Welcome to North Carolina!

Hello everyone! So here I am, in North Carolina! It has been a crazy couple of days with traveling and adjusting, but I think I have finally caught up on sleep and am learning a lot. My companion, Sister Cowley is great! She's from Utah and has been out here for 8 months. She's really nice and helps me learn a lot!

It was kind of bittersweet leaving the MTC this week. My district and teachers were amazing and we became so close after 6 weeks together. I learned a lot there and I am so grateful for all of my experiences. I'm excited to finally be out teaching and meeting real people though, it just shows how worth it the MTC really is!

My first area is in Jacksonville, NC. It's a fairly rural area, but we have two wards (congregations) that meet at our church building. There are two sets of elders and two sets of sisters in the area, and one set of sisters and elders of that group are assigned to each ward. There is a lot for us to do here. Since Sister Cowley and I both just transferred into this area, we are kind of starting fresh with getting to know people, but we've already made some good progress! We attended a baptism on Saturday night for someone the elders were teaching. It was so special. We've mostly been meeting with less active members and trying to find new investigators this weekend. So far we have met a few potential new investigators! I am working hard on being more personable and not so shy with new people. Everyone here is so friendly and hospitable though, so it is a really good environment to share our message with people. Almost everyone is Christian of some kind. It's not too "Southern" of a town mostly because there are some military bases here, so a lot of the people who live here aren't actually from here originally. I met someone from Massachusetts yesterday! :) People love that I'm from the East Coast. The weather and climate aren't too much of a change from MA, it's humid and lots of trees. There are a ton of bugs here, especially spiders, so that's no fun. Also, it's really flat with lots of wide open space. So far I love the people and am learning a lot. I am trying to study Portuguese an hour a day so that I can keep learning, and then the rest of the time we are just focused on the people here! I'm excited to get working and learn a lot!

Sister Dieter

Last week at the MTC!

This has been a crazy week! First of all, we found out about our temporary assignments! I don't have my visa yet, so I will be serving in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission until my visa comes! I'm super excited!!

On a less happy note, I sadly didn't make it through the MTC without getting sick. I actually got food poisoning on Wednesday, and spent most of Wednesday night and Thursday asleep in the sick bay. I'm totally better now though, which I'm grateful for. I got a blessing from 2 of the elders in my zone late Thursday night, and it made me so grateful for their worthiness to hold and use the priesthood. I have been spending most of today packing and getting ready to leave tomorrow for North Carolina! Ahh I can't believe today is my last day at the MTC!

This week I learned a lot about the importance of prayer and studying the scriptures. We did a cool activity in our district where we each personally thought of a question that would help our investigators and then a question that would help us. One person then chose a chapter in the Book of Mormon for us to study together. It was so crazy awesome how all of us received answers to completely different questions. It testified to me the truth of the Book of Mormon, how it testifies of Jesus Christ, and can answer any and all of our questions.

Another awesome experience this week was that I got to be a "host missionary" on Wednesday! (before the whole food poisoning incident...). Basically, you meet incoming missionaries and help them get situated at the MTC. We took them to get their name tags, books, and put their stuff in their rooms, and then brought them to meet their district in their classrooms. I helped out three sisters, and it was so fun. I knew exactly how they were feeling and I just so badly wanted to make sure that they had a good first day. I know how hard it is, but I also know that it gets so much better and that they will love the MTC. It helped me to understand service more and I really felt love and compassion for those sisters. I learned about the Atonement and Christ's suffering for us too. As I was thinking about the experience I realized that Christ knows literally exactly what we go through because He has experienced it. He knows how hard it is, has sympathy for us, and loves us a lot. He knows the end too though, and knows that it will all work out. Just like I knew those sisters would end up learning and growing a ton here, Christ knows the same for us and wants to help. Only, He knows us perfectly so this is magnified by like infinity. But yes, it was such an awesome experience.

I have really loved being at the MTC, it almost feels like another home. I will miss my district a lot, but I'm excited to hear everyone's experiences and stories. I know I am going to love being a missionary wherever I am. I am so grateful and excited for this experience.

