4th week at the MTC in PROVO, UTAH

Hola todas mis amigos, amigas, y familia! Ellos amo! 

Today is the start of my fourth week in the CCM. So much has happened and so many spiritual experiences have occurred! 

At the beginning of the week Hermana Johnson and I taught Javier, aka our teacher Hermano Voss, aka Oscar (identity crisis much;). It was such a powerful lesson. We had invited him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray and ask if it was true. When we had come back to teach him again we had asked how that experience had went. He told us he had been torn about whether or not to read and hadn't been able to. Hermana Johnson and I felt prompted to share experiences and testimony that invited the spirit and completely changed the lesson. The spirit and the love of our Heavenly Father was strong and we easily agreed that it was our best lesson. We talked about how we go to Church not for the people, but for Christ. Javier had been through an experience where people at church had hurt him and betrayed him, and he didn't know if he could ever go back because of it. We testified and promised that we didn't go to church for the people, and that the people of the church were not perfect. It was a powerful lesson.

We also had the opportunity to teach Mario this last week. We taught him the plan of Salvation and I drew a picture to correlate with what we taught. He's a funny guy and is also making chistes (jokes) ;) 

Hermana Johnson y yo were called as Sister Training Leaders on Sunday. Now that there are more than just us four Hermanas it actually means a little bit more;) We also had the opportunity to bear our testimonies this Sunday in Spanish. I have clearly only bore my testimony in English, but I wasn't afraid. I just felt an overwhelming desire to get up there and to share the powerful feelings of my heart and the impressions of the spirit. It was one of the most powerful testimonies I've given, and the spirit was strong. The language didn't bother me at all, and I felt like I spoke clearly, yet simply, the things that I knew were true and that I believed. Through the Holy Ghost and Christ I am getting a hang of the language and developing a deep and abiding love in all that we do and in my Savior. 

Sunday continued to be a wonderful and spiritual feast, as we saw the Joseph Smith movie for our film. I always feel the spirit testify to me that he was a true prophet of God when I watch that film and recommend it to all. 

Once again we had to say goodbye to some wonderful Elders who are now in Mexico! Elder Loo, Elder Fife, Elder Hunt, Elder Smith (el Diablo;), Elder Benson, Elder Anderson, and Elder Freeman will be wonderful missionaries! As we sang "God be with you till we meet again" it rained, the sky bemoaning their rapid departure as well. While shaking hands with Elder Smith he said I would be a wonderful missionary, which was kind of him. It's crazy how much they feel like older brothers!

Elders Long, Anderson, Di Siqueria, Gardner, Laudie, Fife, Lyones, and Wilcox

Volleyball at the CCM with Elder Glenn is always a treat;) That guy can spike the ball like no other and almost took out my companion this week! Which would have involved a luchar (fight), so I'm glad she blocked the ball aimed at her face. 

Funny moments at the CCM this week:

Elder Kelly does Perfect impersonations of Obama. How? No se. Pero, es la verdad (I don't know but it's the truth).. Elder Long also made a chiste. His companion and he were the first ones to get to the classroom. When Hermano Voss asked where all the other missionaries were he said, "Yo come ellos". For those of you who don't speak Spanish, he was saying, "I ate them". It wasn't funny at first, but when he told me about it in Spanish I thought I was just hearing him wrong... however, Nay! Not the case. Quite the joker apparently. 

Service, which we perform every Tuesday at 6:15, is always a good experience and a blessing, even if I am a walking zombie for it. I love the feeling of helping clean around the beautiful West Campus and the lessons we teach are always so powerful that day as well. Hermana Johnson and I actually taught FOUR lessons this Tuesday, and I loved it! Teaching is one of my Favorite things to do here and is the only thing keeping me sane. We taught Javier, Hely, Mariana, and Jose and Hely. Each was taught by the spirit and each went beautifully! I love the spirit and the power it has to teach! 

Everything we do here at the CCM is inspired of God. Our companionships are inspired of God, the things we learn and how we learn them are inspired of God. His workings are all around us. I am filled with peace and an assurance that God loves me as I walk these grounds and teach these wonderful people to grow closer to their Savior. 

Elder Fife and Elder Lyones

I love each and every one of you and would love to hear from you! I keep you in my prayers and wish you all the best in whatever endeavors you are pursuing! Please don't forget about your Hermana soon to be in Argentina:)

Love and best wishes for all,

Hermana Dickson 

From her letters to our family:

I did see Dom's (Sister Temple's) blog and it was super fun to read what she wrote, so thanks for sending that via DearElder:) 

Check out the blog of my cute cousin, the link is on the sidebar. 

Sister Temple and her companion at the Mexico MTC, Sister Temple is on the right.

In the future you should send the questions via DearElder as to insure I have time to respond;) 

The food is good, although not terribly good for you. I have milk at literally every meal, porque me encanta leche. Where we sit varies every time, but it's all good:) The food doesn't go to the rooms, we can although we don't have any food, I'm not in a bunk bed, I haven't bothered with decor because we're never there, my classroom is in raintree/Wyview, we only go to Main campus on Pdays, for Devotionals on Sunday and Tuesday. West Campus is much kinder. We do go to the temple every Thursday, si. I'll have to let you know next week because I'm almost out of time!

(My personal favorite comment of the week.  Why we can let our children go in the first place!) Thanks for everything mom, you're the best:)

It was exciting to see all the new missionaries come in on Wednesday!  We got 12 new Elders in and our zone now consists of 44 people. Crazy huh!

(This week, Mallory's younger brother, Reed, is on a mini-mission.  He is serving in Steelville, Illinois.) I'm sure they'll have wonderful experiences on their mini missions:) Hope all is well in Cape! And thanks for the DearElders, they're great!:)

(Chart we are making to keep track of the days Mallory has been gone, we are going to list her areas the big pink space and her companions in the other pink space.)