WEEK 8- TWO MONTH MISSIONVERSARY

I cannot even believe that two months have gone by this quickly!  I am blown away with how fast time has gone by.  It freaks me out a little!
Well this week has been quite exciting!  So to start things off right, me and my companion reached our goal of 4 member present lessons this week(which was only possible through many prayers and the Lord's help) this may sound like a small number, but for our area we consider it a huge success, so we are going to reward ourselves to Tim and Doug's ice cream!  Woot woot.  We constantly hear about this delicious ice cream and felt it a good reward if we reached our goal.   
We now have a branch mission leader!  So our struggle to get 4 member present lessons will not be such a struggle any more! 

We realigned the boundaries of what area we cover which was nice because we were using way too many unnecessary miles trying to hit every part of our area.  We have started up a Book of Mormon class that we do on Wednesdays which is really good.  So far only members have come, but we are hoping we can get some investigators there as time goes on.  Our new branch president called us on Tuesday and asked if he and his daughter Haily, who has been out teaching with us before, could come and go teaching with us...talk about an answer to our prayers!  We have been trying so hard to have members present at as many lessons as possible, so having them call and offer was a huge blessing!  We were able to visit a few less active members and then we had a really neat experience with our investigator Torre.  Torre's boyfriend was raised in the church but it wasn't extremely consistent so he hasn't been to church for a while.  President Pingree bore such a strong testimony and committed them both to come to church this Sunday.   We had an incredible lesson with our investigator Danielle on Thursday.  Her boyfriend is a member, but hasn't been active in the church for a very long time.  She wanted to have her little girl blessed this Sunday so we invited Bro. Cubit (one of the many Cubits in the branch) to come and talk to her about what a blessing was.  After he explained to her what a blessing was we taught about the Plan of Salvation.  The spirit was SO strong.  This Gospel has to be true!  I wish I could better explain the experience, but in short she felt the power of the Holy Ghost manifesting the truth of what we were teaching and it was undeniable! On Saturday we helped Tammy continue to move into her new apartment.  The Steven's family invited us to have dinner with them after church on Sunday and told us to invite Tammy so we did and she accepted!  Sunday morning we were waiting for Danielle to show up because she was planning on having her little girl blessed that day and we waited and waited and still no sign of her, so we checked our phone and she had called and left a voicemail.  Sadly her boyfriend was held up and would have missed the blessing so she is rescheduling to do it next month.  I was pretty sad that she wasn't going to be there, but everything does happen for a reason.  David and Torre came to church!!! It is seriously one of the greatest feelings when an investigator comes to church....and they stayed for all three meetings!  I was a little worried that day because I was having a terrible time focusing and I really wanted to be completely focused and ready because I wanted so badly to have a good first lesson with Tammy that night.  Through a lot of prayers we were able to turn the day around!  We had dinner with Tammy in the Steven's home which was great.  I know I talk about the Stevens family a lot, but they are just incredible, so having dinner and a lesson in their home is just the best way to go.  We had quiche for dinner which I'm pretty sure was a first for me!  It was super good!  We also had some homemade seafood chowder...talk about deliciousness.  Aside from the good food, we taught Tammy the Restoration and it was great.  I have found that there are few things that bring the spirit as strongly as the account of the first vision.  Saying the account word for word as the Prophet Joseph Smith described what he saw brings the spirit instantly.  It was really neat because right before we quoted the first vision the entire atmosphere changed and everything went silent, again it's hard to explain these experiences, but it is such a testimony builder to me that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ, I have never had a stronger testimony than I do now of Joseph Smith's experience. And how lucky am I to be serving in the area of the world that he lived!  I can't believe how incredibly blessed I have been.  Everyday I see more and more the ways that God has blessed me; it is completely beyond my comprehension.  I know that this church is true, and I know that the joy that I have in my life is from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I have the most incredible family in the world, and I am so grateful to them for the constant support that they give me.  I want to thank everyone for their prayers in my behalf.  I truly feel supported in all the trials and struggles that I have and I know that it is because of these prayers that I am able to make it through and to be happy while doing so! 

So there are a couple of scriptures I'd like to share that I can bear a personal testimony on from this week.

3 Nephi 18:20

And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.

Mosiah 2:41

And moreover, I would desire that ye consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.  For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.  O remember remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

I know that God hears and answers all our prayers, even when it isn't in the way we expect, or the timing we would like, God keeps His promises.  I also know that happiness comes from keeping the commandments.  Although it isn't always easy, it is worth it and God blesses us for it!  I love you all and wish you a very wonderful week filled with happiness and joy and answered prayers!

Sister Dixon