Gangs, Guns and Affairs

So i dont have much time today so i will tell you whats going on this week a lot has happened! 

So to start off with something funny. so i guess this girl in our branch her name is Sara and she has been seeing this man from another branch. and been kinda sneaking around but any ways its a long story. but we had to call the senior couple to let them know that we saw this man several times at saras house. this man has a family so it was something we had to report. anyways long story short a woman in our branch spread a rumor that we had talked to her and told her that sara and this man was having an affair. even though we never did that. the rumors got out. and now everyone in our branch calls us the affair elders. haha because they think we spread this rumor about sara... anyways kinda funny cuz we never did that but oh well haha.

Okay next we were out finding one day and a gang surrounded us and started to ask what we were doing so i was like "what up boys wanna hear about jesus christ and some teachings." so they were like sure. and we were on the road and we started teaching them about jesus christ, while we were talking this dude in the gang pulled out a gun it was a 9 mil. and was swinging it around in his hands playing with it. so i was like "yo dude nice gun" i was like "bro you know what kind of gun that is" he had no idea. so i started teaching him about it. lol! then he put it away feeling kinda lame he didnt know what kind of gun it was. so then picture this... so one of the gang members asked us if we have ever had sex with girls. now he said it way more volgur than that but i shouldnt tell you exactly what he said because it was not nice about woman and stuff. but anyways we told him no way, and that, this stuff is very sacred to us. and so me and my comp taught them about chastity. oh and trust me after helping Rance teach the teachers about chastity I was so prepared. i hit them with some deep questions haha anyways it was fun we were able to teach a gang about the law of chastity. 

Next- one night we were going to teach a member late one night and when we almost got to there house we noticed the dad outside throwing rocks up at the power line. so we ran up to see what he was doing and he was throwing rocks at possums. so we helped out. lol and we killed two possums. He was happy that i was a good shot with rocks haha. but anyways they kept them and i think they cooked them up the next night. Its funny how even though i cant go hunting for coyotes or deer. i still get to kill possums haha. 

Okay now for the spiritual moment of the week. so we prayed to be able to find someone looking for the gospel in there life and one night we were prompted to walk up this huge hill. when we got to the top there was one house and it was very small. here in the west indies we dont knock on doors. so we called into the house. and an old old man came out. we began to tell him we were missionaries and his face lit up. we started to get to know him and then teach him a bit. after we taught him about joseph smith and the book of mormon. we asked if he had any questions. and he paused and looked us right in the eyes and with the most sincere answer he said. I want to get baptized before i die could you help me out with that. it was very spiritual moment. and we told him we definitely can. it was awesome too because we never even talked about being baptized before he asked. so it was straight revelation from god. so i was blessed to be able to be there to whitness that and i hope we can baptize him soon before he passes away because he is really sick. and he goes into surgery for his stomach in about a month. so the plan is to baptize him before then. tonight we will meet with him again and i cant wait to see him and see how he is doing.

well thats about all from this week! also the weather has been really rainy nothing to bad though. we have heard about all the hurricanes. it is so sad about Dominica pray for them.

well i love you all very much.

Love elder Dixon

Letter 2 from St. Lucia!

St. lucia is great. You might have heard already but a hurricane was in the area and was supposed to hit this weekend. But it missed us. I was kinda sad not gonna lie. I wish I was in a hurricane. That would be pretty dope. But all the members prayed hard that it wouldn't hit us so that was a good faith builder for them. 

Okay to answer some of your questions.. the senior couple is the branch president down in Viewfort. and there are only 2 churches on the island one in the south (viewfort) and 1 in Casteries where I am at. A local is the branch pres down here. his name is Bro. D. he is a way cool dude and i like him a lot. also me and my comp are the only ones in the apartment which is nice. it is a lot smaller than the pictures show but it is still a nice place compared to others. I think it is because my comp is a zone leader so we got the good place. and i got that ratty quilt from the closet lol. It doesn't stink too bad haha. and it keeps me cozzy while we freeze out our room at night. 

On average we get about 50 people to church on a good day and since this week there were rumors about the hurricane so a lot of people didn't go outside. So on sunday we had like 20 people there haha. but it is great to see some of the members faith and stuff. this week was a good Sunday even though like nobody showed because there is a man by the name of Bro. Joe and he is this old man with an afro and is so so so hard to understand. his English sucks haha but i love him to death. at church this week he gave a talk. and he was just yelling the whole time into the microphone calling all of us to repentance!!! hahahah! boii he is funny. 

