James's baptism

November 25, 2013

Hello family!

We had a truly wonderful week.  We have been applying many of the principles from Elder Golden coming and I can see them paying off!  One thing he talked about was comparison.  In missionary work, we should NEVER compare ourselves to other missionaries.  We should always compare ourselves to the Lord, though, and strive to be more Christlike.  The way we can truly experience the miracle of the atonement is to compare ourselves to our old selves.  We have been applying that to our goal-setting and Heavenly Father has been helping us with increased desires to improve and increased faith.  Here are some highlights from this week:

We were door knocking on Friday and we met this lady named Alba.  She is from Columbia and was feeling sick when we came to the door.  She was on her way to closing the door but we asked if we could say a prayer for her health.  She let us in to her house and we talked more about the restoration and said a prayer.  She invited us to come back the next day.  We were so excited!  We even got a member who speaks Spanish to come with us.  We showed up Saturday at the time we planned and she wasn't home.  However, her husband was there.  We explained we had an appointment set up with Alba and he invited us to come in.  He said while we waited for her to come home, we could give him "a 15-minute presentation."  It was amazing.  As we started bearing testimony of restored truths, his heart truly softened.  Alba eventually came home, but her husband stayed and we ended up teaching for over an hour.  He started posing questions like, "What happens to people after they die if they have never heard of Christ?" and it was amazing to see we had the answers.  We are going back this weekend so we are excited to see them again!  It was such a huge miracle!

We had two more opportunities to rake leaves this week.  It was awesome!  One of them was so cool.  We door knocked into this lady named Del on Halloween.  She is pretty old and set in her ways but was really nice.  We had an impression to go back last Monday after P-day and she mentioned her neighbors had to leave town for a family emergency so no one was there to rake their leaves.  We offered to help and we went back on Thursday to do that.  We raked with a guy named Daniel.  He lives in that neighborhood and offered to help out as well.  Del told us Daniel was studying to become a minister and so we were really excited to talk religion as we were raking.  Sure enough, we raked for a couple of hours and Daniel asked questions the whole entire time!  It was so awesome to be able to teach in a service-oriented setting.  We got his number at the end and he wants to learn more so that was awesome.  We will have to pass him off to the MSU missionaries, but we are all working for the same team so that's ok.  ALSO, we asked him at the end about wanting to become a minister and he said, "I have no clue why Del said that.  I am a web design major."  It was hilarious but also so inspired Del said that!  It set us up to expect having religious conversations with him.  When we have that faith and those expectations, Heavenly Father meets them!

We taught Sandy Saturday night.  We felt like we should teach the restoration again and we really emphasized there being one true church.  She told us at the end she knows Joseph Smith saw God and the Book of Mormon is true and we asked her what she would do with that knowledge.  She has a goal to read the Book of Mormon by the 1st of the year so we are doing that challenge with her and she accepted a baptismal date for January 4th! 

Jaszzameen is progressing well.  She has been consistently coming to church for a while now and is really well-fellowshipped by the ward.  She is just waiting for Heavenly Father to tell her if this is the right thing to do.  It was really cool to see her at church on Sunday.  We learned about family history and baptisms for the dead and she was so touched by that restored truth.  We read with her about it in 1 Corinthians 15:29 and it really brought the Spirit showing the Bible talks about these ordinances as well.  Pray for her that she will be able to recognize her answer!!

One of my old investigators at MSU got baptized this weekend.  His name is James.  I think I talked about him before.  He was the one who we found after an hour-and-a-half of walking and not seeing a single soul!  Heavenly Father really knew where we needed to go.  His baptism was such a spiritual experience!  Right after James came out of the water, he said, "Wow, I feel different."  He bore such a powerful testimony of the atonement after.  He is definitely someone I have seen change throughout the process of becoming converted.  I am so grateful for the atonement and how truly joyful it can allow us to be.  Also at the baptism I was able to talk to the sisters in the Lansing area.  Do you remember the lady I talked to on the bus named Rikisha?  She was super prepared--she even had a daughter named Cumorah!  Well the sisters told me she is on date to be baptized as well!  Miracles are happening all over and it is so amazing to be a part of it.  Missionary work is truly an invitation to participate in miracles.

In other news, it is freezing.  If you have any good ways of staying warm, let me know!  The humidity here is killer during the winter time. 

