GOZO

November 10, 2014

Hola sweet familia!!!

This week, I’ve been loving a certain scripture, 1 Nephi 8:12.  This scripture talks about Lehi when he had the dream about the tree of life and all the emotions he felt!  It says,

“And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.”

One of the biggest things I’ve been learning on the mission is that this world is a hard world to live in.  There are so many deaths, so many sicknesses, so many problems within families, so many hurt feelings, so many struggles with finances, so many crazy weather patterns, so many people who feel misunderstood and alone, etc.  But you know what else I’ve been learning here?  Amidst this crazy world, it is possible to feel "exceedingly great joy."  Like all other weeks in the mission, this past week was filled with hard things (we moved houses, we missed our bus twice on Tuesday, and sometimes we felt like it was beyond our control to help all the people here in Juan Lacaze), but I’ve begun to realize we have these hard things in life so we know what it feels like to have JOY (GOZO in Spanish)!  Man oh man there were so many little moments of joy this past week!  Here are a few:

·         We have a sweet investigator named Alba and she loves reading the Book of Mormon!  She is reading in Alma right now!  But anyway, lessons are so fun with her because she loves giving us besos.  She gives us besos when we arrive, besos after we sing the hymn, besos after the opening prayer, besos throughout the lesson, besos after the closing prayer, and besos when we leave.  I am so grateful for her and the love she shows to Hermana Paredes and me.  Moments with Alba sure are moments of joy!

·         On Tuesday night, Hermana Paredes and I had a Noche de Hogar with Familia Acoste!  It was Haz Lo Justo (Choose the Right) themed.  Hermana Paredes brought little HLJ rings for everyone, and we made a little HLJ poster for the family to sign.  The next day, we saw Santi (one of their sons) in the street, and he proudly showed us his HLJ ring!  

·         One of our old neighbors is eighteen years old and loves baking alfajores.  This past week, we brought ingredients to make alfajores and she taught us how to make them!  Afterwards, we had a lesson about Alma 37:6.  Just like all the little ingredients in alfajores can make something delicious, little habits in our life can bring to pass grand miracles!

·         On Saturday, Hermana Paredes and I had lunch with Familia Villagran (Uncle Tom’s friends).  They showed us a picture of Uncle Tom and Hermano Villagran together and told us about so many of their adventures (this awesome family has lived in Uruguay, the United States, Peru, and New Zealand).  Hermana Villagran also talked about how much her mother-in-law loves Uncle Tom because she was touched by his violin playing.  It was so fun to hear Uncle Tom reached Uruguayans through music on his mission!  Ahhh it is still so crazy for me that Uncle Tom and I now have mutual friends here in Uruguay!!!

·         I’m not sure if you know this, but Hermana Paredes loves to crochet as well!  Yesterday, we started talking to a lady named Mabel who was crocheting outside of her house.  She was so fun to talk to and showed us a lot of the stuff she was making.  It was so great having three crocheters together.  Crocheters unite!!!

I know even though life is so crazy and many times we experience things beyond our control, our Heavenly Father also gives us moments of exceedingly great joy.  I am so grateful that every day, I have the chance to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ, something sweet and of great joy!!!

LOVE YOU ALL, and have a joy-filled week!

Hermana Dixon