He told us he's been searching for something.......

Hey Guys!

So many cool stories to share...so little time!

We had zone conference this week in Brampton and it was so good! One of the things we talked a lot about is talking with everyone in our path no matter where we meet them. It doesn't matter if we meet them at the grocery store, in an elevator, or on the street, we share the gospel with them. So after zone conference, we went on exchanges with our Black Creek hermanas, and Hermana Bahadur and I worked on it the whole exchange. We saw so many cool miracles from it. We got two potential investigators in one night. =) Also, we were getting into our car in a parking lot, and a guy was just getting out of his. Hermana Bahadur stopped him, and we chatted with him for a bit and then invited him out to church. Sunday rolls around and into the church building he comes! He told us that he's been searching for something (we have the answers, hahaha!) He said that he never goes to the parking lot we met him in and he never stops when religious people try to talk with him, but he couldn't stop staring when he saw our tags. So prepared! 

We taught Sister Pat the word of wisdom last week, and came up with a plan for her to stop drinking coffee. She told us, "if it's bad for me, I'll stop!" We came back the next night, and she said, "I've put all my coffee away...I'm done." That right there is what you call faith, my friends! She's so cool!

Funny story of the week...on exchanges, we had to go to Shopper's to buy Hermana Bahadur an ankle brace. In the store, we gave a card to an older guy named Al (he had a super cool handlebar mustache and a bowler's hat!). Anyway, while we were going through the braces, he found us again and started giving us a bunch of tips for fixing foot problems. He was like, "Number one, you have to lose weight! With foot problems you always have to lose weight. Then, you have to get a rubber ball and run your foot over it for awhile. Then you get Nivea cream and rub it all over your foot. It has to be made by the Germans! Then wrap a plastic bag around your foot and walk around for two hours. All the bad stuff will come out of your foot while you walk. When you're done, you'll feel like you're walking on the clouds! Then you must wash off your foot in cold water. It has to be cold because if your body is hot then your blood will be hot. Your foot will be feel better. That kind of advice is normally $250, but for you, it's free!" =)

I love you!

Sister Dille

We went to a berry farm and thoroughly enjoyed being on a farm again!

Matchin' pajamas!

I discovered you can make smiley faces out of mangos and apples :)

Exchanges with Black Creek

I found Sister Gariki at Zone Conference.

I found Sister Snickers at Zone Conference :)

Exchanges with Sister Bahadur.

My Name Is On A Canadian Police Report.....

Hey Guys!

Well, another week has come and gone! Holy cow times sure goes by fast! We had a great week and saw lot of tender mercies and miracles!

On Tuesday, we had an amazing tender mercy. So we went to this apartment building to drop by two less-active members. We prayed that we would be able to get in and then headed off. When we got in the building, we were looking through the directory to see if we could find the less-actives on the list. As we were looking, a guy came and opened the door for us (blessings!) We dropped by both sisters, but neither of them were home. We'd been let into the building way too easily so we knew there must be a reason we were there. We began knocking on doors on the fourth floor and nobody was really interested. Then we get to door number twelve and a Portuguese woman named Maria answered. She's had a really difficult life, and it was so cool to be able to talk with her about the gospel and how it could help her. She agreed to let us bring a Portuguese Book of Mormon to her. Things happen! Fourth floor, twelfth door! (Read President Uchtdorf's talk from general conference last fall if you don't get that joke). ;)

Well, the other tender mercy that goes along with Maria goes as follows. Sister Holmstead and I were super tired that day! We were seriously falling asleep while we were standing up having conversations with people. When we came home for dinner that night, we decided we were more tired than hungry so we took a nap. We set a timer for thirty minutes so we could get up and get ready before our interviews with President at 5:00. Well, apparently when we fell asleep, we went out hard because the alarm on the phone went off, and we slept through the whole thing. Then, at about 4:50, President Shields called to let us know they were running about ten minutes late because of the traffic, but we slept through that too! (Apparently it was a much needed nap). Well, the Lord is so good to us because He made sure Sister Holmstead woke up at 4:55 so we could still have time to get up, throw a snack together, and still beat President and Sister Shields to the church. :)

