tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47748080329832726272024-03-12T19:50:29.602-07:00Letters From QuezonWith Love From Sister DickisonJessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-23364223737777308572014-11-10T08:47:00.001-08:002014-11-10T08:47:21.550-08:00I'm Coming Home :)<div>
Dear Family and Friends,<br /></div>
<div>
The time has flown by.
Here I am, facing my last week in the Philippines as a missionary... so
weird. Last week was busy and we got a surprise phone call from the
office last Tuesday informing us that we needed to come in the next
morning to go to immigration again for fingerprinting. Surprise! So,
we had to change are plans for going on exchanges last Wednesday and
moved those exchanges to this week. It was fun to see all the exiting
missionaries again, especially my buddies Sisters Sanders, Strebel, and
Rupp, and it was fun to see how everyone is handling leaving in
different ways. :) <br /></div>
<div>
I thoroughly enjoyed MLC last
Friday except for the part where I bore my testimony, haha! I guess I
just got too nervous about not wanting to cry in front of everyone and
so my testimony turned into just a bunch of random ramblings about my
decision to serve a mission and other stuff. Oh well.... I get to share
my actual testimony in Zone Conference this week to make up for it. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Just
want to mention how incredibly blessed I've been to serve as an STL for
these last two transfers. I've loved attending MLC and being part of
the council. My faith and trust in my leaders has grown so much from
the experience and I love all of the new and exciting plans for our
mission. Especially, I'm grateful to have served the sisters and to go
on exchanges with them. Almost every time I've gone on exchanges, I can
really see why we needed to go on exchanges that particular day with
those particular sisters. They've strengthened my testimony and I hope
I've been strengthening theirs.<br /></div>
<div>
As for us here in
Cogeo, we have zone conference
on Wednesday followed by two days of exchanges. Thus we won't have much time to work in our area. Not exactly the way I
had planned to finish my mission, but I'm grateful for this calling I've
had to serve as an STL and serve the sisters even if it means our time
in our own area is limited. Sister Suminguit and I found two wonderful
new investigators over the last two weeks. One of them, Bernadette was a
referral from a family member. She's so great! We had a
wonderful lesson with her yesterday, taught her all about the
Restoration and inviting her to be baptized on December 25th to which
she said yes. She also committed to come to church next week. The
other investigator is Twinkle, who is the "Nanny" for a very active
member and has already come to church for the last 5 weeks or so. We
had a great lesson with her about the Restoration yesterday and invited
her to pray about Joseph Smith and to begin reading the Book of Mormon.
One of our progressing investigators, Mary Ann, came to church
yesterday with the person who referred her. Hurray!! It was so
wonderful for her to come and we're looking forward to her baptism on
December 6th. Well... I guess we're excited for her to be baptized, but
obviously I won't be there which is weird... man... this whole going
home thing is so weird. In about half an hour we will be leaving this
internet shop to go visit my old areas and say good-bye to people for
the last time. I'm so excited to see them all again... I just hope I
don't cry, haha!<br /></div>
<div>
Love you all and God bless you!</div>
Love, Sister Dickison Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-48266079001108585042014-11-03T11:41:00.002-08:002014-11-03T11:47:54.058-08:00Mission Tour with Elder Oaks :) <div>
It's pretty obvious that my Father in Heaven knows me very well for
many reasons. One of those being that obviously, I'm really excited to
be going home in just about two weeks (ahhh!!!) and so, instead of
allowing me to work in my area and get even more attached to the people,
or have time to get punted a lot and be tempted to not work as hard, I
was only able to work in my area for about two days total last week, and
the same thing will be happening this week and the next week. It's
been weird, not having like any time to work in our own area and rarely
getting to visit our investigators, but I'm trying to keep positive
about it. This is how last week's schedule went.... Mon.: P-day, Tues.:
District Meeting in the morning/half day of working, Wed.: Exchanges,
Thurs.: Exchanges, Fri.: Weekly Planning/Mission Tour.:, Sat.: Service
Project in the Morning, got punted for an hour, Ward FHE for a couple of
hours, got punted for the rest of the night (they celebrate Halloween
here on Nov. 1st and everyone goes to the cemetery), Sun.: Finally,
appts. in the morning, church, area broadcast. And... that's basically
the exact same schedule for this week except instead of Mission Tour we
have MLC on Friday and instead of service we have a temple trip with our
investigators on Saturday.... : / It's really fun and I'm enjoying all
of the activities, I'm just trying to be okay with not ending my mission
how I thought I would.... oh well. :) <br />
</div>
<div>
I had a great
time going on exchanges last week with the sisters in Sumulong. I was
able to visit and teach a few more people in my last area including
Tatay N. which was great. Mostly, I just love going on exchanges. <br />
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I
love helping the sisters and I guess this calling has made me more
excited to continue on my career path of counseling something or
rather.... I don't know. On Friday we had the wonderful opportunity to
meet and listen to Elder Dallin H. Oaks (probably spelled his name
wrong), who came to the Pines and we had a special mission tour with
him, his wife, and Elder Bowen from the Seventy. We all got to shake
hands with Elder Oaks, which was awesome, and then they all spoke. As
soon as Elder Oaks stood up I swear there was this visible light just
radiating from him. He spoke so powerfully and the Spirit just was
bursting through the room. We were able to listen to him speak again
last night as we watched the area broadcast at our stake center. I
absolute love Sister Oaks!! She is so adorable and it was fun to "get
to know" an apostle's wife a little bit better. </div>
<br />
<br />
Saturday
us sisters from Cogeo Ward and the elders from Bagong Nayon Ward went
up to Taguisan, the big mountain in our area and we helped a family, the Pendon's, do some serious yard work/house building. Later
that day, we went back up to Taguisan, found and taught a new
investigator named Bernadette who's golden, and then had FHE with the
ward in the house of another family, the Somes.
Which.... Surprise! Us sisters were in charge of.... and didn't know
until our WML, who was conducting, announced that Sister Suminguit would
be giving the lesson and I was in charge of games.... :) <br /></div>
<div>
I
can't believe it's ending so quickly... It just plain feels weird. I
get to bear my testimony at both MLC later this week and at Zone
Conference next week since I'm leaving.... man.... I just don't want to
cry. :) </div>
Love you all and hope everything's going well!! Until next week!<br />
Love, Sister DickisonJessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-5674337651540845842014-10-22T07:21:00.001-07:002014-10-22T07:21:45.988-07:00Less than a month left!!!! Nope... not excited at all ;) What a wonderful, busy week it's been!! I love Sister Suminguit!!! We
are having such a fun time together as companions this time :) She's
helped bring some closure for my first few transfers in Pateros and
we've been able to laugh over a lot of old memories and good times :)
The work is going so well!! Jhon-mela was baptized and confirmed last
weekend! We are so proud of her! It was great... for the brother who
baptized her, it was his first time baptizing anyone and I guess he was
worrying about doing it too quickly so he very, very slowly lowered her
in the water... as in, slow-motion :) We were all silent for a few
moments and then everyone burst into laughter. Definitely memorable. :)<br />
<br />
<div>
We
have so many progressing investigators who are doing so well. I've
seen miracles happen in this area just since Sister Suminguit got here.
It's been so fun teaching with a Filipina companion again... and this
time actually understanding what she's saying. :) Our investigator,
Mary Ann, talked to her husband about the baptismal date and he said he
thought it was great. :) She's really looking forward to it now and
continues to progress rapidly. Daniella and Ella Mae should have been
baptized this week.... unfortunately, Daniella is ready but doesn't have
parental permission yet, and Ella Mae has permission, but isn't quite
yet ready. So.... we extended their bap date for another month. We're
sure Ella Mae will be ready by then and we're praying that Daniella's
mom will change her mind. Daniella's dad is the member and he's
supportive, but he's abroad and as such, not able to sign her bap
record.... and obviously, we don't want to baptize her if her mom's not
going to be pleased with it so yeah.... just waiting on that. One of
the recent converts in this area finally returned to earth. He just
disappeared for like two months and yeah... is obviously less active
now. Had a great lesson with him and sounds like he's made some
mistakes and realized he misses his life before, when he was living the
gospel. We're really looking forward to helping him live the gospel
again. Man... many other wonderful things happening with the work....
just feeling blessed to have lots of work to do to keep my mind somewhat
busy instead of thinking of coming home all the time.... :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We
got to go to the temple today, which of course was wonderful. Three of
the branch missionaries from Morong were there. It was so great to see
them again and to talk to them a little bit, especially since one of
them will be entering the MTC this week so... that's the last time I'm
ever going to see her :( We went on exchanges with our kabahays last
week and had a party. Sister Faasavalu just asked me trunky questions
the whole time, silly goose. But, we had a really wonderful lesson in
the morning and committed two of their investigators to a bap date.
Love working with the Sisters! They're so great!! Last Friday we went
and got our fingerprinting/x-rays done. So weird.... not going to lie,
I'm loving the fact that Sister Strebel, Sister Sanders, and I are all
going home together. Had a party talking with them.... haha... they
both crack me up. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Love being a missionary!!!!! We're still
going strong and I'm determined to leave with no regrets. Hope you all
have a wonderful week!! Ingat kayo lagi!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-25486892413688013362014-10-13T07:18:00.000-07:002014-10-22T07:18:43.458-07:00M.L.C.This last week was so great and so
busy! Sister Alailima just barely left for Mindoro this morning.
Yesterday she was picked up by the Johnsons who took her to the Sisters
house in Cubao where she slept for a few hours before getting on her
early flight this morning.... so weird... that was the last time I'm
going to see her until next year, when she comes back to Utah to go to
school :( I was so blessed to be her companion twice. Learned so much
from her and we had some great times :) Sister Suminguit is currently
not here yet, but she should be getting dropped off in a few hours.
Can't wait!! I've just been chilling, working with my kabahays since
yesterday. <br />
<br />
Great news... we should be having a baptism this
week!! Sister Jhon-mela had a great interview on Saturday and is so
ready to get baptized!! At the beginning of last transfer, we started
teaching her grandmother who had been inactive for a long time, come to
find out Jhon-mela, who's 10, lives with her and hadn't been baptized
yet. We invited them to church and honestly were totally shocked when
they came the very next day.... and they've been coming every week
since, including attending all four sessions of general conference over
the last two days!! They're so great!! So happy for Jhon-mela! Her
mother who's inactive is going to come to the baptism... :)<br />
<br />
Last
Friday I went to Mission Leadership Council companion-less... It was
really weird. Sister Alailima couldn't come, cause she's not an STL
anymore, so I got stuck riding in a taxi with my Zone Leaders and their
kabahay, who's companion was still on Mindoro. It was so weird....
probably preparing me for being without a girl companion 24/7.... I
don't like it. However, MLC was so wonderful!! Pretty much the
strongest I've felt the Spirit my whole mission. My testimony of the
power of councils has just grown so much with this calling. It's so
great sitting there with everyone and discussing the needs of the
mission and ideas for helping things to get even better. I love it!!
