Matching missionaries!

September 23, 2013

Hey family!  

I can't believe I am here e-mailing you again...the weeks are seriously flying by!  Tomorrow is my 5 month mark (and also Nick's birthday--happy birthday Nick!) and I can't believe it.  It's sad to me that the time is passing quickly.  There is still so much left to learn but I just have to work my hardest every day and hope for the best!

We had an amazing week here.  Hu Wen Qi's baptism didn't end up happening this past weekend because all of the ward was supposed to be gone for a YSA conference and there were some scheduling conflicts for the building.  But we are definitely having it this Saturday at 11 and he is sooo excited!  He came to church yesterday and had a great experience and we are just stoked for that day!  Saturday will be amazing.  We are also having a ward bbq that night and then we get to go to the Relief Society broadcast.  Hopefully we are going to get some investigators there as well but it will be amazing!  The broadcasts are all 2 hours later here so it will go from 8-10 which is kinda crazy.  We will be up late!  And sessions will be from 12-2 and from 4-6 on those days.  It will be different than watching it in Colorado and Utah!  All of us missionaries are SO excited for conference and Bruce and Yifan are really excited too.  Also Hu Wen Qi has started reading my blog as well hahaha all of the Asians just love my blog for some reason.  And we had a half mission training this week and there was a missionary named Sister Kane in Midland and she said one of her investigators is reading my blog as well.  I am starting to get really self conscious of what I put on it. Anyway...

Here are some updates!

-Sister Kaegi came to MSU for a day and it was a blast!  She is amazing and it was so fun to work with her and Sister Richardson.  We got to do language study together as well which was fun.  I did a door approach in Portuguese and I didn't forget everything yet so there is hope!  Speaking of, mom, I haven't heard anything about the police letter forms.  Hopefully they are safe with the consulate but maybe you can check with Veronica or something?

-We had half mission training last week on Thursday.  We went to Mt Pleasant for it and it was seriously incredible!  We learned so many things that will help our investigators progress and it was a very spiritually uplifting day.  The missionaries in this mission are amazing. They are all striving to be their best which I think is such a nice environment to be around.  We got to ride up and back with President and Sister Hess and we stopped by a cider mill on the way home.  It was a blast!  We got to watch a little factory make the apple cider and then we ate cider and donuts.  I love President and Sister Hess so much and I was blessed to be able to spend that time with them and learn from them.  Michigan is beautiful right now so it was fun to explore!

-The weather is getting chilly!  I haven't broken down and bought a jacket yet--so far cardigans have been sufficient--but I feel like I might need to soon!  Yesterday was really cold at church.  The weather was in the 50s.  You might remember around when Bruce got baptized, the church flooded.  They have been re-doing the gym floors so yesterday church was only sacrament meeting because of the fumes and they kept all the doors open.  It was pretty nippy in the chapel!  Sister Smith got snowboots; I am starting to get nervous about what to do if it snows...what an adventure!

-Sister Richardson and Sister Smith are so great.  I haven't really taken very much time to write about them but I feel like I would be ungrateful if I didn't say something about how amazing they are!  I have been blessed with companions so far.  Sister Smith is 23 and I am so glad she waited to come out until this time because I know there were things I needed to learn from her.  She is so poised and such a good teacher and so smart!  She already graduated with a teaching degree and she has taught me so much about how to be an elegant advocate of the gospel message.  She is also the most hilarious person ever and loves the sisters in the zone so much!  I have learned so much from her.  Sister Richardson is SO sweet.  She loves everyone she meets and the way she treats them reflects her testimony of Christ.  She has had some really hard times in her life but she doesn't let that stop her from being happy and positive.  She is so hard working as well.  I am just loving the opportunity to be companions with them.

We really think we have the best area and the best companionship!  We are loving the work so much.  This transfer has been such a grand adventure indeed.

Love,

Sister Dixon

p.s.  I can't believe how many missionaries there are from the stake right now.  You should post the video on my blog--I bet my readers would love to see it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cR3dM-xwGk).