THE GOSPEL SHALL BE DECLARED TO EVERY CREATURE!!!

Oh man, what a week! We got off to kind of a slow start. We did a lot of tracting and street contacting, which is great, because we got to share the gospel, but it can also get discouraging after awhile. Sister Gariki and I decided that we just needed to cheerfully go to work and leave the rest up to the Lord. As the week went on, the days kept getting better and better!

On Tuesday, we had a wonderful lesson with our investigator, Erin. We read Mosiah 24 with her and as we read, she started applying the things we were reading to herself. It has been such a miracle to watch her progress these last four months! She's now coming to church almost every Sunday, she's praying and reading the Book of Mormon almost every day, and she's told us how much her relationship with God has been strengthened the past few months. It has definitely built my
testimony of the power of the gospel to change lives!

On Wednesday, I'm pretty sure Sister Gariki and I both set personal records for the number of kilometers we've walked on our missions. Our car has a certain number of kilometers allotted each month, because we had transfers and had to drive all the way to Brampton, our kilometers
are basically nonexistent at this point. On Wednesday, we walked all the way from our apartment on the north end of town, down to the food bank on the southwest part of Brockville to do some service, then we walked east to drop by a returning member, and then we walked all the way back up to our apartment. Man, I was so sore! (It's times like these you really start to appreciate cars, haha!)

On Friday, I'm pretty sure we were in the hottest weather I've ever been in! We left our apartment at ten and it was already in the thirties. In the afternoon, we went tracting before our weekly meeting
with our branch mission leader, and it was almost forty degrees (not including the humidity). I really appreciate winter time a lot more and I've decided that I'm not going to complain about the cold weather when it arrives! On the bright side, the tan line from my shoes is coming along quite nicely, haha.

On Sunday, we had a really amazing experience at church. One of our investigators came and she had been having a hard morning. It was amazing to see how much she had cheered up by the time church was over! On my mission, my testimony of going to church has definitely been strengthened. Although it may seem hard to go for three hours, I've learned that we're not really giving up three hours. When we go to church, it's really to bless and benefit us. If we go humbly and prayerfully, seeking answers from the Lord, I know that we will receive the strength and hope we need to carry on throughout our week.

After church, Erin invited us over for lunch, and we had such a good discussion with her! She asked us some questions about things we learned about at church and then we shared a scripture with her in
Isaiah 41:10 (you should look it up; it's one of my new favorites).  Later on that evening, we went to contact a referral Erin gave us about a week ago. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my
mission so far...

There's a big berry farm in a little town called Tincap, not too far from Brockville. We parked the car and started walking up the dirt driveway to the farm. We saw some of the workers sitting on a swing,
and so we went and asked them if they knew where we could find Verol. They pointed to a guy sitting on the other side of the lawn, so we walked over and introduced ourselves. He was really excited to meet us and he invited one of his friends, Colin, to join in. They're both from Jamaica and they leave their families to come up to Canada to work for the summer. We shared the First Vision with them and testified of the truthfulness of our message. It was so cool and they both have such powerful testimonies of the Savior. As we taught them though, a fox ran up in the middle of the lesson, no joke!!! Man, you know that if animals start showing up to hear the message, you must be
preachin' the truth, haha. But you know what the Bible says, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15). Haha!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Dille

Out tracting in the teeny tiny village of Lyn! If you blink, you miss it!

We found this pig (once again...while we were tracting).

                                                        Haha, we found this eagle while we were tracting in Lyn,                                                         and I was like, "Whoa! Are we in the States again?!"

The Measure of Success

Hey Everyone!

Wow, it's been a long week! Lots and lots of tracting! Sister Gariki and I are starting to get tan lines on our feet from our shoes because we've been out in the sun so much! We're really trying to build up our teaching pool this transfer with people who earnestly desire to learn about the gospel. We're doing our best to talk with everyone (at least 10 people everyday). Even though it's not easy, it's amazing how talking with people actually helps us to feel happier because we know we're fulfilling our purpose as missionaries.

