Let the Holy Spirit Guide

Kamusta kamo?! :)

I can't believe it's already preparation day! This week has seriously flown by. 

Our theme this week seemed to be: "Let the Holy Spirit Guide." In Doctrine and Covenants 42:14 it says, "And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach." This week I studied and pondered a lot about praying with faith in Christ so that I could be more in tune with the Spirit in order to find and teach and bring others to Christ. We had quite a few amazing experiences as a result...

- We had one of the most powerful Restoration lessons with the Obello family. The spirit was so tangible and at the end of the lesson when we asked if they wanted to know for themselves if Joseph Smith was a true prophet who restored the Gospel in this dispensation, Claire, the 16 year old said excitedly, "gusto ko!" Or, "I really want to!" She's the most religious out of all of them. They all (Romeo-dad, Merlinda-mom, Claire, Rea, and Kent) committed to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and Brother Romeo gave a wonderful kneeling prayer at the end of the lesson. Ah, it's just so hard to explain how the spirit was in that lesson in an email. But it was incredible. And teaching families is the BEST. Let the Holy Spirit guide...

- Our Bishop was inspired to refer us to a friend from his youth. When went to contact her and she was super busy and didn't seem interested. We felt prompted to ask if we could just come in and sing a song and pray for them. At the end of the song, some simple testimonies, and a prayer, she said we could come back again. The next visit? The husband was there and we were able to teach all of them. Another family. :) Let the Holy Spirit guide...

- We've been really praying for Brother Daniel Wenceslao to recognize an answer to his prayers. Even sweet Cheyene, during our lessons, would pray that her Papa "would receive an answer to his questions." On Friday, before we started the lesson, I felt inspired to ask him a few questions (I've come to love inspired questions on my mission). As a result, he testified to us that he prayed the night before if the Book of Mormon was true. He felt in his heart and in his mind a peaceful feeling testifying that the Book is true. He was having thoughts of "backing out" of his baptism, but after his prayer he decided that he needs to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. Let the Holy Spirit guide.... 

- Marlyn. Oh Marlyn. Heavenly Father just placed in her our laps. I think I talked about her last week but she's the newly hired house help at a member's house. We went to teach the family and there she was. Just ready for the gospel. We taught the Restoration and usually we invite our investigators to pray about Joseph Smith and then in the next lesson we talk about the Book of Mormon and give them their own copy. In this lesson, however, we felt we should give her the Book of Mormon anyway and invite her to start reading now. She was absolutely overjoyed that we gave her the Book of Mormon. She had seen copies in the Gibou's house, but felt uncomfortable sitting down to read it because she was there to work. She was so excited that we gave her her own copy that she could read at home. She's seriously one of the most receptive investigators of my mission... she is so ready. Let the Holy Spirit guide...

- One night we were planning and I had the random thought that we should look at some old teaching records in our efforts to have new investigators. We found two sisters named Michelle and Rose Marie. The next day we tried finding another investigator in our pile of teaching records and she wasn't home, but her house was right next to the street that we needed to go to Michelle and Rose Marie's (and that's a miracle in itself because finding a house in the Philippines is nearly impossible unless you've been there before or people know where they live...they have no official addresses). The first people we talked to who were outside were....Michelle and Rosemarie! They thought the sisters before got mad or something and stopped visiting, when really, with transfers, no one knew where to go to find them...until we came along! They were super receptive, wanted us to come back, and said they'd come to church the following week! Let the Holy Spirit guide...

- We were in the process of trying to find Trisha, an investigator who came to church the Sunday before, when at just the exact timing that we got to a certain part of the neighborhood, a man walked out of his house and said, "hi sisters!" We started talking to him and he let us in, gave us a pamahaw, had his mom and brother join as we gave a short lesson, and they very  willingly accepted a return appointment to meet the rest of the family, including the father, and gave us guava for the road. It was a miracle find. Literally. Let the Holy Spirit guide...  

As you can tell, my testimony of praying with faith in Jesus Christ has grown immensely this past week. If we take the time to pray to know how we can help the Lord serve His children, praying for them by name and asking for special strength and inspiration, and then carefully listen for the promptings of the Spirit and courageously act on them, being willing to sacrifice on the behalf of those we're serving, I know the Lord will grant us miracles and blessings, just as He did for Sister Tangonan and me this week. I know the Lord loves each and every one of His children. I have truly felt that love for them and for my companion and me this past week. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, full of miracles and tender mercies. Just let the Holy Spirit guide! :) Love you all so very much! 

