The Time Is Short...

Hey Guys!

Sorry, this will be really short, because we're running really low on time!

Last week, we had a cool miracle.  We're really trying hard to find people to teach, but we had to turn quite a few people over to the Lord during our weekly planning.  It was difficult because we already have a very little teaching pool.  It was a bit discouraging.  We went out tracting afterwards and within just a few minutes we found a really cool family!

In district meeting, we were role playing with each other, and we were trying to teach the Restoration. Our district leader was trying to get us to teach very simply and to really focus on the investigator.  It was really hard! But we noticed that as we centered the lesson on Jesus Christ, it was easier to teach simply and to help the investigators apply it to their lives.  It was cool to see that He really is the center of everything we should be doing as missionaries.

I just realized that my mission is over halfway done.  I'm almost to my last four transfers and those ones go by so fast from what I hear! It's so weird because it doesn't feel like it should be coming to an end that fast!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Dille

Nine months ago...where does the time go?

The Field is "White" and Ready to Harvest

The field is white and ready to harvest....you know why?  Because it's snowing!  Yesterday, we went out tracting  and the temperatures were below zero (celsius), and the wind was howling!  Our feet were completely numb by the time we got back to the car!  Anyway, it kept getting colder and colder, the clouds rolled in and by the time we woke up this morning, there was an inch or two of snow on the ground.

We had stake conference this week, so I got to see some of the members from Cobourg, which was exciting!  Our mission president and his wife came too, to speak a little bit.  The main theme of the adult session was the importance of the Restoration.  I think the Restoration of the Gospel is something I take for granted a lot, but it was so wonderful to be able to hear so many testimonies about the impact that it has had on the lives of others.

This week, I learned about the importance of using my time wisely.  Chapter 8 in Preach My Gospel talks about how important it is to be effective with our time, and it's so true!  The time we have to dedicate to the Lord as missionaries is very short, and it's getting shorter every day.  This really is the Lord's time, and we can't waste any of it.  Sister Snickers and I have really been working on being as obedient as we can and trying to work harder.  It's really cool because this week, we were able to find three new investigators.

So the funny story of the week....On Tuesday, one of our lessons fell through, so we tracted in the area for a few minutes.  One door had a "no soliciting" sign on it, but we're not selling anything, so we knock anyways unless it specifically says "no religion."  We knocked on the door and a huge Rottweiler starts jumping at the window on the door and nearly gave us a heart attack.  Eventually a guy came to the door, we told him we were missionaries, and he yelled, "Oh, so you can read the Bible, but you can't read my sign?"  Afterwhich, he slammed the door and we continued working.  A few days later, we were back in the same area dropping by a potential investigator and we were getting in the car to leave.  We saw a guy walking towards the car, and we decided we should be obedient little missionaries and go talk to him (I bet you can tell where this is going).  I started talking to him, and realized it was the same guy who had yelled at us a few days before.  Luckily, I don't think he recognized us :)

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Dille

The field is literally white, and ready to harvest!

I found Sister Davenport at stake conference!

These are called cuberdons....they are a Belgian candy.

This is our emergency chocolate supply :)

A Restaurant Named After Me...But With The Wrong Spelling

Oh my goodness!  I forgot how cold it can get here!  Holy cow....we were out tracting the other night, and I thought to myself, "Self, it's really cold here!"  We have officially pulled out our winter coats and it's only November!  We're going to be in big trouble in a few more weeks when the temperature really drops!

Despite the cold, we did have a really cool experience last Saturday night.  We had been out tracting, it was dark, and the wind was really blowing.  We still had one more potential investigator to drop by, but I was about done with the whole tracting thing at this point.  Luckily, Sister Snickers set me straight (ha ha) and we had a really cool miracle that followed.  We knocked on Veronica's door, and she let us in (that hardly ever happens)!  We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and then she gave us chocolate cheesecake (all the tracting was suddenly worth it).  It was so cool.

Last week, we still had some time one night before we could go inside, so we went and OYMed down town.  There was a man sitting in his car, so we started talking to him.  Unfortunately he just wanted to argue with us and tell us all the things that were wrong with our church.  He told us that Joseph Smith was a false prophet and that we should really question our testimonies of the First Vision.  He also said we should go and burn the Book of Mormon Sister Snickers was holding in her hands.  We did not question our testimonies and we did not burn the Book of Mormon, because we know it's true.  The gospel has changed our lives and we can't deny that it's true.  We will have people like that in our lives.  People who will question what we believe andwho will try to get us to question what we believe.  But that's why it's so important to build our foundations on Christ like it says in Helaman 5:12.  If we build our testimonies on Him, we cannot fall.