For the funny experience of the week (this is also the craziest experience of my mission)...on Wednesday after district meeting we went on exchanges with our Churchville YSA sisters, and I don't think I've ever had such a powerful lesson about the Lord's timing. Sister  Hollyman and I went off to our first appointment with one of their new converts. She happened to be a few minutes late so we just figured out our schedule really quickly. Then we had lunch and a lesson with her and we were off again. We dropped by a less-active member and then tracted in the area a little bit. While we were tracting, Sister Holmstead called and asked if I had accidentally taken my GPS with me. We checked the car, and sure enough, it was sitting in my bag. (Oops!) So we arranged to meet them at Square One and drove off to meet them. They took a wrong turn and got lost so they were a few minutes behind, but they eventually got there and all was well in Zion. We contacted around Square One for awhile and then started heading back to the car. Let me say, the Lord's timing is fantastic...it was such a tender mercy that their new convert was late for the lesson, that I accidentally took the GPS, that the other sisters were lost and showed up late, the length of our conversations with all the people we talked with, etc. because as we were going back to the car, we heard cars honking and slamming on the breaks. We looked ahead and saw a little girl running across the road. She ran up the steps to the mall and played there for a bit and then started running back again to the road. We took of running to catch her before she got to the road again. Luckily we caught her just as she was stepping out onto the road. So now Sister Hollyman and I are standing with this lost little girl trying to figure out what to do. We walked with her into the mall, and she was just holding my hand and chattering happily away as we searched for a security guard who could help us. We eventually found two and they took us back to their main office while they called the local police to see if anyone had reported a missing child. Eventually, the police called back and said they found the little girl's grandma and they were on their way. The police showed up, and the little girl was returned to her family. So now Sister Hollyman and I have our names on a Canadian police report, hahaha. As crazy as the experience was, it was a really good reminder that God's timing is much better than mine. Had our schedule turned out any differently that day, we would not have been where we needed to be to find that little girl and she could've been hit by a car.

But the story doesn't end there. Later that night, Sister Hollyman and I were driving home, and their GPS is very very old, so it wasn't giving me very good instructions. We got to a point in the road where I could take one of three forks in the road...left, straight, or right. Well, the moral of the story is always choose the right, because when you choose to go straight, the road takes you to the Toronto-Pearson International Airport, which is the home of the most confusing road system in the world in my opinion. We got lost at the aiport on exchanges. :) Sister Hollyman thought it was great though because it gave her ample opportunities to tease me and remind me that in 10 weeks, I'll be there. In fact, as we finally found our way out, a plane took off and flew right over our car. She turned to me and said, "Sister Dille, Sister Dille! What's that called?!...10 Weeks!" So that's our fun story about finding a missing child and getting lost at the airport, hahaha. Oh the things that happen on exchanges!

Love you!

 

Sister Dille

 

Playing soccer last p-day in our super cool matching MTC t-shirts.

Exchanges with Sister Hollyman and Sister Skeen.

Dinner at Momma's house (she's a really cool Jamaican lady in our ward)!

We had a lesson with a YW in our ward named Brittany on marking her scriptures for a mission.

This is for Sister Holmstead's family....it's the picture she promised you of Mississauga.

 

 

 

 

Suhil from Syria and flower juice.....

Hey Guys!

This week was so cool! Sister Holmstead and I have been working on talking with as many people as we can each day, and we've seen so many tender mercies! I'll share a few of my favourite ones.

1. We were walking home one night, and there was a man on the other side of street. Sister Holmstead was like, "let's go for it!" We crossed and started talking to him, and it was a super good conversation! We taught him about the Book of Mormon and showed him a copy. He asked, "can I have that?!" He's going on a trip, but he said he'll call us when he gets home! (Fingers crossed )

2. We were coming out of a lesson from our investigator's apartment building. There was a man sitting at the other building across the driveway, so we went to go talk with him, but a lady came out the door and right to us. She asked who we were and what church we were from, so we explained and shared the Plan of Salvation pamphlet with her. She's going through a really difficult time in her life right now, and she wants to make some changes. She gave us her number and asked us to come visit her next Sunday!

