Last email...

Last email, this is weird.

 

Things have been great. I'm happy!

 

I'll tell you how everything is when I get home!

Love you guys!

 

 

Last transfer...

Hello!

   Got transfer calls this past Saturday, Elder Dodge left me, and I'll be in a threesome with Elder Decker and Elder Brown for the next 2 weeks here in Alhambra. I'm really excited, they're both good elders and good things are on the way. We had a great week this week, we've found a lot of really good investigators and we're teaching a lot. We should be very busy the next few weeks. We're teaching one lady right now who i particularly enjoy teaching, Emily. She's a single mother, and has been in America for 5 years. She's been going to a different christian church for 5 years now and was just recently baptized there. At first we were sort of apprehensive to teach her because we thought she'd just argue with us, but it's been amazing to watch her heart soften. The last lesson we had she told us she was scared to pray about the Book of Mormon because she's afraid to actually receive an answer. She knows that if she does she'll have to leave her old church and position there and be baptized here. That's real intent! She'll be baptized soon if things go well.

   Another one of my good friends from the singles ward got her call this week to Hong Kong! Which is way funny because she's extremely white and has bright red hair. She's a convert of about a year or so, it's amazing how solid of a member she is. I'm always so impressed by the members of that singles ward, they're all so faithful.

  Well. I'll see you in a couple weeks! Things are going great! Love you all!

 

Elder Dixon.

  

Happy Thanksgiving

Family,

   Thanksgiving was great! We had a great week, I think I'd die if I ate another slice of pumpkin pie. We ended up having 4 pies left over from our pot-luck chinese style thanksgiving party on Wednesday. Which was very successful by the way! Many of the people that attended expressed their desire to learn more about the church, especially more about 'our purpose in life'. We had a few members tell their conversion stories, and then had a small performance from a new family in our ward. The grandma played this super cool ancient chinese instrument and the grandkids sang primary songs along with it, it was very unique! For Thanksgiving we went to the Jorgensen's home, they have 4 young kids. It was really nice to be a good family setting for thanksgiving and eat real american food. 

   This week has picked up quite a bit. We found quite a few new people to teach and we're excited. We met a man yesterday who called us saying he wanted to get married at our church. He said he went on a tour bus to Yellowstone and stopped at the SLC temple. He said the feeling he had there was just so amazing, and that the tour bus guide told him that people get married there. When we met with him yesterday,  we found out that he has no beliefs in anything but wants to find out why he felt so good when he was there. He cancelled lots of plans just to meet with us, so we know thats a good sign of real intent!

   2 friends from the singles ward I served in got their calls this week! Cody (that guy who called you) got his call to Leeds England speaking Polish! How cool is that. And then Brynn (Jennie's friend) got her call to Alaska. They're both so excited.

   Elder Dodge and I gave talks in Sacrament meeting this week, it went really well. He and I are the translators for sacrament meeting, so he translated my talk and after I finished I ran up into the translation box and switched him places, then he ran down and gave his talk. Kinda funny. The other two chinese elders in our ward struggle with translation (one is from Taiwan and one is really new) so it's left up to us to translate, but I love it.

   We had a mission conference with Brad Wilcox this week, it was awesome. I love that guy. His daughter is in our mission, so President allowed him to come see his daughter if he would talk to the missionaries. It was very inspiring. He brought a few copies of his book "Continuous Atonement" for President, and President said he's going to give me one of them... I'm excited for that. Oh! by the way, 2 things that I'd like for Christmas. "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister, and "Increase in Learning" by David A. Bednar.

President told me I need to study Bednar's book alongside of Preach My Gospel... so it must be pretty important.

   Love you guys! I'll get those presents as soon as possible.... only a few p-days to do it so I'll do my best. My companion and I bought a live crab today and we're going to try to cook it. We've experimented something new every week, haha. Have a good week!

 

Elder Dixon.

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.

Moving...

Last week I got the best phone call! "Is this Sister Dixon? My name is Cody from Glendale, CA...I just had to call and tell you how amazing your Missionary is! Elder Dixon has changed my life... he is the most awesome guy! I am 21 yrs old with no intention of serving a mission, then I met your son. He has been the best example and a dear friend. I have been out working with him regularly over the past couple of months, and now I am working on my Mission papers! Thanks for sharing him with me!" WOW! I know he is amazing...but it's awesome to hear it from someone he is working with right now!  Then Ben sent pictures of Cody with him... So cool!

