With President and Sister Tanner

May 19, 2014

OIIIII FAMILIAAAA!!!

It’s been so long since I have been able to talk with you!  Wow I don’t even know where to start because I have so many things to tell you, so here goes...bear with me.  Also I haven’t spoken English for a while so sorry in advance for any grammar issues.

Brazil is wonderful.  I miss Michigan so much and it is such a weird transition with completely new missionaries and completely new people and a completely new language but I have had confirmation after confirmation this is where I am supposed to be right now.  I have a native companion named Sister Vieira from Parana, Brazil.  She is really great.  We are pretty much the same person but she is Brazilian and I am not...we both love working hard and learning new things and teaching lessons in similar ways so I feel very blessed.  We live with two other sisters--one is Brazilian and one is American and so I have the perfect balance of speaking all Portuguese but I can ask Sister Marino if I don’t know a word.  This week has been really good.  When I was in the MTC, I fasted that we would be able to teach and work with a family because I never got to teach a family in Michigan.  Right off the bat, my fasting and prayers were answered.  

We taught a woman named Celia on Tuesday (my first day in the field).  Every day we have gone back to teach her, we have started teaching another member of her family.  Now we are teaching Celia, her niece Nickoly, her nephew David, her sister Adriana, and another girl who lives with them named Laticia.  It has been so wonderful to see a family grow together in the gospel and it’s amazing to pray with them and feel the Spirit so strongly. Celia, Nickoly, and Laticia all came to church on Sunday for the first time (the others were sick) and I feel very blessed.

The people here are so kind and accommodating.  It’s crazy to have so many people say we can come back to their houses and teach about Christ...not many people in Michigan let us come back so it’s really different here!  The language is hard but I think I am slowly but surely coming along.  I feel really blessed because I can pretty much understand everything I hear.  Speaking is another story...but it’s coming.  Also everyone calls me Sister Geexon, but when I say it in my gringo accent, no one can understand me. So it’s pretty funny when I have to practice saying my own name with Sister Vieira.

Here are some funny/interesting things about Brazil:

--When I first arrived, I had all of my bags and stuff with me but we don’t have a car and no one could pick us up so we had to take the metro and walk to our apartment with all of my stuff.  Oh goodness we looked ridiculous.  When we were in the metro, we got on an elevator with my bags to go up a floor.  However, the elevator got stuck when we were on it!  We were standing there for probably a good ten minutes and we tried pressing the buttons to call someone but none of them worked.  Just imagine me, bewildered by being in Brazil with a new companion who doesn’t speak a lick of English....it was great;-)  But we made it!  

--When it rains it pours!  We had a huge rainstorm yesterday while we were out tracting.  It was seriously nuts.  I was so happy though to have my first Brazilian rainstorm.

--The members here feed us lunch instead of dinner.  They are so welcoming and hospitable and I feel very grateful.  We have rice and beans every single meal but mom I think you would cringe at the combinations...rice and beans with lasagna for example:-)

-- I forgot to tell you all but on my flight to Brazil I sat next to a Brazilian man who had just been released from prison literally a couple hours before.  He was really nice but he kept saying things like “Wow this food is so much better than it was in prison” and stuff like that.  What an adventure!

-- People are indeed gearing up for the World Cup. I am interested to see what will happen when it starts. People have been painting Brazilian flags and the World Cup logo in the streets and stuff...it’s pretty cool!

Well that’s about it on my end!  I did get to meet the Tanners and both of them raved about how awesome grandma and grandpa are.  Also Elder Anderson will come to our mission this week so I am really excited for that!!

Love you!

Sister Dixon

May 9, 2014

Hey family!!

Today is our P-day at the CTM.  It’s so good to hear from all of you.  And I just want to give you a heads up:  I am typing on a Portuguese keyboard so some of the typing might be wonky.

I don't have a ton of time but I will try to update you on as much as I can.  I LOVE it here!!!  I have been at the CTM for a week or so now and it's been really wonderful.  I am companions with Sister Empey (we have served the exact same mission--we started in the Provo MTC together) and we also have 2 other elders in our district now who were in our first district.  It's really great!  Sometimes though we feel like we haven't even been in the field before this.  It's weird to be here and feel like a brand new missionary all over again.  I like it though.  I feel like I have been granted this opportunity to think of things I want to do better and consecrate myself to the work all over again here in Brazil. 

Everything is great at the CTM.  I am feeling confident with the language, but my friend told me I will feel fluent when I leave the CTM and then get wrecked when I enter the field.  So I am just expecting that:-)  We are immersed in Portuguese completely!  It's fun  because we can sit by Brazilians at lunch and dinner and talk with them and we also have 2 Brazilieras in our room whom we talk with.  We have been teaching lessons to our investigators here as well and we also left the CTM twice and went street contacting and I could actually understand people so that was pretty exciting!  I accidently asked a lady if she has a child in Christ though . . . the word for child and belief are very similar.

The food is good.  Rice and beans and Guarana every meal!  I really do love the culture and the people already.  I will leave for the field this next Tuesday.  I am way way way excited because I really miss working with real people and doing real missionary work. 

We got to attend the temple in Sao Paulo this morning!  It was absolutely beautiful.  We went to a Spanish session and had English headphones.  It was quite the experience. Not as dramatic as Kirsten's though . . . I hope she is alright!

Well that's about it on my end!  I miss Michigan so so so much but I really feel like I am supposed to be here right now.  I love you all!  I will try to send more next week.

Com muito amor,

Sister Dixon

p.s. Everyone calls me Sister Geexon here . . . so great!  My dreams are coming true;-)

Brazil CTM

Departing visa waiters

April 30, 2014

Oi familia!

So I am officially here in the CTM in Brazil.  It was a long flight but we made it alright.  Things are going well though.  I sat by a Brazilheiro on the plane ride over and talked to him for a while and there are some Brazilian sisters in our room so we are getting lots of practice with the language!  Sister Empey and I are companions here in the CTM which I am excited about.  I don't know when our P-day is yet but I will keep you posted. 

LOVE YOU!

Sister Dixon