The Assistants presented the most amazing workshop for zone training
which I can't wait to participate in again tomorrow at zone training.
It's going to be awesome! <br />
<br />
General Conference was great! I
played "Where's Uncle Dave" by myself as we watched the MoTab sing :)
Loved all of the talks and especially appreciated the talks about
sustaining our leaders, it was very fitting for me having just attended
MLC. :) <br />
<br />
We have so many great investigators in these area,
many whose bap dates are coming up soon. I haven't been able to work in
my area since Thursday so... I'm really excited for my companion to get
here and us to go to work. The break from traveling for exchanges has
been nice but I'm excited to get to work with all of the sisters again.
<br />
<br />
As for how I'm feeling.... I feel weird to be quite honest.
The fact that I"m leaving just becomes more real to me every day, and it
doesn't help that everyone's reminding me about it 24/7. :) I'm
excited, but for some reason scared at the same time.... I just can't
imagine going back to "normal" life again. I had another one of those
moments, those priceless ones. Sister Alailima and I were teaching a
lesson to a new investigator named Mary Ann. She lives on the mountain,
in the middle of nowhere, in a hut that's the same size as my closet...
which isn't that big. She has two little kids, a two year old and a
one year old. Her husband works all week long and usually just comes
home one day a week to sleep for a little while before he heads back out
to work. They have very little of the things of the world, and yet she is at peace. I just thought
about us coming from Utah and Hawaii to teach this wonderful daughter of
God, who lives in basically a box in the mountains in the Philippines
about the Restoration of the gospel and God's plan for us.... man... it
was one of those surreal moments that I'll cherish forever. <br />
<br />
I
love you all and encourage you all to apply what you learned from
general conference into your lives! I know this gospel is true and a
gift too wonderful to not being sharing it with those around us. Have a
wonderful week!<br />
Love, Sister DickisonJessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-50220913246012116682014-10-07T09:45:00.002-07:002014-10-07T09:45:48.171-07:00The Final CountdownAs my kabahays have been singing regularly for the last week or so, "The
time is far spent, there is little remaining...". :) Can't believe
it's already here!! Tomorrow is the first day of my last transfer....
crazy or what!? Sister Alailima will be transferring to the island of
Mindoro on Friday where she will be "white-washing" with her new
companion, Sister Panice. I will be finishing my mission here in Cogeo
with my new companion, and newly called STL, Sister Suminguit!!
Wohoo!! So excited to be with her again! She was my kabahay my first
few transfers here in the field and we're already good friends :)
Really looking forward to finishing my mission strong.... we have so
many wonderful people we're teaching - less-actives becoming active
again and investigators well on their way to fulfilling their bap date
goals... so exciting!! I'm truly being blessed in all ways for this
last transfer. Can't wait to get to go on exchanges again with the
sisters! I learned so much from each and every one of them this last
transfer. This calling has been such a blessing!<br /><br />So... in
fun news.... I got my hair cut this morning.... really short :) Guess I
just decided to start the changes coming early.... fortunately I think
cutting my hair was easier than ending my mission.... man.... it's going
to be another adventure. <br />
<br />
We were up on the Taguisan mountain almost every day this last week that
we weren't on exchanges. You would think that climbing steep stairs
and mountains every day would eventually stop making you feel sore but
no.... I'm still sore, every day. :) I slipped twice this last week
climbing up and down the mountain.... got pretty muddy and have several
lovely scratches on one arm from the thorny plant that attacked me
during my slipping.... dang it. That's what I get for being cocky and
proud of myself for only slipping twice this transfer. :P<br />
<br />
<div>
I'm so looking forward to watching general conference this
weekend! It's going to be a VERY busy week.... we have MLC on Friday
followed by the conferences... should be exciting. Sister Suminguit is
coming off of Mindoro so she actually won't get here until Friday I
think. At the same time, Sister Alailima won't leave until Friday, so
we get to be comps for a few extra days :) </div>
<div>
Feel so blessed with everything. Life is just great!! I love you all and hope things go well for you this week!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison </div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-37084624248483889492014-09-30T09:01:00.001-07:002014-09-30T09:01:22.134-07:00Partying it up in SumulongUh.... where did this week go?! I swear I was just sitting here
emailing yesterday. Guess I've discovered that the time goes even
faster when you do exchanges two days a week instead of just one. So
crazy!! It's amazing how even though we have less time to work in our
own area than usual, we are still able to see so much progression
here... I wish you guys could have been there for my first ward
missionary coordination meeting here in Cogeo. Up until last week, we
had only had one even though they're supposed to be weekly, and it was
only us missionaries and the assistant ward mission leader in
attendance. During the last two weeks a new ward mission leader was
called as well as two ward missionaries. Wohoo!! We have ward
missionaries now! Also, for the last two weeks most of the auxiliary
leaders have attended our meeting and the coordination is actually
happening! I wanted to jump up and scream "Hallelujah" yesterday as our
new ward mission leader, Mark, stood at the front and discussed all of
the people we visit and their needs and everything... it was so great!!
The meeting has gone from being next to non-existent to now, being the
best missionary coordination meetings I've ever been to. We had some
awesome lessons during the last week! We had a particularly great one
yesterday with our investigator Gloria. We hadn't been able to visit
with her for awhile. She had read the pamphlet about the Restoration
and had lots of questions for us :) We had a wonderful visit.<br />
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Our
exchanges in Sumulong were so great! We were there last Wednesday and
Thursday. On Wednesday we had planned to work with Sister Umstead and
Sister Nayadu, however, Sister Umstead was really sick so we changed
plans and ended up working with Sisters' Rupp and Maraj Gill in my old
area. :) So great!! I was able to teach Hazel again!! She was that
awesome investigator we had who was progressing so well. Yeah... she
total got baptized a few months ago and is now a recent convert :) Her
testimony is so strong and it was so great to see her progression :) I
also got to briefly see my recent convert, Tatay, who is doing well. :) We also taught a less-active mother
and son who are not less-active anymore :) Man... So great to see all
of the progression that's happened since I've left! We also went on MTC
exchanges that day and got to take two sister missionaries from the MTC
with us as we visited Hazel. It was great :) Last time I went on MTC
exchanges was right before I trained in that area. Best part was the
sisters' excitement as they got on a jeepney for the first time. I
remember feeling that way :) The next day we worked with Sisters
Umstead and Nayadu. Sister Umstead was feeling better but she's had
this same sickness on and off her whole mission so Sister Revillo told
her to go to the doctor for a check-up appointment. I really don't know
why I always end up going to the hospital... I know I'm supposed to
learn something from this. Basta, for most of our exchanges together
Sister Umstead and I were at Medical City talking to the doctor and then
trying to make our way back to Sumulong on jeepneys and taxi's. It was
exciting... and definitely did not feel like a usual exchange :) <br /></div>
<div>
Well....
that's all I guess. I'm really looking forward to watching the General
Women's Broadcast this week. I'll have more updates on that next
week.... transfer week.... Ahhhh!!!!! My last transfer week until I go
home..... *Breathing*..... :)</div>
<div>
Love you all!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-38225017044029535082014-09-22T08:13:00.000-07:002014-09-24T08:15:14.600-07:00Typhoons and Makeovers at Zone Interviews<div>
Magandang umaga po sa lahat!<br />
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So
not too much has happened since I wrote you all last Wednesday... We
just, you know, went to the temple, had zone interviews on Thursday, had
a no-work-Friday because of the typhoon, and then attended part of our
ward's "Family Day" on Saturday. :) Exciting stuff.</div>
<div>
The
temple session was great! There were ten Filipinos receiving their own
endowments for our session. It was great! Zone interviews were great
too... our zone in Cogeo is the smallest zone I've ever been in... four
elders and ten sisters. Morong had five sisters and twenty elders so...
big change :) It was weird, realizing that it was my last zone
interviews... ever. Had a great interview with President and during
Sister Revillo's workshop she had us all do "makeovers". :) It was
definitely different. Wish I had video of the four elders cleaning
their faces... It was definitely the highlight of the day. Friday
morning we woke up to some serious rain and a little bit of lightning
and wind. Sure enough, we got texts from the A.P's informing us that
work was cancelled and we weren't allowed to leave the apartment... ay
naku. So, we tried to keep ourselves entertained during the day by
doing laundry and writing b.r.'s (kinda like yearbook entries) for
people. It was a long day... We were really happy to get out and work
the next day. Last week we were only able to work Tuesday, Saturday,
and Sunday in our own area so our numbers of lessons definitely wasn't
the best.... learning patience :) Despite our limited time working in
our area, the work is really progressing. We extended five baptismal
dates to investigators last week, three of whom came to church
yesterday. And we had a total of nine investigators and ten
less-actives at church yesterday. So great! We also had a great
Missionary Coordination Meeting with everyone yesterday, including our
newly called (and much needed) Ward Mission Leader. Love helping get
things organized and these next two months will be really exciting as
far as baptisms go :) </div>
<div>
Few stories about the people
we're teaching... so we have these two investigators named Charmaine and
Christ (yes, he has a unique name :)). Charmaine's in her early
twenties and Christ is 14. Last Tuesday, we had an appointment
fall-through, again, and decided to go visit these two investigators.
They are both so great and ready for baptism, especially Christ, they've
just had a hard time with church attendance. So, I opened my
scriptures to share a scripture about faith with them... and then it was
the wrong scripture so I picked another one on the same page... and
both me and Sister Alailima were wondering where I was going with any of
this, so I just sat there.... praying really hard for the Spirit....
and we ended up talking about how sometimes we have to walk in darkness
before finding the light. We talked about how taking first steps, such
as attending church, can be scary sometimes.... but that we will be
blessed for exercising our faith in trying and that it will get easier.
We committed both of them to come to church and then.... they came to
church yesterday. Yay!! This is big step for both of them. :) Also,
two weeks ago we went "finding" using our ward directory. We were
searching for this less-active but we didn't even know where she lived.
