Thanksgiving Sushi?

 Ben is very proud that he learned how to make Sushi this week! Hmmm...

 Hello!

   It's been quite a week. Our area is kind of struggling, but I still feel good about the efforts we're putting in. We had a baptism yesterday, but I'd like a few more before I leave this place. The baptism was great, but also extremely awkward and embarrassing, haha. It was a members mom, and the member baptized her. He was extremely nervous to baptize her, he has anxiety problems as well. On top of that, when they got in the font we noticed that the water had started draining and it wasn't as high as it should have been, but she was short anyways so we figured it would be okay. After he says the baptismal prayer he basically threw her in the water and took his hand out from behind her back, and then she hit her head on the wall of the font. Although it wasn't a very pretty baptism, Elder Dodge and I (the witnesses) along with the Bishop confirmed that she was fully submerged. But our Ward Mission Leader (kind of crazy) decided otherwise and told them to do it again. This time the water was much lower, and she was in pain and scared to go again... hahaha. you can imagine the embarassment and stress. I wanted out of there! They went again the second time, and once again he didn't support her on the way down and this time her head didn't even go under. Third time... same thing happened. But then the Bishop put his foot down and said "the first one counted, we're done." Man. Crazy day. At least somebody was able to partake in a saving ordinance... hopefully. :)

   Elder Dodge and I are getting along great. In the picture I sent he's the big guy on the right. He's a great missionary, I'm grateful to be with him. He'll make great contributions to the Chinese work. For Thanksgiving this week we're going to our 2nd counselors home, it should be great! We're also hosting a Thanksgiving dinner/activity on Wednesday for the Chinese people in the area, as an opportunity for finding. We're expecting a good 50+ people there, mostly from our English classes. It should be great. We're using the "thankful feathers" as part of the activity... on one side we'll have them write what they're thankful for, and on the other side we'll have questions like "Would you be interested in learning more about the church?" etc. We'll be showing mormon.org videos throughout the dinner and have some members share their conversion experiences. If done well, much good will come out of it!

  Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving, and tell the family hello for me. I love you all!

 

5 weeks...

Hello!
   How is everyone? This week has been great. We're learning and working hard. Our small little Chinese group is growing. A new Shanghainese family of 4 just moved into our ward boundaries. The mom stood up in our gospel principles class this week and said she felt that they moved here just to help the missionary work progress and to hopefully help our little group turn into a branch one day. We had a great miracle happen... we hopped on our bikes Monday night, and were headed to an appointment. The first lady we stopped and talked to happened to be a member of our church. She's about 70 years old and was baptized 2 months ago in Taiwan, but had moved to America just a few weeks after. Ever since then she hasn't been able to find the church. She was so happy to see us and happy to be back at church. She bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith yesterday, it was so powerful. Our group is ripe for lots of investigators to come.The mission will have a total of 18 chinese missionaries in the months to come... which is crazy and exciting! Lots of good will happen here.
  Thats awesome about Katelyn's call. And Carissa. Everybody is going on missions, I love it! Exciting stuff. Lots of members of the singles ward I served will be getting their calls soon, too. 2 people I taught with Elder Ebanks got baptized yesterday, Adlai and Melony. Adlai is 14 and Melony is 16, they're the kids of a lady we baptized in August. Adlai is just like Noah, it's so funny. Wish i had a picture! We had been working with them the whole time I was there and we set them with a date just before I left... really happy to see them finally make that decision!
  I'm scared to go home. I'm mostly just scared that my time as a full-time missionary is running out. I'm sure lots of missionaries feel this way, but I don't feel like I've done everything I need to yet. But maybe that feeling won't come for a while. Something President taught me is that the Lord is always pleased, but never satisfied. There's always more we can do. I'm so grateful to be a missionary.
  I love you all! Have a good week.

Exciting times...

Family,

   Man it's such an exciting time in the church right now, I'm super upset that I don't get to be in the field while most of it happens. President updated us on the latest. The first 3 weeks after the announcement, 11,000 applications were received. But think about it, did 11,000 people just have their papers ready to go? No, it takes time. So I'm guessing that there will still a TON more that will be turned in soon. Our mission will be receiving 50 new missionaries in the next 3 or so months, bringing a total 250 in this mission. Which means we'll have about 4-6 missionaries per ward. Also, transfer cycles will most likely be changing to 3-week periods instead of 6, in order to cycle all the new missionaries in. I am grateful I won't be an assistant at that time, or else I'd have migrains all day haha. The Lord truly is hastening his work.

   This week has been great. Last night we were able to visit a family that I baptized with Elder Au in August 2011. It was so good to see them again, they are such a good family. Mei-ho, the mother, hasn't come to church in over a year because of work. She works every day to put her 2 sons through school. It was so good to walk into their small little apartment with their vietnamese Book of Mormons on the table and a "Family: Proclamation" pinned up on the wall. She is still diligent in her book of mormon reading and always makes sure family prayer is said at the end of the day. She's an amazing woman.

   I'm really grateful for my companion. He has such a fire about him and loves to learn. He's also very submissive and willing to try new things. His chinese is really good, he was born in Taiwan and grew up in America. His mom speaks to him in chinese and he replies in english, so it's been pretty easy for him to pick up. I also love being in a bike area, we get to talk to so many more people about the gospel. It's a blessing, and it just might help me lose a few pounds. :)

  I hope all is well at home! I sure do love you guys. Love those costumes on the boys, too! haha, super funny. Thanks for the popcorn balls by the way, the missionaries in my apartment loved them... love you all!

 

Elder Dixon.

 

PS thanks for signing me up for classes mom!

Trainer

Hello everyone!

   Things in the mission are so different now! This area and my last area are way opposite. My new companion's name is Elder Dodge, he's from Provo. He was born in Taiwan and his mom is chinese so he speaks the language pretty well. It's weird to be back in Alhambra, but I love it. So many memories flood my mind everyday, good memories. We're working with a small chinese group in the Alhambra english ward, it's an interesting experience. We sit up in a room above the sacrament room and translate the meeting through headsets for the chinese people in the congregation, it definitely tested my chinese skills yesterday! especially because it was the primary program, where you can't understand the kids even in english sometimes. After sacrament we have our own chinese gospel principles class, and then a combined priesthood/relief society class. It's a really small group right now with only about 3 active members that attend, but the investigators that come love it. It has such a small family feel to it, it was a great experience yesterday. We came into this area with nothing and really had no idea where to start, but we have one person being baptized on the 18th and we'll hopefully find some more new investigators soon. The person on the 18th is the mother of a member that I knew back in Glendale, so that connection really helped out. That's a testimony to me that the Lord really does know what areas we need to be in. We went back up to Glendale yesterday for the baptism of Jorge, one of the guys I had been teaching there. He was so happy and excited to be baptized, what a good guy. One of the families we taught up there is getting baptized in a couple weeks too, its good to see the fruits of our labor pay off. It was really good to see all the members up there again, although it has only been one week since I was there it feels like I've been gone for months! Going from an assistant to a normal missionary is a huge change. I have so much more time on my hands now, it's crazy. But it's a good lesson for me to learn. In the church you can't always hold the same calling, even if you do love it.

   Elder Dodge is a great missionary and I'm excited to be with him. He's got a lot of fire in him and really just loves the work. He doesn't quite know how to channel all that fire yet, but we're working on it! He has great potential and he'll make a great leader in the future. I'm excited for things to come. He's taught me a lot already.

   I love you all! Hope all is well at home.

 

Love Elder Dixon.