HE WHO RECEIVETH ALL THINGS WITH THANKFULNESS SHALL BE MADE GLORIOUS

It's been an exciting week here in Vermont! 

Monday night we went on exchange.  I stayed in Lamoille and I had to send my baby away to the big bad city of Montpelier.  It was a tough mommy moment for me.  I missed Sister McVey, but sometimes we have to allow our children to experience new things to learn and grow, kind of like how little baby birds need to leave the nest in order to learn how to fly.  She came home with no visible wounds. 

Now jumping right to Wednesday with the intense district meeting we had.  For the past few weeks we've been learning more about the Plan of Salvation.  The in depth discussions we have at our district meetings are some of my favorite memories.  Sister McVey and I couldn't stop talking about the things we talked about in district meeting.  There is so much to learn about the gospel!  It's incredible!

I could do an entire email on the day we had on Thursday!  It started off awesome with a trip up to Montgomery with one of the sisters in the ward.  We had a little get together with a few of the sisters to do visiting teaching.  We met at Sister Bergeron's home.  Sister Bergeron is pretty incredible.  She eats raw vegan, so she treated us with one of her specialties.  Mint ice cream(dairy free and sugar free) with mint chocolate cookies, topped with cherries and chocolate something sauce.  This little dish had more protein in it than most people get in a day!  And boy it was filling.  Who knew eating raw could taste so good? 

Later that night as we were heading out after dinner.  A truck was backing out of a parking spot and didn't see us so he hit the tail light of our car.  It was quite the experience.  Luckily he was super cooperative and felt bad about running into us.  We had to fill out a bunch of paper work to send to the mission office.  Luckily the only damage that was done was that the tail light was cracked.  There was no other body damage to our vehicle or his.

We got to our appointment with the Rodriguez's and it was great.  They have two little boys who both have autism and they are so cute.  Vincent is 5 years old and he was enjoying playing with a little squirt gun when we arrived.  As we were talking he came running past us all and squirted us all down.  Almost instantly after he picks up his blanket and comes and wipes the water off of us.  This routine happened four or five times, it was hilarious.  At least he plays nice! 

Friday we got to help a lady that we volunteer with at Second Chance paint her house.  It was a blast.  After we painted she treated us to dinner at a pizzeria in Johnson.  

Sunday was a pretty awesome day.  Sister McVey and I have been trying to get in with more members so we can help them to have missionary experiences.  We have been praying for ways to accomplish this and Sunday was a huge answer to our prayers.  At church we were swarmed with members who wanted to have us come by their homes.  It was such a neat experience and very evident answer to our prayers.

The challenge for this week is simple, but for me it definitely requires thought and effort; that is to be grateful.  I'm sure somewhere in the past I have done a similar invitation/challenge in regards to being more grateful, but I felt strongly that that is something that I want/need to do better.

"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more."

-Doctrine and Covenant 78:19

I am SO grateful for this gospel and for the great privilege I have being a missionary.  I absolutely LOVE the time I have to spend serving God and the people of New England!

Have a grateful week!

Love,

Sister Dixon   

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? ARE YOU LISTENING NOW?

Fall is leaving as quickly as it came! We went from enjoying nice seventy degree weather last week, to forty degree weather this week! We even got some snow in the "mountains" yesterday!

A quick little update from the Be Courageous challenge. Most the week I didn't really notice any ways that I had been overly courageous. Little did I know that the need have courage would come today. I found out that I was not accepted to BYU. Oddly though as soon as I knew, I felt completely at peace. I knew that it was simply God's plan that He needs me to be somewhere else. Immediately I remembered a priesthood blessing that I had received several months earlier which said that things would work out when I got home and that I would be surprised how well things would come together. I didn't necessarily need to know that at the time I was receiving the blessing, but I did need to know that now. I feel very hopeful for the future and I am trusting in God's promises and know that God has a plan for us all.

