We are Sowing

Hello everyone! 

Hmm...where to start? There's so much that happens in our week, and sometimes my memory of things that happen start to mesh together with other weeks, so we'll see how this email goes. Let the Holy Spirit guide, right? ;) 

Reslie, one of our ward missionaries, worked with us on Tuesday. For some reason, whenever she works with us we have a bunch of...not weird, but I can't think of what else it's called...experiences.. I told her it's probably to help prepare her for her mission (she's processing her papers). :) On this particular day we visited Henry, who was supposed to be baptized on Saturday. He was all happy, set, and ready to go. Even done with his interview. We felt we should teach the 10 commandments, focusing on his son, John, to help him understand the second commandment and in order for him not to wear his rosary. We thought it would be a rough lesson for John, but it actually turned out well and he really understood and hasn't worn his rosary since! The unexpected turn was that Henry kind of freaked out about the idols. We thought he understood the first time we taught 10 commandments, but apparently not. He basically said (and I'll say it the nice way), that he would not be baptized if he couldn't have his idols. We let the spirit really take it from there as we testified of Jesus Christ and His resurrection and the reason why we don't have idols. The lesson was pretty intense and we were bold, with hopefully just the right amount of love, but he just wouldn't accept it. We left with pretty heavy hearts and we've been praying ever since to know how to help Henry. We were just grateful for the tender mercy of John accepting the commandment. After the lesson, we came outside and he followed. When we got to the street he said, "Sisters, I've had a change of mind." We were prepared to hear the worst after the lesson we just had (yes, I know, we were lacking in hope), but then he said, "It makes sense! Jesus Christ lives!" Oh, what a tender mercy that was. :) 

I'm grateful for that experience because as a result, we were a lot more in tune with seeing the blessings Heavenly Father had for us the rest of the week. We discovered more fully that we experience the hard days so that the good days are more enjoyable and we recognize the tender mercies of Heavenly Father more consciously...which is exactly how Friday and Saturday were! We were blessed abundantly in finding new investigators, extending baptisms and people accepting, and having some of our shy investigators (Angie and Ellen Chin) open up to us as if they had never been shy before. And Angie even came to church! We had more members work with us, bearing powerful testimonies that really helped our investigators, had some wonderful 15 minute member visits, found some new less actives, and had a father (Brother Alcain) become more receptive to our message, resulting in almost his whole family now listening. :) We gained more patience in God's plan and timing for our investigators, learned the importance of diligence and working hard, even when tired, facing disappointment without getting discouraged, remembering that no effort is wasted and to keep planting seeds, and gaining a deeper love for everyone we met and seeing them as children of Heavenly Father with divine potential. 

I'm so grateful for the guidance of the Spirit this week in helping open our eyes more fully to the blessings and tender mercies we receive each day, despite the hardships. It reminds me of what President Uchtdorf said in April..."find gratitude IN our circumstances." I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us and He is fully aware of all the needs and concerns of His children. I'm so grateful that through the Spirit, He is able to guide Sister Tangonan and I to know how to help each of His children in their individual challenges. I'm grateful for the power of the message of the Restoration and eternal families. I'm grateful for inspired leaders, missionaries, ward members, and my companion. But most of all, I'm grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Without His constant support and strength, there's no way I would be able to do this work on my own. He truly is the master Performer, and I am just His instrument. I know that through the spirit and acting on it's promptings, we can become more 'in-tune' instruments to be more powerful and dedicated servants of the Lord. I love my Savior. I love this work. 

Love, 

Sister Dixon 

"A recent convert and her friends who swarm together to listen to us".

These children have such beautiful countenances and such tender faith.

"We did some service for a member by waxing her floor. We also gave a little message.

We call them 15 minute member visits here".

(Notice the Christmas tree!! Jessica says they start celebrating

 4 months in advance in the Philippines! )

Typhoons and Testimony

Hello friends and family!! 

We had a very wet but wonderful week! One of the strongest super typhoons of 2014 was passing the Philippines in the ocean, so although we didn't have the effects of a landfall typhoon (thank goodness), we still got a looooot of rain. But that just encouraged us to work harder and put even bigger smiles on our faces to bring light to the gloominess of the clouds and rain! All this rain also made me realize just how blessed I am to have grown up in the situations I have. I have never seen so many flooded streets, homes, yards, and just WET in my life. It was even more so than when Yolanda hit! These Filipino people are so strong and so positive with the environmental and physical trials they have to face and it's so humbling and faith promoting for me.

