WEEK 17 (OCT. 7) - GENERAL CONFERENCE.....NEED I SAY MORE?

This week has been crazy! Monday we traveled again to Morrisville and I was with Sis. Kotter (one of my MTC comps) for Monday night and all day Tuesday. We did service on Tuesday morning at the thrift store just by their apartment. We priced their clothing and all that fun stuff. After we were done they told us we could look around...and oh did we ever. This was no average thrift store. This was even better than Thrift Town in Salt Lake ha ha ha. I found quite the bargains, or so I thought. When the sweet old lady rang up my total she accidentally typed in an extra 4 to the total. Instead of my total being 14.50, she swiped my card for 144.50.....oops. But you can't possibly be mad at a sweet old lady who is trying her hardest to do her job, and she is a volunteer. Thank goodness I realized it on my receipt so we were able to clear everything up! Pretty good way to start off the day if I do say so myself ha ha.

Wednesday we were able to do service for Mariah. She was married this past Saturday so we helped her decorate! Thursday we had interviews with the Mission President, President Stoker, in Lebanon. That was really good and we got some good training from the zone leaders on how to more effectively plan. Friday we painted a kitchen! Tammy, one of our investigators who we helped move in a couple of months ago needed help painting her kitchen so we were excited to help. The kitchen was a putrid orange color. Not quite the color you'd think someone would even think of in a home, let alone the kitchen. We painted it a nice creamy yellow color and it looked SO much better. Everything was much brighter and just felt happier. Saturday and Sunday.....drum roll please........GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!! Wow, talk about an inspired conference. Spiritual feast to say the least! Is it a crime to say a rhyme? OK, in all seriousness, conference was incredible. I think God wants us all to be doing missionary work. What about you? Now, being in the shoes of a missionary, I truly realize how vital it is to have member missionaries. We can't do it alone. Missionaries and members need to work together. The work of salvation is hastening and it is so exciting. I can't wait to see the results of the increased efforts on missionary work. One talk that really stood that I wanted to talk about was from Elder David A. Bednar. Significant But Simple Blessings. A lot of times on my mission I struggle with relating personal experiences because I don't always have extremely drastic events that resulted in what my testimony is now. From this talk I have realized that it is not always from those big events that result in our testimonies being strengthened. As we keep the commandments and do all that we can to be obedient, God will bless us in significant, but subtle ways. I loved how Elder Bednar related this truth to the Stripling Warriors. They probably would have loved to be blessed with more weapons, and that would have made a lot of sense for them to receive them. But instead, God blessed them with assurance, peace, faith and hope, and not a single life was lost. One thing that I am continually learning is that God generally doesn't answer our prayers in the way we would expect. He answers in the way that He knows to be best for us. Blessings are contingent on obedience. We can't expect blessings for things we haven't been obedient to. Doctrine and Covenants explains this perfectly. I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise(D&C 82:10). There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated- And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated(D&C 130:20-21). God is bound when we are obedient. He promises us blessings! That definitely makes me want to be a little more obedient! I know that as we are obedient we will be given power and we'll be blessed in significant, but subtle ways. My invitation to all of you is to look for ways in your life that you can be more obedient, and then do it! I know that by doing so many blessings will result, that's a promise!

I love this gospel!

I wish you all the very best this week

Much love,
Sister Dixon