Dressed in White Twice :)

Kamusta everyone!

What an awesome week this was!

Monday, after p-day, we attempted to have FHE with a family, but it fell through, as well as our backup. We decided to talk to the Rosales family to see if we could figure out where some unidentified living quarters of less actives lived. while we were there, a family came over and Sister McIver knew the husband! He went to BYU Hawaii with her and married an American. She was there as well. They have two cute little girls and need to live in the Philippines for two years so he can get his green card. They've only been here 3 months...I could sense it was hard for the wife. She was happy and upbeat, but I could tell she missed home. It would be hard to do that with a young family and not know any of the language. It kind of put things into perspective for me, so that was good.

Tuesday we had district meeting and then visited Mary Jane Limb. She is a less active member and likes to talk a lot. :) We taught her how the gospel blesses families. We also taught Sister Musni about the Atonement. She's a less active as well, so hopefully she'll come to church. She has the cutest daughter and I want so much for them to go to the temple! Later we taught Marjolet and Doug in preparation for their wedding on Saturday and her baptism. she was so happy and we were beyond excited. We asked her how we could help her prepare and get ready, and she said she didn't know how to do makeup. I told her I'd be happy to help her out. Service as a missionary comes in many different ways, but I never thought helping someone prepare for a wedding would be one of them! I was so excited!

Wednesday was kind of rough. We got punted most of the day, but were able to get a few lessons in with Sister Ortiz, the Neri family, and Narcisso family. Sister Ortiz is less active and doesn't really have a testimony--she's been offended in the past. We left her with the introduction to the Book of Mormon. hopefully we can help her out. When we went to the Neri family, their daughter, Charity, came home from school crying because someone had stolen her new pair of shoes. My heart just ached for her! They already have practically nothing and I just wanted to give her a big hug and give her all my shoes. In the Narcisso family, they are all active except for the dad--he isn't baptized. We started lesson one with him and will continue to teach him. :)

Thursday we taught a woman named Lucia (less active) about prayer. Her son was so cute. He came in and was like, "Spiderman ako!! (I am Spiderman!) He started climbing all over the chair and then onto the wall. haha He was cute. But it was awesome because Lucia came to church on Sunday!

Friday we taught in an area where it's gated. We love the guy in charge of opening the gate, Almar, because he always has a new friend with him each day to introduce to us. :) Almar's not a member, but he's always like, "these are my friends Dixon and McIver." haha it's awesome because we've been able to get a few new investigators through him! One in particular is Ronald. He read the entire lesson one pamphlet we gave him (we were shocked--it's not often they do what they say they'll do) and wants us to teach him more! We also taught a girl named Jessica. Her daughter is sponsored to go to school by the baptist church, so they won't let her go to the LDS church, even though she's been baptized. It's tough for them, because school is expensive, and they don't have much money, so it's a tough situation. We talked with her and told her to pray for strength to know what to do, and that Heavenly Father will bless her as she endures. Her sister-in-law, Lyn was over as well and had a 2 month old baby. Oh my goodness, she was adorable!! I think the hardest rule for me in the missionary handbook is not to hold babies. I wanted to just snuggle with her--she was so cute. :) That night we had dinner with the Ledesma family (they feed us every Friday--they are so nice). They could be considered millionaires in the Philippines, but they are so very generous. They have helped Marjolet prepare a lot of her wedding by helping her find a dress and other little things. they are truly a Christ-like family and help our ward out a lot. 

