It looks like my time in the NEK is now up. I have to say that the past six months have been the hardest and the happiest months of my life! I am so proud to say that Newport Vermont is my birthplace....in mission terminology. I have absolutely loved it here!!!! The members are so incredible and I am going to miss them so much....being transferred is almost worse than leaving home! Vermont has truly become my home these past six months.
I am happy to report that Thanksgiving was AWESOME! We made Texas Roadhouse rolls....Thanks for the recipe Whit! They were a hit! We went to Marston and Becky Cubit's home which is basically like my family out here. After dinner there we went to Mark and Sharmain Cubit's, so it was a Cubit Thanksgiving ha ha.
Friday they had a lighting ceremony and live nativity at the Joseph Smith Memorial. We were hoping to take our investigator Danielle, but she ended up having to work. Sarah, one of the youth in the branch was available to go, so Haily and her boyfriend Tyler drove us all down there and we had an incredible evening at the memorial. It was pretty neat, at the end of the program they sang silent night and a big shooting star went across the sky. It was beautiful! There is definitely a special spirit at the Joseph Smith Memorial.
Saturday we had Thanksgiving again with the Sandersons. Yep, the branch takes good care of us out here. And of course transfer calls came Saturday night. I honestly didn't feel like anything was going to happen so when the phone rang, my heart sank! Sister Fuller is going to hold the fort down here in Orleans, and I'm packing my bags....happy birthday to me. They are having us go all the way to transfer meeting in Manchester so I'm guessing I'll go to somewhere in New Hampshire or Maine.....only time will tell. Any predictions?!? People told me that I should avoid Caribou Maine because it's even colder than Newport.....so that's probably where I'll be going ha ha ha.
I didn't sleep much Saturday night ha ha
Sunday was good, but kind of hard. I love the people here in the Newport Branch. After church we went and said some goodbyes. We went to the Sandersons and to Marston and Becky Cubits. Bro. Cubit gave me a blessing before we left so I know I'll be just fine as I head into my new area.
Today is kind of a really neat day. 9 months ago today I went through the Mt. Timpanogos Temple to receive my endowments. 6 months ago today I was set apart as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 22 years ago today I was born into the most incredible family! How blessed am I?? I hear a lot how serving a mission is a sacrifice, but the blessings that I receive so far outnumber the sacrifices. I feel spoiled with all the blessings that I receive and for the peace and comfort I feel, even when everything inside of me would normally be freaking out! I am very excited for what is ahead and I can't wait for the new people that I will be able to meet and the great experiences that await me in New England!
So in light that I am being transferred I thought it would be appropriate to talk a bit about aligning our will to God's will. Being a missionary Hymn 270 takes on a very literal meaning. I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go. There are many instances in our lives when we don't completely understand or comprehend the reasons why God gives us certain challenges, but that is where faith comes in. God knows exactly where He needs us and where we will learn and grow into what He knows we can become. I'd like to invite you all to take the advice of third verse with me. "There's surely somewhere a lowly place in earths harvest field so wide. Where I may labor through life's short day for Jesus, the Crucified So trusting my all to thy tender care, and knowing thou lovest me, I'll do thy will with a heart sincere: I'll be what you want me to be." I know that God has great things in store for all of His children. When we pray for the guidance to become who He knows we can become, I absolutely know He will help us.
I love you all so much and wish you a very happy week! I'm off to eat blueberry birthday pancakes at the Sandersons ha ha.
Thank you for all the birthday wishes!!!!
Much love,
Sister Dixon
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
My heart is truly full of the Thanksgiving spirit right about now. There is nowhere in the world that is better for me to be at this time than right where I am. I LOVE being a missionary! Being in the poorest part of Vermont I have learned a lot about how truly blessed I am. The people here are amazing and I absolutely love them. They are the most humble and sincere people I have ever met and they give all they have to those in need. I learn so much from them every single day.
We've entered in to what is called the "Dark Hours" out here in the NEK. It gets dark at 4pm and these people are up when the suns up and down when its down. So we've got to get creative to keep the work moving. The work has been a little slow, but our hope is that the holiday's will soften peoples hearts to listen to the message of the restored Gospel. We've thought of building snowmen families and teaching people how our families can be together forever. Ha ha ha you gotta do what you gotta do out here in Vermont. Speaking of families, I have been thinking a lot on the things I am grateful for, and the list is ongoing. I truly feel so blessed to be a missionary and to have been raised in the Gospel. I have the most incredible family in the world that I get to be with for eternity! I have the opportunity to share this wonderful news with the people of New England. I am also oh so grateful for the support and encouragement that I receive every single day from all of you. I truly feel the power of the prayers that are offered in behalf of missionaries. This work is hard and is impossible to do alone.
I love you all so much and am so very grateful for all of you! I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving and remember all the things that you have to be grateful for. I'll leave you with a scripture in Alma. Alma 34:38...."live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you."
