If You Have More Faith, You Will Have More Success!

Merry Late Christmas!

This week was pretty cool.  We started off by going to zone conference in North York, and we learned a lot about having the faith to baptize.  There was something President said that really stuck out to me.  "This new year 2017 is a good time to recommit to pursue your mission purpose with more faith in Jesus Christ.  The people of Ontario need Christ.  You are His agents to invite them to accept His gospel, be baptized, and change their lives.  Their mortal and eternal lives will be blessed by your diligence and faithfulness.  Remember President Uchtdorf's talk:  "these two missionaries had faith, and they were committed. They had the attitude that if no one listened to their message, it would not be because they had not given their best effort.  President Uchtdorf also said:  "Those who are inpatient, uncommitted, or careless may find faith to be elusive.  Those who are easily discouraged or distracted may hardly experience it.  Faith comes to the humble, the diligent, the enduring.  It comes to those who pay the price of faithfulness."  Please pay the price of faithfulness.  You will never be disappointed! I have been counseled to tell the missionaries that if they have more faith, they will have more success.  So, I am telling you:  if you have more faith, you will have more success."

We also got to go on exchanges with our sister training leaders at the end of the week.  I learned a lot about just being patient and trying to enjoy the work on exchanges.

Christmas was really fun!  Sister Barrow and I made Christmas cards with old Christmas pass-a-long cards and then we taped candy canes on them and gave them out to members and less-active members.  We almost got caught a couple of times...we were walking up to one door just as the members' son was walking out.  So we turned around and ran the other direction...luckily I don't think he saw us.  We had to stand awkwardly around the corner of the house until he left though, haha. After we finished the Christmas cards, we went to our sister training leaders' apartment and we spent Christmas Eve there.  We opened up our presents and sang Christmas songs.  On Christmas Day, we went to church and then we had three dinner appointments.  We were not hungry or lonely. :) Of course, the highlight of the day was Skyping my family! It was so good to see their faces and hear their voices!

Yesterday, we locked ourselves out of our apartment, went tracting in the rain, and almost died on the ice that came through in a storm the night before.  Haha, one of us had to stand at the bottom of the stairs and hold onto the other while she climbed up the porch stairs, and then the one who had climbed up the stairs would grab the other one's coat and hang onto her while she climbed up so we didn't slip.  I'm sure it was quite entertaining for everyone present. :)

I've been reading in the last few chapters of Alma the past couple of days, and as I've read the importance of continually strengthening our testimonies has stood out to me.  A lot of the chapters talk about how Moroni continually strengthens and fortifies every city, even if it's not a time of war.  We shouldn't have to wait for difficult times before we start focusing on the strength of our testimonies.  I also thought it was interesting that Amalickiah tried to go after the weak cities, but it never worked because Moroni had been working to strengthen them.  Satan will try to go after the weak spots in our testimonies too, so that's why we need to always be doing what it says in Ether 12:27 (working with the Lord and using the Atonement to turn them into strengths).

Have a great week!

Sister Dille

Christmas Eve party!

Exchanges with Sister Santaluoto! (she's from Finland)

Christmas breakfast at the Fenton's 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Well, this week has been rather crazy, but it's been good.  We've seen so many miracles, so I'll try to remember all of them!

We started off the week by heading off to Brampton for transfers.  We woke up early on Tuesday morning, said our goodbyes, and got our new companions.  It was hard to say goodbye to Sister Snickers, but she'll be amazing in her new area!  I'm with Sister Barrow now.  She's from Ogden, Utah! (Utah companion #4, ha ha).  She's a really good missionary and I'm learning a lot from her about talking with people, teaching, and loving the people.

So our first big miracle this week...we were walking down the street and Sister Barrow asked me if we could turn around and go knock on a door we had just passed.  I said, "why, no!" And back we went.  A Scottish lady named Roberta answered and although she wasn't interested in our message, she did agree to let us come back and help her!  A few days later, we went back and ate lunch with her and helped her clean her house.

Another big miracle...we went to drop by a less active member and we had such a powerful, powerful lesson with her! There was one point in the lesson where Sister Barrow and I both felt such an overwhelming feeling of love for her.  We are so excited to work with her and be able to bring the hope of the gospel back into her life.

We've also had so many small miracles throughout the week that have helped us remember that God truly is helping us.  Last week, one of our zone leaders shared in a meeting, that he writes down miracles he sees everyday and it helps him to be grateful for what the Lord has blessed us with.  I started doing it, and it truly does help me to be grateful.  It's helped me see that even on the toughest days, there is always something that we can thank our Heavenly Father for.

