12/16/13

So I don't know what time ill be Skyping you guys, it all depends on when you can do it, I would like to do it in the afternoon, if that answers your question, and if possible I'd like grandma (Davis) to be there so I can talk to her for a little bit.

So do you guys have new cell numbers now? since you got new phones.

And sorry to hear that mom had to get a root canal done, those are not fun

So this week was kind of slow, we weren't able to teach anyone, our appointment with Kiem was postpone to next week, they had to postpone it due to the weather that we had on Friday (which is when we meet with them) we got some snow and ice, and we wont be able to meet with them this week because they are going to be out of town.

 we weren't able to meet with anyone else, we did teach some lessons to the members, in the mission we are trying to reach the goal of 20 lessons a week in total in each area, and that includes investigators, pm, la and active members.

We had our zone Christmas party, it was allot of fun, we had a white elephant gift exchange, and a member cooked us all dinner, so it was allot of fun.

But besides those things nothing really else happened. oh wait! we got transfer calls on Saturday, we are both staying in Warrenton, but the other elders in the ward are being whitewashed out and we are getting Elder Johnson and a brand new missionary, I know Elder Johnson pretty good, and he is a awesome missionary, he was trained by Elder Toki, and Elder Johnson is going to be the new district leader.

 

So how is grandma doing? And what are you guys planning on doing for Christmas this year?

Today has been pretty good, we went to a members house and had breakfast and went sledding in there back yard, they have a good size hill, and you can get some pretty good speed going down it, as long as you don't hit any trees on the way down that is, I hit one or two, but thankfully they weren't big trees.

 

So if you could send me your guys account for Skype, we might be doing it at the Davidsons, but it depends when they Skype with there son.

 

Anyways love you all, have a great week.

-Elder Dixon

12/9/13

Hey Family.

Glad to hear that the grandparents are doing well.

Its ok that you weren't able to send anything back, it was kinda of a short notice, but its a bummer that she (sister Vellinga, is from South Utah county and moved back to Warronton, Mo. and was here for a visit and brought somethings back for Jacob) got the flu :( i know she was really looking forward to spending time with family and friends.

Your passing another kidney stone? So what are they caused by and how can you avoid getting them? And does that mean that I might get them latter on in life? There where a couple of elders that i know that had them while they where out here on a mission, poor guyy, anyways im glad that the herbal tea is working.

I think that Pres. Montigue will do a great job as ward mission leader, and I know that you guys will love conducting meeting at the rest home.

So this week went GREAT!

First off Abdur is doing good, we where not able to teach him this week but we did give him a blessing for a super bad ear infection that he had,so it was a great opportunity to for us, he got a second job due to a member in the ward who needed more help with his work, so we are happy that he is being blessed, I just hope he can see that.

We also taught Kiem (she is married to a member) we finished teaching her the plan of salvation, cause the time before that we taught the latter half of it cause she had some questions about the resurrection, but it went great again, the spirit was there and we invited her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and she said that she has already done that and that she knows that it is true when she said that i was really, really shocked and my mind went a little blank there for a moment, but thankfully some words came out to invited her to be baptized, and she said that she would!!! :D and her husband just received the Melchizedek priesthood this Sunday so he can now baptize her and confirm her if she wants him to, so that was probably the biggest highlight of my week, its times like these that i love being a missionary.

We also had stake conference and a meeting with all the missionaries in the zone, so that went well as well, Abdur and Kiem where at stake conference and Kiem liked it but we weren't able to catch Abdur and talk to him before he left.

But yeah this week was way good.

And this week should be good as well, we have another meeting with Kiem and we are going to set a date for her baptism, and we are also doing a zone Christmas party, we would normally do a mission Christmas party but there are so many missionaries (240) that it would be to much of a hassle, so every zone will be doing its own separate thing.

Um what else, oh yeah I've been out for 18 months now :P crazy.

Transfers are on the 18th so we will get the call next Saturday to see who is staying or going.

The weather here is cold, high 20s and low 10 and below during the night, burr, but no snow yet, we did get some "snow" but it was more like dandruff, man the snow storms here have nothing on Utah, I probably just jinxed my self, oh well.

Love you all have a great week.

Elder Dixon

12/2/2013

Hey family.

Glad to here that you all had a great thanksgiving, we had a great one too

So it sounds like by the time I get home I wont recognize the organization of the ward anymore.

So RED 2, when did that come out?

The reason I called a hour behind is because I called grandpa at the arranged time, but grandma was asleep, so I didn't want to wake her up so I told grandpa that I would call back in a hour.

So this week was good. thanksgiving was great! we had dinner at the Liddell house, they are a family inthe ward, and the Davidsons where there also, so there was around 20 people total, there was a lot of good food, I've never been so full in my life! I didn't eat much for the next two days because how full I was. We also played some foot ball in the morning with the ward, and that was fun.

