It's super weird...I've been in a car more times in the past 4 weeks than in the past 9 months!

June 9, 2014

This week was super great. The work kind of exploded a little here in Menorca, which is great!! This week we saw a ton of miracles, and were really blessed. The neatest one is that we got 8 references from Elder Grau, who is in Mallorca. The references are actually his family members, and the greatest part is that we have started to teach some of them and they have a ton more family members here on the island too!!! It's amazing! Also, having the Clarks here (the senior couple who used to be in the office - Elder Clark speaks French, so he is the elder who helped Elder West and I teach Jonas in Barcelona) is a huge blessing as well, and they have been so great to help us get around to the different pueblos and visit the people here.  It's super weird...I've been in a car more times in the past 4 weeks than in the past 9 months!

 

Also this week we got a visit from the doctor in charge of all the medical stuff for the missionaries in Europe, Elder Greenwood. It was a lot of fun, and he and his wife took us out to eat at a super expensive restaurant (I don't know how to order anymore) and later to ice cream. It was interesting to hear his stories and learn a bit more about just how organized the church really is. It's actually really impressive.

To close, one neat story that happened to us this past week was that we went to go visit a less active member. She's has been going through some really hard times with her family, and is going through a divorce right now too, and works way too much, and so she can't ever come to church, but in the lesson we had with her she showed a powerful testimony. We taught the plan of salvation, and put a special emphasis on the Atonement, and the spirit just flowed into the lesson. My companion shared a personal story and we taught what was probably one of the best lessons I've ever been in. It was amazing to see how powerful the Atonement is, and I realized that I will never understand it completely, simply because it is such a huge thing that I can't grasp the idea.

 

I know that Heavenly Father loves me and that Jesus Christ suffered and died for me, and that He also rose again so that I can as well. What a huge blessing it is to have this knowledge!! I feel so blessed to be here in this mission to share it.

 

I know this church is true.

 

Love,

Elder Dixon

2000 people!

June 2, 2014

Well, this week I honestly don't know really what to write. We had a regular week, mostly except that we went to Mayorca, the big island, for a conference, so that was fun. Also, we did a lot of service for a member who fell and broke her ankle. We cooked and got her a wheelchair, which of course we rode around more than she did :) also, fast Sunday was good. Almost every member bore their testimonies. It was great :)

 

We are looking for new ways to find people as well, because we have a mission goal to find  2000 new people to teach. It's crazy! But we will make it! That's really it for this week, but to end I want to share a little story.

 

 There is a lady who cannot go to church because she is 85-ish and really weak , and she just recently had to stop coming to church. She tells us every time exactly how much time she hasn't been, and it's sad.  But we have been visiting her and taking the sacrament and I absolutely love her. She always is sitting in her chair, and to the left is her scriptures, and to the right is a bunch of pictures of missionaries and cards, and the neatest thing is that she always says the closing prayer. And this is where I really am impressed by her. It is so difficult for her to stand up and walk, and yet she always stands to say the prayer. She is truly a example to me. I hope that I can be like her when I am old. 

 

Love you all, 

 

Elder Dixon.

Day 12 On The Island!

This week was pretty good. The work here is really slowing down with the summer, but that has been making it fun for us, because we have to try new things, so we have been visiting different places trying to do service, and we have been passing by or calling all of the old investigators, and stuff like that. Also, we have been going through the past 8 years of contacts the missionaries have made, and trying to contact them all. It's been crazy, but we have seen miracles happen! I know that if we work hard we can see results! It's just the waiting part that's rough.