Also, I did a cool thing where I counted the number of times it says, "Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land."  It says it SO many times!  It is such a testimony to me Heavenly Father really does keep His word.  Our family really has been blessed so much.  I am amazed at the things I took for granted growing up.  If we all commit to keep his commandments for the rest of our lives, we WILL be blessed. 

I love you all!

Sister Dixon

I'm not "leafing" Williamston!

With Elder Wiscombe, who is leaving Williamston

November 18, 2013

Hello everyone! 

I chose this title because I am staying in Williamston with Sisters Anson and Kaegi.  And it's also symbolic because we raked leaves SO MUCH this week.  It was wonderful! 

Well, we are all super shocked we are staying together but really excited too.  Sister Anson trained Sister Kaegi and usually they separate trainees from trainers after training is done but we are all staying together.  It is going to be a great transfer, I can feel it. 

We had a wonderful week here.  The highlight was obvious--Elder Golden coming.  It was incredible.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude I get to be on a mission at this time and in this area to learn from such a great man! 

Our mission spent time spiritually preparing for Elder Golden to come.  We fasted and prayed that it might be a revelatory experience and that we might ponder the questions we need answers to.  I wrote down questions about faith and following the Holy Ghost, and lo and behold, he hit really hard on those subjects.  It's like this church is true or something!  I really loved what he said about faith.  Faith is personal righteousness, and personal righteousness comes from obeying God's commandments and laws.  Our church has many commandments and laws to keep--and missionaries have even more rules to abide by!  However, obeying those increases our faith, and Elder Golden said our church is the ONLY church on the earth that helps its members cultivate enough faith to enter back into the presence of God.  What a blessing it is for Latter-day Saints to know commandments are not restrictions, they are opportunities!  We are working hard to implement what Elder Golden said into our missionary work.  I am confident we will have increased success.

Service was kind of a theme for this week.  We ended up doing 3 different service projects of raking leaves which was amazing:  for a couple we met while we were door-knocking; for Kenneth, our 91-year-old investigator; and last, for a couple who was moving next door to our ward mission leader.  Each time it was amazing to see how touched people were for the simple acts of service we rendered.  Hopefully we continue to be blessed with opportunities to serve!  The Relief Society lesson was about serving others as well.  It really made me think about something I heard once:

Trials either make you BETTER or BITTER.  The difference between those 2 words is the letter "I.” When we experience difficult times and we focus on how they impact ourselves, we become bitter and lose faith.  On the other hand, when we focus on others, we become better for it and we are able to bless others in the process.  This has been so true for me throughout my mission.  Missions can be terrible when you focus on yourself.  However, when you focus on helping and serving others, you find yourself lifted and ennobled by the spirit of charity.  The spirit of charity helps us to become more like our Savior.  I think Mosiah 5:13 says it best:

For how ^aknoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?  Our ultimate goal on missions is to become as the Savior, and the way to do that is to serve others selflessly.  Loving the people is the key.

Here is a quick weather update:  Last P-day after we left e-mailing it started snowing a bit!  It melted the next day and then it was pretty good weather for the rest of the week.  Hopefully it stays pretty nice because we lose our car this week.  Yesterday afternoon after church we were going door-knocking and then we got a text from our zone leaders that there was a tornado watch!!  The weather was CRAZY!!!  It was so much fun.  It was pouring rain and there was so much wind.  People at the doors were so receptive because we kept telling them how important this is to us!  Tons of people lost power though and we taught a lesson that night with flashlights in hand in case the lights went out--they kept flickering throughout the lesson.  It was such an adventure. 

I know God has a plan for each and every one of us.  I hope I can serve my best in this area and I am grateful to serve here!!

  

Love you all!!!

Sister Dixon

Nono's baptism

November 11, 2013

Hello family!

We had such a wonderful week here in Williamston.  I realized this week I have fallen in love with this area. It was shockingly different at first, but day by day I have really grown to love the area and the wonderful people I have the privilege of working with.  I really hope I get to stay and see the miracles unfold next transfer, but we will see what the Lord has in store for me.  I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. I love reflecting on this past transfer and seeing how much I have learned and how many tender mercies the Lord has sent us.  