 

We are also beginning to teach kim, she is the wife to a member who has become more active now, we went over with there home teacher and talked to them about the plan of salvation and family history work, she recently lost her mother in august or June I think.

We where able to teach her about sealing's and the temple, you could tell that she was feeling the spirit, so it was nice to be able to teach someone, we haven't done a whole lot of that since ive been here, we are still trying to meet with Abdur but he is either busy or not home, so we are going to keep on trying. Haven't met with Jason since we last taught him, which was about a couple of weeks ago, but we are going to make more of a effort to meet with him this week. The appointment that we had with Rita fell through. so we aren't sure if she still wants us to meet with us or not. I wish more people where honest in there dealings, it would save us allot of trouble.

 

That's cool that you guys get to conduct meetings at the nursing home, that well give mom more of a opportunity to take the sacrament more openly.

It was really nice to be able to talk to grandma, she seemed in good sprits, im happy that she is, its an answer to my prayers I'm hoping that she can stay happy.

Love you all, I hope you all have a great week.

-Elder Dixon

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Dear family

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like a lot of things are changing back home.

I'm glad that grandpa well be getting out of the rehab center before thanksgiving and thanks for talking to president Morgan, I'll make sure to call them.

 

So this week was ok, we didn't teach anybody besides a recent convert and some less actives, so nothing really got done this week, it's hard when you try your best and nothing happens and you see other areas around you excel. oh well nothing we can really do to change that I guess. We did stop by Abdurs house yesterday and we set up a time to stop by on Tuesday, we are really looking forward to that, he is a great guy.

 

The members here are pretty awesome, and we where able to do some service for a member and split wood for them, I miss chopping wood, it helps take the stress away. For thanksgiving we will be playing football with the ward and having lunch and dinner with some families in the ward, I'm excited for it, but I do wish I could be at the Davis party.

 

I will get back around June 4th so I well be able to see Roscoe for a little while, btw are you guys still planning on picking me up or am I flying? I'm been thinking about flying home, but I can't decide, I'll keep thinking about it, what do you guys think?

 

Well love you all, have a great thanksgiving.

-Elder Dixon

11/18/2013

Hey Family,

We weren't able to go see the wolves and probably won't for awhile, Tiffany is having a lot of things happening and stressing her out.

So this week was good, we have two new investigators! the first one is Jason, he is a friend/neighbor of a recent convert, we had lunch over at the recent converts house last Monday and he was there also and he was curious about what we believe, and he is interested in learning more.

 the other is Abdur he is a husband to a member whos daughter was just baptized on Saturday. he is a really great guy, he loves his family and wants to do what is best for them, we where really able to talk to him after the baptism, but we found out that they needed some help cleaning out there old house they just moved out of, so we volunteered to help, but we did that after church, yeah I know that it was on the Sabbath, but we had a great reason, as we where talking to him he said that he has been thinking about baptism lately :D that was really cool hearing that from him! we will be going over tonight to help them clear out there basement, that's infested with tons of spiders and what not. but it should be good, it well give us another opportunity to talk more about the gospel with him.

 this week was pretty good, now that I look back.

 So I don't know what I want for Christmas, like I always do, haha I don't want any thing that is going to take up room, I don't need any clothing for winter, and everything is still in good working order.

So guess what I found the other day in the gas station? I found that they sell mango melon sobes! finally I found some. that's probably a highlight of my week.

Love you all,

-Elder Jacob Dixon

"...Warrenton is awesome"

Hey Family,

 Cool pictures of the hawk and stuff. So how is Jessica doing? I heard about the giant storm that hit the Philippians on Friday, I hope she is doing ok.

So this week was pretty good, Warrenton is awesome, I love it already! The ward members are super cool, and guess what? there is a family here that moved from Salem a couple of years ago and i know one of there sons that is on a mission in California! we where in the same English and Japanese class in Salem hills, and I also used to work with him and his older brother back in maple dell, it's a small Mormon world. We also met with a recent convert when I first got here, her name is Tiffany, and she is super cool and loves every thing about the gospel, and she has about 7 tame wolves and we might be going over today to see them and pet them! I'm pretty excited about that, wolves are so cool.

we also had a chili cook off on Saturday, that was way good, I was able to meet most of the ward members, I was also asked to give a talk on Sunday :P I love short notice talks, but it turned out pretty good, it was on the talk that Elder Ballard gave in conference about missionary work.

 Yep that's what happened this week and what not, it was pretty good. Oh, and Elder Taft is a cool missionary, he is shy at times, but that's ok cause I'm the same way at times, so hopefully we can both improve on that together, he is from Fruit Heights Utah and he graduated with my trainer (Elder Barney)
 So the new suit case is nice, its a little bit bigger than my other one, so that's nice, and yeah I had to use my own money for it.

 My new address is
102 Granada Dr Apt 204 Bldg L

Warrenton, Mo 63383

Love you all, have a great week

-Elder Dixon

A hollow tree that we found while tracting

 The horse shoe!