 One of our investigators, Marlyn, lives in an area where we have to cross a flowing river. Marlyn sent us a text, telling us not to come because the river might flow too high, but I remembered what Cheyene, our recent convert who worked with us the day before, told me. She said that when Sister Arcinas and I were teaching them, it was raining one night and Elsie said, "oh, it's raining. They probably won't come." But low and behold. We came. They said that's one thing they were able to determine our message is true. Because despite the rain, we were willing to face the wet and share the Gospel. We kept that in mind when Marlyn texted us, and we faced the river! And it didn't even turn out to be that bad. :) It was raining pretty hard though and we arrived soaked to Marlyn's house. Marlyn was SO excited to see us and we could tell it really meant a lot to her that we had decided to come, despite the long walk to her house, rain, flood, river, and endless mud. :) It really strengthened my testimony of the importance of forgoing something comfortable (like staying in the city to proselyte--much less wet and muddy), and turning outward to help the one. I love this dear sister so much. :) She's scheduled to be baptized in November. :) We had quite a few other experiences as we proselyted in the rain, but I'm running short on time so I'll have to tell them when I get home. :)

 One last thing though, for general conference, the entire stake including the missionaries, attends the stake center to watch. I saw Sister Legaspi, who is currently assigned in my area of Silay where I was assigned 1 year ago, and she told me that Ann Marie, one of mine and Sister Solomone's investigators, is getting baptized on November 1st! And then she went and found her and brought her to me!! I was so excited! I really felt in that moment the importance of planting seeds no matter where and when because the harvest will come eventually! Even if it's almost exactly a year later. :)

 I know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and loves each and every one of us. I sure felt that love a lot this week as prayers and questions were answered in General Conference and as we visited the sweet Filipino members and investigators this week. Despite their challenges that come in innumerable ways, they sure know with all their hearts that Jesus Christ loves them and cares for them. I sure do love and care for them as well. They have truly come to be my family here and I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else than in their homes and with their families, sharing the message that can bring light and hope and love and comfort to their lives.  

I hope everyone has a great week! HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY GRANDMA WARBURTON!!! Sure love you and hope you have a great day! And happy anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa Dixon this week! How did I get blessed with such wonderful mga lolo kag lola! ;) 

Love you all and I'll talk to you next week! Palangga ko kamo! 

Love, 

Sister Dixon 

Forging the rivers in the Philippines...with that beautiful smile!

It's a good thing she is a good swimmer! :)

"Perform Miracles and Where you are Planted, Bloom!"

Hello everyone! 

Wow, what a week! Not gonna lie, the best part of it was going to the Manila Temple!! After almost 18 months of not entering the temple, you sure gain an appreciation for the house of the Lord more than any other way. How very blessed we are to have such a place where we can go for revelation and to get away from the noises and distractions of the world. The reason we went to Manila was to get fingerprinting for our visas, and afterwards had the chance to go to the temple, all before heading home the very same day. It was a pretty exhausting day, but we had so many awesome experiences as well. We got to see Sister Winward, our batch mate from the MTC who went to Iloilo! It was a very happy reunion and she is doing amazing. :) We also met a sister named Rich Rifereal who works at the airport who's the only member of the church. She told us several experiences she's had in sharing her testimony and example with her boss and co-workers...she's amazing and we were all very inspired by her. She served in Bicol mission and her very last convert was her grandpa! How neat is that? She ate dinner with us at the airport, and as we were leaving she said, "Perform miracles and where you're planted, bloom!" Even though we were only with her for maybe an hour, I could definitely feel and see that she has followed her very own advice in her life and work field. She's amazing! 

