Hermanas Salvatierra, Idalina, and Dixon

August 17, 2015

Hello my sweet family!!! 

Sorry I´ve been such an awful letter-writer these days!  I´m really going to try and improve because I want to give you all the inside scoop about how things are going here in Artigas!

One thing I´ve seen during my mission is every single person in the world has problems.  Some problems are big, some are little, but everyone´s got them.  And one thing I love about the mission is when people are feeling weighted down by their problems, I have the opportunity to share God´s word with them to brighten up their day a bit!  This week, I shared some scriptures in Alma 8 to lift up some people in our area.

I remember reading in Alma 8 one day when I was starting my mission.  As a new missionary, I felt so discouraged.  I felt so full of problems and had no idea what to do or where to turn for help.  And I´m not going to lie, even though I´m a not-quite-so-new missionary these days (although I honestly still feel like a newbie), there are still some days when I need to read in Alma 8 for help!  

Okay so in Alma 8, Alma is also a missionary, just like me and eighty-thousand plus other young adults!  In this chapter, Alma is serving in a little place called Ammonihah, and let’s just say, I´m pretty sure it was the hardest area ever!  Alma preached the gospel with all of his heart, but the people did not want to listen and were very wicked.  So then Alma decided to travel.  I´m going to put a little excerpt of Alma 8 here.

13  Now  when  the  people  had  said  this,  and  withstood  all  his  words,  and  reviled  him,  and  spit  upon  him,  and  caused  that  he  should  be  cast  out  of  their  city,  he 

departed  thence  and  took  his  journey  towards  the  city  which  was  called  Aaron.

14  And  it  came  to  pass  that  while  he  was  journeying thither,  being  weighed  down  with  sorrow,  wading through  much  tribulation  and  anguish  of  soul,  because  of the  wickedness  of  the  people  who  were  in  the  city  of Ammonihah,  it  came  to  pass  while  Alma  was  thus weighed  down  with  sorrow,  behold  an  angel  of  the  Lord appeared  unto  him,  saying:

15  Blessed  art  thou,  Alma;  therefore,  lift  up  thy  head  and rejoice,  for  thou  hast  great  cause  to  rejoice;  for  thou  hast been  faithful  in  keeping  the  commandments  of  God  from the  time  which  thou  receivedst  thy  first  message  from  him. Behold, I  am  he  that  delivered  it  unto  you.

Such a good little excerpt, no?  Here, during his journey, Alma felt weighed down with problems as well.  He had so many tribulations and felt anguish in his soul.

We may not be exactly like Alma.  We aren´t exactly traveling from Ammonihah to Aaron, but we are all participating in a little journey called EARTHLY LIFE.  And sometimes this journey isn´t so easy.  We, like Alma, have moments when we feel weighed down with sorrow, moments when we´re wading through tribulation.  We too have moments when we feel like we can´t continue on for much longer.  But I know with all my heart that right when we feel like we can´t keep going, God sends us angels!

This week, I would love to talk about my angels here in Artigas.

• For the first time in my mission, I got sick this week.  I came down with a little stomach virus and had to stay in bed on Thursday.  I´m feeling lots better now!  The mission doctor sent me a special diet, and I am so grateful for my companion!  On Thursday, she spent time in the kitchen preparing rice, chicken, and noodles without flavoring for her sick companion.  Hermana Salvatierra is awesome and an angel!

• On Thursday, Hermana Salvatierra went out to do a couple of visits with Hermana Idalina, and our neighbor, Hermana Susana Mendina came over to take care of me.  As I laid in bed, she told me about her life and read general conference talks to me.  I love Hermana Susana Mendina and she is an angel!  And Hermana Idalina is an angel for going out with my companion!

• Hermana Salvatierra and I are working with a less-active family.  They have so many desires to come back to church, and little by little, we´re seeing changes within their family.  On Wednesday, Hermana Fernanda, the mom of this family, made us lunch!  She loves different cultures and wanted to cook a lunch from America!  So she asked me what I usually ate for lunch, and I said sandwiches!  Hermana Fernanda made us the most delicious sandwiches and printed out little American flags, taped them to toothpicks, and stuck these toothpicks in the sandwiches.  What an angel, no?

• Mom, this week I received your package with the fruity mints I love.  YOU are an angel!

• I am so grateful for the Berneda family.  On Saturday, we had the opportunity to read in Enos with them.  It´s so interesting because Enos´s greatest desire is to guard the scriptures for his posteridad.  After reading this story, we gave them “My Family” books (they´re books to help members or investigators do their family history).  I loved seeing how excited they were and hearing bits and pieces about their parents and grandparents.  The Berneda family also gave us the most delicious lunch the other day and treated us to dessert (dessert in their family is washing the dishes, but don´t worry, we enjoyed dessert very much)!  The Berneda family are my angels.

• I was supposed to give a sacrament talk yesterday, but right before I was about to go, Hermano Lorenzo let me know our stake president, President Bueno, was going to take up a lot of time to share his message so I didn´t need to talk.  So first of all, President Bueno is an angel for taking up my time.  Woot woot.  But man oh man, I loved President Bueno´s message.  He focused on the sabbath day and mentioned a little part about missionaries.  He mentioned there are eight missionaries from Artigas serving, and the members should try to write them on Sundays.  He served a mission and he said that at times, missionaries feel down or sad because they think baptisms are the only fruit of missionary labor.  He said sometimes they forget developing a stronger testimony, persevering, and loving the people in their areas are great fruits!  President Bueno´s words touched my heart and were a great reminder to always be of good cheer.  He was truly an angel in my life yesterday!  

I love you my fam.  You guys are my greatest angels and our Heavenly Father loves you all so much!

Hermana Dixon