 Posterity picture: left to right. me, Elder Yanagita and Elder Abad

"I'm getting transferred to..."

Hey Friends and Family,

I'm getting transferred to Warrenton, MO it's between Columbia and St. Louis, so it's in the country! Yay I'm excited about it, and we get a car!! I haven't been in a car area since Sullivan, and I'm glad to be able to leave the city, my new companion will be Elder Taft, Elder Rausch will be staying.

So this week was ok, besides somebody getting into our storage closet in our complex and stealing by big suitcase >:(  So we had to go to a couple of stores and try to find a suit case for a good price, but we found one at Marshalls for 50 dollars, and it's a big one as well. It still upsets me about how stupid people are these days, it just goes to show that you cant trust anyone really anymore.

So Mike dropped us on Sunday, we had gone over Saturday and talked to him about how he ins't keeping our simple commitments, so we told him that we are still going to come by but if he doesn't start shaping up then we aren't going over any more. 

So fast forward to Sunday morning and we get a call from him and he said that he just wants to take a break for awhile to sit down and look at his situation but he said to stop by in a couple of weeks.

How are the Grandparents doing? I got a call from president telling me that grandpa had bypass surgery, is he doing ok? (Laura's Dad had a triple bypass surgery this last week)

Love you all,

-Elder Dixon

"...whole district blitzed..."

Dear Family,
 
Glad to know that the baptism went well and that sister Kwok had a great experience. That's sad to hear about the house that burnt up in Elkridge.

So this week was okay. The whole district blitzed (everyone tracting in one area) our area on Thursday, it went well, we also did exchanges while we where doing that, so that was good, we found some potentials and the sisters in our district found some new investigators. They set up  return appointments but when we went to them the next day they weren't  there or had to reschedule, so we don't know much about them. We met with "M" again, he isn't keeping his commitments and isnt praying, so we are going to make one last push with him, we have committed him to read one verse before he smokes,watches tv or plays his psp, and if he doesn't keep this commitment we are most likely going to drop him, sadly. It still seems he is just wanting a free hand out, and that's the only reason he really comes to church, so he can talk to the branch president, but we have told him time and time again that he can't always rely on the church and that he needs to start looking for a job of some kind.

Also transfer calls are happening on Saturday, I think I am going to stay and that Elder Rausch well be going somewhere.

Love you all thanks for the email

-Elder Jacob Dixon

"I also crashed my bike for the first time..."

Hey Family,

Thanks for telling me about grandma and grandpa (about his Davis grandparents), it gives me time to prepare and brace for what might happen.

Mike doesn't have to go to the court date anymore, his parole officer talked to the state attorney and they where able to change it to next year. So we no longer have to worry about it, but we did go over and talk to him. Lately he has been thinking and asking us if the church can help out with his bills and food, we have told him multiple times that we as missionaries can't really do any thing about it. We keep on telling him that he well have to talk the branch president, ugh I don't like it when people think that we can fix all of there problems. We can only help them with their spiritual side and not there temporal side, so we are hoping that he isn't investigating the church only to free load off of it. I really wish people would use common sense and try to find a job, that's the problem with this world, too many people out there expect everything for nothing, I really don't like it.

Anyhow, nothing much happened besides that, we are still tracking, we find potentials, but a lot of them are people pleasers  and will say anything to your face. So we are having a hard time with that.

I also crashed my bike for the first time, we where on exchanges and I was in the district leaders area and we where biking back to there apartment and it was dark, and I think my bike lock some how got caught in the front tire and it pulled to the side and I tried to pull it back but I over corrected and fell and braced myself with my hands. Then rolled on my back and slide for a little while, but not too long maybe a couple of seconds, but I'm alright, just some bruises, thankfully I was wearing a helmet and we weren't going too fast, my bike is ok as well.

Yeah so that was my week. Exciting stuff, and me and Elder Rausch are getting along great, no need to worry about his impatience, I think it was just me, I wasn't in the best mood last week.

That's so awesome that the Kwok family is getting baptized, you'll have to send some pictures of them

Well I have to get going, I have allot of people to write so I probably won't be able to do what i did last week.

Love you all,

-Elder Jacob Dixon

P.S. I got the package you sent me, thanks allot, the cookies where way good, ate a whole bag in one day :D

"...Picture Perfect"

Hey family.

 

The temple looks so awesome, I cant wait to go inside someday. Hopefully it will be done by the time I come home, cause that's the first stop I want to make before I'm released. (he is talking about the Payson Temple. Angel Moroni was set in place last week)

 

That's a cool story about Kwok family, I hope they get baptized soon because that would be way cool. I'm glad that mom is fellow-shipping the mother, they all sound like cool people, it would be super cool if I get to meet them when
I get back. So have you guys had the opportunity to feed the missionaries lately?

 

This week was ok, we didn't teach MJ because she is in the process of moving and we haven't found any new investigators yet, but we are finding some potentials that might become investigators.

