Still Missing the Boy

We are thrilled that Ryan is on his mission and are confident that he is in the Lord's hands. But we still miss him. Holly mentioned at dinner tonight that she saw his car when she got home from school and for a moment thought he would be there to meet her.

In her head she knew he wasn't here, but in her heart ????

These photos are special because they capture a bit of the precious feelings we have for Elder Dixon.

Excerpts from Ryan's last email:

Hey fam,

Thanks for the dope package. We all loved it. the rubber chicken may have been the best part. Haha where did you get that one. Actually, where did we get the other one?? Trade show?? Haha my b. president came in and saw me open it and was all, "now is your family sending you stuff that i'm going to have to have you send home". I explained my fam is just tight and funny and it was all good. That was tight.

So, the mtc is tight. The more i get to know my companion, the more I realize he is a remix of spencer campbell. They are different in so many ways, but sometimes their manerisms are out of control similar, separated-at-birth style. It just makes him even easier to love... ha. There are some other look alikes. Sister Bott - a wife of a man (who teaches m prep and d&c at byu) who is in our branch pres., is Grandma Dent #2. Not that she even approaches how tight and perfect grandma is, but she reminds me so much of her, looks and personality alike. It's tight, she's a little bite of dent here at the mtc. Also steve redd number too. Picture steve like 2 ft taller w/ dark hair, and that is elder smith. He just left. He is a stud.com.

THe devotionals continue to be so tight at the mtc. Elder Dallin H. Oaks stopped by and gave a life-changing talk on the sacrament and how that tied w/ having the holy ghost as a constant companion and teaching by the spirit. That man is an apostle of the Lord. I know that. He set the perfect example of teaching by the spirit. He said in the beginning that this was a subject that "weighed heavily" on his mind for the past year or so. As we discussed after as a district, Bro Vernon (branch presidency) said that that must have been what the savior wanted us to hear. As we shared our thoughts about what we had heard and shared our testimonies, it was apparent that each of us had had an answer to prayer or at least the settling of a worry. THat's because the Spirit was there. WHen the Holy Ghost is present, Heavenly Father and the Savior can let us know individually what they want us to know. Not only was that message what we needed to hear collectively, but individually as well. THrough faith, repentenc, baptism, and then partaking prepared and ready of the sacrament, we can be cleansed of all our mistakes and sins regularly and live clean lives. THen we can have the Spirit as a constant companion. One thing i remember and was touched by was that he invoked the blessings of the President and Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, on us missionaries. THen he closed and left the room. WHen he left, I didn't feel the spirit leave, or feel it any less than when he was in the room. I still felt good, happy, peaceful, calm, etc. WHen someone carries the spirit with them and share a testimony through/ w/ that spirit, the other person is left feeling better. I want to leave everyone I meet better than when I saw them first.

Welp, I love you guys. Have a good day!

love
E dix

We are Following the Spirit

Ryan is having a wonderful time in the MTC. The following photo captures the essence of why Ryan will be a good missionary - taking the time to read to his nephews before he left to walk down the concourse to his flight. I think that is called "serving the one."

Some excerpts from Ryan's last email ...

Dobar Dan moj obitelj!

aka good day my family! What is up! How is everybody? It seems like AZ slash colorado slash everywhere else is doing pretty good.

I keep learning all kinds of stuff. This past sunday @ our devotional Pres Breinholt from the MTC presidency and his wife gave the devotional about music focused on hymns. He began by talking about the importance of hymns and the blessings that can come from hymns. I realized that it had gone unnoticed what an important roll hymns have played in my testimony slash overall happiness. He referred us to the 1st presidency address in the front of the hymn book that describes all the blessings that can come from them. It's tight. Then he had like 14-15ish random elders slash sisters come up to a mic and share their fave hymn and why it was their fave and then we all sang one verse of their choice. It was choice... I wasn't anticipating it, but singing hymns with missionaries has become one of my favorite things.

We taught the first lesson in the Teacher Evaluation Center aka TEC this week. Usually, you teach people (usually members) who come as volunteers and act as if they are looking into or investigating the church. THen we would teach them according to their kind-of made up profile. This week, our tight teacher, Sister Harper, decided to change it up. This weeek, she had us teach THAT person, the way they were, LDS or not. We were pretty sure the person we were going to teach was LDS, so we felt a little wierd / nervous about that. Like, how would we teach and LDS person about the restoration and it be like a real lesson? IDK, we thought it would be kind of wierd. But it wasn't. We got in there, and for the first few minutes, just got to know her. It turns out she was LDS, was a student @ BYU, and was a convert to the LDS church when she was a little girl. Her family joined the church when she was 6 and she got baptised when she was 8. When we knew who she was, we taught her principles from lesson 1 based on HER needs. We found ourselves not following the strict outline we had practiced in our study time. We asked her questions, heard her testimony, shared our testimonies, and we ALL learned and were better slash more fortified in our testimonies after we were done. We hadn't wandered aimlessly with what we taught. We are following the Spirit. It was Preach my Gospel style. It was sweet. It was the best lesson. I learned that ALL of us, whether members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or not, are on a spiritual journey back to our loving, living Heavenly father. We can all benefit from the message of the Restored Gospel and the testimonies anytime, anywhere. The church is a huge support system, not just a gathering of perfect people. It's far far from that actually. I know that this church is true and it was restored by the power of God through a humble servant and prophet Joseph Smith. Because of that truth, there are Prophets, or God's chosen servants and leaders, who know the will of God for men, so that they can guide us back to him and have peace/joy in this life. THe Book of Mormon is convincing evidence of those truths. It's a wonderfully importent message, eh?!

