Making cookies with Kiera

July 29, 2014

Hola familia! 

It’s been another fun week here in Fray Bentos!  Sorry I didn’t email yesterday...the last Monday of every change, we clean our apartments for three hours.  As a result, our P-Day is switched to Tuesday.  So if you don’t get an email on a Monday every once in a while, don’t be stressed.  Well, the end of this week has been full of reflections.  I cannot believe I’ve made it through one whole change.  Sorry to double dip, but I’m just going to quickly include what I wrote to President because it sums up how I’m feeling right now pretty well!

¨I cannot believe I’ve been in Uruguay for a whole change! In all honesty, it’s been the craziest, hardest six weeks of my life, but at the same time, I’ve loved it. As I reflect on the past six weeks, I can’t help but think of my favorite scripture, Alma 26:12: 'Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore, I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.' This past change, I have had many moments where I’ve felt like nothing. I’ve been brutally aware of how difficult it is to communicate with people in another language, how difficult it is to teach people about the gospel when you still have so much to learn, how difficult it is to talk to random people on the street, and how difficult it is to adapt to life as a missionary in general. If it were just me doing these things, I don’t think I’d be able to survive! But luckily, I’ve got someone else on my team. Although it’s sometimes hard to see and remember, I know God has been with me every step of the way. He has put huge blessings in my life as a missionary. I am so grateful for my ward, for my companion, for Fray Bentos, for my house, for the people we’re teaching, for my district, for you and your fam, and for the prayers of my family members. I still have a loooong way to go and at times, I feel freaked out because I haven’t quite wrapped my mind around the fact that I’ll be living in Uruguay for another sixteen months, but as I look back to where I began six weeks ago, I know all this stretching has helped me grow. Life as a missionary is so so hard, but it is definitely worth it.¨

Anyway, I am excited and super nervous for another change.  I guess I’m kind of obsessed with bullet points, so here are some things that have been happening lately!

·         This week, we had lots of meetings with all the presidencies in our ward.  We’ve got some good missionary goals with them, so it should be great!  During the Young Women meeting, we got assignments to do divisions with members of the presidency and some of the young women.  We ended up doing the divisions on Saturday, and they were so fun!  We visited two girls, shared a scripture about prayer, invited them to attend church, and chatted for a bit.  At one house, we even got to help a girl named Kiera make cookies!  She came to church the next day, so we were excited!

·         On Saturday, Hermana McMurray and I were in charge of a scripture game for a ward activity.  We literally had no idea what to do and had several failed attempts.  Throughout the day, I was praying we’d be able to make a fun game, and God answered my prayers!  We concocted this weird game where we told people a reference and asked them to look for a specific word.  For example, we would tell them to find the 30th word in the verse.  Then, when a team found the word, they would try to shoot a ball in a trash can.  It was a hit so I was grateful!!!

·         On Sunday, our zone leaders received information about changes.  Hermana McMurray and I were walking to our bishop’s house on Sunday and we saw the zone leaders in the street.  They totally played a trick on us!  They told us that we were going to be split up...that she would be training my MTC companion Hermana Schaeffer for these last six weeks and that Hermana Schaeffer´s companion would be finishing my training.  You guys all know how gullible I am...Hermana McMurray and I totally fell for it and even started crying a little bit.  But luckily, as we were walking away, they told us they were only kidding!

·         Hermana McMurray is experiencing visa problems so she left for a bit.  We dropped her off at the bus station this morning at 3 and she’ll be back Thursday morning.  So I am in charge of my area for a few days!  I’ve been hanging out with the other sisters today and will be going out with an older lady in our ward tomorrow.  Her name is Hermana Marisol.  She’s a cutie and is actually working on her papers to be a senior missionary, so it’s good practice!

·         I went to my first Uruguayan birthday party and it was fun!!!  It was actually for Hermana Marisol, the lady I just talked about.  We made her a giant brownie shaped like an M!

·         For some reason I never tell you guys about my Spanish!  It is going well, slowly but surely!  I understand probably eighty to ninety percent of the time, and I can teach lessons more or less!  One time, I said Jesus Christ was holding a corbato aka tie instead of a cordero aka sheep, but it’s going well.

Anyway, I love you all!!!  You are the best, and I can’t wait to hear from you next week!

Hermana Dixon

I Think I'm Falling in Love . . .

"[S]uper swollen and purple" finger

July 21, 2014

Hola familia! 

