Room 417 has become my home

Ryan's stay at the MTC is in its final stages.  It sounds like he had developed a real fondness for the MTC, but the end of September, he will be in Croatia, having new experiences, living in a new place, and extending his trademarked love of everyone with the good folks in Croatia. We share his excitement as he eagerly await that day.

Eric gave Ryan an English "Elder Dixon" name tag to wear on his flight to Utah when he departed.  I'm sure that English version has been replaced by a Croatian one by now.




Excerpts from Ryan's last email:

Hey fam,

How goes it??  So time is flying @ the mtc.  I can't believe its almost time to go to croatia.  Oddly enough,the mtc has become a home away from home.  I won't necessarily be as emotional when i leave the mtc as I was @ sky harbor, but the room 417 has become my home.

A week ago today,  Elder Uchtdorf came and talked to us....  he gave a CHOICE message.  He is Prophet, seer and revelator.  THe things that effected me the most were the words he said about prayer and sacrifice.. Ill paraphraze-ish...  He saidsomething like this ( or maybe this is just more of what i heard), 'Before you go to bed @ night, give a report to the Lord of what service you gave that day.  Put the sacrifices of the day on the alter, and ask the Lord to accept your sacrifice.  Ask for forgiveness for what shortcomings you had.  I promise that you will feel the love of the Lord as you sincerely seek forgiveness and repent with real intent.  THen, after you have offered your sacrifices before the Lord and asked him to be accepting of them and felt the love of the Lord, forget about those short comings.  Forget them.  Let your sleep be restful and rejuvinating.  THen wake up, and do your best the next day.'  I loved that message.  It helps remember who I serve and the reliance I have on the Lord.  I ought to offer all the sacrifice i can- time, energy, talents, strength, my selfish desires, etc - and concecrate it to the Lord, and try to do that better and better every day.  The Lord will make up for my shortcomings as i do my best.  He will do that for all of us.  It reminded me of that quote or saying or whatever that says, "Work like it all depends on you, but pray like in all depends on the Lord".  THat was such a good message, and it reafirmed to me the importance of hard work, the reality of a Living Prophet, and the importance of keeping the Holy Ghost as a constant companion.

Also, i have had thoughts floating in my head this week about how blessed i am to have the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in my life.  I think about what Nephi said, "My soul delighteth in the things of the Lord". THe gospel and faith in Jesus Christ brings peace to me that can come from no where else.  I've got some precious treasure...   As we talk about these things at the mtc, and as we talk to people at the R.C. it's apparent that we are out-of-control blessed.  It really makes me want to share.  THat will be so great to share that with the Croatians.

So, Holly dropped me a line and told me Willard may be up for grabs.  I'm not going to lie, the other day, i wrote tanner jones and told him that if he was looking for a sweet 98 prizm, my rents might be able to help him out.

GTG

Artistic Elder Dixon

Ryan is having a great time at the MTC and is getting excited to fly to Croatia in three weeks. Because we haven't received any photos from him yet, we pulled a couple of his artistic sketches out of the archives. He drew this first photo with regular crayons. Imagine that! I have to struggle to color between the lines in a coloring book!

Just another of his signature doodles!

Here are some excerpts from his latest email:

Dearest fam,

How are y'all? I'm doing just dandy here @ the mtc. Learning alot of tight stuff about life and the gospel slash croatian. THanks for the sickening package. I love packages!! pure joy!

BTW, im sending pictures via cd sometime soon. I am going to take a bunch and send them home. THere are some sweet audio visual tours as well.......

Welp, i didn't have time to tell last week, but we got released as zone leaders last week. It was the rubber chicken... Jk!! Our time was up after 4.5 weeks. We also got a new branch pres. Bres. Bancroft and his wife are going on a mission to South Korea about the same time i leave, so they got released. Pres. Rolfe, our new president, is the man. Another major change that went down @ the half way mark was the highly anticipated switching of the bunks. In other words, life is good @ the mtc. The bottom bunk status pretty much changed my life. I love it.