Man, this week flew by so fast! On Thursday, we had MLC in Brampton, and it was so good! We learned a lot about how we can work better with members, because members are our best source for finding solid people to teach. We've been trying to figure out how to do that better in our area, so it was definitely an answer to prayers. 

On Sunday after church, we had a lesson with Sam, and Bishop came. It was such a good lesson! We talked about the commandments and how we have a prophet on the earth today. As we talked, Sam shared with us some of his past experiences and how he's so excited to make changes to his life. He now has a baptismal date for July 15th! It's such a privilege to be teaching someone who is so humble!

Well, summer has officially come to Canada! We walked out of our apartment yesterday for church and it was already 30 degrees at 8:00. By the time we came out of church, it was 40 degrees! We're melting over here!

So Sister Holmstead and I tried a new food this week. We went to teach our investigator Suhil, who's from Syria (cool side note...we learned he's really really famous over in the Middle East for his art work! We're teaching a famous person! We're gettin' his autograph at the next lesson!) At the end of each visit, he always gives us something to drink, and this week it was flower juice. They apparently make a syrup out of flowers and put tons and tons of sugar in it. Then you mix it with water and it's basically like drinking flower flavoured sugar water, hahaha. We had TONS of energy for the rest of the day.  

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

 

Sister Dille

 

Transfers

We just decided to take a random picture of our lunch

This is us walking home from church yesterday, melting in the sun!

 

Two's...Three's....Six's....Seven's....I Love Canada!

Hey Guys!

Well, we'll start with the bad news...Sister Seegmiller thinks she's leaving me. Apparently she thinks she needs to go to Hamilton or something. My new companion is going to be Sister Holmstead. I came out from the MTC with her and she's from Utah. She's really cool and I'm excited...I've exchanged with her before and she's a wonderful sister! It's also such a tender mercy that Sister Seegmiller is only going to Hamilton because those are the other STLs we exchange with, so we'll get to go on exchanges with each other and we'll still get to see each other at MLCs. :)

Other than our devastating call from the assistants last night telling us we aren't staying together for a third transfer, our week was great. We had a really cool tender mercy. During weekly planning last week, we set a goal to find three new, have six member present lessons, and get seven referrals. We've been really struggling with those three key indicators for the past few weeks, so we decided we were done with two's and three's, we wanted sixes and sevens, hahaha. On exchanges with Sister Nelson, I learned about how to ask for referrals more effectively, which we were then able to implement throughout the week to help us get more referrals, and then we were very blessed to be able to find so many members to come teaching with us. We've also been going on lots of car fasts, so we've been able to find a lot of potentials who we were able to call and set up appointments with so they could become new investigators. By the time we counted up our numbers last night to send in, the Lord had blessed us to achieve our goals. The Lord takes such good care of us. :)

We had a really powerful lesson with our investigator from Jamaica on Saturday night. We call her Sister Pat. :) We gave her a church tour, and then we showed her the Restoration video, and the Spirit was so strong. After the video, she told us that she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. She really has the gift of believing, it's so incredible! I'm so grateful for powerful moments like that! 

I wanted to encourage you all to read something. This week, I was studying about the restoration of the priesthood in Joseph Smith History 1:68-end. It was such a powerful experience for me. I also read Oliver Cowdry's testimony at the bottom, and it's so powerful. I know that if you read it, your testimonies of the Restoration of the priesthood will be strengthened too!

On Saturday, we went on a car fast and it was REALLY long! It also happened to be the time we need to do an actual fast and it was hot. So by the time we were getting close to the end of the day, we were pretty burned out. We were walking along the sidewalk, and this car salesman was cutting balloons off the cars. We said hello to him, and he asked if we wanted the balloons. Uh, of course we want free balloons! So we happily walked back home with our big balloons trailing behind us, hahaha. It's a new contacting technique we're trying out. ;)

Funny story of the week...once upon a time Sister Dille and Sister Seegmiller were doing studies. Sister Dille was reading Jesus the Christ and had to look up a word in the dictionary. She stumbled across the word 'ache' and for whatever reason, her brain did not process the word correctly. She was trying to figure out how to pronounce it and the only things she could come up with were a-chee and a-shee. Now thoroughly confused, she reads the definition- a dull pain. "Oh! Ache," she calls out. Wow! You know you're tired when...hahaha. Good thing my companion doesn't judge. :)

Love you!

