Sarah's November 28th email

HOLY COW!!!!!! Look at that antenna! It's huge! You'll be able to get mars on that thing!!! We could hang laundry on it! WOW! It is super impressive! I'll probably go get my ham license just so I can use it. how awesome!

Thanksgiving was good. We had three appointments lined up, but after the first, Sister Green started throwing up so we cancelled the rest and went home. But the first one was good! We had some very tasty stuffing. It was my favorite part. We also got a new potential investigator, so that was great.

The ward here is great, but not very supportive of missionary work. I keep trying to pass ideas that I think will get people excited to do missionary work, and I keep getting shot down. But I've been like one of those whack-a-mole games and I keep popping up with more and more. So yesterday in ward council I was very eloquent in suggesting having a member missionary class, curriculum given personally to me by Clayton Christensen, formerly of the seventy. It was a speech worthy of a song and dance number, and wouldn't you know it, I WON!! I was so happy. My ward mission leader wasn't too happy, but I don't really care. So good stuff happening in CT!

On another awesome note, I finally got a hold of David and Faye Ellis, our cousins who live up in Mass, and I got permission to go see them next week. They seem SO NICE! David is going in for surgery on his shoulder tomorrow, so I'm going to go up to see them a week from Wednesday. I'm uber excited and hope to be able to have some sort of gospel conversation with them. It should be epic.

Not much else to report. I set the church oven on fire roasting star bursts, so that was fun. Don't worry, no damage. :)

I love you all with every fiber of my being! I hope everyone has a great week!

Sister Dixon

Talking to Martians

So as many of you know Dad has been working on the King of Antennas. Yesterday raised it onto the roof. It looks very impressive as these pictures will show. The Dixon house is the coolest in the neighborhood with a giant spiderweb on the roof.

Sarah's November 21st email

Hey all!

Christmas is in the air. Last night we pulled out the Christmas tree. It was a fiber optic tree we inherited from the Elders before us. It's very colorful. Sister Green and I sing Christmas songs together all the time. She seriously has a amazing voice on her. Thanksgiving should be fun. We have three dinner appointments!!! I'll have to stretch my tummy out to fit it all in. People are taking good care of me.

The day after Christmas my whole zone is going up to the temple to do a session and have a little Christmas party. It should be a lot of fun.

This week we had a awesome lesson with this woman named Dorothy Andersen. Her adult son sat in saying he merely wanted to 'observe' but around the end of the lesson, I asked him what he believed and he surprised me with saying he basically believed what we believe, and that he wanted to 'observe' our next lesson.

BWAHAHAHA!!! The spirit has got him!!

The ward I'm in right now is having a hard time with missionary work. Sister Green has been here since May and says it's always been this way. She and I are both going home at the same time, so I feel like it's up to us to get things moving in the area before our time is up. She isn't too optimistic about it, but we are going to do our darnedest. The people here are great, and I think that they really do want to see the ward grow, but we just have to get them in the spirit of things. It should be an adventure!

I'm super glad to hear that things are going well with the radiation! Hooray for answered prayers! I will continue to pray for you, Katie, and you too Dad. I hope the surgery goes well.

Well, I love you all! Hope this next week is good!

Sister Dixon

Snow and Leaves

Precious

Motherhood...on the riverbank...

In the Arctic ....

In India .....

In Africa ....

Within the Ocean...



SOMEWHERE NEAR WAL-MART

Kinda puts a lump in your throat doesn't it?

My days feel very very busy, but if you were to ask me just what I got accomplished I couldn't tell you! After watching this little youtube clip I realized that was ME! ARRGH! I was never going to get this old!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6oHBG3ABUJU&vq=medium

Mom

P.S. Dad sent me this youtube clip. Do you think he suspects?

Sarah's November 7th Email

Hello!

Greetings all from lovely Madison CT!! It is BEAUTIFUL down here! Our apartment is so close to the beach, we could walk there! Too bad it's cold. new address is:

6 Harbor Parkway

Clinton, CT 06413

And please address all letters to "Goddess Divine." Thank you.

I'm glad to hear the radiation is going well. I'm praying for you! Mom and Dad, I'm praying for you too. My old companion was studying to be a physical therapist, so I can sick her on you when she gets home.

All of my areas have been beautiful and I've loved them all, but this area has the most charm. It is the epitome of classic New England town. I'm excited to spend Christmas here. There are already all sorts of community activities planned and we are going to go caroling in New Haven as soon as it is December and snowy.

As rural as our area is, we are only a little bit away from New Haven, and we take a train in for District Meeting once a week. So, I get to ride a train again! Although this one is different, because it's above ground and not nearly as crowded as Boston.

