Noche de Hogar with Hermana Idalina and her sister

June 1, 2015

Hello my sweet family!

Okay to start out, I just want to include a couple of funny stories that have happened to me this last little bit of my mission.  I hope you enjoy them!

Okay so the first story happened during my first night in Artigas with Hermana Ramirez.  We were sleeping like normal, but then I heard an alarm go off at two o`clock or so (the other Hermanas in our house had to go to a bus station to pick up an Hermana who was coming to Artigas).  When I heard the alarm, I woke up a little bit and looked over to Hermana Ramirez´s bed.  She wasn´t in her bed, so I kind of freaked out.  I jumped out of my bed and quickly ran down the stairs.  And I tried to open the door to peek my head outside to look for her, but I had no idea how to open the door (the door in our house is a bit complicated).  So I just kind of hyperventilated a little bit and tried calling Hermana Ramirez´s name through the door but she wasn´t answering me!  So then I ran upstairs to our room again and decided I would try to open our window so I could call her name out the window.  But do you know what`s crazy?  When I went back into our room to open our window, she was in her bed!  It turned out she was in her bed the whole time...I think my body was kind of disoriented from traveling all day so I just imagined all of it!  How crazy!

The second story is about a little dog called Diana!  There is a sweet member in our ward named Hermana Eva, and her dog has so much ENERGY!  And her little dog just loves to lick us all over the place.  And her dog also just loves to JUMP!  So anyway, my first day in the house of Hermana Eva, she asked me if I could say the opening prayer.  So I shut my eyes, folded my arms, bowed my head, and began to pray.  And about halfway through the prayer, something wet and slobbery entered my mouth.  It was Diana´s tongue!  Yuck.  So I just kind of screamed a little bit but then continued on with the prayer.  

The third story happened quite recently...this past week in fact.  So there are still some words in Spanish I don´t understand completely because I don´t hear them very often.  For example, during my mission, I haven´t heard the word "underwear" very many times.  Haha so this past Friday, Hermana Salvatierra and I were in a member´s house and she was explaining it was difficult for her to put her underwear on that morning.  Poor thing!  I didn´t quite understand her, but I could tell she needed help.  So I said, "Hermana, the next time that happens, call us!  We will run over to help you!"  She kind of looked at me weird, but I didn´t understand WHY until Hermana Salvatierra explained everything to me after the lesson.  The mission is one grand adventure!

But anyway, life is good here in Artigas!  I am learning so much with Hermana Salvatierra, and we had an awesome experience this week with Hermana Idalina!  Hermana Idalina is an incredible woman.  Let me just tell you a bit about her.  She is so strong in the gospel and has the sweetest testimony.  She is always willing to help us as missionaries (whether it be giving us glasses of yogurt or umbrellas when it´s rainy outside).  She is super fashionable and beautiful!  And she has a son who is serving a mission in Brazil.

But anyway, a couple weeks back, Hermana Ramirez and I taught Hermana Idalina about the gathering of Israel.  She had desires to gather her friends, family, and neighbors and share the gospel with them, so she gave us some references and promised to let us know if she thought of anyone else.  This past week, her son wrote her and said he wanted her to give a copy of the Book of Mormon to his friend here in Artigas, Fabio.  So on Friday, Hermana Idalina, Hermana Salvatierra, and I went to visit Fabio and give him a copy of the Book of Mormon!  Hermana Idalina let us know it would maybe be just a quick visit because Fabio hadn´t shown very much interest in the gospel previously.  But something changed!  When we went to his house, he let us in, and we got to know him, his younger sister and brother, and his mom!  They were super receptive and it was so great sharing the Book of Mormon with them.  Every time we share the Book of Mormon, I love reading the part in the introduction that says within the Book of Mormon, we can find PEACE in this life.  Fabio´s family promised to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and we are so excited to share the PEACE this gospel brings.

Well, that´s about it for now!  I am loving life as a missionary, and I love this gospel so so much!  And if you guys want to do something fun for your scripture study, you should read in 3 Nephi chapter 11.  As I was studying this past week, I realized this chapter talks a lot about the action of "arising."  Let me know how many times you read about someone arising!

Well, love you lots, and enjoy your first week in Layton!!!

Hermana Dixon