Also this week we also had a way cool spiritual experience. so to give you all background here in St. Lucia people work all day so there is usually not a lot of people out during the day. They are all at work. so finding during lunch hours is so hard. but we didn't have much to do on tuesday after we got studies in so we had to go out. i said a prayer that god would put those people in our way that we needed to share the gospel with. after we said amen we had inspiration to try down a road we haven't been down yet. we started walking and it just looked like forest on both sides. and we thought that there would be no houses down the road. but we did not doubt the faith and we continued. about a mile down the road we found a little village of houses. there were like 5 houses in a little group. and astonishing, everyone was home at each house. we were able to set up a service project for the first house. and the next 3 we taught the first discussion. then the last house was amazing. We met a girl named Eve. and so we asked her where Adam was to be funny. that got us in the door because she laughed and she knows a lot about the bible. anyways as we get to know her we find out she used to live in NY and her mom is a member of the church. and she just moved to st. lucia. she loves the bible and jesus christ. she was apart of the seventh day adventist church for a long time but she knew something was not right with what they taught. so she stopped going about a few weeks ago. every day she has prayed that god will help her find more truth. And she would talk about it all the time with her neighbor. And so it was blessing that we were there. we taught her about the BOM and the restoration. she was so accepting and wants to know more. so this week we are excited to teach her more. but funny story while we were teaching her it started to rain more than i have ever seen in my life. it was like a tropical storm. so we dragged the lesson on lol. but there is only so much we can teach about the restoration and joseph smith and stuff. so eventually we had to go. so me and the comp left running up this hill all the way to the car. we were drenched from head to toe. it was so fun! and such an awesome experience that the lord put her in our path. and for the opportunity to find that set of houses.

   

Each day is a little different out here. we try to set up appointments a lot but these people always fall through so its hard to get them a lot. so we do a mix of finding and appointments. we typically have about 2 service projects a week. if a hurricane would actually hit here we would have service for months because these houses are barely held up. 

My comp is cool but he has some flaws and the biggest one is that he is a byu fan so we have some mad conversations about BYU/UTAH rival. but utah is so much better so i can usually trump him haha. but its fun he loves Remember the Titans so we quote it all day long. like the other day he dropped the hot sauce and it broke all over the apartment. and so i was like "petey how many feet are in a mile? how many feet are in a mile? you better pick that up and run every last one of them". so we have some good times doin stuff like that haha. we also have some prime lime times where we chill and play dominos. i cant wait to teach you all this game its so fun. i used my competitiveness for the best. And that one guy that was drinking and is not a real good dad for his family. but he is still a funny guy and we love him so we go see him a lot to see how he is doing because he is smart even though he drinks and smokes. and if we could get rid of this problem and if he joined the church this family would be bomb for the church. anyways so back to the competitiveness. so the the other night we were at his house. and we played him in dominoes. i made him promise that if i beat him he wouldnt drink for 3 days. and of course i won. so he didnt drink or smoke for 3 days which was huge in his steps or progress to the gospel because he drinks and smokes every single day! so that was a cool story as well.

Anyways st. lucia is a cool place. i am learning a lot about the people here. where the good food joints are.. where the nearest bathrooms are haha.. and i am understanding the locals a lot better so thats good. 

a cool goal i have is to finish the book of mormon soon. so i have been reading 20-30 pages a day on top of all my studies. and it has really helped a lot. i read all of mosiah and a little of alma this week. so i hope to keep it up. the BOM is such a cool book. i hope all of you are still reading. you all know how i don't like reading so if i am able to do it so can you. :) 

well i love you all and love hearing from everyone! i am trying hard to write everyone back but if i miss someone i am sorry. just know i love ya and will get ya next week! 

the church is true!

Love Elder Dixon 

Obviously loving the beach..

St Lucia 

The "Stop Lights" 

First Week in St. Lucia!! :)

I don't have much time on the computer this week so i will only write this one email. but tell everyone i have read there emails and they sound amazing and i will write them all next week when I have more time ---

Oh man I am really crying hard right now. Hearing from you guys is just so touching. Man I haven't been able to talk to you guys forever. And so much has changed. Man where do i even start. holy cow. i miss you all so much! words cant describe how i feel right now. I feel your voices and your spirits as I read your emails. 

