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