Saturday: Wedding and baptism day for Marjolet!! It was such a wonderful day. We started out with helping the YW with their one day mission, and had a few other appointments. But then we got to help Marjolet get ready for her wedding! There were so many tender mercies along the way. She didn't have any makeup, but luckily I had some eye shadow and some waterproof mascara so it wouldn't smear after she entered the water. She decided she wanted her hair up but she didn't have any hair elastics or bobby pins. Luckily I put two hair bands in my hair for the day (normally it's just one). I used the extra one plus a bobby pin I had in my hair and two that sister mcIver had to do a twisted updo. It was simple, but we made do with what we had and she looked gorgeous! We also made a bouquet for her with flowers from the church (i don't actually know if we were allowed to do that. haha) and wrapped it in a ribbon we found on the floor in the chapel while we were cleaning beforehand. It was perfect! We found a pin to made it all stay in place and gave it to her when we went over to help. There were just so many things that just fell into place. :) She looked absolutely gorgeous and she was so happy! We went to the chapel together and as they were sitting, waiting, I just pictured them a year from now in the temple, and how much greater their joy and happiness would be. The wedding was wonderful and I got to sit with Kirk (their almost 4 year old son) to keep him occupied. I also got to play the piano for the wedding and the baptism, which was neat. After the wedding, Marjolet Concejeros (and now Chua!) was baptized. :) She was all smiles and afterward gave a very sweet testimony. I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear the entire time. I'm just beginning to understand the statement in D&C 18 about how great shall be your joy if you bring souls unto Christ. It is literally the greatest feeling ever. Marjolet had such a happy spirit, and her light was just glowing. I'm so happy for her and I can't for her and Doug, with their kids Lars and Kirk to be sealed in the temple someday. To be dressed in white twice. :)

Sunday Marjolet was confirmed and when we asked her how she felt she said that she felt like Christ had actually been the one to bless her and she felt so happy. :) Ah! I love it. I really can't describe the happiness I felt for her. :)

In all honesty, this week had it's ups and downs, but the ups outweigh the downs and I've learned a lot from the downs. The joy of someone coming unto Christ can't be described and I feel so blessed to be able to do this for a year and a half--to help others come unto Christ and experience the peace and guidance and happiness this Gospel brings. I love it. I know it's true.

Have a great week everyone! Thanks again, as always, for the prayers and support. I love you all!!

Love, 

Sister Dixon

PS The cure for not wanting to feel sweaty, or somewhat preventing an oily face is baby powder. :)

Everyone here thinks I wear contacts--as in my eyes are fake. They don't believe my eyes are this blue and I tell them I love brown eyes, so I'll switch with them any day. :) 

Mango floats are the best:

mix crushed graham crackers and mango tang for the base

put chopped mangoes next

top with a can of sweetened condensed milk with cream of the same amount and freeze overnight. so delicious!!

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A HUGE spider that was in Sister McIver's bathroom that traveled to the room next door. I know it doesn't look big, but it was the biggest spider I've ever seen and the biggest one sister McIver has seen in a house. Ick! It was so creepy, especially when it would move it's fast legs. 

 

Sister McIver was the brave one and shot it down with Permetherin. :)

Huge pig in someone's yard

The picture of the fruit: Left-Durinan (and far right on the plate), on top-mango, red thing-Rambutan (eat around the seed), below: lanzones. You peel it like an orange. They are all so sweet and delicious! 

Durian! King of the Fruits. I really have never tasted anything like it...it was custardy and tasted bitter yet sweet....don't know how I feel about it. ;)

Wedding preparations

Sister Dixon using her make-up artist skills:)!!

Beautifully Simple and Simply Beautiful!!

Families are Forever... one step closer!!

"How great shall be your joy..."

Kamusta!!

Hello everyone! I hope all is well with everyone. This week was good, but I'm starting to see the hardships of missionary work. The people here commit to do everything...pray, read, go to church...but don't do it! It's so frustrating! We only had one investigator come to church, and we taught 35 lessons this week. It's okay though..the Lord works with His own timing. The investigator that did come is getting baptized this Saturday after she gets married. I'm so excited for her! She is so sweet and has two cute little kids named Kirk and Lars. :) The language is coming along...I can understand a LOT better than I can speak, but it's amazing how much I can comprehend day by day. It's tough not being able to speak back in Ilonggo.  I'm speaking more and more in lessons though, so I know it will come!