Hey!

   It's been a crazy day, I don't like moving! I'll be staying with 2 other chinese elders tonight and pick up my new companion tomorrow. It was hard to leave the singles ward, I love those guys. They've been so helpful and have brought many into the church. I sent some pictures, Cody took a bunch on his iphone. I'm glad you got to talk to him! haha, he's super funny. I'll miss the family ward we served in too, they were awesome as well. Elder Ebanks and his new companion should have around 10 baptisms between November and December in the family ward. Oh speak of the family ward, we visited with a young couple that had just moved into the ward a few months ago the other night, the Coopers. We got talking about the mission, and it turns out that Brother Cooper served in Tijuana and knew Tyler, small world! He's now married and has a 14 month old girl, and he's doing an internship at Disney Imagineering. Last week we had a really cool experience, my companion and I and a few members of the singles ward got to listen to Jenn Blosil sing and play the piano. She's a rising star, and has a song on EFY 2011. She was offered a deal with a huge label in LA, but turned it down because they wanted to turn her music into something that compromises her standards. She has an incredible voice, look her up! She has some friends in the singles ward and came to visit for the weekend, it was a tender mercy!

   I'm excited for this next part of my mission. It'll be weird to have so much time to do things, that'll be a challenge and a blessing. I know I've got much to learn, it'll be a humbling experience. I've been learning so much lately, I wish I had time to tell you about it all. I've studied a lot about integrity lately, and that has changed my outlook on a lot of things. It's a difficult attribute to develop, but one of the most important.

   That's so cool that Bryson and I are coming home on the same day! That is awesome, I'm super excited for that. I haven't heard from him in a long time, probably a year and a half, haha. I wrote him a short letter a few months ago just to make sure he's alive, and haven't gotten anything yet. I'm sure everything is well and he's just too busy!

  Well I love you all! I wish I had more to write. Have a good week!

 

Elder Dixon.

A variety of pictures with the Singles Ward...

  And pictures of Ben with Elder Ebanks...such a great companionship!

 I LOVE this one!

 What great experiences he is having... with amazing people!

Back to the Chinese work!

I'm writing this email exhausted. I'm just burnt out, to say the least! It's been 3 weeks since we had a p-day, haha. We teach so much it's ridiculous (in a wonderful way!). We had 2 baptisms this weekend, Alan and Carl. They're both awesome and the baptismal service was amazing. Alan brought his family and friends, and they were all touched by it. Carl doesn't have any family here being from Croatia, but he is looking to building his own family soon. Speaking of families... we just found the most amazing family of 7 to teach. 5 of them over baptismal age. They met with missionaries 5 years ago, and once they got transferred nobody followed up. We were waiting for a member to come to a lesson with us and we decided to knock a couple of doors. They were the 2nd door we knocked, and they were so happy to see us. We talked to them again last night and they said we came at a PERFECT time. They had just gotten into a car accident and were praying for help, and then we knocked on the door. We gave them cookies and all the kids were so happy. BUT. I'm so used to keeping secrets about transfers as an assistant but I guess it doesn't matter if I tell my family. I'm going back to Chinese work next week. I'll be training a new missionary where I was trained, Alhambra. I'm super excited, and also a little torn because I won't get to see all the people we're teaching get baptized. But hey, they're the Lords baptisms and not mine. I've loved serving in Glendale. I've learned so much here, it's been life changing. It's amazing how right when I feel like I'm figuring out how to do missionary work as a full time missionary, I don't have much time to do it. But I won't let that stop the work from moving forward. I'm so excited to be with my people again! Haha. Alhambra has changed a lot since I was there last. They now have a Chinese Group at the building there, not quite a branch, whereas before we went to the Mountain View Ward in Arcadia. I wouldn't be surprised to see it grow into a branch in a short while. Isn't that amazing to see that progression? 2 years ago there was nothing in Alhambra... and now they're baptizing new members every other week and have a group.

