SURPRISE!!!

Walking to the MTC on Wednesday, April 24, 2013

April 30, 2013

Hello family!!!

We got a new schedule on Sunday and they changed our P-day to Tuesdays!  It

was seriously such a blessing. My laundry is in the wash as we speak, mom,

so it all worked out! I got to go to the temple this morning, too, which

was so peaceful and nice. P-days are the best and it was just what I

needed to have one today. ALSO, we can e-mail for an hour now! So Kirst

can post my e-mail on Facebook too if she wants.

Ok, where to begin...I meant to bring my journal with me but I forgot it in
my room so this letter might be somewhat sporadic. My apologies. My
district has eight elders and four sisters in it. All of us are going to Sao
Paulo Sul except for four of the elders. One of the elders lives in
Littleton! It has been really fun to talk to him and he said he lives
right by the Denver temple so I am pretty sure we live minutes away from
each other. He is going to Campinas, Brazil along with three of the other
elders. Mom, to answer your question, Sister Hargrove is not the one I have

been communicating with. We were friends on Facebook before, but we

hadn’t ever talked with each other. I was friends with all of the sisters

in my district before entering the MTC, so it was pretty fun to see them

and meet them in real life. The one I have been talking to about visa

stuff is Sister Empey. She is from Texas and her companion is Sister Cox

from Philly. My companion, Sister Hargrove, is from Washington state. She

lives in a small town though that is not anywhere close to Spokane. She

says it is closer to the Oregon border. We have been getting along really

well though. We are very similar and we both have a strong desire to learn

which helps us stay focused during study time and whatnot. I am so

grateful to have a first companion I will have good memories with! It

has been so fun to work and teach with her. My district is awesome

though. We definitely have gone though some rough patches

already...Some of the elders have a hard time focusing during study time

and on one particular day a fight of sorts broke out and one elder slammed

his desk and all of his stuff fell on the ground. It was a tense moment

and it was hard for us to feel unified. However, we set some boundaries in

our district and have been praying for unity and I think things are really

improving. We have all been better about focusing and we have the Spirit

with us more as we study. It is amazing to see the power of prayer work in

our lives.

My teacher's name is Irmao Mateer. He went to Portugal on his mission but

he is trying really hard to teach us Portuguese with a Brazilian accent.
It is funny because he kept saying Eu de Alpine, Utah (or I am from Alpine,
Utah), but when he started talking in English, he definitely had an
accent. We asked him about it later and he told us he is from Scotland but
he lives in Alpine, Utah. We love listening to him teach in his Scottish
accent. If you get the chance, mom, send me a package with a kilt. JK LOL.

The language is coming slowly, but surely. We have already taught three full
lessons in Portuguese! Can you believe it: (The keyboard is in Portuguese
and that is what happens when I type a question mark.) The first lesson
we taught was on Friday and I was so nervous. We had lots of things

written out to say in Portuguese but we were stumbling through it and

whenever our pesquisador would ask questions we would just look at him

blankly. (He acts like an investigator but really he is just a teacher at

the MTC--but it is still nerve-racking). Each lesson gets better and

better, though. It is amazing to see how far I have come already. But I

still have so far to go and at times it can be very overwhelming. My

companion and I were feeling particularly overwhelmed one night, so Irmao 
Mateer shared a story with us. I think he could tell we were a little

disheartened. He told us about Peter. He first told us about when Peter

was walking on water and he started sinking when he didn’t have the Holy

Ghost and when he started focusing on other things besides Christ.  He said 
when we start getting distracted by all of the things that tell us we shouldn’t 
be able to speak a language, then we will sink. If we take a leap of faith and 
center on Christ, we will succeed. He then told us the story of when Peter 
healed the lame man and it says he had the Holy Ghost with him. Irmao 
Mateer said Peter’s faith and ability increased so much when he had the Holy 
Ghost with him. Irmao Mateer then promised us if we have faith and have the

Holy Ghost with us, we will be blessed with the words and the Spirit to

touch our investigators. It was amazing! We are still struggling with

having the Spirit with us as we teach because we are basically reading

stuff off of a page and it is really hard to connect with the

investigator. But it is coming along, and I am loving it. There are

definitely moments when I wish with all my heart I could be speaking

English on my mission because I just want to be bearing my testimony in the

words I know, but I know I was called to do this for a reason and

with Heavenly Father, I am capable.

I have been sick my whole time here which has been a bummer. Mainly it

involves a ridiculously runny nose and sneezing A TON (my poor companion)
so it is tedious but hopefully I will get better soon. Also, my voice is
hoarse and cracky so no one in my district has heard what my real voice
sounds like. Whenever we teach our investigator, too, I lose my voice at
the most inopportune moments. I am just worried I will get
other missionaries sick because our classroom is seriously an incubator.
It is so hot and so small! Wish us luck.

It has been so fun to see all of my friends at the MTC here. So far I have
seen Sister Bergloff, Sister Gibbs, Sister Seely, and Sister Walton a TON
because we all have classes in the same building. I have also seen Sister
Condie and Sister Rossberg. It is so fun to see those girls all of the
time! I also see lots of missionaries I know from BYU wards and classes.
I love seeing people I know! The MTC is a happy place indeed! Sister
Bergloff just got reassigned to Columbus, Ohio. I don’t know if you had
heard. Most Brazilian missionaries are getting reassigned and I couldn’t be
more excited about it. I kind of hope I get to serve stateside for a while!

We had an amazing Sunday Relief Society with the new Young Women General
President. Her name is escaping me right now but it was seriously so
good. There are tons of sister missionaries here and it was really
inspiring! It’s amazing because every time I am feeling down or frustrated,
the Lord blesses me with someone who delivers a message I feel like
was just for me. The MTC is definitely an emotional roller coaster in that
way. One moment I can be really frustrated and upset with myself and
others, but I soon realize how amazing of a privilege to be serving the
Lord! Also, I haven’t cried at all since I have been here. You should be
really proud because that is definitely saying something!

Well, that’s about it. I can’t figure out how to put pictures on yet but
hopefully I can get it by next week. Send me an e-mail so I can answer you
back about stuff!!

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH! I hope all is well! Update me on everything!

Love,

Sister Dixon

p.s.  Sister Dixon can be reached at lindsay.dixon@myldsmail.net