wrong. I knew this was unhealthy and I did not want to feel this way, I wanted to feel God's light once again, but nothing seemed to be helping. I studied, I worked, and the feeling wasn't going away. One night I was feeling frustrated, cooped up, and overheated. If you know me, you know I have a hard time with heat and feeling too hot. I went onto our apartment balcony and lay down on the cold cement, hoping it would help. 

As the cold seeped from the cement into by back and began to cool my body, it helped, but only with the heat. The irritability was still there. I sat up, went to my knees, and prayed to God. As I did I felt tiny snowflakes falling on my face. We have an overhead cover on our balcony so usually I wouldn't be able to feel the snow from under it, but a breeze came by and blew some onto me. With every icy snowflake that touched my skin, I could feel the tension in me melting away. With each tiny flake, I could feel God's love and the warmth of the light of Christ. As frozen droplets melted onto me, I felt warmth and love flow through me. A smile began to grow on my face, becoming bigger and bigger with every icy touch. As I sat out there and felt peace and light, the spirit whispered to me that I needed to be better at drinking water throughout the day. When I went inside, I was unable to remove that smile all night. The moment it would begin to lower, I would see the snow outside and remember how I had felt, and the smile would come back. 

That night I was reminded of a fact of myself I had forgotten while being surrounded by so many homes. I can always feel God's presence so much more when I am surrounded by nature. When I am unable to go hiking and exploring, God finds other ways of reaching me, such as storms. When storms blow in, may they be rain, wind, snow, or lightning, it is as if nature itself is pushing itself into my normal day life, helping me to feel more connected with God. The next day, as I once more sat on the balcony, watching the clouds blow by and feeling the light of the moon on me, the winter breeze cooling me, once more I felt God's advice for me. He advised me to go on a hike, to find opportunities to reconnect with his presence, and to slow down and admire the beauty around me. Since then, my week has been much better.

This week, we had some great lessons. We went back and visited Claira, and we spoke on eternal families and Prophets, which she seemed to enjoy. She believes that we know only a fraction of what God does, and she believes that God is still revealing more knowledge to us to this day. We agreed and talked on the different ways God is able to continue to educate and guide us, and one of those ways is through the prophets. She also spoke on how she loves to imagine that her family is in Heaven, and that when she makes it there it will be a big grand party and we will be able to celebrate all that we've done in this life. We told her that that is one of the promises and blessings that God wants for each of His children. Claira is a very sweet lady, and very intelligent. I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet her and get to know her with each visit. 

We also had a discussion with a women named Jen. She is a member of another faith, and we asked if we could come back and talk about our beliefs and the similarities between them, and she agreed. This week we went back and had a delightful conversation with her and her friend. We traded experiences and bore testimony, and we spoke on our beliefs and Jen seemed shocked at how much of our belief and her belief related to one another. The spirit was so strong in that room and we all walked away feeling light and excitement at having such a fantastic opportunity to feel the spirit. We are excited to go back next week and talk some more with these two wonderful daughters of God.

I am inspired and blown away by many of the youth in this area. Their faith is so strong and they seem very wise. They are very driven to become better and better everyday. Often times, Sister Harvey and I will come to youth nights to see what they are doing and if we can help at all. So far we've seen them do activities such as using plastic bags to make beds for the homeless of the area, having a "speed friendshipping" where they practice their social skills and get to know other youth and their leaders, we've sat in on young women's and heard wonderful discussions of the restoration, and we hear more and more about activities that the youth come up with to help them develop skills and experience, such as learning to make bread by a couple who own a bakery down the road. It's not only the youth who are extraordinary, but so many of the members as well. A women in the area is a convert to the church and most of her family are not members, and she was looking for activities to invite her family to, and came up with her own. She wrote and casted a performance called "Prepare My Heart" which is all about the women of the Old Testament. Last Saturday, a Sister in the ward opened her home to all the relief society and any who were interested and had a spa day, where there were delicious treats, hot tubbing, a very nice massage chair (which I got to enjoy), face masks, sauna, foot massages, and more. It was so nice and very welcoming. The women seemed to be floating around the room, after being pampered and cared for by this loving Sister who opened her home and served all these women. Every month, members are looking for new ways and opportunities that they can invite family and friends to every month. In these past two months of me being here, I have been blown away over and over again by the members of these two wards and how service minded and hard working they are. It has truly been a delight to serve here.

It has been snowing on and off all week, and I've been enjoying it so much! Snow makes everything so beautiful, in my opinion.

We went back and helped sort a few more buttons. Sister Harvey and I agree that it feels very therapeutic.

