The Salem Missionary Triumphs : Feliz año nuevo

Week #42

You know you've been in the same area for a long time when everyone is already planning packing you up for transfers a week before transfer calls.

Happy New Years everyone! I can't believe that it is 2017. If you want time to fly by, then go on a mission. My time is disappearing too quickly.

But, I guess hitting your halfway mark and New Years around the same time isn't so bad. Everyone is making new goals and changes in their lives. I get to look back at the last 9 months at my progress, my mistakes, and my triumphs and decide how I am going to be better, work harder, and love more these next 9 months. I'm ready to watch this next year be filled with new people, new areas and more miracles.

For my New Years we learned how to make tamales! Our investigator Hermanita Margarita taught us. It was really fun. I really do love Mexican food. Hermana Hunt and I are making too many trips to the tiendas though. One of these days we are going to blow up from all of the pan, and queso, and crema. . . It's a problem. Hey Dad! I finally found where I can get a cow head (lengua - tongue- included)! And it's only 60 dollars.

This week we found out what moisture does to walls and windows. Moho is how it is said in Spanish. Wooh! That was fun.

We had a really wonderful district meeting this week. We all bore our testimonies to each other and it was really powerful. District meetings are inspired. When I got to the mission field I was surprised at how many meeting we have, but throughout my mission I have come to appreciate them. More than appreciate really. They are so needed. We need to come together each week as missionaries to learn from and receive support from each other. I learn new things each week. Sometimes it's discouraging because you see how many faults you have as a missionary, but you can't be perfect at every aspect of missionary work all at once. You go week by week transfer by transfer, and you get better at being a missionary and closer to your Heavenly Father.

We thought that only one of our investigators came to church last Sunday, but we were in a lesson with a family we were teaching and this is how the conversation went (but in Spanish).

Firmen (the dad): So can people who aren't baptized take the Sacrament?

Hermana Hunt: Yes, of course. It is a special time to remember Christ and to learn more of Him through the Spirit. After baptism it is the way we can be cleansed and renew each week the promises that we made at baptism.

Firmen: Well if we come to church, how will we learn if it is in English?

Hermana Dickson: We actually have a congregation in Español.

Firmen: No, it was in English

Hermanas Dickson and Hunt: . . . *connecting the dots*

Hermana Dickson: You came to church!? (quite loudly and embarassingly - as expected because my name is Hermana Dickson and I have no shame)

Yup. We found out that 3 more of our investigators came to church and Hermana Dickson embarassed herself all in one short conversation. We are efficient in this companionship.

They came though! They sat in the foyer and so we never saw them. It was a huge meeting last week because we were combined with an English ward and our translation didn't work out so it was in English, but they came! We invited them to come again this week (and promised it would be in Spanish). They have a baptismal date in February and I am so excited to keep working with them. Lessons are really hard with them because they have so many stories and questions. This last week we had a lesson with tehm and Firmen kept asking the same question over and over enen though we promised him we would answer it in the lesson. I actually pointed my finger at him at one point and said "más adelante!" (hehe). I really do love teaching them though, well I just love teaching general.

Well everyone has already decided where I am going and who is taking my place . . . Transfer calls are this Saturday. I really was fine with being transferred. It would be wonderful to stay here longer, but I also recognize that there are multiple reasons missionaries are transferred. I do need to be transferred. The hard thing is that the Farfán family have been gone for over a month and I just found out that they will be coming back the day after transfers. I never got to say goodbye. I really am looking forward to changes. A part of me just wishes that there was some way that if I do get transferred that I will be able to say goodbye. They will be the hardest to leave. I am so thankful for modern communication though. I will be able to keep in contact after my mission.

I've never really made any New Years Resolutions, but my mission has taught me to make goals and to make plans to fulfill them. I've made some and plan to make more. I want to change this year. And the next year, and the next. It's called repentance and becoming more like Christ. We can't ever stop changing if we really want to fulfill our purpose here. That's what "Enduring to the End" means. I'll just finish off with this quote from the talk we read in District meeting this week.

"Never stop praying! In your heart or in your closets. Never stop loving! Never stop hoping and striving to live up to your potential. Because it is when we think we need Him least that we indeed need Him the most. It's in the hour of our confidence and comfort we lose our footing. It's when we think we are safe - when we let Satan in. For until you stand face to face with your maker, the work is not done, the war is not won. You are still fighting for your life and those you steward."

I love you all,

Hermana Dickson