We started out the week by going on exchanges! I stayed in Brockville with Sister Crawford (Sister Gariki's old companion). We had some really good lessons and we were able to talk with a lot of really cool people. At one point, we were walking down the sidewalk and some missionaries from another church walked by. They stopped us to ask us a bunch of questions and I was freaking out! I was so grateful I had a Sister Training Leader with me, haha. Then they wanted us to pull out
our Bibles so they could ask us more questions, and inside I was like, "AH! Is this Bible bashing?!" They were super nice though and we got to share a little bit about the Plan of Salvation with them. Overall, the exchange was super fun and I learned a lot! We did have to stop teaching two of our investigators though, Will and Marsha, during the exchange. It was so sad and so hard for me to watch them turn away. I've really come to love both of them and I really wanted them to receive the blessings of the gospel in their lives. It's crazy how much people come to mean to you as a missionary!

On Thursday, we had Skills and Interviews, so we got to meet our new mission president and his wife, President and Sister Shields. They're super laid back and we love them! You can tell they love the gospel and we're so excited to learn from them. In my interview with the mission president, he gave me some really good advice for conquering feelings on discouragement. He shared a scripture with me in Doctrine and Covenants 123:17, "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." President Shields told me that I need to go about and cheerfully do everything I can, but then let God take care of the rest. He told me that as missionaries, we do things in the name of Christ, which means according to His plan. His plan includes the agency of others, which I cannot control. I must do everything I can, but then let other people have their agency.

This week, my testimony that prayers are answered through the Book of Mormon has been strengthened so much. The past two weeks, I've been feeling discouraged with lessons falling through, investigators falling out of our teaching pool, tracting with no success, etc. A couple days ago, I came across a scripture in Helaman 10:3-5. "And it came to pass as he was thus pondering-being much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites, their secret works of darkness, and their murderings, and their plunderings, and all manner of iniquities-and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And Now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works..." Sorry, I know it's a long scripture, but it really helped me to remember that I am here to declare the gospel to as many people as will listen, but the ultimate measure of success is not in how many people we baptize or how many new investigators we find. If we are obedient, diligent, and and full of love for the people we have been called to serve, we are successful missionaries.

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Dille

Exchanges with Sister Crawford!

Five Months!

Hey Everyone!

This week went by really fast because we had transfers and zone council, so we spent lots and lots and lots of time in the car! My new companion is Sister Gariki (she's from Tahiti)! She speaks French and I'm helping her learn English, so it's definitely a new experience for both of us. She's tried to teach me how to say some things in French, but I sound so American when I pronounce them it's ridiculous! 

Anyway, transfers were definitely an adventure. I realized once we got to the stake center that I didn't have a GPS, my new companion didn't have a GPS since she can't drive, and I had no idea how to get back to Brockville from Brampton. It caused a slight panic attack, but thank goodness for Sister Training Leaders! They had an extra one, so we made it back to Brockville safe and sound. I also got to drive through Toronto for this first time (it's a little bit different than driving through little Weiser). I didn't crash the car though and only got lost once, so I'd call it a successful trip!

Something that has really impressed me about Sister Gariki so far is her amazing faith. On the ride home, one of the first things she said to me was "Sister Dille, do you have faith that we will see a baptism this transfer?" Then, on Saturday night, we were trying our best to get our investigators to church so we could hit the standards of excellence for this week. We had set up rides, called people, sent out reminder texts, etc. We knelt down to pray and ask the Lord to bless our efforts, and Sister Gariki looked me in the eye and asked, "Sister Dille, do you have faith that the Lord will help us?" The next day at church, two of our investigators came and it really strengthened my testimony that if we do everything we can, the Lord will help us!

Oh, also at church yesterday, our investigator came up to us after relief society, and she asked if it was too late for her to pay her tithing this month! I have absolutely loved watching her progress to this point and her faith is incredible! When I first got to Brockville, she was really struggling, but over the past few months, she really has exercised her faith by continuing to come to church, read the Book of Mormon, and now through paying her tithing. Oh my goodness, I just love being a missionary and watching the Atonement soften peoples' hearts and change their lives!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Dille

We had a mission "birthday party" last night because Sister
Gariki and I hit five months in the mission field. Woohoo!

Pancake party!

