Oh man this last week was so good! We had 20 lessons! Wohoo! Last Monday for P-Day we went to the Rec Center and played sports. It was super packed because of the holiday. We had some good games going on with other people. For dinner we went to an American's house. We usually don't eat with people on P-Day but they invited us to eat with them. We ended up tracting that night.

Tuesday we had a lesson with someone that I have not taught yet since I have been in Heber. We have to have another female go with us because two brothers live there together. They seemed interested but weren't home when we had a return appointment a few days later. We also taught Maria de Jesus, Ricardo and a girl named Jenny that we started teaching again. It was a pretty good day. We had 4 lessons and then went tracting.

Wednesday was kind of a slow day. We did a lot of tracting. We ended up having 2 lessons. One with Claudia and the girls. We taught a lesson then painted rocks to help them remember to pray. Hopefully it works :) We also taught a new investigator Angelica. Angelica has 2 boys and is interested but we can only teach a little bit at a time. Our other appointments that we had canceled.

Thursday was a busy day! We taught 7 lessons today. We played a prophets game with Maria and her grandson. It was fun. We are trying to get the boys more involved and trying to get them to go to church. The dad doesn't go to church because the boys don't go which means Maria doesn't go unless she has a ride from someone else. We also taught Jenny again. We taught Ricardo and played Sabbath Day Jenga with him. We created it to help explain good and bad things to do on the Sabbath. We also taught Marisela. She told us that she wants to get baptized but wants to get baptized with her husband which will be a long time. We are hoping that she will do it without him. Her son can baptize her in a couple of weeks. We also taught the Aguayo's. The last couple weeks they have canceled on us so it was good to get in and teach them again. We also taught a few other people.

Friday we had 2 lessons and planned. We taught Marisela and someone else. I can't remember who but we had 2 lessons. Friday night we had dinner with the Riveras. The elders ate their with us as well. It was a pretty good day. We fiound out that Salvador and his family are moving to Midway. They will still be in my area so we can still teach him :)

Saturday we had 3 lessons and a wedding. Wohoo! We taught Maria de Jesus and talked about the Sabbath day with her. We also taught Kenya a little bit. She is a very hard one to get a hold of. She just graduated H.S. and is starting to work full time. We also stopped by to see Claudia and the girls and invited them to the wedding. We went to the wedding to help set up at like 5. The wedding for Salvador and his wife was supposed to start at 7. They didn't get there until 7:30 or a little bit before. Welcome to hispanic time. Take Mormon standard time and add time to that and you have hispanic time. The wedding was really good. There was a lot of people there. We have one roadblock down for his baptism now are trying to get a few more done. We also got transfer calls today. We found out that we are both staying together in Heber for another 6 weeks. I was kind of disappointed at first but am excited about it. The last couple weeks have been pretty good.

Sunday we had 2 lessons. We also went and taught YW in an English ward. It was on missionary work. It was really fun. It has been a long time since I have been in YW. We taught Lupe as well as Maria and Yareli.

Monday was a busy day. I tried emailing when we usually do but the internet was down. So you are getting an email today. For P-Day we went and hiked the Timpanogos Caves. It was a lot of fun. The hike was 1.5 miles with a 1,000ish feet increase. It was gorgeous! I thought I was going to die going up on the hike but thanks to some of the elders who grabbed sticks and pulled me up the mountain. It was quite entertaining. It was such a steep hike and the altitude was awful. But it was worth it. We toured 3 caves and had a blast! I would totally do it again but get into a lot better shape! Monday night we had a branch FHE. It was good. We watched a movie and played charades. No one was there but 2 families. It was really good.

I hope that you are all doing well. I love you all and am so grateful for each of you! I love you and miss you! Have a great week. I will talk to you all on Monday.

Love, Kelcie

Ok, I think moms should never try to change outdated addresses. Anyway not without knowing what they are doing. The other day I noticed that Kelcie's MTC address was still listed. So the good mom I am to let all her friends know to sent her mail to the Mission Home address (She really likes to get mail) I thought I delete the MTC one. That is where the dilemma started. It deleted all her other info in that post as well.
Oh man, I finally figured out to post is somewhere. Surprise it ended up just under her header. Just in case it is hard to read I will post it again.
Sister Hermana Dickson
2520 N University, Ste 100
Provo, Utah 84604-3819
Now if I could just figure out how to post it on the side bar!

Week 23! One lucky Missionary who gets to go to General Conference!

This week went by so fast! A lot has happened. We have been walking a lot this week since we are running out of miles and don't get new miles until April so we are getting plenty of exercise in. I feel bad for the missionaries in walking areas. I think my feet are now callused or almost there. Sister shoes are not meant to walk in!

So this week we have met a Jehovah's Witness! It was my first one since I have been out! He let us in and we have a return appointment for tonight. We are so excited. We have been studying a lot this week for him! We are determined to get him baptized! He is very confused about his own beliefs.... hopefully by the end of this transfer we have him baptized or at least on date.

The other night we got a phone call from an investigator the English sisters are teaching. He is hispanic and wanted us to come over. So the next morning we went over. He told us their life story. He has been having kidney dialysis for 3 years now. He is 30ish. He is on disability and his wife has a bunch of medical problems. She got laid off of work a couple months ago and are really struggling financially. We are trying to get them food and some people in the ward have really stepped up to help them. They are a sweet family who have a lot of love for each other. The same day we went there we went back at night with some food and to teach a lesson. Hermana Reyes noticed some candles. I did too. One of them was Virgin Mary and the other was the Grim Reaper. Yes the grim reaper is a religion... it's the Holy Dead. It's almost voodoo/witchcraft. We were like oh man. So we are slowly working on them to get rid of them.

