"Missions Are Hard But So Rewarding"

Week # 14

You know you're a lucky missionary when you get to have two mission presidents during your mission.

President and Sister Samuelain are leaving. I'm so sad!
They are so wonderful and I wish I could have more time with them. They set the tone for my mission. We got to say goodbye to them and President Samuelian said some things to me that I will always remember. He is so close to the Spirit that like Ammon in the Book of Mormon, he knows what is in our hearts and what we need to hear. I wish you all could hear him speak. #futuregeneralauthority

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will be meeting our new Mission President. They seem wonderful from what I've been told and I can't wait to meet them!

What even happened this week? I feel like I emailed yesterday.

One of the blessings I have received while on my mission is a love of the Book of Mormon. I have read it before and have a testimony of its truth, but I literally hate closing it. I just want to keep reading and studying because I am learning so much! BUT I have to close it so that I can go out and be a missionary and share what I have learned. I had the opportunity to do that a lot his week. Investigators and members asked me about certain verses and chapters and I was able to help them understand it more. There is such a joy from preaching the Gospel. I'm kind of disappointed in myself from before my mission. I guess I'm learning how to be a member of the church while I'm on my mission :)

We are finding so many prepared people! The other missionaries say that I am getting spoiled in my first area because this isn't normal. In the month of May we had more baptisms than the whole stake/mission year to date. So exciting. We have three investigators on date for July and are hoping for a fourth. We are also finding a lot of prepared people for the other missionaries. We have set two people on date for July for other missionaries and there is another that is so close. I'm sad that we don't get to teach them, but they are hearing and accepting the
Gospel and that is what is important. Passing them off (to other missionaries because they are English speaking) is hard because it's so special to see their progress, but we are called to serve in Spanish so we are supposed to be teaching in Spanish :) AND I'll see them in the Celestial Kingdom someday and we can hang out then.

Missions are hard, but so rewarding. My mission president told me that it's so hard because it is so important and the adversary knows that so he does all he can to discourage us. Some days aren't good. Not going to sugarcoat it. BUT it makes the good days even better. We are reminded constantly that we can't do this alone. We need to kneel everyday and call down the powers of heaven or it will be just that much more difficult. My knees are bruised again and they remind me that I'm doing okay. I'm doing what I am called to do.

I have been told by 4 people now that even though I struggle to speak Spanish, when I sing, it is perfect. I was reading my Patriarchal blessing and it says that I will be a missionary through music and I am seeing that so much here. Sometimes we are prompted to sing in a lesson to bring the spirit and the Holy Ghost helps us know which hymn to choose. Last week a speaker didn't show up in church so they grabbed the missionaries and I was able to sing then as well. It's so much easier to sing than to speak Spanish and so I am going to try to figure out how to help my speaking through music. I'm always trying new things in my language study because I struggle so much with the language, but I am improving. This week I was able to talk to some of the members by myself and it actually didn't go as badly as you would think! Blessings!

I love it so much here in Oregon. It feels like home and I already am planning trips to come back :) We went berry picking again this morning. We got a ton of blue berries and then my companion wanted Marion berries so we went and picked some more. I just ate them...
Really though. I didn't leave with any, but I did leave with a full stomach. Breakfast ✅ - check!

That's all this week. I'm busy :) I'm in the business of creating Celestial Beings!

I love you all,

Hermana Dickson