It's really difficult to find people here sometimes... it's not like
America where everyone has house numbers and there's street names and
stuff... really, it's just kind of a big mess and you just have to ask
people everywhere to find where you are. Basta, we were walking and I
just felt like we should go up these stairs (there are stairs everywhere
here) and so we did. We asked the first lady we saw if she new where
30 cluster J was... she was all, "I think that's my house." Sure
enough, she was our less-active. We scheduled an appt with her for last
Sunday.... then weren't able to go because of the other typhoon.... so
we were finally able to meet with her last night. Had a great lesson
with her. She told us she fell-away because she doesn't believe that
Joseph Smith was a prophet.... we told her we understand why she stopped
being active.... knowing that Joseph Smith was a prophet is an
important part in knowing that this really is Jesus' church here on the
earth. Basta... great lesson, we're looking forward to going and
teaching her again next week. </div>
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</div>
<div>
I'm still loving life and just
focusing on making every day count. We will be going on exchanges with
the sisters in Sumulong this week! Wohoo!! Can't wait to get to work
in my old area :) </div>
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Love you all!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison </div>
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Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-4009425480697221712014-09-17T18:51:00.001-07:002014-09-17T18:51:23.515-07:00Sketchy Service Project :) <div>
Happy Temple Day!! <br /><br />I've
been very impatiently awaiting this temple day.... can't wait to go!
We're leaving for the temple right after emailing. Since Morong is so
far away from the city, we didn't have temple days there so I haven't
been for a few months. Makes me so grateful I've served in a mission
where the temple is close and we can go so often :) <br /><br /><div dir="ltr">
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<div>
This
last week and a half has been great!! We were able to go on exchanges
with the Marikina sisters as well as with our kabahays two days ago. So
funny... about a week or so ago, our kabahays told us they wait for the
first ten minutes of their companionship study every day for us to walk
in their room and say we're going to work with them. We teased them
that they were going to have to wait until the very end of the
transfer.... but we decided to ease their pain and work with them sooner
than that. :) When we showed up to the Marikina sisters' apartment,
they weren't there. We called them and found out they were doing
service so they came back, let us put our stuff in their apartment, and
then we all headed out for service. We all laughed afterwards because
the service was super, super sketchy. What it was was these people from
the health something going door-to-door and giving kids shots for
tidas.... measles, I think? Basta, it was an interesting experience
standing there and watching as these random strangers gave peoples' kids
shots. That never would fly in America.... hahaha!! Ssssoooooo
sketchy..... :) The sisters' bishop hadn't really explained what the
service would be, he mostly just told them it would be a great finding
opportunity. We didn't really find any potential investigators....
guess they were a little distracted when we tried to tell them about the
gospel by their screaming children or something. <br /></div>
We got
stuck at the chapel after church last Sunday.... there was some serious
wind and heavy rains... guess there was a typhoon or something... :) Oh
the joys of not having a t.v. and not knowing what's going on. :) It
was just fine.... we just had one umbrella for the four of us, but
eventually we made our way home safely.<br /></div>
The work here is
just going great! Last week, we began using our ward directory for
finding less-actives (I'm a convert now to this method of "finding").
We spent quite awhile struggling to find where some of the members lived
and as we were walking, a women said, "Hi Sisters," in a way like she
had some connection with the church. Sure enough, she's part of a
part-member family and her sister who was right behind her is a
less-active member, not on our ward directory. We scheduled an
appointment with them and when we went to them on Saturday, the
less-active was there along with many non-member relatives. Turns out
her daughter is super interested in learning more about the gospel so
now we're teaching a less-active and an investigator. I love the ward
directory!! I feel like even when things don't go as planned, Heavenly
Father is always aware of your efforts as a missionary and He will guide
you where you need to go. :)<br /></div>
<div>
I just don't understand
how people can be trunky and stop working as hard just because they're
going home soon. If anything, I'm feeling a little panicked now like I
have to do everything I possibly can before the journey ends. Man....
excited to come home, but not at the same time. Being a missionary is
so weird... and awesome :) <br /></div>
<div>
I had my first
opportunity my whole mission to speak in sacrament meeting last Sunday.
My assigned topic was Missionary Work and Service, a topic I was more
than happy to share about. Sister Faasavalu was also assigned to speak
and she gave the first talk. Cute girl took up most of the time so both
I and the speaker who came after me had to cut our talks really short,
which was just fine by me :) <br /></div>
<div>
I love the gospel!! I
love serving the Lord and watching as people change and align their
lives with God's plan for us. I love watching families come together
and are strengthened as they beginning to be nourished by the gospel. I
love teaching little kids about the First Vision and then them asking,
"So which is the true church?" and then inviting them to pray and find
out for themselves and them doing so and then listening as they describe
their experience. I love less-active members realizing that they have
been spiritually weakened and then exercising their faith by taking that
sometimes scary first step and attending church for the first time in
years. I love sharing with members and inviting them to be part of the
work of salvation. Basta, I love it all!! Missionary work is the best
and right now, there's nothing I'd rather be doing :) </div>
<div>
Love you all so much!! Ingat kayo lagi!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison </div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<img alt="Inline image 1" height="330" src="https://bay179.afx.ms/att/GetInline.aspx?messageid=0bcc5706-3ed6-11e4-96aa-10604ba08f76&attindex=0&cp=-1&attdepth=0&imgsrc=cid%3aii_1488120bbac8ecc0&cid=61ccad7da8c6bb54&hm__login=bddickison&hm__domain=msn.com&ip=10.148.10.8&d=d827&mf=160&hm__ts=Thu%2c%2018%20Sep%202014%2001%3a50%3a22%20GMT&st=bddickison%402&hm__ha=01_61305fbd196ecc7c74de8da3b2f41040ef07ead79ea3551e4e37b011a50a2e69&oneredir=1" width="440" /><br /></div>
<div>
Above: Picture of Sketchy Service Project</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-12982418881624375792014-09-08T11:27:00.000-07:002014-09-08T11:27:15.525-07:00This Girl from Pateros Finally Cracked... and ate Balut<br />
Magandang umaga sa lahat!! Kamusta na kayo? <br /><br />This week was so
great... and both Sister Alailima and I are so tired. :) Phew...
missionary work is exhausting and wonderful :) We climbed some more
mountains this week in our area and then ran a lot in our Mission
Leadership Council (MLC) last Friday so yeah... my body's feeling kind
of achy here, but that's alright... getting stronger, I think. <br /><br />My
first full week as an STL was different and exciting. At MLC on Friday
we had a STL meeting with Sister Revillo and then after that had the
actual MLC with the eight other STL's, twenty Zone Leaders, and the four
A.P.'s... and of course President and Sister Revillo. The Spirit was
ssoooo strong there!! It was so cool. President talked about the
organization of councils and how there's been councils since the very
beginning, as we were all part of the great council in heaven.... it was
really cool. So... found out some amazing news.... in our mission last
year we were averaging about 50 baptisms per month, President Revillo
set a goal for 2014 that we would aim for 100 baptisms per month.
Almost every month for this year we've gotten a little bit closer,
usually having between 70 something or 80 something baptisms a month,
but.... we finally made it in August!! In August our mission baptized
124 souls! So many more than the average of 50 per month last year...
So great!! Ever since they arrived, President and Sister Revillo have
been making lots of changes and our mission has grown so much. I feel
so blessed to have been part of this big transition... The Philippines
Quezon City Mission really is so different than it was when I got here
and although it's been hard at times with all of the change, it's so
been worth it. Anyways... we kind of had a little celebration for the
occasion and after having the actual meeting in the morning, we were
treated to lunch at a buffet and then went to the "Rainforest Park" in
Pasig where we played games and such. It was a blast and quite the way
to start off my MLC experience :) At the very end of the meeting, those
missionaries who will be leaving this transfer bore their
testimonies... Sister Doucette was one of them. All of their
testimonies were beautiful, but I felt the Spirit extra strong when my
former companion bore hers. I just love that girl!! <br /><br />
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
Oh!
That reminds me... good news.... people she and I found in Pateros are
actually still progressing, hallelujah!! Sister Alailima went on
exchanges last transfer with the sisters in Pateros and was able to work
in my old area... she said Rebecca, one of the investigators Sister
Doucette and I found and start teaching, is super close to baptism and
attends church regularly now.... so great!! I just remember Sister
Doucette and I, especially me, struggling with feeling like nobody was
progressing in our area... I especially felt discouraged since I had
been there for six months. Blessings. :) Sometimes, you plant the
seeds that other missionaries harvest :) <br /></div>
Speaking of
Pateros... it's the famous home of Balut... lovely partially cooked duck
embryo... a favorite snack of the Filipinos. So I absolutely have
refused to try it for my whole mission.... mostly because, you know, I'm
stubborn and just the fact that most of my companions and kabahays have
wanted to force me to eat it has made me more determined to NOT eat
it.... anywho... at the end of one of our lessons last week, our
investigators gave us some balut, and I, having just informed Sister
Alailima the day before that I was willing to finally try it with her
since my mission is coming to a close (and she loves balut), was left
amazed at Heavenly Father's knowledge of our goals and the desires of my
companion's heart (and stomach). So.... I ate it, stalling as much as
possible, at guess what... it was pretty tasty. Not a big fan of the
rest of the egg, but the duck tasted great :) Who knew? I will send
the pictures of my balut experiment. :)<br /></div>
We went on our
first exchanges of the transfer two days ago. It was such a great
experience for me!! As soon as we walked inside the sisters' house, I
instantly just felt this love for them... even thought I had never met
them before. So cool!! I quickly learned that while the sister I work
with may learn absolutely nothing from me, I'm going to be learning tons
from them :) I really learned so much!! Also, I learned that it's a
good thing the purpose of an STL is to love and support the other
sisters because I can do those things :) So much fun! I do think it
may have contributed to us being so tired though... we traveled early,
worked with them all day, and then traveled back to our area... all
after spending the previous day traveling and running around for MLC.
Welcome to the life of an STL... it's great, but tiring. So glad I'm
not one of the Training Assistants who don't even have an apartment...
they just travel every day going on exchanges with other elders... kudos
to Elder Hammond. <br /><div id="ecxinlineImage0" style="display: inline-block;">
<span> </span><span> </span></div>
</div>
Well... guess that's it for this week. Love you all and hope you have a great week!! </div>
Love, Sister DickisonJessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-29398908617918927052014-09-01T11:27:00.000-07:002014-09-08T11:28:34.986-07:00Reunited and it Feels so Good :) Hello!! Kamusta po kayo!?<br /><br />
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
It's
been such an amazing first few days here in Cogeo! I'm loving it!!
