What a week! Monday all of our appointments cancelled. Tuesday we had 4 appointments. Wednesday we had 4 appointments. We also got a call today from an investigators mom telling us about her husband. He has a lot of issues and is an alcoholic. So we went over and talked to them and read the Living Christ with them. Thursday was a good day. We had zone conference. Every zone conference we have a theme scripture and have to prepare a talk on it. Then at the conference President will pick 4 missionaries to give their talk. I was one of them. I was also the only one who prepared anything to share. The scripture was Doctrine and Covenants 46:7. I focused my talk on prayer and used the conference talk "Prayer is a privilege". It was pretty good, well that's what I heard. It was kind of hard this conference. A lot of friends that I have made on the mission are starting to go home. 2 of the sisters I am close with are going home. It was still good besides the fact that a lot of them are going home. After conference we had 2 lessons and a correlation meeting. Friday we had DTM and then planning afterwards. We had one lesson the whole day. It also started to snow that night while we were out tracting. NOT fun! We got a call today from an investigators mom saying that her husband is coming into town and if we could do the baptism as soon as possible. So we scrambled to get everything done for the baptism on Sunday. It all was depending on if she went to church or not Sunday. She did and she got baptized. A lot of people were there for being last minute. It was good.

Saturday was a long day. We had 4 lessons and got our transfer calls. President Pitts called us which only means that someone is training. He first talked to Sister Smith and told her that she is moving to Mapleton and will be training and opening an area. She then handed the phone to me. President told me about Sis. Smith and then told me that I am staying in Lehi and will be training a new missionary coming in from the MTC. We are super sad to be leaving each other but are excited as well. We both want to give these new sisters a good experience with a trainer. Since we both struggled a little bit. Transfers are tomorrow.

The last couple days Sister Smith and I have been dreading transfer day just because that means we won't be together any more. We are super grateful and love being out here. I hope you guys have a great Thanksgiving and birthdays for Jason, Gerrit and Rachelle. I love you and miss you!

Love,
Kelcie

What a crazy busy week. Sister Smith and I made a companionship goal to teach 40 lessons this last week. We were 5 short. By the time we got to the weekend we were so tired. Especially after Friday. We had some crazy things happen. Friday night we ate with some members and right in the middle of dinner the dad turned and punched his son that is moved him to the other side of the chair. We ended up reporting it, we both had a feeling that it wasn't the first time that it has happened. After that we talked to one of our investigators mom and she told us a lot of things that is going on with her son. He was supposed to be getting baptized this coming Saturday but he is no longer on date. He keeps canceling appointments as well. We are trying to meet with him and talk some sense back into him. He is throwing his life away. It is so sad.

This last Tuesday we went up to Traverse Mountain (by Cabellas) and looked for the asteroid. I first saw a shooting star and about ten minutes later Smith and I saw the asteroid. It was really cool. We were hoping we would see another one but we didn't. It was super relaxing to go watch for it even though it was freezing cold.

This last week we were able to meet with the ex-polygamist again, Zanny .We taught the Plan of Salvation. She grew up being taught that God is a God of fear and hellfire and damnation. It was so sad. By the end of the lesson she was happier and I think realized that God really is our loving Heavenly Father. It breaks my heart to hear people believe that.

We also taught Dave. We knew he had Word of Wisdom problems and so we taught about that. He told us that he is going to quit cold turkey for his smoking habits. He has done it before. We tried to focus a lot on how bad it is for our bodies and that our bodies are a precious gift given to us. We compared our bodies to the temple. Dave is a cool guy. He is the one that came up to a member and told him that he wants to be baptized. It was funny a few days before we taught Dave, we were at correlation. On the correlation paper we put that he has WoW addiction. One of the men in the room asked if it was a world of warcraft addiction. We were laughing so hard.

