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| Shoveling snow with Sisters Flora (left) and Gonzales (right) |
January 13, 2014
Hi family!
Thanks for sending me wonderful
letters, even when I didn't get the chance to write you back last week. I
am going to try to update you on everything from the last 2 weeks . . . hopefully
I don't leave anything out!
What a whirlwind couple of weeks.
It has been amazing here. Frigid, but amazing. I love my new
companions so much! Sister Gonzales is my co-trainer. She is from
California and we have been out the same amount of time. She has a very
calming and peaceful attitude and I love working with her. Sister Flora
is our trainee. Sister Flora is an absolute joy to work with. She
has the happiest bubbliest attitude and is truly on a mission for the right
reasons! She is from St. George, so the weather is a bit of a shock for
both of my companions. It's a shock to me too, so I can only imagine how
freezing they must be. Poor Sister Flora arrived here on like the worst
weekend too! But she has been really positive throughout the whole thing
so I am really impressed.
As far as the weather goes, it has
been a little bit crazy. We had a huge snowstorm last Sunday and then
Monday morning it got down to -30 degrees with the wind chill. Our P-day
was "canceled" so we had to stay in the apartment for the day which
was nice and relaxing. We got a call at 4 that said we were allowed to go
out and we had to get our P-day activities done before 6. It was pretty
stressful but we decided grocery shopping was more important than e-mailing so
sorry I wasn't able to write last week. Tuesday was pretty cold as
well. We weren't allowed to be out tracting that day. Members kept
sending us texts that said stuff like, "The life expectancy outside right
now is 10 minutes! Don't you dare go out!" It made us pretty
freaked out. So we visited members and less-actives, but after that it's
all been back to normal. I did start noticing my toes were hurting pretty
badly though and turning red and the skin was turning thick. I had a member
look at it and he said I had a mild case of trench foot. If you want to
be sick, you should Google pictures of it. Mine isn't very bad at
all and it's starting to get better because I caved and bought some winter
boots (thanks grandma and grandpa for the Christmas money!) but it's kind of a
fun battle wound from the cold weather. It's started to warm up
a little bit and we figure if we can survive last weekend, then we can survive
the rest of winter easy-peasy.
The work has been good to us.
We are still trying to find new investigators, but I have faith it will happen
this week! Our mission president told us we should start using family
history more in our area since it is a more wealthy area. Our ward
mission leader made these awesome pass-along cards with family history fan
charts on them so we have been introducing those to people and offering to
teach them how to make them and the doctrine behind family history.
People are much more open to that so we are excited to see the miracles that
will come from it! Also we may have found a Chinese family to teach, so
you can only imagine how beyond excited I am for that.
We had a little miracle happen that
really showed how God's hand is in the work. We got permission to go to
the library later that week so Sister Flora could e-mail her mom and let her
know she is alive! As she was sitting at her computer, she asked to see
Sister Gonzales's name tag so she could make sure she spelled her name
correctly. The lady sitting next to her asked about the name tag and said
she took lessons from missionaries in Nigeria. Sister Flora invited her
to come to church and learn more and she accepted! I was sitting in a
chair close by and reading my scriptures as we were waiting for
Sister Flora, and it was really amazing to watch the whole thing
unfold! People are being prepared, and God prepares a way for us to find
them and for them to find us.
Our investigators are progressing
slowly but surely. Jaszzameen hasn't been able to come to church these
past 2 weeks but hopefully this week she can. The weather is really bad
for her joints because she had double knee replacement surgery a while
back. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with her this week because she
still doesn't know if Joseph Smith is a prophet. She was amazed at
how much opposition he faced. It really made me think of how much I have
taken Joseph Smith for granted. He sacrificed so much. His trials
and sacrifices always make the work here seem a little easier. I know
that strengthened her testimony, but keep her in your prayers!
The word "truth" has been
on my mind this week. It all sparked from reading John 8.
Ultimately, everyone on earth is
searching for the truth. Every person in this world, whether they realize
it or not, is searching for that thing that will set them free from the trials
and the burdens of this mortal life. This led me to another scripture in
Alma 9.
26 And anot many
days hence the Son of God shall come in hisbglory; and his
glory shall be the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of cgrace, equity,
and truth, full of patience, dmercy, and
long-suffering, quick to ehear the
cries of his people and to answer their prayers.
Christ is FULL of TRUTH. His
is the message every person is searching for. Christ is the only person who
is able to set us free. When we know Christ, we have a chance at liberty
in this life as well as eternal life in the world to come (John 17:3). I
am really grateful for leaders in the Church who have encouraged me to find
truth for myself. I know the search for truth is the most important quest
we can be on in this life. I know my search for truth has led me to know this
is the only true and living church upon the face of this earth. I know
the Book of Mormon is true as
well. Finding these bits of truth truly has made me free!
Sorry this is probably all over the
place, but I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Sister Dixon
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