Saturday, February 22, 2014

Happy Walemtime's Day!

February 17, 2014

Hellooooo family!  Well I am feeling SO BLESSED as I sit here and e-mail today.  It has been an absolutely wonderful first week back at MSU.  I thought it might be weird to be back here with the same people again, but it feels so right.  I am having so much fun and we have seen so many miracles.

Here are the highlights from this week:

--Valentine's Day!  It was such a great day.  Sister Smith and I went out to lunch with Nono and Bruce, both recent converts.  Nono's boyfriend had broken up with her a few weeks before so she was kind of sulky about Valentine's Day . . . and also she can't say it right so she called it Walemtime's Day.  Basically the whole lunch consisted of her frowning and saying in the grumpiest voice, "I hate Walemtime's Day.  I hate this festival."  Sister Smith and I couldn't stop laughing.  After, we went finding and had a huge miracle (I'll share that later) and then some of the students in our ward had us and the other missionaries over for a Valentine's dinner.  It was so nice!  Everything was heart shaped and they made us goody bags too with flowers.  I was overwhelmed by the love from the students in this ward!  I have missed them and it feels so good to be back!

--Exchanges with Grand Ledge!  This past week we did our first exchanges of the transfer.  I went to the Grand Ledge area and worked with Sister Lynes and Sister McElvany.  They are wonderful sisters!!  I was so impressed with them.  Both of them have had difficult things happen in their pasts and I was just amazed at how diligent and converted they are despite those setbacks.  It was really fun to go on exchanges--I am excited for the rest of this transfer.
--Finding miracle!  Sister Smith and I were PC'ing on campus and we started talking to this boy from China.  He was semi-interested, but then we both felt prompted to ask him if he could meet right then for a lesson.  He said yes, and we went into a nearby dorm room and started teaching him about the Godhead.  It was amazing to see how much his countenance changed throughout the course of the lesson.  He was so interested in learning more about God and at the end we taught him how to pray and he said the prayer.  It was so precious.  He talked about how he moved here and didn't have any friends and how he hoped God would be able to help him with that.  We were so grateful to meet him!  We invited him to read Alma 32 at the end of the lesson and he said "Yes!  I love doing homework!"  His name is Qian, so keep him in your prayers.
--We have picked up a few other investigators throughout this week.  All of them are really amazing; I know this transfer will bring miracles!  I am really excited about the work right now!

I also heard from the Williamston sisters that Rita is going to get baptized on March 1.  She was taught about the Word of Wisdom and accepted it and she is progressing well!  We have been so blessed.

This week I was particularly touched by Moses 6:61, which reads,
"Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment."

I have been trying to study and learn more about the Holy Ghost, because I think the ability to recognize and follow the Holy Ghost will be one of the greatest things I can take away from my mission.  I really loved that it said the Comforter is a "record of heaven."  I looked up “record” in the dictionary and one of the entries said it means memory.  I love that--the Holy Ghost is a memory of heaven.  The Holy Ghost is what helps us to remember our Father's love so we desire to return to Him again, and it also helps us to know what eternal joy will be like so we can make choices now.  I am just so beyond grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and I hope I can be an instrument in the Lord's hands to help others receive it!
Sorry this e-mail is probably crazy, but I really am so happy to be back; I am loving the work so much!  Maybe I went overboard on the excitement, but sweet is the work!
LOVE YOU ALL!


Sister Dixon

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Saying goodbye

February 10, 2014

Well, family, get ready for the biggest shock of your life . . . I AM GOING BACK TO MSU!!!!!

Maybe this won't come as such a big shock to you, but I am still in a daze.  I seriously CANNOT believe it.  I thought for sure I would be staying in Williamston another transfer and finishing Sister Flora's training, but we got our calls on Friday and I am leaving--crazy! 

So I will explain what will be happening and answer mom's questions.  A sister training leader is basically like a zone leader, but for sisters.  There are 4 zones with sisters in our mission so there is a pair of sisters who cover each zone.  Sister Smith and I (yep, we are going to be reunited.  I am sosososoooo happy!) will cover the Lansing Zone.  We go on exchanges with the sisters in our zone weekly and report on the exchanges to President Hess.  Also, we, along with the zone leaders, teach the missionaries at zone trainings.  It should be really fun!  I am super excited for it.  I am nervous in a way because I don't feel adequate to train other missionaries, but I know the Spirit will direct my words.  Sister Richardson got transferred; this will be my first time on my mission with only one companion!  Crazy how things work out! 