This week has been an interesting one. The service that we do at second chance was switched this week from Tuesday to Thursday. Doesn't seem like that would really have much of an effect on the week, but surprisingly it kind of threw our whole week for a loop. Sister McVey and I also decided it was time to break free of some routines that had been established by previous missionaries that we felt would be beneficial to change, so overall this week wasn't the average week. It was a great week though! Both Sister McVey and I have been focusing on getting to know the members better. We realized that from the routines that were set, we were restricted to being in certain areas on certain days. Because we decided to break that routine we were able to visit members that haven't been visited for a long time. The members here in the Lamoille Ward are incredible. It has been such a blessing getting to know them better.

Shifting gears a bit...
Funny story for the week. We were trying to find a less active member in Hyde Park. We were on the road where it said he lived..... I need you to imagine Vermont roads here for a minute. They aren't your average, friendly, neighborhood roads. We are talking about dirt roads where houses are spread a good distance apart. We realized we had passed where we thought the member lived so we drove a little further to find a place to turn around. As we were approaching where we wanted to turn around a duck and a goose popped out of the woodwork and starting charging at our car! It was one of the most intense experiences of my life! These were not your average "pond" animals, they were vicious! Most people have guard dogs or security systems. Little did I know that a duck and a goose could get the job done! And a job well done they did! The goose was definitely the lead protector. He attacked the tires and the door, and to top it all off he made dinosaur noises while he did it. I had never seen anything like it. Pretty average day in Vermont.

The highlight from the week was definitely this weekend. Stake Conference. It was one of the greatest Stake Conferences I have ever attended. Bishop Dean Davies of the presiding Bishopric was there and addressed us both Saturday evening and Sunday. Our ride for Saturday evening fell through, so we rode with the Bishop and his family a little earlier in the afternoon because he had some meetings to attend. Right after we arrived the family reunion began! Because all of Vermont is one stake the Newport Branch would also attend this Stake Conference. For those of you who don't know, Newport was the first area that I served in, and the people in that area are family to me! Within the first five minutes of arrival I saw the Cubit clan! It was quite the joyous reunion! Sunday was an even bigger reunion because a lot more of the people were in attendance. I was so overwhelmed with the love that I have for the people here in Vermont. I felt so blessed to have been able to serve among such incredible people. Not only was it incredible to see so many people that I love, but the talks that were given both nights were general conference status. It was truly phenomenal. One of the talks that really stood out was where my subject title came from. President Bush, from the Stake Presidency was one of the first ones to address us. He used the common phrase of "Can you hear me now?" and switched it to "Are you listening now?" He talked on the great importance of focusing on listening rather than just hearing, especially in regards to the promptings and guidance we receive from the Holy Ghost. So that is my challenge and invitation to all of you this week is to be extra aware of the promptings from the Holy Ghost and the things that Heavenly Father wants us to not only hear, but to listen to, and act on. I've really been loving hymns lately so here is one for the week!

Let The Holy Spirit Guide

Let the Holy Spirit guide;
Let him teach us what is true.
He will testify of Christ,
Light our minds with heaven's view.

Let the Holy Spirit guard;
Let his whisper govern choice.
He will lead us safely home
If we listen to his voice.

Let the Spirit heal our hearts
Thru his quiet, gentle pow'r.
May we purify our lives
To receive him hour by hour.

I love you all and pray that you'll have an awesome week!
Sister Dixon

BE STRONG AND OF GOOD COURAGE

"Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

Another week come and gone. We had a pretty great week out here in Vermont!
Last Monday night we made the trek to New Hampshire for our New Missionaries and Trainers Meeting. Since we had missed the Saturday sessions of general conference we listened to it on the drive down and back. It was incredible! Conference this year was phenomenal! I loved every single part of it. Our training meeting on Tuesday was great too! We received a lot of great training on how to be better leaders and better missionaries, and it is always so much fun getting to be around a big group of missionaries.

