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