Last week at district meeting, our district leader challenged us to study chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel.  He reminded us that this isn't our time, it's the Lord's time and we need to use it as fully and effectively as we can.  So this morning during studies, I started reading through it, and it was the answer to my prayers.  It was such a wonderful reminder that the Lord expects me to give Him everything and serve His children diligently for this short period.  He needs us to be as diligent and obedient as we possibly can be.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Dille

I think it's so sweet of Bowmanville to name the restaurant after me....
It's just a little embarrassing that they spelled my name wrong!

This guy in our ward has the coolest way to pick up leaves I've ever seen!

Christmas Has Come to Bowmanville!

Hey Guys!

This week was absolutely crazy and we learned a lot!  Our week got off to a rough start.  The people we were working with weren't doing so well, our lessons kept cancelling, we couldn't get ahold of our most solid investigator, and so many other things were happening.  Then, on Friday, we went to zone council and our sister training leaders did an instruction on obedience.  Our whole zone really felt like we could do so much better at being obedient and at being more diligent and urgent in the work. So, when Sister Snickers and I got back to Bowmanville, we were trying to be as obedient as we could, and we saw so many miracles!  We found two new investigators and our desire to do the work increased so much!  We were able to have a wonderful lesson on eternal families with our most solid investigator, and the miracles just kept coming!  On Sunday, one of our members brought her friend to church, and we were able to teach him the first lesson.  He wants to come back next week to learn more!  I heard once that obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles.  I can testify that it is true! The more obedient we are, the more the Lord can bless us!

Something really big happened this week..................after five months of practicing and trying and practicing and trying...I FINALLY LEARNED HOW TO KIND OF PRONOUNCE MY R'S IN FRENCH!!!!! I kind of want to learn French when I get back.  It's a really pretty language. Sometimes I make Sister Snickers speak just so I can listen.  If she speaks really simply and slowly, sometimes I can pick a word or two out.

One of my investigators from Brockville emailed me today, and her baby was blessed in Sacrament Meeting last week!  I was so excited!  I love hearing about how well she's doing.  One of our returning members emailed me too and her husband just received the Melchizedek priesthood!  In a few weeks, they're going to take out their endowments and be sealed.  I don't know how to explain how excited I am about that and I hope President will let me go.  They've worked really hard to get to the temple and now they're going to be sealed together!

Well, I think that's about it!  We had transfers last night, but we lucked out and didn't get a call!  We have another transfer together!

Love you!

Sister Dille

The Felipes and Bishop Barter

Christmas has come to Bowmanville!

The Baileys

Happy Halloween!

Hello, Hello!

First off, I would like to share something very exciting that happened this week...I said 'eh' for the very first time.  We were teaching a returning member and it just slipped out.  Such a milestone, such a milestone!

Anyway, we are already on the last week of the transfer, and I can't believe it.  Time just seems to be moving faster and faster and faster.

We got to do quite a bit of service this week.  On Tuesdays, we go to the Bowmanville Older Adults Association and we help them make lunch for the guests.  They had a Halloween themed lunch, so we were serving lunch to witches, zombies, Indian princesses, gypsies, etc...it was pretty entertaining!

I learned something cool this morning while I was reading the BoM.  I was thinking about King Lamoni, his Father, the wicked Lamanites who were later converted, and other wicked people in the Book of Mormon who eventually accepted to follow Jesus Christ.  Then I thought about the scripture that says the word of God is more powerful than a sword and how in Preach My Gospel chapter 10 it says we need to have faith in the converting power of the gospel.  I realized that if the gospel could change people in the scriptures who were so hardened they were killing prophets and followers of Jesus Christ, then the gospel can change people who smoke, drink, curse, or who are just grumpy that we meet each day.  There are no limits to His power.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Dille

P-day at the corn maze

My crazy district at the corn maze

Helping Sister St. Croix put up wallpaper

Me and Sister Russell

This is literally my favorite picture ever! Isn't it lovely?

The Gauthier's

Since it's Halloween...we dressed up as eachother!