  This weekend we had a Mission Conference with Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge of the Seventy. He met with half the mission on Friday and the other half on Monday. I conducted the meeting on Monday, it was a blessing to be able to attend twice. We got to see how he improved and changed his teaching and that taught me a lot. Sister Corbridge said she was from Las Vegas so I had to inquire... turns out that Aunt Mary (Ric and Mary) is Elder Corbridge's cousin. I took a picture with Elder Corbridge and Sister Corbridge said she'd send it to Aunt Mary. What a cool connection!

   Well I love you all! Sorry it took me a day to get to a computer and write this!

 

I'm sending some pictures of Carl and Alan. Enjoy!

 

Elder Dixon.

Welcome Rhett!

 (Recent convert Clarence... amazing, spiritual baptismal experience.  What a wonderful man!)

      Little Rhett is here! I can't believe how fast he came. Thats so exciting! Little Nebraska boy, can't wait to see him! He's a great addition to the family.

  I'm so excited about the new announcement for missionary work. That'll be amazing. I don't know if you watched the news conference afterwards... Jeffrey R. Holland said "God is hastening his work". What an exciting time we get to be a part of! I expect there to be thousands of more sisters that want to serve missions now too, they're usually the best missionaries. Conference was amazing this weekend. We watched it at President's house Sunday morning with a couple investigators from the singles ward, one of them was Brynn's friend that we're teaching, Sarah. Brynn has decided to go on a mission by the way, she'll make a great missionary. Sarah is doing well, President has kind of made it his own personal goal to get her baptized. She loves visiting with the Becerra's, and President thinks it's because they're the family she's always wanted in the gospel. She'll either be baptized this week or the next. We also have 2 other guys getting baptized this week, Carl and Alan. Carl is from Croatia, and is incredibly smart. He got interested in the church from reading biographies of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, he's awesome. We also picked up a new investigator named Jorge, he's from Cochabamba, Bolivia. He was excited to know that my father served in Bolivia! He didn't know there were missionaries there. He'll be baptized on the 28th, and he's doing great. When we first invited him to be baptized he was really hesitant, but then later in the week he sent us a text saying "After I read and prayed about the Book of Mormon, I have no doubt in my mind that I'll get baptized." He's awesome! Tonight we're doing an FHE at president's house with 2 investigators, it'll be a neat experience for them.

  I loved David A. Bednar's talk about consistency. We always seem to base our testimony of the gospel off of one dramatic experience with the spirit, maybe one amazing prayer or experience with repentance, but true conversion happens over a period of time from consistenly living righteously. Those big moments are important, yes, but not nearly as important as consistency. I took a question going into conference, "how can I have a lasting conversion to the gospel?" It was answered throughout the conference, but especially by David A. Bednars talk as well as Jeffrey R. Holland's. The talk that Jeffrey R. Holland gave was very simalar to the one he gave at an MTC devotional when I was there, I was so grateful to have re-experienced that feeling.

  When President Monson gave that announcement about missionary work, I felt something I'd never felt before. I knew at that moment that we truly have a living prophet that is guided and directed by God in all things. I know now better than I ever have before that this is the only true and LIVING church. It lives because of the constant revelation that is received. I'm so grateful for that knowledge, and so grateful to have grown up in an environment that allowed me to find the truth.

  I love you all! Have a good week!

 

Elder Dixon.

 

 Elder Dixon and Elder Ebanks...

 Some of the great people in the Singles Ward...

 

Tender Mercy

While I was at the grocery store yesterday I got a text from my sweet Jennie... "Guess What?? One of my old Young Women and Friend Brynn Hewitt (who is living in Los Angeles) just sent me this picture and said she taught a lesson with Ben today!:)"  Oh.my.goodness!! Can you imagine me stopped in the middle of an aisle at Smiths squeeling??!! This was a picture of my boy right at that moment!! That doesn't happen every day ya know... or ever, really!!! Ben is serving in the singles ward... he said the members are amazing are always helping the missionaries with referrals and bringing friends to church.  I am assuming Brynn must be in that ward and invited Ben and his companion over to teach a friend.  What a Tender Mercy for us today!! Thanks Jen and Brynn!

ALSO... In Ben's email this week he gave us his release date... DECEMBER 18!!!

 One week before Christmas!  PERFECT Christmas present for this Missionary Mama! 

 

Labor Day...

 A picture Ben took outside the home of a member...