Sister Dille

P.S. Sorry, because of transfers, I probably won't have time to email very many people. I promise I'm not ignoring you! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies & Tender Mercies....

Hey Guys!

We had a busy week, and it went by so fast! We had two exchanges this week, so we felt like we weren't really companions. On one of our exchanges though, we had such a cool tender mercy!

I was with Hermana Karpa and we were walking to Sister Lau's to help her with her English class and it was POURING rain. We were completely soaked, and I found out that my raincoat isn't as waterproof as I thought, hahaha. The water from skirt was dripping down my legs into my boots and the wind was blowing so hard we couldn't use umbrellas. It was great! ;) It made us appreciate dry clothes and shoes a lot more. So we got to the appointment, shared our message, and then started putting our coats/rain boots back on. Sister Lau was like, "sisters, I drive you home." Tender mercy! We were able to go back to our apartment and have enough time to put our stuff in the drier. Then for tender mercy #2, we had talked about chocolate chip cookies that morning walking to Sister Lau's, and all day I wanted chocolate chip cookies so badly! We went to another appointment at Sister Miner's house and when we stepped in the door, she was putting cookies in the oven, and they just so happened to be chocolate chip. :) She told us that she felt prompted to make them for us. The Lord is so good to us.

Yesterday, we were on a car fast, and we met the most hilarious people! We met this older guy who was wearing a cowboy hat and jamming out to rap music while he cleaned his pick-up truck. We met this young mom walking down the street pushing a stroller, so we said, "Hi! How are you?" She said, "I'm not interested!" (Kind of a strange mood to be in). Then we knocked on this door, and a lady opened. We asked how she was doing and she told us, "I'm really angry. Why did you knock? I have a doorbell right there and you didn't use it." Then we offered to do free housework for her and all hard feelings cleared up. She's going to let us come back in two weeks as long as we don't try to convert her... ;) 

We went to downtown Toronto this morning, and it was so cool! There were so many people. We got to see the CN Tower, Union Station, the waterfront area, a cool park with old trains, and a bunch of cool people. It took up a lot of our time, so I probably won't have time to email a lot of you back, but I love you!

Love,

 

Sister Dille

 

 

You Remind Me Of A Girl I Once Loved.....

Hi Guys! I hope you all had a great week!

Wow, it seems like forever since I emailed you last, hahaha. We had such an amazing week, I don't even know where to begin...we saw so many tender mercies! A few weeks ago, we met a really nice lady downtown while we were walking to an appointment. Her name is Sister Pat, and she's from Jamaica. :) Last Tuesday, we went to teach her for the first time, and it was so good. We taught her about the Restoration, and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. (Cool random side note...we brought Sister Edmay teaching with us, and when Sister Pat opened the door, both of them got so excited. It turns out they're really good friends, because they used to be neighbours, and now they're reconnected!) A few days later, we went back, and we read the introduction with her and part of Alma 5. She said, "Sisters, I know it's true." In our heads, Sister Seegmiller and I were like, 'are you sure? It's pretty rare that after only two lessons someone knows that certainly.' Then yesterday, we went back and she had been reading in Alma, and she said, "Sisters, I know that whatever I read in this book is true." It's such a tender mercy.

Then this morning, we were able to have lunch with our investigator, Sam, from the Philippines. After lunch, we shared the Restoration. We talked about how the priesthood authority has been restored, and after he's baptized, he'll be able to receive the priesthood to help do God's work. He started crying and was filled with so much joy! He has such a deep desire to serve God. He said the closing prayer, and it was one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard. It's such a privilege to be working with such prepared people!

In order save kilometers, Sister Seegmiller and I have been walking a lot. We've gone on two really long car fasts, and we've been so blessed for it. Last week, it was SOOO hot on the day we chose to walk. It was almost 40 degrees outside, and we were dying! We were on our way back home from an appointment, and this black car pulled up alongside the curb. The driver rolled the window down and it was Sister Anderson, one of our members! She gave us a ride back to our apartment, and saved us from walking in the heat! Yesterday, we were on another car fast. We walked to a less-active sister's house, and had a wonderful lesson with her. As we were about to leave, she said, "Sister, wait! I"ll make lunch for you." It was such a tender mercy because we didn't have time to go all the way home before our next appointment, so we wouldn't have been able to eat. On our walk back to the church, another member found us and gave us a ride. The Lord is so good to us!

