Where do I start? This week was an interesting week. We had 2 more baptisms and another wedding and attended 2 more baptisms. We also did a lot of tracting again. Here is the week in review:

Monday- P-Day! Spent the day in American Fork (well a couple hours) with the some of the English sisters. Afterwards we came home and finished laundry and cleaned. Nothing too exciting. That night we went and taught one of my favorite old ladies, Avis. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. We were there for about an hour and didn't get through all of it. She has a lot of questions about it and about where her husband is what he is doing. We told her that he is being taught the gospel just like her. She is happy and satisfied with that. We invited her to church again. She told us she was going to try, but that 9am was too early for her. I was thinking how is 9 too early for an 80 something year old lady. She is cute and hilarious. We also went and taught Norma and David- they got baptized and married the Saturday before.

Tuesday- We tracted out Windsor for a couple hours and had zero success. A lot of people in Windsor area are members or are not interested at all. There aren't a lot of Hispanics in this area at all. That night we had a baptism for Monica. She got there at 5 and started crying as soon as she put on the white clothes. She could feel the spirit from the start. Her baptism was one of my favorites so far. She was so ready and you could tell. All of her family was there except one son who is in Argentina. They are not members so it was good support for her. One of her daughters is interested as well. We are hoping she will come into Orem so that we can teach her at her mom's house. Monica's baptism was a special day for her. Not only did she get baptized but it was her birthday as well. It was a very special day for her and an amazing baptism.

Wednesday- We had a district lunch at Magleby's. It was pretty good food. Afterwards we went tracting in Geneva and then taught Francisco and his wife Norma. We watched the Legacy with them. He has been taught everything so we are reviewing things and trying to get him to commit to baptism. That night we taught Orbelin and watched the Legacy with him as well, and answered questions he had. Afterwards we had correlation.

Thursday- No lessons but we had 2 correlation meetings and went tracting :) My favorite thing to do....

Friday- We had a District Training Meeting and planned. We went tracting/contacting at night and then taught Norma and David again.

Saturday- We had a wedding for Gabriella and Juan Carlos. After the wedding Gabriella got baptized. They have been waiting for the divorce of him to be final so they could get married. She has been attending church for 4 years. She could teach us the lessons. It was a good baptism. Her daughter, who got baptized right after I got in the field gave a prayer. It was really special for them. After the baptism they had a lunch/reception. It was fun. That night we taught Orbelin.

Sunday- crazy day, as usual. We had 2 confirmations at the same day across town. Afterwards we taught Gospel Principles and then had another correlation. Then we met with a stake president. Went and tried to teach some lessons- no success. After we had correlation again. At this correlation, we were sitting in a room by the outside door and this young couple walks by. I said he and then thought that he looked kind of familiar. Two seconds later we both realized that we know each other. He and his wife walked back to the room and then we started talking. It was one of the guys from my ward in Salt Lake with his wife. They live in one of my areas. It was really random but fun to catch up with him and to see him. That night we taught the Mitre-Rojas. We are trying to get them to commit to baptism. They want to, but are having doubts.

Monday- No email... sorry. We had a sister's activity. We went to the mission home for breakfast (waffles :)) and then we went to the temple. It was really fun. It's fun to get together with all 20 sisters in our mission. The temple was super busy but it was good.

Well that was my week. Life is going pretty good .Transfers are in 3 weeks. I will probably be staying in Orem but who knows. The work is slowly starting to pick up. We found a couple people yesterday who are interested so we will see how that goes. I love being out here. It is not always easy, but is worth it. I am learning so much. I love each of you and am so grateful for you. You are the best! Keep working on coming unto Christ and helping others as well. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to do this. I love you!