Sister Dieter

Week 4.5 :)

So I don't have a ton to talk about since I just e-mailed on Tuesday, but the rest of this week has been good! We got a new teacher, which means we also have a new investigator to teach. Her "name" is Katia, and she is a mom of two little kids. I think it will be fun to teach her. Also, we get to teach people in our district as investigators. It is so awesome! And then we are taught as investigators too. I love it. We did this thing with a teacher this week where we had to teach an investigator as a class. It was so hard, but cool. Each companionship only got 2 minutes to teach (in Portuguese, btw) and then we switched. You had to keep going off of what everyone else was teaching as if nothing had changed. It was cool to see how even though none of us had planned together or anything, our lesson made sense to her and she learned. I know this could only have worked because we were teaching with the help of the Holy Spirit. There's no other way 11 missionaries who have been learning Portuguese for 4 weeks could have understood each other and taught a 30 minute lesson.

Yesterday, we also learned a lot about how important it is to teach PEOPLE and not just memorized lessons. We need to focus on people's needs, concerns, and problems and be able to help them through the power of the gospel. This also requires help from the Spirit because otherwise, we wouldn't be able to discern what their needs are. Our teacher really emphasized to us how important it is to love the people you serve. God loves them, so we should too. He told us how much he loves the people of Brazil and how he needs us to love them too. I am sooo excited to go to Brazil, I already love the culture and people!

Along those lines, I find out next Friday if I have my visa or if I am getting temporarily reassigned. Ahhh it's so exciting! Time has flown by so fast, but I have learned so much here. Thanks for your love and support. Tchau!

Sister Dieter

Week 4 at the MTC!

This was a great week. It brought it's own new challenges, but I've come to expect and look forward to that. I love being in a trio with Sister Holden and Sister Nelson, though it is different than just having one companion. They are such good missionaries and so inspiring though. More news this week, since school is starting, all the teachers have to go to half-time schedules. So we lost one of our teachers :( We have a new one, and now we will have one male and one female teacher instead of two men, so that will be cool. We're all going to miss our teacher though. Also, I don't know if I have mentioned this, but all the Brazilian missionaries have been on a wonky schedule since we weren't originally scheduled to be here. Instead of waking up at 6:30 like everyone else, we had breakfast at 6:30, then lunch at 11 and dinner at 4. Well, this week they finally fixed it and I get more sleep/get to eat at normal times! It's the little things. Haha also they moved our classroom to a newer and a lot nicer building, so that will be good.

We made a commitment as a district this week to try to only speak Portuguese during the 6 hours of class we have daily. It's tough, but I'm so grateful we are doing it. I actually would rather try to only speak Portuguese ever, but a lot of people in my district aren't comfortable with that yet. We'll get there. Our teacher told us how sometimes we have to sacrifice what is easy for what is worth it. It is easy for me to just speak English, but I am learning Portuguese so that I can share the gospel with people. So, it is worth it to sacrifice English for the sake of other people's learning. We had a great devotional this week by Neil L. Andersen about this topic. He discussed Sacrifice and Love and how interconnected they are. We sacrifice for the things we love and love the things we sacrifice for. I can totally feel this in my life that as I sacrifice my time, energy, and everything else to bring others unto Jesus Christ, I am growing to love those people so much more. I also realized how much faith really is a principle of action. It is not enough to just believe something is true. True conversion leads to action. It's just like how I have faith that I can learn Portuguese, but if I don't speak it and study it, God can't help me learn it. We have to put in our part by praying, reading the scriptures, and being obedient to the commandments in order to receive help from God. I love this idea so much.