It's so much fun to be with Sister Alailima again!! We're having a
blast! So many times during those first few days especially, we would
be doing something, like reciting the missionary purpose, and then just
look at each other and bust up laughing... it's just so weird to be
together again, after a year, and remembering how life was in the MTC
when we had no clue what we were doing :) So great. I love teaching
with her! She is such a great teacher and so good at the language as
well. I'm learning lots from her every day. Our area is so, so
mountainy!! My legs have been so sore, but I know that's got to be a
good thing.... how blessed I am to be getting a serious hill workout
almost everyday before I come home, haha! The area is so beautiful!!
Our apartment is beautiful as well and we have an awesome view from our
bedroom window of Cogeo and the mountains, love it!! Haven't really had
to do much with the whole STL thing yet :) But, we'll be attending
Mission Leadership Council later this week and then I'll be going on my
first exchanges as an STL. Should be exciting :) Cool thing, Elder
Hammond is the new Training Assistant in our mission, and Elders
Anderson, Martin, and Tinsley are all Zone Leaders, so we'll be kind of
having a mini reunion at Mission Leadership Council :) <br /><br />
</div>
The ward here is doing so well! Yesterday, Sister Alailima said
our attendance was three times as much what it was her first week here.
The work in Cogeo is just booming!! Our gospel principles class was so
full yesterday! Loved seeing so many investigators there. We also
had so many less-actives attend church. They just barely called a new
bishop in this ward and you can feel his enthusiasm. :) He is so
masipag and has been make visits every day to the members and you can
just feel his love for the people in this ward. He also is full of lots
of ideas to really help this ward grow. So excited to be working with
him for the next few months!! <br />
</div>
It was hard to say good bye to Morong... I really do love it out
there, but I'm already in love with this area, ward, and especially the
people. This ward has the most interesting collection of characters
I've ever seen and my abs are still hurting from laughing so much
yesterday. <br /><br />
</div>
We have some awesome investigators here who are so ready to accept the gospel. I love it!! </div>
All in all, life is good and I'm so excited to be serving here in Cogeo!</div>
Love you all an hope you have a wonderful week!<br /><br />
</div>
Love, Sister Dickison <br /><img alt="Inline image 1" height="330" src="https://bay179.afx.ms/att/GetInline.aspx?messageid=3997b127-318f-11e4-948c-10604ba02ab4&attindex=0&cp=-1&attdepth=0&imgsrc=cid%3aii_1482f65bb779f7c0&cid=61ccad7da8c6bb54&hm__login=bddickison&hm__domain=msn.com&ip=10.148.10.8&d=d827&mf=160&hm__ts=Mon%2c%2008%20Sep%202014%2018%3a27%3a47%20GMT&st=bddickison%402&hm__ha=01_c15b7bad0ed79b5192378c6b6712db52e6d36e677882d2286b2fb5e0981e8a86&oneredir=1" width="440" />Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-76943233692183092242014-08-26T08:07:00.001-07:002014-08-26T08:07:31.816-07:00Transfer and a new calling...Ay naku.... I'm really going to miss it here. Yes folks, it's that time
once again. Last Sunday, all of Morong District did a Member
Missionary Fireside in which President Revillo spoke as well as
his 1st counselor, President Jose, and our District President, President
Valdriz. The fireside was great!! The missionaries put on different
workshops to train the members about member missionary work. After the
fireside, President Revillo said he needed to speak with me
(would've been more scary, but he said that to like half of the
missionaries in our zone). So I had a feeling what was coming and yup, I've been called to be a Sister Training Leader for my last
two transfers. I have mixed feeling about this new calling... I'm
really excited, but of course, a little nervous... mostly to be doing
workshops for conferences. However, my new companion is not so new to
me.... I'm companions with Sister Alailima again!!!!!!! (She was my MTC
companion.) I'm so excited!!! It's like a perfect ending.... I get to be
with her at the very beginning and at the end :) Not too worried,
because I already know how amazing she is so she'll train me well :) <br /><br />I'm
really having a rough time leaving Morong.... I've just gotten attached
to everything here... the area, our investigators, the members, our
washing machine & microwave :), and of course... my companion. Good news
though!! Sister Sanders is going to be Sister Fewster's new companion!! Yay!!!! She and Sister Fewster will be great together
and there's no one I'd rather come and be able to continue to teach
these people than her.... She's going to love it here. Last time I
talked to her, she mentioned that while she's loved being an STL....
she's really missed getting to teach all the time in her own area....
Now she'll find herself crazy busy with teaching :) So happy for her!! <br /><br />
<div>
I love Morong so much... my time here has been like a misisonary's
dream... I've been so blessed! Saying good bye has never been so hard
before, but I just keep on reassuring myself that it's all okay because
I'll get to come back to visit again before I leave :) I'm really
excited about getting to serve the sisters more in our mission!! And I
know that this calling's going to help me to be a little less trunky as I
finish off these last three months :) <br /><br />Something I've been studied a lot lately during my personal study
has been "redemption".... love that word. :) I've realized repentance is
something so basic that I really feel like I don't understand at all. So I've been investigating. Without a doubt, my favorite person in the
Book of Mormon is Alma the Younger... he's amazing. I love the story of
his change and especially his choice of words as he describes being
freed from eternal torment... what a hero. I love that a focus of the gospel is change :)
<br /><br />Can't speak English anymore, I really can't. :)
How did that happen? <br /><br />I keep entertaining new goals in my head... among which is to continue
to be a missionary after I"m released from being a full-time missionary
:) I love this work so much and I'm so grateful that a theme my whole
mission has been focus on "member missionary work". Hope to be able
to fufill those goals after my mission. <br /></div>
<div>
Well.... I'm sure I'll have lot's of fun stuff to tell all of you next week!! Ingat lagi!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison </div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-60491493925767207502014-08-18T08:52:00.002-07:002014-08-18T08:52:28.158-07:00Road Trip with the JohnsonsThe adventure never ends here in the Mission Field. :) If it's not me
having to go to the hospital, it's my companion... Here's the story.
So, all last week, two of Sister Fewster's mosquito bites (her legs and
most of her body are just covered with them) started to really hurt and
look like giant zits and before we knew it they started "erupting". It
was gross, but really I felt bad for her because she was in so much
pain she would just start crying.... I told her multiple times every day
to text Sister Revillo about it, but she's more stubborn than I am and
was determined that if she just waited long enough, they would be gone
the next day : / I should have just texted her myself.... but it's
bawal... So last Tuesday the Johnson's (one of the couple
missionaries) attended our District Meeting and so I made Sister Fewster
show Sister Johnson the bites.... apparently Sister Johnson is more
persuasive than I am because she told my comp to text Sister Revillo and
she finally did.... hallelujah!! We spent the rest of the day
traveling from the dermatologist, to one hospital in Antipolo (about 30
minutes away from Morong) and then we ended up in St. Lukes in Manila
(Oh how I love St. Lukes!!) I felt so useful knowing where everything
was and how to do the insurance stuff/get the stuff at their pharmacy (I
tried to focus on how it's been a blessing to have all of this
knowledge about that place instead of how pathetic it is that the
hospital has become like my "second home" here in the mission... much
like feeling like I go to Wal-Mart every day back at home....:)) So,
the doctor's said that Sister Fewster was allergic to mosquitoes (I knew
it!) and that when she would scratch her legs, whatever was on her
fingers would get into the wound... and as a result she ended up having
two absesses full of infection. Delicious. So one of the wounds was
bad enough that they thought for sure she needed surgery, but the doctor
at the Missionary Recovery Center wanted to check it out first before
we jumped into surgery, so went traveled over to the MRC and he decided
they could easily take care of it there and no surgery was required.
Sure enough, my companion's absess-whatever-thingy's know look great
and she's doing just peachy. It does mean that I was without her for a
few days, which was hard, but our kabahay, Sister Taufa became my
temporary companion and everything worked out just fine. If there's one
thing I've learned from all of these trips to St. Lukes its this...
take care of your body!! Don't procrastinate getting help when you need
it!! It's always worse in the long run if you aren't proactive about
your health. The end. :)<br />
<br />
<div>
Last Wednesday, we had our Zone Conference. Sister Sikotilani gave her
pa-uwi (missionaries who are returning home) testimony and it was so
weird... I was just companions with her when she was at the same point I
am at now.... Ahhh!!!!! It was super fun to see so many people I love
at the conference!! With the exception of Sister Alailima, I was able
to see/visit with all of my old companions who are still in the field.
As we were listening to the workshops, it just hit me, again, how much
I've loved my mission. I remember coming here I feeling like such a
foreigner (which I am) and now I just feel right at home with
everything. I love President and Sister Revillo!! I think my favorite
thing about them is just that they are so them.... not once have they
ever pretended to be anyone different. They both have unique skills and
personalities that our mission really needs and I can feel their love
for every one of us. Oh... as a side note, the Johnsons were able to
drive us everywhere that day that we went to all of the hospitals. I
thoroughly enjoyed my time with them... pretty sure they are some of my
most favorite people ever! And not just because they spoiled us rotten
like we were their grandchildren.... :) They made me laugh so hard my
abs were hurting real bad at the end of the day. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The work continues to blossom here and I'm dreading transfers next
week because I'll probably have to leave. :( I don't want to!!! I'm
in love with Morong and the people here.... It's just been such a
blessing to watch the work grow and thrive here as well as to be a part
of it all happening. We have several investigators who are well on
their way to hitting their bap. dates and so many less-actives are
coming back into activity.... sighing.... I'm really praying a miracle
happens and I stay here. </div>
<div>
Hope you are all doing well and know how much I love you!! Ingat po kayo lagi!!</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-24886745745533626322014-08-11T08:55:00.000-07:002014-08-18T08:55:26.429-07:00God Will Open a Way :) So... last Wednesday, Sister Fewster and I were kinda having a rough day
for lots of different reasons and at one point I just had to go into
this other room in our apartment and pray. I just felt so down.... and I
didn't/still don't know why. I just prayed long and hard for like 15
minutes that the feeling would go away, because I couldn't get it to go
away by itself.... and that's when I spotted this quote from President
Hinckley that said, "God will open a way. When there is no way, He will
open a way." Suddenly I just felt so light and happy. Honestly, it
reminded me of the part in Harry Potter where that "little ball of
light" finds it's way into Ron's heart. :) So we went out and walked
to our first appointment, Sister Fewster wondering what in the world had
happened to me because, as she said, "I was practically casting rays of
sunlight everywhere." :) We got punted at our first appointment... and
then made the very long walk to another house... where we got punted
again, and then a third time after that.... wouldn't have been unusual
in my other areas but we seriously just never get punted here. So, in
my mind I was like, I should be disappointed, but the whole sunlight
feeling was still there so I just kept walking and we started the long
journey back out of that part of our area. Sister Fewster was still
feeling really down and the fact that I was casting beams of sunlight
everywhere was just making her feel worse. Suddenly, she stopped and
said she felt like we needed to go up this one hill. So we started up
this very steep road and about halfway up the hill she just broke and
started cracking up which made me start to laugh too, just cause it was
so steep and in my mind I was like "well... this is my exercise for the
next month" and then the tension was gone and we both felt better. So
we made it to the top of the hill and there was like an empty field with
just a few houses. The houses all looked abandoned except for the
laundry hanging out to dry. Sister Fewster walked up to this one house
and when the people came to the door she asked them what the name of the
place was called. The answered and then the woman said, "Are you guys
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?" Sister Fewster and I just
looked at each other, shocked, before answering yes. The women then
got the biggest grin on her face and said, "Me too." Miracle. Turns
out this woman, Ann, hasn't attended church for the last seven years.