We had a Zone Leader's Training this week that was really good--we talked about working with the members more, and I got to see the Adams! On the 4th, Sister McIver and I had a lot of fun. For breakfast, she made french toast, eggs, and oatmeal, and made this cute 4th of July sign. During lunch we roasted marshmallows over our stove and made s'mores. We also plugged in these lights that look like grapes that flash. I clapped my hands and we had, "fireworks." haha she's such a good sport celebrating an American holiday when she's from New Zealand. It was great!

We had some pretty neat lessons this week--We taught a family who is less active but has gone to the temple--the Padios family. We've been working with them for a while to come back to church. In one of our lessons, we decided to talk about tithing and how they've seen it bless their lives. Brother Padios told about a time when they only had 300 pesos that was supposed to go to tithing. They decided to pay it, even though they wouldn't have enough for food. It was around Christmas/New Years and because of all the food around celebration time, someone brought by food every single day that week. Ah! Isn't that amazing! I could see in his eyes that he was remembering how blessed they were. They also pulled out some pictures of when they went to the temple. They were just glowing! I prayed so hard for them to come to church on Sunday, and what do you know...they came to church!! Yay!! I was so happy! They have so much potential and I hope they continue to endure. :)

We also taught the Deloeste family this week. They are less actives as well. As Sister Deloeste was talking, I couldn't really understand what she was saying. She finished this long explanation and then Sister McIver just didn't say anything--she was waiting for me to respond. I just prayed in my heart that Heavenly Father would put the words she needed in my mouth. I opened my mouth and let the words flow through. I honestly can't really remember everything I said, but after the lessons Sister McIver said it was perfect for what she had just explained. I know that it was ALL Heavenly Father. He guided me to say the words she needed to hear at that time. It was amazing to feel His power work through me.

We teach this sweet 14 year old girl named James Fernandez. She helps out in President Plaza's house (our stake president), and we visit her every Thursday. She is so ready to be baptized but her dad won't let her. We taught her about fasting and the blessings that come from it, and committed her to fast this last Sunday for her dad's heart to be softened. She said she would. She is so sweet and so ready to be baptized...I hope her dad's heart will be softened soon.

Things are getting better day by day. I couldn't have asked for a better trainer. Sister McIver is so patient with my language and in learning everything. She is so kind and tells me that I will be very gifted with the language--she can just tell. I sure hope so because it's pretty frustrating right now. But she is very encouraging and helps me a lot. She's had some pretty rough times in her life and I've learned a lot from her example as she's told me some of her experiences. She tells me all the time that she was exactly where I was at the beginning of her mission. I see her now and how amazing she is, and know there's hope for me. haha She is amazing! 

Here are some random things for today: my umbrella is much bigger than I thought and everyone always says, your umbrella is dako!!! (aka huge!). haha. Every time we pray in our house, we kneel on our flip flops because the ground is so hard. If we don't, we get bruises on our knees. It's a perfect solution! There are ice cream tricycles here, and even they play music. When Sister McIver hiccups, it sounds like water droplets hitting a pond.

Anyway, there is so much that goes on in our week, I wish I could tell you everything! What I can say is that I know this Gospel is true. Study time in the morning is so sacred to me because I learn so much and my testimony really grows. I love it! I feel so blessed to be here in the Philippines right now sharing this wonderful gospel to our Heavenly Father's children. They are such sweet people, and I want so much for them to feel our Heavenly Father's love!

I hope everyone has a fabulous week! Happy birthday to Kari! I love you all so much. Thank you for you constant prayers...they really do help! I can feel them! :)

Love, 

Sister Dixon  

Eating at Mang Inasal in Guysano last P-day...the dessert is called Halo halo and the meal is mang inasal---bbq chicken and rice with soy sauce and some kind of oil...we eat it all with our hands. :)

                                                             Outside the front of the church.

                   View of the street in front of the church...if you continue left, our apartment is just down the street.

View from a tricycle ride...notice the one with everyone piled on the jeepney. haha they can fit a LOT of people on those things...and the tricycles. 