All my love, 

Sister Dixon

Making coal to sell

Bo-ding, her sister, and friends

FHE with Henry, Josh and Rossini

Families are Forever

Sisters in Talisay

Guide Us, O, Thou Great Jehovah!

Hello friends and family! 

I hope everyone has a great first week of school this week! :) This week was pretty great for us. Sister Tangonan is doing so well and picking up so fast on the language! I love teaching with her and learning from her Christ-like acts and service. She truly is amazing and I've learned so much from her! 

On Monday we visited the Wenceslao family and Brother Daniel said he had a really good experience at church and would come again the following Sunday, and he did! :) He also said he believes Joseph Smith is a prophet! Cheyene also told me while she was walking us to the street that she always feels the spirit. When she prays, sometimes she doesn't notice she's crying. She also prayed that she'd be able to figure out a way she could reconcile some things with a friend from high school. The next day she received a message from that friend on Facebook asking for forgiveness. She's always excited to go to church and even lays out her clothes on Saturday night to prepare. Her and Elsie are so good about studying the Book of Mormon daily and we've been able to see a huge progression in their understanding of the doctrines than when they first started reading. Elsie told us she really felt the Spirit when she was confirmed and had absolutely no bad thoughts or feelings. All peace. :) 

On Tuesday we had a good district meeting and then had to do our four hours of study for Sister Tangonan's training, so we had limited time to proselyte but we had so many tender mercies and were able to still hit quite a few appointments, including meeting the Obello family! They are a referral from the Gibou family, a family in our ward, and they have 6 people living in their home right now! The son and daughter are the ones most interested, but the parents are willing to try. I know with time and with the Spirit, the Lord will soften all their hearts. :) It was pretty funny, too, because to get to their house you have to cross a bamboo bridge. It's pretty small, and Americans are typically bigger than Filipinos....the result? I broke the bridge. Yup. I fell through (with little injury, don't worry), but now their bamboo bridge is broken. Great. Hopefully that didn't kill our relationship of trust with them. haha If anything, hopefully it'll be an icebreaker in the future. ;) 

Wednesday was a pretty typical day and we were able to teach quite a bit and found a few new investigators. My favorite part of the day though, was when we were at the Wenceslao's and cute little Miguel knelt to pray. He's four years old and super hyper. Normally he has a hard time sitting down to pray, but this time, he knelt with us on the ground, folded his cute little arms, and closed his eyes. Cutest thing ever. The kid's really smart too. I usually give him my scripture story picture book to let him look at while we teach his family, and when he turned the picture of Joseph Smith he said, "Joseph Smith!" Good reminder that even the little kids still listen and love the Gospel, even if they're crazy hyper most of the time and you don't think they're listening. :) He'll be a cute little missionary someday. :) 

Thursday was great, too! We visited Euliza (Reneliza's daughter) and she's starting to progress really well. We talked about obedience and keeping the Sabbath day holy and in that particular lesson the Spirit really hit me and testified to me the importance of the sacrament. I truly am grateful for our Savior and His sacrifice and the opportunity we have each week to renew our covenants and recommit to always remember and serve the Lord. 

Friday we felt like Alma and Amulek in the city of Ammonihah. haha We went to one of our areas and all we could feel was wickedness in that area. I think Heavenly Father was testing my faith and patience because we were really trying to find new investigators. We felt that we should go there, but once we were there, the feelings were totally opposite. It reminded me of that Mormon message by Elder Holland about how sometimes the Lord lets us go on the wrong path only 400-500 meters, so that we can turn around and know for a surety that the other fork in the road is the right road. I guess He was letting us know not to go back to Hsda. Sian! It was amazing though, because He truly did guide us to an investigator who IS ready. We went to the Gibou family to teach, and they have a new house helper. We invited her to join our lesson and she wasn't even reluctant! (That surprised me because usually house helpers are pretty shy). She was super receptive the entire time and loved learning how the gospel can bless her family. By the end of the lesson, she accepted a baptismal date in September! I truly know that the Lord is softening the hearts of those who are ready to hear the gospel. The humble in heart are so receptive and as we follow the promptings of the spirit and trust in the Lord, He will grant us miracles and blessings in finding the humble and those who are searching the truth but know not where to find it. 