Something I really liked that we discussed this week was being fully committed to following Jesus Christ. In the Bible when Christ tells the apostles to come follow him, they drop their nets, leave their ships, and go. I need to leave behind my old worries and focus on the people I am here to serve. I was so grateful this Sunday to have all the talks be about things I was studying and praying about. I know that as we put our trust in God and do as He commands, He will make our paths straight and guide us. One other cool thing this week; we get time to watch church movies on Sunday. Our district decided to watch Joseph Smith and the Restoration, which outlines the entire story of Joseph Smith restoring the gospel to the Earth. It is such a powerful movie and reminded me why I am here. I would highly recommend watching it, you can find it on lds.org. The early members of the church went through so much heartache, pain, and sorrow for the sake of the gospel. Nobody would do all that Joseph Smith did for the sake of something that was a lie. The Book of Mormon IS the word of God and this is God's true church on the Earth once more. It just makes sense to me, and as I have prayed to know this, it has been confirmed to me countless times. It has changed my life forever. I love you all and hope your weeks are going great.

Tchau!
Sister Dieter

Week 3 at the MTC!

Wow was this a crazy week! So my companion, Sister Kirk, found out that she got her visa on Wednesday!! She flew off to the Brazil MTC this morning. So now I am in a trio with the two other sisters that I room with. They are so fun, I love them. Four other people in our zone got their visas this week too!! Most of them went through the Houston or Chicago consulate, so we are predicting that a few others will get their visas from those consulates this week too. I have no clue about mine, but I'm starting to get excited about the idea of potentially serving in another state for a little while. We'll see!

We got to do this cool thing this week called TRC. Basically, you get to teach short lessons to volunteers, and they are not pretending to be anyone. You just teach them as themselves, and usually they are members of the church so it is a little easier. It's so awesome and fun though! I am progressing pretty well in Portuguese, but I know it is not me. Without help from Heavenly Father, I would not be able to do any of this. In Alma 26:12 in the Book of Mormon it explains how I am feeling pretty well: Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

Lately, we have been learning and teaching our investigators a LOT about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He suffered and died for all of our sins, pains, worries, fears, challenges, EVERYTHING. Because of that, we can repent, forsake our sins, and change. We can become better, and grow and learn. Christ is our closest advocate and best friend because He knows us perfectly. We can learn answers through reading the scriptures, which testify of His life and gospel. The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ and His love for us. It clarifies and provides a second witness of the plan of God for His children and of Jesus Christ. I love being able to teach people about this because I can see how that knowledge changes their lives. They have a new hope and desire for good. I love it, and it makes me want to be a better person too.

I am so grateful to be here at this time. I know it is what I need to be doing in my life right now, and even though it is hard, I have been prepared to do it. Through faith in God, and enduring hard times, we can accomplish way more than we think. Prayer is so important because it is how we talk to God. I have been striving to make my prayers more sincere and more like a conversation with God, than just a laundry list of requests and gratitude. Prayers are answered and we are blessed each day way more than we notice. I love the gospel and know that it is true. Without it, I don't know what I would do. I am so grateful for the hope and understanding that I receive from prayer, reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and learning from others. I love you and want to hear from you more! :)

Sister Dieter

Our district's interpretation of the Plan of Salvation. Who said missionaries don't know how to have fun?

District 2A!

Sisters :)

Week 2 at the MTC

Oi! Tudo bem?

This week was so much better than the first! I mean, harder of course, but I am a lot more used to the schedule and things like that so I know it is a challenge that I can manage. Everything is going great. We finished up teaching our first investigator, "'Pedro'', who decided to be baptized! It was pretty cool, even if it is a pretend investigator. So this week we have two new "investigators", but it is just going to be our teachers pretending to be people that they taught on their missions or that they know now. We met with one of them yesterday and it was so hard because he is a less-active member of the church who has had drug and addiction problems in the past. We asked him to pray at the end of the lesson and he told us he didn't feel worthy. That just makes me so sad! Everyone is worthy to pray whenever, and it is especially important to pray when you are feeling like you don't want to. We helped him to feel more comfortable praying though.

