3.23.15

Hey hey hey!

So these last two weeks have been crazy! With transfers, Holland, Temple trip, and switch of Pdays- my schedule is all messed up. But its been a lot of fun too! So my Latina Companion is awesome! She's super sweet and is such a hard worker. We've already found tons of new people to teach and bit by bit, we're buildling up our pool of investigators. Last transfer was tough because we already had any investigators. We worked a lot with the less-actives. Its pretty sad, a couple of days ago we lost two investigators (a mom and her son) who I had contacted and started teaching my first week in this area. The son didnt progress as much as the mom (she came to church and was reading in the BOM, he wasnt) and she even told us that she received an answer- so we set a bautismal date with her and her son. But when we returned the next time, it was like a 180 flip. She tolds us out of nowhere that she didnt have time for us and she doesnt want us to keep visiting her. I was heart broken. I heard a devotional once where the speaker said that since the Lord is hastening His work, that means that Satan and his angels are working even harder to hinder and stop the work too. I have definitely seen how that is true on my mission. But at the same time, I have seen miracles and have watched how the Lord blesses His servants and literally works besides them. that is one of the things that Elder Holland said when he was here. He talked about Jacob 5 and how not only the servants labored in the Vineyard but the Master too, alongside His servants. jacob 5 is actually a very beautiful chapter in the BOM...

Anyways, speaking of Holland... our conference with him was AMAZING! it was the first and probably the last  time that the whole mission met together. And before, we were told that we werent going to be able to be greeted by Holland and shake his hand. That was bitter news, let me tell you. But when we were all seated and ready for the Apostle of the Lord to enter the room, our mission President told us that Elder Holland specifically asked if he could greet each and every missionary. so yes, i got to shake his hand and look directly into his eyes :) an experience that I wont likely to forget for my whole life :). Holland's talk was powerful. I got a front row seat and boy, was it intense. Having an Apostle in front of your face, in person, was indescribable. the power and spirit that radiated from him, was almost palpable. Seeing him person and hearing him talk, and recieve that revelation and message that he needed to deliver to us, left me no doubt in my mind or heart that he is an Apostle of the Lord. We truly do have a Prophet here on the Earth. He is called of God to lead and guide us. And we have 12 Apostles who are called by God too who have the same authority and power that the Apostles of Jesus Christ had when they were on the Earth. 

So last Friday, we had the opportunity to go to the temple! Oh how i love the temple here. It is so gorgeous. And it will forever hold a special place in my heart. But I always love visiting the house of the Lord. I can tesitfy that it is truly a place where we can receive personal revelation, feel the spirit, and feel closer to our Lord and Savior. I am so grateful for temples and for the work we have the opportunity to do in there. I cannot express the importance of temple work and keeping ourselves worthy to enter this house. I encourage all of you that can enter to make temple visits regular, each week- if possible. and for those of you who cant enter just yet, do everything you can do to someday enter the house of the Lord. the peace, tranquility,and joy we can find there is nothing we can obtain anywhere else. 

In other news, we have a baptism planned for April! Fransico is the nephew of a less active. He suddenly started coming to church and then we started teaching him. He is very receptive and believes everything we teach him. He says that he feels more peace in his life and when he prays. We're excited to keep teaching him and see him through to his baptism. 

i love you all! know that i am doing good and learning lots every day! mission life is wonderfull, hard, but wonderfull.. and I am so grateful each and everyday to be apart of this great work. Thank you for your prayers and love!

hasta pronto!

hermana Dibble

we had a fun activity today. We went and toured a BEAUTIFUL garden. There was even a butterfly garden. it was so pretty

3.9.15

Buenas Tardes!

