Easter, Ice & Teaching

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a happy Easter! We had a crazy week here in Cobourg. We had two ice storms come in that made it a bit difficult to work, but they were still cool. The trees were all coated in ice and they would start creaking every time a breeze came through. The sidewalks were super slippery because they were one big sheet of ice. 

We had zone conference on Wednesday and we learned how to weekly plan more effectively. It was really great to be able to learn from other missionaries. We really learned how important it is to focus on other people and how we can meet their needs, because missionary work is all about how we can help other people. I've been working on trying to do this. It's so important for us to be able to learn how to have charity for the Lord's children.

We had a really cool experience this week when we were teaching one of our investigators about the Plan of Salvation. We were talking to her about the resurrection and about how every single person will be able to receive a perfect, resurrected body just like the Savior. It touched her heart so much because she has cerebral palsy and she was really excited to be able to learn that someday, that trial will be taken away from her. After learning about Heavenly Father's Plan for His children, she also told us that she's not afraid of death anymore. It made me so happy that the gospel was able to help her in this aspect of her life. The gospel really is for everyone and it really does bring peace and joy to our lives.

I also learned an important lesson about faith this week. My mission president told me that missionary work gets a lot easier when we learn to rely on the Lord. We have to go out and do our best, but rely on Him at the same time. The Savior Himself said "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I love how the Lord really does want us to rely on Him and to have faith in Him. If we let Him help us in our lives, there won't be any trial we can't overcome.

I hope you all have a great week! I really appreciate all of your love and prayers!

Love,

 

Sister Dille

 

 

Thanks to the Hoopes', Uncle Tobie & Aunt Darcie, Grandma Mo & my family for all of the Easter candy!

This is a layer of ice that was on our window. It took us almost 20 minutes to scrape all of the ice off our car!

Haha, one of the members in our ward gave us chocolate bunnies for Easter! :) 

The entire sidewalk is a layer of ice!! It made tracting a bit tricky. :)

 

Moroni's Challenge (This one's for you Brother Nordgren)

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! We had a busy week here in Cobourg. A lot of our lessons fell through unfortunately, so we spent a lot of time contacting and tracting. We found a new investigator named Yasmine. She is super nice and she has a very powerful testimony of God and how He gives her direction in her life. She's a very sweet lady and we are excited to meet with her again.

We also had exchanges this week with our Sister Training Leaders. Sister Spiekerman went to Osahawa with Sister Mousley, and I stayed here in Cobourg with Sister Bott. I had to drive for the first time and I was pretty scared, but the car is still in one piece and all went well! :) Sister Bott is very good at contacting and I learned a lot from her. I'm excited to go try to practice the things she taught me.

I had a very neat experience at the beginning of last week. About three years ago, Brother Nordgren challenged us to take Moroni's challenge during class. In Moroni 10:3-5 it reads, "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." I tried taking the challenge for a few days, but nothing happened, and eventually, I just gave up trying. Several days ago, I was studying the Plan of Happiness in the Book of Mormon for a lesson we had later on in the evening. As I was studying, the Spirit touched my heart and a peaceful feeling came over me. I knew without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true, that it does testify of the Savior, and that God does have a plan for all of His children. I know that He truly does listen to our prayers and that if we listen, He will answer.

I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for all of your love, prayers, and support!

Sister Dille

This is one of my STL, Sister Bott. She's from Idaho too, but her family just moved to Baker City! She only has one transfer left before she heads home.

Here's a picture of Lake Ontario. Apparently, the water is super gross, but people still swim in it. 

We found a potato sign while we were contacting! I think Canada's a little bit confused as to who really has the ultimate potatoes. :)

Mission Milestone

Hi Everyone!

We had a pretty good week! We found five new investigators, which is really good for our area. We're going to start meeting with some of them starting tonight and we are super excited. 

We had a baptism on Saturday with an investigator named Hunter. He's a super cool kid and we were very excited for him. The fact that he was able to get baptized is actually a miracle because we almost didn't have enough water in the font for it to be performed. My companion and I showed up at the church two and half hours early to get everything ready, but we found out that it was going to take twice as long to fill as we had thought. We said a prayer and we let it keep filling. By the time the actual baptism was supposed to take place, we had just enough water in the font. It's great to know that God really does listen to our prayers.

We also had some fun contacting and tracting experiences this week. Usually when we're contacting, we're lucky if we can get someone to stop and talk to us long enough to give them a card, but on Saturday, we stopped to talk to a guy and he talked to us for almost 45 minutes! We couldn't get him to stop! It was pretty funny. Also, I hit a big milestone is the mission: I got yelled at for the first time while tracting! It was so awesome, I love it! 

The Church put out a new initiative yesterday. It's a super neat video called Hallelujah. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely watch it. It focuses on how the Savior can help us with our trials, and it's fantastic.

 

The most important thing I learned this week is that God will not abandon us. We can always turn to Him in prayer and He will listen. He is always watching over us and He loves us more than we know. He placed us on the earth so that we can experience joy (2 Nephi 2:25). By living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can be joyful and we can have peace even if life is hard. I know He lives and I know that He is always there for us; we just have to look.

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love, 

 

Sister Dille

 

 

This is my district. They are really awesome. The Elders from left to right are Toly, Bertagnolli, Pumford, Tolley, Johnson, and Taylor. Elder Pumford and Elder Johnson are our ZLs and Elder Taylor is our DL.

The Sisters are Keidman, Crawford, me, and Spiekerman. Sister Keidman came out with my group.

Here's a picture of Hunter's baptism. He's a really cool kid and he reminds me a lot of Bronson.

Okay, so Tim Horton's is like a huge deal out here! In big cities there is seriously one every couple of blocks. I tried it for the first time about two weeks ago, and then after our district meeting on Friday, we ate there again to re-experience the joy! :) They're famous for their donuts.

 

He Hears Our Prayers

Hi Everyone!

Well, another week has come and gone! It seems like I was just sitting here sending an email yesterday. 

I went on exchanges for the first time this week with one of our Sister Training Leaders named Sister Mousley. She is super nice and she is a really good missionary. I had my first funny contacting experience while I was with her. We were walking up to the library to meet with an investigator and we tried to stop and talk to people along the way. We stopped to talk to a man, who we found out was homeless and just wanted to argue with us. We told him to have a great day and we started walking away. As we were walking he yelled at us that he "believes in Godzilla! He's coming back!" It was pretty funny.

We have our first baptism coming up this Saturday, and we are very excited! He is about 11 and he reminds me a lot of Bronson actually. He's a super cool kid and my companion and I are really excited for him. He's such a good example and I'm excited that he is taking this important step in his life.

This week, I learned about the power of the priesthood. There have been some days where we have struggled to move the work forward in Cobourg. On Sunday, I asked for a blessing to help me continue. It was such an amazing experience and I really felt that the Lord is aware of each and every one of His children. I know that He hears every single word of every single prayer we say. I know that He will answer our prayers, although it may not come in the way we might expect. I know He lives and I know that He is truly with us every step of the way as we go about doing His work.

I hope you have a great week! I love you all!

Love, 

 

Sister Dille

 

 

Sister Dille and Sister Spiekerman

 

 

 

Sister Dille & Sister Mousley on missionary splits.

 

 

Sister Dille & Sister Spiekerman with the Davenport's dog, Gracie :)

 

 

 

They have the maple leaf on everything!