The language is coming along. I am actually doing pretty well with it compared to others in my district, mostly because my Spanish knowledge is helping a LOT. I didn't realize how much I remembered! I love Portuguese and I am so excited for that day when I can just communicate and understand without thinking. No word on any of our visas, but that's ok! I love my district so much already, even just after 2 weeks. They are becoming some of my best friends. The elders are from Las Vegas, Texas, Utah, South Dakota, New Mexico, and Florida, and then the other sisters are from Texas, California, Montana, Oregon, and Colorado. They are so fun and we really help each other and love spending time learning together.

On Sundays, we have some free time to spend watching church films. Our district decided to watch a devotional given by David Bednar called the "Character of Christ". I don't know if it is online, but I would highly recommend trying to read it or watch it somehow. He emphasized that Christ was loving and serving at all times, and that He always turned outward, especially at the hardest times in His life. Turning outward in service will help us to grow and become less selfish, which believe it or not, will actually make us happier. Mom and Dad, I'm so excited for you to be teaching those Primary kids. I substituted for that class once, and they are definitely rambunctious, but so smart and eager to learn. Try to help them and be patient with them. Primary is a special experience. Bednar also emphasized that although you may have a testimony of something, that testimony could be shaken. In order to not be shaken in your testimony, you have to continually cultivate it until it becomes true conversion. Prayer, scripture study, and trying to do the best you can each day will help to make dealing with the trials of life so much easier. I know that this church is true and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can repent and be forgiven and relieved of our sins and burdens. I'm so grateful I have this knowledge, and I can't wait to teach more people about it.

Te amo muito!
Sister Dieter

Week 1 at the MTC!

Oi Familia!

This week has been great! It has been literally the hardest week of my life, but in a good way. I am learning so much and having a lot of fun. Wednesday was all about orientation and things like that at first. We met our district, which is a group of elders and sisters who are speaking the same language. We are in the same class and have the same schedules every day, so we've all become pretty good friends already. My companion is Sister Kirk from Allen, Texas. She goes to BYU too and is a year older than me. My district is mostly made up of missionaries who are waiting on visas to Brazil, although two elders are headed off to Cape Verde in Western Africa! None of us have heard anything about our visas at all yet...so we'll see what happens I guess! One sister in our zone (a couple of districts put together) did just get her visa and flew off to Brazil this morning! So there is hope!

Anyways, most of my day every day is spent in some sort of study or teaching time. We have a teacher named Irmao Taylor who comes in for 3 hrs each day to teach us some Portuguese and how to effectively teach people. He's super funny and really helpful. We have an hour for personal scripture study each day, which has been a saving grace for me. We study as companionships, and mostly use that time to plan our lessons. We also have language study time and we get to use this computer program for an hour each day in which we can listen to native speakers. I had already learned most of the basics before getting here because I studied a lot over the summer, but I still have way more to learn! I've been trying to help out my district as much as I can since most of them didn't learn any Portuguese before they came.

So far, Sister Kirk and I have taught our "investigator" (Pedro) 3 lessons! Each has gotten progressively better. The first one was hard because we hadn't learned much yet, so it was a lot of memorization. But yesterday, we actually were able to communicate more and even though our Portuguese was not much better, we connected with Pedro on a more personal and spiritual level. We have been praying so hard for the Holy Spirit to be with us and to inspire us as we teach, and I felt it soo strong as we taught yesterday! Pedro told us that he prayed and discovered that the Book of Mormon is true, and now he is going to pray about being baptized! I know he's just an actor, but it is still so exciting!! I love learning how to help people and teach them what they need to know to be happy. The gospel is so wonderful and I want to show others the peace that it brings to my life.

Funny Portuguese mess-up of the week...so the word for to live with someone in Portuguese is morar, and the word for to die is morrer...you can see how that could be confusing...well, I kinda sorta asked Pedro if he DIED with his parents....hahahaha. You can imagine his confusion. Luckily it kind of broke the ice, so that was good. :) I'm so happy to be here! Please write me letters everyone! It is by far the easiest way for me to talk to you personally, and it totally makes a missionary's day to receive a hand-written letter!

Love you! Tchau!

Sister Dieter