I'M BEING TRANSFERRED!!!!!......HOME!

Well, here it is......the LAST email. I can't believe it....

This past week was an interesting one. We got a lot of crazy weather, which made for a crazy week.
Tuesday was when the craziness began. Tuesday afternoon the snow started.... and kept coming, and kept coming and kept coming. I began to get more and more nervous realizing that there was a good chance our cars would be grounded the next day, which was district meeting. The thought of having my last district meeting cancelled was more than I could handle. We got a message Tuesday night that our district meeting would be postponed until Thursday. Whew!

Although there was a lot of snow, we were still able to talk to a lot of people. We did a lot of walking around, a lot of shoveling, and just enjoyed the beauty of Vermont! It is phenomenal out here. The trees when they are covered with snow are so picturesque! It sounds lame, but it's true!

Fortunately we did make it to district meeting safely on Thursday, and it was wonderful! I love our district, and I have learned so much from all the missionaries serving in it. After we got back from our meeting, we were able to go and help a member paint, and we just had an awesome day.

We had a crazy weekly planning session of Friday so that Sister McVey could feel confident taking over the area. She is going to be amazing, so she really has nothing to worry about.

Saturday was LONG. Transfer call Saturdays are always filled with many emotions. Although we knew a transfer call would come that night, it didn't change the fact that we were anxious and excited. One of the ladies that we volunteer with at second chance invited us over to dinner that night. We had an awesome dinner with her and she invited her neighbors over also. She made us feel very loved.

The transfer call finally came! It was sister McVey's first, and my last. It was quite crazy. Sister McVey is staying in the Lamoille area and is receiving a new companion.....and I am being transferred to Utah......

I have to say that I have been blessed with the best companions. Sister McVey has been such an incredible companion and I feel so fortunate that my last twelve weeks we were able to serve together.

Sunday was a tender mercy in and of itself. I absolutely love the Lamoille Valley Ward. It was such a bitter sweet experience saying goodbye to everyone. I have loved the time I've been able to spend here.

Today is going to be a great day! We are having our district pday. We are all going to the Ben and Jerry's factory, having an ugly sweater party and are making gingerbread houses. It will be a good time!

As missionaries, at the end of our missions we share a golden truth that we have learned. On my mission I have learned this golden truth that will change who I am forever: The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil. (Moroni 7:16)

Every single person on the earth is born with the ability to know good from evil, to distinguish between darkness and light.

Going back to Moroni 7 "the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night." 
"for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God."
"But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one".

The devil is an enemy to God, and he continuously strives to frustrate the work of God. As a missionary, I have felt this strongly. There is a lot of opposition that comes with serving a mission, but I have come to see in a very real sense that God is infinitely more powerful than Satan, and so are we.

I love this gospel with all my heart and I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth. I have never felt so happy and so blessed all my life as I have being a full-time missionary. I know that every single experience I have had on my mission will change who I am forever. I love my God and I love this work. Because of my mission I will never be the same, I will be better. I again want to thank all of you for the love and support you have given me on my mission. I love you all!

See you soon!
Sister Dixon

HE IS THE GIFT

Hello Everyone!
Here we go on my final full week in the mission field! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

I thought that the end of my mission would feel so much more different. I have yet to be able to feel that my mission will actually come to an end. I really don't think it will sink in until I'm home. So brace yourselves for the water works because more likely than not, I'll probably be a mess.

So here is a little report of some of the happenings here in Vermont this past week!
During our pday last Monday we cut down our very own Christmas tree for our apartment!!!! It was quite the joyous occasion and our apartment is now filled with the Christmas spirit!

Tuesday was pretty great! I wanted to thank you all for the birthday wishes! You all made it the best! There is no better way to spend your birthday than on a mission!

Wednesday we had another very inspiring District Meeting. I am going to miss those meetings a lot.....thank goodness for institute, right?

