Aje's baptism

March 17, 2014

Hello everyone!  

We had an AMAZING WEEK!  Seriously one of the best weeks of my mission.  I just continue to feel so blessed and "[c]onfused at the grace" that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ give us.  Here were the highlights of the week:

1)  Aje got baptized!!  (Also we found out her name is really spelled Ajee with an accent over the second "e" but she just leaves it off most of the time to make it easier.  She is from Detroit, but her name is French.)  It was absolutely amazing!  Aje loves the gospel, the Book of Mormon, and the ward so it was very powerful.  The jumpsuit she wore was a little big so when she came out of the changing room with it on she said, "It looks like I bought this at convicts-r-us."  Haha she is hilarious!  Also I just wanted to illustrate how much Heavenly Father played a part in finding Aje.  When I was at MSU last year, we got a call from the assistants at the beginning of a new transfer saying they had a referral for us.  Some of the new missionaries had gone PCing on campus for the first time and the sisters found a girl named Aje who was interested (one of them was Sister Kaegi, my old companion)!  We called Aje and set up an appointment with her, but when we went that next week, she wasn't there.  We tried and tried to get a hold of her, but she would never answer back so as we started to find new potentials, Aje got put on the back burner. Fast forward to Christmas break, when Sister Richardson and Sister Smith were in the area.  They started calling old potentials during break because there weren't too many people on campus.  Aje answered and set up an appointment and the rest is history!  It is just so amazing to see how everything was orchestrated perfectly and how we should never give up on people!  Heavenly Father knows so much more about the people we teach than we do!  

2)  We picked up a new investigator this week named Alysha and she is absolutely amazing.  The zone leaders found her at the library and referred her to us.  We didn't know anything about her when we met with her the first time so the lesson was completely guided by the Spirit and it turned out to be such a powerful lesson.  Alysha expressed how she has been feeling unhappy lately and just sick of the party atmosphere at MSU.  She really feels like people around her are dragging her down.  We felt like we should share the story of the Tree of Life with her to introduce the Book of Mormon and she absolutely loved it.  She kept saying how happy she felt and how much hope it gave her to know there is something to hold on to and a reward at the end that makes the persecution worth it.  She came to church yesterday and we are teaching her again tonight so that was a huge miracle!  It was probably the most spiritual lesson I have ever been in on my mission.   I am so grateful!

3)  We had half-mission training this past week.  It was truly amazing.  President Hess shared how he was called to the Spanish-American mission but then he had such a hard time learning Spanish in the MTC that his mission got changed.  He felt guilty about it and inadequate at times.  His story brought me to tears.  I realized that is how I feel sometimes, which is really silly.  At times I feel like I haven't gotten my visa yet because I haven't worked hard enough here or I haven't learned the lessons I needed to learn here.  This realization brought me to tears.  President Hess talked about how it was a daily struggle to rely on the Lord and trust in His plan and realize he didn't need to feel guilty or inadequate.  Once I recognized that in myself, I felt so much peace to know it isn't my fault I am still here.  Heavenly Father's plan is so much more magnificent than anything I could ever dream up.  It was so amazing to realize what exactly I am feeling and then that President Hess is my mission president so he could help me overcome those feelings.  I was truly humbled and grateful.  Sister Smith and I had to do a demonstration in front of everyone about committing people to come to church.  I pondered about why church has been such a blessing in my life and it made me so grateful to have a place where I can be "unspotted from the world."  I invite each of you to ponder why church is important to you and to do things to make your Sabbath day even more holy.  

The work is truly so sweet.

Love,

Sister Dixon

p.s.  A ward member bought us twin shirts because she knows we love to match!  We wore green skirts in honor of St. Patrick’s Day :)