3 Months And An Awesome Testimony!!

The Mission is still going great. Yesterday was Creole Day.. that is St. Lucia's National day... And it was crazy. Everyone wears like Thanksgiving colors and goes and parties. It's basically a day for the people out here to go and smoke weed, drink, and party.. Which in all honesty I don't know why they need a day for that because they do that everyday anyways. haha 

This week we met a way cool family. We were walking down the road and a man yells out, "Hey mormons do you have money? (that happens all the time) we passed him.. then he yells out, "Will you buy me food? (that happens all the time too)  We were about ten feet past him when he yells out, "What is the message you have?" We turned around and went and taught him the first vision. And it turns out he is way interested. We taught their whole family the other night. And we set a baptismal date for them. Also their son we saw the other day, His name is Jalon and is about 5 or 6 and has already read 235 pages of the Book of Mormon. We were so impressed. 

It is fun out here. This week we set 11 baptismal dates for the month of November. So if we get people to church we will get a lot of SPLASHES. 

Elder Moli and Elder Clement got a baptism saturday so we went to that. That was a great day to feel of the spirit. I have never felt the spirit more than standing on the beach watching a baptism. 

Also this morning we went to the beach and played some beach volley ball that was so fun!! 

Other than that everything here is going great! For Creole day a member fed us. She feed us Creole food. So we ate Rice, Sole Fish, Breadfruit, and Peppers. It was actually really good. Except the Peppers destroyed my mouth! I was dying, sweating so bad, and my face was so red. The members were laughing at me so much haha.

Baptism! 

Elder Moli the newest member of the church and Elder Clement 

 

Before I started my mission I will be honest, I had not read the Book of Mormon from start to finish. But now I can testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is truly an inspiring testimony of Jesus Christ our Savior. Joseph Smith would rather die then deny the divine origin and eternal truthfulness of the this book. And that alone makes me know that this book is true. 

As Hyrum and Joseph started there journey to Carthage Jail, Hyrum read from Ether 12:37: "Thou hast been faithful. Wherefore thou shalt be made strong even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my father." I can testify that one day we can all sit down in the mansions the Father has prepared for us. I know that as long as we have faith in our Savior and use the atonement we can be made clean. In Mosiah 3:7 it states, "And lo he shall suffer temptations, and pain of the body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and abominations of his people." I know the Savior suffered so I can become clean. Sometimes I wonder how many drops the Savior dropped for me. And because of the this I know we can be made perfect so we can live with God in the mansions He has prepared for us. Thomas S. Monson leads and guides this church. He is the prophet and seer and receives revelation for each and everyone of us. I know families can be together forever. In D&C section 132 it states that as we go to the temple we can be sealed for time and all eternity. I can testify that I am right where the Lord wants me to be. I know that as I am obedient and rely on the Lord, He will lead me to those who I was promised to share the gospel with in my patriarchal blessing. I know I will find that family the Lord has prepared for me. I know Jesus Christ lives. I know he will return to us again. I hope that when he comes I can run to Him with no guilt, fear, or doubt in my heart so I can be received into his everlasting and eternal love. This is the only and true church on the earth today. As we live the simple standards we can have joy and peace in our hearts. 

I love this gospel.

I love the Savior and would do anything for Him. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

I know. Lets all be jealous of that view. 

Donavon and his cousin. Both members of the church. 

Jake and Britney - she is a member and is going to serve a mission in NY next month! 

Leave it to Jake to find the primary kids during snack time. His exact words - "Love theses guys and also love the snacks" :) 

New area, Pro Cleaners and lots of Investigators

So this week has been another fun week!

Elder Taylor and I decided to try a new part of our area no missionaries have ever been. It was fun to see the little kids going wow.. look it is a white boy.. and it was so funny we were passing this group of kids making a fire and one kid yelled out "Aye Aye white boy come jump in the fire gasa and you will look black like us." She started to laugh. These kids are so funny here. 

