August 19, 2013

Hi everyone!

I can't believe how quickly time is flying.  We get transfer calls this Friday and it's nuts to know I have already been a missionary for 2 transfers here!  This is my last week of being in training too.  That means I'll be leaving the apartment an hour earlier to work.  It's going to be awesome!  But I will miss being trained by Sister Probert.  She was simply the best.  

Well we are all pretty nervous about transfer calls!  We pretty much knew the outcome last time since Sister Christiansen and I were still in training, but this time anything could happen!  And I might even get my visa.  Maybe next week I'll be writing you in Brazil?!  I am excited though for whatever happens!  I know it's all in God's plan and I'll be happy with whatever happens.  

We had an awesome week!  Here were the highlights:

-We got to go on exchanges!  Sister Christiansen and I went to Holt with Sister Smith and it was a blast!  She is such a good and positive missionary and it was a joy to work with her.  I really enjoyed being in a family area, too.  It's so different from a singles ward but I loved seeing what it's like.  It's cool to see how every area really does have many positives about it.  When you accentuate the positive things, every area and situation can be such a blessing! We taught a lesson in Holt to a lady who seriously had like 15 cats.  And a little known fact about Sister Christiansen is that she LOOOOVES cats.  She was in heaven and she had several cats on her throughout the whole lesson.  It was funny to see.  Another great thing about Holt was that Sister Smith taught me about thinking positively.  She has a hard time in the mornings and another missionary taught her to say "Life Is a Grand Adventure" when she wakes up.  I have been doing it too and it gets me excited for every day!  Life really is a grand adventure.  Sometimes people get caught up with how similar each day on the mission is.  But when you think about it as an adventure you get to see that you learn new things every single morning and you meet new people every single day and it's just the coolest!  I'm probably going to use this phrase so much now; brace yourselves.

-We had zone conference this week.  It was incredible, as are all of the trainings we get to have.  We mainly learned about the Holy Ghost, sarcasm, and asking inspired questions.  I love learning these things and I love that missionary work is all about constantly striving to do better!  Complacency is the worst and I am grateful we are always pushed to be our best.  We also talked about our mission vision statement a ton.  I thought I would share it because I really love reciting it every day.

The Michigan Lansing mission consists of missionaries who live what they teach.  We are here to do what Jesus would do if he were in our area and position.  We are here to do the Father's will as found in the scriptures, Preach My Gospel, the teachings of our leaders, and by following the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.  We invite Heavenly Father in specific ways to help us, the members, investigators, and other missionaries do His work.  We are here to work with all our heart, might, mind, and strength and to lose ourselves in the service of our fellow men.  Our motivation for service is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, hope in His atoning sacrifice, and charity, the pure love of Christ with an eye single to the glory of God.  We study and plan daily to prepare ourselves to teach by the Spirit.  We open our mouths at every opportunity to teach and we find while we teach.  We work with a unity as a mission according to the laws of the celestial kingdom.  

Isn't that awesome?!

-Mishaps on the bus this week...I accidentally sat in paint or something on a bus ride.  I got off and started walking and my companions started laughing so hard.  Hopefully it comes off in the wash!  And I left my scriptures on the bus this week.  It was pretty devastating!  I had to trade spots because someone with a wheelchair came on and my scriptures ended up being lost in translation.  I was praying I would get them back because they mean so much to me. I kept calling the bus station to see if they had been found and luckily after 3 days they called me and said they were there!  Prayer is real and I am so grateful.  I love my scriptures so much and I will definitely take better care of them from now on, haha.

-So many people are here!  School starts next week and campus is crazy!  Not everyone is back yet but all of the international students and freshman have been arriving--it's been sooo fun to go finding.  Yesterday we talked to a guy named Blessing from Zimbabwe.  He opened up so much and told us his whole life story.  It was devastating and I feel very grateful for how the gospel has blessed my life.  He is Christian and has found so much help and comfort through Jesus Christ!  We shared the Book of Mormon with him and will hopefully be meeting with him soon but I just love how cool it is that I get to talk to many amazing people every day!

-Bruce gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday.  It was very good and it was just so fun to see him up there.  He is amazing.  I wish all of you could meet him.  And, after his talk, he got word he is speaking in stake conference in a few weeks!  Isn't that crazy?!  I don't think he realizes how nervous he should be but man, they really picked someone amazing!  I hope I get to see him speak.  

I love you all!

Sister Dixon