On the plane and in the airport we had quite a few awesome finding experiences as well. Several of the missionaries ended up sitting by someone on the flight or talking to someone in the bathroom who lives in. their. area. One of those cases was with Sister Van Slooten. The ride to Bacolod is about an hour, so she was able to teach the entire restoration lesson to the man sitting next to her (who lives in her area!) and he fully committed to come to church on Sunday. How awesome is that? The man sitting next to me actually slept most of the trip, but when he was awake, I was able to talk to him for a little bit and give him a Restoration pamphlet. He was a very nice man and said he wouldn't mind having the missionaries visit him when he's not busy with work (he's the President of a company in Iloilo). We had several other amazing things happen on our trip, and it was just awesome to be with so many other missionaries. The elders and sisters in my batch are such powerful, dedicated servants of the Lord, and I could feel such a force of goodness coming from each of them and their examples. How did I get so lucky to be sent to this mission with such incredible missionaries! I truly believe the Philippines Bacolod mission is the best mission in the world. :)

 

Our trip to Manila left us out of our area for a few days, which was kind of a bummer for our area, but we had several blessings in being able to do member exchanges more than once in order to visit all our investigators and still have some awesome experiences with our lessons and investigators. And on Saturday, Rosene Tacuyan was baptized and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. :) She's such a sweetheart and such a strong part of her family. Her brother and dad will be following soon with their own baptisms, so we're pretty excited about that. :) 

I'm so grateful for my mission. I don't think I'll ever be able to fully express just how grateful I am that Heavenly Father guided me here, and how much love I feel for the Filipinos, my call as a full-time disciple of Jesus Christ, the Gospel, and of course for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know He lives and that He is the head of this Church. 

I hope everyone has a fabulous week! I heard conference was great, and we're looking forward to seeing it this weekend. :) Love you all so very much! Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers!

 Palangga ko kamo. :) 

Love, 

Sister Dixon 

Manila Temple

Sister Canimo was one of Jessica's trainers.

 She is home now from her mission and working across from the temple in Manila.

The baptism of Rosene Tacuyan

Oh What Songs of the Heart

Hello everyone! 

Here we are to the end of September. Where does time go? This week was great because Monday we had a super awesome family home evening at the Wenceslao's. We had a pretty powerful lesson on the Atonement and we had lots of people show up, which was great to help fellowship these new members. :) They are all officially members of the Church except for their son, Darwin. I met him for the second time this week. He only has one day off a week from work, so on Thursday, Sister Tangonan and I made sure we got the chance to meet him. He was hiding upstairs in his bedroom, but after talking to him for a bit about work, he seemed to warm up a bit more. He's still pretty shy and when we asked him if he wanted to join, just to listen, he said next time. Amat amat. We're working on it, so that one day this sweet family can be eternal. :) 

Tuesday Sister Ve'ehala was with us since her companion went home and transfers were on Wednesday. We had some pretty great experiences serving cute little old ladies carry water to their homes and then sharing a message. One of them, Ramona (86), told us she often times goes to her 92 year old friend's house to chat about about life, Christ, and wonder where they go after this life. Perfect intro into Plan of Salvation! Only thing is that she loves to talk and we can't even get a sentence in without her interrupting with another story. haha she's such a sweet lady who lives all by herself, so I'm sure she just loved having someone to talk to, so we'll see how it goes next time we visit. :) 

Wednesday we took Sister Ve'ehala to Galo to get her new companion, Sister Turtal, and then took Sister Reid and Sister Lazan back with us to the apartment because they are training and needed to stay the night close to the mission home to go there the next day. We went on exchanges, which was awesome, and I got to learn from the amazing Sister Lazan! She's super good at teaching people, not lessons, and just had a way of really helping our investigators understand how the gospel can really bless them. It was great learning from her. 

Thursday the spirit guided us in such an awesome way. A few months ago, when I was with Sister Arcinas, we taught an investigator named James, and a lot of people would gather around and listen. One of the sisters name was Teresa, but for some reason we lost contact with her and weren't able to visit her. Well on this day, we were in a completely different area than when we first met her, and we were going to one of our investigator's house, when we happened to bump almost right into her! She was doing laundry, and immediately stopped and said, 'hi sisters!!" She was more than receptive to let us teach her, and after we had a powerful lesson on the restoration, she said that she felt exactly like Joseph Smith...so confused as to why there are so many religions. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she committed to read it and pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Her cute little 9 year old son, Goven was there too. He said, "Sisters, can I go to church with you on Sunday?" of course! "Can you come pick us up?" we'd love to. :) So Sunday we went and Goven was all set and ready to go, but his mom had to go to the tindahan, so hopefully next week Teresa will be able to come to church and we'll be able to meet the rest of the family this week. It was just neat to see the hand of the Lord preparing this family though and the timing of how we met them and how receptive they were. I know someday we'll be able to teach all of them and that they'll be baptized--all in the Lords timing. :) 