Mary Poppins & Rolling Skulls

Fall is definitely here!  It's officially cold!  The sweaters and coats are out!!

We had a really cool lesson with one of our investigators last week.  She's nine years old and her parents are less active, but she really wants to be baptized!  We invited her to be baptized on December 10th, and she said yes, but then she asked if her dad would baptize her and the Spirit just came so strongly.  Her dad shared his testimony with her of the Gospel and both of them were crying because it was so powerful!  Now, the whole family is working on being ready for her baptism and they want to get ready to go to the temple!  The Gospel is truly amazing.

Last Saturday, Sister Snickers and I got to be the ushers for a stake play (Mary Poppins, which was really good)!  On the way home, we were driving down a street (I should mention that the wind was blowing really hard) and a skull rolled across the road in front of the car.  I freaked out for a second and then I realized it was Halloween, haha!

This morning, I learned something really cool from the Book of Mormon!  I was reading in Alma 17 about Ammon when he smote off the arms of the Lamanites who were scattering the King's flocks.  I noticed that when talking about the Lamanites, the phrase, 'who were not few in number' is repeated several times.  But even though there were many Lamanites fighting against Ammon, he still won the fight, because he was on the Lord's side.  I learned that one servant of the Lord is more powerful than many servants of the devil! There is power and protection when we stay on the Lord's side!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Dille

Me and Sister Snickers!

Switching Places

Fall is Here!

Posing Camels, Bees & Car Problems

Oh boy, oh boy do I have a good story for ya'll, but I'm going to save it for the end because I want to save the best for last.

Well, this transfer is halfway over and I can't believe it! Where does the time go?! Anyway, we had skills and interviews last Thursday and it was wonderful! President and Sister Shields taught us about the importance of not being commanded in all things. They taught us that if our area is struggling with something, study it in Preach My Gospel, and then get on our knees and plead for the Lord's direction. He said it's important though that we don't just sit around in our apartment until the answers come, but that we need to get out and work. 

After skills and interviews, we had exchanges! I went to Oshawa again, (I've had exchanges with the Oshawa STLs my entire mission) with Hermana Tyler. It was so much fun! We taught a lot of lessons, like more than I think I've ever taught in one day. We ate dinner with a family from the Philippines and they made us something called adobo (sorry, don't show that to Elder Dille because it's probably spelled wrong). It's chicken and rice, and it's super good! 

Last night, our ward mission leader held a Why I Believe fireside at the church. Members could come and share their conversion experiences with whoever was there. It was really powerful! I think sharing your testimony is one of the most powerful ways to invite the Spirit, which reminds me of another story...on Saturday, we were teaching an investigator named Cody. A lady from our ward, Sister Sherlock, and her son, Ethan, came with us. At one point in the lesson, Ethan shared a very short and simple testimony of his baptism, and it brought the Spirit so powerfully into the lesson! It was such a great reminder to me that the simplest testimonies are often the most powerful!

Okay, now for the funny story of the week...This is the story of how Heather became a former. On Wednesday, we decided that we needed to heart attack one of our investigators, because she wasn't responding to any of our texts or calls. So, we go to her house, cut out the pictures, write a note to her, and then start taping everything onto her front door. Well, wouldn't ya know that she drives up right as we're standing on her front porch. But here, it gets awkward. She sees us, backs out of the driveway, and then starts circling the block, waiting for us to leave! So awkward! We get back in the car, and just our luck, it won't start! The engine won't even turn over! Ah! So we start calling members and finally get ahold of someone who can come help, meanwhile, our investigator is still circling the block waiting for us to leave. We just happened to leave the windows down too, so a bee flew in the car and Sister Snickers hates bees! Anyway, Brother Inengite came, and we messed around with the car for almost two hours! We played with the battery, alternator, and the starter, but no luck! We called a tow truck, and just as it showed up, the car starts! Ugh! I was pretty much done at this point, haha. Well, in the end, the car is working, the bee is gone, and Heather is now a former, haha. 

Have a great week!

Sister Dille

 This is where the branch president of the YSA branch lives.

This member in our ward has Empress trees.
They're the fastest growing tree in the world!

        The leaves are bigger than my face!

It's Fall!

Peterborough zoo!

The camels were totally posing for me! 

Oh my goodness! I found a Cobourg member! It's Sister Russell!

                 Exchanges with Hermana Tyler!

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The leaves are amazing up here!