Teaching in the Pouring Rain

 Wow, I have so much to write this week, I don't even know where to get started.

On Tuesday, we were in a lesson with one of our returning members, Chris. Because we didn't have a member with us, we had to do it down by the river. We were just starting the lesson and it started pouring rain, like literally pouring. I've never seen it rain so hard. It felt like we were getting a second shower. We ran under a tree and finished the lesson and then started running back to the car. We stopped to talk to a guy (while it was still pouring), but he wasn't really interested. While we were talking to him though, his friend walked over and told us that he had met with missionaries before, but he was ready to learn some more! So we found a new investigator in the pouring rain! Of course, as soon as we got back to the car, the rain stopped.

On Saturday, we had a really cool experience. Our mission president has set standards of excellence for us each week. In order to achieve the standards of excellence, we have to find two new investigators. We found Jeffrey on Tuesday, but we still needed one more! We were trying so hard to talk to everyone all day long, but no one was interested. Our lessons with our investigators kept falling through, we were really tired, and we started to get discouraged. Finally, we had 20 minutes left of "finding" time during the day and we were about ready to give up and start walking back to the car, but the thought popped into my mind, "go right." Usually when I feel the Spirit, it's through peaceful feelings, I've never had an impression come in the form of a thought like that before, and it was very powerful. We turned right and saw a lady raking her lawn. We offered to help, but she was almost done. Her name is Josie and she's a super sweet lady (she has a gigantic puppy named Murphy)! We shared the Restoration with her and she said we could come back this week to share more. We were so relieved to be able to find a new investigator and it really helped me see how important it is to be diligent and rely on the Lord.

Sunday was a hard day because it was transfer call day. Transfer calls start at 9:00 and go all the way until 10:30, so all day long, you're super nervous, wondering what's going to happen. We went and said goodbye to some of our members and investigators just in case Sister Hunter got transferred, and it was so sad! We have a really cool family, the Smiths, who invited us out for dinner at a place called Ivy Lea. We had spaghetti and we got to go look at some of the cool houses in the 1000 Islands. On the way home, we saw the bridge to the States, and it was super cool (I took like 10 pictures)! Anyway, while we were driving, there were deer running all over the road, and so we had to go really slow. It was starting to get really close to 9:00 and we were stressed because we were going to miss our curfew!! Then, to top it off, we got stopped by the police!! Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds!!!! They had the road blocked off, and they were making every car stop so they could check for seat belts and drunk drivers. Haha, it was pretty funny because they're checking LDS missionaries to make sure they're not drinking and driving.

Anyway, we FINALLY got home and started nightly planning at 9:00, and every time the phone went off, we had a heart attack (it seriously went off like six times)! It was getting later, and later, and later, but still no phone call. Finally, it was like 10:28, and I was like, "okay, it's going to be fine, we're staying together!!!" And then the APs called and crushed my dreams!!!!! Sister Hunter is going to whitewash into Bowmanville (which is like 20 minutes away from my last area, Cobourg!) and she's training a new missionary. She's nervous about it, but I know that she is going to be amazing. She is seriously one of the best missionaries in the CTM, and her new missionary is so blessed to have her. I'm going to be staying in Brockville and my new companion is Sister Gariki. She just finished training and she's learning English, so we'll have an extra hour of studies where she'll practice English. She's from French Polynesia. I've met her a few times before, and she seems like a very sweet sister. I sure am going to miss Sister Hunter though. I'm so grateful for all that she has taught me, and I know that she will do so well in her next area!

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

Love ya!

 

Sister Dille

 

 

Here's our district! Elder and Sister Hatch, Elder Lemon, Elder Bradford, Elder Dardon, and Elder Jackson. Oh, and then there's us!!!! ;)

This is Laurel (our investigator), Jeannie, and Joy (our family hx consultants)!

Hehe, I had my first Canada Day on Friday! Happy 'eh' day!!!!

This is our investigator, Erin, and her two kids, Adelaide and Finn. We love them so much!

These are the Smiths! They're the best!

This is the bridge to the States!!! We saw it on the way to a dinner appointment on Sunday evening!!!

These are the Harveys! They're awesome!