Wednesday we had our district meeting which was also very spiritual, so by Thursday we were simply exhausted! Wednesday I got one of the best surprises ever! We had just had a Ward Council meeting at the church and we were going to grab something from our trunk. It was dark outside and a few of the young women were in the parking lot. One of them came running over to me, and it was Laura Stevens from the Newport Branch. I hadn't seen her for nearly a year! Just before I was transferred from Newport she and her family moved to Arizona. I didn't know if/when I would get to see her again. Her family came to Vermont for the week to visit so she came down to Lamoille to say hi! It made my week!

We had a neat opportunity arise from our service at the thrift store, Second Chance. On the day that we volunteer at the store, we can go to the hospital and we get a free lunch. We were walking up to the hospital after we did service and one of the other ladies that volunteers at the store pulled up right as we were getting there. We all ate lunch together and had a great conversation. She had just moved up from Connecticut and they are working on their house. We volunteered to help her paint. She called us this morning and we are going to do some service at her house this week! Pretty exciting!

To give a little report back on my week focusing on being more charitable. It didn't quite go as I was expecting.... I prayed extra hard to be more charitable and that I would be able to be filled with charity for the people here. I feel like it was one of those "praying for patience" experiences where right when you pray for it, many things try your patience. Not that people were driving me crazy this week, but I noticed that I needed to be a lot more aware of being kind, patient and charitable to the people that we meet with every day. I definitely feel that through this experience I was able to gain a greater respect, love and charity for my friends here in New England.

This weeks challenge is to focus on having courage, whatever form or shape that may come in.
"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord" Psalms 27:14
Let me know how you showed courage throughout this week!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2221439363001

I love you all!
Peace and Blessings,
Love Sister Dixon

MORE HOLINESS GIVE ME

What a fun week we have had!
This past week was a blast and boy did it fly!
The family history booth was a success! We had had beautiful weather all week, but Saturday (the day of the Rocktober Fest), it decided to rain......all day. It was still tons of fun, and very memorable. We were able to talk to a lot of people and everyone had a great time dressing up and getting family photos taken. Everything came together!

 










 We did a mini mission with Sharon this past week too. She joined the church in May and has been on fire ever since. It was such an incredible experience. She spent the night Tuesday, and all day Wednesday with us.

I wanted to highlight one of the lessons we had last week with Judy, one of our investigators. Judy hadn't been comfortable saying the prayer in the lessons and so we felt that in an upcoming visit, we should focus the lesson on helping her feel comfortable praying. We studied and prepared for this lesson and what happened was truly a tender mercy. We got to Judy's house and sat down for our lesson. She pulled out a piece of paper where she had written down what she wanted to say in her prayer. She voluntarily offered the opening prayer with no prompt from us. It was incredible to see how God had prepared her for this visit. Her prayer was so heartfelt and brought the Spirit strongly into our lesson that day.

Let's talk about General Conference! Oh man, it was incredible! Because we were doing the Rocktober Fest, I haven't seen the Saturday sessions yet..... Sunday although, was phenomenal. There was definitely a theme with many of the talks. I loved how a lot of people focused on sustaining the prophet, making wise decisions, and staying focused. What inspiring messages!

I am very excited for this week. We are heading to NH tonight for our new missionary and trainers meeting. We get to spend the night in the mission home which is always a treat! Life is good :)

My challenge from this week is coming again from a hymn. More Holiness Give Me. I decided that the third verse is the one I wanted to highlight, although the entire hymn is one of my favorites.

More purity give me,
More strength to o'ercome,
More freedom from earth-stains,
More longing for home.
More fit for the kingdom,
More used would I be,
More blessed and holy--
More, Savior, like thee.

The last line of the hymn is what I really want to emphasize and work on this week; becoming more like the Savior. In Preach My Gospel chapter 6, the entire chapter is dedicated to Christlike Attributes. There are several different attributes in this chapter that you can seek and strive to develop. This week I am going to focus on, and invite all of you to focus on, the attribute of charity.
"charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him." (Moroni 7:47)

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." (1 Corinthians 13)

I hope you all have an incredible week this week and my hope is that by this time next week, we'll all be a little more charitable and like the Savior.

Love you all!
Sister Dixon