This last week, we taught lesson 1 in croatian twice. It was great. We definately have some work to do times infinity, but we are getting the message accross. We can testify, teach, and invite the spirit, which is what really matters... But we've got a long way to go. It was weird though, last sunday, I was asked to give the prayer in district meeting. So I got up to say it and almost said "Nash dragi nebeski oche" which is "our dear heavenly father", but then i caught myself and offered the prayer and finished. But while i was offering it, i realized that i have'nt given a full out English prayer for a long time, at least 2-3 weeks, idk. But, its cool that its wierd to pray in english. Also, my spanish is starting to fade, which is a good sign. I often speak the spanish in my mind on accident, but that's starting to be replaced by croation. Which is nice... :) Croatian is so rad!

THis past week, Elder Cook came and taught us in a devotional. His thoughts were focused on preach my gospel and how it came to be. That book is inspired of God. THe old 1st presidency had alot to do with the topics that were focused on in it. As i study it, it is very evident that it is written to help people come unto Christ, and to bring about the "immortality and eternal life of man". I love it.

One of my favorite things about the mtc is the referral center. We go there and answer phone calls for people who have seen an LDS commercial or see some advertisement who are interested in recieving some type of church literature/media. I was talking to a sweet catholic lady, who had called in for a Bible. The prompt encourages you to ask them what promted them to call for the literature, so I asked her, and she said she lost her old bible that she had had for a while, and she saw a commercial w/ a number and jumped on it. We talked for a little while, and she agreed to have the missionaries drop the bible off and share a message with her about Christ, rather than have us mail it to her. We got talking a little more, and she said that she had been "searching for the truth" for many years. She said she had always just tried to live by the bible to stay closest to the truth. I replied to her and said, "I want you to know that you've found the truth." I bore a little testimony that I knew Christ's true church was restored to the earth. Then, I told her that the issionaries could teach her more when they visited her. I wish I could be there when that transpired. She was so prepared. How sweet would that be for her to hear the story of Joseph Smith, somebody who also searched for truth and relied n the bible and faith, til it came??? So rad! Tightest woman ever. I know the true gospel is restored on the earth. We can know that by reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know of its' truth. I love you all, keep it real!!

RYan

Halfway through the MTC!

Last Sunday, during our weekend visit to California, we met Emily Hendrickson, who recently returned from serving a mission in Croatia. She loved Croatia and the Croatian people and had a wonderful experience serving there. She was excited to hear that Ryan will soon arrive in Croatia for his mission.

Emily graciously sent us a few photos of Croatia. The following photo is of the first LDS meetinghouse built in Croatia. It is scheduled to be dedicated in October, soon after Ryan arrives. How wonderful to see this significant milestone in the history of the Church in Croatia!

Here are a few excerpts from Ryan's last email:

Hey fam...

So the mtc continues to be tight. We are mor than half way through. Insane in the membrane. I will have pics for you soon. Croatian is coming along. We are progressing. THis thurs, we teach the message of the restoration in croatian. I am nervous... ish... we'll be alright though. I ll most def let you know how that goes.

I am still learning alot while I am here. THese past couple weeks we have been teaching and learning about the plan of salvation. I have thought and studied alot about who I really am & where I came from and why that really matters. The scriptures teach us that God is our loving spirit Father in Heaven and we lived with him before this life. So, we are his spirit children, and always will be. we also have an earthly body. Knowing that has helped me understand our purpose a little better. We are here on this earth to excercize faith and gain experience and to return back home to him... We are spiritual individuals having a mortal experience. God wants us to return to him. THat's why God gives us commandments -- to focus on spiritual things... to have an eternal perspective. We have to take care of our bodies and treat them properly, as God-given gifts, but we must nourish our spirits and have an eternal perspective and faith and use our bodies to do good. To be spiritually minded is life eternal. It's so important that everyone know who they are and where they came from, and where to turn so that they can return to heavenly father.

this week, i was chillin before a devotional and reading about the life of William Wilkinson Dixon [Ryan's great-great-great grandfather]. He is the man. I want to be just like him. With an orchard and all... I learned something important from what i read in that document. I noticed that they mentioned his membership in the Mormon church, but never really mentioned his testimony or conversion story. Only alittle at the end. But, even though little was said, I new he had a testimony of the Savior and his Restored gospel on earth today by his actions. THere was no question in my mind. He was dedicated to the church and his family and endured to the end. He is the man. I can't wait to meet the man. WHat a stud.com

Well, I love you all, K? k.

love ryan