Another thing was that President came to check on our branch this Sunday. So he was at church. The meeting was great both president and his wife spoke to us. Then after we went on our way to go to work all afternoon. But about an hour in Elder Smith calls and says that president is going to check my apartment in about 15 minutes. Me and Elder Taylor looked at each other and our mouths dropped. Because we were up clear at the top of this hill and about a 30 minute walk from our apartment. And our apartment was a mess!!! and we had not washed dishes all week! So Elder Taylor and I ran as fast as we could down the hill through town and back to the apartment. I bet we looked so funny to everyone having two white boys running in church clothes through town! Well we made it back before he got there. We then went on to clean as fast as possible and I have never washed dishes so fast. Then right as pres knocked on the door we grabbed our scriptures to look like we were just studying. hahahah He came in and inspected the apartment. He said it was one of the best and most clean ones he has ever seen. We were like haha thanks pres, we work hard to keep it clean 😉 

Also this week have have taught some really cool people. We taught Vernon who was in a huge gang fight and 30 of his friends were killed. He has 7 gun shot wounds but still alive. We taught him about the Anti-Nephi Lehis and how they buried their weapons of war and didn't fight back. I think it really clicked in his brain and so he promised he would not retaliate. And it's awesome to see because his life is really changing and he has been reading the Book of Mormon. 

Another investigator's name is Denise. She is awesome! We have taught her twice and she loves everything we have shared. She can't believe that we are still virgins though!

One day we were out contacting and we were teaching this 14 year old girl and she was really interested.. then we heard the shower stop inside.. and her dad came out. Then he went on cussing us out. He told us that our bull..f..s..white..European Jesus is not the true Jesus. And that Jesus is black. We get that a lot here! 

Well other than that our week went great. Studies have been amazing! I finished D&C and also Mathew in the New Testament. My goal is to finish the New Testament in about 3 weeks. 

Other than that me and Elder Taylor work well together. Oh and something cool is that I found flat bread so I make egg white sandwiches in the mornings and it is so amazing!!!

Well I love hearing from you all! and miss you guys!

Love Elder Dixon 

Egg White Sandwiches.. Obviously very important :) 

The Bay 

Jake and Elder Taylor 

Using Hunting for Missionary Work - Week 10 in St. Lucia

Well this week was just another typically missionary week. Just been living the life out here in the field. Me and my comp are re-naming all the terms. haha for example, instead of calling it Contacting we call it Hunting. The goal is to go out and "scout"  - look for the great investigators. Then once we find the one with "huge horns"- or a ready to hear the gospel, we then grab or "guns"- the Book of Mormon, and we hike to go find it. Next we go and get into "shooting range" and teach them all the lessons. Next we "Load the gun" which is to set a baptismal date. And then "BOOM we fire" and that means to splash and we get a baptism. I love how we can use hunting for an example in all things we do!

Right now in our area we are about where we are loading the gun! We have been setting some baptismal dates with some solid investigators. I thought since I am a great hunter, (confidence, not cocky), I am going to become the greatest missionary. 

So this week we worked our butts off. It was great to see some success. We set 6 baptismal dates. I hope they will all go through. 

Also this week we taught a man with 6 fingers!!! I kept quoting The Princess Bride. "You killed my father prepare to die..."  

Oh and something cool with him is that we got him to come to church. I am confident that through the lord's help we will baptize him and his family. Also I let him borrow my shoes for this Sunday so he would come to church. And so he came. I forgot after church to get them back so I might be short shoes now haha. Maybe he will give them back this week...

Anyway cool story. So Elder Taylor and I decided to fast this Sunday for our investigators so they will come to church. It was hard but the Lord quenched my thirst and hunger for food and filled it with the gospel. We got two of our investigators to church which was great. And one of them even bore her testimony! 

Man the church is True!!

Anyway that is about it for me! Love you all 

Elder Dixon!! 

When you can't go under or through --- Go over? :) 

Jake was in charge of finding their apartment.. They finally got AC today as well. Looks like he did a pretty good job :) 

When Conference Makes the Bad Days Better

Well first off sorry to not write you yesterday.  Monday was Thanksgiving here so the email shops were not open. Well it is so good to hear from you guys. I have been getting all your pictures and they look great. I miss you guys but also know that where I am is the most important place I should be.  

Hmm well training is going well. My comp is way chill, super quiet, and loves to sleep. haha anyways I have to always wake him up during studies and stuff. But training is going well and the spirit is very strong out here. 