Saturday was a very successful day as we were able to have a one day mission with our ward! Bishop Quinerquero is AWESOME and worked with us in visiting some less active and recent converts, and to invite them to ward conference the next day. It was super effective because every family he visited with us came to church the next day. Our bishop is amazing. He has a way of gaining the highest respect from our ward members but still shows an incredible amount of love for everyone while making sure things that need to be done get done. He's the best! He also gave us a referral that came to church the next day! Miracle. :) 

Sunday we had a fabulous ward conference and the spirit was so strong. We had yet another miracle in finding a new investigator. Or rather she found us. Jeffery, one of our investigators, brought his friend's sister to church who said she wanted to join our church. Talk about being placed literally in our path! We taught her before church started and she accepted a baptismal date in September as well! I was just astounded with how many miracles we had this week. I know the Lord truly loves us and His purpose for us is to be happy. My mission has brought me so much happiness, all because of bringing others to feel the joy of the Gospel. I'm so grateful for the calling I have as a missionary and to be serving among such beautiful people here in the Philippines. They are incredible and I love them so much.

I hope everyone has a great week and I'll talk to you next week! 

Love, 

Sister Dixon  

****No photos this week because Jessica couldn't get the camera to connect to the computer. Maybe next week...***

During the week, we received this wonderful email from Jessica's mission president. Here are a few lines:

"Greetings from Philippines Bacolod Mission!

It is with pleasure to inform you that Sister Jessica Dixon will be completing her mission on 05 Nov 2014....

We are privileged to have Sister Dixon in our mission. She had been a faithful and dedicated servant of God. In behalf of the people of the Philippines Bacolod Mission, I thank you so much for sharing your missionary with us! Aloha!

President Marlo Oliveros Lopez"

We continue to pray that she will serve with all her might, mind, and strength as she crosses the finish line!!

70 days...but who's counting?!!

There is Sunshine in my Soul Today!

Hello everyone! 

What a week! Monday we received news that Sister Arcinas would be transferring, so we spent our p-day making sure she had things ready to go and we ended our night at the Wenceslao's. Brother Daniel read the Book of Mormon for the first time! Wahoo!! He took it to work with him and read it on his break. :) He also said he'd go to church on Sunday, and he did! We're going to follow up later tonight to see what he liked and felt, but I'm so grateful that little by little, this entire family is coming unto Christ. :)

Tuesday we went to Galo and Sister Arcinas met with Sister Judd and headed to Cadiz. I found out I was training (eek!), and so I got assigned with none other than SISTER BATALERO and Sister Fitzgerald for the next day and a half while we waited for our trainees! That was about the biggest tender mercy ever! It was so good to be back with Sister Batalero and to hear about the huge growth of Pontevedra and to teach again with her...as well as Sister Fitzgerald! Both Sisters are such wonderful missionaries who teach with such power and authority and truly with the spirit. They will be fabulous trainers. :) 

Wednesday the three of us worked here in Talisay, but we had to go home a bit early because Sister Batalero got a really bad stomach ache. We had an awesome tender mercy and one of the ward missionaries, Maricel, was able to stay at the apartment with her while Sister Fitzgerald and I were able to go out and hit a few more appointments. A few members of the ward and bishopric were also able to come over and give her a Priesthood blessing as well, which helped a ton...so many tender mercies! One thing I missed about Sister Batalero is how much she loves to talk.... :) Normally when you're sick, you'd cease a bit with talking. Not her. She talks even MORE to distract herself from the pain. Haha So we had quite a few laughs from hearing Sister Batalero stories and experiences. Oh goodness, I love her. 

Thursday we got ready and headed to the mission home to have our trainer's training and meet our trainees! There were a ton of foreign missionaries who came in and only one Filipina...and she's my companion! Sister Tangonan from Tarlac. :) She is about the sweetest, most Christ-like missionary ever. I love her so much already! She is so excited to get out and work and learn as much as she can! She was super prepared before her mission and so she's already sagad at teaching and working with the Spirit. I can tell it's going to be a good companionship! 