As y´all just read from my subject line, Im getting a new compa! Again haha. Hopefully this next one will stick around a while ;P My dear compa Hermana Adams is getting transferred to a different place in the capital and I am receiving....drum roll.... a Latina! Her name is Hermana Martinez and she doesn´t speak any English whatsoever! Yikes! Nah, I am actually really excited :) This is definitely going to be a fun and very interesting experience. Im just praying that she´ll have a lot of patience with me and my not-so-fluent Spanish. Ive heard from many people that she is the nicest and most sweetest missionary :) She´s also going to be our Hermana Lider. Or Sister Leader, which means she is in charge of some of the companionships of sisters (make sure everyone is healthy, well, being obedient, and working hard). Which also means that 1. I get to go on exchanges with other hermanas (to observe and help them with my compa) 2. Im going to have to step it up this transfer! Leaders in the mission set the example for other missionaries so we´re going to have to work really hard to get this area to progress. Like I´ve said before, working in the city is much more difficult- but not impossible! I´m stoked :) Good things are gonna happen over here in Bella Vista!

So exciting things are happening this week! Besides transfers, we get to listen to Elder Holland this week! Yep, an apostle of the Lord is coming to this country to specifically talk to us missionaries. Its going to be the first time that the WHOLE west mission is going to be together. I am not only stoked to listen to this amazing man but to also see everyone else in the mission!

Oh and also, we have a temple trip coming up! We only have a temple trip every six months and I just barely missed the other one when I was in the MTC so yay! I am excited to go to the temple again. We had a fun activity last saturday with the women in our ward. We did a ¨Walk for Virtue¨. We all met at the church and then walked to the temple together (not too far but like an hour or so walk). it was really cool because we all wore white, had gold ballons, and carried signs that talked about virtue. We also sang hymns along the way. When we arrived at the temple, we had a little devotional, let our balloons go, took pictures, and ate refreshments. That was my first time going to the temple since September so that was cool. (didnt enter or anything, just walked around the grounds. next week i´ll be able to go inside). 

Anyhoo, sorry this week´s letter is short and kinda boring. Crazy funny things happen every week, I swear! I just always forget them when it comes to writing about it.

Spiritual goodness: This last sunday we had stake conference and our mission president gave a talk. He talked about happiness and how we can find it.... in the book of mormon. He said that there are three things that the book of mormon talks about that will help us obtain happiness

1. Families (1 Nephi 1:1) The BoM is filled with principles, help, and advice for parents to help strengthen their families. 

2. The commandments (Mosiah 2:41) We know that through keeping the commandments, we are blessed. ¨As along as you shall keep my commandments, you shall prosper in the land.¨

3. Establishing Christ as our foundation or rock. (Helaman 5:12) If Jesus is our rock and foundation, we cannot fall.

Truly I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and is scripture. I am so grateful for this Book and the opportunity i have to study from it each day. It is truly a gift that we dont take advantage of nearly enough in our lives. 

I love you all! Take care!

siempre,

Hna dibble

2.23.15

Hiiiiiii!!!

Wow, It has been awhile. Im so sorry! I am really terrible at writing group letters but I want to work on that because I know ya´ll want to hear from me more often :) 

Where to start? 

I think I have finally adjusted to city life and finally starting to really love it. its super different but the people are great. And I absolutely love the ward where I´m serving. The members are so wonderful with us. They feed us every Sunday and the food is divine. They are starting to take a more avtive role in the missionary work by coming out with us and helping us with ¨Cosechas¨ These are cool because the members come with us to visit less-actives in the ward. Sometimes my comp and I get to seperate with the sisters so we can visit more people. Its a lot of fun. Speaking of less-active work, that´s what we´re really focusing on in this area. They are a ton of them. We have some investigators but not a ton because its harder here in this area, so we visit a lot of less actives. Less-active work is tough because they´re already members and they know what they need to be doing or some of them just forget. But I always keep in mind that you never know when someone is going to be ready to repent- that is why it is so important to keep loving them and helping them.