Hahaha, this email wouldn't be complete with some good funny experiences, so here ya go!

1. A few weeks ago, we were tracting, and a Polish man opened the door. We had a conversation with him, and asked him how long he had been here in Canada. He told us he's been here nine years, so we said, "wow! You've been here longer than we have!" He asked us where we were from and how long we've been here, so we told him we're from the States and we've been here for a little over a year. He was like, "wow! Your English is very good." We said, "um, thank you...we uh, spoke it in school."

2. We had a regional broadcast a few weeks ago in Etobicoke. We were standing by the doors and an older gentleman walked in and started talking with us. He looked at me and said, "you remind me of a girl I once loved. I saw you sitting up on the stand and wondered if it could be here. It's a long, sad, story." I had no idea what to say! I just stood there hoping my face wasn't the colour of a tomato!

3. On Sunday morning, we decided to start our day off right by locking ourselves out of our apartment! :) We were heading out the door for church, so we grabbed all of our stuff, locked the door, and headed to the car only to realize that our keys were still hanging inside the hallway. (It was also in the middle of a thunderstorm, hahaha). We tried knocking on our landlords door, but they weren't awake yet, and the screens on our windows can only be removed from the inside, which is really unfortunate when you're trying to break into your house. So we walked to church in the wind, rain, and thunder and learned a very important life lesson; always make sure you have your keys! 

Love you!

 

Sister Dille

 

 

Walking to church in a thunderstorm.

Me and Sister Seegmiller!

I found Sister Gariki :)

Sister Lau made us sushi!

Exchanges with our Churchville YSA sisters.

 

When Performance Is Measured, Performance Improves...

Hi Guys!

Sister Seegmiller and I learned a really important lesson this week! (Well, we've actually been learning it for the past two transfers, but ya know...). At the beginning of our first transfer together, our area was struggling with finding new investigators. In Preach My Gospel, it says..."When performance is measured, performance improves.  When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates." 

So, we've been working on our key indicator of finding new investigators for the past few months. We've been setting goals, making plans, implementing our plans, evaluating our efforts, adjusting our goals/plans. Now, we're finding several new investigators every week. It's been amazing to see how the Lord helps us to achieve our goals!

I found an awesome scripture on member missionary work! In 3 Nephi 18:32, it says...

"Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship,  for unto such shall ye continueto minister; for ye know not but what they will return and  repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall  be the means of bringing salvation unto them."  As members of His church, we are the means of bringing salvation unto those who have not had the chance to receive the restored gospel. Now truly is the time for members and missionaries to work together. I invite each of you to pray this week for what you can personally do to share the gospel with the people around you. The Lord's work will move forward when you as members and we as missionaries are equal partners in the work.

We had an amazing miracle on exchanges this week. I was with Sister Rhodes, and we had an hour from 2:00-3:00 where we needed something to do. We couldn't figure out what would be most effective, so we moved on, and decided we'd come back to it later. We set a goal that we wanted to receive and contact a media referral that day, and wouldn't you know that a few seconds later, a text from church headquarters came through with a referral assignment. We called the man up, his name was Sam, and he asked if we were free at 2:00! The Lord is so good to us! He's so prepared to receive the gospel. He was visiting his niece and nephew in the Philippines, and started going to church with them. The missionaries came over several times and taught him a little bit. When he flew back to Canada, he was so excited to meet with missionaries here and keep learning. He came to church yesterday, and on Saturday night, the Spanish elders in our ward had a baptism, so he came to that too. He's all excited now to enter the waters of baptism! The Lord provides!

I love you!

Sister Dille

 

We got smoothies!

Exchanges with Sister Samuels and Sister Jensen.

On our way to church!

Exchanges with Sister Rhodes and Sister Short.

District service project at the Brampton Community Gardens.