 

We taught mike on Saturday, it went well, we read from the book of Mormon, and we found out some bad news. He has a court date for the 22nd and it's 3 hours away from where we live, and we cant find a ride for him and he is having trouble finding one also. If he misses this court date, which is just a review, they are going to issue a warrant for his arrest and he is heading back to prison until next September, so to say the least we are praying a lot that the lord will provide.

 

Other than that all is going good, we are getting along, I'm just trying to be patient with his impatience, but we are still having a good time down here in the hood.

 

So I do have our cousin's blogs so you don't need to worry about sending me the emails.

I'm glad that Roscoe is doing a good job and leaving a good impression on his bosses that they are going to let him weld. (Roscoe now works at Goodfellow, same place Adam works.)

Yep so that was my week.

I hope you all have a great week too

 

Love Elder Dixon

P.S. I hope you enjoy the picture, it's postcard perfect

 

 

 

We saw this while we where waking past a parking lot

 

 

"... my favorite talks was by Elder Ulisses Soares, he talked about the attribute of meekness and how we can obtain it by living in the spirit. "

Dear Dixon family,

 

First off I'll answer your questions.

So the Elders that we replaced ended there missions in this area, so their time was up, and yes I'm out of journal paper. Thanks for the pictures of the Payson Temple, IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!! Do we know when it well be completed?

 

Crystal did tell me about Roscoe getting the job at Goodellow. I hope he enjoys it and from what I hear he is starting at a pretty good pay.

This week was pretty good, mostly because of conference, we watched it at the branch building. Me and Elder Rausch where the only ones there most of the time, and at priesthood meeting it was only us and the branch president. It was still great, I think one of my favorite talks was by Elder Ulisses Soares, he talked about the attribute of meekness and how we can obtain it by living in the spirit. How people who are meek are more often to receive the message of the gospel, because they are humble and can recognize there dependence on God.

 

I think the 3 main things that stuck out to me the most all together where the 1st and 2nd great commandments, the important roll of woman and mothers in the world and how the world is perverting the virtues that woman bring into this world. Then the importance of priesthood holders and what we need to do to stand up for what is right and stay steadfast in our morals.

We also taught a new investigator this week on Tuesday, her name is M.J, she is someone we tracked into and set up a return appointment, she is a single mother, and has a close relationship with God and knows that she can over come her trails that she is going through. She is interested to learn more about The Book of Mormon. The only problem that we see coming up is that we know that her uncle and cousin are pastors of another church, and most of the time when people ask the ministers or pastors about our beliefs they always say negative and false things about our beliefs.  That then scares our investigator so they don't want to meet with anymore, but we are praying that this doesn't happen with her.

Love you all,
-Elder Dixon

P.S. I liked Ricky's email, pretty cool.

"Nobody really gives us trouble because we are the "Jesus boys...."

Hey Everyone,

So East St. Louis is ok, it's not as bad as people make it out to be, in fact I think it's just as bad as my last area. It's ghetto but it's not as crowded like I thought it would be; there are allot of vacant houses and buildings. There are a couple of streets that we have to avoid, but for the most part we are safe. Nobody really gives us trouble because we are the "Jesus boys" so they know who we are and what we do.

 

My new companion is Elder Rausch ( not Roach, the zone leaders messed up with his name ). He is from Calgary Canada, he is pretty cool. We get along great so far, he has been out for 4 months, so I'm not training which I'm totally fine with.

The area is ok as far as work wise, we white washed in so we replaced two elders who just went home, and to say the least they where slackers. They didn't really do anything, and they where super rebellious. We found a whole bunch of movies in our apartment that are from the flea market, so they are pirated. They had Iron Man 3, The Avengers, the new Batman, and couple of other movies. We also found out that they left the mission boundaries with a sister in the ward to go to the Nauvoo pageant! Everyday we keep on finding out how big of piles they where, so that was frustrating, oh but they cleaned most of the apartment before they left, except the bath room. It was pretty gross, there was mold in a lot of places and on the shower curtain...eek, so we throw that away real fast. They did leave us with some people to teach, one of them we met on Saturday, his name is Mike. He is a good person, he just got out of prison and is still on parole and house arrest and wont be off of it till next year He is going to be taught by missionaries for a long time.

 

Other than that we haven't met with anyone else since we were busy trying to get to know our area better.

 

We also met with the branch yesterday, boy it's a small branch, only 15-20 people come and including there are only 8 priesthood holders. So we got to help bless and pass the sacrament one thing for sure is that we got our work cut out for us.

 

Thanks for the video link of Dayan, man I can't believe they are getting married in November.

I'm super excited about general conference this week end. Oh, and that reminds me, I got to buy Orange rolls today :)

 

Love you all,

 

-Elder Dixon

 

It may be a good idea to send that info, for future purposes and you guys should be fine to send me packages and what not, we don't live in East St. Louis, but we live outside of it in a town called Belleville, its a way nicer town. So we won't have to worry about any thing.