This last week we had a Zone conference with our President and it was so good! We have theme for the mission each month and this months theme is ¨Committments and Convenants¨. So naturally, thats what the President talked about in the Conference. I liked what he said a lot about how making a promise or committment is the same as repenting. As missionaries, when we invite someone to do something, we are asking them to repent and to change. Also, it is very interesting to think about the differences between a Committment and a Convenant.

-A committment is a temporary or short lasting promise whereas a covenant is for forever

-Committments help prepare us to make covenants

-Covenants bring us eternal blessings and happiness if we keep them

those are just a few of the differences, can you think of more? :)

Committments are so important in missionary work because we help people keep little committments along the way to help them be ready to make the covenant of baptism and later on, covenants in the temple and so on and so forth. Also, committments help us strengthen our faith in Christ. So what are some committments you make to yourself and in the Lord this week to help strengthen your faith? Read your scriptures every night? Strive to have more sincere prayers? Look for an opportunity each day to serve someone else? 

By the way, I am officially 6 months now! I have less than a year left! How crazy is that? Time flies so fast! I still can´t believe its been 6 months since I came to this crazy, but beautiful country. 

In other news, i live in the only house in the mission with six girls in it. usually this house has the most drama (more girls crammed into one place) and yes there is still girl drama on missions... but its actually great so far! There´s four Americans and two Latinas. We have a lot of fun and laugh a lot. 

Que mas... The transfer ends in two weeks and its pretty much for sure that my compa will be transferred. sad day... She is super sweet :) 

Well, I out of news.. i cant think of anything more... Oh! For Valentine´s Day, we did a little ¨gift¨exchange in the house, like a secret santa. That was fun. and we made a big dinner with Steak! it was delicious :) This upcoming week is The DR´s Independence Day and Carnival. It´s going to be crazy! i´ll let you know how it goes :) 

Well... i love you all so much! Sorry i have been a slacker on group emails! Know I am doing well and working hard! My Spanish is a lot better now, but i still have a lot to learn :) little by little, step by step...

make it a wonderful week!

Adios! Hasta pronto!

mucho amor,

tu hermana en la republica dominicana

(Hna Dibble)

P.S. Word on the street is that ELDER HOLLAND is coming here to speak to us!

The hermanas in the house (my compa is in purple)

My ¨mission mom¨ and ¨mission sister¨ (my trainer and the hermana she is training right now)

1.2.15

Hola! So transfers were last week and yep, I was transferred! I am now in the Capital or Santo Domingo, in an area called ¨Bella Vista¨ or ¨Beautiful View¨. But i still trying to discover its inner beauty because it is nothing like my old area of San Juan. San Juan had beautiful montains and trees and sunsets but here it is the city. Tall buildings, guarded apartment buildings, lots of traffic, noise, and busy people. it is very interesting.... but its pretty much like America because theres all the major fast food chains, Krispy Kreme (the only one in the country and its in my area hallelujauh), papa johns, pizza hut, frozen yogurt, and a huge department/grocery store like Walmart. Im still trying to get used to all of it because there was nothing like that in San Juan. 

So here we have a ward, not a branch. I havent met all of the members yet but the ones i have met, i like a lot. A really nice and funny ward (they like to joke a lot, Side story- when they first heard my name and tried to pronounce it, they either say, ¨Hermana Diablo¨ or ¨Hermana Biblia¨ (Devil and bible). I think I prefer the second). And they feed us! All the time! On sunday we had a huge lunch with a great family and then later that night when we had a meeting with the bishop, his wife made us sandwiches. Its so weird... members never invited us over for dinner or lunch in san juan. I could definitely get used to this... But San Juan is a lot poorer. Here the people are pretty rich. Which of course makes it more difficult for teaching. Its harder to get into people´s houses to teach since our area mostly consists of apartment buildings and you cant get in unless someone opens it for you. So thats why we depend a lot on the members and their help in this work.

