"Funny story..."

February 18, 2014

Hello Home!

 

So, to start off, can I just say that when I don't e-mail on Mondays, it's probably because It's a transfer week....which usually means something changes for me.....and yup, true to form, I now have a new companion.  Elder West, and I will be working in his area now, which still happens to be the same ward and everything as before, and I still get to sleep in the same bed and everything.  I really just have to move everything from my old desk to my new desk, and start learning the streets...again.....oh well:) I also get to learn about all my new investigators and everything else, so, it's gonna be an adventure!  So I guess that was the biggest thing this week. Other than that though, this week I got to go on intercambios, (companionship exchanges in English), with Elder Hikola from Finland, who is finishing his mission in 12 days.  Oh, and Elder Bascopé who was Elder West's old companion and the Zone Leader is going home today.

 

Funny story actually is that we had been planning a good-bye dinner for him with some members, and one day we got a call from a guy, who actually turned out to be Elder Bascopes older brother, who informed us that his family was coming from Madrid to pick him up.....so we planned that his family would be there as a surprise for the dinner (that was on Saturday).

 

Well, now here's the catch....we weren't informed until Thursday that there would only be 3 of his siblings missing....ya, Elder Bascopé is the youngest of 10, and all of them are married........so we had an extra 19 people in a super small apartment for na amazing surprise.  It was so much fun, and the best part is that I was able to communicate a little with his family:)

 

Other than that not much really happened this week......we helped a lady move on valentine's day, and I got a little heart sticker for the back of my name tag, but that's about it. It was a crazy, but amazing week.

 

So....to end, here is a neat little quote from an Elder here from Germany, Elder Hachenberger. "The Book of Mormon is amazing.  It is just a book full of power."   I just want to second his thought and also tell you that it can answer any question you want.  Really!  Ask a question, such as, "what should I do today?" and then go look at 1 Nephi 13:22 :D

 

Love ya!!!

Hasta Pronto!

 

 

2/10/14

February 10, 2014

 

So this week was pretty uneventful, but that really was just because most of the week was spent planning, getting ready for and advertising a ward missionary activity, where we hiked up to Montserrat, which is a two hour hike that was absolutely amazing.  It was actually pretty crazy too, because we were at the back of the group to help people and make sure nobody got left behind, and we met up with a group of girls, and one of them was sick and super dehydrated, so we helped her, and it eventually got to the point where they called an ambulance, but we had to get her up to the top of the mountain, so we had a bunch of us helping and we also had the chance to use our priesthood, which was actually a really spiritual experience. 

 

Other than that though, there wasn't much that happened this week....oh, I guess one story was that we were going through the metro with a member who was helping us, and he was apparently using a metro card that wasn't his, and he got caught, so we had to pay 50 Euros or he would have gone to jail, because he is also here in Spain illegally... so that was fun.  It actually is a super funny experience in hindsight, but while we were there it was kind of nail biting for a minute :P

 

So, to end I just thought I would add in another spiritual thought, about the Book of Mormon, and this is actually basically what we teach to all our investigators, because it is super important.   The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion.  If it is true, then Joseph Smith translated it through the power of God, the priesthood, which is restored again on the earth today, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on the earth, with the same organization that existed when Christ organized it when he was on the earth, with prophets, apostles, the 70, stakes, wards, deacons, teachers, priests, elders, high priests, all of it is the same, and all of it is true, if the Book of Mormon is true.  And if it is true, and we know it is true, then we are obligated to act on it, and follow the example of Christ, and have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.  And if we do that then we can be guaranteed our Father in Heaven will look after us and protect us and guide us throughout all of our lives, no matter what circumstance we are in.  But the only way to know, is to read the Book of Mormon, and pray with a sincere heart and real intent, and then listen and feel the Spirit testify that it is true.

 

I love you all, and thank you for your support.