Here are some miracles from this week:

We have had some issues figuring out the best use of our time during the days here.  None of our investigators can meet during the day and none of the members are home, so we usually go door knocking at that time.  However, many of those people are not home either, so we feel pretty unproductive.  We have been praying for an investigator who would be able to meet during the day.  Lo and behold, we found someone out in Williamston who is amazingly prepared and is a stay-at-home dad so he told us to come back any time during the day.  It was such an answer to our prayers and I am so grateful. We taught the restoration to him this past week and it was amazing.  We have lots of hope and faith for his progression.

Getting investigators to church here is always kind of hard.  Our proselyting area is like 30-40 minutes from the church building and many of our investigators need rides to church.  The Lord always helps out, though. The standard here is to have 3 investigators at church every week and we have been praying for that to happen.  We were expecting 2 investigators to come and then church started and another strolled in all dressed up in a suit!  We were not anticipating it in the slightest and it was such an amazing miracle.  It was the first time this transfer we have been able to achieve that goal and ahh, we were so happy!  Prayers are answered, folks.

One of the girls whom I taught at MSU got baptized this past weekend.  Her name is Nono and it was amazing to go.  Bruce was able to baptize her and then he confirmed her the next day in sacrament meeting. I wasn't able to go to the confirmation, but it is so humbling to see him fulfill his duties as a priesthood holder. The baptism was so special.  Nono had the strongest desire to follow her Savior's example.  It's amazing to see our impact goes further than the time we spend in an area.  There are hundreds of people in Michigan whom I have had the opportunity to talk with and share the message of the restoration.  Sure, only a few of them have made a covenant with their Heavenly Father, but missionaries leave more of an impact than they know.  It is so exciting to think about the people who, for one reason or another, will eventually be prepared to come unto Christ and follow His gospel.  I know missionaries everywhere in the world have more of an eternal impact than they can ever comprehend.  And that is reason alone to never ever get discouraged. When we are participants in the Lord's work, our efforts extend into the eternities.

When I first got to this mission, President Hess gave us each a Book of Mormon and a red pencil and invited us to read it and highlight all of the references about Christ found within.  I finished yesterday.  It was an amazing experience.  The red passages found on every page have truly strengthened my faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I was especially touched by verses 25 and 26 of Moroni 9.  Christ was lifted up so He can lift us up.  The good news of the atonement is enough to help us out of the deepest of trials or afflictions.  As I read the beginning of Moroni 10, I was filled with the Spirit and I know without a doubt the Book of Mormon is true!! Because it is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet and this really is Jesus Christ's church once again established on the earth.  What a huge blessing the Book of Mormon has been in my life.  I feel truly blessed to be able to share it with others.

In other news, we have a general authority coming to our mission this week!  Elder Golden is here and we have the opportunity to hear from him this Wednesday.  I am SO excited.  I can't wait to tell you all what I learn.  We fasted as a mission last week that we will all have a revelatory experience with Elder Golden here and so I am excited to see what the Holy Ghost teaches us!

Also, I keep forgetting to tell you, but we heard a couple weeks ago our mission will be getting iPads soon! We should have them by January.  It is so exciting to see how the work is hastening.  It is tangible.  I know people will respond to this technology and it will bring a new side to missionary work.  We are really excited for them.  Each missionary will have his/her own iPad that comes equipped with an electronic planner and area book, Mormon Messages (we can show them on doorsteps!), all of the study materials I could dream about, and much much more.  It will be amazing.

Here are some funny things that happened this week:

Nono wanted us to sing a musical number at her baptism and the song she requested was “Angels We Have Heard on High” hahaha.  People in the audience were pretty confused but hopefully there will be a YouTube video of it soon. 

A less-active lady named Sister McCord came to church on Sunday!  We go and visit her every week or so in Williamston and she is SOOO hilarious.  She is older and sure knows how to speak her mind.  Yesterday in the middle of sacrament meeting a member of the bishopric was up speaking and she yelled out to us, "Who is that?  He looks like he really needs a haircut!"  Later on in the meeting, she pulled out her wallet and started paying us each $10.  We tried giving it back to her but she kept pushing it away and yelling, "I can afford this!"  Oh gosh, we were dying laughing.  By the end of church we were able to give it back but we learned there is never a dull moment with Sister McCord!  

Have a great week!  Love you all!!

Sister Dixon

November 4, 2013

Hey everyone! 

Time is seriously passing so quickly.  I cannot believe it's P-day again and this transfer is rapidly coming to an end!  This week was wonderful.  The Halloween spirit was in the air.  