Love, Kelcie

week 17

What a long week! This last week was not very productive. We taught 4 lessons! :( But on a much happier note we had one some great success. I am not going to go day by day this week because it would say tracting/contacting for everyday. But I will go over the highlights for the week. Monday we taught Alberto (his mom passed away in December). He is wanting to be baptized but it waiting for his family to accept it. Problem is that his family is in Mexico where there are no missionaries :(. We are hoping that MTC referral center can teach them online or over the phone. Wednesday we went to the temple as a district. Our entire district was there for a change. It was a good session. After the temple our district went out for breakfast. That night we ate dinner with the Adamson's. Thursday was our day of teaching. We taught Francisco and his wife. It was good. They both are more receptive but aren't acting. We are trying to figure out how to get them to come to church and help him realize that he has gotten his answer. He is looking for a sign. We also taught Monica. We went over the Living Christ with her and helped her prepare last minute things for her baptism tomorrow :) She told us that she read the entire Doctrine and Covenants in 2 weeks! She is so ready! That night we also taught Norma and David. We went over lesson 3 and helped them with last minute things for their wedding and baptism this last Saturday. Friday we we went and talked to some investigators that we have been teaching, who are struggling. They were looking for our help with some issues they are having. One of them told us that they are ready to get married so she can be baptized :) Yay! Now we just have to wait for proof of his divorce then we can do a wedding and baptism. They are hoping to get it done by this Saturday but we aren't holding our breath on that one since his ex is in Arizona and has no way of getting a hold of her. Saturday was a really good day. Saturday at 12:30 we had a wedding for Norma and David. Her nonmember family was there and it was short and sweet. The elders who started teaching them were there as well. During the ceremony the bishop's phone went off. It was hilarious. Why he didn't turn his ringer off or phone off i have no idea. But they are married. After the wedding they were both baptized. They had a lot of people there. It was really good. They are so happy and so glad that they did it. We saw them last night and they were asking us some questions tithing that they couldn't remember. It was so good. Now we are working on getting them to the temple and David receiving the Priesthood. Saturday afternoon we had a couple ward activities. One was our dinner :) They didn't send the sign up sheet around so we made the activity our dinner. It was good food. After we ate we went to the Stake Activity. They had a Chinese New Year party. It was really good. They had performances and explanations. It was really interesting.
.I took some pictures and videos. We also got a few referrals out of it :) Sunday we spoke in church about faith in missionary work. It was good. We were late to the meeting and I was the first speaker. But people told us we did a good job. That was my week. The end of the week was a lot better than the beginning. One day this week we had a dinner appointment with one of our bishops and started talking about Uncle Jack. Come to find out, Bishop Kidman met Uncle Jack. It was really fun to hear his story.

I am so glad that I am out here serving a mission and helping others come unto Christ. It is such a blessing for me and for those that I am teaching and helping. My testimony and love for our Savior and others is growing. There are wonderful people out there. I am excited to find others and continue to help them Come Unto Christ. I know that this is His gospel on the earth today. I am so grateful for it and for the love of our Savior. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am grateful that through Him we can be cleansed from ALL of our mistakes. I know that I am not perfect but through the Atonement I can become clean and work towards perfection. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he received the power and authority to restore the gospel on the earth today. I am so grateful for him and for his example to us today of courage and faith. I am grateful that we still have a living prophet on the earth today. I know that Thomas S. Monson is called of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I know that the Bible and the Book of Mormon go hand in hand. I can see it everyday as I read from both books. I am so grateful to be out here. I am grateful for each of you and for all of you love and support. I pray and hope that each of you will continue to personally come unto Christ and help others as well. I know that He loves each of His children and wants the best for each of us. I love you!

Love, Hermana Dickson

Hola familia y amigos! Este semana fue muy interestante. (this week was very interesting). Okay it takes too long to write in Spanish so I am sticking with English. This week was a pretty good week. Our numbers would say otherwise. We had a lot of appointments cancel or just wouldn't be home. We also ran out of miles with 5 days left in the month so we walked a lot this week. I was just grateful no dogs attacked us. Just in case we had puppy spray (vinegar and water in a spray bottle- does the same thing as pepper spray). While we were walking one day we had 30 people honk at us and wave and about 3 people give us a ride but it was nice outside and we would have been really early to our appointment so we declined the ride.

