Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Time is Flying in Croatia

Elder Dixon reported this week that he is amazed at how quickly time is going by in Croatia.

The following photo is a sunrise over Pula, where Ryan is now stationed.

Sunrise in Pula, Croatia

Some excerpts from Ryan's last email:

Subject: I said a boom chick a boom!!!

Fam!

Haha, Elder Nelson randomly started chanting the "I said a boom chick a boom" today and it made me laugh. I forget where he learned it, but it made me think of Shawn McKay at the classic Lyn Rae ward party! Such good times in the Lyn Rae hahaha...

Welp, it seems like this week didn't happen. I can't believe it's monday again and that transfers happen again in 3 weeks. I've almost been in Pula for six weeks. Croatia for 6 months... ish... Laterrrrr! is all I have to say about that! We had Zone Conference this week. It felt so low key for some reason. I think it's because five missionaries left last transfer from Croatia and we haven't got any back yet. We were a small group. It was an amazing conference though. President is called of God. K? K. He's truly directed to direct us. Inspired to inspire us. I love him.

I also really loved the workshop the Assistants to the President gave us. One of the assistants compared missionary work to sports. He said his coach in high school said to practice with your hands, but play with your heart and your mind. He talked about how in Volley ball, you would practice passing, hitting, and returning (and stuff) from every possible position on the court. That way, during a game, those actions were just muscle memory. He could think about and put his heart into the game, because everything else was simply automatic. He didn't have to worry about the mechanics. It's the same thing in missionary work slash life in general, I think. The scriptures teach us to treasure up knowledge. As missionaries, we practice teaching and speaking in our language. That way, our limitations are... limited, and the Spirit has more room to guide, teach, and befriend the taught. It's such a sweet principle that's so applicable to missionary work.

Last night, we taught our most active members slash couple about temple work. That's a sweet branch of missionary work... Preparing members to enter the temple. I love the temple. I would advise anybody preparing to go on a mission to go to the temple every possible day after he/she gets his/her call... I treasure my times in the Mesa, AZ temple. It's helped me to better understand why I'm here and the goal for the investigators we teach. But, we showed them my pedigree chart, and explained that I was sealed to all those people and more. We explained that when they go to Frankfurt, they can do those ordinances for their parents and beyond. They were touched by that. Isn't that so sweet?? They can literally invite their parents to live in the presence of God and with them forever. I also randomly remembered that Brother Boren had ancestors in Slovenia and went there to do family history work. Nataia is a Slovene, so I told her that. It was cool. Haha, small world.

Welp Ive got to go! Thank you for everything. I'm really happy out here. Thanks for the mail. Take care!!

Love

Elder Dixon

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