Brooke's baptism

August 5, 2013

Hello everyone!

Thanks for writing.  We had such an awesome week!  I decided I am just going to write a list of all of the good things that happened.  We had so many tender mercies and I was just overwhelmed by how happy missionary work makes me!

-Bus finding this week was AMAZING!  We had a dinner appointment at a member’s house this week but he lives kind of far away.  We knew the bus ride was going to take like 2 and a half hours so we were praying it would be good for us even though we would have to spend longer on the bus than we would like. And holy cow our prayers were answered!  We met some awesome people on the bus and then when we got to the bus station in downtown Lansing we saw 2 guys who we have been trying to get ahold of all week. We had met them before on the bus and both of them came up to us at the station and said they had days off from work and we were able to schedule return appointments.  It was so cool!  Like what are the odds we all would have been at the bus station at the same time?!  Then we got back on the bus and I sat by a lady. She looked over at the Book of Mormon in my hands and said "Oh the Book of Mormon, eh?"  I thought she was going to complain about the Church but then she was like "Ya my whole family in Washington is already LDS.  I just moved here and I have been looking for a Mormon church!"  It was so cool!  She told me the missionaries in Washington would meet with her and her children all the time and read the Book of Mormon with her.  She told me she knows it's true and she wanted to come to church.  Unfortunately, we won't be teaching her because she has children but it was still such a testimony people are being prepared and they just need to be found.  OH and her daughter's name is Cumorah.  Uhhh, ok?!  I just kept thinking "This can't be real."  But the Lord definitely provides!

-The dinner appointment we went to was awesome.  We went to Matt's house. Matt went to Georgia on his mission and he cooked us a real Southern meal complete with collard greens, okra, and fried chicken ( I have no clue how to spell any of that).  It was delicious! And also very heavy...he said one elder in his mission gained 100 pounds when he was out!  Holy moly.  

-We have been meeting lots with a less-active named Silvestro.  He is so cool but really does not believe the Book of Mormon can be true anymore.  He is trying to find truth but keeps going to anti for the answers. Anyway, this week we taught him about how to feel the Holy Ghost and he interrupted in the middle of us talking and said "I just wanted to say I feel I really needed to hear that today so I am really grateful you are teaching me this."   It was so tender.  Plus he came to the Book of Mormon class we have every Friday and to a baptism on Saturday!  He wasn't able to make it to church but he texted us and told us he was fasting  It was awesome and I just love seeing how him coming back to the gospel is making him happy!

-We got to give a church tour this week and I loved it!  Greg and Erin are getting married in November and Erin's mom wanted a tour of the stake center because they are going to use it for the reception.  Erin's mom isn't super supportive of Erin joining the Church so we really wanted to make a good impression.  It was so awesome though!  She absolutely loved everything about the stake center and we know she could feel the Spirit in the chapel.  Erin bore her testimony on Sunday about how her mom's heart has been softened and it is just amazing to see how the Spirit works. 

-We have an investigator who has been taking the lessons for about a year now.  His name is Dennis and he is from Uganda.  He went to church last year but hasn't been since and recently we met with him and committed him to baptism!  He even came to church this past week!  He still has some things to work out but we are hoping by the end of this transfer he will be baptized because we know he is ready and that it will bless his life so much!

-We have continued meeting with Bruce and Yifan.  They are both super active in the Church.  They go to all of the activities and just love every minute of it!  They are even going to the temple this week to do baptisms! So cool!  Yifan passed the sacrament for the first time this Sunday and he said, "It was such an honor to serve God."  And Bruce blessed the sacrament so that was really cool to see.

-We had interviews with President Hess on Friday.  It was amazing!  He is such a great man and I am so inspired by how close he is to the Spirit.  We helped Sister Hess weed the stake center while we were waiting to be interviewed and after, President and Sister Hess took the sister missionaries to Panera for lunch.  It was delicious.  It's a good time to be a missionary and an even better time to be a sister missionary! The examples of President and Sister Hess have touched my life and helped me be a better missionary.  I am so grateful I have gotten to know them.

-We went to a baptism on Saturday for Brooke!  She is awesome.  We were going to start teaching her but her house is far away so the elders got her.  She found the missionaries about a month ago and was just super elect!  She was supposed to get baptized a while back but then she went out of town so we were so happy it finally happened.  Sister Christiansen, Sister Probert, and I sang at the baptism and we are singing at another one this Saturday.  We make quite the trio :)  We love singing together and also Yifan and a few other Chinese people at the baptism recorded us singing and said they were going to put it on YouTube...so look for us onTop 10 videos this week (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg0-ClpNdRw, see also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1pBsv8xzd0)!  The baptism was amazing though!  We had to schedule it in Holt, Michigan because our stake center was being used for something else.  (Kirst I thought you would be delighted to know there is a city named Holt in Michigan!)  It was kind of a bummer because it was far away so not many of our ward members made it but all of the Chinese people were there!  Frank even paid 20 bucks to take a taxi because he thought it was so important.  I love them so much.  Bruce gave a talk at the baptism and Frank gave the closing prayer (he typed it out--so adorable).  It was inspiring and I am so happy for Brooke!

-We went to Nang's house for dinner this week.  Nang is a recent convert from Burma.  The food was amazing but sosooo spicy which I am not used to!  She is so cool though but has a hard time with English and it's sad because the Book of Mormon isn't in her native language yet.  Hopefully soon though!  It's just been amazing to meet these people from all over the world.  She also sang in Burmese for us and it was incredible!  Such a fun night with her.

-I love my companions!  I love spending each day with them and I am just so blessed to be with them.  We can't believe the transfer is already half way over.  It's gone by so fast!  We are just trying to enjoy every moment we have with each other because we have no clue what is going to happen next transfer!

That's about it.  I just feel so blessed to be here and I love the people so much!  God really knew what He was doing when He sent me here for the time being.

p.s. Sister Christiansen has been sleep talking a ton lately!   The other night I woke up to her kneeling beside my bed and saying "Join the Church" (don't worry, she said I could put that)!

Have a great week!

Sister Dixon