June 17, 2013

Hello everyone!

Michigan continues to be so good to me.  I don't know how I got so blessed to be here but it will definitely be a sad day when I have to go.  I am still so excited to go to Brazil, but Lansing is awesome!

I'll give you a lowdown of my week.  We had such a good week.

Monday--we went to FHE with one of our investigators, Brooke.  We haven't actually had a lesson with her yet because she lives super far away and neither of us have a car, which has been a bummer!  She was found by some elders in our district and given to us because she will go to the singles ward after she is baptized on June 29th.  That will be an awesome experience.  We got to talk to her a little bit at FHE and I am so excited to talk to her more!  One cool thing we learned is that people without landmarks wander in circles.  I guess there was a study done where they had people go to a place without any landmarks.  When they were told to walk in a straight line, they tried to, but they ended up just going in circles.  That was so cool for me to hear and it made me so grateful for the landmarks we have in our lives!  The Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost are such amazing landmarks that I am so grateful for.

Tuesday--Tuesday was the best day ever!  We had 5 lessons that day which is a record for us.  I loved teaching nonstop and meeting all these cool people.  Every single lesson was so great though!  We would always walk out so happy; our investigators are so cool.  I know it's the Spirit!  I feel so blessed to have it with me when we teach.  Two of our favorite investigators are Bruce and Yifan.  We had awesome lessons with them on Tuesday and they both came to church yesterday!  Both of them are from China and they are so great.  The best quote from that day came from teaching Bruce. Bruce is seriously a stud.  We were talking to him about the Book of Mormon and he was like "Wait, I have a question.  It keeps saying Nephi is obedient.  Does that mean he is fat?"  We were laughing so hard and we had to explain obedient is not a derivative of obese.  It was too good.

Wednesday--We had our first district meeting on Wednesday.  It was good and I learned some great tips.  I love seeing how inspired missionary leaders are.  They taught about seriously every little thing I have had questions about or we have been struggling with.  It's so amazing to me to see the power of prayer.  Whenever I ask Heavenly Father about something, He always sends me someone with the answer or whenever I am having a hard time, He always sends a tender mercy to cheer me up.  I love it so much.

Thursday--Thursday was hilarious.  We taught Yifan again and he just eats the gospel up.  He told us he feels we were sent to him for a reason and that was awesome.  He is progressing so well and we hope he will continue to come to church and be baptized soon!  We also had a lesson with a girl named Elizabeth.  Holy cow was that interesting.  We found her on campus a few days earlier and she told us she is becoming a nun soon but she was interested in how we are sisters too.  We gave her a card and got her number.  We were planning on calling her on Thursday but she called us on Wednesday night which NEVER happens.  We were way stoked.  We thought she had looked at mormon.org and wanted to learn more or something but we were way off base.  Basically her whole purpose was to try to get us to convert to Catholicism and save us!  Here is a direct quote "I admire that you are out here working, but it just makes me so sad it's not for the right church."  I have never wanted to Bible bash so hard!  That took some serious restraint.  But it ended on a good note.  We gave her a Book of Mormon so maybe something will come out of it but that was definitely a tense lesson.  We had dinner with a member that night too which was so nice!  I am always so grateful when that happens because our ward is a bunch of starving college students so it is very selfless of them to feed us.

Friday--On Friday we went out to lunch with a member named Helen.  She is so solid.  She is from Troy, Michigan which is funny--Helen of Troy.  She is Chinese and she got baptized in January and she still hasn't told her parents she is Mormon...we are working on helping her tell them.  Anyway, she always helps us with rides and goes to lessons with us.  We went to Chipotle and then went to teach a recent convert named Nang.  Nang is from Burma and has a hard time speaking English.  It's crazy how diverse it is here!  We have taught people from Germany, Uganda, Iraq, Burma, China, and so many other places.  I love it.  On Friday night we had Book of Mormon study and Bruce was able to come.  He is so awesome!  We read 2 Nephi 2 and he loved how it focuses on happiness and joy.  He said "I like reading the Bible and I feel happy when I read it.  But I feel so much happier when I read the Book of Mormon."  It was such a wonderful experience.

Saturday--Saturday was a bit harder.  We didn't have any lessons scheduled,which was a bummer, so we had a busy day of finding! I am curious to see if my Sao Paulo mission is mainly teaching or finding.  I feel like we have a good balance here.  We took a bus and did some bus finding and then went to some apartments far away from where we live.  It was hard because it was a Saturday and most of the people there were really drunk and not very nice to us.  I also left my bus pass on the bus because I was talking to the girl next to me and I forgot to grab it on our way off (but I got her number! Silver lining?).  I was feeling pretty dejected but the Lord kept sending things to help me out.  It is amazing how that happens!

Sunday--Church was awesome!  The members here are so strong and work so hard to keep the ward running.  They are so good about helping the missionaries with their work.  I feel so blessed to be in such a missionary-oriented ward.  After church we visited with a less active and then had another lesson with Bruce.  Bruce and Yifan both came to church and they loved it.  Anyway, the lesson with Bruce was so good.  We read 2 Nephi 31 with him and talked about baptism and the priesthood.  We ended with challenging him to be baptized on June 29th!  He accepted, but he is nervous for it.  We reassured him we can always push it back, but it's good to have goals.  He said the closing prayer and said "Dear Heavenly Father, I am so nervous but so excited for this baptism date.  I already know it is true and that Mormon is good for everyone.  I love the Book of Mormon because it makes me feel like I have a torch in my hand when I am in the darkness."  Needless to say we were all trying to hide our tears when he finished his prayer but we are just so excited!  It's been amazing to see the blessings from Lansing.  Hopefully he continues to progress!  Both he and Yifan are coming to FHE tonight so we are excited.  

Anyway, there is the week wrap up.  I just love being a missionary and I am so grateful for all the amazing people I have been able to meet!

That's about it.  Thanks for your continued love and support and thanks for the birthday wishes!  I am excited to be in Lansing for it.  Also I am turning 20?  What?  I can't believe it.  

Love you all!

Sister Dixon