We had an appointment set up with one of our investigators that day, but unfortunately, as is common in missionary work, the appointment fell through. Blessing from planning though, we were able to use our backup plans and contacted a less active member! We had attempted to contact this member several times in the past. Eliza, the member we had with us to go to our previous teaching appointment said that she could also come with us to try and contact this less active member. We got to the home and she was there! Blessings of having members with us! We were able to introduce ourselves and got to know her better. Can I just say having a companion from California has changed the world. Tons of people we have talked to recently have had some sort of common ground or connection to California....GO SISTER MCVEY! We were able to establish a good relationship with this less active sister and she welcomed us to come back when we are in the area.

You'll never believe what happened on Thursday! We ran into MADONNA! Not only that.....she gave us a referral! You never know what is going to happen here in Vermont. Anywho just to get the story straight...Madonna is a lady that we volunteer with at Second Chance (the thrift store). Sorry if I got any of your hopes up, but the Madonna we ran in to is so much better. We were contacting people in Hyde Park and knocked on her door. No coincidences there. She let us right in and we were able to visit with her and leave her with a Book of Mormon, and she left us with a referral. She seemed touched by us stopping by and invited us to come back any time.

Thursday night was awesome! We had dinner with Bishop Worthington's family and it was wonderful. I've been very inspired by this family. The Worthington family make up a good third of the ward, and all of them are exceptional.

Friday we went to Underhill and spent the day there. We were able to visit one of the members Mom who is not a member of the church. She is the sweetest lady and on Sunday we heard from Sister Bento that all her mom had been talking about was the wonderful visit from the missionaries. Being a missionary makes me so happy. There is truly nothing better than being able to make someone's day. Later that afternoon we visited one of the members out in Underhill. The Bigelow family is absolutely adorable. It was just Sister Bigelow and her two little girls Blithe and Poet who were home and I just have to say they are quite possibly the cutest girls ever! Sister Bigelow is such a sweet mom and we got quite a few quotes from Poet. She was cracking us up.

Saturday we had our Relief Society brunch at Sister Lund's house in Stowe. We had crepes and it was simply wonderful!
It was the Christmas showing at the Historical Society that we volunteer at here in Morrisville. We have been helping them decorate the past several weeks. It turned out great! It just made us so happy and so excited for Christmas.

Sunday was great. I always love fast and testimony meetings. The Lamoille Valley Ward is incredible. It's hard to describe the members out here, but they are truly phenomenal! We got to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, which really brought in the spirit of Christmas. So many inspiring messages.

Many of you have probably been noticing the He Is The Gift video that the church came out with. We have been using this initiative like crazy out here! It has been quite incredible to see how soft peoples hearts are at this time of year. So to end off my email I wanted to invite you all to watch the video if you have not yet done so. http://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HPFR112814529

After doing so I would also invite you all to think of ways that you can embrace the true gift of Christmas this year. There truly is no better time than now to personally reflect on our relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ, and invite others to also embrace this gift.

I love you all and cant thank you enough for all of your love, support and encouragement. I know that this gospel is true and that the happiness I have experienced has come through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I hope you all have an incredible wintery week!

See you soon!

Love,
Sister Dixon

SHORT N SWEET

Oh boy this might be a little crazy.....

I got a little distracted with emails so I've got eight minutes to share the week we've had! So here it goes!

We are going to start with Tuesday. Zone interviews. So I had my exit interview on Tuesday...... I thought for sure that would make reality hit a little more that my mission was coming to it's end, but it didn't. It was an incredible interview with President Stoker and I got some incredible counsel and advice for life, but that still did not change the fact that I don't think my mission is actually coming to an end.