We braved the snow storm and drove to a member's house, were we helped paint flower pots in preparation for a wedding. The bride had lived in China for about a year, helping teach English to children and adults.

We went to heart attack a member's house, and discovered that they have one of the coolest mailboxes of all time! We had to take a few pictures with it. The neighbors were very suspicious of two young women taking pictures and leaving paper cut outs of hearts on a door, and they sent the family a panicked text about us and said we were acting extremely suspicious. Luckily the family had a camera and was able to see it was us and reassure her neighbor that it was nothing to worry about. They found it funny and laughed about it with us. We felt a little bad for causing a little panic in the neighborhood...

Some funny things from the week.

While at a meeting with the Bishop, I started having some heartburn. Afterwards, I dug around the trunk of our car for a little bit looking for my tums. After finding them, I asked if my companion wanted some. She said "I don't want any of your drugs." I looked at her and said "they aren't drugs!" and showed her the bottle. during this lovely conversation our bishop drove by, with his window down, so all he knew was I was digging in the trunk of our car and my companion said she didn't want any of my drugs... hopefully he had his music on and didn't hear any of that. If not...

There are some interesting street names around here, and one of my favorites was a street called "Kicking Horse." I really want to know how it got it's name.

I was asked a few more times about my accent. One girl said "I notice you have a Washington accent." I didn't know Washington had an accent, so I just said "yeah, I guess I do."

Another person accidentally called me Elder this week. I find it funny. I really am following in my father's footsteps, name and all.

After dinner one night, we noticed that the family's cars were all buried under snow, so we spent the next ten or twenty minutes scraping them off.  Later on, we found out that it wasn't their car, but their neighbors. So I guess we unknowingly served a few strangers, so that was nice.

There are so many dogs in this area, almost every family has one or more. My coat is almost a fur coat at this point, and every time I wear my black skirt I come home with dog hair all over it. I am so happy!!! 

People are starting to recognize me by my voice over the phone. Our ward mission leader called us, and he mentioned he did something great, and I said "aaaaaaay" and he said "Is this Sister Dickson?" All I did was say one thing and he knew it was me...

I love Avocados. They get pretty cheap here, sometimes less then a dollar, and often times people will serve them with dinner, and I'm always so excited whenever they do!!!

For the first time since arriving in the mission field, someone served us pizza!

I have discovered I am one of the few people in Colorado who loves the snow. I love the snow, but I don't do well with ice... I have slipped a couple times while here, not falling but having my foot move just enough to make my life flash before my eyes. On Sunday, I was backing my companion in the car, and I was walking to go in when I slipped and fell on the ice. Luckily their was plenty of powder to cushion my body, but not enough to cushion my ego. My companion doesn't have the same problem as me, so she'll be half way down the street when she looks back and sees me wobbling slowly after her. She's been very patient with me.

2/3

This week has been so great! When I first got here, the work was kinda slow. No one was really interested in hearing our message, we were doing a few service things but not much. We had a lot of ideas, but they weren't working out or we weren't able to do them. Now we are teaching a few people, we are loving member lessons, we have been volunteering to play Bingo with an assisted living, which has been SOOOO much fun, we have been baking people treats, and so much more. This week, we helped a lady clean out her trailer and read a scripture with her, which she seemed to need to hear that day. We have been planning a lot of activities to do along with our lessons for families, and the children seem to think the games and treats are a lot of fun. We have been learning so much form our studies, of how to be better missionaries, of how we can help the people, and more importantly of how much the Lord loves each and everyone of us! 

We have also been listening to The Saints book while cleaning, cooking, and exercising, and we have been learning so much about the origins of the church. Story after story, sharing of the experiences of the early saints of the church, we are inspired and reminded of the love and glory of God. 

Lately, we had hit kind of a slump where we weren't really finding anyone new to teach and we were running out of ideas, then we both found a great section in Preach My Gospel where it talks about what we should be praying for as missionaries. It talked about how we should pray to become more sensitive to the Holy Ghost's promptings, have the courage to follow, boldness to speak, and that words would fill our mouths and we would be able to share the message God needed us to. In this past week, we have been lead to many houses and people, and while most of them aren't receptive, we are becoming more sensitive to the promptings. We have met many kind people and have found new opportunities to serve the community. We even found someone who is interested in hearing more about the gospel! 

