Elizabeth Dickson's mission: April 2021

Yes, I got THE shot at the local fire and rescue station! My first Covid vaccine shot. There was only amusing side effects luckily, such as extreme drowsiness, loopiness, fuzzy eye sight, and laughing for two minutes straight while watching snow fall outside the car window. Haha, I thought it was fun. Sister Homer was slightly concerned about my sanity after that, haha. I am doing much better now, it wore off a few hours later.

We had Zone Conference yesterday and we were super late! We live about 35 minutes away from where we meet, and we ended up leavening about 10 minutes late, then with the foggy and icy weather it took even longer. The map somehow lead us to the wrong place, a neighborhood 16 minutes away from the church we were supposed to be at! Luckily we got there only 10 minutes after it started, but we felt really bad.

I also gave my departing testimony while there. Every missionary on their last transfer, which is every 6 weeks, during the annual Zone Conference you are to give a brief testimony of some of the things you have learned on your mission. It was really hard figuring out what to say, I feel like I have learned so much and it was hard to organize it into words. I have learned to stand up for myself and what is right. I have learned to be brave, bold, and loving. I have gained so much more experience on patience. I have learned a lot about my relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have learned what true strength is. In the end I decided to talk on giving your all to the work. My family has a little motto, which is "when you give all you have you will always have enough." I have found this especially true in missionary work. I strive to give my whole heart, might, focus, time, and self to this work and the people of Colorado. In return I have gained so much more then I had before.

I have less then three weeks remaining to serve a full time mission, and I hope to do all that I can every second of the day to continue to give my all. I feel as if this is a wonderful time to create a pattern for my life, of working hard and loving completely.

I am grateful everyday that I chose to serve a mission at such a time as this!!!

I got my shot!

A pic from Zone Conference

I burned myself with very hot oil. Not fun, 10/10 do not recommend, but it kind of looks cool, haha.

I accidentally left my tag at home, so I was "Sister Homer" for a few hours, haha

Sister Homer made DELICIOUS Korean pancakes! They are filled with this amazing honey and nut mix, and are so crispy on the outside. I am so spoiled XD

So much happened in the last week or so, I don't quite know where to begin

Last week was beautiful, especially Monday, so we decided to explore Evergreen. We went to some cafe's and restaurants and made a list of all the places we want to go, then we got some really yummy acai bowls at Kiki's bowls, which was so cool and refreshing after being in the sun. Also snagged a couple souvenirs for my family;)

Tuesday we had combined district council, meaning we met with about 10 companionships of missionaries. We are the farthest companionship from the church building we were meeting at, since we are the only ones up in the mountains, and it was about a forty five minute drive just to get down there. Right after we grabbed some Cane's chicken, then went to the hospital to get Sister Homer her first vaccine shot!!! Super excited for her! We weren't able to sign me up and were hoping they would have walk in or extra or at least a way to sign up in person. All were no...

Wednesday we were able to go to the local library and help a dear friend do some family history work. It was so exciting to see her eyes light up as she saw her family tree grow and remind her of her loved ones. Hopefully we will be able to meet with her again to help some more. Yes, it was super hard to be in an adorable library and not check out the books, but I survived (barely)!

Friday I was able to participate in a Homer family tradition of eating a pass over dinner. We are way too cheap for lamb, but we had Harosut on flat bread, fruits, cheese, crackers, and grape juice! It was so delicious and I was so full after! Another thing we have been doing is reading through the last week of Christ's life and putting up pictures to remind us of what he did. Often times in the morning we listen to the Lamb of God as well. All of this made it truly a powerful and memorable Easter season!

Saturday was quite an adventurous day! Buckle up, because this one is long!!!

We listened to the first session of General Conference, which was so good and revelatory, and a lot of speakers spoke of how missionaries and members can be the Lord's angels on earth to help people. I really liked that imagery, then right at the end of the first session we were given an opportunity to be those angels and to help! A few missionaries were cleaning out a missionary apartment that we didn't need anymore, and they needed our truck named "taco" and we had their equinox for the day. About an hour after they picked it up, during the concluding speaker's remark, they asked if we could come and help them load up, since there was so much stuff that it couldn't even fit in the truck. The two Elder companionships and us all spent the next hour or so clearing out the apartment and loading up all our cars with trash and stuff to get rid of or donate.

The second session of General Conference on Saturday was amazing, and right after we drove up to the very top of a mountain where some members of the church live and we borrowed their computer to try to sign me up for a vaccine, but the website wouldn't let me for some reason. Five tries later, we called it a day and headed home. Before leaving the Husband of the family asked if we wanted to see something, and we said sure. He pulled out a very old looking book and let us hold it. He told us that it was a five hundred year old copy of the Bible, and that this particular copy of the Bible there are only eight known copies still in the world. It was amazing flipping through the pages and seeing notes written by different priests, and seeing the beautiful curing letters! It was truly a remarkable experience!

When we made it home, we came to the shocking realization that we had left the house keys inside our locked home. We searched all around to find a window or some other way in, but there was none. We could literally see the key sitting on the counter next to the door, less then a foot away from us! It was so frustrating that the only thing standing between us and that key was a thick double pained window. It was about dinner time, so we decided to drive to Wendy's and pick up some food and make some calls around to see if anyone in the ward could help.

The renting company that owns our house wasn't picking up, we called a few members of the church nearby but no one knew how to pick a lock or knew a lock smith. We even called our friend Troy who is a retired detective and he came over to see if he could somehow get in. He could not... While at Wendy's we were trying to decide what to get and jokingly asked the girl on the intercom if she could pick a lock, and another guy on the mic answered and asked if we were trying to rob a bank, and we said no we were just locked out of our house. We couldn't decide what to get, so the girl said to just drive up to the second window and talk to her there. There she gave us a giant drinking cut full of a chocolate frosty and some pub fries, and said it was on the house. We tried to pay, but she said we had enough going on already and sent us on our way. She was so sweet!!!!

We called back our housing coordinator from the mission and told her no one was able to get in, and she called a lock smith to come help, but he lived about forty five minutes away. He ended up getting lost or something, so we spent four and a half hours in our borrowed Equinox making a few phone calls and sharing messages. There was a women we called that said she was interested in hearing a quick easter message, and while sharing she started to get emotional and said that was exactly what she needed to hear. We offered to share more messages, and she said she'd love to hear them! We made a new friend while being locked outside our house!!!

Our car battery started getting really low after that, so we had to turn off all the lights in the car and just sit and stare at the stars. It was a very peaceful night. Luckily at about 8:30 the locksmith found our place and was able to get us in about ten minutes later! So yeah, that was our Saturday adventure!

Sunday was great! We watched the first session with our district, we had the door to outside cracked open to let in some air, and half way through the session a dark hand reaches in and drops a piece of paper on the ground and disappears. We were the closest to the door, and I was a little creeped out. Luckily, another companionship had brought a friend with them to watch, who is a large ex con, so he went and looked around and took care of it, making me feel safer. Turns out the note was just someone who hasn't been to church in about 30 years asking for the missionaries to reach out because they want to come back but feel guilty for being gone so long. So the creepy note wasn't as creepy after all!

We watched the second session at home with all our yummy snacks, and we are so excited that they announced a new temple is being built in Grand Junction CO! I served there and know so many people there who have to drive sometimes six or more hours to get to a temple, so this is fantastic news!!! I hope to come back on day for the dedication!

I am so grateful to be serving at such a time as this!!!