My address is 109 N 74th St Apt #1

Belleville, IL 62223

 

 

Pictures of East St. Louis

Vacant building

  Vacant school

 

 Illinois, its so freaking flat, I'm going to go crazy!

 

09/23/2013

For those who do not know what White Washing is, it is when the missionaries in one area are replace by two new missionaries who have not been in the area before. All the two new missionaries know about the area are what they learn from it in a short meeting with the previous missionaries and the records given to them.

 

WOW Dayan and Ashley are getting married!! Man they where supposed to wait till I got back! JK.

So I would like the video that came along with the email, please.

Well we got transfer calls, I'm heading to East St.Louis and my companion well be Elder Roach ( not sure how to spell his name) and we are going to be white washing, I'm not sure if I fell countable with this new assignment. Tell you the truth I'm scared out of my mind more than I ever have, I hate to admit that but I am. I really hope that this will be a good experience and not a bad one. Well enough of that.

 

 So this week was pretty good, we taught Rachel, she was a referral that came to church last week and really enjoyed it, we taught her the restoration and it went great. She really liked the part when we talked about how God wants to hear from us just like how she would like to talk to her children, so that really hit home to her.

 

 We also taught Steven, he is a referral from a less active member, Steven is kinda interesting, we think he has a mental illness, but he is still accountable. We had a good talk with him and only taught the first half of the 1st lesson, cause he has a hard time grasping things when there is a lot of information out there, so hopefully Elder Jerome and my replacement well be able to get him to progress. The weather this week was really good, it was in the 70s and 60s for the most part, it also rained while we where out, so we got drenched when we went to get on the bus. so this week was good.

 Well I'll write you guys next week to tell you how it is.

Love Elder Dixon

 P.S. Here are some pictures when we went to the arch, a couple of us went in side of it

 

 The Missouri side

 The Illinois side

Story behind the spider, we found it at a members house while having dinner, it was on the wall.  It was pretty big!

09/16/13

Hey family.

 

Do we know why Cola had a fracture? Was it from Miss Piggy, I can't wait to get rid of her. Cola was a good goat, I'm going to miss her :(

 

Man the new "Star Trek" sounds awesome, some members where telling us about it, that's one more movie to put on the list, I also heard that they are making an "Enders Game" so that should be cool.

I'm so excited that dad is getting a job, (I told him that is look like I have a new job, there is nothing official yet, indicators are good) I hope you do a great job with everything.

 

So this week was ok, all of our appointments fell through, but it's ok cause we met a couple of cool people, we have another super solid potential that came to church with a member, and she wants us to teach her!!!!!! yay I'm so excited, her name is Rachel. Jeff also came to church, so that was a plus, and we should be meeting with him soon.

 

Something else interesting happened this week, Elder Jerome and I gave a blessing to one of the sister's investigator that just had a baby and is having some health issues, then she asked if we could bless the baby too, so that was the first time that we have given a baby a blessing, the spirit was really strong there and she said that she could feel it. She has really strong faith.

So that was the just of our week, it seems like it was yesterday that I sent out my last email.

 

So I've been drinking power-aid and stuff like that, but I don't have to worry about that this week since its going to be in the 70s and today it's 60 outside, and we are going to be playing some soccer under the arch today with some other missionaries in the mission. it might rain today to, not sure yet.

Well I hope this week goes well for you all.

 

Love you all-Elder Dixon

 

 P.S. We get trainer calls tomorrow and transfer calls on Saturday, so you should know by next Monday of whats happening

Mission Conferene, late email and the Zoo

Hey family,

It looks like every one had a adventure this week. Cars are really annoying some times, I'm sorry that you weren't able to make it to the funeral. Do you know if the rest of the family was able to attend? 

So sorry that this email is getting to you guys late, I'll tell you all the reason being. So last week we where told that we would be having a mission conference on Wednesday, so it wasn't going to interfere with our pday, but then they changed it to Tuesday and on Saturday they changed it to Monday, so we just moved our pday to today... I hope that makes sense. 

This week was really hot, it hit around 98 :p man it was hot, I got super dehydrated even though I was drinking allot of water, so I felt like crap for the rest of the week. Don't worry I'm feeling better now. It could drop to the high 70s on Friday and Saturday yay :D So some cool things are starting to happen, we have a solid potential that we help carry his groceries to his house, his name is "L" and he has been going through some rough times, he was mugged and robbed, his car got vandalized and totaled and his insurance company wouldn't pay for it. He lost his job and got evicted, so to say the least his is super humbly and honest, and is interested to meet with us. He used to meet with missionaries back in Arizona, so he is familiar with what we believe but that was 20+ years ago, so he doesn't remember much. "J" came to stake conference on Sunday, he really enjoyed it and he had some good questions. We should be meeting with him tomorrow so we are excited for that since we haven't taught any one for a while. You should be getting a letter soon, I haven't sent it yet because all of the stuff that has been happening, I have most of it written while we where riding the bus to the mission conference.  To say the least this week was better than last week.


