Sister Dixon: 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