....Well I just got distracted again so now we're down to two minutes ha ha ha. I just want to finish by sharing my testimony. The past few weeks I have been focusing and studying and praying a lot to strengthen my faith. I've wanted to strengthen my faith and understanding that God loves me individually and I wanted to strengthen my personal conviction and testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. I want you all to know that prayer is real, God does love us individually and the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth. I can't say enough about the happiness that I have felt this past week. It is a happiness that only comes from the gospel. So my invitation to you this week is to seek this happiness. "And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever" Ether 12:41

I love you all! Sorry for the short email, but I will amp up the prayers for all of you this week :) Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Love,
Sister Dixon

I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES

Well here we are again! Another week come and gone.....HOW DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? It's a little crazy. So much happens in a week and yet it goes by so fast!

We had a pretty incredible week out here in New England.
Tuesday we had some great experiences with some of the members in the Lamoille Ward. We had a lesson with a potential investigator named Ben. We met him through the family history booth that we did back at the beginning of October. The Elders had met with him once before and had us go over to follow up because he lives in our area. We had Brother and Sister Peden come with us to the lesson. We got to know Ben a little better and followed up a bit on what he remembered about the restoration of the gospel. He had a pretty good recollection of everything that had been taught by the Elders which was awesome. We then were able to share a little more about the restoration and put a special focus on the Book of Mormon. It was such a neat lesson and it was a huge blessing having the Pedens there. At the end of the lesson we invited Ben to pray and he said one of the most heartfelt prayers I've ever heard. It was such a neat experience. A little later that day we had another great opportunity to share our testimonies of the Book of Mormon with members. Sister Domond came with us to see Judy and it was a great experience hearing Sister Domond share the way that the Book of Mormon has blessed her life and her family's life since they joined the church.

Wednesday was just chucked full of miracles. We had another incredible district meeting. I'm going to miss having those every week..... anywho it was just such a spiritually uplifting experience. "It's impossible to not feel the God's love for you when you express your gratitude to him".

Later that day we stopped by a less active sister's house that we had been trying to get in touch with for quite some time. She wasn't home when we stopped by, but not even an hour later she texted us saying she heard we stopped by and that she was thinking about going over to the church that evening. Everything worked out perfectly for us to be able to meet her at the church. We were able to get to know her better and share a spiritual message. It was just so miraculous seeing how everything came together.

We were able to do some service this week too! I'll probably be a master painter by the time I get home.
We had a Thanksgiving Potluck at the church on Friday and we had a great turn out. The Lamoille Ward is like a huge family. It is awesome.

Saturday, Nia, one of the girls the Elders have been teaching was baptized. It was an incredible baptism. What was even more incredible is how she came to be introduced to the church. Member missionary work!!! It works! Savannah one of the young women in the ward simply invited her friend to come to the Wednesday night activities. She accepted the invitation and in time accepted the invitation to learn more about the gospel from the missionaries, which resulted in her coming to know that the gospel is true and then was baptized. And it all came from a simple invitation. Who knew missionary work could be so easy?

Sunday was great. Nia received the gift of the Holy Ghost and it was such a neat experience to be able to hear the blessing she received as she was given this incredible gift. Can I just say, THE CHURCH IS TRUE! It never ceases to amaze me.

Now we're to today, which is quite the special day! Because it's Sister McVey's birthday!!!! I have the best companion ever. We are the grannies in the mission.

Well onto the invitation for the week. It kind of goes along with last week in recognizing the hand of the Lord each day. I want to encourage you all to seek how you can be the Lord's hands this Thanksgiving week. Seek for ways that you can be answers to peoples prayers or for ways that you can bless the lives of others. I know that as you look for these opportunities they will found!

I hope you all have a great week of gratitude and food of course!!!
I am so grateful for all of you!

Love,
Sister Dixon

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

What a crazy week we have had!
The week started off pretty normal. Nothing too out of the norm. I went on my last exchange to Montpelier and spent Wednesday evening and most the day Thursday with Sister Brown.

