A Missionary's Tale......there & back again.: Did You Know Lehi & His Family Had a Pet?.....

Hey Guys!

Wow, I have such a strong testimony of D&C 24:12. "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men." Everyone has been telling me that your last transfer, you're completely exhausted all the time, and I believe them. I have never been so tired in my life. It's been really cool to apply the Lord's promise in this scripture though...whenever I feel really tired, we go out and talk to people, and all of sudden I have energy to keep working. It's so cool!

This morning, I was studying in 1 Nephi 2, and there are so many principles in there that are applicable to us. In that chapter, the Lord asks Lehi and his family to leave behind all of their comforts and head out into the wilderness. Obviously that would be quite difficult to leave behind your nice home and go spend the rest of your life living in a tent. It was interesting to see how they each responded to the test. Lehi was faithful and obeyed, Laman and Lemuel murmured, Nephi prayed to have his heart softened, and Sam was so humble and willing he accepted the testimonies of others. In our lives, we're often required to make sacrifices and go through hard things. Sometimes we murmur like Laman and Lemuel because we 'know not the dealings of that God who created us.' But if Lehi and his family hadn't made that sacrifice, we wouldn't have the Book of Mormon today. Our sacrifices bless others, and although we do not always understand why we're called to wade through certain afflictions, God does. We can trust that He loves us and no matter what happens, it is for our good. (1 Nephi 11:17).

Fun fact for the day, did you know that Lehi and his family had a pet? They had a pet flea. In the Book of Mormon, the Lord commands Lehi to take his family and "flea" into the wilderness. The things we learn from studying the scriptures. =)

So, I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Varty and she's so awesome! She's from Millerville, Alberta, so I get one last Canadian companion! She's a really sweet sister, and she's a very obedient, diligent missionary! She's awesome!

We had a cool experience this week! We got a media referral for a lady named Anne-Marie who wanted some help painting her house. We went and did service for her and we chatted a little bit about the gospel. She has a new baby and so she's starting to think about how she wants to raise him and how to protect him from the evils in the world. We talked with her about prophets and how we have one on the earth today to help us do just that. She's going to let us come back this week and share more with her. It's really exciting!

My testimony of planning was strengthened a lot this week. When we plan, the Spirit can help us more. Sister Varty and I have been planning a lot more effectively for our lessons, and it's made such a huge difference. We spend our personal studies focused on our investigators, and then in companion study we make detailed lesson plans according to what we learned in personal study. Last week, we had a really powerful lesson with an investigator named Fostina on the Restoration. As we taught, she totally understood because the Spirit was there. She understood the pattern of apostasy, the need for the Restoration, the role of the Book of Mormon, etc. Planning is inspired.

I Love You All!

Sister Dille

This is our ward mission leader, Brother Miles.

A missionary who served in the ward came back to visit and I talked with her mom. It turns out we're very distantly related through the Dille's side, so we obviously took a picture!