Love you all-Elder Dixon 

Here are pictures from when Jacob went to the zoo.

He said this is one of the biggest snakes that he has EVER seen.

September 3, 2013-Labor Day and Zone Conference.

Hey Dixon Family and Friends,

This week was ok, but we didn't teach anyone. We where sweating our brains out the whole week too, it's high 90s with 60% and above for humidity.  So it felt like it was 107, :P I really don't like this weather. No wonder why the saints left :) JK

Still no word from "L", but his main fellow shippers in the ward see him every once and a while, they said that he is starting to turn to his old addictions again. Ugh we've worked so hard on him and he came so far too. I guess this is how God feels when we mess up on something. We also had zone conference with president Morgan, it was good. The theme was urgency, so a lot of the trainings where given on that. We also got some sad news to, we wont be able to go to the temple anymore, we are only allowed to go once in our missions now. So two weeks ago was my last time going, and they said that we where one of the only missions that allowed missionaries to attend to temple once a transfer. So I'm glad that I was able to attend the temple for most of my transfers.

We went to the St. Louis city museum as a zone, it was a blast! The city museum is like a giant play ground for kids and adults, they have obstacles and tunnels and a lot of other things, so it was way fun!  I forgot to bring my camera, so I don't have any pictures. :(

I hope that the Camry can get fixed, and stop having so many problems.

So I've been seeing and hearing some things about the whole Syria thing happening, and that the U.S might be deploying troops over there soon, Is this true? If so will it be effecting Jason, Roscoe and Adam with being deployed?

Well I don't have as much time to email today, since it was Labor Day yesterday, we are given a small window to do it this morning.

Love you all, I hope things work out the best for every one.

-Elder Dixon

p.s. If you see Dayan or Devin, tell them to email me when they have the time. thanks :)

August 27, 2013

Hello family.

 

It sounds like you guys had quiet the adventure this week, I'm glad that it wasn't the pump that failed, aren't those expensive to replace?

 

So we have been doing all of those things with our ward mission leader, even our zone leaders and mission president know about the problem, I think the problem is that we are getting so many baptisms with 3 sets of missionaries in the ward that it looks like he is doing a good job, but it's really just us missionaries and some members, pulling most of the weight, so we don't know what to do, just hope and pray that he changes and has more of a drive to do better.

 

So this week was good and kinda bad, we have a new investigator, his name is Jeff, he was brought to church by his friend, Mike who is a awesome member. We have taught him the first lesson and the second, he didn't come to church because he broke his foot about a week ago, so his pain was acting up on Sunday, typical, but he is way cool and is accepting things very well, and is open. He used to be catholic and then jumped around from church to church, and then he kind of went on the deep end. He wants to change all of that and become more like Mike, cause he sees all the good that he does and stands for. Mike is also a convert and has a similar back ground, so he helps out a lot when Jeff doesn't understand things.

 

Kinda sad news,  on Friday we where teaching Jeff and while we were there the phone goes off and someone leaves a voice mail, so after the lesson we listened to the message and it was from Leland. "He said that he wasn't coming to church no more, thanks for the baptism, it meant nothing to me, I don't want to hear anymore about Joseph Smith and all that bull crap (censured). Don't come looking for me, don't call me, if you do I'll hurt you". It didn't make me happy to hear when he said it meant nothing to him, I know he felt the spirit, and everything else. So that through us for a loop.

 

So as we are walking to dinner, we missed a call and a voice mail, guess who it was? If you guessed Leland, you where right. He apologized for the words he said and was telling us that he has been drinking and is drunk and didn't mean any of the words that he said, and that he still wants to come to church and everything.

 

He came to church but he left in the middle of sacrament meeting, I thought he was going to use the restroom or something, but he actually left the building, and we couldn't find him. We have tried calling him and knocking on his door, but no answer, and this is like the 5th time he as pulled something like this. For real, I haven't talked about it a whole lot because he always comes back, but this time I have a feeling he isn't, so I don't know what to do.  I feel like we've done all we can on our part to help him.  I'm also getting tired of him backstabbing us every time we extend our arms, I don't know if I can trust him anymore.

 

So that was the just of my week, there is more info in the letter I'm sending. Sorry that this email is a little bit late, we had a crazy morning that we didn't have time to do emailing, so we are just doing it really quickly.

Well got to go love you all,

 

-Elder Dixon

August 19, 2013

Hey family. Sounds like you guys had a busy week, picking up Roscoe, going to farewells and doing a lot of traveling, the pictures you sent look good, Roscoe looks really different in those pictures, and he looks like he is getting taller, how tall is he? I might have to cut his nee caps so he isn't taller than me, haha Jk.

So what do you mean by a shut in? when you went on team ups with the missionaries.

I'm glad to hear that Ashley is dating a good guy, she deserves someone that well treat her well.