Friday we had a great day and it was exciting to see Sister Tangonan exercise her faith in finding and teaching. She did her first OYM (to a drunk man haha) and was SO excited that he committed like ten times to come to church. I didn't want to crush her hopes that he probably wouldn't remember that he committed to do so, so I just let her enjoy the wonderful feelings of inviting people to repent. :) It was also a good learning experience for me to remember to exercise my faith and invited EVERYONE to come unto Christ, even  drunk men...because they need it most! :)

Saturday was a very successful day as we were able to contact a referral, the Obello family, that the Gibou family gave us and Sister Tangonan extended baptism for the first time and they accepted! Sister Tangonan told me that she expected she'd be homesick, but she doesn't feel a bit homesick and is loving missionary work! Now that's what I like to hear! :) It's amazing how much joy there is in doing missionary work and proselyting, which all comes through the Atonement. When times get hard, and I know they will for Sister Tangonan--she'll come to realize the reality and hardships of the mission-- but I know that through the Atonement and through being diligent in working hard and trusting in the Lord, that He will carry and strengthen and help us, leading us to eventually feel the joy that cannot be fully expressed in words. I have definitely felt this enabling power throughout my mission, and those have been the times when I've grown and learned the most on my mission and truly gained a stronger testimony in our Savior and the love He has for us. We also had a baptism for Elsie Wenceslao and Reneliza Arevalo! They were so excited and so prepared to be baptized, and it was amazing to see them dressed in white and enter the waters of baptism. They both gave such powerful, strong testimonies--they are truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Sunday, Elsie and Reneliza were confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reneliza told me after church that she could really feel the spirit bestowed upon her and she got tears in her eyes at the feeling. :) Ah, missionary work is the best! We always hear that the first 90 days of the mission are the hardest...but honestly, I think it's the other way around! These last 90 days are so hard! After feeling so much joy and spirit, and witnessing so many miracles each day in helping others come unto Christ, it's hard to think that someday it will come to an end. And in the not so far future...the thing that I realized this week that gave me a bit of comfort, however, is that we are ALL disciples of Jesus Christ. Baptism symbolizes leaving our old life of sin and being born again to be disciples of Jesus Christ. After the mission, even if the name tag isn't there over my heart, it's still engraved on my heart. Discipleship is lifelong. Not just 18 months. I'm so grateful for all the tender mercies Heavenly Father has given to me and Sister Tangonan this week that have helped us to become better disciples of Jesus Christ. I truly know that this is His work and that through the Atonement, we can become the servants and disciples He needs us to be, especially as we align our will with His and follow the promptings of the Spirit in all we do. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week full of tender mercies and miracles, just like we do! Thank you for all the love, prayers, support, and just everything! I am so very very blessed. My heart is overflowing with gratitude. I love you all so very much!

Palangga ko kamo! 

Love,

Sister Dixon :)

Sister Dixon was able to tell Sister Canimo (one of her trainers) good-bye! Sister Canimo is home now and was a powerful missionary and wonderful influence on Sister Dixon.

Teaching with Sister Batelero and Sister Fitzgerald while waiting for their new trainees!

Sister Dixon didn't describe this photo, so...I don't know what is happening...:)

Sister Dixon and Sister Tangonan

Baptism!

I Stand All Amazed

Hello everyone! 

What a great week! We focused a lot on Cheyene in preparation for her baptism this last Saturday, so I'll probably be talking about her and her family a lot in this email. :) On Monday we visited them and taught about the self reliance program the church offers here in the Philippines. I had randomly gotten a prompting to teach that while I was taking my bucket shower that morning and it turned out to be just what they needed! Elsie was super excited at the prospects of their future becoming better and even turned to Cheyene and said, "it's an answer to your prayers!" Cheyene had to stop school because they are so poor, but PEF is just the answer! :) 

Tuesday we had some good lessons throughout the day with Reneliza about temple and family history work, and with Christian, our new investigator/referral of the Gibou family. He's awesome! We actually met him when Jade (on of our RCs) brought him to church! Later that night when we visited Cheyene and Elsie, we asked Elsie if she's received an answer to her prayers yet about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Elsie said she had finally received an answer. We asked her how she knew and she said it was just the simple, calm, peaceful feelings in her heart that she felt every time we'd teach or discuss a new principle, commandment, or doctrine. She said it just felt right! After much prayer and fasting, we were so relieved that she was able to finally recognize the promptings of the Spirit. 