I LOVE YOU ALL AND WISH YOU A VERY VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!
Sister Dixon
It's been quite the week! I'm going to get right to the point....Zone Conference....IT WAS AMAZING! We had Elder S. Gifford Nielson of the Seventy and his wife there to address us. Elder Nielson just spoke in this past General Conference. His talk was "Hastening The Lord's Game Plan!" (emphasis on the exclamation point) I highly suggest reading that talk if you haven't yet!
Some of the things that stood out from the conference was how we were not sent to the earth to be average! We are all blessed with different talents, abilities and personalities. God didn't create us to be average. He has put in us the ability to become like Him, and that is far above average! We are of divine origin. We can be happy in hard times if we are keeping the commandments. We also learned a lot about prayer. We learned a few specifics of how we can make our prayers more meaningful. Kneeling, vocalized, others, and gratitude. Several accounts in the scriptures when we read of someone praying they kneel; even the Savior Himself knelt when He prayed to the Father. Kneeling is a sign of reverence and shows that we are humble enough to receive answers. The same goes for vocalized prayers. A great example of the power of vocalized prayers is Joseph Smiths experience. Never before had he prayed out loud, but the first time that he did we all know that it changed the world....not to mention that he was also kneeling. When we vocalize our prayers, it makes it so our prayers aren't just coming from our mind, but from our heart. Praying for others. When we pray for others we are more grateful and have greater compassion on those around us. Gratitude. This one is fairly simple, the more we recognize what God has given us, the more we will recognize all that we have and are constantly blessed with. To end this little tangent on prayers I'll share the counsel that we were given. Get on our knees to ask for help and then get on our feet and do all that we can. It is after all we can do that God will do the rest, but we need to do our part.
I am so grateful that we have a Heavenly Father who hears and answers are prayers, and I know that He does! I also know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and is for EVERYONE. I love being a missionary and I love this Gospel!
I hope you all have a great week and remember the words of Hymn 140 :)
Peace and Blessings,
Sister Dixon
p.s. funny story time.....So a few nights ago I woke up to my companion rapping in her sleep! Totally caught me off guard. Missionary by day, gangsta rapper by night.
This week has been pretty good! Monday night we traveled to Manchester, New Hampshire. "Moose", the mission van, picked me and Sis. Fuller up in Lyndon and we made our way to Manchester. Normally I just go to Lamoille and stay with the sister there, but there is no longer a sister training leader there so they had me come all the way to Manchester. I was freaking out a little. I was crammed in a van filled with zone leaders and sister training leaders... ha ha Junior Comp all the way!! Woot woot! Felt slightly out of place, but they are all awesome so it was fun. The AP's didn't tell us what we were doing or where I was supposed to be so I was oober confused. All ended well though ha ha. I got to stay the night at the mission home and then spent part of the day with the Manchester sisters while MLC was happenening. It was so crazy to be in a city. It was a completely different experience to be able to visit so many people in so short a time. I'm not used to that up in the NEK (North East Kingdom). There isn't quite that much civilization in my neck of the woods.
Wednesday we had a good busy day. It's always a good feeling to be back in your stomping grounds. We had district meeting and then we had another wood project! We helped a lady whose boyfriend had just passed away. We had a lot of good help so we got it done super fast. Danielle, our investigator, came to the Book of Mormon class!!! It was super exciting to have an investigator there. We also had a great lesson with Danielle on Thursday. Bro. Cubit and Sharmain came with us and it was awesome. It has been so neat to watch the change that the gospel has brought into her life. I LOVE IT! Both Bro. Cubit and Sharmain came with us to see Sis. McCartney afterwords. Bro. Cubit and Bro. Butler gave Sis. McCartney a blessing and we were able to have a good little discussion with her and Sarah.
Friday we helped Bro. Cubit with his wood. Heather, his daughter, was going to town with the chainsaw! She is awesome. We missionaries can't use the power tools so we stuck with splitting and throwing it in the back of the truck.
Saturday we went and saw our investigator Tammy. Her mom is coming to live with her for the winter so we helped her get the room ready for her. After we finished helping her she taught us how to knit! It was too fun.
Sunday was good as usual! It's always crazy to see how fast the time flies/flys?!? English is a hard language ha ha ha. But seriously, the weeks are flying by!
We have quite the exciting week to look forward to. Elder Nielson of the Seventy is coming to speak to us this week at Zone Conference! SO EXCITED! We get to have it at the Joseph Smith Memorial again so I'm super stoked for that. I'll let you know how that one goes!