My companion is Sister Green, who is awesome. If you all think I sing well, you haven't heard anything!!! Sister Green has the most beautiful voice! She knows all the musicals I know and sings to me all the time. I feel bad, because I got a cold and lost my voice. She wants to sing together and I sound like a frog. I am anxiously awaiting the time when my voice comes back.

Anyway, the work is sort of slow here. we have no investigators, but we have come up with a plan of attack, so we have hope.

I'm not sure when my exact come home day is, They called me the other day to ask which airport I wanted to fly home to. I hesitated for a moment. I didn't realize they let me choose. They should have given me more time to think about it. The office Sister asked "Salt Lake?" and I mumbled "yeah." and that was that. You all should be glad, you all could have been picking me up from Scotland! I should have my flight planned for the 26th of January.

Anyway, I love you all dearly! Hope your week is awesome!

Sister Dixon

Sarah's November 2nd email

Hey all!

So it has happened! I am being transferred once more! Possibly for the last time. (I would hope so with only two transfers left) I am going down to Madison, CT, the farthest point a sister can get from president Evans. hmmm....I wonder what it means. So today is my last day in Storrs, and I'm going to miss this ward. They have been really great. My new companion is Sister Green, whom I have never seen before. Exciting!!!

This past week has been full of goodbyes. I'm bummed I'm going to miss Jacob and Mary's baptism, but what do you do? Hopefully they will send pictures.

Sadly, not a ton has happened. Jacob and Mary are still doing great. They are a week and a half without smoking or coffee, and when we ask how they are doing, they're like,

"Coffee? What's coffee? I don't even remember how long ago I had a cigarette. I've forgotten what that tastes like."

They're so funny.

So I will share a funny story, since I don't have much news:

We went to a less actives home for dinner this week, and they are very outdoorsy people, open flame fireplace and all. So Sister Allen and I were standing next to the fireplace, chatting with them, when the fire alarm goes off.

";Oh dear," she says. "It happened for no reason sometimes."

They get up and make sure nothing is on fire and we fan the smoke detectors until they shut off and we resume our places getting toasty next to the fire.

Five minutes later, the alarms go off again.

"That's weird." He says and they start to search the house.

As they were gone, Sister Allen and I look at each other.

"Huh, I say, "I hope the house isn't burning down."

"I don't smell anything" Sister Allen says.

As we hear the crackle of the fire behind us, the same idea strikes us at the same time. With wide eyes, we look at each other, and then reach down to touch the back of our skirts. They were MELTING!!!! Sister Allen's skirt had elastic lace that had hardened into a rubbery rope and mine had a big black spot on the back!

As we heard them come back in, I threw on my coat and we both sat on the couch, far from the open flame.

"Well, that's weird." He says "Nothing is off, but we are going to keep the windows open just in case."

"Strange." Sister Allen chirps.

"Very odd!" I squeak.

"We have to go!" We both say.

It was SO FUNNY!! we busted up the whole way home. Anyway, thought that was awesome.

I guess you all heard about the snow storm. We didn't lose power, but 75% of CT did, and trees fell on lots of the ward members homes. It'll be a week before they get power back in Ashford. They had to cancel church last week, and if it weren't stake conference this week, we would have to cancel church again. But no one is hurt. And the snow has made me bring out the ol' Christmas CDs. I am making Sister Allen listen to them.

So I love you all and I miss you! Hope this next week is great, I'll let you know my new address on Monday.

Loves,

Sister Dixon

PS, Sister Allen and I dressed up as The Book of Mormon and The Bible for Halloween. I was the Bible. :( But we got a lot of chuckles. Pictures will come.

Christmas Names

Dad---Anna T
Mom---Tommy
Heather---Xander
Missy---Anna W
Lilli---Kristy
Emily---Faunice
Adam---Brevan

Katie---Mom
Robert---Mary
Christopher---Scott
Mary Kate---Jim
Millie---Becca
Josh---Tom
Anna---Isabelle
Sarah T---Ellie

Mary---Mary Kate
Scott---Missy
Steven---Sarah T
Anna---Josh
Becca---Millie
Ellie---Robert
Tommy---Katie
Mimi---Christopher

Peter---Lilli
Faunice---Heather
Owen---Dad

Tom---Adam
Kristy---Erin
Xander---Mimi
Brevan---Owen
Isabelle---Peter

Jim---Steven
Erin---Emily

More Halloween!

Crivens!

Frankie

Katie's third arm shows radiation treatment is effective

Christmas lists

I know we only drew names yesterday, but I am ready to do my Christmas shopping. I hate to be pushy and make everyone hurry in giving their gift ideas, but it would be lovely if we could start soon. I am usually half way done with my shopping by now and it is driving me crazy that I haven't started this year. If you could please leave your ideas as soon as possible I would really appreciate it and if we have your name you will not end up with a glow in the dark unicorn pocket protector.