Funny story. One day this week we taught Brianda. Her little brother Juan was sleeping on the couch and in the middle of the lesson he sits up like he was just waking up. He sat there for about a minute. He then got up and walked to the kitchen. He opened the fridge, stared into it, closed the door. Turned around. Went back to the couch, laid down and fell right back into a snore. It was hilarious. We realized that he was sleep walking the whole time. After we left the appointment we saw a young family carrying in groceries with 3 young kids. We asked them if we could help. They said yes. We were both shocked. We always hear no we are fine. We found out that they are not members and told us they have 4 or 5 turkies that they want to donate to the church for some families that will need the help. It was so sweet. It was fun to get to know them as well and be able to serve them.

Yesterday at church we spoke in one of the wards. We focused on member missionary work and how we are here to help Heavenly Fathers children. Smith focused on the blessings of doing missionary work. It was really good. Especially since there is a lot of work in the ward that we spoke in. A lot of people told us that what we said is what they needed to hear. Then we went to another ward with an investigator. They just got a new bishopric and the counselor was conducting. They did some callings and when it came to any opposed he said it really weird and half of the congregation raised their hands. We all died laughing. A member of the high council was there and said it was fine. It was hilarious. I have never seen it before.

We had some really good lessons this week. A lot of our investigators are progressing and are doing really well. We have a lot on date for the end of the month and are doing really well. I love being out here. I don't regret any minute of it. There is a lot of work to do and we have seen so many miracles and tender mercies. Heavenly Father really does love all of us individually. There was a quote that someone said in a talk yesterday was "it's nice to be nice to be nice." It is so true. It pays to serve and to reach out and help other people. The gospel is true and is never changing, it is a gospel of order. I am so grateful for that. I love reading back over the conference talks from this last conference. It is amazing. I love you all and are so grateful for you.

Love,
Hermana Dickson

This has been a busy week! We ended up with 25 lessons, 5 new investigators, a baptism, and a whole lot of fun. I love being in Lehi. We have a great district and I have the best companion ever! We are so excited that we are still together. We were realizing the other day that 1 year ago we were companions and to celebrate our 1 year we will be together! We love it. Also to celebrate our 1 year out we will be having a baptism of our favorite investigator! We are super excited. He was supposed to get baptized a few weeks ago but his semi truck broke down in Chicago. We are just hoping nothing happens this week so he can return and get dipped on Thursday. So far so good.

Monday for P-day we had a district activity. We played the Amazing Race around Lehi. Smith and I totally won! Except for the part we were helped some of the elders who didn't know the area, so they say. They are in our zone but don't serve around here in Lehi. But we beat all of the elders in our district. We are find with that. We would've beat everyone but we missed a clue, well writing it down and so we were driving around trying to find an address. The funny part is that we drove by it 2 or 3 times and didn't see the clue in front of the house. What is even funnier is one of the elders figured out the clue and ran into the persons house and said we won and then they looked at them and told them that the clue is outside. It was hilarious! We laugh about it all the time. That night we had a ward FHE with the Spanish ward. It was fun. This is the best spanish ward i have been in. Tons of members!

Tuesday we had a service project with an investigator. She makes her own soap and she taught us how to make it. It is really cool and it feels good. I have a lot of pictures and the formula. It is a lot cheaper than buying it. After we had an appointment with Susan. We kept it short. Later Tuesday night she sent us a text telling us that she needs time and that she doesn't want us to come back. We were like what happened? The lesson went well. She is just confused and is trying to find out for herself if it is true or not. She is 70 and quite religious in her own faith. We haven't been able to go back and see her but keep in contact with her. This week we will be able to see her. We also were able to teach Mikayla. She is so sweet. I think I've told you about her. She has a disability and we are teaching her. We teach one principle at a time and no longer than 10 minutes at a time. She is super sweet. We had an amazing lesson with Brianda and her sister Karina. They are 13 and 14. They are very interested but their parents won't let them get baptized. They always ask great questions that most people don't think of. It was the best lesson we have had with them.

Wednesday we picked up a new golden investigator, Kendra. Her parents are inactive and her brother just got baptized not too long ago. She wants to get baptized. We are planning for her baptism on November 4th. She is super cute. Her and her brother go to church by themselves. We also taught Madi. Her dad is anti and mom is an active member. We taught about the plan of salvation with her and she was very interested in it. She wants to get baptized but we need dad's permission :( We also taught Malvina. It was another great lesson with her. She shared how she has come to know that these things are true. She prayed and flipped open the Book of Mormon and the verse that she read was her answer. It was talking about having faith, being clean, and following Jesus Christ by being baptized. I love teaching Malvina. She is so sweet. She is one of my favorites. After Malvina we went and taught Edgar and Carmen. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and talked about the importance of following Christ and having a testimony of him.

