It's Busy!

This week has been super busy, but it has been so amazing! So many of the people we are working with are doing so well, and I love to watch their faith increase as they overcome obstacles in their lives. One investigator in particular has increased his faith so much in the short time I've known him! We've seen so many miracles as we've helped him work towards his baptism. He is doing so well and I love to see how his faith and trust in the Lord has increased. Every time we teach him about one of the commandments, he commits to obey it, even the most difficult ones. It has been amazing for me to see what can happen when people put their trust in God.

I've learned a lot this week about how important it is to rely on the Lord. The Lord promises that He will help us and that He won't give us any commandment that is too difficult to keep. In 1 Nephi 3:7, it says "and it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I really love this scripture, especially where it says that God will prepare a way for us to keep His commandments. He knows how much it will bless us if we will obey Him, and He will help us every step of the way!

I hope you all have a great week!

Sister Dille

                                                 This is me, Sister Spiekerman, Sister Paxman, and Sister Short.                                                     Sister Spiekerman is our "mission mom."

Sister Hunter and me!

Haha, they have Hershey's candy shaped like hockey pucks!

St. Lawrence River!!

New Area, New Companion, Great People!

This week has been full of miracles! We have seen the Lord bless our area so much! It has been amazing to see that the Lord truly does have a hand in our lives. I think my favorite miracle happened with Larry, one of our investigators (he's preparing for his baptism at the beginning of next month). On Saturday, we taught him one of the lessons, and then we left him with a word of wisdom pamphlet to read through before our next appointment. On Sunday, we dropped by his house after church and he told us that even though he doesn't understand why we aren't allowed to drink coffee or tea, he gave all of his away to his neighbor. He's already living the word of wisdom and we haven't even taught it to him yet! It was such an amazing experience! It was so good to know that the Lord really is preparing people to receive the restored gospel! We also have two investigators named Catherine and Jean Marie who are both deaf, so we've been trying to learn some good ways to communicate with them. One of our returning members, Sister Timms, knows a little bit of sign language, so she's been trying to help us out. She told us that as soon as she agreed to help us out with teaching Catherine, she and her husband have been given so many blessings. It's cool to see how the Lord blesses us as we share the gospel.

I love my new area! I'm in a city called Brockville, that's right on the St. Lawrence River. It's a beautiful city and I'm so excited to be here. My companion's name is Sister Hunter and she is an amazing missionary! She's from Cardston, Alberta. I'm very excited to work with her. She has a powerful testimony of the Savior and she truly loves the people here. 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

 

Sister Dille

 

 

Sister Dille saying goodbye to Sister Davenport (the ward mission leaders wife) in Cobourg.

Sister Dille and Sister Spiekerman together one last time before transfers!

 

Transfer Week!!!!!!

TRANSFER WEEK!!!!!!!

This week is transfer week and I'm leaving Cobourg! I'm so sad because so many of the members here have become like my family away from home! I love the people here so much, but I'm excited to go meet more people in my new area. Sister Spiekerman and I leave tomorrow morning to go to Brampton where we'll meet our new companions. I'm going to a little branch in Brockville (which is in the most eastern zone of the mission), and my new companion will be Sister Hunter. I'm excited to meet her and to learn from her.

We got to go to the Toronto temple this week and it was so amazing. I love being in the temple because there is such a strong feeling of peace and love. I also got to see one of my MTC companions and two of the sisters that were in my district in the MTC. It was so fun and we learned so much!

Something that I learned this week is that testimonies are so powerful. I've had many experiences this week during my personal studies and during interacting with members and investigators where my testimony of the gospel has been strengthened so much. This week especially, my testimony of prophets has grown so much. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father loves us enough that He has given us a living prophet here on the earth to guide us, to counsel us, and to help us learn about the truth. God really does want all of his children. One of the sisters in my zone told us that Heavenly Father doesn't want any empty chairs in His Kingdom, and it's so true! He loves His children and He wants to help them. I know that He lives, I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and I know that through the power of His Atonement, all of our sins can be wiped away!

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and for your love!

Sister Dille

 

 

                                               Sister Spiekerman and I helped some members peel sugar beets on                                                   p-day last week. It took quite a bit of scrubbing to get the purple off.

                                     These are called kinder eggs (they're illegal in the U.S.) They're chocolate                                                                                   eggs with a toy inside and you buy one the Monday before transfers                                                  so you can make a transfer prediction.

These are the toys that were inside our kinder eggs.

Sister Spiekerman and me at the Toronto temple.

Here's the Toronto Temple!

                                                      I saw one of my MTC companions at the temple trip and                                                          6-week training on Friday. It was so good to see her!

 

Trust in the Lord

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a great week and I hope you all had the opportunity to watch general conference! It was truly an amazing experience to listen to the words of the Lord's servants and to feel peace as they gave us guidance and direction. The Saturday afternoon session was a bit of a shock to the missionaries here in the CTM because our mission president got called to be a general authority! We were all really surprised! This means that we will be getting a new mission president in July. We're all sad to see President Clayton go, but we know that the Lord needs Him elsewhere right now.

I think the talk that I loved the most this general conference was Jeffrey R. Holland's. It was exactly what I needed to hear! As I sat and listened to his words, I felt so much peace and I knew that even though this is hard, everything will be okay if I put my trust in the Lord and learn to rely on Him. He really is our loving Heavenly Father and I know without a doubt that He loves every single one of His precious children here on the earth. I know that everything He does is because He loves us. I have been asked several times on my mission so far how I can believe that God is real even with all of the bad things happening in the world. I know that even though life isn't always fair and that even though we experience hardships, God is there and He is walking beside us. I know that He loves us and that He will help us through every trial we will face in this life.

I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for your prayers and your good examples!

 

Sister Dille

 

Sister Spiekerman and I woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground 

 this morning! It must be some kind of cruel, late April fool's joke! :)