We started off the week by teaching an investigator named Sandy on Monday night.  Sister Nuttall and Sister Anson found her two transfers ago.  They were driving down the road and Sister Nuttall felt the distinct impression they should stop the car and go knock on her door and sure enough, she was interested!  I think that is just the neatest experience.  Sandy is AMAZING.  She knows it is true and takes notes during our lessons which is really awesome.  She is kind of hard to get a hold of though and her daughter is holding her back in a way.  Her daughter, who is about 7, recently started going to a different church and is really involved with all of the activities there.  Sandy doesn't want to tear her away from that so it's a difficult situation, but she is definitely progressing, so we are grateful.

On Tuesday, we had a ward Halloween party which was so much fun.  Sandy came with her daughter.  Her daughter kept calling us "The Holy Girls" which was really funny.  They both had a really good time and it was so fun to see all of the little kids dressed up in costumes.  It reminded me a ton of Halloween in Colorado--many of the costumes were covered up by winter coats and scarves and mittens but everyone had a really good time trunk or treating.  Also, pretty much everyone in the ward made jokes about us dressing up as missionaries for Halloween which I just loved.

Wednesday we had our weekly scripture study class.  An investigator named Kelle came.  Kelle is absolutely incredible.  I love her so much!  She has been investigating for a really long time.  She knows it's all true but she doesn't want to get baptized because she doesn't want to discriminate against other churches...it's kind of a hard situation. She comes to scripture study every week though and is such an amazing woman!  She used to live in Highlands Ranch a while ago so that was a fun connection to make.  She has been having some really difficult situations recently.  Her father passed away a month or so ago and she said her kids have been asking about the plan of salvation and we are going over there to teach it to them tonight.  I am excited to testify of the things I have learned about the spirit world from grandpa recently passing.  It's amazing to see how much the gospel really helps us in those dark times.       

Thursday was Halloween.  It was POURING RAIN the whole entire day which was so much fun!  We went door knocking out in the rain (my favorite--miracles ALWAYS happen) but we had to stop at 5.  We dropped by a less-active’s house and taught her.  It was pretty funny because her last name is Gentile.  We felt like we should read Ether 12 with her.  In the past when we have visited her, we usually aren't able to get a very solid message in because she diverts the conversation and is very talkative, but this chapter talked about the gentiles and she really wanted to read more about it!  Haha, the Lord definitely works in mysterious ways.  After we dropped by another less active’s and helped her pass out Halloween candy.  Our favorite costume was a little girl dressed up as a founding father.  It was revolutionary. 

On Saturday we had interviews with President Hess in the morning.  He is amazing, and I learned so much from him.  We talked about the Spirit and Christlike attributes.  When we have the Holy Ghost, we are able to cultivate our Christlike attributes.  When we are exhibiting those attributes, we are able to more fully feel the influence of the Spirit in our lives.  It's really amazing to see that these 2 connect so well and they fully help us to become like our Lord and Savior.  He also shared with me that they haven't heard anything about my visa so it's looking like I will spend Christmas in Michigan!  He said there is a chance I could get permanently reassigned here.  It's crazy!  I didn't really ever think that could be a possibility, but I am excited to serve where the Lord needs me.  He used a quote I really liked:  "Life is hard by the yard but a cinch by the inch."  Isn't that wonderful?  Focusing on the present is the key to being happy in life.  If we dwell too much on the responsibilities of the future or focus unnecessarily on the mistakes of the past, we won't have a good today. 

We went on Saturday night and taught Jaszzameen.  (We just learned that's really how you spell her name, haha.)  She got a priesthood blessing from Brother Winder and it was really powerful!  She was able to feel the calming influence of the Holy Ghost and the immediate contrast it brought from the stress of her life.  We went over and read with her after church on Sunday as well and she is progressing well.  I love her so much and I am so blessed to be able to witness how the gospel is positively changing her life.

Things are going so well and the members are amazing too.  We haven't had a car this week and they have been so willing to help with rides and appointments and feed us dinners!  The Hunters fed us again and their girls were so cute.  They wrote notes to us and gave us some of their Halloween candy. 