Thursday we had a lesson with Mayra and her son. We talked about the Sabbath Day. Today was a slower day but it was good. We had DTM and stopped by to see Grey before his baptism.

Friday was another crazy day. I called Sister Pitts and asked her why I was super tired. Way more tired than normal. A few days before this I was not able to open my eyes they were so heavy. I called her and we found out that I probably am anemic. So I started taking iron pills. Little by little it's working. Today we did service for a person we are trying to teach. We also taught Mikayla, Brianda, and Carmen and Edgar again. We also ate with Larry and his wife and shared a thought with them. I love them. They are so sweet and so good to us. They are like family.

Saturday was a busy day. We taught Malvina in the morning. Tried to help someone move but they wouldn't let us. So we just talked to them. We also went tracting. While we were out tracting we met a girl who is an escaped polygamist. Her and her husband ran away so that they could get married. She is so cool. She is a strong person and has a great love of our Heavenly Father and Savior. We talked to her for about a half hour and scheduled a return appointment. Later that day, right before baptism she sent us a text and asked if we could come by tonight. We made time to go back after the baptism. We were able to do some service for her. Get to know her some more and shared a thought with her. We love her. We had a baptism today for an 11 year old. It was a good baptism. A lot of people were there.

Sunday was a slower day but it was good until we were leaving our last appointment. The appointment was good, very spiritual. As soon as we walked outside of the door we felt a wall of Satan. We just felt like something wasn't right. As we were walking down the stairs of the building we saw pools of what we thought was punch. As we got to the bottom of the stairs we realized it wasn't punch. We were out knocking on some doors before this appointment so our car was not parked close to the building we were in. As we continued walking to our car we both felt something wasn't right and the feeling kept getting stronger. It felt like my heart was in my stomach. Smith was like don't back me up just get in the car. We both were freaked out. So we got in the car and got out of there as fast as we could. I called the house we left and was like don't panic but make sure everything is locked. It is a single mom with 3 kids. She was like thank you are you guys okay. I told her we were fine but wanted to make sure they were safe. When we got home we asked our landlord for a blessing. It was creepy but we are both so grateful for the Holy Ghost and for the Priesthood. We decided we aren't going back there at night without a Priesthood holder.

This week has been a good week. Super busy but we love it! We are hoping for more success this week. I love being out here. I love serving with Smith and in Lehi. There is so much work to do here and a lot of people that are ready. We are finding a lot by the members. Before I got here they started a 40 day missionary fast in the Spanish ward and English stake. We have had a lot of success because of it. There is a lot of power in fasting and acting. I hope that you all have a wonderful week. I love you and am grateful for you.

Love,
Hermana Dickson

This has been a fun week! I love being with Sister Smith. We have had a lot of fun and are exhausted. For P-day last week we went and played laser tag! It was so much fun! There was a lot of us playing which made it fun. At one point I was hit in the face by a laser gun. It didn't feel very good. I was expecting it to bruise but it didn't. That night we had an amazing lesson with Malvina. She reads and has a study journal and always has questions for us! We love it. Tuesday was a busy day. We went and taught Susan (the hollywood actress). She is like Malvina. She keeps commitments and has questions. She doesn't really ask her questions because she waits to see if we answer them first. She is one funny lady. We love teaching her. We also taught Mikayla. Mikayla has behavior issues due to multiple brain surgeries. She is so sweet and super smart. When we go and teach her we teach one principle at a time due to attention span. She is super sweet. We also met a new family. They have been through a lot. The mom was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer 2 years ago and was given 3 months to lives. 2 years later she is still battling it and has such a great attitude. We are starting to teach them. The mom came to church on Sunday! And we also had dinner with them. This week we also started teaching 2 new people... well 2 people I hadn't met yet. One of them, Madi, her dad is anti and won't be able to get baptized unless he lightens up. The other one is on date for baptism. She is super sweet. Her husband is a member. She also makes soap and is going to teach us how this week. Saturday we got transfer calls. I will be staying in Lehi with Sister Smith for another 6 weeks! I am super excited, so is she. This week has been good. I don't have much time left so it's a short email this week. I am excited to be here and to be with Smith. This week we have one baptism hopefully 2. We have 8 people on date and are continually finding people. I love being out here. Next week will be longer and hopefully some pictures. I love you and am grateful for you!