She moved not too long ago from a different part of the Philippines so
our branch has no record of her.... really, there's like no way we could
have found her if it wasn't for the Spirit prompting Sister Fewster to
go up this random road that seemingly led to nowhere. Turns out Ann
stopped coming to church because she felt guilty for some sins she
committed. We bore testimony of God's unconditional love for her and
for each one of his children and that he wants her to return to Him.
The Spirit was so strong and Ann started crying, saying she's wants to
return she just didn't know if she would be allowed to because of her
sins. Man.... it was a great lesson.<br />
<br />
<div>
The gospel is true guys. There just simply is no denying it. Out of
everything I've learned on my mission, learning to recognize the
promptings coming from the Spirit and then acting on those promptings in
faith, has been one of the coolest things to learn. Each member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints receives the gift of the
Holy Ghost. Sometimes I think we as members forget how crucial and how
special this gift is. I encourage you all to include receiving guidance
from the Holy Ghost in your prayers. As members, God uses us as
instruments in His hands to help and serve His other children here on
earth. If we're not living righteously, we become numb and can't feel
the Holy Ghost very strongly in our day to day lives. What a waste of
one of God's most precious gifts!! I'm so grateful for the gift of the
Holy Ghost and for the trust that God has in each one of us that even
though we're not perfect, He can use us to accomplish so much good.
Truly, "He will open a way." :)</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Love you all!! Have a wonderful week!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-84596713226036655312014-07-28T10:45:00.002-07:002014-07-28T10:57:36.106-07:00Busy wonderful week :)<div dir="ltr">
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What a busy week we've had here in Morong!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We found 9 new investigators this week as
well as taught 30 lessons... It was awesome!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kim's baptism went really, really well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It started an hour and a half late, because the Branch President was in
a town about an hour away but he eventually made it there and we were able to
start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kim looked so beautiful and I
think it was the first time I've ever seen anyone start hitting the person who
was baptizing them right after they came out in the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently she forgot to plug her nose or
something and so water got up it and then she took out her anger on Paul, the
branch missionary who baptized her... it was all quite funny, and definitely
something she'll never forget nor will we.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her confirmation was beautiful as well.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just thought I'd share a story or two with you all from this
week...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So last Tuesday, we taught one
of the less-actives members in our area, and her husband who is one of our
investigators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had just been
released from the hospital and had measles so we asked her if she would like a
priesthood blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said yes and her
husband was very enthusiastic about the blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we scheduled to come over the next morning
and then later that day, contacted the branch leaders to find out who would be
available to give the blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
things didn't end up working out for that person to be there to give the
blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a few hours before it was
time for the blessing,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt prompted
to go and ask this one member that we'd just visited on Monday to see if he
would be willing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was the E.Q.
president not too long ago. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we showed
up at his house, asked, and he said he was more than willing too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An hour later we went with him to her house
where he gave her the blessing and her husband was also present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just awesome to watch this previous
E.Q. president feel "needed" again. :)<br />
</div>
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We are really working on getting the recent converts and
less-active members more involved in the missionary work in our area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My testimony has a grown a lot about that
statement President Hinckley made when he said that one of the three things every
convert needs is a calling/responsibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think it's something every member needs... everyone's
help/talents/abilities really are needed for building up the Lord's kingdom
here on earth as well as preparing for the Second Coming.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We also had a really wonderful lesson with one of the
less-active families that we've been visiting every week since I got into this area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went to their small house where there was
this huge tree missing from the front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was the first time we were able to visit them since the typhoon
hit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They said the tree had fallen on
their house (fortunately no one was there) and destroyed most of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just sat there and Sister Fewster started
to cry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were so grateful that all of
them were okay and we just bore testimony about how much God loves them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday, we were happily surprised when we
walked into the chapel to see their whole family sitting on a bench, bright and
early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>:) :)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ahhh.... miracles :)<br />
</div>
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Well... that's all for this week. :)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hope everyone is doing well and enjoys this
week as we head into August... (ahh!!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The time is going by too fast!!) :)<br />
</div>
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Love you all!!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
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<pre></pre>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-64179497503975227362014-07-23T15:23:00.003-07:002014-07-23T15:53:48.771-07:00Typhoons, Stomach Flu, and No Electricity! Oh My! :)Yup, just a regular week here. :) Phew.... Man, where do I even start? So last week after emailing, our
work was cancelled for that evening because the typhoon was due to hit
later so we just made all the necessary preparations and then headed
home. That night the rain started a little and then all of the sudden
the wind came outta nowhere. When we woke up, we didn't have
electricity or water and the wind was blowing like crazy/it was raining
like crazy. There were trees that fell and power lines broken, etc.
but we were all safe. That Wednesday was supposed to be our transfer
day but transfers got cancelled...for obvious reasons. :) We just
stayed inside all day and kept safe/tried to keep ourselves busy with no
water or electricity. Fortunately we had saved up quite a bit of
water. That night was pretty fun... we had bonding time as kabahays for
the last time, since Sister McCarthy was getting transferred the next
day. The next day she went to Pateros, to my first area, and we got two
new sisters in the house. Sister Taufa, who was in my zone in Pasig
and trained Sister Umstead, and Sister Faka'osi, who was in my zone when
I was in Taguig zone. They're in a threesome with Sister Delasan. <br />
<br />
So
that day of transfers I got the stomach flu which wasn't fun... mostly
because we were running short on water, still didn't have electricity,
and it meant another day at home instead of working. The power/water
finally came back that night and my sickness went away. We were able to
go back to work again on Friday. <br />
<br />
All of the people we've talked to so
far were safe despite the typhoon. There is one family of members who
lives not too far away from us who are now sleeping/living in the church
because their house got destroyed. :( We're all just glad everyone is safe.<br />
<br />
Oh
yeah... and Kim wasn't able to get off work for her baptism so it was
rescheduled for this Saturday. <br />
<br />
<div>
Despite all of that, we still had a great week. :) Several less-actives
came to church yesterday and there are several other members who are officially active again! Yea! So happy for them!! Also,
a few awesome investigators came to church again. We're still finding new
investigators everyday and seriously.... so, so blessed to be here in
this area. Sister Fewster and I just reflected back on this last
transfer and both agreed that this has been the best one for both of
us... not because it's been easy, but because of how much we've both
grown. We're so ready and excited for "round 2" :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Guys.... the gospel is true. We are so blessed to know the truth.
We are so blessed to live in a time when we have the fullness of the
gospel here on the earth... a living prophet, revelation, the
priesthood, everything. We are too blessed to not share those blessings
with others. There are so many people who are searching for the truth.
I promise you they are out there, all around us. We, as members, made
a promise when we were baptized that we would stand as witnesses of God
at all times and in all things and in all places. I invite you all to
open your mouths and share those blessings you've been given with those
around you, both people you already know and those you haven't met yet.
There is know need to fear because the success is in the invitation.
:) Love you all!!! Go do some missionary work!!!! :)</div>
<div>
</div>
Love, Sister DickisonJessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-91636231073403663042014-07-08T09:28:00.001-07:002014-07-08T09:31:51.113-07:00Can I stay here? :)Hello everyone!!<br />
<br />
<div>
The work here continues to grow every day and honestly... it has just been amazing to
me!! :) We stopped using the directory a few weeks ago as a finding
tool.... we found about as many less-active members as we can currently handle
with our schedules. It's been cool to watch many of them
start coming back to church. Sister Imelda came to church two weeks ago,
then missed last week, then came again yesterday, all by herself, AND
bore her testimony. We're so proud of her! We went and taught another
less-active member for the first time last week. His wife just
returned from living away in a different province for like 6 years...
we're still not sure why... along with their 17 year old daughter. Both
the mother and daughter are Catholic, but they enjoyed
our lesson with them, asked if they could attend church (love it when
people ask that!!), and the daughter even talked about serving a mission
like us some day. :) We committed them to come to church and I was
pretty disappointed that none of them came yesterday... but we'll keep
working with them :) We had Family Home Evening with another
less-active member last Friday. His wife and kids are active... so
we're not exactly sure why he just doesn't come. The FHE was awesome
though! We brought a rope and some little oranges and acted out Lehi's
Vision of the Tree of Life. It was so much fun!! It was the cutest
thing to watch the dad, playing the part of Lehi, inviting his family to
come partake of the fruit. Then, at the end, they all just wanted to
try walking with their hands on the rope with their eyes closed. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We also had an awesome week with our investigators!! It started
off kind of rough.... we went to go have Family Home Evening
with a family last week. We had all of their fellowshippers with us,
and when we got there, none of the kids were there and he was very
drunk with one of his buddies. He, however, was not drunk enough to not
feel guilty.... actually he felt really, really bad. In fact, when we
returned on Wednesday, he said he was so grateful we came because he was
afraid that we would never want to come back again. We reassured him
that we still love him (of course!) and then later on in the lesson
committed him and his kids to a baptismal date in August. They didn't
come to church yesterday, but we have a lot of hope for them. <br />
<br />
There
is this one man who just showed up to church two weeks ago. We weren't able to meet with him until last Saturday, but it
was worth the wait. He's 26 years old and, as he puts it, "still
seeking for the truth." He started doing lessons with the missionaries
in his hometown but then moved out here for work and showed up at church.