Friday was a day of patience tested. Loud kids, stubborn less actives, investigators not progressing. But hey. That's how we grow in Christ-like attributes, right? :) But we had some pretty neat lessons as well....like helping clear up the doctrine of tithing with one of our recent converts. Poor woman...she thought she couldn't come to church if she didn't pay tithing, and that's why she hasn't come to church for a while. Glad we cleared that one up! In the moment, days like this aren't so fun, but when I look back, I realize it actually wasn't all that bad as I try to see what was good from the day and learn from the not so good so I can improve and be a better missionary. :)

Saturday we met with the Dela Cruz family, a family that Sister Tangonan met when she was with Sister Reid. Oh my goodness. This family has SO much potential, especially the father. I mean, yes, he was drunk, but I was somehow able to see past that and see him as a future leader in the church. It's amazing the love of God you can feel for His children as a missionary and see their divine potential. He has 6 adorable kids and you can tell they all love their dad and that he loves them. We haven't met the mom yet because she's been gone every time we've visited, but I just get so excited when I think about teaching and helping this family! There's just nothing quite as joyful as teaching a FAMILY about the gospel and how they can be together forever. :) 

Sunday was awesome because Brother Thomas Buenaflor (his brother Joseph, who lives in Utah, is apparently somewhat famous in Utah) and his niece Mitzi worked with us. They have INCREDIBLE singing voices, so after each of our lessons, they offered to sing to our investigators. The power of music in bringing the Spirit to our lessons was amazing, and each of the investigators we visited commented on how much peace they felt. Oh how I love the power of music! Sister Rossini also had her baptismal interview and she's set to be baptized this Saturday! Elder Rokuro said she's the smartest kid he's ever interviewed. She's just that awesome! :)

Well, I better get going, but I just want to close by saying how much I love this work! It's been amazing to see the lives change in so many people as they accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There's no other work I'd rather be doing right now, and I know this is where I'm supposed to be. The message of the Restoration is truly the foundation of faith for us and I'm so grateful for the faith Joseph Smith had to pray to our Father in Heaven. I know he was a prophet of God. And I know God speaks to us today. He loves us, and I sure love Him. 

I hope everyone has a great week! Welcome to October! Conference month! I'm pretty excited. :) Love you all so very much and I'll talk to you next week!

Love, 

Sister Dixon  

"Sister Russon, Sister Tanes, and Sister Tangonan. I trained all three of them.

Rare opportunity that we were all in one place at the same time! I sure love

these sisters!"

"FHE at the Wenceslaos"

"FHE at the Quino family with the Montero family

with us"

"Sister Turtal--the newest missionary in Talisay"

Home Sweet Home

Looks pretty nice! :)

These apartment photos were on President Lopez's Facebook page this week. 

The caption read, "Sister Dixon and Sister Tangonan--cleanest apartment."

How Great the Wisdom and the Love

Hello everyone! 

Another wonderful week has come and gone. Time is just flying by! Last Monday I had to get my chest x-ray(****I asked Jessica why she needed a chest x-ray. She said it is to check for TB. It is done to all the missionaries who will soon be departing the Philippines..she said no worries, she is good!!)....I couldn't believe I already had to do that! It was pretty funny because I think I was asked by about four or five different health workers what my middle name was. They were shocked when I told them I didn't have one. haha Every Filipino has their mother's maiden name as their middle name, so I think they were culture shocked. ;) 

Anyway, this week we were blessed with finding new investigators, helping with immunizations for the kids, spirit led lessons, celebrating family week here in the Philippines, and having the Baptism of Daniel Wenceslao! 