So this week was pretty good, Leland gave us a scare this week too, so he was baptized on Saturday morning and he was super happy and excited, well later that day I called him to see if he had a ride to church, but he started to tell me that he wasn't coming back to church ever and that this whole thing was him putting on a show and that he had many reason not to become Mormon, and then he hanged up, so I was really down when I heard that come from him, because he has always been excited about every thing we taught him, and he said on multiple occasions that he knew this was true.  So come Sunday we get there early and we are still depressed about the whole thing with Leland, so we help hand out programs and greet people as they come in to church, and lo and behold we see Leland come walking in.  We went and talked to him in a class room to see whats up with him, and why the sudden change again, and it turns out that he had invited his family to come to the baptism and none of them showed up, so he was sad because of that, and he called them after the baptism and talked to them, and the just of it is his family has pretty much disowned him and told him that he is going to hell because of his decision to be baptized in the Mormon church, so he was just really angry and depressed when I called him, and he apologized for the way he acted and he still wanted to be confirmed a member and receive the gift of the holy ghost. so after talking to him for awhile we could tell that he still wanted to go through with this, so the bishop did the confirmation, and he was really happy after that. I just hope that nothing happens between yesterday and today, cause we are going to go to his house today to start teaching him the new member lessons, we are trying to teach all the recent converts the new member lessons, because there are about 30+ converts from 2011 to now, and we feel like the ward isn't supporting us, so we are getting worn out trying to maintain the missionary work with just 3 sets of missionaries. Our ward mission leader only meets with us after church for like 1 minute and then just leaves, so we don't get much of a chance to tell him our concerns and plans for the week. We spent the rest of the week trying to get in contact with the rest of our investigators, but we don't have a good size teaching pool any more cause most of them have been baptized. man I've never had this kind of problem before

So that was the summary of my week, other than that we are doing good, Elder Jerome and I are getting along well, no trouble yet. He is a good missionary from what I can tell, he is from Sacramento California and has been out for 4 months and this is his 2nd area.

We also went to the zoo in forest park on Monday, I'll sent some pictures next Monday, since I forgot my camera at the apartment.

Love you all and hope for the best

-Elder Dixon

P.S. Any more news on the interview you had a couple of weeks ago?

August 12, 2013-Baptism and Transfers

Hey family.

This week was Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we had two baptisms, Mohammed and Jessica, it was really cool, half of the ward showed up to support them, it was a great baptism.

We also taught Leland the word of wisdom, he accepted it really well, he was excited about it, and I've never seen that happen before, he was telling us that he was already working on quitting smoking and the other stuff, and he asked for a blessing afterwards to help him fight against his addictions.

He also came to church!!! He said he really liked it, and we are moving his date up to the 17th, so this Saturday.

 So time for some sad news, we got transfer calls on Saturday :.( I'm staying, but Elder Toki is leaving to MT Vernon, Illinois. I didn't wat him to leave, he is probably one of my top 3 companions that I have had, he is really cool, and a hard worker, we worked really hard, more than any other area or transfer.

My new companion well be Elder Jerom (pronounced Gerom) all I now is that he has been out for 4 months, so he is relatively new, I'm kinda scared, cause I don't have a big Tongan to intimidate people, now we are just two skinny white boys walking the streets, with man bags We have a new rule in the mission, we cant use backpacks anymore :/ not to happy about that, we have to carry satchels, but we don't have to get them right away, we just need to get them asap, so im going to be looking at some places today, or I'll just convert my back pack into a satchel.

 I'm excited to hear that dad had a great interview, I hope you get it.

It sounds like a lot is happening back home, Ricky has is farewell this week right?

and Dayan and Devin are coming home soon, wish I could be there.

so its not flooding where we are, we haven't had to much rain lately, but it might today. the weather is nice.

well I hope every one is doing great, love you all.

Elder Dixon

Cool cloud that I took a picture of

Back pack blessing at some church, really?

Jessica who was baptized by her boyfriend Preston

Left to right me, Elder Toki, Jessica, Preston and Mohammad

Our district left to right 

Sister Fisher, Sister Linton, Sister Minyard, Sister Collet,

Front row of elders: Elder Terrazas (zone leader) Elder Toki, Elder Gubler, Elder Muir and Elder Vincent, has his face cut off in that one, back row Elder Dahle, Elder Anderson(zone leader) and me, (I'm standing on something, so im not that tall)

"...the plan of salvation..."

8/5/2013
This week was good, we where able to confirm Dian and Amanda and Chris on sunday and they where way happy about it, I love seeing the gospel change peoples life's for the better, it s one of my favorite things about being on a mission. we also taught Leland and it went well we talked about the plan of salvation and he was asking really good questions, so we know that he is learning. we have also been teaching Mohammed( Furats brother) he was able to get permission to start teaching him, its like teaching someone who has been in the church for a long time, he know every thing that we are teaching him, and he is always asking awesome questions.