Inside the tricycle

 Rain. it always rains. :)

               This is what Sister Dixon and Sister McIver used to make s'mores. 

So glad they didn't burn down their apartment!!

SUCCESS!!

 These kids are so cute. The one making a silly face and with her hands is Adrian Borda. 

She's a recent convert. :)

Lovely little lizard friend in my bathroom---ah!! they move so creepily. This one is called a Tiki lizard because they make that sound when they croak? I don't know, whatever it is they do. haha 

Happy 4th of July!!

Hello everyone!! I can't believe it's already July!! I hope you have a wonderful 4th! I'll probably clap my hands to make firework sounds and sing My Country Tis of Thee to celebrate. :)

This week was a LOT better than last week. I feel like I'm adjusting more to the sights, smells, humidity, heat, food, people..just everything!

Last Monday was awesome! We went to Guysano...a mall to do our shopping, and all the missionaries were there! It was SO good to see people from my district in the MTC, and even missionaries i've never met--there's just something about seeing people that have the same purpose as you, you know? And that fact that i went from being surrounded by hundreds of missionaries 24/7 at the MTC to just my companion. don't get me wrong, i love my companion, but it was nice to see people like Sister Smoot and Sister Van Slooten. :) We ate together at Pizza Hut (yay for American food!) and then went shopping at the grocery store. I was amazed at how many things they have that we have in America so that made me feel better! :) Afterward we went home and washed our clothes---it's gonna take me a while to get used to doing all this by hand. haha After our p-day ended, we taught Sister Marjolette Consejeros. She's living with Doug Chua and they have two kids. They are getting married July 13th and she's getting baptized the same day!! I'm so excited for her! She is so incredibly sweet and I hope so badly that they can save enough to go to the temple next year. :)

Tuesday we had exchanges. It was my first one and I was scared beyond belief. I hadn't even been here a week and I was supposed to show Sister Portugal where to go and what to do in our area. Yikes! It was a tough day...I had never been to the area we taught in, but luckily Sister Marilou, a member missionary, came with us to show us where everyone lived. Sister Portugal is Filipino, so I couldn't understand her English very well, and I couldn't understand anyone we taught. I felt like a failure at the end of the day, but sister portugal told me my nanay (mom, or trainer--sister mciver) would be proud. On Wednesday, we were still having exchanges and during companion study, SIster Portugal actually helped me a lot. I guess after the trial come the tender mercies, right? She gave me a lot of encouragement and even wrote me a cute little song. She told me just to forget myself and work work work. President Lopez told us that the cure for everything is work, and in PMG it says work will prevent homesickness, and it's so true! As I've focused more on the work, it's been easier to adjust and not feel so homesick. :) Sister Portugal also taught me how to cook a filipino meal and eat it filipino style (with my hands). It was fun! Even if i was scared to do exchanges so early in my mission at first, it turned out to be a HUGE blessing. Sister Portugal helped me out a lot. She's an amazing missionary and I hope to be like her someday.

Thursday we taught a few less active members and a new investigator! Her name is Sarah Mae and we taught her about God's love and how the Gospel blesses families. Hopefully we can teach her again next week! That night we stayed with the sisters in Alihis--Sister Bushman and SIster Ulusasa, because the next day was Zone conference and we wanted to be closer to the chapel so we didnt' have to travel as far. Sister Bushman is from utah and went to USU and sister Ulusasa is from Samoa--they are great!

Friday, the Rasmussen's, a senior couple in our mission, were so kind and drove us to zone conference! Oh my goodness, zone conference was amazing! It was just the boost I needed to get motivated to WORK! We watched the worldwide leadership broadcast and and president lopez taught us a lot of inspired things to help our mission grow. He told my zone (the Bacolod South Zone), that our zone is the model stake/zone of our entire mission. Crazy! I feel like that puts a lot of responsibility on me..to learn fast enough in order to keep our zone progressing and stay the model zone. SIter mcIver is awesome though and is helping me a lot. Presdient says he expects a lot from us in this zone. I feel humbled that he trusts me, so hoepfully I can live up to his expectations! It gave me that much more of a boost to be better and strive harder.

