I love being a missionary

May 26, 2015

This week was another great week. We had a lot of fun, found a ton of people, had a ton of people come to church, and taught a bunch of lessons. It was a really great week. One neat miracle happened at church. As we were at the door welcoming people, a part member family came in with a bunch of their friends, and we got a visit set up to go visit them tomorrow. It was so simple! We’ve been talking a lot about how this coming month is the month of invitation, and we’re already seeing the members inviting in advance! This family isn’t the first to bring people to church. Yesterday for example, we found out that one of the young women has been bringing a friend to church every Sunday for almost 4 months, and we didn’t even know she wasn’t a member! I at least thought she was a less active the other elders were working with, but nope! The ward members are really great here. We also had a really great ward council meeting where we talked all about what we can do to help the members and non-members make the Sabbath day more meaningful, and I’ve never been in a better ward council meeting. I’ve just been astounded this past week at the effort the members are making. I don’t know if they have been doing this all along, or if I am just noticing it now, but either way it’s incredible! Now really is the time to work together with the members, and the Lord really is hastening his work! I love being a missionary.

Also, good news, transfers came and went and nobody here in Pamplona is leaving! However, this will be the last transfer for President Pace, and then I’ll be getting a new mission president. Weird!

Anyway, I hope you all have a good week too:)

Love,

Elder Dixon

Baptism!!

May 18, 2015

Well, this past week Luz Moreno and Juan Agosta got baptized. I’ve kinda told you the story over the course of a few weeks of how we met them, but I figured I should just tell it again.

So, our ward mission leader works as a repair man, and a while ago he was helping a lady fix her water heater, and somehow he started talking to her about the church, and found out she wanted to learn more, and come to stake conference. So, he gave us her number, and we called her up, and had a visit with her, along with a member. In the visit, she explained to us that she had been going to a different church for a while, but never felt like she could open up an really express herself, but with us she could, and so she proceeded to tell us her life story, and how she knew that God was there and watching over her. It was really touching.

She’s been through a lot of hard times, but she knows that God has always helped her out of the situations. She’s had a lot of health problems as well, and for a couple of years she couldn’t walk. But she just kept bearing her testimony about how loving God is, and then we explained that He is our father, and he loves us, and asks us to do certain things in this life. Then, we invited her to be baptized, and with tears pouring down her cheeks, she said she had been waiting for someone to ask her to be baptized, and she accepted a baptismal date for the 28th of March. She also came to stake conference, with her husband, and they promised they would never miss a day of church. However, right after that, her medical problems just went downhill, and so for a long time she was in the hospital and couldn’t meet with us. But, then one Sunday they just showed up to church again, and came for a few weeks, and then last week after church they came up to us and asked what they had to do to be baptized, and when they could be. So, this past week has been a whirlwind of preparing everything, and them, to be baptized. The members here have done an amazing job as well helping out, and for the baptism there were a lot of people there to support, and afterwards they all swapped numbers. Then, yesterday was the confirmation. It was incredible too. Their faces were both just shining. It was kinda funny too, because they didn’t know to go sit back down in the congregation afterward, and so they both just stayed up on the stand for the rest of the meeting, and so all the members got to see them and be able to recognize them, and then it was really hard to get out of the room because everybody just crowded around them. It truly was incredible. Probably the best part though was when they came up after church again, and asked what they have to do to go to the temple. We have another visit set up to talk about that too. When the Lord prepares people.....They are PREPARED!

Thanks for all the prayers and support. I hope you have as good of a week as I did!

Love,

Elder Dixon

I’ve gotten really good at falling asleep on the bus:)

May 12, 2015

This week was INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! Starting off, we went to Barcelona (a four hour train ride, going at an average 250 km/hour) and got to stay in a four star hotel, then go into my old area a bit and listen to two of the seventy explain some amazing things!! The Lord really is hastening His work. The whole conference was about how we need to give our will, our time, everything we have and are to the Lord, and He will change us. It was incredible. Then, we had another 4 hour train ride back, and we were back to working like crazy!!

 

We found some really great people to start teaching and had a lot of great visits. One of the best was when we were with a member, and he took us to some of his family. His cousin is atheist, but when we gave him the Book of Mormon he said he would try and believe. It was really neat because of his sincerity, and I know that as he reads he will believe. so we’ll see where that goes:)

 

The other neat thing that happened this week was that right after church, a  couple we have been working with for about 3 months came up to us and asked us what they have to do to get baptized, since they have been coming for a while, they felt ready to take the next step. I was blown away, and so tonight we have a visit to see what we can do to help them, which I’m sure will mean planning a baptism for this weekend. yay:) Then, afterward, we got to skype our families, which was fantastic, and right after we had to run and catch a bus to Bilbao for another conference.(this time we got to stay in a five star hotel:) So, this week was a lot of traveling, learning, miracles and just having a blast:) I love the mission, but man, traveling just wears me out! I’ve gotten really good at falling asleep on the bus:)

 

Well, I hope you all have a great week.

 

Thank you for all your prayers on my behalf.

 

Love,

 

Elder Dixon

how to use an iPad......

