Sister Dixon: I'm Trying to be like Jesus

Hello everyone!

This week was stuffed full of tender mercies...it was great! I'll just list one we had each day though for sake of time.

Monday we left our apartment exactly at 6 pm. Exact obedience sure brings miracles because we happened to take the nearest c-kad and the driver happened to be Alan Mana! One of the less actives Bishop asked us to visit, but we haven't been able to find his house. Miracle for sure! We talked to him as we rode and he was glad to see us and said he'd try to make it to church on Sunday. :)

Tuesday we met with Jeffery, our investigator who has gone to church for over a year every single week, but just has issues with the word of wisdom. (He's really working hard on it though and is scheduled for baptism on the 27th!). He told us that earlier that day he really needed money to buy rice for his family. He thought about doing something 'bad' to get the money, but then thought about how much more blessed he'd be if he kept the commandments. So instead he went and donated blood! He felt pretty weak after that for a while, but he said that he was able to get 2 kilos of rice, noodles, and a few extra things. He said that he really saw the blessings of the Lord in obtaining food, all because he kept the commandments. :)

Wednesday we felt prompted to go to PJ, one of our recent converts who's blind, even though we didn't plan to go to him that day. When we arrived, his parents were there, packing his things and preparing to move to the complete other side of Negros Occidental the next day. They wanted to let us know so we could move his records, but didn't know how they could find us. We shared the message of the Restoration with them since his parents aren't members and they were willing to continue listening to the missionaries down in Sipalay. PJ was really happy we came by and gave one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard and thanked Heavenly Father that we were able to come by and say goodbye before he left. I'm so grateful we followed that prompting to go visit him!

Thursday we had quite a few tender mercies in finding new investigators, one of which is Reneliza's niece, Loraine. She's so cute and got mad at Euliza for not calling her last time we came. haha We also met a woman named Fairy Rose who went to church a few times in Alijis and was taught by the missionaries before she recently moved here to Talisay. She was happy to let us teach her and come back to teach her husband too. :)

Friday was a pretty crazy day because we helped out with an immunization thing for polio and measles for all kids 5 and under that the city health was doing, but that the church actually funded. We went to the place they told us we needed to volunteer, but it turned out that it was the wrong location. They decided to do it somewhere else. It all worked out well though because we were actually able to contact a referral from Elsie in that area that we hadn't found yet, and the health care worker we were with, Claire, said she wanted to come to church on Sunday. She thought it was pretty neat what we were doing and wanted to find out more about our church. That was the biggest tender mercy since because we were working with government stuff, we weren't allowed to 'proselyte' or talk about the gospel...just let our light (and name tags with Mormon helping hands vest) so shine. It's amazing what good service can do!

Saturday Euliza Arevalo was baptized! Her service was wonderful. Her friend and one of our ward missionaries gave a great talk on baptism, and Euliza gave a nice testimony. :) Her mom, Reneliza, who was baptized a few weeks ago gave the closing prayer and it was all around a great service. We also had a pretty neat experience where Elder and Sister Mower, one of the senior couples, asked our district leader if there was a baptism in our district. He told them we had one so they decided to attend. Turns out Elder and Sister Mower sat by Reneliza (our RC and Euliza's mom) a while back when she was still an investigator and attended church in Bacolod 5 ward. Reneliza does dialysis every week and Sister Mower is the mission nurse, so she remembered Reneliza quite well because they had talked about it. Sister Mower couldn't stop saying how good Reneliza looked for being a dialysis patient, and Elder Mower pointed out it was because she has the gospel and the Gift of the Holy Ghost now. I totally agree. Reneliza just radiates now! And what a neat experience where the spirit guided them to come to the baptism of Reneliza's daughter. :) The Lord sure is in the details of our lives...even the littlest ones.

Sunday Euliza was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. :) Our tender mercy for this day was of course that one, but then later that day, I went to close my fast, and there was no power. Brownout. Which meant no water. We wouldn't be able to cook! While I was closing my fast, I sincerely prayed that we'd have electricity so the water would work. Low and behold, in the middle of my prayer, the power turned on. Miracle! The same thing happened last time we fasted too. Heavenly Father sure is looking out for us!

Aside from that, we've been busy, busy, busy and enjoying noticing all the tender mercies and miracles Heavenly Father showers on us each day--(which are quite literally showered because we've had the effects of a typhoon in Luzon this week...so much rain!). There was a sister missionary in Talisay who honorably came home this last week from the Cebu mission (and happens to know Chandler Welling)*****Mom's note: Chandler is the sister of one of Jessica's close friends who is serving in Ukraine on a mission. She and Jessica entered the MTC on the same day...the gospel sure makes the world small********. She gave her talk on Sunday and talked about learning, living, and becoming. It was amazing as I was able to relate to her testimony of the process of learning, living, and becoming. As a missionary, as a disciple of Christ, and as a daughter of God. Learning, living, and becoming more like Him. I know that is truly His work and His glory. That we may return to live in His presence with a fullness of joy because we have become like Him. I'm so grateful I have the opportunity to help others know this same purpose so they too can strive to become more like our Father in Heaven in this wonderful adventure called life. I know we'll never be perfect in this life, but as we strive to perfect ourselves each day through repentance, putting off the natural man, and becoming as a little child, we will be able to become more like our Father and Savior. I know They live and love us, and that They're there every step of the way to lead and guide us to become more like Them.

I hope everyone has a great week! Thank you for the support, prayers, and love. Palangga ko kamo!

Love,

Sister Dixon

PS They're starting to put up mini Christmas trees in their homes and play Christmas music! Bring on the Christmas spirit! :)