I'm probably  staying in this area for another transfer, but we will find out on Saturday. and by tomorrow ill be out for 14 months, Crazy.

 and they haven't let us get on Facebook yet to do proselyting, I'm guessing that by the time I go home they well have it up and running.

-Elder Dixon

"...one of the best weeks I've hand..."

7/29/2013
This week was awesome, because we had 3 baptisms Dian, Amanda and Chris got baptized, ill sent you a pic, I baptized Chris and Elder Toki baptized Dain and Amanda, and a member gave a great talk and most of the people that where there where crying, the spirit was really strong there, they are an awesome family. but there weren't able to get confirmed because Satan is real and is a jerk wad, there car broke down on Sunday and they where really stressed with a couple of other things, so they didn't make it to church, so we are kinda sad about that, but they are going to be confirmed next Sunday and we are seeing them through out the week so that they don't slip through the cracks.

 we also where able to get back  in contact with  some of our investigators that seemed to fall of the face of the planet. and we are going to be seeing them this week sometime.

  yeah this week was one of the best that I've had on my mission.

and today we are going to make shirts for the next zone p-day which is next week and its going to be 3 zones playing capture the flag in forest park, its going to be Awesome ill send a picture next week of what the shirts look like.

-Elder Dixon

"...change in his heart and it was softened..."

7/22/2013

We found two new investigators, the first is a referral from a member, his name is Leland, he is really cool and wants to come closer to Christ, he grew up Pentecostal but something happened and the church turned there back on him and his family kind of disowned him, so he has had it pretty rough, he is really open and has questions when we are teaching him, so that means that he is listening, and he is super excited to be baptized, and when we asked him what day we could come back, he responded and said the following day, that rarely happens, its probably one of the first times, so we go over there the next day and something was different about him, he wasn't as happy when we met with him the day prior, so we sit down and start talking, and he starts telling us that he had spoken to his father ( when I heard him say that, my heart sunk ,cause I knew why he wasn't as happy, cause his father told him some anti-Mormon stuff, I really hate that more than getting doors slammed in my face). His father had told him that we put man before God, so we cleared that up, but he had hardened his heart and wasn't going to listen to things we had to say, so Elder Toki and I both shared some really personal and sacred things and bore our testimony, and guess what? it worked, the lord was able to bring a change in his heart and it was softened, now we will be having another baptism soon, he is now really excited about it and he has prayed about it and knows that it is true, so it was a very close call, bearing your testimony is very vital to missionary work, it allows the spirit to bear witness of the truth that we have.

 

 Our other investigator is Furat, she is the daughter of a member who used to be married to a muslim man but is now divorced from her, and furat has been coming to church for a long time know and is actively engaged in the young women's, so she already knows allot and she got permission from her father to be baptized, so we just reviewed all the lessons and she was baptized on Saturday, along with another women who the other elders in our ward where teaching.

 

-Elder Dixon

"...time for the Awesome news..."

7/15/2013

Hey Family,

 I'm pretty sad to hear about about Grandma Davis, but I'm comforted to know that what ever happens that it isn't the end. I'm so grateful for the plan of salvation and the blessings that Heavenly father gives us.

So time for the Awesome news of the week, Dain,Chris and Amanda all came to church!!!!  they all loved it, Dain and Amanda said that they where crying when they where in relief society and the members came up to us and told us the same thing, and Chris loves young men, so we are super excited about that. but when they got home from church they found out that the land lord is going to evict them today because they where behind one there rent, and there electric and gas, so they let us know, and they have been having hard times with finances, and we told them in the past that we can't really help them out with that, but we told them that we can provide spiritual help, so they have been coming to church because of the spiritual hunger, but when we found out what was going to happen we meet with the bishop after church and told him the situation and we went over with the 1st counseled and the ward clerk and they talked to them and said that they would try to see what they can do, and the bishop called us today and said that he talked to the land lord and is going to help Dain and family get back on there feet, so to say the least we where truly grateful for that and Dain was also happy to hear that as well. and guess what?  THEY HAVE A BAPTISM DATE FOR THE 27TH OF THIS MONTH!!!!!!!  me and Elder Toki are so excited about it, we cant wait and neither can we.

Elder Dixon

"...the weather sucks..."

7/8/2013
The weather here sucks, it gets really hot and then you have the humidity and then it rains and after the rain, it fells like you could swim through the air, id rather deal with the dry heat than this.

 so this week was pretty good, we went to a members house for the 4 of July, but we had to work till 4 o'clock and the bus schedule was a little out of whack since it was the 4rth most of the busses where in st Louis since they where having a big thing at the arch. but it was good, the member spent like 600 on fire works, so it was pretty awesome,

We also got to meet our new mission president, president Morgan, he is from Kaysville Utah, he is really cool, I look forward to this last year with him.

 and we also had a family of investigators come to church, so we where pretty excited for that.

 

Hope all is going well for everyone,

 Elder Dixon

4th of July pictures

Fireworks from the 4th of July

Picture when we went and tagged paint Louis last Monday