Love,
Hermana Dickson

I loved Lehi! And I love being with Sister Smith again! We both have had some rough transfers and loved being able to not worry about it and do the Lord's work without struggling. We are trying to convince President and the AP's to keep us together for at least another transfer. 2 weeks is not long enough! We would love to finish the mission together but know that won't happen. Anyway this week has been amazing. The work is going along really well here. We have 7 people on date and have had people come up to us telling us they want to be baptized. The wards we cover are doing a 40 day missionary fast and there have been miracles and seeds planted. WE are teaching this lady who started out on Broadway in NY and is in Hollywood. She has been there for a while. She was in the TV series Murder She Wrote and about 40 other movies or tv series. Her name is Susan. She is 70 and is so sweet. She is one who came up to us and told us she wants to be baptized. Another amazing person we are teaching is Larry. Larry is a street fighter/chef/truck driver. He is one of my favorite people. Him and Susan are my favorites here in Lehi. Larry is getting baptized this week. For the lessons he gets dressed up in church clothes because he feels weird if he isn't being taught in them. It is so cool. Larry and his wife just had a baby girl about 3 weeks ago. She is adorable. They are such a great family. Another one that is on date and told us she wants to get baptized is Malvina. She has had a really hard last couple years. She tried committing suicide and has had issues with other things. She is so ready to be baptized and wants to change her life. She got an answer when she was trying to kill herself that she needed to go to the LDS church. So she did and knows that Heavenly father loves her and wants her to come back to Him. Those are some of the people we are teaching. This are is great. So many wonderful people and a lot of work to do.

So Sister Smith and I were able to go to General Conference on Saturday Afternoon. It was so much fun to go again. We would love to be able to go again in April. All of the talks were so good! I loved how a lot of the talks were about the Restoration of the gospel and the Book of Mormon. We had some investigators watching who loved it. Susan watched it and told us she wants a transcript of it. Sorry Ron and Missy I didn't see you! I had a feeling you were going to be on Temple Square. Too bad. We were on the same block at the same time but didn't see each other. We were on the west side of the temple.

Everything here is going great. Sister Smith and I love being together and don't want a transfer to come when we are going to be separated. We want to spend the rest of our mission together. President told us to have fun together and preach the gospel. We do both and don't want to be transferred. We will see what happens on Saturday. It is weird that transfer calls are this week. It feels like week 2 of a new transfer, not week 6. I guess that is what happens when you get transferred 3 times in 4/5 weeks.

I love you all. I am so grateful for the gospel and and the love of our Heavenly Father. We are so blessed to be living in this time when the fulness of the gospel is here. I hope that we will all remember it and apply it. Take and apply what you have learned in conference. There is so much to learn from it. I love you! I miss you!

Love,

Hermana Dickson

Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2011 10:58:31 AM
Subject: week 46