Saturday we had our weekly planning and Sunday was wonderful! We didn't have a brown out (where the power goes out) this week, so that was good, and the AC worked in the chapel--a nice plus. ;) Sacrament meeting is always so wonderful for me, to just ponder and remember the covenants I've made. We had an RM speak, so that was neat! I thought about myself being in that position someday, and I actually got a little sad--i really will miss this place! the people are so easy to love! After church we met with the Bishop and Brother Ryan(ward mission leader) to disucss goals for our ward. I love our bishop---he is so willing and ready to help us work. I think it will help us a lot to succeed!! He is awesome. and so is brother ryan. That night the bishop fed us. I cannot believe how much we are fed here. I thought i'd go hungry, but we definitely don't! the members are so kind to us. try this for a dessert sometime---corn, shaved ice, sweetened consensed milk, brown sugar, corn flakes, and cocnout jell cubes. mix it all together and you have a filipino dessert! it's actually pretty good!

Well, I've gotta go, but thank you SO much for all your prayers this week! They truly have helped me get through the tough times and I'm so grateful for the love and support I have back home! I love you all so much! And Rebecca...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I love you so much! I hope you have a fabulous birthday week. :)


Love,
Sister Dixon
PS...just random:
EVERYONE calls us, "Sis."
Filipinos in this area LOVE karaoke.
Tiangee's are awesome and Piaya is the best dessert I've tried here (a pastry with brown sugar in the middle).
I saw a cat the other day jump like 10 feet and grab a lizzard off the wall of someone's house. Welcome to the Philippines! :)

"Pizza hut! It's in Guysano--the mall we go to to get groceries and eat lunch on p-day. It was so nice to finally have AMERICAN food!!! And to see so many missionaries and sister van slooten! It made my sore heart happy. :)"

"Eating dinner at the Ledesma family's house."

"the big grey building is where they have the 'derby' or cock fighting. it's HUGE here, so the arena is very large. don't tell rissy about the cock fighting though. it's sad. :("

Jessica's first cooked Filipino meal. She even ate it in Filipino style--with her hands!

Doing exchanges with Sister Portugal

"one of the houses along our way to someone we visit"

"blurry pictures of the streets we travel. it was at night and we were in a senior couple's car coming home from zone conference, so i felt safe taking out my camera, even if it's blurry. :)"

Beautiful

A coconut tree

"colored chicks. yes, they actually dye the chicks. Pink and purple!! crazy!! i think they inject the coloring in the egg before they're born or something. i don't actually know but it was crazy!!"

She also said that the kids are kind of scared of her beautiful blue eyes because they have never seen blue eyes before!

"grove of trees we walked through that sister mciver calls, 'the sacred grove.' :)"

"a gross snail as big as my hand. yuck!!"

I'm in the Philippines!!

Family!!!!

Oh my goodness, I feel like I've waited 10 years to email you!! This week has gone by so slow it feels like. There is just so much to take in here! As you know, we flew to Portland, then Tokyo, then Manila. My luggage made it everywhere okay, which I was very happy about. That night we stayed in a hotel. Manila was crazy. The buildings are tall and it seemed like a Filipino Las Vegas. The driving here is CRAZY! But they are safe and get where they need to go!

The next morning we woke up to a phone call saying our bus was here to take us to the airport. We frantically got ready and loaded the bus, later to find out they got mixed up with which missionaries were leaving when, so we ended up at the airport 2 hours earlier than we needed. That's okay though...better early than late, right? :) We took a plane to Bacolod where we met President Lopez, his wife, and senior missionary couples outside the airport. I was so excited to see Sister Adams and her husband! We drove to the mission home and I just felt like I was in a dream. Green everywhere, the old houses, people riding carabou on the side of the road, dogs everywhere, tricycads galore, jeepneys...the whole deal! I can't believe I'm actually in the Philippines! We arrived at the mission home and had a interviews, an orientation, and then stayed the night in a hotel. I stayed in a room with 3 of the Filipinos sisters we met up with in Manila. They were so sweet. :) President said this was the only night when we'd get good rest for the next 18 months- 2 years and to take advantage of it, so I sure did! I went to bed at 8am and slept the whole night through.