   I can't wait to see my new nephews! Man it's been a long time. Everyone in those pictures look so much older! Especially Ethan. I can't believe how big they're getting. Still hard to believe that Ethan is in Jr. High. I remember feeling so old when I went there. Weird. Sounds like you had a good labor day weekend though!

  This week has been fantastic. We're teaching a ton and finding a ton more. We've been focusing a lot the past couple weeks on becoming better planners. We finally realized why sometimes the work goes slow, it's because the Lord can't trust us with all his children if we don't know how to plan and prepare and be organized for them! If they're just going to fall through the cracks, he's not going to give them to us. So we've been really tested this week, we've been really trying to stay on top of things and be as organized as possible, and we've been given a lot of new people to teach. We're teaching a huge  guy named Clarence, he had football scholarships all over the place but was turned down once he tore his rotator cuff, so now he's just going to Pasadena city college, where we met him. He went to a camp last summer with a bunch of LDS kids preparing to go on missions, and he was touched and wanted to become a member. Now he's reading the Book of Mormon and a bunch of other church books and loves to learn. He's awesome. BUT yeah, things are going really great. We should have possibly 3 baptisms this month, and 4 in October as of right now, if things play out like they should.

  We went over to presidents house last night and watched the special on Mormons that NBC did the other night, it was really interesting. I didn't really realize how much the church is being put out in the media. I was definitely surprised on how positive it was though, seeing how liberal nbc is. They could have done a lot worse, right? President Becerra is so funny. He tries to avoid talking about politics, but he can't. He's a huge Romney supporter. HUGE. He's one of the funniest guys I know.

   Thanks for everything family! I love you guys. I'm sending a cool picture I took outside of one of our members houses. Los Angeles is a crazy city. Have a good week!

 

Love, Elder Dixon.

Great Sunday

Hey family!

  Thanks for those inspiring words dad, I loved reading that. I love hearing the stories of rescue, they help put in perspective that the Lord puts us in certain places at certain times for certain reasons. We were able to bring a less-active family to church yesterday. They just moved to East LA from New Mexico, and felt inspired to go down to the church and get their records moved over and start coming back to church. The father is covered in tattoos, but it's awesome to see whats on the inside of him. He wants to raise his family right and keep his kids out of the gang life they were bound to be in if they didn't go to church.

  We were able to have a baptize yesterday for Gloria, my first english baptism! It was an amazing baptismal service, she has studied and prepared for a long time. She was found by some Armenian speaking missionaries knocking around in Glendale last October, and has been learning off and on ever since. 2 of her children will be baptized in September, as well as some other people we have lined up. I feel now more than ever the desire to baptize. These last 2 weeks I've felt so enlightened. We've learned so much about how to become better missionaries. Is it weird that I only now feel like I know how to be a missionary? I think the Lord does it that way on purpose. He's the master teacher, after all.

  Well I love you all, we have to go work on transfers with President now. It'll be a good day! We're taking one of our investigators to Presidents house for a family home evening tonight, I'm super excited for that. Have a good week!

 

Elder Dixon

Missionary Work

Hey family!
    This week has been a great week! We actually got to spend a lot of time working in our own area... it was really nice. We picked up a family that was dropped a little while ago, and it was a miracle. The mom said "ever since you told me I wasn't progressing, I had a new found commitment to progress." She's been studying a lot, and came to church 2 weeks ago. She has a baptismal date for the 26th, and her kids will soon follow. They are 16 and 14 years old, and we're going to start teaching her 22 year old and bring him to the singles ward. I'll have my first english baptism! haha. Exciting. About other investigators, they're coming along well. We need to find more though! There's never enough.

   I wanted to send a bunch of pictures today, but I forgot my camera. I'll try and get a bunch developed and mail them out. Our area is right on the edge of downtown LA, so we took some really cool pictures. Part of me is glad I'm not serving in downtown, there are a lot of crazy people down there. We had some experiences that aren't really apporpriate to tell in an email, haha.

  Thanks for that thought you shared with me dad, I love the word "become". I've studied it a lot lately, I'm giving a training on it tomorrow to all the missionaries that are currently being trained. I'm using a lot from Dallin H Oaks talk "the challenge to become". The word become really puts things in perspective. I've realized that not one of us will reach a point where we can say "I became." We're always "becoming", emphasis on the -ing.