Well its been a crazy ride. when i finally arrived in Barbados, I met pres. Herrington. He is so funny and goofy and just a stud. I already love him so much. the mission home is crazy big compared to all the other houses i have seen around here. But anyways back to the mission home. It is so big and nice. each morning we would wake up early and go for runs out on the beach. It is so beautiful and hot here. but i love it. well the first few days were long especially in Barbados a lot of learning and not enough time. But it was beautiful there. I went and bought a carry on because i could only take one bag and one carry on. so that was crazy trying to squeeze everything in. plus the flight we fly on is called liat. holy cow these guys run on there own time and do what ever they want. while we were in line they changed the carry on weight to only ten pounds so i was praying that it would go through bag checkage. we waited in line for 2 and a half hours to just get our bags checked. and they barely let mine pass i think it was because i was a missionary. but after that we ran as fast as we could out to the loading dock cuz we were 30 minutes late. that was so funny and stressful but we made it to the loading dock right before they closed the plane. A man had snuck on the plane in my spot so they almost didn't let me fly but they finally figured things out. then we waited forever before we flew to st. Lucia. that was a crazy experience. i have never been more sick in my life. the plane was like a roller coaster. and when we landed i thought we crashed because we hit the ground so hard. holy cow. but we made it. 

That night we met our comps. mine is Elder Smith he is a funny dude. he  used to play o-line for a team up by Woods Cross. so we bonded well. he is funny though we always do role plays for comp study and he dresses up and acts just like the people here. i will send some pics of that. He is chill though. I lucked out we got a car because he is a zone leader the only car on the island for elders. there is only 8 elders 2 sisters and a senior companion on the island so there are not many of us there. But it is fun. we can drive from one side to the other side of the island in about 45 minutes depending on traffic. I guess my comps only only flaw is that he drives so slow. oh my gosh i am learning to be christ like. lol because everyone here drives like maniacs. haha like there is no speeding law and no lights just curvey roads and these crazy round abouts that are at four way stops. Funny story so friday night we were driving and this mad man was driving so fast and the roads are so small and he was driving a bus and he basically ran us off the road. and my comp swerved and hit a tree and it blew the front tire. The front tire was done there was a huge hole in it. lol hahaha so funny. so that night i was able to change the tire on the side of the road. we didnt have flash lights so it was kinda rough but it was so fun. so we drove on a spare for a few days and then bought a new one. my comp just watched me cuz he knows nothing about cars lol. 

Jake and Elder Smith 

Anyways my apartment is pretty nice for what we see around here. i will send you pics. um for food we only eat one meal a day which is lunch. because we have to budget so we have a little bowl of cereal a big lunch and then a snack for dinner. i go to bed starving each night but ya know it really has changed my view on things. because people here get hardly a meal a day so i am blessed. i am loosing muscle fast cuz the lack of food but i try to do push ups at night but i just have no energy cuz of the hunger. but i am happy and so blessed to be out here. the weather is hot they are in a drought right now so its been like 95 degrees and like 100 percent humidity. it is so hot but we have air conditioning in our room so i look forward to when we get back to it. 

Apartment 

Also the people here are so so humble and nice. and they have literally nothing. it makes me cry and my heart aches for them. for example a girl odelya that we teach is about my age. and she wakes up and walks to school which takes her about an hour. on sundays she walks for 30 minutes then uses all the money she has saved for the whole week just to catch a bus to go to church. man it is crazy. it makes me realize how much i have. another family britnee and her mom moved so for service we moved her house. and we literally could fit everything they own into a small truck not bigger than a ford ranger. and we drove to their new house and it is this thing that is a small shack not bigger than our barn in our back yard. these people are so poor and humble. And they are always smiling. i wish i could give them everything i have. 

So funny story. first day i was here Elder Smith said we were going to go tracting and find new people. so he drives up the island to a spot and says lets start here. so he said the first house i had to do all the talking to get practice. so we went up i was nervous. this woman answered and made me feel stupid. and then ran us out of here yard. elder smith started laughing so hard because i was in shock. then the girl that ran us to the curb started laughing. and elder smith went and gave her a high five. and i was so confused. but then they explained to me that she was a member and it was all a prank haha. so i felt so stupid. Elder smith got me good. he planned it all out before i came. so i got elder smith back by making him run an extra mile the next day. cuz elder smith is fat so he makes me work him out in the morning so he can loose weight. so i act like Bob off the biggest loser and make him run and do work outs haha. well anyways that was a great story and everyone laughed at me at church the next day. 