:) His coworker, joined in our lesson and then they
both went to church yesterday :) They're super interested!! We're
really excited for another lesson with them this Saturday. We were able
to teach this one family we found again. We had
an awesome lesson with them about prophets and Christ's life and then as
we left, their little boys and their kid's friends, who joined us for
the lesson, started clapping before we left :) So cute!!! We were
pretty far away from their house when one of the little boys ran out of
the house and started clapping some more :) <br />
<br />
Lastly, we went
yesterday afternoon to try to contact this women we had talked to a few
weeks ago. She ended up not being there but her neighbor came up and
started talking to us in English. He said he was interested in learning
how to speak English. :) We kept on talking to him and asked him if we
could share with him, the first two times he said no, but as we
continued talking to him about the gospel and answering his many
questions he finally invited us into his house and we ended up have a
kind of lengthy/really good lesson with him.... with basically me being
the only person speaking in Tagalog... :) (I just can't teach all that
well in English!! :)) Basically everything he said had something to do
with some aspect of the gospel and it was such an incredible lesson!!
We're so excited to teach him again next week! And we knew there was a
reason we kept on being drawn to that area :) </div>
<div>
So yeah... life is great and I so do not want to be transferred out
of this area next week! Hopefully President will receive revelation
that I should stay here for another transfer :) Oh yeah!! We had our
zone interviews last Tuesday and.... It's official. I got the "okay"
from President to come home a few weeks early so I'll be back for school
(Winter semester). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Love you all!! Hope you have a wonderful week!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison </div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-44735237590196607382014-06-23T11:19:00.000-07:002014-06-23T11:19:15.226-07:00I really really want to do my best here...Well,
this week was pretty crazy busy, but awesome. We just got back a
little over an hour ago from the city. My follow-up visit at St. Lukes
hospital was scheduled on the papers they gave me for last Saturday, so
we woke up before 5am to head out to Manila, got there only to find out
the doctor wasn't even his clinic on Saturdays... would have been nice
if they had scheduled my appointment for a day when he's there.... it's
okay, just learning patience :) So we got it rescheduled for this
morning. Everything went well. He showed me the video of them taking
the stent out as well as the x-rays. He said as they were taking the
stent out they found the other two small stones and so using some
"basket-thingy" they took those two stones out. Yay! No more stones!
I've felt so great this last week and I"m so relieved that I probably
won't have to ever return to St. Lukes again... (keeping my fingers
crossed). <br /><br />
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
This last week has been such a week for growing... especially in
"finding" and opening my mouth.... not going to lie, it's something I
avoid when I can. Let me rephrase that... I only like to "find" when it
feels natural and like I'm not going out of my way, in other words,
when it's "easy". This week though, something clicked, and I've just
been talking to everyone. Finding is something that Sister Fewster is
absolutely a natural at and as a result, I decided it was time I shaped
up and just did it. As a result, we taught 12 new investigators last
week and found about 30 new potential investigators. It's been
awesome!! Some of them seem really, really interested and we can
definitely see the Lord's hand in helping us find those who have been
prepared to receive us.<br /></div>
<div>
One of the less-active members attended church this week after many many weeks of inviting her to do so. We are so happy for her! I've visited her at least once a week since I
first got into this area and she has had a lot of excuses. Last Tuesday
and then again on Saturday we were bold with her and basically said,
"You are going to church this week and we are going to pick you
up." I guess she just needed that push because when we showed up at her
house to pick her up, she looked all beautiful in her church clothes and
her hair dyed and was ready to go :) It was so great! The branch
welcomed her back and everyone told her how much they had missed her. She told us that she's had many callings in her
previous branch but hasn't received one yet in this branch.... which
she's been a part of for at least six years now. We brought it up in
coordination meeting so hopefully she will soon be given either a
responsibility or a calling. :) Just was a good reminder to me that
everyone needs to feel "needed" and important.<br /></div>
<div>
<div id="ecxinlineImage0" style="display: inline-block;">
<span> </span><span></span></div>
<br />The
Sister Training Leaders made their surprise visit last Thursday. I had
an awesome time working with Sister Rimano. She was a doll. I learned
a lot from her and she was a great support that day... it was kind of
scary in the beginning. I gave Sister Fewster all of our planned
appointments for the day since she knows where they live and then my
plans for the day were all in parts of our area that I haven't been in
yet... mostly contacted members in our branch who we've never met before
and didn't know if they were active or not. It all worked out well
though.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My testimony has just grown so much this last week in loving
everyone. I've really enjoyed being able to listen to people... both
the people we are teaching, people we randomly met, as well as my
companion. Listening with love really changes everything.... I just
think of the Savior and what a great example He was, being able to truly
understand how people felt and have them instantly feel of His love for
them. Just read Kellie's email and I can totally relate to what she
said about meeting people and instantly like seeing how their future
could be with the gospel... so beautiful. :) Missionary work truly is
the best. :)<br /></div>
<div>
Honestly.... I'm exhausted. This week has been so tiring as I feel
like there has been no break. I put my head on the pillow only to have
the alarm go off and it be another day. And yet, it's been one of the
best weeks of my mission. I can't believe we're like half-way through
another transfer.... where does the time go!?! Ahhh!!!!! <br /></div>
<div>
Other good news... when we came home from the hospital earlier
there was a package waiting for me :) Thanks Mom!!!! It totally made
my day and I was so excited it took me quite awhile to calm down and be
able to open the box up properly :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Love you all so much!! Until next week!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-88602847894061315682014-06-18T13:36:00.003-07:002014-06-18T17:14:51.774-07:00Miracles<div class="ii gt m146a29da10fdafff adP adO" id=":m8">
<div class="a3s" id=":m7" style="overflow: hidden;">
<div dir="ltr">
This
last week was awesome in its own unique way. :) It's been amazing to
notice all of the little miracles happening in our missionary work right
now. I don't remember how much I talked about our plans with the
branch missionary directory in my last email, but it really is changing
our work! I want to just let everyone in our mission know about what a
wonderful tool this directory can be (this sounds so corny, but it's
sooo true!). I really think if everyone in our mission used the
directory more, it would help out with the work. So we printed off the
directory last week and started bringing it with us to all of our
appointments and asking the members (both active and less-active) if
their information was correct. Often times it wasn't, or people's names
were missing so we wrote down the correct info and the proceeded to ask
them if they knew people who were on the directory, and who's addresses
were close to theirs but we haven't met them yet. We've had great
success in meeting other member now and I've loved the support we've
gotten from the branch. Yesterday, we brought it to church and had
several small miracles happen. It has helped us to put names to faces,
find out if they live in our area or the other sisters, etc. We also
thoroughly went through our area books during weekly planning last Friday and made note of everyone who may/may not be a less active in the
directory and then yesterday we were able to ask around about many of
these people.... some of whom are active, some of whom are not. There
was an older women who practically begged us to come and visit her and
her family. She and a few of her grandchildren are active but her
husband as well as all of her children are not. She told us to PLEASE
come and visit her... because they haven't had a visit from the
missionaries in forever... and then mentioned the last missionaries who
visited them, one of whom was Sister Fewster's teacher in the MTC and
has been finished with her mission for quite a while. Wow. She told us
she really wants her children to be active again, especially her
youngest son and asked if he could come work with us to get him excited
about the church again. Of course we are going to visit them asap. :)
Last weekly planning was the coolest weekly planning ive ever had.
There is just so much work that needs to be done here and we are really
going to try to change the work here. We've also been blessed to
quickly see changes happening already.... we were able to find and teach
at least one new investigator every day last week... most often they
just seemed to appear out of no where and sit in our lessons with other
investigators or less-actives. We've been able to teach less-actives
that we didn't know existed and visit members that we didn't know
existed either. We almost reached our goals in how many lessons we
taught to both investigators and recent converts/less actives... and
that was even with not working for three days because I was sick/our
trip to the hospital... more on that later. :) It's simply was an
amazing week and I was shocked and how drastically the work had changed
here. God really is in charge of this work, and I just never want
anything holding me back again from experiencing missionary work like
this. :) <br />
<br />
<div>
Okay, so... last Thursday we went an taught Tatay in the morning
and then I was just in too much pain to go back out and work. We stayed
home and slept until maybe <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1203131956" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">5pm</span></span>.
Then one of the couple missionaries, the Jardines, stopped by to drop
off a new mattress for Sister McCarthy and check up on me. I was gently
(and kind of forcefully at the same time :)) advised by sweet Sister
Jardine to take the next few days off of work so that my body could
finally heal. Having her permission somehow made me feel less guilty
about not working, so we rested <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1203131957" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">on Friday</span></span> and then <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1203131958" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">on Saturday</span></span>
we woke up at 3 in the morning in order to make it to my appointment at
the hospital on time.... that was a very short night. We were blessed
to make good timing though... however the Sister who was supposed to
meet us there with the papers for the billing never showed up. That was
super stressful. The doctor ended up making his rounds for an hour as
we waited for the papers so that I wouldn't have to pay for the
operation by myself.... with what money? Yeah, I didn't have any. :)
Finally it all worked out and then I had a very smooth, quick operation.
The results that we got back say that they found one of those tiny
kidney stones still in me...not sure if that means they took it out,
like it was in the stent, or what... but it's tiny so even if it is
still in me, shouldn't be too uncomfortable to pass. Being very me, I
was ready to get outta there as soon as possible so we made our way
home, with me sleeping almost the whole jeepney ride home, and then
sleeping again once we got home, walking up at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1203131959" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">10:30</span></span>
to eat something, take my pills, and then go back to sleep for the rest
of the night. :) All that sleep felt good.... even better, for the
last two days I have been in no pain whatsoever!! First time in over a
month!! It feels great :) That stent was just so uncomfortable but I
now have it in a little jar as just another relic from my mission :) <br />
</div>
<div>
Thank you so much for all of the prayers on my behalf!!! This
recovery has been a miracle and it feels so great to be back to
"normal." So looking forward to another amazing week here.
:)</div>
<div>
Love you all!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<table class="cf FVrZGe" role="presentation"><tbody>
<tr><td class="amq"><br /></td><td class="amr"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-8424266710737676642014-06-09T09:50:00.000-07:002014-06-09T11:10:53.389-07:00"Like a Fire is Burning"<div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
This last week has been awesome! I've been
feeling a little bit better and been able to almost go fully back to
work... just had to quit a little early both Friday and yesterday
nights. Hoping that everything will go well at the hospital on Saturday
when they take the stent out of me. (I will be under general anesthesia again.) I'm getting another priesthood
blessing from my District Leader tomorrow so I'm sure it will all be
fine :)<br />
</div>
<div>
Well.... this last week really has been amazing. It's a new
transfer with a new companion and I'm feeling the fire of missionary
work again. It's been awhile... that fire just kinda got lost because
of a lot things.... weird events occurring like stalkers and
surgeries, hitting that "I've been on my mission
for awhile now and feeling kind of tired funk"... but now, it's all gone
and I'm feeling great again :)<br />
</div>
<div>
My new companion is adorable. I just love her to pieces!!
