It's so Hot Here

June 8, 2015

Well, a lot happened this week, and we had a bunch of great miracles. 

 

It was kind of a hard week in that we didn't get to as many visits as we would have liked, and not as many members helped us this week either, but it's mostly due to the fact that everybody has been studying for the tests this upcoming week. Actually though that's where one of the biggest miracles comes from. We are working a lot
with the return missionary and his family, and this past week we went to help his little sister study English and math. Well, afterwards, as usual we shared a message, and this time it was about the gospel of Christ, and so of course baptism came up. It was pretty neat because she wants to get baptized, but she want to really be ready for it
before she commits. So we showed her the back of a baptismal calendar, and went over all the things we need to teach her and the interview questions. Then, she turned over the calendar and asked what is was for, and as we explained that she could use it to help her prepare for a specific date to get baptized, she set her own baptismal date, for the 20th of June. It was incredible, and we promised that as she read and prayed every day, she could be ready by that date. She really wants to improve, and be baptized, but she wants to feel ready first too.

Other than that, we've been finding a ton of people to work with, and we've been having a lot of fun. Something that happened to us twice was that the buses have overheated and we've had to walk to our visits. It's so hot here!  Yesterday in ward council, we were the only ones in suits. So we've been laughing and sweating a lot.

So yup...there's really only one other neat thing that happened this week, we got our iPads, so that's pretty exciting. They are really helpful, especially in studies. That's really all we get to use them for as of now anyway.

Well I hope you all had a great week, and that you can have another great one this week too:)

Love, Elder Dixon

That’s hastening the work!!

June 1, 2015

What a powerful week! We saw so many blessings and felt the Spirit so strong! This week on Thursday and Friday we did a mission fast, to "apresuar la obra"....in English it’s like.....making the work go faster...I don’t remember the real phrase. But it works! The miracle this week happened because a missionary returned this week, from the Malaga mission. He is a convert of 3 years, and he and his mother are the only members in their family. He’s got 5 little sisters, and a ton of cousins, and so the first thing he did when he got his phone was call us and set up a visit to be able to meet all of his family. We go over to visit his mom often, but his sisters always hide in the room, so in the four months I’ve been here, I’d only ever met two of them. Well, yesterday we had an amazing visit where we met his dad, and all his sisters, and they all said that when they feel prepared, they will be baptized. So now we have the task of preparing his family so he can baptize them. Then, on top of that, he made a deal with us, that if we help him learn English for one hour a week, he will give us a reference once a week. It’s a pretty good deal in my opinion. That’s hastening the work!! (I remembered the phrase in English:)

Anyway, I hope you all have a good week, and see miracles. Just look for them...they are there! Mormon 9:10-20 tells us about it:)

Love,

Elder Dixon

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