  Well I don't have much time today, as usual. :) We're playing frisbee golf later!

I love you guys! have a good week.

 

Tennis

Hey Family!

   Yes my p-day is on Saturday, but I'll probably still write e-mails on mondays. or maybe saturday, it's up in the air really. I'm so glad EJ is playing tennis! I played again this saturday, it was awesome. One of our members is starting a free tennis clinic every saturday, and it'll be a good missionary finding activity so I'll probably be playing tennis every week for the next few months! I'm excited.

   This week has been pretty busy, again. We were able to work in our area more though, so that was nice. 1 or 2 times a week we set up a booth at Pasadena City College to proselyte to the younger folk for our singles ward, it's a lot of fun. We found an awesome new investigator this week named Vivek. I think his family is from India. He's a 17 year old kid. We were walking around our church building waiting for one of our members to show up for an appointment and we ran into him. He first told us that he was athiest/agnostic and didn't really have any interest. We talked some more and for some reason he agreed to come into the church and take a tour. When we walked in he said "ah crap I forgot I have to go home now to eat with my family..." so we said okay and left him our phone #. As he was walking out he turned around and said "you know, I've actually been thinking a lot about christianity lately and I have some questions, I've got a few minutes." Well, a few minutes turned into about a half hour and he was so happy. He kept saying "this makes so much sense!". We were all very edified. At the end of the lesson I reached out to give him a handshake and he opened up his arms and gave me a big hug. President said once "You can know the spirit is working in you when you and your investigator both learn in a lesson." That's definitely a true statement.

   Well I'm excited to see pictures of that family all together! I'll work on getting some pictures soon, I've become a pretty bad picture-taker lately. Too busy! Okay, thanks for everything! Look forward to hearing from ya next week. love you all.

 

Ben.

  

Busy...

Hello Family!

   MAN I've never been so busy in my life. This last week has been pretty crazy. We had zone conference every day this week in different zones, give trainings, had to figure out transfers, call them out, move people, blah blah blah...haha. But it's been fun, I love working closely with all the missionaries and president. My 2nd night as Assistant we got a call from president at 2:00 AM asking us to go save some Elders because their apartment caught on fire. It was pretty crazy, everyone is safe now though. It's just been a super busy week, to say the least. I love my new companion, he's such a good missionary. My new area is great, too. It's weird to be working in a singles ward, but it's a lot of fun. Most of the singles ward members are here from Utah doing internships at Disney and stuff. I've already gotten a few chinese referrals, so I'll still be speaking my language occasionaly :) The family ward we work in, Glendale 2nd ward, is a great ward. Lots of the members are movie makers and directors, and lots of them work at disney and pixar and places like that. We met a guy on the street the other day that was the director for the TV series '24' haha. We're going to play tennis with a member and potential investigator tonight, I'm super excited. I haven't played tennis in forever. I live in the hills of Glendale, it's so pretty. The streets are narrow and the people are crazy, but it's a lot of fun. We can see downtown outside of our window. Glendale is filled with ARMENIANS. There are tons of them, we have an armenian branch here. Matt Dixon taught some of the Elders here when they were in the MTC. But yeah... everything is going great. 

   I've felt pretty overwhelmed this week with this new assignment. The elder that I'm replacing as assistant was definitely one of the best elders i've ever met, and it's been hard to feel that I'm capable of taking his place. But I've realized that the Lord didn't call me to be another him, but to be me. I've still got so much to learn, I almost feel like a greenie again. I love the opportunity to learn though and I'm grateful for that. I better get going though, I love you guys! Have a good week!

 

Ben.

New Assignment...

 (Oh my goodness! We are so excited for him!)

Hello!

  Yes, I know that it's weird that I'm writing on a Saturday. But... some changes have been made in the mission, so my p-day has been switched to today. It's been a crazy week. FIRST Elder Tryon and I talked to President on Wednesday about the chinese work, he wanted our opinions on what should be done next transfer. So we discussed for a while, made a decision, and he said "okay, thats what we'll do then". Elder Tryon and I were going to stay Zone Leaders in Hacienda Heights, and they'd be taking the other 2 elders out of our ward, so we'd be covering the whole ward by ourselves (half the mission). So we've been preparing for that the past few days... getting to know the members better, finding out which investigators we'll be taking from the other elders... yeah. So we supposedly had it all figured out. THEN, this morning at 7:47 AM I was ironing my shirt when President Becerra called. "Good morning Elder Dixon... after much prayer and consideration, the Lord has decided that you'll be my next Assistant to the President." MAN I'm so scared out of my pants right now! That was honestly the last phone call that I expected. I don't feel ready for this new calling, but I've decided that the only way to be ready for it is to be thrown into it.