Oh also, my new comp´s name is Hermana Adams. She is from Washington.. Snohomish,,, yo creo... She has a 11 months in the mission and she´s really nice. Our dynamics are very interesting because she struggles with speaking Spanish but can understand pretty well. I can speak better than her in Spanish but I have a hard time understanding it still. So we depend on each other haha.  

But this area is very interesting and there´s a lot of work to be done. It´s a little bit tougher to baptize but there is a TON of work to be done with inactives. This area´s ward really needs help in that aspect. But as the saying goes, ¨When the going gets tough, the tough get going¨:) 

Yesterday we had a Carribean area conference and Elder Holland spoke. It was a wonderful talk. Now Elder Holland doesn´t speak Spanish so during his talk, there was a translater. But at the end of his talk, he bore his testimony himself in Spanish. The room got so quiet. Everyone was listening very intently. It was a very special moment and the spirit was very strong in the room. He bore such a powerful tesimony. One thing he said is that the two most precious gifts we have in this life are the Gospel and the Atonement. Without these things, we have nothing. This is so true! These are two things that i treasure most dearly in my life and that is why i am here in this crazy foreign countr, that I love so much, serving a mission. I am here to share this Gospel and teach people what our Savior and Lord did for us and continues to do for us. I love this Gospel and I love this Church because we truly have the fulness of the Gospel, which was restored through Joseph Smith. I am so grateful to be here! The Church is true! :) If you find these two things as precious as I do, share them! Share the Gospel! Tell people about Jesus Christ!

I love you all! Thank you for all your love and support! I truly do feel each and every day. Cuídense! 

siempre,

Hermana Dibble

We went to Wendy´s! It was sooo good! (not my comp, other hermana that i live with)

A little Capital view :) 

1.26.15

Hey all! I dont have much time to write anything long because I still have a lot of packing to do! Yep I got transferred! I am leaving the beautiful city of San Juan and going back to the Capital! My área is called Bella Vista. Or Beautiful View :) im really sad to go but i am also excited/nervous! Itll it be a new adventure, thats for sure. My new comps name is Hermana Adams. She is from Washington, I believe... I dont know I havent met her yet. I leave in about an hour for the Capital. ahhh! so much to do still. anyhoo, but in other news, my old Comp Hermana Hildman is going to train! and My trainer Hermana Flores is going to train again! So I am getting a mission sister and step sister at the same time! Haha.... But anyhoo, everything is going good. Just busy getting ready to leave! Goodbyes are the hardest and I am going to miss this área so, so so much. But change is good. Hard, but good. :) Just wanted to let you know that all is well and I love you all! 

 Ill write more next monday. Have a wonderful week! Everyday is a good day if you make it so :) Choose to be happy even when things are tough or not going as planned. Be happy! Be positive! Jesús loves you!

con amor,

Hermana Dibble

P.S. Im going to the área that is the closest to the mission home which means I wont have to wait for mail! wahoo!

1.19.15

Hello all! I hope this email finds everyone in good health and feeling happy! Because Im feeling pretty happy! This last saturday I had my first baptism! Waho! He really did follow through! And I may have shed a tear or two out of sheer happiness for this kid :) I´m so proud of him! It was a beautiful baptism. We had two great talks and wonderful special musical number by one of the Tongan Elders here who is way cool and has a beautiful voice. So the other hermanas had two investigators who got baptized and me and my comp had one- Erick. The other two guys were baptized first and wow.... that was interesting. The same guy baptized both of them and...phew were they baptized hard... like really hard. The member literally smashed them into the water. I feel like baptism is already a kind of traumatizing event because Dominicans dont go swimming a lot (yes I know, weird, because they live on an island). But its true! So a lot of people are scared of getting dumped in the water. And one of the guys is like 70 yrs old or something so it was quite traumatizing for him. Poor guy. But Erick was baptized by a different member and that went a lot smoother, thankfully ;) It was all really great though. And Im just for happy for him. It was so cool to see get confirmed the next day in church and watch him stand up proudly as a new member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Its been quite the journey for Erick. If you all remember, he had a date back in November to be baptized but it fell. He´s been receiving the missionaries for about a year without any support from his family. They accepted his decision and let him do what he wanted but none of them are interested... really quite sad.. but that is why I am even more proud of him. He chose this all by himself and continues to be an amazing example for his family. The church is true!