I won't be training Sister Flora anymore.  I am kind of sad because she was such a blessing in my life.  I will miss Sister Flora and Sister Gonzales so very much!  We will still be in the same district, though.  I will still see everyone in the Williamston ward every Sunday at church so it was kind of a weird goodbye.

Also, they are opening an MSU3 area with more sisters.  So there will be 6 missionaries on MSU campus which will be really exciting.  We aren't exactly sure the logistics of it yet--Sister Smith and I will be in charge of introducing the new sisters to the area and splitting up proselyting areas--but it will be amazing! 

Hopefully I answered everything . . . I will miss Williamston a ton!  But if you can't tell, I am really excited for this next transfer!

I am most sad to leave teaching Rita behind.  She is progressing so well!  We invited her to a baptism on Saturday and she wants to be baptized SOON.  We are still working towards a solid date for her (she has to go to her grandmother's funeral on February 22), but she is really looking forward to her own baptism, which is a huge miracle.  I will send pictures when I get to go to her baptism!

I guess that's pretty much it from my end.  I'm sending some pictures.  I said goodbye to most of the less actives in the ward because I won't be seeing them on Sundays.  Hopefully I'll take some more pictures with members before I leave the area.

Sorry I don't have a ton of time to write individually because I am going to MSU soon, but I loved hearing from all of you!  Sounds like things are going well.  I love you so much!


Sister Dixon

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

You're a blizzard, Harry!

Companionship

February 3, 2014

Hellooooo everyone!  Wow did we have a great week here.  It snowed a ton (hence the subject line), it was so cold that they had to cancel school twice, and we had to push our van out of the snow a few times.  BUT, we had so much fun along the way and had miracles as well!  What a blessing!  People keep talking about how crazy this Michigan winter has been!  How lucky I am to be a part of it! 

Here are the miracles from this week:

1) RITA.  We were able to meet with her on Thursday.  She wanted to meet at the stake center so we gave her a church tour and taught her a lesson there.  She was taught a little by missionaries before when she lived in England so she knew about the Book of Mormon and such.  She had some family members who recently passed so we taught her about the plan of salvation.  It was kind of a bonkers lesson because she had so many questions but she absorbed everything and really took it to heart.  She told us at the end she needs the baptism of the Holy Ghost in her life so she will have to be baptized by water first.  We set a date in February with her and it was such a huge miracle.  I am grateful Heavenly Father directed her and us to the library so our paths would cross.  Rita is going through some hard times right now and is really loving the gospel.  She came to church yesterday and stayed the whole time.  Plus we found an awesome fellowshipper for her who made her feel so welcome.  Ah.  Sweet is the work!

2) Angie came to church!  Angie has been learning from missionaries for a couple months now and all of us have invited her to church many times.  Somehow, she hadn't come yet even though she goes church hopping and attends a different service pretty much every week--why not ours?  When Elder Golden came to the mission he talked about how the adversary will do ANYTHING in his power to keep people from coming to church because it is such a crucial step in their conversion process.   Angie is the perfect example--it seems like something would always come up on Sunday mornings!  She wasn't really progressing so we have been praying about how we could help her or if we should stop teaching her.  But then she came to church!  One of our amazing members texted and invited her and it was seriously such a miracle.  And it goes to show the power of member missionary work.  That's for all you at home!  Fellowship the missionaries' investigators!!!!

3)  Interviews with President Hess this week.  I am so grateful for his example.  Sometimes I get a tiny bit sulky about not being in Brazil but then I remember all President Hess has taught me and all is well with the world again.  I loved getting to talk with him and hear his insight on how important faith and positivity are.  How blessed I am to be serving in this place at this time.

4) Amazing church members.  I don't know if I have ever expressed how much I love the members of the Williamston Ward, but I just wanted to take a moment and say how amazing they are.  They are seriously like a family, and they have helped me to feel like a member of their tight-knit bunch.  I am amazed at how willing they are to come out teaching with us and feed us every night.  Yesterday Sister Flora had a migraine at church and everyone was so worried.  Sister Hunter took Sister Flora out of the chapel and our bishop gave her a blessing before sacrament meeting started.  Everyone kept asking if she was ok and one of the members wrote her a prescription after church for migraine medicine.  We were all touched at how charitable the members were and I just love them so much.  Transfer calls are coming this Friday and I am kind of nervous about what will happen!  I can't believe it's already been a month since we picked Sister Flora up.  I don't want to leave Williamston quite yet but a change would be fun as well.  We will see!

Love you all!


Sister Dixon