This week also, Elder Ponce and I got a little sick, so that was kind of a bummer, but I was really impressed by how determined my companion is, even if it is almost to the point of stupidity.   He wouldn't go sleep, because he wanted to go work even though he felt like trash.  Haha, but I guess I'm the same because I didn't want to sleep either:) it kind of just attacked us. He got sick first one day, then the next I was out for the count as well. But, we are back up on our feet now so that's a good thing:) Oh...speaking of feet...I found a hole in my shoes!! Yay!!! Now I look like a real missionary, with shoes that I have worked in:) Haha, good thing it doesn't rain very much here:)

So, here's some tidbits of info about where I am now. On the island of Menorca are two major cities, Cituadella, and Mao. I'm in Mao, the bigger one, with Elder Ponce as my companion, and with Elder Neumiller as my district leader and his companion Elder Johnson, and we are part of the Baleares Zone, which includes all the islands, not just ours, so go to conferences we have to fly to Palma, the big island. So basically, I have half an island as my area:) The weather here is beautiful, but I'm told it will get really hot soon. It's super pretty here though. Tthe sky is so clear and blue, and  there isn't any pollution.

The branch here is really small, and actually most of the people are in primary, so that's kind of funny.  There are two families - with 3 kids each, and a few other members as well. But here is the crazy thing. Out of all the members in the branch, half are recent converts, within the last 6 months.  It's crazy!!!  It's super neat to see.  Apparently, when Elder Nuemiller got here 6 months ago there were only 7 people in church each week. Yesterday there were 25:)

That's pretty much the run down.

I hope you all have a great week. Always look for the miracles in your lives. They are EVERYWHERE!! All you have to do is look.  Then thank Heavenly Father for them. That's the most important part.

Stay Strong.

Love you all,

Elder Dixon

PS - Since I am on such a small island the mail system is terrible.  Please send all letters and packages to the mission home.  It will take longer to get to me - but at least I will get them :)

Last post until Monday...

May 19, 2014

This week was crazy!! We have seen so many miracles already! The biggest one was yesterday, the Clark's took us to two different pueblos to visit some members, and it was pouring rain, so that was a blessing, but the miracle came that we got to go see our ward mission leader, who we haven't seen for the past 4 weeks! We had a great lesson, and it was super great. Then we went to a menos activa lady and that was great too. I love the rain.  It seems that when the weather is bad, somehow, the miracles just explode. It reminded me of when I was in Zaragoza with Elder Wiscombe after we had gotten 4 fechas and it was a really rainy day. I loved it.

 

My companion is really great as well.  We have our differences, and we work super differently, but its good.  I'm learning so much.  He really likes to work quickly and efficiently.

 

I am still trying to adjust to life here, it's just really different, but, I love it already, and my district is great.  It's so pretty here.

 

One thing that was neat too, is that yesterday, one of the recent converts gave his first talk, on faith, and it was so good.  He did a great job, and it was a really spiritual experience, even though he was super nervous before hand.  I love the members here. They are really great.

 

that's really it. Maó (the city I'm in) is super small, and so there aren't that many people here.  It's really pretty though.  Everybody knows everybody else too.   It's crazy, but good:)

 

I hope you all had a great week too:)

 

Love ya!

Elder Dixon

Number 2

May 14, 2014

 

This week was a crazy rollercoaster of miracles, surprises, adventures, and everything in between. It was super fun. One great miracle that Elder West and I saw happened because we followed the Spirit and it yielded miracles.

 

Elder West had been wanting to go to a certain part of our area for a while, but we hadn't ever been able to because of other things that would come up. However, we finally just set aside the time to go, and we saw an amazing miracle. On our pass by list there is a menos activa with a note that she doesn't want anything, but we decided to try and go anyway, and when we knocked on her door, she actually invited us to come back again, gave us her cell number, and we talked for about half an hour in her doorway (there wasn't a man present so we couldn't go in) Well, later, we talked to some ward members about it, and they said that something must have changed, because just last month she didn't want anything, but now she does. Following the Spirit really is important, and even if the first few times that we try to we can't, at least we are showing the Lord we are trying.  It was really great.

 

Also, this week there were the transfers, and so now that I am on the island of Menorca. I hope to be able to see more great miracles. The area here is absolutely exploding! My new companion is Elder Ponce.  He is super great, and I can tell he will be a ton of fun to work with.  He is from Ecuador, but lived in Madrid, and now lives in Belgium, so he speaks Spanish and French, but little English.  I'm super excited to work with him.  I flew out of Barce last night at 8:50, and now I'm here on a super tiny island in a super tiny city.  It is a huge change from the packed Barcelona I'm used to!