Wednesday we had a very inspired zone leader's training meeting and we learned a lot about teaching for understanding by using pictures, scriptures, and the spirit. And asking inspired questions. It totally changed my perspective on the way I teach, and so I've done quite a bit of changing to the way I teach and it's been super effective. I'm so grateful for such inspired mission leaders! Later that night when we visited Cheyene, she said she had a dream where there was a darkness preventing her from being baptized. She said she had the dream three times. She said she was trying to ignore it and was reading every day to keep her mind distracted, but when we went back on Thursday and Elsie shared that she had read from 1 Nephi 8 about Lehi's dream, it was the perfect lead into the lesson we had planned. We talked about how when there's a mist of darkness, it's usually associated with Satan and how he wants to prevent anything good from happening (like her being baptized that Saturday). We shared from JSH when that same darkness was around Joseph Smith before he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. We also shared 3 Nephi 18:15-16 about how Jesus Christ is our light. Cheyene felt a lot better after that and was even more determined not to let Satan win with her baptism so soon. We also gave them a picture of Christ (good timing on your package, Mom!) and they placed it right by their door so they could always see him and remember that He's our Light. :) 

Friday was actually Elsie's birthday! We had a good lesson on baptism and confirmation to extra prepare Cheyene for her baptism, and then they shared a little bit of her birthday treat of spaghetti and maha with us. I asked Elsie what her favorite birthday memory was and her answer kind of broke my heart! She said, "this one. Because when I was young, sometimes I'd go to school and think, 'subong gali ang birthday ko.' or 'Oh yeah, today's my birthday..." :( That's actually pretty common here....a lot of times, birthdays go unnoticed, especially for those who are poor because they have nothing to celebrate with. :( I'm glad we were able to be there for her 40 something birthday to make it so happy and special. :) She definitely had some good smiles throughout the night, so that made me smile too. :) We also celebrated Miguel's birthday that day since they don't actually know when his birthday is...someone just left him with them and never came back... :( I sure love that kid. He's so cute and hilarious. I just love this family! I have faith that with time they will ALL be baptized. :) 

Saturday was Cheyene's special day and when she bore her testimony she testified of the wonderful clean feeling she had in her heart. She had a bit of depression for a while, so to see her so happy and with such a full heart was amazing. Sunday she received the gift of the Holy Ghost and when we visited them later that night she told us that after she was baptized and she was in the bathroom, she exclaimed, 'Yes! Member na 'ko!" Or, Yes! I'm a member now! haha she's so cute. She gave a really heartfelt prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the peace she felt in her heart and for the stress she no longer felt in her body. She's such a sweetheart. Her dad was there in the lesson and he expressed how happy he was that she was baptized. He's slowly but surely opening up to us more and more and I know this sweet family will be one in heart and mind in the church someday. That they'll be able to go to the temple and partake of all the blessing of exaltation. 

I'm so grateful for the Gospel and how central it is on families. I truly know that because of the Savior, families can be together forever. I'm so grateful for all my families...my one here in the Philippines, my missionary family, my ward family, my friends, and of course my real family. :) Life would just not be what it is without family. It truly is one of God's greatest gifts to us and I'll be forever grateful for the family He's sent me to. I couldn't ask for a better one! Speaking of that, Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I love you two sooo very much and I'm eternally grateful Heavenly Father sent me to you two! :)

Have a great week everyone and I'll talk to ya next week! xo

Love always, 

Sister Dixon 

 "This is how we take pictures every zone leader's training meeting....

lots of missionaries....lots of cameras...for lots of memories! haha 

"Little Filipino kiddies! They loved the jollie ranchers you sent, Mom. :)"

Cute little Miguel :)

 Cheyene's Baptism

How Great the Wisdom and the Love

Hello everyone! 

Goodness, I can't believe it's pday already! I don't have much time to write this week, but here's a recap of some of our tender mercies this week!:

Monday we had an AWESOME family home evening at the Wenceslao family (Elsie, Cheyene, Miguel, and Daniel). A ton of ward members came, and they are so awesome at fellowshipping. As a result, the father, Daniel, has become a lot more open and has joined us in every lesson since then. He committed to be baptized on August 31st and is trying to figure out a way to get Sundays off work so he can come to church. Wahoo! This family is golden. :)

Tuesday we had an interesting "cool" type of tender mercy. It was one of those days where it was raining super hard. Every lesson we went into, the rain would just pour and pour, but by the time we'd go out, the rain would stop. Then just continue pouring so hard once we stepped foot into our next appointment. haha I know that's a random tender mercy, but I thought it was neat! Even in the little things like keeping us dry, Heavenly Father's looking out for us. :) 

Wednesday we had a neat tender mercy where one of our part member families gave us this hard bread type of pastry that they eat as a snack here. We decided to give it to our investigators, Ria, Cristy, and Crystal (her nickname is Bo-ding). :) Bo-ding is about 2 years old and is SO cute when we pray. She closes her eyes super tight and folds her arms, and then occasionally peaks out of her tight squinted eyes. Her mom, Ria, says that when she prays she asks for "bread and a peso." When we arrived, they were just starting to eat their meager dinner of rice and a tiny piece of fried chicken. We told them to close their eyes, and then we displayed the bread for them! Prayer answered for sweet little Bo-ding. :)

