I'm just so spicy!

 So much to tell you so little time. Let's start with the "embarrassing story of the week" starring no one besides Sister Dishman herself.

So we were biking around on Saturday night and it was late and there was this lady who was walking out to her car parked on the street. I see her open her "boot" (trunk) to get something. So I slam on my brakes and yell "hey! Can we help you??" I start to get off my bike (completely stationary) and don't realize there is a ledge under my foot. I step down and there is no where to step so I just step and keep stepping until I fall over and my bike falls on top of me! The best part was I hurried and jump up (everything still intact except my dignity) and I am like "Actually, I think I am the one who needs help!" hahaha *awkwardly bike away*

And now for "learning English the hard way" featuring Sister S!

So the elders called us right as we were eating lunch. Sister S had just eaten some spicy noodles and a spicy salad and apparently it was too much. She answers the phone and talks for a minute to the elders and then is breathing really hard and sweating and to the elders she says *beathe breathe* "hold on. I'm just so spicy right now"! We were all laughing for ages and she didn't even understand!

~~~~~~~

Isn't is SO cool how God works. It says in  D&C 130:20-21

20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

So pretty much, when we are obedient, God HAS to bless us (even though He is really stoked to bless us) but I have just really learned that principle out here. We will be doing okay in the work, and then we decide to do just ONE thing better, and AS SOON as we do that, we see major blessings poured out upon us. immediately. And then sometimes we don't see anything for a while, and we realize our faith is lacking, or we aren't obeying all the commandments, and then we repent, become more obedient, BAM more blessings. It is so amazing. I just love the perfect nature of God. He is so loving, but helps us learn so much at the same time!!

Also, I was thinking about how everyday I tell people "the gospel will bless you so much, it will help you with all your problems etc" and then one day I was like "do I really mean this? If someone asked me 'how' could I answer them and tell them how it has blessed me" and so I was pondering the effect the gospel has had on my life. And especially my mission, and the Atonement. And I just felt so blessed. Man, seriously I'm such a baby but in my studies I just started crying because I thought of the person I was before my mission, and who I am now. (and I also wanted to apologize to those who had to deal with my childish ways before the mission......sorry...) and how I just have such a deep understanding for the Atonement, and the purpose of my life, and my divine identity, and the Saviors role in our lives and it is just amazing and incredible and I am SO grateful for the opportunity I have to serve!!! For real, if I am the only person who benefits from this, I will still be so indebted to Heavenly Father for giving me this opportunity!!! I am just SO thankful and so changed. It is amazing how the gospel changes us and helps us grow. 

Anyways. I am just glowing. I am just so happy. This is SO hard. So hard. But it is the best, most fulfilling work, and I know that it is true. All of it. And I feel so grateful I have grown up with the gospel in my life, and now I have the wonderful opportunity to share it with those here in Perth.

Mary had a little lamb...and a croc

So this one time I got transferred  and we have a car, and I had only practiced driving on the left side of the road 1 time. So we go to transfers and they hand me the keys and send me off. And that night, me and sister S had an appt. with a member who lives in Muchea (AKA far far away on Judeas plains) it's like 30 minutes away and it is straight BUSH. The lady we went and saw had a lamb for a pet, and she had a crocodile in her pond. (welcome to Australia people) So anywho... we arrive there perfectly safe and happy, have a very great meal and then head home. It was close to 9 by the time we actually left. So we are headed down this dusty dirt road and I am getting sleepy and kind of nervous and next minute...... A KANGAROO jumps in front of my car. No joke. It was at least 5 feet tall and i SLAMMED on my breaks and legit almost hit this stupid kangaroo. I couldn't even believe it. hahaha I was like laughing/crying and shaking and was like WHAT THE. it was so cray cray.

Also, Sister S is adorable. She is hands down the most humble person I have ever met. I love her, and even though she is no Sister K, she has some great moments with her English as well (she is Indonesian) 

me: So what do you like to eat in Indonesia?

her: I dunno. Lots of spicy things. We eat lots of snakes.

me: SNAKES??

her: Yeah, like the little desserts with cream

me: OH you mean snacks??

her: oh yeah, snacks. 

       Well, except we eat snakes too.

So also, we literally live in a mansion. It is a full house. Back yard, front yard, and side yards and garage and 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms AND it comes with pets (the 5 spiders living under my desk) (I feel like I need to keep them there if I need to fit in with the people here) 

Seriously though it is massive and amazing. We are SO lucky.

This is a song we wrote here at home about Sista Dish's experience, please feel free to sing along:

 Mary had a little lamb

And a croc

And a croc

Mary had a little lamb 

and a croc for show

She lives out in the wild bush

Wild bush

Wild bush

She lives so far the kangas jump

Right out in front of cars

And so we pray for Sista Dish

Sista Dish

Sista Dish

That she'll remember on which side

The Aussies drive their cars