This week of studies I have been reading 

in D&C and I read section 1-84 this week. I am not gonna lie, I am super 

bummed that I didn't finish it this week. D&C is filled with some amazing 

scriptures. My testimony of Joseph and Oliver and how the church was set up and how it runs blows my mind. Also as we are out teaching we would always say as we teach the plan of salvation and that the celestial kingdom is the best, but the terrestrial is not that bad, and then the telestial is great but not as good as all three. And we kind of make it sound like it is fine to go to any kingdom. But reading in D&C man, I would not want to go anywhere but the Celestial Kingdom. It explains deeply how each Kingdom of glory is good in its own way. But Also as I was studying I could just feel the spirit so strong that was saying get to the Celestial kingdom. I mean who wouldn't want to go there to live with our Heavenly father and Jesus Christ? I am so blessed to know the way on how to get there.

Also studying is honestly one of my favorite things. I look forward to reading in the scriptures and studying from preach my gospel. There is just not enough time in the day to learn enough about the gospel. I hope you all are studying and reading your scriptures. 

Not gonna lie though Conference saved my life this week. The start of the week was hard. I got a rash on my face and neck and it kept getting worse. By last Monday it was all over my face. I called the mission doctor and explained what it felt like and what it looked liked. She said it was Impetigo. All week I had to rub this medicine all over my itchy bumpy crusty face. Not gonna lie, it really was a struggle. Also another problem is that we don't have A.C. in our apartment. We should get it soon. Elder Horne is working on it. But the problem was this week was all around 94-95 Degrees and humid. I have never sweat so bad going to sleep. This morning when I woke up at 6:30 it was 92 degrees. I thought that the week couldn't get any worse. 

But then on wed. Elder Smith came for lunch. After lunch we walked them out to their car and the window was shattered and a lot of their stuff was stolen out of the car. I felt like an FBI agent as we went to the building next store to watch the video evidence. But of course the video was super blurry so we got nothing. But I felt bad for Elder Smith because his triple combination got stolen and a bunch of notes and his backpack and all the stuff in it. And he leaves in 30 days. So man it was sad to see. 

But finally the GREATNESS came conference weekend... This weekend was amazing it helped me out so much. I have never loved conference so much. The day of conference my face was completely healed. What a miracle. And we all crowded in the branch pres. office to watch all the sessions of conference. Man there was some good talks. I have pages and pages of notes. The 3 new Apostles are awesome. I know they were called of God. Also I felt so bad for President Monson. He looked like he was going to pass out during his talk. I have been praying hard for him. Also my favorite talk was probably Elder Holland's about mothers. Not gonna lie it had me in tears. Mom I love you so much. During the talk I was in shock about how magnificent and marvelous the words were that Holland used to describe about mothers. And how they are able to see like God does as they bear their children and raise them. Made me think of all the many things you have done for me through out my life. So I am very grateful to have a mother like you. And I love you very much.

Next was Priesthood session. Man that made me think of all the times me, Kobes, and dad would go out to eat then go to conference together. It was sad I was not with you for Priesthood session but don't worry. I heard the same talks and could feel Kobe and Dad's presence as we watched it together. It was fun. All us Elders went out to eat together in town before priesthood session. That was supper amazing because the restaurant we were at was playing country music. And of course they played some Kenny Chesney. wowwww. It was so amazing haha. Made me think of all the times I listened to him. After, we went to conference, and it was so amazing. I loved all the speakers. I love how much they talked about faith and how we need to have faith. 

Sunday was amazing as well. In between sessions I kept the tradition going and hosted all the missionaries to my apartment for a big meal. I cooked lots of food and we had a great time. haha We even had some fake china in our kitchen so we put those out so we acted like it was a fancy meal. But conference was great and the spirit was super strong. I love how elder Bednar spoke on how the leaders of the church are older. This is so true. And I love how deep he went in this talk. 

Anyway yesterday was great as well. I cut a few elders hair. I told them I was really good at cutting hair (even though I had never actually done it haha) but it went well. 

I love to hear how everything is going well back at home. I love all of you. 

Elder Dixon

The view from the apartment 

So incredible!! 

First Hair cut.. Should we be worried? :) haha 

Jake and his Companion 

Getting Fancy with the China :) 

Watching Conference with all the other missionaries