She is on her third transfer and just
loves life... the people here, the work, this area, and is so optimistic
about everything :) Personal and companionship study have become fun
again... and I would hate it when study time's over, but, then we get to
go out and teach so... life's still good :) Sister Fewster and I are
really going to give it our all this transfer... and next transfer as
well since, you know, we've just decided that we're both going to stay
here together for next transfer. ;) Right now, we're planning on
making the branch directory our new best friend. We're going to use it
to figure out who the heck all of the members are here, find and
reactive less-actives, receive referrals through member visits, and fix
all of the problems with the directory as we go... pretty excited stuff.
It's going to be revolutionary. :) Okay... this totally wasn't my
idea. It's what everyone decided to do in Marikina Zone right before I
got transferred outta there... I was instructed to take the idea and
apply it here.... and then my normal missionary life got
turned upside down with the health problems but now it's back to normal so we're going to give it
a try :)<br />
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We have quite a few investigators who are really progressing and we love teaching them. Sister Fewster and I also are on the search for new people to
teach. Since I can't spend a lot of time roaming around on the
streets trying to OYM because of my physical challenges as of late,
we're really going to push for receiving referrals from the members.
Our branch is already pretty awesome about referrals.<br />
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Life's good... the mission's great :) When you have a chance, I
encourage you to read in Alma around chapter 24... there are some pretty
amazing stories of missionaries in there. :)</div>
<div>
Love ya all!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
</div>
</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-66971699196055745542014-06-02T10:52:00.000-07:002014-06-09T10:53:56.130-07:00Recovering...Hellllooooo everyone!!<br />
<br />
<div>
Well, it's that time again... transfers. :)
This is the first transfer that it really has sneaked up on me... time is
going by too fast!! Maybe it had something to do with having such an
eventful last transfer :) So... good news.... I am staying here! :) No surprises there :) My new companion will be Sister
Fewster! I'm so excited to be her companion!! She entered the mission
field at the same time as my anak, Sister Tomasi, so I briefly got to
meet her at the mission home that day. She is
from England... the only British missionary in our entire mission. She was born in the Philippines though---very cool! Sister Fewster has been on the island of Mindoro for the last two
transfers so I can't wait to hear about here adventurous times in "the
jungle". :)</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Sister Sikotilani will be transferring to Tatay Zone and will be
follow-up training... meaning her companion will be on her 2nd transfer
in the field. Sister Strebel and I are being taken away from each other
again (darn it) and she will be transferring to the Quezon City Zone.
Sister McCarthy is staying and she... will be training!!! I'm so
excited for her and so excited to have a newbie in the house again :)
I'm really looking forward to this next transfer! I still don't know
my area as well as I would like to.... between the emergency transfer
and the multiple trips to the hospital/having to rest and recover at
home, BUT... we have awesome branch missionaries who love working with
us, so it will be just fine. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Last Tuesday, I got to leave the Missionary Recovery Center and
return to "the real world." :) Our whole zone did a session at the
temple and got to see the new temple video, which was pretty cool.
After that, we went on temporary exchanges (there have been a lot of
those this transfer) because Sister Strebel and I were both asked to
sing in the mini choir for the Mission Conference later that day... so
we went to the Mission Office and to choir practice. A few hours later
our whole mission was there... minus those elders and sisters serving on
Mindoro. It was sssoooo cool!! It was so much fun to be there with
literally, almost everyone!! All of my companions were there except for
Sister Jones because she was on Mindoro. Lot's of people asked me about
my surgery and there was a lot of attention... which was a little
uncomfortable but oh well... at least it helped me realize just how many
friends I've made in the last year. :) The singing went well and the
conference with President Christensen was great!! </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The next day I went back to work... hallelujah!! We had some great
appointments but I was in a lot of pain, so starting Friday night I put myself on bed rest... I didn't go back to work until yesterday.... it was rough. Finding
a balance between taking care of my body and taking care of my
area/people has been difficult... The doctor says I'm ok to work when I feel up to it as
long as I keep drinking lots of water. I'm just discovering that I'm
not very good at "listening to my body." :P I just want someone to
tell me when I should stay home and when I should work.... Well, I feel better now than I did over
the weekend... I'll just need to drink water, take pain meds (I hate
taking medicine!) and take it slow... :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
My Aunt Kathy just reminded me of something in the email she sent
me... back when I wasn't a missionary, I had this picture in my bedroom that said "I can do hard things"....
honestly, I love that quote, and I had forgotten about it until Kathy
mentioned it in her email. :) That quote kinda was my motivation for
everything before... when I was going through trials it was like,
whatever... I can do it because I can do hard things. I guess I
just forgot that a little lately... so it was good to be reminded of it.
:)</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
So... a funny from this week. Last Sunday, in our sweet
little branch, I got a big welcome back from the 1st counselor at the
pulpit, who informed our branch that I was back from undergoing a "major
operation." Sister McCarthy thought that was hilarious... and is still
calling me "Major Operation." :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Love you all!! Thank you so much for the emails and for your prayers!! </div>
<div>
Hope you all have a great week!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-12990605121214055232014-05-25T09:57:00.000-07:002014-06-09T10:42:08.448-07:00My adventures having surgeryYes... exciting stuff :) So a few weeks ago I had that same
thing happen to me that was happening back in November when I had to go
to the E.R. at St. Lukes... sudden intense back pain, vomiting, etc....
gross. I also had a lot of blood in my urine (sorry, gross, I know, but true).
The whole intense back pain, throwing up deal was fortunately just a
one-time deal, but I continued to have soreness in my back, off-and-on
pain in my left abdomen, and the blood. So, I contacted our Mission
Pres.'s wife and requested an appointment with doctor to find out what
was wrong with me. Things didn't work out and so my appointment that
was going to be for last Monday got pushed back to today. Last
Wednesday, my companion and I went out to work in the morning and I only
lasted one appointment when the pain in my back hurt too bad and we
returned home. I rested all day long and texted Sister Revillo again,
this time telling her I needed to be seen asap. She scheduled an
appointment for me for the following day at the glorious St. Lukes.
Sister Strebel volunteered to go with me and so the next day we
headed out for the city. <br />
<br />
<div>
The ride was a very expensive one but fortunately I was blessed to
not be in so much pain that day. We took about a 45 minute jeepney ride to Antipolo and then a hour and a half long taxi to the wrong St.
Lukes in Quezon City instead of the St. Lukes in Global City. I swear
we told the taxi driver "Global City" like five times but he must have
gotten confused by our American accents or something...? So than it
took us like another hour to get to the right hospital and total cost us
500 pesos to get there... ouch! After that, we learned a much cheaper
way to go home that only cost us about 240 pesos.... so much better. :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
So we get there and Sister Strebel found herself in heaven... or at
least in air-conditioning, practically the same thing. :) We met with
my doctor, Dr. Abraham. He was very kind and probably the best person
for the job. He graduated from both Irvine in California and some big
school in Texas so it was fun to talk about the U.S. for a bit. He
wasn't very pleased as he reviewed the notes from the ultrasound from
the last time I was in the hospital back in Nov., which said I had no
problems whatsoever with my left kidney. He told me they would be doing
a blood test, a urine test, and then I would have a CT scan later that
afternoon. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The scan went well and after that we went home.
The ride was a long, crowded one back--- had a huge
headache afterwards. Woke up the next morning determined to have it be a
normal day... I made it through getting ready for the day, then sat
down to do my personal study and was in so much pain it was like... um, no. So I spent all of Thursday at home. The hospital texted me
to ask if I could come in the next morning. I texted back and asked if
it was an emergency and they said yes, it was an emergency case and I
would need to have a procedure done. I asked for more info and they
said the doctor would explain it to me the next morning. So, I received
a very sweet priesthood blessing from my district leader that night and
then we left for St. Lukes again the following morning. </div>
<div>
Sister Strebel came with me again because we had investigators
being baptized that day. One investigator for Sister Sikotilani and I
and two for Sister Strebel and Sister McCarthy. I felt bad about
missing the baptisms, but it was an emergency. I know Sister Strebel
felt bad about missing them too... but I also know she was looking
forward to the possibility of getting to take a shower in hot water for
the first time in almost a year. ;) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
When we met with Dr. Abraham, he explained that I had three kidney
stones in my left kidney. One of them was very large and is the one
that was probably causing problems back last fall. This stone was
lodged between my kidney and ureter and was causing the bleeding as it
would rub back and forth against the tissue. He explained
that they were going to blast it into tiny pieces during the surgery. I then had to fast for eight
hours before my surgery. I felt so
blessed... my mission president, President Revillo, came literally
minutes before my surgery to give me another priesthood blessing. He
was so concerned and I just felt so much peace and comfort after the
blessing. </div>
<div>
They then took me into the operating room where there were a
gazillion nurses and knocked me out with drugs. They also completely numbed me
from my waist down so I couldn't feel a thing and the lower half of me
was paralyzed. I woke up to the doctor telling me that it was a
success, definitely a good thing to hear :) I then had to wait for a
few hours before going back up to my room until I could feel my legs
again. Around midnight, I was finally able to return my room where
Sister Strebel was beaming after just having her first hot shower in
forever. :) Seriously... I'm so glad I was able to be with her through
all of this. She was the perfect hospital buddy for me... she kept me
distracted the whole time</div>
<div>
. </div>
<div>
Now I'm at the Missionary Recovery Center which is hooked onto the
MTC here in Manila, right across the street from the temple, which I"m
looking at right now. :) It's been an adventure, but I feel so blessed
that everything worked out and can definitely see Heavenly
Father's hand in everything. :) Our mission has a conference with Elder
Christensen, a member of the Seventy, tomorrow so I will just be picked
up for that and then will return home tomorrow night. I'm hoping for a quick, smooth recovery... just gotta remember
to pump myself up with water. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Hopefully this next week will be a little less exciting.... :)</div>
<div>
Love you all!! Have an awesome week!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison </div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-76305209562879769662014-05-19T09:19:00.001-07:002014-05-19T09:19:23.964-07:00Living the life!Magandang hapon sa lahat!!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Man...
as I'm going through all of my pictures to send home I'm realizing we
had a pretty busy/fun last week. I'm going to go through the events
from the most recent to the oldest because that's how the pictures went.
So earlier we had our zone activity. One of the couple missionaries serving here drove us to the activity so we enjoyed some nice air-con in
their car. :) Not all of the elders in our zone attended but most did.