This week was an interesting week! Monday we had breakfast with a family in Midway that helps us out a lot. Afterwards we ran some errands and I said bye to some people and packed. Tuesday we helped the Makin's pack during the day and then had some appointments. One of the investigators, Roberto, prayed for me that I would be safe and not forget him. It was really sweet. I also had the chance to say bye to Eugenia. Sister Aguilar and I were not looking forward to transfers and didn't want Wednesday to come. But it came anyway. My trainer came from Salt Lake to take us to transfers. It was fun to see her again. We got to transfers and I saw a bunch of missionaries that I hadn't seen in a while. We were there for a while waiting for the elders to come with our car. They didn't come until almost everyone was gone. Then we got lost trying to find our house... it is hidden! We get there and find that it is not cleaned and that they left us with no information or updated records. It was kind of frustrating. So we went to try to find the store and some other places. We didn't get too lost. THat night we had dinner with a bishop of one of our 2 wards. After a WML from the other ward picked us up and showed us where the chapel was and told us a little bit about who the elders were teaching. Thursday we finished cleaning and unpacking. The rest of the day we tried to find people. Same on Friday. We planned, well organized since we had no records of what was taught to who. Saturday we had some lessons and Sunday we were in meetings from 9-5. It was a long day. The end of the week I was having a hard time but yesterday I think I got it figure out. Hopefully. We have a huge area that covers most of Provo. I haven't run into anyone I know yet. WE don't cover campus but we cover everything around campus. This week we are going to keep tracting and get more investigators. There are a lot of people that are not members here, especially hispanics. Not a whole lot is new. We are just tracting and trying to not get lost. My companion, Sister Montano is from Mexico. She is 30 and is a convert. Saturday night we went to a Latin American Festival. It was fun. Tons of hispanics! I know it's short but not a whole lot is new. I love you and miss you! YOu are the best! I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Hermana Dickson

Hey everyone! This week was interesting! Monday we went on a hike/walk around Cascade Springs. It is gorgeous! We took a lot of pictures. All of the missionaries in Heber went but 2. A family took us up there. After we had a really good lesson with this family we are teaching in English. The parents are inactive and the kids are not baptized. We had a FHE with them and the dad said the opening prayer. We watched the Testaments with them. They really enjoyed it. We are seeing them again tonight. This week we also saw Eugenia. She is progressing. She was having a hard couple weeks but when we saw her last night she was really happy and told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that she needs to put her strength and trust in the Lord. She is one of my favorite people. I have seen a huge change in her in just 4/5 weeks. We also saw Roberto a couple times this week. He came to church yesterday but still has drinking problems. He is still progressing though and loves to learn. We just need to get him to stop drinking. We also started to FHE's with less actives and non members this week. We started off by doing one with Ricardo and his sister and her family. It was really good. We talked about how we need to prepare now for when Christ comes. They have been taught for a long time. I guess it scared them and they are really wanting to change. They came to church yesterday without us asking them to come! I think it worked. We just need to get them married so they can get baptized and continue to progress and be more prepared. It was funny. Friday we went and helped the Rivera's move. They are one of my favorite families here in Heber. They are less active and we always eat with them. They love having us over. We helped them paint and clean their new house over 2 days. The elders helped them move. Friday night we went on splits. I went to Midway and Aguilar stayed in Heber. I did a FHE with Margarita and her husband. We talked about faith. Afterwards they fed us pasoly. It was the best pasoly I have had. Saturday we had our district lunch. During lunch we got a call from President. I threw the phone to sister aguilar. It was transfer calls- they came an hour early. Sister Aguilar is staying in Heber and I am opening an area in Provo with Sister Montano. Transfers are Wednesday. I am sad to leave Heber but and also excited to be leaving and going back to the other valley. Not looking forward to more heat but it will be a good area. We saw the assistants this morning. They told me there are a lot of hispanics there. He told me I was going to love it! It will be good. I am sad to be leaving Sister Aguilar. We had a lot of fun together. But we kind of figured it would happen. Not a whole lot happened this week. The exciting things that happened was: Cascade Springs, transfer calls (kind of), Eugenia, Roberto and translating from English and Spanish. Yes, I was translating. We were helping out at an elementary school. I told Aguilar she couldn't leave me and she said the same. We ended up both having to translate at the same time. I didn't think I would be able to but I did it. I was SO surprised. I know Heavenly Father was helping me because there was no way I would have done it on my own. It was a great feeling. Anyway, I love it out here. The people are great. I am going to miss Heber and the people. They are so sweet up here. Yesterday in RS they had me go and bare my testimony. I started crying before I even started speaking. But I told them I will come back and visit. One nice thing about being called to serve in Utah, I can come and visit frequently. Anyway, the mission is the best. I am continually learning. The best part is seeing the change in other people lives. I have seen it a lot here. It is one of the best feelings. I love you all and miss you!

Love,
Hermana Dickson