 

Elder Dixon

Laura Dixon

February 3, 2014

February 3, 2013

This week was pretty amazing, and extremely spiritually uplifting! We had so much happen this week, it was absolutely crazy!  Especially because of all the conferences.  We had  a specialized missionary conference for our zone that lasted two days, and stake conference with two meetings Saturday night, the leadership and the adult session, and to top it all off, Sunday was a special conference broadcast to all of Spain, Portugal, and Cape Verde, and Elder Ballard spoke (funny story, he actually came out and said playing or watching sports isn't a good Sabbath activity....no, he didn't emphasize it, he just mentioned it, but still.....Elder Ferrer was super upset cause all the Granada soccer games are usually on Sunday :P) !!  Anyway, it was super spiritual and I learned a ton!  So that was one reason this week was awesome, but also because of the miracles we saw.  If it's ok I want to share two with you from this week.

 

The first was on Tuesday, after the specialized conference, when Elder West and I went on splits because our companions are the Zone Leaders.  Anyway, what happened is we were working in my area, and when we went to the visit we had set up it back fired on us, so we decided to go back to his area and work there because it was closer to piso.  Only problem was that I'm still a little lost here, and so we got on the metro going the wrong way.  Well, that turned out to be ok, because I was thinking about who lived at the next metro stop, and I remembered a recent convert named Harrison who lived there, so we decided to visit him, and when we went into his house, he had a bunch of friends over and so we got to teach them all about the restoration and Harrison was amazing at helping us teach, and from that we got 3 news!  All because we got on the metro the wrong way.

 

The other miracle actually happened on the metro as well.  We were at one end of it, and were going to get off at the next stop, and Elder Ferrer was about to fall asleep on his feet, so we decided to walk to the other end.  Well, once we got there, a man came up to us and explained that he had been looking for missionaries to talk to because he was a member but had just barely come here from Honduras and wanted to know where the church was and what time and everything, and it turns out that he had followed us through the metro.  It was really neat, and he came to the stake conference and everything and is amazing.  That is one thing I really like about Elder Ferrer, is that he always can feel the Spirit and he follows the promptings even when he doesn't know they are promptings or why he needs to do them.  It's pretty great.

 

This week we also have a fecha (baptismal date) for a lady named Rocio, whose two kids have already been baptized. The only reason she isn't is because she wants to wait for her husband to get home from her pies (I think its Peru....) but we have been talking to her and she really wants to get baptized, and since she has no idea when he will get home, we asked her if she would pray and see if she should wait or get baptized this week. We are going to visit with her this week to find out her answer, but I feel like she needs to be baptized this week.

 

Also, we have another fecha, sort of. His name is Luke and he is from England, but he is just doing a study abroad so he isn't sure if he wants to be baptized here or wait till he goes home so his family can be there for it. The only thing is that he will be here for 5 months, so I don't know what will happen there.

 

ok, well, I just want to end with one thought I learned in the conference. We read in Ether 3 about how the Lord touched the stones and they shone.  Well, whenever we feel the Spirit telling us to do something or that we did something right, the Lord is touching us so we can shine too :)

 

Thank you so much for your support!!

 

Un Embrazo,

 

Elder Dixon

January 27, 2014

January 27, 2014

Well, this week was really good!!  But, I have no idea why.........honestly!  When I look at my planner it was a super boring week...but when I think about it, it was really good, and a ton of fun stuff happened...ok, I guess the airsoft wars in our piso weren't boring, but other than that not much happened.  The only thing I can figure is that when you work hard the time flies and it feels good :) I love the gospel :) So, since I don't have anything really to share from the week, how about a spiritual thought?  I was just reading through my study journal a couple of days ago, and read about the brass plates, and the gold plates, and it hit me.....the gold plates were made of gold so they wouldn't tarnish, but the brass plates would have tarnished and worn super bad, and so to be able to read them they would have had to have been polished and shined.....they would have to had taken really good care of them, and so I thought, why don't we do that with ours in this day and age?  Just because they are paper, and easily replaceable doesn't mean that we can just throw them around and treat them like a normal book. They contain everything we need to live with our Father in Heaven again, and we need to respect them. 

 

Thank you so much for all your support and love.

 

Un Embrazo,

 

Elder Dixon