My adventures having surgery

Yes... 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.

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. :)  

 

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.  

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.  

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. ;)  

 

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.  

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

.  

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. 

 

Hopefully this next week will be a little less exciting.... :)

Love you all!!  Have an awesome week!

Love, Sister Dickison         

Living the life!

Magandang hapon sa lahat!!

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. :) 

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. 

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!)

 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. 

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. 

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.  :) 

I love you all!  Hope you have an awesome week and may God bless you!

Love, Sister Dickison

 

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!

Skype :)

Hello everyone!!!

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... :)  

 

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.

 

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 :)  

 

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.  :)  

 

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.  

 

This week we'll pretty busy... we have zone training tomorrow and then zone conference on Wed.  :)

Love you all!  God bless you!!

Love, Sister Dickison

Wonderful times with investigators! :)

Hello everyone!!

 

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. 

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 :) 

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.  :)

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. 

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.  

Alright... I'm off my soapbox now.

:)

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

Love, Sister Dickison  

How 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.  :) :)

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.  :)  

 

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!!

Love you all!!

Love, Sister Dickison

Buhay Pa Rin :)

Hey!!

 

Just wanted to let you know that life is still going great here in the Quezon City Mission!  We had a wonderful time at zone interviews last Thursday and it was fun to see our Mission President and his wife there.  My love for the two of them grows every time I see them.  I'm so grateful to have them here in our mission and for their sacrifice for us and for the Lord.  

 

I'm doing just peachy :)  So I just read your letter (Mom) a few minutes ago and almost started crying, which, you know, never happens... :)  I understand what you're saying about looking at my pictures and feeling like it was all a dream or you just imagined me or something... sometimes it feels like that for me too.  That's why this morning, I pulled out some old letters you guys had sent me and started reading them.  Hand-written letters really do the trick :)  I wish I had known before that I would never stop missing home so I could have better prepared myself.  But I guess if I had known that, I may not have come.  

The longer I'm out here, the more I realize how symbolic being a missionary can be... in this case, to God's Plan of Happiness.  We lived as Spirit children of a loving Heavenly Father before this life.  There He loved and knew each one of us personally and we were happy... but we couldn't obtain a fullness of happiness by just living there with Him for forever.  He knew that they only way for us to truly be happy would be to let us go.... to send us somewhere where wouldn't be able to communicate face-to-face.  I think He knew it would be hard... infinitely harder for Him as so many of His children wouldn't even know He existed or would lose all contact with them.... but He also knew this would be the only way for us to learn and grow in order to become like Him.  He knew that for us... it would feel like a dream in some ways... and even then only for those of us who have the gospel in our lives.  How difficult and sad He must feel for those of His children who don't have the gospel... who have completely forgotten who they are and who He is and what the plan was.  

 

So... despite the fact that I long for home and to be reunited like none other, I know that God needs me here to help His children who have forgotten to remember.... to remember that we do have a loving Heavenly Father, that we had a life before this one and that our experience here is all part of the plan.  How blessed I feel to be able to help my brothers and sisters.  This time really is insanely short in the whole grand scheme of things... a small sacrifice to pay for the blessings I've received.  

I'm still here, just out of sight for a little while.

 

 My greenie is doing just great :)  She and I really do get along very well and I'm so grateful for her!!   I'm not doing a perfect job, but I'm continuing to learn and grow each day and hopefully my trainee will look back on these days with fondness :)  Actually... I'm pretty sure she will.... we have a lot of fun :)  

 

Dad, thanks for the reminder in taking things one day at a time... not just in terms of handling stress, but also in remembering to enjoy each day.  :)  It's easy as a missionary to keep moving forward by counting down time... until the next district meeting, the next p-day, the next zone conf., the next time to skype with family, and so on and so forth :)  I'm trying to remember to enjoy every day... even those days when it's insanely hot, we are getting punted at our appointments, and when I'm struggling with the language.  Gee... in some ways that sounds like a lot of days here.  :)  We have some golden investigators who are all struggling with big issues... kind of stressful, but I'm learning patience.  :)  Thank you for sharing your testimony as well :)  So true... there is no greater blessing or joy than having a sure witness of the truth and being able to share that with others.  :)  I love being a missionary!!  it's hard, but so wonderful!! 