One thing I really loved in gospel study this week was reading Ether 6:5.  It talks about how the Lord sends a "furious wind" to direct the barges across the waters.  To me, that could be interpreted as a trial in their life.  It's funny to see how the trial came because the brother of Jared asked that they could receive steering to get to their destination.  Sometimes, we pray for blessings and guidance.  The Lord helps us to get to that destination and answers our prayers--but not always in the way we expect.  Sometimes, the path we take might seem like a "furious wind" is blowing against us but really it helps us to reach who we need to become much faster than a gentle breeze.  It made me think of a quote by Neal A. Maxwell:  "How many times, naively, have we vigorously protested while on our way to a blessing?"  I love it!  The church is true and trials are true!

  

Thanks for all your support and love!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve my loving Heavenly Father.  Have a great week!

Sister Dixon

At Hu Wen Qi's first baptism

October 28, 2013

Ola familia! 

Thanks for all your e-mails and sweet hellos.  Aren't we all so blessed to be in a family with each other?  Seriously, though, our family really is so great!  This week was amazing!  It flew by.  I really can't believe it is P-day again.  Time is so bonkers on a mission. 

The weather here is definitely getting chillier.  This past week we had a little snow even!  I love tracting in crazy weather though!  The other day we got to go door knocking in some hail and it was SO fun!  It makes you feel like you are working harder for some reason.  Luckily we have a car so the weather usually isn't too terrible, but we are losing our car this Wednesday for a week so hopefully the cold weather can hold out for just a little while longer!  I checked on the missionary portal and it said it should be in the 50s all week so that is definitely manageable. Phew. 

It really was such a great week though.  We experienced a MIRACLE!  Thomas has not been able to come to church because of his work schedule.  He said it's impossible to get work off at Walmart on Sundays.  He even had a family reunion over the summer and they didn't give him work off so he had to call in sick.  Anyway, we fasted with him last Sunday so that a miracle could happen and he could keep the Sabbath day holy.  He told us during the week he couldn't come to church, but he would come watch a baptism on Saturday.  We were sad, but happy he would come feel the Spirit at the baptism.  Well, he texted on Friday and said he got work off!  He switched his days around and he came to sacrament meeting.  He is student age, so we went to the MSU ward with him and this week we will be passing him off.  The Spirit was so strong at the meeting and I felt like the talks were directly applicable to him.  That was such a beautiful answer to our fast and I could feel Heavenly Father's power and love in my life.

We had exchanges this week and Sister Smith came to Williamston with me.  It was my first day in the mission with only one companion, haha.  I am so grateful for her wonderful example.  We found such an amazing man as we were door knocking and we got to tract on a street called Mullett Street.  It was a great day! 

Sister Anson shared something cool from her sister this week.  The gospel is full of paradoxes.  For example, we learn in the scriptures when we find our lives, we lose them; but when we lose our lives for Christ's sake, we find ourselves. I love that beautiful and simple message.  Her sister shared another one with us this week. 

If you read 1 Nephi 8:30, there is a huge paradox.

"But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the^arod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree."

It says they fell down and partook of the fruit but we know fruit grows at the tops of trees.  There is a beautiful message in there that we have to go down to feel true joy.  We have to experience humility and find ourselves willing to submit to the Father in order to feel God's love for us.  If you notice, the people who partake of the fruit and don't fall down (vs. 24-25) end up eating it and then being embarrassed and falling away.  So interesting!

I am so grateful for a gospel that tells us it's ok to rely on God.  It is beautiful to trust in Him and know we can't do it alone.  When we seek Heavenly Father first and humble ourselves, with an eye single to His glory, we are able to experience eternal bliss.  This is definitely not what the world teaches, so I am grateful for the scriptures that help us to know otherwise.

We went to a baptism this weekend with one of our other investigators, Jazzameen.  She ended up coming late and she missed the actual baptism which was a bummer but the baptism was really cool because Hu Wen Qi baptized the girl!  It was so amazing to see him do that and he told me he felt the Spirit really strongly.  These people are amazing.  The gospel is amazing.  I love being a missionary so much!

Earlier in the week, we were looking through our formers and there was one family who intrigued me because they were dropped due to a trip to China, and not for any other reason.  We decided to call them and they said they were interested in learning more and we scheduled an appointment for Saturday night at 8 p.m.  We were super excited because they were from China and they seemed so solid.  We got a member who spoke Chinese to come with us to translate.  We arrived on Saturday night and knocked on the door.  They opened it and we were shocked because their family was there but also our zone leaders!  It was so bonkers. We were both there to teach lessons and we still aren’t sure how it happened.  We think our former investigator gave his old phone to this family who just barely moved to Michigan like 2 days ago.  The zone leaders helped them move in and scheduled a lesson with them for the exact same time we did.  It was soooo strange.  But, it was a huge witness to the power of prayer because the zone leaders were looking for a fellowshipper who spoke Chinese.  So we brought them a fellowshipper and ended up leaving and their prayers were answered!  We were able to visit someone else who really needed us too so it was amazing to see how plans work out.  I don't know if that conveys how confused all of us were but it was really strange but also really hilarious. 