One of my favorite investigator families here are the Rodriguez family. The mom (Maria) and her 3 kids are taking the discussions. They are so ready for baptism. As soon as we put them on date for April 10 the oldest said that she has to wait until after her 15th birthday in October to get baptized because of her quinsinera. Her family wants her to have the catholic ceremony with it. She really wants to be baptized! Those kids are so smart. They are teaching us the lessons. Veronica (14) and Maria came to the General YW broadcast Saturday night. It was soo good! They both took notes and Maria was crying! We got tickets for them to go to General Conference this weekend!

The YW broadcast was amazing! You should go on and listen to it/read it. It was so good. Everyone I talked to was on the verge of tears if not already crying. I got a lot out of it about the 13th Article of Faith and how important it is for us to have these Christlike attributes. These attributes will help us reach the goal of the temple. The temple is a blessing and special place for us. Pres. Eyring spoke about testimonies. It was all SO good. After the broadcast I got a call from the ZL's telling me I am going to General Conference Saturday! I am so excited. My companions aren't going but I'm going with Sister Beck/Smith/Brignone and my old companion Tetelpa. I am super excited to be going.

So stories for the week:

1- We are teaching this guy Adolfo. He has read the Book of Mormon 4 times! He is ready for baptism. The other day we were teaching him and he asked me why I have a funny accent. I told him it was because I am American, I'm a gringa. I didn't know that I had a funny accent when speaking Spanish. I guess I do.

2. We were teaching Adolfo the last half of the Plan of Salvation and I was explaining the Celestial Kingdom. I told him that the Celestial Kingdom is compared to the south.... He corrected me and told me it was sun. I didn't realize what I said wrong until a half hour later. Oh man... words that sound alike or are very close make for good stories. Hermana Tanner does it all the time. It's funny.

3. We were out tracting all day yesterday. It was close to 8 and we were walking towards our house. We looked ahead of us and it was storming like crazy. We heard thunder and saw lightening. Every time lightening struck I would scream. It was close! Well we get about 2 or 3 blocks from our house and you hear the wind and it sounds like a heavy downpour of rain and leaves twirling in the wind. 2 seconds later it starts hailing! The hail was huge! So I told me companions to run to the house to our left that had a porch. Well it didn't lighten up and we were still being attacked. So I finally knocked on the door. The people answered and asked us if we were missionaries. It was funny. The ground was completely white after a minute and the roads were kind of slick.

Anyway, I love being out here! It is amazing. I love Payson. The people here are so good. I am so glad I am out here serving. I am learning so much. I love you all and am so grateful for you! Thanks for all that you do for me and for everyone else.

Love, Kelcie

Hey everyone!
Well I am now in Payson and love it. Payson is like Arlington/Darrington/Shelley all put together. It's a fun little place. The people here are wonderful. I have gotten into so many doors. THe people are really receptive to hearing from us. I have amazing companions. Hermana Reyes was born in Mexico but grew up in Vegas. She has been out for about a year. Hermana Tanner is fresh out of the MTC. She was born in B.C. and moved between the states and Canada all her life. She also went to BYU-Idaho for a couple semesters. She knows a little bit of Spanish. She is funny. The 3 of us get along great and have so much fun. Between our Spanish- or lack of- and just having fun while finding people or in the apartment. I actually feel like my Spanish is improving. I am slowly getting there but am understanding it more and more. Hna Reyes speaks a lot of Spanish to us and so I am picking up on it a lot faster than the last 2 transfers. We have about 10 investigators and picked up 2 more this last week. We put one on date. Payson Spanish ward includes 7 stakes with one Spanish ward.

So funny story. Wednesday, first day in Payson, we went to dinner but they forgot so we went to their restaurant, La Hacienda, for dinner. When we walked out back to our car it was really windy. I was wearing a shorter skirt and it flew up. I kind of felt like Marilyn Monroe. We were laughing so hard! My companions helped me get my skirt back down really quick. It makes for good laughs now and then. Hermana Tanner has some good oops moments that I will have to share later. Next week I will send pictures for sure. I forgot my camera this week. I don't have much time today since I wrote this letter last but I will tell you guys more next week. Okay a not so funny story. At correlation yesterday we were talking with a ward mission leader and he told us that 3 of our investigators (boys) should not be coming to church because they misbehave and it's like their mom is sending them to church so she doesn't have to deal with them. Both wrong! They all want to be baptized but are waiting for mom's permission and to be of age (well one of them). They are great kids, the mom just doesn't have much control over them. It was so frustrating that someone would deny someone else's salvation.

I am so grateful to be out here. I love it! I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be learning Spanish. Even if it has not been easy for me I am learning a lot! I know that our Savior lives and that He loves each of us. I know that prayer and reading our scriptures is what will help get us through each day. There is so much power in those two things. It is also a commandment for us to be doing those things. I know that He answers our prayers and that he knows what is best for each of us. I hope that you are continually coming unto Christ and helping others as well. I am grateful for each of you and for your love and support. You are the best!

Love, Kelcie

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