Road Trip with the Johnsons

The 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. :)

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.  

 

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.  

Hope you are all doing well and know how much I love you!!  Ingat po kayo lagi!!

 

Love, Sister Dickison

God 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.

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."  :)

 

Love you all!!  Have a wonderful week!!

Love, Sister Dickison

Busy wonderful week :)

What a busy week we've had here in Morong!!  We found 9 new investigators this week as well as taught 30 lessons... It was awesome!!  Kim's baptism went really, really well.  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.  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.  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.  Her confirmation was beautiful as well.

Just thought I'd share a story or two with you all from this week...  So last Tuesday, we taught one of the less-actives members in our area, and her husband who is one of our investigators.  She had just been released from the hospital and had measles so we asked her if she would like a priesthood blessing.  She said yes and her husband was very enthusiastic about the blessing.  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.  However, things didn't end up working out for that person to be there to give the blessing.  Just a few hours before it was time for the blessing,  I felt prompted to go and ask this one member that we'd just visited on Monday to see if he would be willing.  He was the E.Q. president not too long ago.  So we showed up at his house, asked, and he said he was more than willing too.  An hour later we went with him to her house where he gave her the blessing and her husband was also present.  It was just awesome to watch this previous E.Q. president feel "needed" again. :)

We are really working on getting the recent converts and less-active members more involved in the missionary work in our area.  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.  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.

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.  We went to their small house where there was this huge tree missing from the front.  This was the first time we were able to visit them since the typhoon hit.  They said the tree had fallen on their house (fortunately no one was there) and destroyed most of it.  We just sat there and Sister Fewster started to cry.  We were so grateful that all of them were okay and we just bore testimony about how much God loves them.  Yesterday, we were happily surprised when we walked into the chapel to see their whole family sitting on a bench, bright and early.  :) :)  Ahhh.... miracles :)

Well... that's all for this week. :)  Hope everyone is doing well and enjoys this week as we head into August... (ahh!!!!  The time is going by too fast!!) :)

Love you all!!!

Love, Sister Dickison

Typhoons, 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.

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.

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.

Oh yeah... and Kim wasn't able to get off work for her baptism so it was rescheduled for this Saturday.

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" :)  

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!!!! :)

Love, Sister Dickison

Can I stay here? :)

Hello everyone!!

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. 

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.

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 :) 

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 :) 

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).  

Love you all!!  Hope you have a wonderful week!!

Love, Sister Dickison

I 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). 

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.

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.

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.

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.  :)

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!!!!! 

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 :)  

 

Love you all so much!!  Until next week!!

Love, Sister Dickison

Miracles

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.  :)

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 5pm.  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 on Friday and then on Saturday 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 10:30 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 :)

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.  :)

Love you all!!

Love, Sister Dickison