First and foremost, thank you for all the tips.  I got teary eyed while reading through them because it is amazing to have such a supportive family at home.  Thank you for giving such thoughtful answers, and I will do my best to apply them!  I am happy to let everyone know this week was BETTER!  I am nowhere close to being comfortable, but slowly but surely, things are getting better!  Yay!  This is the first week where I’ve actually started to fall in love with Uruguay and the people here.  Little by little, we’ve been seeing some miracles!  We’ve started teaching a really cute family (a mom, a dad, an eighteen-month-old baby named Dillon, and a baby on the way)!  We found them on the street one day, and we’ve been visiting them a lot since.  They live in a one-room house and Hermana McMurray and I have to share a chair when we teach them, but I love it.  My whole leg fell asleep one lesson because I was leaning on it so I wouldn’t fall off the chair, but it’s all good.  Anyway, since they are a new family, they (especially the dad) are super open to everything we’re teaching!  We invited them to come to church and they didn’t end up coming yesterday, but we are still so excited! 

Okay, now I’m just going to write bullet points of things I love about Uruguay and some funny things that have happened!

·         I love the rain here.  Sometimes it kind of stinks because when it rains, it POURS, but it’s kind of fun to dodge puddles and look out into the flooded streets.

·         The little kids here are so cute and are hoots!  This little boy in our ward is super aggressive, but it’s funny.  One day when we were eating at his family’s house he threw a chewed-up orange piece at me and yesterday during ward council he reached up and scratched my face with a wooden block, but it’s all good!

·         We played basketball last P-Day, and I jammed my finger.  I didn’t think very much of it, but the next day, my finger was super swollen and purple.  I will have to send you a picture sometime soon!

·         Everyone here wears Crocs and I love it.

·         I love looking up every night at the sky and seeing the stars!

·         I love how generous people are here!!!  I have never had so much torta (cake) and hot cocoa in my life because whenever we visit people, they love giving us little treats.

·         I just realized the other day I am the first new sister missionary my ward has ever had!  They love that I don’t know Spanish very well and joke around with me a lot.  It probably should bother me a little bit, but I just think it’s funny!

·         I have been making a lot of sweet treats these days!  We give treats to ward members when they go out with us and to investigators or to random street contacts.  

·         I love how much members of the Church here love the Lord!  

I have to go, but I love you all so much.  Once again, thank you for the advice!!!  This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done, but I know hard things are always worth it. 

Until next week!

Hermana Dixon

July 14, 2014

Hola familia!

Well, it’s been another good week in Uruguay!  I’ve got good news and bad news.  The good news is that we’ve been able to begin teaching a lot of cool families and individuals, that my ward absolutely rocks, that I love my comp and roomies, and that little by little, I am beginning to see myself becoming more converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The bad news is that none of our investigators are really progressing. People in Uruguay are very chill and laid back (which is awesome), but attending sacrament meeting, praying, and reading the scriptures is a little hard for some people here.  

Before I really dive into things though, I just want to tell you guys a little bit about the members in my ward.  As I think about all the people in my ward, Las Canteras, the parable of the widow’s mite comes to mind.  A lot of them have one- or two-room houses, little work, and very busy lives outside of church.  But even with little resources and time, they are willing to GIVE so much.  We have lunch with members almost every day, a lady in our ward washed all of our clothing and gave my trainer and me these cute homemade laundry bags, the sweetest little girls wrote me and my companion heartfelt notes, and members went out with us for twenty-five hours last week.  Twenty-five hours!!!  I am honestly in awe of how much they are willing to give towards missionary work!  And you know that quote by Spencer W. Kimball about how our prayers are usually answered through other people???  You can bet these people have been answers to my prayers as I’ve been going through this transition.  Anyway, sorry for that little tangent, but I am just SO GRATEFUL!  

This week, we worked very hard.  We’ve been opening our mouths a lot, so we’ve had the opportunity to teach some really cool new people.  Also, on Friday, I got to do divisions with Hermana Colwell from Montana!!! She is just a few changes ahead of me, so she gave me lots of advice because she remembers what it’s like to be a newbie missionary.  And last but not least, I am just loving personal study.  Reading the scriptures used to be something I found difficult, but now it is one of my favorite parts of the day.  

I love you all so so much, and I definitely have some funny stories to tell you next week!!!  I hope you have a swell week; you are just the best!

Hermana Dixon

Making cinnamon rolls with roomies

July 8, 2014

Hola familia!

I’m running a bit short on time, so I’m just going to do some quick bullet points on what went well during my week!

·         This week, we had an awesome Noche de Hogar with all the young women in our ward.  We watched a movie about the first vision, and I felt the Spirit so strong!  I loved looking around the room and seeing amazing teenage girls who live halfway across the world from where I grew up.

·         On July 4th, I got to do some yardwork!!!  The tradition continues!  We helped an older lady in our ward named Neli weed her garden, and it was awesome.  She is such a faithful member of our ward, and she gave us bread, jam, and pizza!

·         We tried to visit our investigators lots of times, but they were super busy.  It was sad, but we got to visit some less active members within our ward.  Lots of members came with us to visit these individuals, and it made a HUGE difference.  I love hearing members’ testimonies.  So . . . if you have the opportunity to go out with the missionaries, DO IT!

