Sometimes, you just get
along really well with your companion, the missionary work is awesome,
your area is sweet, and life is good. Other times... not so much.
Right now my life is in the first category so I'm going to continue to
enjoy it while it lasts. :)
This last week has been awesome... and one of those weeks where I
realize how much growth still needs to happen here, for myself as a
person. I've said it before and it's still true - missions have a way
of bringing out weaknesses. I've learned that unfortunately that is a
necessary part of the growing process. Dang it.
When I first arrived at the Mission home six months ago, they had us do
some activity where we formed play-dough into something we wanted to get
out of our missions. I had no clue what to make... but what I ended up
doing has had more relevance the further I've gotten into my mission. I
formed a simple, cookie-cutter looking girl and slapped a name-tag on
her. When I got up to explain I told everyone that I knew the kind of
me I wanted to be by the end and that that was my goal. At that point, I
don't think I realized that my Father in Heaven was listening to what I
was saying and decided to help me out with this goal. How nice of
Him. :)
I wish it wasn't so hard to change... I'm glad Sister Sanders is here to
help me out this transfer. Talking to her about this stuff has helped
me out a ton, cause she's kinda going through the same thing. That
being said...
Why do we hold onto stuff we don't even like about ourselves? I'm
pretty good a getting rid of old papers and "junk" around my room and
stuff and I wish I was good about doing that same thing with habits and
characteristics I really could do without. Sometimes... okay, mostly
lately, I feel like I'm trying to get rid of "junk" that I really don't
like at all, it's just hard to get rid of it after I've hung onto it for
so long...
That, my friends, is where the Atonement comes in. Phew...
Hallelujah for that!!! The Atonement is sssoooooo central to the
gospel. It doesn't just help us repent and overcome sin, but it also
allows us to change in other ways as well. The process for any type of
change is much the same as the repentance process, meaning... it is not
easy!! You have to acknowledge that you have something that needs to be
changed (sometimes this is made apparent in very open, awkward-ways...
and sometimes not). Then, you have to struggle to actually try to
change it (yeah... this part basically feels impossible sometimes). And
somehow, with the Lord's help, you make it through to the other side.
Of course, that is not the end... the hardest part is that darn, whole
enduring-to-the-end-thingy.
Man... life is difficult. Good thing there is ice cream to help us along the way. :)
Anyways.......
Life
is really going great here! :) We had five investigators at church
yesterday... an all-time high for me :) More importantly, our
investigators are progressing really, really well. We've tried focusing
on/using the Book of Mormon more in our lessons and I can see the
difference it is making. We had a bit of a rough spot yesterday... We
were sitting in the gospel principles class with our investigators
yesterday and they were all getting really into the discussion. Tatay, who almost never speaks, ever, opened up and was asking all
of these questions. Then Jenny joined in, and their questions were
awesome... but were all over the place and even though we are only in
lesson one with one of them and mid-way through lesson two with the
other, their questions were covering all of the lessons and then
plus-some... It was a little overwhelming to say the least. At one
point our investigator asked the teacher if he was the bishop, and if
she could meet with him because she had a lot of questions and then she
basically said that Sister Sanders wasn't answering them so she needed
to meet with him.... it was rough. I pointed out to Sister Sanders that
at least she mentioned her name... I'm still the "Other Sister" at this
point. :) It's great that our investigators have so many questions,
we're just going to have to remind them that we can't teach them
everything all at once.
Anyways... Hope you all had a romantic Valentine's day! We had a
date at our apartment after working and watched the Testaments movie...
there's even kissing in that movie... it was great.
Love you all!
Love, Sister Dickison
Monday, February 17, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
Happy Valentine's!
Hello everyone!!!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Welcome to the Big City :)
Well... My new area is pretty much fantastic!!!! As a whole, the people here are a lot better off than the people in my last area. I have more city-city in my area as well as more province (I've seen so many trees and even fields of green stuff here!). Our area is huge but a lot less crowded than my last area. I'm loving it here!! The work is amazing! We have so many investigators we are having a difficult time making time to visit recent converts and less actives. And... I have another baptism this Saturday. His name is Narciso and he is like 70-something years old. It's funny actually... all three of our people who attended the gospel principles class were 70-something year-old men... :)
My new companion, Sister Sanders, is absolutely wonderful and we got
along really, really well. It's been a really difficult week for her
though. When I met her last Wednesday, she told me that during her
email time the day before she had just found out that her Grandpa had
terminal cancer. Just last Saturday, President Revillo called her to
inform her her Grandpa had just passed away. She's been so strong but
the passing of her Grandpa has been really, really sudden and difficult
for her. Please keep my companion and her family in your prayers!
The Tagalog is coming along. Sister Sanders is insanely good at
Tagalog even though she's only a transfer ahead of me!!! Not going to
lie, it's been a little bit discouraging in some ways, but everybody
here keeps telling me I'm really good at Tagalog and Sister Sanders has
been really grateful that I can speak and understand what people are
saying :) Apparently I'm the first companion she's had who can speak
Tagalog since she was trained. It's going to be a great transfer...
just being with her has made me more motivated to get better faster. :)
Everything has just fallen into place. Yes, it was difficult to
say good-bye to some of the people I taught in my last area, especially
those who I had taught from the beginning as well as my sweet Angelica,
but my new area, companion, and ward our great. :)
I had a really cool experience a few days before I left Pateros...
Sister Doucette and I were eating at the Biluan's house and I was just
sitting there soaking it all in. All last transfer, my companion often
talked about how much she loves the Philippines and how she doesn't want
her mission to end. I always kept my mouth shut, cause in my mind I
was thinking, "Why? I love America, I love my home, and I can't wait to
go back." It wasn't that I didn't love it here too... it's just that I
love being at home with my family more. :) But as I was sitting
there, I just suddenly got it... Everything I do here is for other
people. It can be so overwhelming to have to constantly be worrying
about other people's lives and how you can help them overcome challenges
and stuff, but when I go home, everything I do will just be for me, and
somehow that seems kind of pointless in a way. I'll go to work to earn
money for myself, I'll go to school to earn my degree for myself, and
yeah... everything will just be for myself. How boring. Here, I have
the amazing opportunity to help so many people in so many different ways
and I'm really going to miss that. Don't get me wrong... I'm still
looking forward to going home in 11 months (not that I'm counting or
anything), but in some ways I guess I'm kind of dreading it as well.
Missionary work is awesome. It's the toughest thing ever, but it's
amazing as well. I'm so grateful that this was part of God's plan for
me... every day I see more and more of why I'm needed here, and why I
needed to be here to become a better person.
I love you all! Hope you are all doing well and have an awesome week!
Love, Sister Dickison
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