Thursday I was on exchanges with Sister Ve'ehala. Sister Arcinas was with Sister Lara. Every once in a while, if there's four sisters in the ward we can do exchanges. Sister Ve'ehala is the newest sister here. She's from Tonga and so excited about missionary work! We had a great day working with each other, and even though she can't speak Ilonggo yet very well, her testimony is so strong! She uses a lot of pictures to express her teaching which I loved. :) We had a pretty powerful lesson with Reneliza. We read Mosiah 2:41 about how keeping the commandments would bless her temporally and spiritually. She's been having a rough time with her dialysis, so as we testified of how the Atonement could help her, she got pretty emotional. She realizes that her sickness can't be taken away, but that through the Atonement, she can be strengthened in her trial. 

Friday Cheyene told us about a dream she had where she saw the Book of Mormon and a lot of light. We were excited because she's been waiting a long time for an answer to know if it's true, and this was it! It's always amazing to me how many answers come in the form of a dream for the Filipinos. Their faith is so strong, that all they need is a dream to confirm it! So simple and strong. Elsie says she still hasn't received an answer, even though we're trying to help her see the evidence of all the blessings that have come to them, and how she can recognize the spirit, but she continues to pray and study the Book of Mormon every day, and so very willingly keeps all her commitments, even keeping the Sabbath day holy! (that's a bit of a rough one here) and she tells us different ways the Gospel is blessing her family all the time, so we know she's getting there. We're just praying that she'll recognize the answer to her prayers.  

Saturday we had a full day with a one day mission and Cristy's baptism. This girl is so awesome! She went up to bear her testimony after her baptism, but thought she was supposed to pray. Whoops! She gave a really great prayer though, and her testimony shown right through! She came extra early to church on Sunday because she was so excited to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Right now, she's the only one in her family we could baptize because her mom still needs to figure out some marriage things before she can be baptized, so we're hoping her mom will soon follow. Cristy's faith is so strong though, and she's the sweetest big sister to Bo-ding. I know her example will greatly bless her family. :)

Sunday we met with a man named Jeffrey who has come to church every week for a year but he's not a member yet (he's more active than half the ward!). I guess there were some issues with him and the sisters who taught before us, which was all misunderstanding, so he never got baptized. He still has a word of wisdom issue, but as we met with him, we could really feel his sincerity in wanting to change his life and follow the Savior. He was really sad and even got teary that all those mis-communications happened because all the sister missionaries were 'scared' to teach him. I just felt so bad for the guy! We felt like we should try teaching him, despite whatever's happened in the past, because everyone deserves to hear and accept the Gospel. I'm glad we gave him the chance because he's got a really good heart and truly has the desire to change his pretty crazy life for the better. 

All in all, it was an amazing week, full of tender mercies and miracles, just like always. :) I'm so grateful for the love I feel for these people. I was thinking this week about how we can do everything Heavenly Father wants us to do, in the way He wants us to, but if it's done with no feeling or love, it's as if there was no point to it. Charity and love is so critical for this work. Without it, there would be no change in the lives of those we teach, and in ourselves. "If ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth." I'm so grateful for our Savior, and His ultimate expression of Charity and love through His Atonement. Without His sacrifice through charity and love, there's no way we could improve and obtain the same attribute. I really do owe everything to my Savior. I'm grateful that I can show my gratitude in the smallest way by expressing charity and love to my brothers and sisters, His children, in the Philippines. It's something I have to pray for every day to improve, but luckily the Filipino people are so easy to love, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ just makes that love stronger. I truly do love this work. I love these people. I love this Gospel. I love my Savior. And I love all of you too!! I hope you have a great week and I'll talk to you next week. :) 

Love, 

Sister Dixon 

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY Grandpa Warburton! Sure love you!! And congrats to Wade and Laura and their new baby!! :)

Family sized corned beef. Jessica says she usually buys the small one!!

"An FHE game where if you get out, you get a mark of lipstick on your face!"

Home Sweet Home

                        "The kids are entertaining themselves on the bridge by flying a leaf thing. 
                                Such simple entertainment for such poor kids but they love it! "

Sister Dixon and Sister Ve'ehala

Sweet little Bo-Ding

"Cristy's baptism! She is a strong one"