Immediately when we got back to Lamoille on Thursday evening we went out to the Cochrans home in Eden for dinner. It was such a great experience. We had been trying to get in touch with Brandi, who is one of the Cochran's son's wife. She is a super incredible lady and was taught by the Sister Missionaries about a year ago. She cuts hair and so she offered to cut our hair for free! So Thursday evening after dinner she cut mine and Sister McVey's hair. I decided that I needed something new so I chopped it! Crazy I know, but it just felt right. My long hair was getting pretty unmanageable so I figured I needed to do something about it. I loved having long hair, but I missed the easiness of having short hair. Don't worry, it's not too short, just a little above my shoulders :) Pictures to come......

Anywho, back to our evening at the Cochrans. After dinner and our hair cuts we shared a message about the Book of Mormon and bore our testimonies of the book and how it has blessed our lives. We invited Brandi to again learn about the gospel and she accepted! We are super excited!

Before I get too far into the email and before too many of you who cared about the length of my hair freak out about me cutting it, I will let you know now that I am just kidding! I really didn't chop my hair...just a trim :) so now all of you who lost focus can again focus on the beautiful things that happened this week. :) :) :)

Friday we spent the day in Stowe. We had a great lesson with Judy and she continues to progress. She has been coming to church every week and loves it.

Saturday was pretty great. We volunteer at the Historical Society in Morrisville on Saturday mornings, and that day they were decorating for their Christmas tour. It was SO fun. In each different room they have a specific color theme. Sister McVey and I decorated the Gold Room. The museum looks great! It's hard not to be extremely happy when decorating for Christmas. It is such a happy time of year.

Saturday night at 8:30 we got a call from Brother Elmer, a counselor in the Bishopric saying that some of the people they asked to speak in church hadn't confirmed that they were speaking.....I'm sure you can fill in the blanks.

So now to Sunday..... What an incredible day! It felt like more happened on Sunday than the entire week, it was awesome! I had the privilege to speak in church, and the topic was pretty great, it was on gratitude. Nothing like last minute talk preparation.

After Sacrament meeting Sister McVey and I taught the youth in Mission Prep.

Third hour Sister Mitchell the YW president asked if we could teach the Laurels in Young Womens. During opening exercises it was announced that we would be teaching all the young women classes combined. Sister McVey and I looked at each other with an initial look of terror. We quickly stepped outside, said a prayer and made a lesson plan in two minutes flat. It turned out to be an incredible lesson and discussion on the Book of Mormon. How grateful I am for the Spirit and for revelation!

The amazing craziness didn't end with church. It kept on keepin on. We had a lesson with Judy immediately after church. We got home, ate, and were out again. We stopped by a lady we had contacted a little over a week ago to follow up with her. Our arrival at her home was perfect timing. She allowed us in and we asked if we could share with her the message of the Restoration. She agreed and we began sharing with her the unique message that we have to share with the world. This experience was pretty indescribable. The Spirit was so strong and she told us how this good feeling "washed over her". It was one of the best lessons I've ever been a part of. It was one of those times when it was so evident to me that this isn't my work, it is God's work. I am just privileged to be God's mouthpiece in sharing this message with others. Sister McVey and I basically floated to the car after that, we were so excited.

We had dinner with the Wheelers who are the cutest old couple you could ever meet. They've been married over 60 years! We always look forward to seeing them. We had a few lessons after dinner before the night was over. Our brains were fried by the end of the day, but it was a glorious day!

We are looking forward to another great week. Miracles happen.....EVERYDAY! You just have to look for them. So that is exactly what my invitation is to you all this week. Look for the ways that God has blessed you throughout each day, and write them down. Again to bring in a hymn.

When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings; name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings; ev'ry doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.
Count your many blessings; money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven nor your home on high.
So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged; God is over all.
Count your many blessings; angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.

Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your blessings;
See what God hath done.
Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your many blessings;
See what God hath done.

Count your blessings! I can promise that not only will you recognize more and more blessings, but your testimony will grow.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful, wintery week!

Love, 
Sister Dixon

p.s. this is the talk that I got a lot of the inspiration for my church talk from. It's definitely worth reading
www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/o-remember-remember?lang=eng

Here is a little video with a clip from his talk also 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=910930411001