Honestly, my brain is kind of fried at the moment, so I'm just going to list some of my favorite moments from the week. Okay lang? Sige. :)

-Cheyene bore the most powerful testimony to one of our investigators who happens to be her aunt. She explained how before she and her mom were baptized, there was always contention and misunderstanding, and whenever they didn't have food for dinner, she would get pretty upset. But now, there is so much love and laughter in the home, and when there's no dinner, Elsie just smiles and says, "let's pray! The Lord will bless us." They always pray before leaving the house and before meals, and their family has really come closer because of it. A family that prays together, stays together. :) 

-One night after we planned, I had the name "Bellya" come into my mind. The name of a former investigator. We hadn't planned for her, and I thought it was just myself thinking her name, so I brushed it off. The next morning in my prayer, all I could think of was "Bellya." So after lunch, I asked Sister Tangonan if she wanted to go to Bellya or the people we had planned. She said the people we planned, so we went, only to have them not home. Then I knew for sure we were in the wrong place. We went to the Chua's home, where Bellya is their househelp. Sure enough, she was there. We had no idea what to teach since she doesn't really listen when we teach...she just compares everything with her religion. We just started teaching about how the Gospel blesses families, and somehow the discussion led to how poor they were. I thought, "tithing." But I had never taught tithing before as a 'first lesson,' and wasn't sure how to bring it up without confusing her. Then she randomly asked, "do your Bishops get paid?" We said no, and she all of a sudden had a change of attitude. She thought that was pretty awesome. She then asked where all our money goes if it doesn't pay the Bishop. Perfect lead into Tithing. It was so neat to feel the Spirit work through us to help this Sister. We left her with a tithing pamphlet and the first picture she looked at was a family eating a nice dinner. We told her that is the promise of paying tithing. We're excited to go back and see how the Spirit has worked on her to hopefully soften her heart to accept the Gospel. I also learned a valuable lesson from that experience that Heavenly Father is constantly reminding me...always follow the Spirit! 

-Saturday we celebrated family week with the members at the church and then later that afternoon, Daniel, the head of the Wenceslao family, was baptized! It was such a wonderful moment and his family, especially Cheyene, was grinning from ear to ear (although in the pictures she smiles with her mouth closed). haha It's been amazing to see Daniel accept the Gospel and how it's really changed their whole family. Cheyene gave a sweet prayer the other day praying that soon her older brother, Darwin would join our lessons so they could be sealed in the temple in a year and be together forever. She's so sweet. I just love this family and I feel like they are one of the biggest reasons why I was sent to Talisay. :) 

-One last experience....a few weeks ago, a tricy-kad driver named Roberto took us to church. We talked to him along the way and gave him a Restoration pamphlet. He said he'd like to come to church with us the next week and said he'd wait outside our apartment so he could take us. Sure enough, he was outside our apartment early Sunday morning reading the pamphlet again and smoking a cigarette. This man's life is pretty sad. His wife left him because he had no money, so he currently lives in his tricy-kad. He has long hair, a beard, always smells like alcohol and cigarettes, and his clothes are pretty old and grungy. As he was taking us to church, he said he didn't want to go to church this week but would really like a Book of Mormon. He had studied the pamphlet and knew everything from prophets, to the Apostasy, the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood, and the need for a Restoration. He's read the Bible of many different religions, so all he wanted now was a Book of Mormon to find out for himself if Joseph Smith is a prophet. It was quite an amazing experience to see a man in the above description holding a copy of the Book of Mormon in his hands. Holding CHANGE for his life. We are praying that he truly will be able to find change by reading the Book of Mormon, because I know that it can and does change lives. Every single day. 

I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. All of us. I love serving His children here in the Philippines and know I was sent here to be here at this time. These people and their faith never cease to amaze me and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to learn from them. I know the Atonement is real and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know Joseph Smith was called to restore Christ's church here on the earth. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet. I love him. I can't wait to hear in a few weeks the guidance our Heavenly Father has for us through his prophet. 

Thank you for everyone's love and support as always. I am sure one blessed sister missionary. :) 

Palangga ko kamo kag halong kamo permi! 

Love, 

Sister Dixon 

District Meeting

Daniel Wenceslao's baptism

 Saying goodbye to Sister Lara. 

She left this morning to Bacolod, and so her companion, Sister Ve'ehala is with us until transfer calls are made. :)

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! :)

Cutest tricy-cad driver around!!

Sister McIver ( Sister Dixon's trainer came back for a visit)

Studying in a brown-out

WOW!! We sure are spoiled with the nice comfy mattresses we have!

Looks like this little guy can sleep anywhere, though! :)

District Meeting

FHE fun and treat!

Helping with immunizations

Sister Dixon said they named the puppies ( a week old) after them! 

Euliza's Baptism

Elder and Sister Mower with Euliza;s Mom