Monday was P-day. For P-day last Monday we didn't do anything. We just stayed at home and relaxed. It felt good to just have a lazy day. That night we had FHE with a couple investigators. We met with Hernando and talked about Prophets. He had some questions for us so we talked about the what the Prophet does and how important it is for us to listen and follow the Prophet. We talked about the 14 Fundamentals of a prophet by Elder Benson I believe. It was mentioned in last general conference. For Norma and David we talked about each Article of Faith and then played a game with them. They had never played Uno so we taught them how to play. They are getting married this week and baptized next Monday :) Hopefully everything will continue to go as planned. For dinner this week we ate in English speaking homes. I can't really say American's because not all were.

Tuesday we went contacting out in Orem Stake. We met this old lady in her 90's who lost her husband in November and is now living with her daughter and son in law. All of her family is a member including her parents, siblings, and kids. She never joined because of her husband but now she is wanting to be baptized. We are starting to teach her tonight. Her name is Avis. She is adorable and excited to learn the gospel and become a member. I am excited to be teaching her. She is English speaking but wants sisters so we are teaching her. We also finally got to teach and investigator, Luis, who we have been trying to get a hold of for the last 5 weeks. He is my age and is always working so it's hard to get a hold of him. He is living with 2 in-actives. We also taught Norma and David today about the tree of life.

Wednesday we did a lot of tracting and were not very successful. We taught David, Norma was working. We taught about the Armor of God and dressed their 3 1/2 yo in the armor of God. He was very quick to take the helmet off but liked the rest. We also taught a new investigator, the Cano's. He kids attend young womens and scouts but she doesn't come to church. None are members. Her dad is a member but her and her husband are Catholic. Her family has a bunch of religions in them. She is very interested but won't commit to anything because of her husband so we are working with the ward on getting him involved with things.For dinner we ate at a Bolivian/American home and had really good empanadas.

Thursday we walked just about 10 miles. We taught Orbelin the law of Chastity and Monica about temples. She Monica was very interested and that night went to a Family History Class. She loved it! Monica is getting baptized February 15. For dinner we went to investigators home of familia Mitre-Rojas. Their oldest daughter was missing so we ended up helping them out. They found her at the school. I guess in the High Schools down here they have cards and have to use them for attendance in each class and to check in and out of school and she forgot to check back in after lunch. It all sounds fishy to me but they found her. That night we had 2 correlation meetings. It was really good. At one of them, the spanish one in Windsor, I got a blessing. One of the language missionaries, The Adamson's, told me I should get one so I did. It was much needed. I decided that I am going to get one at least once a transfer. I felt so much peace and got some guidance and help. It was good. No worries, nothing is wrong!

Friday was our planning day. We planned some activities for our wards to get excited and involved in missionary work. We also set goals for next month and planned for each of our investigators. That night we ended up teaching one lesson to Hernando, the others were not home or were "busy". Hernando we taught about the importance of baptism and confirmation. We also found out that he leaves in Feb 5. We are so sad to leave one of our favorite investigators. We hope that he continues to follow through and attend church in Colombia. For dinner we ate a Filipino/American home and had Filipino food.It was so good!

Saturday we had a church tour. Our entire district was in a church building covering each room. We were there for 2 hours and had 2 investigators show up. Both were from the sisters in our district :) One was mine and the other was the English sisters. That night we taught Norma and David. We also had dinner with Japanese/American family. It was really good food. One of my favorites. All of our appointments cancelled so we went tracting and were not very successful.

Sunday was good. We attended one ward and were busy all day. We taught Hernando and Alberto. We have been trying to see Alberto since I got here and finally got in last night. He is very shy and 23. His mother passed away not too long away and is waiting for his family to accept the gospel to get baptized. We are trying to tell him not to wait and that he will be a great example. It will be a long time before his family is converted. They live in Mexico and there are a lot of issues down there right now.

Anyway, this week was good even though we didn't teach a whole lot. Hermana Tetelpa and I are both staying in Orem for another 6 weeks. We are working on trying to find people like crazy. We found a bunch of old teaching records and progress records and are going to try to get new "old" investigators that way. I love this gospel. It is amazing! I am learning so much. I started reading in the Bible everyday as well as in the Spanish Book of Mormon. I am learning so much that is helping me and my investigators. This gospel is amazing and so true. I know Heavenly Father loves us. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I know that He died and suffered on the cross and in the Garden of Gethsemane for us. I am grateful for the gospel and that we can continue in faith and endure to the end to live with Heavenly Father again. I am grateful for each of you and for your love and support. You mean the world to me.