   But, I'm excited for new learning opportunities. I'm excited to be around President a lot more and learn from him. My new companion is Elder Ebanks, he's from Florida. We'll be serving in the Glendale 2nd Ward as well as the Glendale 7th Singles Ward... and yes, that means i'll no longer be in chinese work :(. I'm super sad about that, It'll be hard to leave my people! But all will be well. I'm going to miss Elder Tryon a whole lot. I've never grown and progressed so much in my life. The last 5 weeks have been the best of my life, especially this last week. I wish I could explain in words the miracles that have happened this week, but they are so sacred to me that words cheapen them. The gist of it is that this week the Lord truly prepared me for this new calling. I'm so grateful for the things the Lord has shown me.

  It'll be pretty hard to leave all of my investigators. The ones that we've had lately have taught me so much. I really hope to see them all get baptized someday. Man I don't even know what to feel right now, I definitely have a weird feeling inside. Mixed emotions. Excited and sad. Elder Ebanks says they just picked up a chinese investigator though, so I'll still be able to use my chinese. This letter is super scattered.

  Mom and Dad, would you give me some doctrinal advice? That is what I need right now... Elder Bednar once said "Faith faces the future, looks to the past, considers the present, and initiates action." That is what I'll be needing the most. Faith. Such a general word, but filled with so much specifics and details...

  Well. We're about to go to lunch with our new Elders Quorum President. I love you all so much. Keep me in your prayers!

Beach?!

 (Doing some service!)

Hello!

 

   Sounds like you guys will having the time of your life! again! this time at the beach! :) That'll be super fun. It's crazy the last time we went to the beach was when we were in Mexico forever ago. Good times.

   I've kinda had a mid-life crisis this week. Or you could call it an I-only-have-6-months-left crisis. Elder Tryon and I both have it! I've really wondered if I have used the past 18 months of time the way the Lord would have me, and if I've truly become the person the Lord needs me to be. I was looking through some of my old journal entries at the beginning of the mission. My biggest fear at that time was if things would change when I got back. I wanted everything to be the same and life to continue on as it had before. But now my fear is the exact opposite, is everything going to be the same when I get back? I'm worried I haven't been becoming. Okay maybe it's not that serious, I know that I have changed a lot, but have I been reaching my potential? I don't know. I know there is so much more I can be doing. I got a letter from Scott this week, it came at the perfect time. He said "i've changed a lot on my mission, but I'm exactly the same. I like it because the evil desires in me are fading away and the good desires are being refined and refreshed." I've determined that is whats happening to me as well. In a lot of ways, I am the same. But my priorities are so much different than they ever have been. My will is being more aligned with God's will. Something that President always says is constantly on my mind, "The Lord is always pleased but never satisfied." That is something that has always been pushing me.

  We had a mission conference this last Friday, as well as a mission party. We had water baloon fights and played kickball and stuff, it was a super fun day! In the morning we had some doctrinal training that blew my mind. It was about morning studies, and he used Ether 2:14 and the footnote attached to the word "windows". This is when the Brother of Jared is asking the Lord what he should do in order to have light in the barges. The footnote takes you to Genesis 6:16, which is the Lord telling Noah how to build the windows. I looked that up a few months ago and it confused me so badly. But now I get it. In genesis, it says the hebrew word for "window" means some sort of glowing stone. In Ether, the Lord tells the brother of Jared he can't build windows, but doesn't tell him what he should do. He just asks, "what would you have me do?" President then explained to us that the Brother of Jared had scriptures. He had the books of moses. So the purpose of telling him about the windows was so that he would turn to study in order to find out what he should do to put light in the barges. So the next time he goes to the Lord, he takes the stones and asks the Lord to touch them. The brother of Jared received revelation through study. I really think President Becerra will be an apostle, haha. His way of teaching and talking is just like the brethren. He has really changed my life in so many ways.

