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

WHAT GREATER WITNESS CAN YE HAVE THAN FROM GOD?

What a week!
This has been one of the most interesting weeks of my mission.
The week started off quite well with a district pday at the Ben and Jerry's Factory. It was like Heaven! It was a weird day too. I felt so weird realizing that I am now on my last transfer. I'm not too sure how excited I was to make that realization.

Tuesday was great as usual. We had a great day doing service at Second Chance, teaching and then Bible Study. Sharon, an amazing girl who joined the church in May invited us to come to her Christian Fellowship group on Tuesday evenings. I've probably already mentioned this Bible Study in emails previous, but I don't remember. Anywho, at this particular Bible study we talked about the Godhead. Never before had I realized how truly blessed we are to know the nature of God. He is a distinct, individual, and separate being. Jesus Christ also. The Holy Ghost is unlike God and Jesus Christ in that he does not have a body. Although they are separate and individual they are perfectly united in their purpose to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. How blessed we are to have this knowledge! It just makes sense.

Wednesday was where the craziness began. In our most recent Zone Conference, President Stoker encouraged us to never go to a meeting without a question in mind that we want answered. I took his counsel and I went to district meeting with a question. Because I am short on time I can't give too many details, and it's hard to explain in words experiences I have had with feeling the spirit so either way, sorry for the lack of details. I can say though that my question was answered directly. And as it was answered I knew! The feeling that overcame me was one of awe and amazement, realizing that God cares about me, and wants to answer my questions. I have never felt so blessed in all my life as I have being a missionary. This truly is the work of salvation.

The rest of the week was filled with experiences that solidified my testimony and helped complete my conversion to this gospel. I could never deny the incredible feelings and experiences that I have had on my mission. What once was a belief and a hope that there is a God, has turned into understanding and a knowledge that there is no possible way that anything is possible without God. We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it has been restored to the earth in its fullness. And we can know for ourselves that it is true! "What greater witness can ye have than from God?" Doctrine and Covenants 6:23

So for my invitation for the week, I want to invite all of you to ask God to help you understand the vision that He has for you. Pray to understand the incredible potential that God sees in you. I can promise as you do this God will enlighten your mind and help you to understand who you truly are and who's you truly are. I love this gospel and I love being a missionary.....and I love all of you! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Dixon

BEN AND JERRY'S

Hello hello!

Today is the first day of my last transfer.  Craziest feeling ever!   We are going to the Ben and Jerry's Factory today with the district, so my email may be a little short! 

A lot of changes are happening in our district this transfer.  Someone from every companionship in our district is being transferred except for me and Sister McVey!  Yay!  I am SO happy that Sister McVey and I get another transfer serving together!  We are going to make it the best transfer ever!

We had an interesting but good week this past week!

First off I want to share some exciting news!  I finished the Book of Mormon!  President Stoker extended the invitation for all of us to start the Book of Mormon over and read it from cover to cover.  We only had about six weeks to do it, which meant about twelve pages a day.  That doesn't sound like much, but it was a challenge.....and a huge BLESSING!  I have never felt the Spirit so strong reading through the Book of Mormon as I did this time.  It was SO exciting.  I love the Book of Mormon and am so grateful for the guidance it gives.  If you aren't reading it, you should!

Last Monday we got a call as we were emailing with an opportunity to go and help someone move in.  We jumped on the opportunity and were able to meet some incredible people.  That night we had a Family Home Evening with the Mitchell family.  We carved pumpkins and had Chili for dinner so it was quite the great evening.

Tuesday we had our Zone Conference and it was great as usual!  Tons of incredible training from our leaders and of course we got to finish it off watching Meet the Mormons!  It was so wonderful!

We were able to meet with more members that we hadn't been able to get to know previously which was a huge blessing!  Getting to know the members better has been so great!

We had a pretty peaceful transfer call night.  We pretty well knew that nothing would be happening in our companionship which was a huge relief.

A little follow up from focusing on gratitude throughout the week.  I noticed a HUGE difference in my week because I focused on being grateful.  So many things fell through this week.  Nonetheless every night as I knelt down to pray, I made it a point to thank God for all the ways He blessed us throughout the day.   As I did this all the things that went wrong seemed so minimal compared to the MANY blessings that God poured out upon us throughout the day.  God is good.

The invitation I wanted to extend to you all this week is to ask God what He wants you to learn this week.  I have often wondered this as I have been serving here in Lamoille.  Sometimes we can feel like we are in a rut in different situations in our lives, but one thing that is important to remember and to pay attention to is what God is trying to teach us.

I am so excited for this transfer and I am so grateful to be a missionary in the New Hampshire Manchester Mission!  I hope you all have a great week!