The next morning we met at the Galo chapel where we studied for a little bit before meeting our trainer! My trainer is Sister Alesha McIver. She is 23 and from New Zealand, but she is Samoan. Her one year mark is actually tomorrow! Crazy! She said it flies by SO fast! Right now I honestly feel like that day will never come, but it's okay! I know it will. She is so very sweet and is trying so hard to remember her first weeks here so she can feel for me. She calls me her daughter and says that in the future, for her kids, she'll do anything for them. And right now, she'll do anything for me because I'm her 'daughter.' She really is so great! I love her already. We took a taxi to Mansilingan, my first area. We went to the market for the first time to get some food. They mainly eat rice with meat, so I'm still adjusting. I jut got some bread, peanut butter, and oatmeal for now. The members are very kind and feed us dinner most nights. It's usually rice and some kind of chicken or fish. It tastes pretty good but I'm still adjusting. I also tried mangos! Oh my...they really are as good as everyone says they are!! :) After the market we traveled to 3 or 5 different mini towns in our area to teach. We took my first tricycad ride and jeepney ride. So fun! The first family I met was the Borda family. Sister Adrian just got bapized so we are following up.  We work with those less active.  Some get baptizeed, but it'\s hard fro them to come to churvch someitmes. In fact, the majority of those we teach are less actives or recent converts. we really only have 2 or 3 actual investigators. That night we ate with teh stake president. I was beat by the end of the night, but i survived!
Friday we had weekly planning, which takes up a lot of the day, and then taught. WE did the same saturday. the people here are so poor---they live in little bamboo houses and they just live at such a poverty level. It just makes my heart cry! One house we went to we taught our lesson in the candlelight.

Sunday was my first time at church! It's just in a normal church building. They asked me to bear my testimony. eek! I did my best to do it in Hiligaynon. Oh, and It was ward conference so all the stake leaders were there---kind of scary but i did it! we sand in the choir as well and had a funeral afterwards. Sunday was a wonderful day but tough. Wonderful because everything was familiar--the hymns, sacrament, feeling of being at church, but at the same time it made it tough because i got homesick.

random things:
there are dogs EVERYWHERE!!
I've already seen huge spiders, cockroaches in my house, caribou.
the kids here are ADORABLE!! Especially when they speak the langauge. AH! so cute.
fans are the biggest blessing EVER!! I've never felt so sticky in all my life. I feel like i'm camping 24/7, but hey, i'll get used to it eventually right?
everywhere i go people say, "guapa!" which means beatiful. white is pretty here, so that's why. haha

Well, I hope everyone has a good week! Pray that I can adjust to the culture, climate, food, and schedule of missionary life. It's definitely the hardest thing i've ever done, but I know the Lord with help me. Thank you for all your prayers and love. I love you all so very much!!

Love,
Sister Dixon

"Look, this is really a caribou that is 2 feet from me!"

Jessica's companion, Sister McIver, from New Zealand

A sweet sister who will soon be serving a mission, Sister McIver and Sister Dixon

Walking to a town to teach and testify

Beautiful

Jessica's study area

Home Sweet Home

Not sure how all this works, but it looks like she does have running water---somewhat!

Standing outside her apartment door

With President and Sister Lopez at the mission home--first day there.

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. :)

Travel Plans!

Kamusta everyone!

Can you believe that tomorrow I get my travel plans?! Say what? I can't believe we're so close to leaving! It seriously feels like I just got here. I'll let you know next Thursday what the travel plans are and when/if I'll get to call you at the airport! :D But yikes..one p-day left until we leave? Nuts.