In other news, transfers are coming up again. (time seriously flies). This Saturday we´ll get the call and Im kind of nervous! I might for real, leave this time! I´ve been here for awhile now and theres a really big chance I´ll leave! Im not really sure how I feel so Im trying not to think about it :)

Well thats all Ive got for today. Sorry its not much but i wanted to tell you all about the baptism! Hope all is well and everyone is still actively particpating in the Church and continuing to build your faith and testimony. Because a testimony is a continual process. You have to be actively doing things to build your faith and testimony or it will slowly begin to decrease and break down. I see it time and time again with inactives here. They think their faith is still strong and they still have all the knowledge they had when they first got baptized but in truth they dont. When it comes to testing that knowledge, they´ve forgotten all. Its very sad to see so don´t let this happen to your testimony! Continue to do those ¨primary answers¨. Pray. Study the scriptures, Go to Church, Keep the commandments, Go to the temple... We hear these things time and time again but that´s because they are the most important! ¨Through small things are great things brought to pass¨. Remember to do you part! Through these things, we can obtain eternal life and salvation- which is the greatest gift we can receive. Remember to act and not be acted upon. 

Love you all!

always,

Hermana Dibble

12.30.14

Hello all!

How was everyone´s Christmas? Filled with family, good food, and music, I hope! 

My Christmas this year was very tranquillo (chill). I thoroughly enjoyed all the Christmas messages we were able to share this month. but somehow it didn´t quite feel like Christmas. Probably because there was no snow on the ground and I was surrounded by palm trees. Seriously so strange.... I´m so used to cold and snow and sledding and ice skating and doing other outdoor activities for Christmas. but it was still a good Christmas nevertheless :) 

Christmas (which is the bigger holiday here than Christmas day itself) we ate dinner at an investigator´s house. So good! All sorts of Dominican dishes that I don´t know the names of. It was really really delicious though. On Christmas day, we (us sisters in the house) opened some small gifts we got from our families or from each other. Then we met up with the Elders in our zone and had a potluck lunch together. Us hermanas made cake and peach cobbler for dessert. then we all just played games and talked until we got to skype our families. (which was wonderful :) 

Yep, very calm... but still very good :) Hey! Tomorrow is New Year´s Eve! And yes, Dominicans do celebrate that too. We´re going to order pizza and maybe drink some sparkling apple cider. Pizza and cider in the DR? yeah weird... but luckily there´s a really good pizza restaurant here in San Juan. It almost tastes American :) And the cider is a speciality that´s only available around the holidays. Kind of expensive but definitely worth it. 

In other news, we have one baptism set for the 17th of January. He´s been an investigator for awhile now and goes to Church consistently. He had a date back in november but that fell because he didn´t feel ready. We´re really praying that he´ll stick to this date and follow through. We read with him and taught him the Vision of the Tree of Life in the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 8. And it was so cool to watch him go from not understanding the vision at all to completely understanding it after our lesson. It was a really neat and a very satisfying lesson because when the investigator understands, you feel very happy. It´s a moment you share together as ¨teacher and student¨. One of the first things he said after he understood the lesson was that he wanted us to start working more with his family. He told us that he too wants his family to partake of the fruit that is ¨most desirable and precious above all other fruits¨. this Gospel is true! And remember that the fruit of the tree of life represents the love of God or eternal life which we attain through Jesus Christ who is the greatest of all gifts that God has given us. remember that there is only one path to attain eternal happiness! 2 Nephi 10:23

I love you all! Thank you for everything! Happy New Year´s!

siempre,

Hermana Dibble

My parents sent me a ginger bread house kit in a package!

My new comp and I