We went to a beautiful place which reminded me of
home... hiking in the mountains. :) We did not however go hiking;
instead we went off of the side of the road and had a big marshmallow
fight. It was absolutely disgusting and so much fun! I loved watching
the couple missionaries spitting
marshmallows out of straws at people. I got hit pretty good a couple of
times... at some point three of the elders decided to gang up on me and
I had spit-covered mallows all over my face. :) <br /></div>
<div>
Last night we held a Missionary Fireside in our Branch. The Branch
Presidency did a presentation and then we Sister Missionaries with the
help of the ward missionaries did a role play. We acted out how not to
act/fellowship during church and then acted out the right way as well.
It went surprisingly well for not having very much preparation go into
it. We also had a pretty darn good turn out from our branch,
hallelujah. <br /></div>
<div>
Last Thursday night, we had an awesome lesson with a less-active
family. There was this activity we had learned the day before in our
Zone Conference that we decided to test out on this family. The goal of
the activity is to get referrals by encouraging members to share the
gospel with their friends, but it ended up being an amazing object
lesson in inviting less-actives to come to church. The Spirit was
ssoooo strong and everyone was crying by the end... except for me of
course... I still don't cry. (ha!)<br /></div>
<div>
Last Thursday morning we did a service project at the home of a recent convert of ours. We mixed concrete and put a floor in his
house. It was a fun service project
even though it was so hot. <br /></div>
<div>
Last Wednesday we had our combined Zone Conference with two other zones. I was able to talk to the sisters who are now serving in
my first area in Pateros and get caught up about some of the people in
that area. The Zone Conference was my favorite one I've had thus far.
All of the workshops and speakers were excellent and I loved the
testimony of the Elder who is going home after this transfer. <br /></div>
<div>
Phew.... such a busy week!! I'm loving my life here in the Philippines!
The people are so friendly and I feel like each transfer it's easier
to adjust to a new area and you become closer the ward/branch members
faster. It's been fun to get to know some of the couple missionaries
better. We caught a ride with another couple both to and from the Zone
Conference. They're hilarious! Glad to know it's not just us YSA
missionaries who have some sass. :) <br /></div>
<div>
I love you all! Hope you have an awesome week and may God bless you!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
<div>
</div>
P.S....
since I'm planning on going home a transfer early to be home in time for school, I hit
my "6-month's-left-mark" like, today or tomorrow.... Ahhhh!!! It's
going too fast!Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-460891619557359702014-05-12T09:10:00.000-07:002014-05-19T09:11:06.735-07:00Skype :)Hello everyone!!!<br />
<br />
<div>
Just had a wonderful time skyping with my family
for Mother's Day!! Wohoo!! It was so great to see everyone... even if I
apparently sound like I'm better at speaking in Tagalog than in English
now.... and I speak English with a Filipino accent :P Oh well... :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
This week was kind of weird, but good. I was sick last Thursday
with more U.T.I. issues.... I've decided that soda is completely not
allowed for me anymore and I'm really trying to pump my body with
water.... it's so stinking hot here I'm dying. Anyways... I'm also on
meds so yeah... it will be fine.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We had a baptism last Saturday! Sister M! She was so prepared! She bore a beautiful, teary testimony after her
baptism. :) She had just gone with the other youth to District
Conference last week, which is like Youth Conference. She is such a
cutie and I'm so happy for her :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Learning my new area is pretty slow going... between the baptismal
interview, the baptism, me being sick, my companion being sick, and the
wedding reception of a branch member last week.... yeah, I'm excited to
work more this week and get to know the people in our area better. :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Our branch is awesome! Everyone was so nice and friendly yesterday
at church! I'm so happy to be in this area with these people. They
are so easy to love and really, really appreciate the difference the
gospel makes in their lives. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
This week we'll pretty busy... we have zone training tomorrow and then zone conference on Wed. :)</div>
<div>
Love you all! God bless you!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-74623486549875307242014-04-22T10:06:00.001-07:002014-04-22T10:06:07.447-07:00Wonderful times with investigators! :)<div>
Hello everyone!! </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
So we had Holy Week here in the Philippines last week... wow...
what an experience. Actually, as missionaries, all that really happened
was we got punted a lot... everyone was either sleeping, drunk, or away
on vacation in their provinces. So, the work was a little rough, but
we did have a really great experience last Sunday. So we went out to
work at 8:00 and got punted bad. No appointments, and tons of walking,
however, we dropped by to invite one of our investigators to church.
This is our investigator who faithfully reads the Book of Mormon
between every visit and is really coming to love the gospel. We know
that it's been hard for her... she's wanted to come to church in the
past but she has five small children under the age of seven and getting
them ready and out the door for three hours of church was a huge step
for her to take. We were pleasantly surprised then when she showed up
at the sacrament hall with two of her children in hand. Yes!!! We then
motioned for a family in our ward to come over who got acquainted with
her and helped take care of her and her kids for the rest of the
meetings. This investigator has very little regarding material
things. One of the members of the family who had come and talked to her
pulled our investigator out of Relief Society. I figured that her
daughter must have been struggling in Primary... so I followed them down
to the Primary room where they were all eating Easter treats and
spaghetti (church is a little diff. here sometimes ;)). I watched
briefly as this investigator, who was obviously hungry, ate spaghetti
with her kids. Ouch... my heart just hurt for her and I was also so
touched by the sacrifice she was making in order to accept the gospel
into her life. I know that this is the way for her family to find true
happiness and I think she knows it too. By the end, as she and her two
kids were leaving the chapel full and happy, I just prayed that she
continues to come and that God will bless her for her desire to live
righteously. <br /></div>
<div>
Well.... hopefully T will be baptized next week! Hurray!!
It's been a roller coaster ride with him... especially with the whole
tithing thing, but we really think he's ready. Prayer has been an issue
for him, just because he's been saying the Catholic prayer for his
whole long life... We really just broke it down simply
yesterday and spoke boldly. He
finally said a prayer from the heart and we were both so proud of him!
He felt a difference too :) <br /></div>
<div>
Life is good... a little stressful still but good. My feet are
looking like I've been walking every day for the last eight months or
something. When I first got here they were kinda swollen from all of
the walking... now they're thinning out... and I've got this rocking tan
line from my flats. :)<br /></div>
<div>
I've been trying to read from the Old Testament when I have time...
gotta make up from the lack of reading I did in seminary. Good thing
too, because the bible is all most of these people have got. Hopefully,
reading it will help me to better understand why they think the things
they do and know how to help them to see the Book of Mormon is also the
Word of God. <br /></div>
<div>
I was reflecting this last week on my first few months in the field
and about obedience... I learned during that time that obedience really
is a gift and not a burden. I hung onto obedience like it was a
life-preserver that God had thrown to me in the midst of those crazy
waves, or hectic times as a newbie missionary. I'm so grateful for that
experience, especially since I've always kind of had a sour attitude
about obedience in the past. I've also found that as with normal life,
as a missionary I have found myself at times when I've been doing well
at being obedient... and times where I haven't done so well. It's
always easy to justify it with, well, what I'm doing really isn't that
bad... it's something that if I was at home, would be totally fine...
but the thing is, how can I expect my investigators to be obedient and
keep their commitments if I'm not keeping my commitments to the Lord?
Obedience really is an act of faith... it's an act of faith that if we
do something, God will bless us. Everyone, and in this case I'm
thinking of us missionaries, often get so caught up in what other people
think. I thought that as a missionary it would be easy to be obedient
but it's not. It's not just the worldly things that tempt you, but I
have found it's often the other missionaries and even the members who
can make the obedience thing difficult. Please... encourage the
missionaries who are serving in your areas to be obedient!! Help them
out! The general authorities have often talked about how we, as
Latter-Day Saints, can't always "fit in" and their will be times when we
will be a "peculiar people". Guess what... that time is already at
hand. Stand out and stand up for what you believe in!! God is always
there to back you up and while it won't always be easy, it will always
be worth it. </div>
<div>
Alright... I'm off my soapbox now.</div>
<div>
:)</div>
<div>
Love you all!! Hope you have a wonderful week!!</div>
Love, Sister Dickison Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4774808032983272627.post-68423707323507140832014-04-07T10:10:00.004-07:002014-04-07T10:10:47.250-07:00How to go "Finding" for Dummies...Wow.... So last week was seriously awesome!! Sister Tomasi and I just
threw ourselves into the work and had some amazing lessons last week :)
First off.... we had member-present lessons every single day last week
which was a first for me ever in my mission :) It was so much fun to
work with the ward missionaries and I think they are kind of trying to
out-do each other now in working with us... Hallelujah! Also... it was
the first week in over a month that we didn't have any weird meetings to
pull us away from work... Not that I don't love going to very long
meetings or anything.... but yes... it was nice to return to normal
work. :) Last Saturday the Sister Training Leaders came to work with
us and I was pretty stressed about how to split our time and which parts
of our area to work in... but it all worked out wonderfully. :) I
worked with Sister Houser, who is an absolute partay, and we had some
incredible, turning-point lessons. :) I also showed her how to doing
finding "Sister Dickison style." I was in the middle of talking to her
as we were walking and tripped and fell (that happens a lot) and so of
course the Filipino man standing in front of us next to his motorbike
started laughing and told me this is what I get for coming the
Philippines and need to return to my own country where it is safer.
Anywho... I ended up talking to him and giving him a pass-along card.
And so now Sister Houser knows how to OYM like the champs - make a
complete fool out of yourself and hand out a pass-along card. :) :) <br />
<br />
<div>
I've been here for awhile, right? But for some reason... I've been
really struck lately by just how different the living conditions here
are compared to America. It's so sad. I think I've been thinking about
this a lot since we watched the General Women's Broadcast on Saturday.
I honestly almost cried several times watching it... just realizing how
different my life is here (I've kinda forgotten.... you know, adapting
to the culture and everything) and feeling so bad that for all of the
people I love here, it's not going to suddenly drastically change for
them. I've never felt so blessed before in my life... which makes me
all the more motivated to offer them what I have to give... the gift of
the gospel. I'm so grateful for this church and for the knowledge I
have about God's plan for me. Seriously... so so blessed here. :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Thank you all for your continued prayers on my behalf and on the
behalf of all the missionaries around the world. We need them, and
continue to reap the blessings from the obedience and faithfulness of
members all around the world. The gospel is true. Now go share it with
someone you love!!</div>
<div>
Love you all!!</div>
<div>
Love, Sister Dickison</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13760993040948782142noreply@blogger.com0