The threesome with Bruce at the mid-autumn festival

September 16, 2013

Hi everyone!  

I am so glad to hear grandpa's funeral went well.  I read over grandma's history this week and I realized that he was a visa waiter too and that grandma joined the church in her early 20s! Those were both cool connections to make and I really feel like they are helping me with this work.

We had an amazing week!  It was so busy and full of miracles!  Ah I just can't describe how wonderful it is to be here and work with these people and these companions.  Heavenly Father really knows what He is doing.

Here are some highlights

-We had 2 exchanges last week.  Sister Smith and I spent a day in the Portland area with Sister Jackman. Sister Jackman is also a visa waiter so we got to do language study together which was really fun!  The Portland area was BEAUTIFUL!  Michigan is gorgeous.  I love being here.  We also had Sister Powell with us on Wednesday from the St. John's area.  She is such an awesome and hardworking missionary.  I love learning from all of the different sisters we get to meet.  Sister Smith and I really missed Sister Richardson though.  Our trio is doing great and we love each other so much!  This week Sister Richardson and I will be hosting Sister Kaegi at MSU.  Sister Kaegi is another visa waiter from the Williamston area.  She is going to Sao Paulo Interlagos.  She looked so familiar the first time I saw her and I realized it's because she did late summer honors! Such a small world.  She was also in Brianna Vail's MTC district and she told me Sister Vail said to say hi!  I am excited to get to work with her.

-Our investigator Hu Wen Qi is doing great!  He is on date for this Saturday--we are really excited for his baptism!  We had a Chinese party on Friday which he came to and loved.  He has been making so many friends in the ward which makes all the difference!  We also had a potluck on Sunday after stake conference and he brought this elaborate Chinese pork.  He made it in the morning and then put it in Tupperware and kept it in his backpack during conference haha.

-More about the Chinese party...it was a mid-autumn festival which is a holiday they celebrate in China.  It's focused on family I guess but it was so fun!  Bruce and Frank were in charge of planning it for the ward and they did a great job.  We ate moon cakes, did trivia questions (with wish lanterns as the prize), sang songs about families, and got serenaded by Frank on violin.  He was hilarious.  Sister Richardson has it on video but hopefully I can get it because it was too funny.  That party was such a hit, and I just felt grateful to be in this area.  I kept looking around the room and being so happy because I felt so lucky to know everyone there.  The Lord is blessing me!

-We had a cool experience about following the Holy Ghost the other day.  We prayed about where to go finding and we really felt like we should go to Service Road.  We walked there for nearly an hour and we didn't see a SINGLE person, which is especially bizarre because campus is so busy now!  I was feeling doubtful about if we should really be there and frustrated because we had like 30 minutes until our next lesson so we had to get back soon.  We kept walking, though, and we ended up seeing a person and we had an amazing conversation with him!  We have had 2 lessons with him since and he is coming to Hu Wen Qi's baptism this weekend.  It was a humbling experience because the Lord really does know best and we just need to trust in Him!  

-And last, but not least, stake conference was INCREDIBLE!  The whole thing was about missionary work. They had a special session right before the general session specifically for recent converts and investigators so that was pretty cool.  Then, they had 2 missionaries speak who are entering the field soon (including a girl named Michelle Page who is going to the Fort Collins mission!), a recently returned missionary, Bruce (It was incredible!  He has such a strong testimony and he made Sister Christiansen and me cry!  Sister Probert isn't in our stake anymore...we wish she could have seen it.  But it was amazing!), President and Sister Hess, and then the stake president.  Some other WMLs and such spoke as well and holy cow it was awesome!  Everyone focused on member missionary work and the spirit was so strong.  We ended the meeting with all of the missionaries in the zone singing “Called to Serve!”  I got to play piano which was a little nerve racking but it turned out really powerful.  The missionaries in this mission are amazing!  I feel blessed to know them and to learn from every single one of them!

Sister Hess said, "As members and missionaries, we are invited to participate in miracles."  I love that!  Missionary work truly is miraculous.  Thanks for all your support and love!  Have a great week,

Sister Dixon