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.