Training.... I'm really loving it in spite of the stress.  My companion is so awesome and we have so much fun together!  I'm discovering that I'm learning so much at the same time she is.  In some ways, I feel like this is my training and not hers.  :)  

 

Love you all!

Sister Dickison

First week as a "Mom" in the field... :)‏

Phew... what a week.  :)  It's been so great and, yes, a little stressful.  So.... to back up a bit.  Last Wednesday I dropped Sister Sanders off at the transfer point and we had a very sad good-bye.  I miss her a lot but know I'll see her again, if not sometime during the next eight months, I definitely will after I return home.  I'll be traveling up north to visit her often.  :)

After dropping her off, I traveled to the mission home where I was happy to see Sister Alailima and Elder Tinsley who are training this transfer as well.  It was fun to spend almost that whole day in a "temporary companionship" with my companion from the MTC.  They didn't announce who are new companions were until the end of the day so we had lot's of time to make our guesses. :)  We  went to the American War Memorial for all of the people who fought here during World War ll.  It was an awesome experience and such a beautiful place.  It was there, inside this one building we went to, where Pres. Hinkley (that's embarrassing... can't spell his name...)  announced that the Philippines was open for missionary work and gave a dedicatory prayer.  It was so cool to be there, especially since the Bataan Death March was one of the only things I had ever heard about the Philippines before I received my mission call. 

After that, we went back to the mission home and they made the training announcements....  Looking around throughout the day, I'd realized that there weren't any native Filipino trainees, meaning, I would be helping my trainee learn how to speak the language too.  I had a gut feeling even before I was told I'd be training that my next comp. would be a polynesian, and sure enough, my anak, Sister Tomasi, is from Western Samoa.  :)  I love her to pieces by the way!!  She is so amazing and already is learning everything so quickly!  She was baptized a member of the church when she was 13 years old.  She has a strong testimony of the restoration of the gospel and such a big heart. 

The work is going great too!!  I was feeling pretty stressed up through Monday... training a trainee during the last week has made me very aware of just how NOT fluent I am at Tagalog and how much room for improvement there is in my teaching, but, I'm also learning to rely on the Lord and the Holy Ghost more to guide me in knowing what to say.  Yesterday was a good day of work... I just felt the words coming more easily and definitely the Lord's hand in all of it. 

Seriously... Sister Tomasi is picking up on everything so much quicker than I did.  Right now I'm encouraging her to contribute to the lessons as much as she can.  Right now it's mostly testimony, prayer, reading a scripture, or starting the lessons, but each day she's contributing more and I have total confidence in her that by the end of the transfer she'll be a pro.  :) 

I feel like this opportunity to train came at the perfect moment... I'm just hitting that peak, my half-way mark, coming up soon (you can't tell I'm looking forward to it at all... not like I keep mentioning it every week or anything ;P) and be a trainer is helping me to stay focused and get even more excited about the work. 

Yesterday really was an awesome day!  I was getting a little discouraged, because it was getting late and we'd only had two lessons so far but then, as we were walking back from getting punted at one of our appointments, some men called out to us, asking us if we knew some famous girl who supposedly was a Mormon and that led into an awesome OYM opportunity.  :)  These two men are super interested in religion and said they believe that all religions believe in the same God, but having different ways of getting to Him.  They said they are looking for the right way.  We talked to them a little bit about some of our basic beliefs and Sister Tomasi also had an amazing opportunity!  She mentioned to them that she was a convert and they asked her what made her decide that this was the right church.  She pulled out and held up a Book of Mormon and went on to share a beautiful testimony of the Book of Mormon.  I was ssssooooo proud of her and felt so blessed to be her companion.  :)  They are super interested to learn more and so we set up an appt. with them for this Saturday, which I'll be sure to email you all about next week.  :) 

Hope you all are doing well!!!  Take care and may God bless you!

Til next week!

Love, Sister Dickison