·         Saturday was SUPER rainy and cold.  It was a hard day for me because of that.  Our last appointment of the day, I did not want to go because I was freezing and needed to do language study.  But things ended up going well!  We brought a member named Hermano Hugo with us, and he talked with this less active lady’s son while we talked with her.  The next day, Hermano Hugo bore his testimony about how grateful he was to have the opportunity to go out with us and share his testimony, so it taught me I should never have a bad attitude about going to an appointment.  The members here are seriously amazing!

·         Yesterday we had zone capacitation!  I learned so much and got to have an interview with Presidente Smith!  Not going to lie . . . it’s easy to feel inadequate here because I have so so so much to learn.  But Presidente Smith helped me feel more confident and made me so glad to be here.  I am honestly so grateful for the chance I have to serve here in Uruguay!

·         Today we went shopping in Tata, Uruguay’s version of Walmart.  Google it because it is a magical place!

I love you all so much and I am so glad I have a family like you!!!  Until next week!

XOXO

Hermana Dixon

Week Two in Uruguay!

With Hermana Ferrara on a bus

June 30, 2014

Hola familia!

Okay so this past week has been so fun!  I feel so lucky because as a newbie missionary, I`ve had the chance to go on many adventures.  My trainer had a conference in Montevideo this past week, so I went to a new area for a few days.  It`s called Dolores, and I served with Hermana Ferrara from BOULDER, COLORADO!  We were just instant friends because of our Colorado tie--I am so glad for the chance I had to be with her for a bit!  I had the opportunity to eat with the patriarch for our zone (I didn`t know he was a patriarch until afterwards, otherwise I would`ve told him about grandpa), meet an awesome recent convert named Selene who is eighteen and thinking about serving a mission, and meet the cutest old lady.  I forgot her name, but it was so funny because when she answered her door, she was only wearing a sweater and sheer tights.  Hermana Ferrara and I were both like, "Hermana, where are your pants?"  Haha, so when we got in, we helped her find some good pants to wear for the day.


Today has been crazy because we MOVED!  One thing I forgot to tell you in last week`s letter is that our house was SUPER far from our area.  Like about an hour walk each way.  So, we moved today and we are right in our area.  It`ll be nice because we`ll have so much more time to teach, and our new house is amazing.  I feel a little bad because it is super nice, but I guess I should just be grateful while it lasts!  I`m still getting used to life as a missionary and I still have moments where I feel inadequate, but each day gets a little bit better.  I am adjusting to the humidity, am beginning to understand Español more, and am starting to realize how awesome the people here are.  We honestly ask random people on the street just one question, and they completely tell us their life story.  It`s a little hard when you can`t pick up all the details because of the language barrier, but it`s still amazing to hear what they have to say.  And I am LOVING my ward here!  On Saturday, we had a ten-hour ward activity.  It was soooo long, but so good.  We went to a beach, played games, built sand castles, ate food, and had a little spiritual thought.  On the bus ride home, which was right before the game, everyone on the bus just started singing songs about Uruguay, and it made me so happy to be serving here!  We work a lot with less actives here, but we`ve got some great investigators right now.  One girl is sixteen and named Priscilla.  She has an INCREDIBLE voice (she won some sort of competition), and she is so nice!  And then we have also been teaching lessons to an eight-year-old girl named Augustina.  She is super excited about the gospel, and it`s so cool because her mom was an active member when she was younger!  Well, I love you all, and just know I am doing well!  Things have been hard, but it`s given me the opportunity to really rely on my Savior, and the good definitely outweighs the bad!  I am so grateful to be here!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Dixon

With Hermana McMurray on the waterfront

June 23, 2014

Hola familia!! 

First things first, I am alive and doing well!  I loved reading your excerpts from the past two weeks! 

Okay so my first area in Uruguay is FRAY BENTOS!  It is honestly the first area I needed.  The people are so nice, there are all these beautiful plazas, and we went to a wonderful waterfront for P-Day today!  Everyone`s right . . . a mission is super hard, but I am taking things one day at a time and it is working!  I live in an apartment with three other North American hermanas, and it is super nice.  There`s a bit of mold on the walls, but we have hot water and big rooms, so I am not complaining!  And my trainer is AWESOME!  Her name is Hermana McMurray and she and Linds were in the same freshman ward!  Small world, eh?  I also met another elder who knows Linds so that was crazy! 

Funny story about my arrival:  All the missionaries heading to the Uruguay Montevideo West mission left at 4 a.m. from the CCM, and we arrived at the mission home around 6 p.m.!  The flight to Uruguay is just half an hour, but there was fog, so our first flight got canceled.  Then, we went to another airport and our flight there was delayed.  And the second airport we went to wanted everyone to repay for their luggage so it was crazy.  Guess what though?  There was a bishop from Argentina who helped us! 