The church is so small!! the people are so humble though and so funny. Not gonna lie i don't understand what any of them are saying though. today i can kinda picked out bits and pieces so thats good. there english is so so so different. and it made me really discouraged at the start. but i have been praying to be able to understand them and i get better each and every day. But also cool story we knocked on a woman's home she answered and she said she would listen to us. so i explained the restoration and about the book of mormon. and was able to answer every question she had. She is a jehovah witness and elder smith said through out his whole mission he has never seen a jehovah witness been more excepting of the gospel. He says though that he thinks she will be to stubborn to join our church. But i am determined to baptize this woman i ain't worried what religion she is. I am gonna convert the whole island. we already have 2 baptism dates and i hope the people stay committed. if they do i will get 2 in September.

The Church 

Also the people here live in little shacks for houses because they are all so poor. so be thankful for even the clothes on your back and for every meal you eat. also i feel bad for one family especially because everyone in the fam are members except for the dad. one night they were our last appointment so we hiked a mountain to get to there house and then when we were teaching them some more about the church there father showed up. he was holding a beer and was smoking weed. he was so high. he didn't even bother saying hi to his kids or wife. and went in the house. we told him we wanted to share a message so he came back out. i was bold with him. i told him that his family doesn't deserve a father like that and that he should start changing his ways. and i read him a scripture and it was bold i cant remember what scripture because at the moment the spirit told me what scripture to read. but after he promised to drink and he said he will try to stop the weed. the family was shocked. it was a really cool experience. but at the same time so sad. dad i love you man and want you to know i am so thankful for working hard for us and for being a leader in the church. everyone at home i hope you tell your dads how much you love them. because man people here most of the time there is no father figure ever present. Um.. also everyone here especially at night are just all out on the road smoking pot and drinking. it is sad but at the same time its just the culture around here. the rasta men are funny they like us but we don't teach them cuz they are usually high or drunk so they wouldn't except the word of wisdom. also i am learning a whole new vocabulary. like Irie (whats up/good vibes) whagon (whats goin on) lime (chill or hang out) trunky (home sick) and many more. its fun though i try to use the new words through out the day. also sunday nights are fun me and my comp have pday eves where we go and sit on the roof and eat something and drink good drinks. we call it our liming time. my comp is funny we have funny sayings and things we do each day. like wing wednesday where we only eat wings for lunch. or french fri friday where we eat a plate of fries on that night. or like salad sunday. its pretty fun lol. but anways i hope i got everything in there i will have so much more to tell you next week. but for now just know i love you guys so much. I miss you all more than you can know. i get real trunky (home sick) all the time. but as i focus on the work i loose all the home sickness. i am so blessed to be here. I am so blessed to know the gospel. we have some amazing times teaching and sharing our testimony to people. church is fun me and elder smith do primary so we run that lol. we have so much fun with these special kids. but I am about out of time. so i will send you pictures in about an hour when i get to the church. But i love hearing all your stories and whats going on around home. I miss you guys so much and love you all. be thankful for everything you have and dont forget to read and pray.

love elder dixon!!

Last Days of the MTC. Think they were ready to get out of there? :) 

Cant stay away from the court too long :)

St. Lucia 

St. Lucia

Money! 

First Week Down and Lots and Lots of Pictures

Talofa Lava 

O a mai oe. Just learning a little Samoan while I am here. elder kuru is half Australian half Samoan and he is going to my same mission so that is awesome and he is teaching me how to speak Samoan. Not gonna lie this past week has been the longest week of my life but also the greatest week of my life. I still love my companion and have become family with my district. I love them so much. And we learn from each other every day. um one of my best friends here right now is elder ryan. He is a dude elder in my district and he is so cool and so so funny so we just make jokes and laugh all day so thats cool. he is from up by Weber state.

Anyways first off thanks you so much for your letters and your packages it means a lot. i have recieved 12 packages in the last 6 days and all the elders in my room are jealous. We have so much good food in our dorm that all the elders come and party in our room at night. and we sit and tell stories of the good ole high school days. So Sunday was fast Sunday and not gonna lie it was the longest day of my existence. holy cow but the church is still true so no worries. Sunday was also the most spiritual day of my life. Testimony meeting was so amazing and I learned so much. I bore my testimony on how i dont like to read and it is hard for me to understand it. But as I got here i cant put down the scriptures and the lord has blessed me that I have been able to learn and grow from the scriptures so much. But anyways that was great. 