This week was awesome! Last Thursday we got to teach Sister Konishi again (the native Filipino who is so adorable and so very sweet). After teaching her, we asked her what we could do to help her and she told us 4 things--- 1. Love the people there. 2. Reactive, not just search out those who aren't members (it's crazy how many are inactive--out of 650,000 members, only 115,000 are active, as of Fall 2011. that's what bro. oldroyd told us. lots of work to do!) 3. Love my mission president (she knows his family personally and when we saw Jericho, president lopez's son, at TRC, she was SO excited to see him :) ), 4. Have the Spirit with me, always. But that'll come day by day throughout my mission.
She was just the sweetest! She didn't even mention one thing we could do specifically for her, just what we could do for her people. :)
We also taught a girl named Sarah Decker, who served her mission in the Philippines. I went to say, "Can we pray?" But instead said, "Can we love you?" (They both start with the letter P and nerves just got me confused. haha). she just looked at me funny with a look of, "uh....sure?" and then one of my companions said, "you mean pangamuyo?" (which is prayer). Oh my gosh, I was dying! So embarrasing, but so funny!

On Sunday we had a different devotional than usual. Brother Ted Gibbons acted out the testimony of Willard Richards, one of the men in Carthage with Joseph Smith when he died. It was so interesting getting that perspective of everything. This was the devotional I prayed at, which went well. Kind of nerve wracking praying in front of about 3,500 people, but thanks SO much for your prayers! They definitely helped me stay calm and say what I needed to say. :)

So Brother Hong told us one day that we speak fluent....um, what? We were all like, "psh, yeah right," and we all thought he was totally joking, but he said, "no really! If you can carry a conversation, i consider that fluent, and all of you can carry on a conversation." Isn't that crazy! Four weeks and he's considering our speaking fluent. The gift of tongues is real! I know I'm far from really being fluent, but it was a huge confidence booster to keep us going, knowing we can do this and that we'll be able to speak, at least in the beginning, in a basic conversation with the Filipino people. Good thing the Lord is on our side! I know he wants us to succeed to help save His children, and that's the only way we've been able to learn as much as we have. It really is pretty amazing how much we've learned. We had a demonstrate teaching with Brother Oldroyd on Tuesday and elder winward played the investigator. it was all in hiligaynon and i could understand almost the entire lesson that lasted for about 45 minutes. It was incredible! I can understand what's being said a lot easier than speaking it, but that's a good start! Let's just hope the filipinos speak really slow so i can actually hear the words they're using. ;) haha not likely to happen, but i know i'll get it eventually! Aside from the language, the demonstrate teaching they did was incredible. the spirit was so strong--probably one of the strongest times i've felt it here in the MTC. We were just in our little classroom, but the lesson was so powerful. Brother Oldroyd gave "Robert" (elder winward) a blessing (like a real blessing) and when he did that the spirit was just so strong. We were to envision ourselves as the investigator as well throughout the whole thing so we'd know what it felt like to be them, and what they were feeling. In the position of an investigator, I felt the spirit so strongly during that blessing, and knew that God loved me. And it's true! He loves all His children. I love that we do these teaching experiences to learn how the investigator feels and what it is they need to feel and know and do in order to truly experience conversion and God's love. I know it'll help me a ton as a missionary to know what to do and how to follow the Spirit in order to help them. :)

On Tuesday Sister Van Slooten and I did a split together to go to Choir. It was so wonderful! The choir director (i can't remember his name!) reminded me a lot of mr. smith and dr./bro. huff. I think it's a requirement for choir teachers to have a certain personality. haha We sand, "I Feel My Savior's Love." I loved when he told us, "Does He know? Do you know?" He was referring to the line, "He knows I will follow Him, give all my life to Him." It really got me thinking. I want to do all I can to make sure He knows, and that I know, that I WILL follow Him, and give ALL my life to Him, especially now. It was pretty powerful. That night we had Elder Tad R. Callister, from the Presidency of the Seventy speak to us. He talked about the New Testament being a blueprint of the only true Gospel. It was pretty deep in doctrine, but so cool! Afterward, sister Van slooten wanted to say hi because her family knows him (not a surpirse--she knows EVERYONE here! ;) haha) and so I got to shake his hand! President Nally (the MTC President) was down there too so I got to shake his hand as well and thank him for all he does for us. these men are so amazing. Their Spirit just radiates and you just know they're men of God.