January 3, 2016:100% pasteurized...I mean Consecrated

Hello!!! Happy new year!! :) I can hardly believe it, seriously! 6 months out last Friday! What the... it's starting to go so fast! How was everyone's new year?? I hope you all made goals to be more like the Savior this year!! That's what all mine were centered on. It has been the best 6 months of my life, and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for me! This week was pretty flipping awesome. Like so good, awesome, fantastic, phenomenal, exciting, hard and great! 1. our new companion sister C is AWESOME. She is the best contacter I have ever met. She talks to everybody and anybody and ALWAYS relates it back to the gospel. It is so cool, and in the 4 days we have been together we have picked up 2 new solid investigators, and have like HEAPS of potentials. She is THE BOMB. AH it has seriously been so good. We taught 26 lessons this week which has been the most we have ever taught. Man. I can just see so many good things happening in the next 6 weeks. Part of me hopes I stay in Dianella forever. It made me feel good though because sister C on the first night was like.... "man, we talked to SO many people and no one invited us back (yet)" and I was like "yeah...." thinking it was always like that in the whole mission and she was like "we would have had like 3 new investigators by now with all of the people we have talked to" so it made me feel better. I think people in Dianella are a little less keen then other areas. So phew.. we are doing our best! The best part of the whole week had to be a contact we made on our first day together. We had like 30 min so we went to a park by the place we were headed to. We only saw one guy, and he was like 40 with his dog sitting by a tree. We all felt pretty awkward, but we walked up and had one of the best conversations we have ever had with a stranger! It was SO cool. He really opened up to us about his life. He used to be Christian, but got in an accident and doesn't know if God exists etc. Anyway, he is a yoga instructor, and talked to us all about his yoga studio, and how he meditates, and we ended up leaving a pamphlet, and he gave us free passes to a yoga class. We talked about his yoga for a bulk of the conversation. As we were walking away sister K was like"I was so confusing. The whole time I thought he talked about yogurt" hahahahaha we had a good laugh about that for a long time!!!! and this whole week we keep asking her about yogurt. Oh my. She is SO funny. So many other funny things! Since there are three of us riding a bike people seem to stare at us (like "what" it's not that big of a deal). oh! Sister C tries to harmonize whenever we sing, and so yesterday we were teaching a lady and we were trying to teach her about Heavenly Father so we sang "oh my Father" (okay, okay I know, it was a mistake but we learned our lesson). So we start the first verse and it sounds like angels (well pretty much) and then the second verse comes around and sister C tries to harmonize and I was confused so I started singing the low notes too and then I was like "shoot.... No..." But it was too late and we sang another line and it sounded like kangaroos on a trampoline (really bad) and so me and sister C start to laugh, but sister K is pretty much oblivious always so she literally sings the other 2 verses by herself while me and sister C are laughing hahahaha. It was so bad. Good thing this lady has alzheimers and won't remember any of it.... Oh! There is this member who took us out to breakfast this week. it was SO nice. There is one casino in Perth/WA and they took us there and it was a buffet and it was $42 to get in! And I thought I was in heaven... Choc. Croissants, waffles, fruit, pancakes, they even had Japanese food and Indian food! It was SO GOOD!!! I LOVE FOOD!!!! :) I just love being a missionary. I don't have any spiritual insights, or revelations that happened this week, but I will share my cool studies this morning! We were asked to fast about something we could sacrife this year to make us have more faith in Jesus Christ. I have so many things I think I could sacrifice and change, but I wasn't sure what one to specifically work on. So at the beginning of my studies I wrote down the question "what can I do to be more consecrated" and I was just flipping to my scriptures and I turned to 2 Nephi 32 and in verse 9 it says "But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul." Cool, right?? That never happens -- me receiving answers to my questions through the scriptures, but today it did and it was awesome. And it reminded me of the talk by Larry Lawrence in conference "What Lack I Yet?". I know that if we ask God what we need to change in our lives, then He will let us know very specifically. :) I would encourage you to also ask God, "what lack I yet?" and ask what you can do to change yourself in 2016 that will help you be a more dedicated daughter or son of God. I love you!!! I will continue to pray and think of you everyday!! :) Sista Dish PS I had a burger this week that tasted like AMERICA!!! I was crying red white and blue tears. They just don't taste the same here. But I found one.

December 28, 2015: Kangaroos and Koalas and Kangaroos. Oh MY!

Big news..... transfers happened this week...... and (drumroll please) I am staying!!! 5 transfers here!! 7 and a half months! AND me and Sister K are getting a third companion!! So we will squish three of us plus 2 cockroaches into our little flat! :) We went to a reserve today and I fed Kangaroos and petted koalas. It was magical and everything I was hoping it would be. I really was just so happy. I have no time left to email, so I will just conclude by saying I love you all!!! I hope you had the most merry Christmas, and that you have a fantastic new year!! :) Love, Sista Dish