Well what I wanted to share today was something that I've heard a few different times this week. Wearing the whole armor of God. Ephesians 6 and Alma 49. In Alma, Moroni had provided all the protection for the Nephites so that they will be completely ready for when the Lamanites came to war against them. When the Lamanites came to war against them, the Lamanites didn't have any armor and were completely open to Nephites and many of them were slain because of their lack of preparation and protection. They couldn't harm the Nephites because the Nephites had prepeared and put on the full armor. That is a super shortened version of this incredible chapter. So moral of the story is, we have all the protection that we need available to us as we live in this crazy world. We have a living prophet who leads the church, we have the scriptures and are surrounded by people who will help us gain the spiritual strength to overcome the many temptations and challenges that the world throws our way. But we have to choose to put on the armor....the whole armor. If we choose bits and pieces to put on we are still open to the attacks of the adversary. Putting on this armor truly goes back to the simple things that we need to do everyday. We need to read the scriptures, pray and go to church. Simple simple things that are so crucial in creating our spiritual armor. I encourage you to all put on the whole armor of God, because we need it!
I love being a missionary and I am so grateful for all of the love, support and prayers!
I love you all!
Sister Dixon
You will never guess what we did this week.......well I guess you probably could. We did some serious wood projects! and we have many more planned for this week too! Tis the season! I absolutely love it!!!
Not going to lie, the beginning of this week was stressful! Transfers change everything and it takes some time getting used to a new companion and figuring out how to work with each other. But now things are rolling! My companion Sister Fuller is awesome! We get along extremely well and have a blast doing missionary work!
It was really neat because this week, every lesson we had with investigators, a member of the branch came with us. It makes the BIGGEST difference when members come. We concluded our forty-day fast this Saturday with a fireside. President Goodrich, from the Mission Presidency, came with his wife and they spoke to the branch on how they can become better member missionaries. It was awesome and we had a great turn out! Hopefully this will result in more people to teach!
We had a fun Relief Society enrichment night and had yummy soup and talked about what to put in winter car kits....they're a good idea if you don't have one. Amber, one of our investigators, came and had a blast, so that was a success. When you get a bunch of ladies together and laughing oh man it makes for a pretty fun night. I love this branch.
Halloween was pretty fun! We did some wood at the Sanderson's and they sent us home with dinner since we had to be in at five. Let me tell you a bit about the Sandersons....They are great! They used to manage a restaurant so you can just imagine how good their meals are....yum! We deep cleaned our apartment and just had a good ol time being locked inside!
Friday and Saturday we did service with the Cubit clan. It was quite the event. We had tons of fun and we got a lot of wood taken care of! My favorite part was using the splitting moll/maul/mol who knows how to spell it? All I know is that it is NOT an ax ha ha ha.
Saturday night like I said was our fireside and it was so so so good! Everything turned out great.
Sunday was good! We were all invited to fast for missionary opportunities in our stake. So the entire stake was fasting for missionary work! Danielle came to church! She hasn't been since the first part of September so we were excited that she made it this week!!!
I feel that it would only be appropriate for me to bear my testimony on the power of fasting, since we've been doing a lot of that lately with the forty-day fast. We all know that prayers can be powerful, but when we add fasting to our prayers, the flow of blessings are unstoppable. Preach my Gospel says "Fasting and prayer go together. When we fast and pray with faith, we are more receptive to receiving answers to our prayers and blessings from the Lord. He promises us that He will guide us continually." My testimony of this principle is growing more and more as I've been out here. I love the story of Alma and how he came to know for himself that the Gospel is true. Alma 5:45-46
45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?
46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.
Gaining a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel isn't a one time event. It is the process of a lifetime! Never before have I questioned my testimony of the church. Growing up I was surrounded by friends and family who supported, believed and had testimonies of the truthfulness of the church. Coming out on a mission, I soon realized that there are SO many people who have no idea about this gospel. I was a little scared because time and time again I hear that you cannot convert beyond your own conversion. This made me look into how far I am converted to this gospel. I am surrounded by incredible missionaries and members whose testimonies are so strong and for a while I wondered why I didn't feel that mine added up to their magnitude. So you might be wondering where this story is going...so am I ha ha. Reading the experience of Alma and his quest to be fully converted to the gospel helped me to know exactly what I needed to do to make sure that I am converted myself. As I have spent a lot of time fasting and praying, I have found that it I didn't need to gain a completely new testimony, I just needed to realize the testimony that I already had, and have had all my life and continue working on strengthening it. Fasting is such an incredible way to secure blessings from God. I love the scripture in Matthew 6:18
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
When we fast, God will reward us with what we stand in need of! Probably not in the way we would expect, but it's always in the way that is best for us. When we fast we become physically weak, but spiritually strong. I have gained such a strong testimony of fasting. I know that we can receive answers to prayers, increased testimony, health and strength....the blessings are endless when we fast.
I encourage all of you to recognize the things that you might stand in need of spiritually or physically and to fast and pray for help and added strength from the Lord. I know that when you do this, God will bless you and answer your prayers!
I love you all and I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!
Have a great week!
Sister Dixon