May 4, 2015

This week was a really great week, and we had a ton of fun finding a ton of people. At zone enfoque we went to, the zone leaders set the goal for our zone to find 60 people a week, and this past week we found 61! It’s absolutely amazing!! For our part, we had a great miracle. It was late at night, and we didn’t have anything to do, so we were contacting, and walking towards our piso. Well, right as we got out of our area, we contacted a lady standing by a bench, and she at first didn’t want anything, but then, I don’t know what happened. We just started talking, and kept on talking, and ended up carrying her bags all the back into our area, teaching a lesson as we walked, and coordinating with her to help her friend move the next day. So, we went to go help move, and found 3 more amazing people to start teaching. They are all Romanians, and are very interested in the English classes we teach, as well as learning more about the gospel. It was a huge blessing, and all happened because we were still contacting late at night, even after we got out of our area.

The next thing that’s amazing is that we have 2 investigators with baptismal dates, a mom and her daughter. They are Dominicans, and really humble, and very kind. They came to church yesterday for the first time, and loved when all the kids got up to sing for mother’s day, and stayed for all three hours. The little girl has made friends in primary, and by the look on the moms face I don’t think she’s ever been greeted by so many people at one place before. It was truly amazing to see the ward just naturally take them in, and involve them in everything. I love this gospel and the way it changes people for the better.

So ya, that was basically my week, if you add on a bunch of other lessons and food:) Today were going to Barcelona for a mission wide conference on how to use iPad, so that’s pretty exciting too:) haha, right before I leave too:) oh well:)

 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Dixon

I love the work of a missionary!

April 20, 2015

This week was a lot of fun, and made me learn and stretch and grow a ton. It was a rough week numbers wise, but it was a very good week to learn, and as my companion said, from now on we can only get better. I’m having a blast with Elder Gonzalez. He’s really humble, REALLY tall (6"5), and we’ve been working really hard to get him to know the area. It’s a blast, and we’re already seeing miracles.

One miracle this week came during one of our visits. We’ve been working a lot with a family here, and the dad just never wants to read the Book of Mormon. He always says he’s too busy studying. Well, we were talking about how studying is really good, and we also need to study the words of God, and so we read in 2 Nephi 9 where it says that it is good to be wise, if we do what God asks us first. It was really neat, because as we were talking afterward about the scripture, the dad just kept rereading and analyzing the verse, and at the end of the lesson he told us that he needed to read, because of what that verse told him. It was the first time he’s really shown any interest in the Book of Mormon, or any drive whatsoever to try and read. It’s a really big step. The Book of Mormon really is so important in conversion, whether it be of ourselves, or others.

I love the work of a missionary.

I hope you all have a good week:)

Love, Elder Dixon

That was super weird.....

April 14, 2015

This week was absolutely crazy. First off, the most notable thing that happened was I went to the doctor, and they shoved a camera up my nose to see what is wrong with me. That was super weird.....I got to see the inside of my nose, and they described where all the little tubes went to and everything. The final diagnosis is sinusitis, secondary otitis, and a unknown type of infection in my lungs. So, I’m on heavy antibiotics for 2 weeks, and a lot of other funny pills to combat the side effects of the antibiotic. I’m doing better though, so it seems to be working. Not much, but better. I’ve still had to stay in piso a couple of days. On Monday night I had a really high fever, so I’ve been trying to take really good care of myself.

Apart from all the medical issues, this week was really great. This Saturday for the Jas activity we do every week, we set up a scavenger hunt, and the Jas invited their friends and everything, so it turned into a tour of the church too. Here we work a lot with the young people. They are really solid, and jump to help us. It was also pretty neat this week, because bishop called us a couple of times, just asking if he could come to visits with us. So we went with him a bunch, and one day he stayed inside with me while Elder Noovao went out with another member to our visits. The ward here is amazing.

Then, the best part was that an investigator we’ve been trying to get ahold of for a while came to church. I don’t know if you remember but about a month ago I told you about a reference from our ward mission leader. Her name is Luz, and when we went to visit her, she was amazing, and accepted a baptismal date. Well, then she came to church that Sunday, and then from there we hadn’t heard anything from her until she came this Sunday. Apparently, that Monday she had some major medical issues, and so had a couple of surgeries and has been recovering, and so hasn’t been able to come to church. But she came this week, and we gave her a blessing, and she’s doing amazing now. It was awesome to see her walk up to the church.

I hope you have a great week too!!

Love,

Elder Dixon

My favorite talk was from Elder Oaks

April 6, 2015

 

This week was pretty good. We’ve been kinda held back by me being sick so much, but we still got out and worked! So that was good. It was tough in the streets with the fiestas because nobody really wanted to listen, but we were always with a member, so that was incredible. I was going over the numbers in my old agendas, and I realized that when I started the mission I had a lot of visits, but without a member. And now, the numbers have been swapped. Lots of visits with members, and hardly any by ourselves. It’s really great.

The best part of the week of course was conference. I loved it! I learned so much! My favorite talk was from Elder Oaks, when he talked about the different kinds of soils, and I tried to think of how I could improve my soil. I’ve started a list of good habits I want to gain, and not so good habits I want to get rid of, and so as I was listening I was really paying attention for that as well. It’s really interesting to see how much of an influence the little things in life have on us and how we act.  One little one president told me in our interview last week (oh ya..We had interviews with president this week:) was that I need to stop popping my knuckles. Weird, but ok, president asked me to so I’m gonna do it!

Anyway, I hope you all have a good week too!

Love,

Elder Dixon