Hello!

This week's letter will be quick, so I just want to say hi and that I hope everyone is doing well.  We have started teaching lessons and are seeing a lot of people progress, in fact, we have four people preparing to be baptized! This means that Sister Newell and I need to STUDY and become better teachers....fast, haha.  The Lord is definitely helping us as we study and prepare and plan.  The members of the church here are ready to help us, and even last night a lady called us asking if she could come out with us this week, and then another member told us he wants to invite his work friends over to have dinner with us! Not everyone wants to share the gospel, but some people do, and my companion and I are going into people's homes and helping them.  

My companion is really funny and sometimes when she gets really happy, she looks at me with this crazy look in her eyes and it scares me.  That's just one funny thing she does among many.  I love living with her, and I hope you all can meet her one day.  

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, Gma and Gpa, Starlee, Brooke, Mom, Randy, Paige, Kathryn, and Kenzie for your letters.  They are just the greatest.

I know this gospel is true and that we can share it lovingly with our friends! I am so happy to be out here as a missionary.  It's amazing to see people want to change and to just do everything you can to help them make those changes.  Love you all!

Love,

Sister Hixson

Hello!

This week has been a great one filled with a few lessons and lots of learning! I really feel like I will never stop learning.  We were able to teach three families this week and one single mom.  The lessons went well, and Sister Newell and I are getting practice teaching the lessons.  And guess what??? One of the people we invited to church actually came!! This is exciting :) Haha. We are so happy.  She is really sweet, and she loves that she can have the manuals, hymns, and scriptures on her phone.  We were able to show her all of this.  Two of the people we taught this week said they will prepare for baptism...another super exciting thing!!!! (I'll send a picture of our happy faces)  It's like you are just going along being a missionary and then something happens that just makes you SO HAPPY.  Like even this stuffed animal bear that the elders brought by yesterday because they didn't want it.  Sister Newell and I were pretty excited. 

Yesterday was a really cool day.  We went to church, and Dell (we taught her this week) was there! She enjoyed church and is coming to our ward activity with her husband on Wednesday.  We were driving home from church with Sister Park and she was talking about the hardships that some members of our ward are going through, and I was thinking about the strength of the members here.  Some people are going through really hard things and you don't ever know because they are just so strong and push through it all.  We know that trials and afflictions are for our gain, even when we don't understand why they happen.  I know that God is with us and that we don't have to understand everything, but we can understand more by reading the scriptures and keeping the commandments.  I am excited to understand everything one day. 

I want you to know that you are all great inspirations to me.  Your letters remind me how blessed I am to have my friends and family in my life.  That is one thing we teach- that God has placed us in families for a reason, to help us come closer to Christ.  Thank you for all your prayers.  I had a moment yesterday where I was reminded of all the prayers being said for me...every week in church someone says over the pulpit how blessed they feel to have us in their ward.  We are all missionaries! We can all share the gospel through our actions, love, and words.  There is someone in your life who will change because they know you, and we do have to do our part to be the best missionaries we can be! :)

Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, Mia, Courtney, and Star for the letters. 

Love always,

Sister Hixson

July 15, 2013

Dear friends and family,

I don't have much time today,  but I just wanted to say hi and tell you a little bit about this week.  We were in Helena on Thursday for a conference, and then we had another roommate for a couple days! She is a leader in the mission and she came out with us to Dillon and helped us, and we learned a lot from her.  It was a pretty stressful week, but it was nice to have these couple of breaks.  I am learning about patience and love.  Being a trainer is interesting because I feel like I don't know much yet, but I am learning that to be a leader means we are teachable and we serve in love.  It doesn't mean we have all the answers (at least I hope not, haha).  I am grateful for scriptures and prayer and answers to prayers.  They have helped me to feel peace and to move forward.  We were really tired this week, but now we are feeling a little better and will hopefully get a nap in.  The people we live with are some of the kindest people I know.  

One thing I was reminded of is that being a missionary doesn't mean you are someone else.  It means that we are ourselves! It's great! We let our light shine- the light God has given us.  I love the scripture in Matthew 5:16- "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  We have a light given to us from God that we can share with the world.  

I hope you have a wonderful week! Thank you Kenzie and Sister Morgan for the wonderful package and letters! It felt like Christmas.  And thank you Dad, Sister Dowden, Eva, Asher and Grandma and Grandpa for your letters.  They are so encouraging and just are the best.

Lots of love from Dillon,

Sister Hixson

July 8, 2013

Hello!

Week two in Dillon has come and gone! There's been a lot that has happened, and we are getting more familiar with the area.  Fourth of July was awesome.  We were allowed to stay out til 11,so we went to a barbecue at a member's house earlier, and then went back and planned and then walked across the road behind our house to where all these trucks were parking and people were setting off fireworks.  It's crazy.  People can just set off any fireworks anywhere, like even the huge ones! A family let us sit on their truck with them and we got to know them a bit.  When we came back, Brother and Sister Park (who we live with) had set up chairs on the back porch so we could keep watching the fireworks as it got dark.  It was so nice to just sit out there in our pajamas and watch them.  I love the Fourth of July.  One of the greatest holidays :)

It's been a good week.  It is absolutely beautiful out here in the evenings.  We ride our bikes down this one part of town and there are just fields and farms, and this past week, they were baling hay, so the huge bales of hay were out in the fields which was cool.  I'm learning more about the lives of farmers.  The people here, parents and children, know how to work.  A lot of them work on farms and just are used to working hard.  It's really cool.  The skies here are AWESOME.  And it rains often...and suddenly, haha.  We are always watching behind us at the sky to see when we think we might need to duck into a member's home to get cover.