That night i went and watched a movie/talk from president Bednar. And he talked about the Character of Christ!! this was the greatest talk. I encourage you all to look it up and listen to it. It is titled the Character of Christ. I have been teaching some investigators. We taught one on the restoration and focused on Jesus Christ. he was in tears by the end of the lesson and can now testify of our savior. So that was an amazing experience. 

We are also teaching a girl named Sydney and she is really tough she believes what we say we just need to make her feel it. So we have been praying for  the spirit to testify that to her. so I am not even worried she will want to get baptized soon i can feel it lol. So Zach Jeffers left it was sad to see him go and i am gonna miss him a ton. But also Conner Ellis Came in I don't see him much because he is on a whole different schedule but when i do it is awesome. 

Jake and Zach

Tuesday night we had a devotional and President Russell M. Nelson came. It was his first talk he has given since he was made the president of the quorum of the twelve. It was amazing he made me cry not gonna lie. He talked on the saviors love for us and how to become the best missionaries we can. He also talked about the atonement and how happy he was that all of us are on missions and stuff. after his talk we had a meeting with the district to talk about it. And we all bore testimony on his talk and i was crying a ton but the room was filled with such a strong spirit. Also i leave sunday night. we head out at like 6:00 and my flight is at like 10:30 or something. I fly to NY and then from there to Barbados. And I can not wait!!!! the food here is getting old too.. cant wait to get out in the real world. well that's about it for now. I am praying for all of you and hope you are all doing well. 

Love Elder Dixon!

High School Friends 

All the boys going to the West Indies

The District 

 

First Letter!

Wow!! I have made it through the first few days of the MTC. It has been freaking amazing! i have never grown more spiritually over the last few days then i have my whole life.i cant believe this but i have been waiting and wanted to email you guys so bad. Its only been 2 days and i already live for mail lol. the package was great thanks. i sent out a letter the other day but i dont know if they sent it. My p day is Fridays while i am here in the MTC.  i have the best district in the world. and the best comp. his name is elder stanger. he is from rexburg idaho. he plays football and is left handed just like me. he is a real chill kid and it has been a blast to get to know him. his dad played basketball at Ricks so we are basically the same person. 

Last night we met with the branch pres. and me and Elder Stanger got made zone leaders. So i cant wait to do that. that means next week we will take the new elders on a tour. and also lead our zone. so i am in charge of setting up sacrament meeting not this week because fast sunday but next week. but i am real blessed to be able to be a zone leader.  oh man my roomates are awesome i room with 6 elders including me. the rooms are so small and at night one elder in there that is really fat farts a ton so i just hide under the blanket and hope i dont die. anyways the food is okay sometimes. first meal i got steak which looked amazing. i cut into it and it was like straight blood and dark red lol and had not been cooked. i ate it all gone because i was so hungry. I live on the top floor so there are lots of stairs to walk every day. And my classroom is on the top floor as well so i love the stairs. its great though because the host that checked me in said i am lucky because sense i am on the top floor where my class room is i get to see out and see around. i can see our house from there. so thats good. 

Other than that the MTC is kinda like a prison you cant see out and all that. but its great in here. the spirit is so strong and i love learning and reading from the scriptures. not gonna lie it is so hard not to sleep in meetings and in class. i am so tired!! but its okay today i can take a nap.  today we read in 2 nephi 31!!!! holy cow that chapter and doctrine is straight fire. read it read it read it. i encourage you as you are about to read think of a question that is on your mind or that you want to know about the gospel. and as you read it with real faith and intent you will have your question answered. wow this church is true. okay also i have gym time every day so i get to work out which is amazing. I saw zach he looks amazing! you can tell who the week old elders are because they have already changed a lot. anyways zach is doing great i think. his class room is right by mine so i passed him on the first day and it was amazing to see him. what else.. um oh so i got called down to the travel room and they told me that i have a meeting on monday  with someone from salt lake city with all the elders that are going to my same mission and brazil. i guess it has to deal with our visa. pray for me so that everything will run smooth. so that i will be able to make it to barbados on time and soon. My packet i got says that my estimated departure date is on the 9 of aug. so i might leave soon. anyways the work is great and i love being a missionary.