 

More Cat Problems!

Wow, this week has been super busy, I'm trying to remember everything that happened! On Wednesday, we had zone conference. The Oshawa, North York, and Kingston zones were all combined, so there were a lot of missionaries there. I got to see one of my trainers, Sister Spiekerman! It was so cool to see her. Since she's going home soon, she also gave her departing testimony and it was so wonderful to be able to hear it!

I learned so much at zone conference and I received so many answers to my prayers! The biggest thing I learned about though was humility. In order to help the people in my area, I really need to humble myself and start focusing more on them. It's also been interesting as I've studied the Book of Mormon the last few days to see how humility ties into the principle of obedience. If I'm not humble, I can't be obedient and I can't have the Spirit!

After zone conference, we went on exchanges. Sister Hunter went to Oshawa and I stayed in Brockville with Sister Gousse. I was actually kind of stressed out about exchanges because it was the end of the week, we hadn't found any new investigators yet, and Sister Hunter was gone. I remember praying that night and really asking for His help. I was feeling overwhelmed. The next day, we went and taught one of our returning members, and then we felt like we should tract in the area. As we knocked on doors and shared the message of the Restoration, we found five new investigators! It was so wonderful to be able to share the Restoration with so many people and it was honestly one of the happiest times of my mission so far! As we walked back to our apartment, we also met a really cool lady named Pam. We talked with her about the Plan of Salvation and she told us about how she loves helping people find God in their lives. Before she walked away though, she started rubbing her hands together (she said it was to warm up her praying hands!) and then she prayed with us right there on the sidewalk! It was so cool! I've never had that experience before. We ran into her on Friday too and she prayed with us again! She's one of the coolest people I've met on my mission so far! I loved it!

On Saturday, we went to a member's home for dinner (Jeannie), and she had one of her friends over who belongs to a different church (Pat). Before we came, Jeannie had given Pat a copy of the Ensign, and Pat had read it cover to cover. While she read, she wrote down a bunch of questions and then Jeannie had us answer them while we were there. When she showed us the list, I may have had a small panic attack! Some of them were kind of tricky to answer, but it actually went really well, and Pat is super cool! We taught her a little bit about the Plan of Salvation, and she taught us about some of her beliefs. It was a really cool experience!

On Saturday, we taught one of our investigators, John, and while I was sharing my testimony with him about prayer, his cat (Bob)  jumped into my lap and started ripping pages out of my scriptures! I have bad luck with cats on my mission! Luckily, we were able to tape it back together, but boy was I mad at that cat, haha! :) 

My testimony that God hears and answers our prayers has definitely been strengthened this week. I am so grateful that we have a loving Heavenly Father who loves us enough to listen to our prayers. I know that He truly does listen to our prayers, that He knows our worries, our fears, and our weaknesses. I know that He is aware of our circumstances and that He loves every single one of His children. I know that He will always answer our prayers in His own timing.

I love you all!

Sister Dille

I got to see Sister Spiekerman at zone conference! She going home at the end of next transfer. It's really weird when your companions start leaving!

We said goodbye to President and Sister Clayton at zone conference! They leave on Thursday!

We found a new investigator, so we celebrated by doing some monkey bars!

This is Catherine and John-Marie (our investigators who are deaf)! The lady in the wheelchair is Sister Timms. She knows some sign language, so she comes teaching with us and helps us out!

This is Jeannie's friend, Pat. She is super cool!

Scraping Wallpaper

Hey Everyone!

We had a pretty good week. We had our first exchange of the transfer, and I went to Oshawa with Sister Mamarova (she's from Bulgaria). All of our appointments except two fell through, so we did A LOT of tracting and contacting. Since Sister Mamarova can't drive in Canada, I had to drive in an area I'm not really familiar with. Oshawa's a pretty big city too, so I was a bit nervous about it, but I didn't crash the car, and we both lived, so I guess you could say it was a successful exchange!

So Sister Hunter and I had a bit of a scare this week with our investigators Will and Marsha. They called us on the phone and they told us that they didn't want to be baptized anymore. We were really nervous that we were going to lose them, but they agreed that we could come see them that evening. We just went and we asked them questions and we really tried to listen to their concerns. It was a really powerful lesson, and we were able to figure out what they need to progress. It really taught me the importance of having the Spirit with you and of loving the people you teach!

