Goodbye America, Hello Bacolod!

Kamusta pamilya ko!

Can you believe the time is here?! I leave Monday morning for the Philippines. Crazy! I'm SO excited!! I don't know the language, and there's a lot of unknown, but I'm very much at peace and ready to get out there and serve!

Before I get too far into this letter, Happy Father's Day!!! I love you so very much Dad and hope you have a great day. Just think of my phone call on Monday as a Father's day call instead of Mother's day. :) And happy father's day to grandpas and uncles and just everyone! Love you all!! And happy out of school everyone! I got grad announcements from Roscoe, Ricky, and Logan. Can't believe they're graduated!

I don't have a whole lot of time this week, so this might be a shorter email, but basically, the MTC is wonderful!! I have absolutely loved my stay here. I am so filled with the Spirit here that I just feel like I could burst! Really, it's so amazing and I've never been so happy. :) I can't wait for that joy to increase in the field!

This week we got a new investigator named JB (Elder Speiser--he's going to be a new teacher next transfer because Brother Oldroyd is leaving--he's going to visit his mission in IloIlo!). Anyway, we LOVE teaching JB! He is so enthusiastic about everything! When we told him about prophets, he was like, "to-od?!" (Pronounced toad with an emphasis in the middle), which means, "seriously?!" He kept saying it over and over, so excited! And when I asked him to be baptized i said,"Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ..." and then he but in with, "OO!" (YES!, pronounced oh-oh), before I could even say, "and be baptized by someone with proper priesthood authority. It was so great! He's golden. ;)

On Sunday, Sister Clegg from the RS General Board came. Oh my goodness, I want to be just like her someday. She is incredible! She told us that when her and her husband were training to be mission president/wife, they told them that if they remembered everything they learned in the MTC they would not fail. ha good to know! Because i feel like they've given us SO much information. Basically, they told her that "The three most important things to know as you go" are 1.Know My Purpose, 2. Be bold, and she added a third: expect miracles. It was an excellent RS lesson. :) Oh, and fun fact, when we sing, "Army of Helaman" we sing, "and we are NOW the lord's missionaries..." I love it!

So there's a missionary here named Elder Bayly that I see in the cafeteria. Pretty sure he's Thurl Bayly's son because he is super tall and looks just like him. Pretty neat! And guess what...I got to host Sister Heidi Shelley!!! :D The car pulled up, and another sister was going to help but once I saw who it was i ran over and was like, "can i please host this family, i know them!" of course she let me because all the sisters here are so sweet, so i got to host her and show her around campus! I was so happy! Tender mercy for sure. For me and probably for her as well. I remember my first day, it was nice seeing people I knew. :) oh,I gave the Shelley's hugs to pass to you, so be sure to give them hugs! :) I also got to host sisters going to Brazil and Taiwan. I seriously love hosting. It's so fun! And the sisters coming in were just so excited to serve! 

Tuesday was AMAZING!! It was historic because it was the first time all the missionaries met in the Marriott Center at BYU for devotional. We just don't fit in the MTC anymore! It's awesome! As we walked, I'm sure it was quite the sight to see about 4,000 missionaries walking together. It was awesome for ME to see! I wish I would've had my camera with me to show you! It's just amazing to me that all these 18-20 something year old young adults are so willing to give up 18 months to 2 years of their life for their religion. The only reason I can think that such a huge group of YA would do that, is because it's TRUE! And I know it! And I want to share this wonderful Gospel with as many people as I can. :) As we walked, we would sing Hymns...that's a lot of missionaries singing Hymns! It was so powerful! The devotional was awesome---Elder Mervyn B. Arnold from the 70 spoke to us about ways to serve without regret. His testimony was so powerful. I don't think there was one time when he didn't choke up while talking about the Savior. You could literally feel the love he has for the Savior.

As we've studied this week, we've tried our best to stay focused so we can be the best prepared we can be for the field. Elder Winward said this would be a good trial run for how we'll be the last week of our missions: trunky, or working our hardest to the very last minute. I liked the analogy and I'm doing my best to work my hardest. Our teachers have helped us so much, and I'm going to be so sad to say goodbye! Really, without them, there's no way we would be where we are. They are all so amazing. Same with my district. It will be hard to say goodbye to everyone, but it's for a good cause, right? ;)

Well, as far as travel plans go, I leave Monday morning for the SLC airport. We go to Portland, then Tokyo, then Manila. From there we'll take a smaller flight system to Bacolod. Let the adventure begin! I'm so excited. I already have so much love for the Filipino people and can't wait to serve them. Next week, you'll be receiving an email from the Philippines...crazy! 

I remember the first time I emailed you I didn't have time to write my testimony, so here it is simply in Hilgaynon....

Kabalo ako nga matuod ang ebanghelyo ni JesuCristo. Kabalo ako nga palangga kita sang Diyos, kag gusto niya magbulig kita. Kabalo ako nga matuod nga propeta si Thomas S. Monson. Kabalo ako nga matuod ang libro ni mormon kag propeta si Jospeh Smith. Kabalo ako nga Manluluwas ang JesuCristo. Palangga ko ang ebanghelyo. Sa ngalan ni JesuCristo, amen.

I truly know this Gospel is true and i love it with all my heart!

Have a most fabulous week and I'll write to you from the Philippines next week! :)

Palangga ka kamo!!

Love, 

Sister Dixon

PS. Happy anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa Warburton tomorrow!! Love you! And happy birthday this past week to Ricky, and this week to Jason and Uncle Russell. :)