Since it's Christmas, I wanted to share my testimony of the Savior.  I know that Heavenly Father truly did send His Son down to earth for us.  I know that He loves us and that He wants to help us.  I know that following His teachings is the only way to find lasting peace and happiness in this life.  I know that God's plan only works because of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and I know that He will never forsake us!

Merry Christmas!

Sister Dille

We helped the Bailey's with their Christmas tree!

Voila!

Bye bye Sister Snickers!  There's nothing like waking up
at 5:00 in the morning for transfers!

Holy cow! It's so cold!

Saying Goodbye to Sister Snickers

Hello!

Sorry, we have very little time to email today because of transfers so if you emailed me, I'm really sorry if I don't get a chance to respond to you today.

We had a really cool zone council on Saturday...it was the best and most spiritual meeting I have ever been in.  We learned about teaching better, finding joy in the work, having the language of faith, planning more effectively, and working with the members to find people to teach.  Every instruction answered a question that I've been struggling with my whole mission.  It was such a revelatory experience and the Spirit was there for sure!

So, before I tell you about transfers, allow me to share a funny story of the week that ties in quite nicely...Yesterday, we were having a wonderful day!  We were working in Newcastle, we had lunch with the Boulters, visited the Wojnicz family, the snow was falling (the really pretty sparkly kind that comes when it's really cold), and everything was going perfectly.  BUT, then we came home from Newcastle to finish weekly planning and do language study before transfer calls, and then we realized we didn't have the phone.  We prayed, emptied our bags, checked and double checked our coats, prayed some more, searched the entire apartment, looked in the car, and nothing!  We had our landlords call it, we checked with the appointments we had just been at earlier, and that little phone was nowhere to be found (it was also on vibrate, great...right?). Well, at this point, we began to panic a little bit because transfer calls were beginning in about three hours and we didn't have our phone if we got a transfer call.  In a final attempt to find the phone, we began searching in the snow where we had been cleaning off the car windows several hours earlier.  (Several inches of snow had fallen since then with plenty more coming down, so I wasn't very optimistic).  After searching for a few minutes, Sister Snickers pulled it out of the snow! I don't think I have ever been so relieved to find a phone in my life! Isn't it nice to know that God really does answer our prayers? :)

It's a good thing we found it too because unfortunately, we did get a call.  :(  Sister Snickers will be leaving me to go to Welland and I will be staying in Bowmanville.  I don't know who my companion will be until tomorrow morning, but I'll let you know next week.

Love you!

Sister Dille

Conversations With Cats & An Ambulance Chasing A Drunk Guy...

Hello!

The longer I've been on my mission, the harder it is for me to remember what I did that past week when I sit down to write my email!

We went on exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders and it was a much needed exchange!  I was feeling really overwhelmed with trying to be exactly obedient to the rules, trying to work with the ward, trying to talk with people, etc...Sister Allred helped me understand the rules better, she helped me with talking to people, and it was such a good exchange.  It really taught me that I just need to be patient and I need to have faith.  Sometimes the Lord makes us wait awhile before He answers our prayers, but we have to keep exercising our faith...we can't give up and lose faith when life gets difficult.

Well, the time has come for another funny story!  This one may be the best so far, so get prepared.  Once upon a time, two sister missionaries went to a lesson with a less-active member.  This less active member kept going off on completely random and extremely awkward tangents.  The two sister missionaries were trying to teach her about the Sacrament, but she was having none of it!  Then she proceeded to let us know that she has a conversation with her cat every night before bedtime. She then gave us a little demonstration by meowing back and forth with her cat, Daisy.  Meanwhile, I was sitting there thinking to myself, "Wow! This lesson keeps getting better and better!"  But!.....that's not the end!  The tale continues.  Later that night, the sister missionaries were driving to an appointment with a member when they spotted a dog sitting on the side of the road with someone laying down in the grass beside him.  We turned around and ran out to see if he was okay.  (Another car had pulled up in the meantime and was on the phone with 911).  We started asking him questions like, are you okay, what's your name, how old are you, etc. but he was just laying on the grass singing and laughing to himself.  Then, he sat up, and was like, "Holy cow! What are all of these people doing here!"  (He was pretty drunk).  He started  walking away and then the ambulance showed up.  So we watched the ambulance chase a drunk guy down the street to end the day!  The adventures we have as missionaries.

I wanted to share this with everyone...watch it and go Light the World!!!!

https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_FR_25-11-2016_dMIS_fmorg_xLIDyL1-A_

It is an advent calendar, but with service instead of chocolate!  We've been sharing this with people and it's really cool!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Dille

We made a birthday card for one of our less-active members,
and we were quite proud of ourselves...until Sister Snickers
noticed that I spelled "sister" wrong (and I'm supposed to be
teaching HER English, ha ha).