Anyway, I am loving it here and it has been so cool seeing how much people love the gospel in Uruguay!  I wish I could write more, but I need to write my mission president. 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

Hermana Dixon

ONE YEAR AGO . . .

Leaving the Argentina CCM

June 12, 2014

Hola familia!!

So this past week, I´ve been feeling pretty sentimental because my time here at the Argentina CCM is coming to a close.  How in the world did it go by so fast?  Anyway, I´ve been thinking a lot about what happened in my life one year ago and how it is affecting me today.

ONE YEAR AGO, I was a naive high school graduate who was preparing to start summer term at BYU.  I was so excited, but didn´t think I´d be able to survive without my family, Colorado friends, and the kids I nannied for.  Little did I know, going summer term would be one of the best decisions I had ever made because I learned how to be independent.  TODAY, I am a naive sister missionary who is preparing to leave the comfortable CCM for Uruguay.  Once again, I am so excited, but also scared out of my mind.  It´ll be hard to survive without Presidente and Hermana Willis, my CCM friends and teachers, and the awesome food here, but I know this is something I need to do because I will learn SO MANY lessons.

ONE YEAR AGO, I had the opportunity to live with roommates for the first time.  I had no idea what to expect with roomies, but I sure lucked out.  Each of the girls I lived with (Lexi, Mary, Kayla, Jana, Katherine, Blayr, Rachel, Jamie, Jessica, Ariel, Sloane, Kayla, Sierra, and Sage) taught me something new and served me in countless ways.  TODAY, I have the opportunity to be with not one, but TWO companions.  Hermana Schaeffer and Hermana Simmons are two of the most amazing people I know, and I will be eternally grateful for them because they´ve helped me start my mission off on a good foot! 

ONE YEAR AGO, I was with the fam and we got a phone call from Sister Lindsay Dixon.  She was getting ready to leave the Provo MTC for Lansing, Michigan, and I remember being SO PROUD of her and being in awe of how happy she sounded.  TODAY, I am looking forward to emailing or calling you guys as I leave the Argentina CCM for Montevideo, Uruguay.  I am humbled by your supportive emails and the fact that you guys are proud of me, and I´m starting to realize why Sister Dixon sounded so happy!  Being on a mission is hard, but so many times, I have felt indescribable joy.

Anyway, I guess what I´m trying to say is even if we don´t know what´s going to happen in a year, God does.  He puts specific experiences in our lives to prepare us.  If you had asked me a year ago what I´d be doing today, there is no way I would´ve guessed I´d be in South America learning Spanish, eating more meat than I have ever had in my entire life, developing a love for the people here, and trying a bit harder every day to hand everything over to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  I leave for Uruguay early Tuesday morning, and I am so PUMPED!  And freaked out.  This past week at the CCM has honestly been so awesome, and I'm glad I've had the opportunity to finish on a good note here.  Here are a few quick highlights from my week:

·         The cook here who always says "siempre bien" is famous!!!  One night I was grabbing dinner, and he pulled out this huge photo album and showed me pictures of him with all these apostles.  He is honestly one of the coolest, most humble guys I´ve met!  

·         Hermana Schaeffer and I got a little bored one night, so we decided to arm wrestle.  Never in my life have I met someone who is so similar in strength.  After about five minutes of back and forth, she beat me, but I´m totally going to cream her next time.

·         Proselyting was so much better!!  We got to go to a new area and it was great.  I went with Hermana Bond in my district, and my companions went together.  It was hard being away from them, but Hermana Bond and I met lots of awesome people, including this old man named Luis.  Luis is a security guard and was standing outside of a hospital under construction.  We talked to him for a while, and he totally reminded me of a mixture of Coach Klatt (my terrific track coach) and Brother Tabor (he smelled exactly like Brother Tabor)!  But don´t worry, it´s not like I smelled him or anything, his cologne was just really strong.  He had the cutest, toothless dog, and we had lots of fun talking with him and petting his dog.  Anyway, I left him with a Libro de Mormon with my testimony in the cover.  At first, he didn´t want to take it because he thought I wanted money for it, but I told him it was "liberado" aka "freedom."  I think he got the point though!

·         My new Latina roomies are AWESOME!  Every night, we say "amigas por siempre," which means "friends forever."  They are hoots and they teach us lots of Spanish so it´s great!

·         Mom, those granola bars we bought have really come in handy!  We´ve been teaching lots of lessons on the Word of Wisdom to our investigators (who are really our teachers), and every time we leave, we give them a granola bar because they´re healthy!  Oh and funny story, one time, I was like, "Yeah you can eat graños!  They are healthy for your body!"  Really, the word for grains is granos, and graños means skulls, so that was pretty confusing for awhile.

I´ve got to go, but I LOVE YOU ALL!  Thank you for being the best, and just know I am excited for this new adventure!  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve a mission!

Hermana Dixon