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week!  Remember during the down times that we have to go down to truly feel God's love and joy!  I love you all!

Sister Dixon

Sisters Anson, Dixon, and Kaegi

October 21, 2013

Hey family!

It's been a great week here in the Williamston area!  I love the area more and more with every day I serve here.  The investigators we have are all progressing nicely and we have met some more amazing people.  It's so wonderful to be able to feel of God's love for people and watch them be touched by the gospel message.  I learned especially this week that Christlike love and service and charity bring such a sweet spirit. 

Dayra is doing well.  She is such an inspiration to me.  We were able to go over this week and wash her dishes for her.  It was a simple act of service but she was so grateful for it.  Her children have been sick recently and the dishes were piling up--we came at the perfect time.  We sang hymns as we washed her dishes and it was just a powerful moment for me.  I felt blessed to be there and be able to help her. 

Another experience was when Jazzameen came to church on Sunday.  We went to Gospel Principles with her and our ward mission leader, Brother Winder, taught the class.  He showed us a few videos, so he set up his laptop and speakers to play them.  At the end, he was packing his stuff away and Jazzameen told him his speakers were nice and asked where he got them.  Then, he proceeded to say he had another pair at home and she could just have them.  It was amazing to see how charitable that gift was.  Jazzameen comes from humble circumstances.  I almost started crying because she was in such disbelief that someone would do something so nice for her.  She said, "Well, what can I do in return?"  And Brother Winder said, "Keep doing what you're doing.  Keep learning about the gospel."  It was powerful.  True conversion comes when we are able to disregard every worldly care and devote ourselves to the cause of bringing happiness through the gospel to others.

We had lots of finding time this week and we had some awesome experiences.  One of them was with a man named Kenneth.  We initially passed by his house and didn't knock because he had people leaving.  As we were walking by, they came over and started talking with us.  They were Jehovah's Witnesses (We have knocked on multiple JW's houses this week.  It's always kind of funny and bonkers how many we meet!) and we talked with them and exchanged literature and such.  They said they go to Kenneth's and read the Bible with him.  Later, as we were finishing up door-knocking, we went back and knocked on his door.  He invited us in and we read the Book of Mormon with him.  We invited him to pray about what he read and he told us, with tears in his eyes, “God will say it's true!”  It was so powerful.  We went back the next day and taught him the plan of salvation.  It was really powerful because he is a widower and he has had a son and a daughter pass away.  It's kind of an interesting situation though because he is not physically able to come to church due to his older age but it was definitely such a miracle and it brought such an amazing spirit!

Yesterday we were sitting in the chapel when all of the sudden Bruce came in with Erin and Greg!  They came to our sacrament meeting and it was really cool because one of the speakers was a recently-returned missionary who shared stories about the change he saw in people due to the atonement.  His message was powerful and I was grateful that we got to tell Bruce about God's love for us and that we can change and that he was sitting right there with me!  Afterward, I talked to Bruce and it turned out he and Yifan got to do temple baptisms on Saturday for the first time.  Ah it was so wonderful to hear!  Bruce said the temple workers looked like angels and he felt like he already knew the people he was doing baptisms for.  Also, bishop requested Bruce get the Melchizedek Priesthood early for some reason.  We don't really know why, but Bruce came to our ward yesterday so he could get interviewed by the stake president during the MSU ward's sacrament meeting.  It was just so cool to see him progressing so well in the gospel and to see how happy he is because of it!  I am grateful to have witnessed that.  The gospel is amazing.  God's greatest gift to us is our ability to change.

This past week was fun because we got a car.  And ya I will get to drive a bit while I am here.  We have a pretty nice car too! I'll have to send a picture.  We are on a rotation but it's definitely good when we have a car because we can knock in different areas.  We live in Okemos which is not as much of a rural area but when we have a car we can actually go to Williamston.  It is a very beautiful rural area indeed!  The farms and fields are SOO pretty, especially right now in the fall!  It is crazy I have been waiting here for so long, but I have been cherishing my experience here.  This week is my 6-month mark--I'll have less than a year in Brazil.  Time is flying!  I am nervous about getting there at times but I know it's all in the Lord's hands!