Love, Hermana Kelcie Dickson

Hola familia y amigos! Este semana fue muy interestante. (this week was very interesting). Okay it takes too long to write in Spanish so I am sticking with English. This week was a pretty good week. Our numbers would say otherwise. We had a lot of appointments cancel or just wouldn't be home. We also ran out of miles with 5 days left in the month so we walked a lot this week. I was just grateful no dogs attacked us. Just in case we had puppy spray (vinegar and water in a spray bottle- does the same thing as pepper spray). While we were walking one day we had 30 people honk at us and wave and about 3 people give us a ride but it was nice outside and we would have been really early to our appointment so we declined the ride.

Monday was P-day. For P-day last Monday we didn't do anything. We just stayed at home and relaxed. It felt good to just have a lazy day. That night we had FHE with a couple investigators. We met with Hernando and talked about Prophets. He had some questions for us so we talked about the what the Prophet does and how important it is for us to listen and follow the Prophet. We talked about the 14 Fundamentals of a prophet by Elder Benson I believe. It was mentioned in last general conference. For Norma and David we talked about each Article of Faith and then played a game with them. They had never played Uno so we taught them how to play. They are getting married this week and baptized next Monday :) Hopefully everything will continue to go as planned. For dinner this week we ate in English speaking homes. I can't really say American's because not all were.

Tuesday we went contacting out in Orem Stake. We met this old lady in her 90's who lost her husband in November and is now living with her daughter and son in law. All of her family is a member including her parents, siblings, and kids. She never joined because of her husband but now she is wanting to be baptized. We are starting to teach her tonight. Her name is Avis. She is adorable and excited to learn the gospel and become a member. I am excited to be teaching her. She is English speaking but wants sisters so we are teaching her. We also finally got to teach and investigator, Luis, who we have been trying to get a hold of for the last 5 weeks. He is my age and is always working so it's hard to get a hold of him. He is living with 2 in-actives. We also taught Norma and David today about the tree of life.

Wednesday we did a lot of tracting and were not very successful. We taught David, Norma was working. We taught about the Armor of God and dressed their 3 1/2 yo in the armor of God. He was very quick to take the helmet off but liked the rest. We also taught a new investigator, the Cano's. He kids attend young womens and scouts but she doesn't come to church. None are members. Her dad is a member but her and her husband are Catholic. Her family has a bunch of religions in them. She is very interested but won't commit to anything because of her husband so we are working with the ward on getting him involved with things.For dinner we ate at a Bolivian/American home and had really good empanadas.

Thursday we walked just about 10 miles. We taught Orbelin the law of Chastity and Monica about temples. She Monica was very interested and that night went to a Family History Class. She loved it! Monica is getting baptized February 15. For dinner we went to investigators home of familia Mitre-Rojas. Their oldest daughter was missing so we ended up helping them out. They found her at the school. I guess in the High Schools down here they have cards and have to use them for attendance in each class and to check in and out of school and she forgot to check back in after lunch. It all sounds fishy to me but they found her. That night we had 2 correlation meetings. It was really good. At one of them, the spanish one in Windsor, I got a blessing. One of the language missionaries, The Adamson's, told me I should get one so I did. It was much needed. I decided that I am going to get one at least once a transfer. I felt so much peace and got some guidance and help. It was good. No worries, nothing is wrong!

Friday was our planning day. We planned some activities for our wards to get excited and involved in missionary work. We also set goals for next month and planned for each of our investigators. That night we ended up teaching one lesson to Hernando, the others were not home or were "busy". Hernando we taught about the importance of baptism and confirmation. We also found out that he leaves in Feb 5. We are so sad to leave one of our favorite investigators. We hope that he continues to follow through and attend church in Colombia. For dinner we ate a Filipino/American home and had Filipino food.It was so good!