Wednesday was nuts, but so fun!! We got to host the new missionaries!! At first i had mixed feelings because it brought back memories of my first day, but it turned out to be really awesome as I got to help these missionaries and let them know that they're in for the best experience of their lives! The first girl I had, sister Rosenberg, was from Australia (and knows Elder Morgan!). She's serving in the Philippines, too! So that was neat. She's been a member for 20 months after giving the missionaries a hard time and being stubborn for 9 months before joining the church. She told me she was so grateful they stuck with it otherwise she wouldn't be here in the mtc today. She's the only member in her family, but she said serving an 18 month mission was the very least she could do in order to show her gratitude to God, and to help others feel the happiness she's felt. She has such great faith and strength! She's an amazing example to me. She'll be so amazing since she knows what it feels like to be the investigator. I'm so excited for her! I got to help three other sisters who are going to washington, new jersey, and new hampshire. I can't believe it was four weeks ago that i was in their spot. It feels just like yesterday! Yet at the same time I feel like i've grown so much, yet have lots more growing to do! I'm excited! I saw Ali Lloyd while hosting, so i made sure to give her a big hug. :)

That night we had our new zone come in--57 missionaries! We had to split up as companionships to do tours and explain things since there's no way we could do all 57 at once. my companionship was in charge of one of the hong kong districts, and Camrie Smith was there! (we both went to BHS) I made sure to give her a big hug, too. All of them were so excited and ready to learn!But  I'm sure they all felt the same way I did the first day here--completely overwhelmed. Hopefully we can help them feel comfortable and happy like our zone did for us when we got here. :)

We had an amazing lesson with Juralyn on Wednesday--the best yet! Beforehand, during personal study, I felt like I should study about Baptism and the Priesthood. When we met for companionship study, however, both Sister Smoot and Nielsen studied about the Restoration. i wondered how on earth we were going to make a lesson plan that would fit all of those together simply enough for her to understand and meet her needs at the same time. We made a very basic lesson plan and then just decided to let the Spirit lead the rest of the way. I went in with just a little sheet of vocab words I don't know yet. The lesson started and she had all these questions about baptism and the Sacrament. We were able to answer her questions and then she kept saying how all these churches claim to be "true," including ours. What makes our the "true" one? That's when the Spirit told me to start talking about the Priesthood. I explained what it was and how our that's what makes everything valid (like baptism), becuase it's done with the proper authority of God. Then i said how Jospeh Smith had the same question she did as far as which church was true, and that he restored the Gospel and the Priesthood to the earth. Then Sister Nielsen and Sister Smoot did an excellent job explaining who Jospeh Smith was and the account of the first vision. It was amazing! The Spirit was definitely leading us the entire time. The things we studied, combined with the Spirit guiding us, led us in teaching a lesson I never would have been able to plan on my own. I know that it's because we followed the Spirit, in personal study, companionship study, and in our teaching, that we were able to teach her what she needed. It was a huge testimony builder to me of the importance of following the Spirit and the power of revelation. We were also able to give our entire lesson without looking at notes. For the first time! i know that when we let the Spirit take over, He'll give us the words we need to say, even in a language we don't know. :)

As cheesy as this is, I ate a Dove chocolate the other day that said, "You are exactly where you are supposed to be." I know this is true! I love this work so very much and know I'm truly exactly where I need to be. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I feel them every day! Thanks to everyone for your letters and happy birthday to Ashlie and Tiffany this past week! I sure love you!

The Church is true! Have a wonderful week!

Palangga ko kamo! (I love you all)

Love,
Sister Dixon