We are going thrift store shopping today so hopefully I can get some boots and jackets and tights and such.  Wish me luck!  I have gotten a few new skirts but I also have companions who love sharing clothes so that makes it fun:-)  Probably very different from elders, haha. 

Love you all!!

Sister Dixon

Week won in Williamston!

October 14, 2013

I hope you all like the alliteration . . . sorry it's not grammatically correct but I hope it doesn't make mom cringe too much. Well, it's been an amazing week here in Williamston!  Everything is different from the singles ward, but different in the best ways.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have a change because I am learning so much.  Here are the details of the new area:

We cover the Williamston ward and there is also a set of elders in our ward.  Williamston just underwent a ward split right before I came.  The ward is about 1/7 the size of what it used to be so the members are really having to step up their game to keep the ward moving along!  With the change, our apartment is not in the ward or our area anymore.  We are on a car rotation but this past week we didn't have a car so it was an adventure for all of us to coordinate where to go.  We walked a lot of places which I absolutely loved!  The trees are beautiful and the weather was perfect this week.  Plus there were many crunchy leaves to walk on so it was just really fun.  Sorry I don't have pictures of the new area or companions yet but it is beautiful here!  We have some awesome investigators here.  I haven't been able to meet all of them yet, but we did have a few lessons.

Thomas is a college-age student.  He is a miracle find!  The sisters got him as a media referral (it comes in as a text on the cell phone) so they went to find him.  It turns out he didn't ask for anyone to come and he doesn't know anyone Mormon so it's like Heavenly Father sent in the referral Himself.  But Thomas was interested in learning more.  We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ this week and set a date with him for November 16th.  He works every Sunday at Walmart--we are hoping a miracle will happen with his work situation so he can come to church!  He is such a sweet guy and really loves reading the Book of Mormon.

Jazzameen is hilarious.  She is a middle-aged woman who used to be Jehovah's Witness.  She is reading the Book of Mormon now and is waiting to get her answer.  Whenever she would try to say "murmuring" in the scriptures, she would say "mothering."   She is so funny . . . I don't really know how to describe it but here is one funny incident.  She went to conference last weekend at the stake center and ordered a pizza into the foyer so she could sit outside and eat it.  Needless to say, she told us she didn't learn very much. 

Dayra is another investigator.  She is actually from Guatemala and doesn't speak very much English.  She has a very hard life--she has 3 children and her husband got deported to Mexico so she cares for them by herself.  Her littlest daughter is in and out of the hospital and is very sick!  We went over yesterday with Katie Parent from the MSU ward.  She recently got back from her mission in Argentina.  The lesson was awesome.  Dayra has so much faith!  She said such a beautiful prayer at the end of the lesson.  It was cool because I could understand most of the Spanish they were saying.  Hopefully that will be the same in Brazil.

We do a lot of door-knocking which I have really grown to love.  It is such a huge adventure and you never know what the person on the other side will be like.  People say the funniest things, too.  One couple started telling us if we really wanted some good work in the area then we should take up bowhunting deer.  Apparently people get paid for that because there is an overgrowth of deer in the area.  It made me think of Napoleon Dynamite haha.

I am really loving being in a family ward.  All of the people I have met are so awesome and really have strong testimonies of the gospel that are apparent in how they raise their children.  Oh and the Hunters are in my ward now!  We are having dinner with them on Friday.  The things I am learning here are teaching me so much about how I want to be.  I love the gospel because it is a gospel of progression and change.  I live for constantly learning and becoming better.  And the only way to do that is through the Atonement! 

I am excited to keep working in this area and to see the miracles that happen.  It's been a huge blessing to be here so far.  I am not the best door-knocker currently but I am learning more and more every day about how to help the gospel message resonate with people.  If anyone has any tips let me know!

Here is a quote I found this week that I liked:  "All the water in the world, no matter how it tried, could never sink the smallest ship unless it got inside.  And all the evil in the world, the blackest kind of sin, can never, ever hurt you unless you let it in."  I think it applies to discouragement and doubt as well.  We always have the choice to be happy!

Have a great week.  Love you all!

Sister Dixon