Saturday we had a church tour. Our entire district was in a church building covering each room. We were there for 2 hours and had 2 investigators show up. Both were from the sisters in our district :) One was mine and the other was the English sisters. That night we taught Norma and David. We also had dinner with Japanese/American family. It was really good food. One of my favorites. All of our appointments cancelled so we went tracting and were not very successful.

Sunday was good. We attended one ward and were busy all day. We taught Hernando and Alberto. We have been trying to see Alberto since I got here and finally got in last night. He is very shy and 23. His mother passed away not too long away and is waiting for his family to accept the gospel to get baptized. We are trying to tell him not to wait and that he will be a great example. It will be a long time before his family is converted. They live in Mexico and there are a lot of issues down there right now.

Anyway, this week was good even though we didn't teach a whole lot. Hermana Tetelpa and I are both staying in Orem for another 6 weeks. We are working on trying to find people like crazy. We found a bunch of old teaching records and progress records and are going to try to get new "old" investigators that way. I love this gospel. It is amazing! I am learning so much. I started reading in the Bible everyday as well as in the Spanish Book of Mormon. I am learning so much that is helping me and my investigators. This gospel is amazing and so true. I know Heavenly Father loves us. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I know that He died and suffered on the cross and in the Garden of Gethsemane for us. I am grateful for the gospel and that we can continue in faith and endure to the end to live with Heavenly Father again. I am grateful for each of you and for your love and support. You mean the world to me.

Love, Hermana Kelcie Dickson

Where do I start? This last week was kind of long but good. Better than last week. On Monday we had a Family Home Evening with our investigator Hernando. He is hilarious! I am going to miss him when he leaves in a couple of weeks. This week with Hernando we talked about the Law of Chastity. He has issues with a couple of things but is really trying to work things out. He wants to be baptized. Yesterday we were over teaching him and finished up with the Law of Chastity and talked about the Armor of God. We had a armor with everything for him to put on. I was surprised that he did it! He is a good sport about it. I got a picture and will attach it next week. I forgot my cord. Another investigator that we are teaching are Norma and David. Norma and David are getting married Feb 2 and getting baptized on Feb 7. They have 2 cute boys. Another investigator that we are teaching is Orbelin. Orbelin is ready for baptism except for he needs to get married or move out of the house of the girl he is living with. That is a very common theme with our investigators. He comes to church now. Yay! The other night we were eating dinner at a members home and they wanted us to teach their non member son. So we taught him but he left his weekend to go back to California. He comes back next month to live with his dad and hopefully we can keep teaching him. We also received a couple of investigators. I don't know how serious they are about being taught. I think at this stage they are just curious. I am hoping that they will eventually get baptized. A couple days ago we went to teach a girl named Britney. She wasn't home but we were able to talk to her mom. We talked to her for about an hour and a half and she wants us to come back and teach. She likes to talk a lot so it's hard to actually get a word in. She was talking about her daughter and how active she is in church activites, she won't let her get baptized though. She was trying to explain this thing that she went to once a month. She was like it sounds like chimpanzee.. she was referring to achievement days. We were all laughing when we figured out that is what she was talking about. She started crying from laughter.

As for everything else it's good. I love the work! We were out tracting this week and got a few referrals. It was good. Spanish is coming along. I am understanding more and more. The other night I was bearing my testimony and we had a member there who always goes with us he told me that my spanish is coming along really well and that I have a really strong testimony. It made me feel good and helped build my confidence. Anyway, I got to go but I am so glad I am out here serving a mission. It is amazing, even though it's difficult at times. It is worth it. On my calender this week that mom and dad sent this weekend it had a quote "i don't get it". Sometimes I don;'t get it. I don't get people but I do get the gospel. I know that the plan of salvation is for each of us and that as we seek to understand it we will receive the guidance from it. I am so grateful for the plan and the lessons I learn from it daily. I am grateful for our Savior. I know He is my friend and brother. I am grateful for the Atonement of our Savior and that through Him we can become perfect. I am grateful for my family and friends and that families are forever. I love this gospel and the chance that I have to be a missionary. I hope that we can all be missionaries in our behavior and get out and talk to our friends and neighbors and invite them to come unto Christ. I love you!

Love, Hermana Dickson