 

Oh, Sister Hunter and I have been working on a service project for a member in our branch. Her name is Jeannie, and she's from Florida, so she has a really cool southern accent. Anyway, we helped her take down wall paper in her living room because she wants to paint it and brighten up the room (actually, it's really sad because she's doing it for her husband who has terminal cancer. She doesn't want him to have to die in a dark room so that's why she's doing all of this work). There were like four layers of wall paper on those walls! We're still working on it with her. It's crazy!  We love it though because Jeannie is hilarious and she keeps you entertained the entire time!

 

On Sunday, our investigator John came to church for the first time! We were able to meet with him on Saturday and teach him about the Restoration of the Gospel, and it went really well. While we were there, he told us that he found his own copy of the Book of Mormon, and we were like 'whoa, this guy's cool!' It was super awesome!

Something I've learned a lot about this week is the importance of the Book of Mormon. The past few weeks have been kind of stressful and challenging, but as I've turned to prayer and the Book of Mormon, I've really felt peace and it helps me to remember that no matter what, everything will work out.

I love you all!

 

Sister Dille

 

 

 

Me & Sister Hunter

We finally finished scraping the wallpaper at one of the member's homes!!!!!

The ICU, Raw Sewage & Having Hope!

This week was super crazy, but it was so good! Sister Hunter and I had a surprise trip to Trenton that threw our schedule off a little bit. We came home on Wednesday and we found out that a sewer pipe had burst in our apartment and we couldn't use the toilet or anything. There was raw sewage sitting in the hallway. On Thursday morning, we walked into the kitchen to get breakfast (the lights weren't on) and I stepped in it!!!!! (I may have screamed a little). ;) Anyway, we called the mission office, and they told us that we had to spend a few days with the Trenton sisters until we could get the problem fixed. It was pretty crazy, and our apartment smelled like an outhouse for awhile! It was really gross!

Even with being out of our area for a few days, we were still able to find two new investigators on Saturday! We're really excited to start teaching them soon! Oh, so we met this really cool guy named Kevin on the street the other day and he let us teach him the Restoration on the street! It was super cool, and it was the first time I've been able to do that before. At the beginning of my mission, talking to people was really, really scary, but the more you do it, the more you love it. It still scares me a little bit, but talking with people really makes you happy because you know that you're trying to share the gospel with them!

 

This morning, we got a text from our mission president letting us know that there was a man in the ICU at the hospital here. He was in critical condition because of his heart and he wanted to meet with the missionaries and get a priesthood blessing. We started calling any priesthood holders we knew of that lived close by, and we were able to find Brother Wilcock and Brother Kelly (our branch mission leader). They gave him a very nice blessing, and he actually wants us to come back and teach him in the hospital later on this week! (We're really excited because he is super nice and he's really funny)! He wanted his phone charger unplugged from the wall, so Brother Kelly went over and unplugged it. Of course, we're in an ICU room with tons of chords and equipment, so Brother Kelly didn't want to pull the wrong one. He unplugged the charger, and as soon as he did, the guy yelled, "OH, YOU KILLED ME!" and then started laughing. The look on Brother Kelly's face was priceless! It was so funny!

I've been studying a lot about hope the past few days, and I have learned so much. These past few weeks have been wonderful, but they've also been very challenging and I've really felt my testimony being tried. In my studies this morning, I found several scriptures talking about hope that really brought me a lot of peace. In 2 Nephi 31:20, it basically says that we just need to keep moving forward, keep loving God, and everything will work out! Then in Alma 58:10-11, it talks about how Helaman and his army received great strength, faith, and hope through prayer. It reminded me of the scriptures in Mosiah 24 where the people have heavy burdens placed upon them, almost heavier than they can bear. However, as they prayed and sought the Lord's help, He didn't take their burdens away, but he strengthened their backs so they could bear them with ease. If we have hope through the Atonement of Christ, He can help us through any trial!

I love you all!

 

Sister Dille