Doing Great in the MTC

We are thrilled to hear about Ryan's attitude and progress at the MTC. He sounds like he is learning much, having wonderful spiritual experiences and having an all around good time.

Then night before he left for Utah, Ryan was set apart by Clint Smith, President of the Mesa Arizona Kimball stake. The following photo was taken in the high council room just after that ordinance.

A few exerpts from Ryan's email this week:

Dear Fam!!!

How are you all doing.com? Man, it is so good to here from you guys. I had six letters in my inbox today... That's right... six. I am going to go rub that in Elder Champion's face in a minute. Jk, but mail is tight, and I love it. Thanks for all the letters and all the love...

Things are going so well in the MTC. Every day is the best day of my life. I'm learning a lot slash I have tight roomates slash croatian is so rad slash the weather is great. Some of my favorite things ever are the sunday night firesides and the tuesday night devotionals. Last week, James A. Paramour formerly from the 70 came to talk to us. He is the man. He talked about the prophets and how they lived there lives. He said pres kimball would get to work early everyday, and spend the entire day til late blessing and helping people's life. He talked about pres. Benson and his love for the BOM. He said he used to get some kind of committees and send out hundreds of Book of Mormons with their sincere testimonies inside. J. Paramour had sent hundreds over the years. More than 50 people he sent those to were baptised. Isn't that tight! Should we not be involved in so great a cause?? So great, eh?? He was the man.

My fave mtg. this week was by some guy who has worked w/ the mtc for like 30 years, Bro. Heaton??? He was so good. He talked about how the Joseph Smith story is a metaphore or prototype or model for personal conversion for investigators and ourselves.

The scriptures are full of the direction to recieve answers from God through the Holy Ghost. Check out 1st Nephi and relate Lehi's experiences to your own personal conversion. He prays, and is filled w/ the Holy Ghost... He recieves a book, and is filled with the spirit... He shares what he learns from God... He is persecuted for sharing... BUT God extends his tender mercies to those who are chosen and are faithful. We are all chosen to be here on the earth right now... As we pray sincerely and ponder about the BOM and what the Prophets tell us, act on upon what we learn, share it with others and are faithful and endure, God will extend tender mercies, take care of us, and we will become acquainted with him... Basically, that meeting was tight and the scrips are filled with cool slash essential stuff like that.

I've been playing alot of soccer lately. My roomates are pro, so ill go play w/ them. We are working on a way to get the MTC represented in the fifa world cup...

I love you! Keep it real!

Welcome to the Croatian Chronicle!

On July 30, 2008, Ryan entered the Provo Missionary Training Center for an eight-week period of instruction prior to flying to Croatia to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the wonderful Croatian people. We will use this blog to chronicle his progress and keep family and friends updated on his missionary experiences.

Today we received the first email from him since he entered the MTC. Here are a few excerpts from his email:

Man, Idk where to start. The MTC is sweetness. ... I love the meetings and devotionals like its no body's business. Our MTC president is the man. I swear he will be an apostle someday. They take good care of us spiritually! The spirit is so constant overall in this place that it is almost hard to detect after a while.

My district is made up of kids going to either slovenia, croatia, czeck republic, or slavakia. My zone has some elders heading for the US and this week some are coming in and going to Canada - the city my comp is from.... That's kind of sweet , eh?

On sunday, Elder Champion and I got called to be zone leaders. Pretty nuts, huh? Before my Branch pres. asked us to accept the calling he was all, "Elder Dixon, your pockets..." I was like bent over slouching with my hands in my pockets, so I took my hands out of my pockets and stood up straighter. Then he asked if we would be zone leaders, and the rest is history... Haha jk, but it's cool.

So sunday @ the mtc might have been the greatest day ever.... I loved our Mission Conference. I swear, there is nothing better than singing the Spirit of God, Did you think to Pray, and I'm trying to be like Jesus, with 2000 missionaries. I will never forget that choice experience...

love

ryan

We invite you to come back often to share in the wonderful blessings that will come because of his faithful service.