  Well I hope you all have a good week in California! The weather for the past 2 days have been great down here, it's only been 98 degrees! haha, it did get really humid for a few days, that was weird. I love you all! Thanks for the packages too, mom!  Thank you for all the letters from the family as well! It was so good to read those, they still remember me! haha. Talk to you next week!

 

Ben.                                                   (Soarin' over California!)

 

 

Great Reunion...

Good morning!

 

    All those pictures look so great! sounds like you all had a super good time. I can't wait for the next one, it definitely looks like a good time. I can't believe how old some of the family looks! Tess and Hannah look like grown ups. And Noah. man. that smile of his is one of a kind. haha.

   We had some really good experiences this week. We met with William, the guy I was telling you about last week, and had one of the craziest lessons of my life. We decided that we were going to be really bold with him, because he didn't come to church. So we asked him the hard question, hoping the spirit would prick him just hard enough. "If you really want to see your wife and daughter again, why didn't you come to church this week?" After I asked that, he exploded. He was so mad that we had the nerve to ask a question like that, and was yelling at me. I asked if I could share my testimony with him, and at that point God really filled my mouth. "Let me tell you how I feel in my heart, William. You're right, you owe me nothing. But you owe God a whole lot. I honestly don't care if you come to church, this isn't about the missionaries and it never has been. But I know how much God loves you and how much he wants you to come to church." In his closing prayer, he asked for forgiveness for losing his temper, and told God he knew that he had to go to church now. He came yesterday, and loved it! Also, Sister Duan came up to us this week and said something super surprising. She feels like if her 6 year old son is going to grow up in a healthy and safe environment, she needs to be baptized. We're trying to get her ready for this Sunday. :) It'll be great, July will be a good month for us. AND one more miracle. We ran into a 40 or so year old couple last week, and they came to church this sunday. They love church, they feel like they're part of a big family now. We told them about the Word of Wisdom and some other commandments, and they already know they're going to give drinking tea and alcohol up in order to be members. They'll hopefully be ready by the end of the month. So exciting! The Lord has truly been watchful over this area. He knows we're working hard, and he's placing people in our path every day. The Lord has been teaching me so much in the mornings. I've had some really special experiences in my studies of the scriptures lately, and he's even sent me a few dreams that are very special to me. I have so much more I want to say, but we're pretty rushed on time today. We're going hiking in Pasadena, I'll send some pics next week. I love you guys!

 

Ben.

July 2, 2012

It was kind of a nice change this week getting emails from brad and ty! haha. I hope all is well in Brian Head, i'm sure that's been a good time for the family. I'm doing well this week, really well. My spirituality has really been increasing and I feel like my ability to learn things from the spirit is increasing as well. One thing that is decreasing, though, is my weight. So thats good. I've lost 10 pounds in two weeks! I'm back down to where I started... but there is still some unusual material on my stomach that needs to go. It's kinda like theres a flat tire above my waist line, why is that. Anyways, it's getting better. We run 3 miles every day and only eat one meal. It's been great. We've also been blessed with no member meals the past 2 weeks. :) But they are soon to be coming back so we'll have to be more careful. Elder Tryon and I are great companions. We really push each other and have very similar goals to work for. We're giving a training on the Doctrine of Christ tomorrow at Zone Leader Council and we're super excited about it, it should go very well. We're using the story of Enos and how his conversion story relates to the Doctrine of Christ.

  Our investigators are doing well, but we still need a lot more. We have a high goal for baptisms in the zone for the month of July, and we're really excited about it. The zone is doing well and they're getting closer to the Lord every day it feels like. Everybody is pretty positive and working hard. We met this man named William a few weeks ago, he wanted to come to english class. We invited him to come early and take a tour of the church, and he accepted. As we sat down with him to explain some small portions of the gospel and how they would bless his life, he mentioned how his wife died about 5 years ago and he still struggles with it. We told him that there is a way he could see his wife again, and he replied "how did you know what I was thinking?" We told him how the spirit works... it was awesome. He's preparing for baptism. When we invited him to be baptized he said "I have no choice, you read my mind." He truly believes that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, it's been awesome.

Well family, I love you all so much. I hope all is well! Tell everyone hello for me, I miss you all.

 

Love, Ben.