In this area, many people are simply content with their life right now and see no need to change anything. What I have personally learned while here is that, while we may be great people, there's always more room to become even greater. We should never be satisfied or think we are enough, we should always strive to grow, in learning, experiences, spiritually, physically. There is always more room for God in our lives, and as we try to become better DAILY, we become so much happier. I am so happy to be on a mission, because even if we aren't teaching or baptizing anyone, I know that my conversion process is advancing. I am striving to become better every single day, and I do feel happier. I feel more joy, love, patience, understanding, and peaceful then ever before, and that is because every day I strive to become better. When I feel content, when I only think of myself, I am miserable. Yet, when I pray, study the scriptures, go to church, take the sacrament, repent, and continue on, I feel so happy! I know that I have grown, and I am so excited to grow more and more as I serve here on my mission. I hope to remember this and strive to become better and better everyday, as I am serving and after I return home.

Photos:

It's snowing again!!!

"I looked out the window and what did I see, A GORGEOUS Fiery SUNSET IN MY REAR VIEW WINDOW"

A very crafty and talented member loves snowflakes almost as much has I do, and made all those little snowflakes and turned her kitchen overhead light into a beautiful art piece. 

One of the neighborhoods we cover is build inside a national park. There are houses scattered around. It looks like a normal neighborhood, other then the giant red rocks that tower over the houses. Sister Harvey and I were in awe as we drove through. There are so many houses, and in their backyards are beautiful sculptures nature has placed there. It was awesome, to say the least.

1/27

This week has been a little crazy. Last Monday, my trainer, Sister Coburn, got a phone call from president. A Sister from a near by area was going home early and leaving the next day, and he asked her if she would be willing to serve in that area for the last week of her mission. It broke her heart, since she had so many people she wanted to say good-bye to and it was hard to leave this ward that had truly become a home to her, but she said she would. We went home, packed up, and she went off to serve the Lord in a new area. In all, her longest area was this area, in which she has been serving for eight months, and her shortest was six days, in Westridge, where she is serving now. 

On Friday, we got a phone call and we were told that a Sister from over the mountain would be coming here on Saturday. She would leave along with Sister Coburn, so she would only be here about two days, and we happily agreed to her coming to serve along with us these last two days. Her name is Sister MacDonald, and she has been such a delight to have. 

On the same day she arrived, I received a package from my Boma. Inside were three hand knit hats, and three goody bags. My Boma didn't know my trainer had been transferred and we only had two, but it worked out in the end. Because of it, we were able to greet Sister MacDonald with smile, a nice meal, and a gift from Boma.  Boma is awesome and magical and her timing is ON POINT. Now I know where my mom gets her awesome timing from. Haha.

When we heard we were losing our trainer a week early, Sister Harvey and I were worried. Sister Harvey had only been here only six weeks longer then me, so we didn't know how it would be. Now we know, that no matter how prepared we feel, God makes the difference. This week has been one of my best weeks on my mission so far. We have been serving left and right, teaching who ever seem interested, and we have gone in head first. It has been so fun. We have been on so many walking trails around Highlands Ranch, talking to people, chalking out inspirational messages, picking up trash, and enjoying the sun and the beautiful world the Lord has given us. It has been so fun. It's very sunny here right now, and I'm starting to feel like I'm back in Washington, because everyday people have been saying it's going to be snowing soon. It's been three weeks of hearing that. It hasn't snowed or even rained. It's been sunny and the sunsets and sunrises have been GLORIOUS.

Last week, we had been tracting a new area and met a lady named Claira, who has a deep love of the outdoors and of creatures big and small. She has fostered and rehabilitated squirrels, foxes, fawns, and more. She has seven cats, one tiny dog, and two small ponies. She told us we could come by anytime and feed them. This week, we were able to return and she talked a lot with us, and we were able to scatter food for the deer, and they came up and ate within seven feet of us! They were so close. It was great watching them. After, we went to her mini barn, where she housed her two small ponies. One was named Munch, the other Wigdet. They were very happy to see us, especially when they discovered that we had carrots and apples for them. We fed them, helped Claira put out their real meal, and went back inside. She called her home, with all the animals, her Garden of Eden. We could see why. She has many plants as well, and we have promised to come back and help water her plants and feed her pets. We are very excited to go back. She's a very kind lady with a great love for living things. I can relate to that. 

Today, I sent two companions home. I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to serve along side them and to learn from them. They are truly two loving and talented Sister Missionaries and were a great example to me.

Overall, this week has been pretty great. A lot of growing, learning, and serving. I can't even explain in an email everything that happens in a single week when on a mission. It's a little insane. It feels like time flows differently here, and I am amazed everyday at the Lord and all He does for us everyday.  I am grateful everyday that I decided to serve a mission.