 

So yesterday while I was waiting to leave we went to a museum, called the Cosmic Caixa, that is HUGE!!!!  It has a flooded Amazon forest inside, with all the animals and everything, and its super neat...it also has a ton of physics stuff and a ton of stuff about the Mediterranean ocean....all on the bottom floor.  Wait...how many floors are there? Ya...5. and how long did it take us to go through a half of the bottom one? Ya...2 hours. I HAVE TO GO BACK!!!   Oh, and it was super cheap too. Best museum ever.

 

Anyway, I hope you all had a great week. Love you all!!

 

Elder Dixon

First of Many posts....

May 5, 2014 

This week was a great week, even though our numbers don't show it.  We had an amazing zone focus where we learned how to teach repentance, and that if we teach repentance we will have a ton more success in converting, and retaining and reactivation. Also, there is the promise from Elder Holland that if we teach baptism FOR THE REMISSION OF SIN, then we will quadruple our baptisms.  Incredible.  

We have also been doing a ton of service this week. (we painted two pisos, and cleaned up from a remodeling, and we also visited a menos activo who is the hospital twice) and to top it all off, yesterday we had fast Sunday.  I have been spiritually fed, and I know that we have seen miracles because of the work we have been doing.  One that we have seen already is that we had correlation with our ward mission leader for the first time in awhile, and its because we went and helped clean/paint his piso, and so he had more time to spend with us. (side note, I got to paint a huge picture of Bruce, the shark from Finding Nemo, on the wall of his sons room.  Seriously it is bigger than he is. I'll send pics :) I had a blast!!) I know that as we serve others as a much as we can, we can be blessed.  And beyond that, I also got to see Elder West be amazing like always with how caring he is and willing to serve however he can.  It was really great to see that, and I know that he is going to finish his mission super strong. Also, one cool thing that we have decided to start doing is trying to contact, either by calling or knocking on their doors, at least 10 members a day.  So far we have been averaging about 12 a day, and one day we even got up to 18.  It's crazy though, that even when we knock on 15 doors, and call each of them plus three more people, only 4 answer. but we are still trying!!! 

Anyway, I hope you all have a really great week, and also HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!! Shout out to mine:) She's the best:)

Embrazo,

Elder Dixon

...once again, and we saw miracles!!!

April 28, 2014

This week was a good once again, and we saw miracles!!! The neatest one was that we have been meeting with a lady named Yahira, who was a reference from the hermanas of the other ward.  Well, we invited her to be baptized a week ago, but she said she wasn't ready, and since then we haven't been able to have a visit with her because she works a ton!  Well, this past week we got a phone call from the hermanas of the other ward, who told us they had an awesome reference for us, who they just barely had a visit with and who accepted a fetcha!!  And that's when we realized it was Yahira.  The hermanas had forgotten they passed her to us.  The lord works in mysterious ways, but those ways work!!!  We have also been working with a lady from Brazil named Neidi (pronounced Negie) and she is absolutely amazing, and super ready to hear the gospel.  It's incredible how prepared she is, and the best part is, she has invited one of her friends, Lele, to church, and a bunch more to English class!!  It's incredible!!!

 

Other than that, not much really has happened.  There are two missionaries leaving from our ward to Madrid, Peterson and Joselyn, so we got to go to their farewell last night, and that was good to see, but beyond that not much has happened.  We have some new investigators and we have been meeting a lot with recent converts and less active members, and overall we have just been having a blast.  One thing that's kinda funny, is since Elder West and Elder Sutton(one of the other elders in my piso) only have 2 months left of their mission, we have little signs up everywhere that say "finish like a man" it's pretty great:)

 

I hope you all are doing well.  Keep reading the scriptures, and praying and going to church, and if you have any friends who want to learn about the gospel, talk to the missionaries!!!

 

Love,

Elder Dixon