We had an experience with that this week.  So we were riding right past a member's house (the Lund's) when it started raining huge drops, so we quickly pulled over and they invited us to stay for dinner.  It was really fun and we had a good discussion about the gospel and missionary work.  They are a super hilarious and fun family.  We were a little worried at first because the rain had stopped and we aren't supposed to be in member's homes past six because they want us out meeting people, because most people are home in the evenings, but we had dinner with them and left soon after.  We rode our bikes to this lady's house who we had met in the driveway the night before, and she said come back tomorrow.  We went there, and a son let us in and told us to walk upstairs. We did, and everyone just looked at us.  We knew we weren't wanted there, but we talked to them for a minute, just getting to know them, and then we asked if we could share a message.  An older lady said no, but this isn't my house, so ask him.  We asked "him" (Jimmy) and he said yes you may, and even turned off the TV.  We shared John 15 with them and shared our testimonies of Christ being our friend.  We talked about who Christ is to us and how He can be a friend to all of us.  The older lady was not happy with us.  She told us we were wrong and had some questions and things to argue about.  But, we were able to share what we knew and then head out.  Jimmy walked us down stairs and out the door and, even though he didn't say much, he was so kind to us.  We left that place a little shaken up, but the Spirit was powerful there, and we hope Jimmy or someone else could feel that.  It was sad to hear this lady just tell us we were wrong, but I left that house feeling greater conviction of this gospel than I had before.  I just know that it's true, and we were able to just ride away feeling good and ready to go.  

Right after this, an awesome thing happened.  We decided to go to this house down the road, the Coleman's.  This was awesome. We hadn't met them yet, but we knew one of them was a member of the church, but was not active in going.  It was this man and his wife.  The wife led us to the backyard where Fred was trying to figure out the sprinklers, haha.  My companion and I "helped" him work the sprinklers and had an awesome time with him and his wife.  He says he doesn't need church and told us some funny stories about his past, but him and his wife were so kind and loving to us.  As we were outside trying to fix his sprinklers, the sky was like it is in paintings- where the clouds are light blue with a bright outline from the sun behind them, and the rays were literally spreading out across the sky.  To me, this was a gentle reminder of heaven and God.  I know there is a heaven and God is watching over us.  The Coleman's moved to Wyoming the next day, but spending that hour with them was a blessing for us, and I hope for them too.

Wow, this is an essay.  Well, I just am grateful for little miracles each week.  The people here are really happy with their lives and don't want to change, but I know there are some people who will accept us. 

Thank you Mom, Dad, Paige, Starlee, Kenzie, Grandma and Grandpa, Andy and Melissa for your letters.  They are the best! :)

Something funny: This week I acquired a new bruise....on my face...Sister Newell whipped the bike lock out of her backpack and it wacked me on the nose.  Hahahaa.  It was so funny, especially realizing that it gave me this new beautiful bruise on my nose.  Umbrellas and bike locks,,,who knew.

I love you all.  Have a happy week!

Love,

Sister Hixson   

July 1, 2013

Hello!

This week I arrived in Dillon and experienced the full "transfer week" experience.  It has been a week of learning, change, and work, and it's been a good one.  Sister Newell is a new missionary from West Virginia, and she is passionate and committed to missionary work, so it's great! We have a lot of work to do, but the ward mission leader is seriously awesome from what we have seen-he and his wife took us for a drive out in the country and laid down the mission plan which is entirely member-work.  We aren't quite sure when it will all start, but each day we try to fill our time with effective work, meeting members and learning the area. 

Dillon is smaaaalll :) In Billings I was praying to learn the area because I was always always confused where we were, haha, so the Lord answered that prayer by sending me to a town with one high school, two wards, and a bike so I could pay attention to street names up-close, haha.  The people here are even friendlier than in Billings.  They all wave back when they pass in their trucks and people on the streets talk to us and are really nice.  We went to dinner with an older couple in the ward on Friday, and they took us to a restaurant called Papa T's.  The High School football team pictures are all on the walls, and the food was delicious.  Dillon is small, and little Sister Hixson might be getting a litttttle bigger with all this food...haha. People feed us quite a lot, if I haven't mentioned that earlier..

I met a man named ElfBoy.  Yes, it's true.  Even though he didn't want to read the Book of Mormon, he was nice and his name was Elfboy, and he took a mormon.org card. I just have met people with the most interesting names here, huh?

I feel like being a trainer here with a new missionary in a new area is going to be pretty hard.  It has been difficult to plan these past few days as we waited for bikes and supplies, but the first day when Sister Newell and I went walking in the heat to figure out the area and meet people, I thought about Dad serving his mission in Guatemala and how he was in a tent for 6 months.  I was wearing nice clothes, was not alone, and had the gospel!! The next day, a big storm hit, and we happened to meet a member right before that who let us in, so when the storm hit, we were inside and could stay there for a little while.  Then, the next day we were able to set up three appointments with people we either met on the street or at the door! Those were great blessings, and I know the Lord is helping Sister Newell and me.  I read John 15 this morning, and verse 2 says, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."  In the footnotes, it says that purgeth means purifies, tests, tries, and proves.  So, when we try to do good, the Lord then purifies us to bring forth more fruit..so we can do more good! The Lord is always trying to make more of us through our tests and trials in life. 

I am happy to know that whatever the Lord puts me and my loved ones through, as we try to be the best we can, it is to make us even better.  And with those experiences, we will experience even greater joy in life than we now do.  I know that this gospel is true.  God loves us and has restored His true gospel to the earth now! How awesome that we are here when that has happened :)

Thank you Gisselle for the package! And Gma and Gpa, Grandma and Grandpa, Mom, and Dad for the letters.  Letterd and packages will be delayed a few days now that I am in Dillon.

Oh, and happy Fourth of July!! Ah, one of the greatest holidays there is!!

Love always,
Sister Hixson