This week was super awesome!!!! Elder Pontual and I were able to have a lesson almost every day which is so great haha! Under the circumstances we are in right now that makes me feel super grateful. They were all lessons with our sweet Gaby. Gaby is going to get baptized this Saturday and is just the sweetest investigator. In fact, her and I both have had neat little experiences that have testified to us that this was definitely God's plan for her to be accepting the Gospel at this time. Before I go into the cool story time quick news updates...
Sadly, I am being transferred out of my sweet Ibiuna. The Lord is funny, he will not allow me to spend more than 3 weeks in Ibiuna at 1 time. I think it is because He knows I like it too much here and feel too comfortable here. I am learning from family that choosing to stay somewhere that is comfortable is often times cheating us of an opportunity to learn and grow. So yes, I leave this place in a bit of an emergency transfer this week. Our Zone Leader just got called to be AP and President wants me to take his place. So, that is the plan. I will still have Ibiuna in my zone and I will also have my old area Cotia in this zone as well. So if conditions allow, I will be able to visit:) Which is kinda exciting. I will be living in Vargem Grande with Elder Machado for about 3 weeks. Then Elder Machado will complete his mission and I will get a new companion. So... I have got a quick 3 weeks to learn the area and get to know the ward so I can help my next companion. Pretty exciting stuff! Luckily President gave me permission to swing down on Saturday for the baptism of Gaby... so there I will be able to really say goodbyes to these wonderful people again.
But okay... onto the some sweet experiences that I had hearing the voice of the Lord this week. In fact it was more of seeing the voice of the Lord. In double fact (I felt like I had to put the word double there cuz the previous sentence started with in fact lol idk) it might have been one of the most spiritual moments of my mission. So a little more than a year ago I was in Cotia and I started having pretty vivid dreams about missionary work and other things. In fact one touched me very closely that I even felt prompted to write it down. Only 3 people in existence know about what this dream consists of, haha and it is going to stay that way sorry for getting your hopes up;) But I just bring this dream up because at that time in my mission I was having many dreams about similar things.
So for everyone to know, this is how I feel about dejavu (idk how to spell it) and how I have mixed feelings about dreaming the future. Or idk not dreaming the future but, I think I've told you before, science explains dejavu as the left side of your brain processes what's in front of you before the ride side of your brain so when you see something and feel like you've seen it before in a dream or something it's just the ride side of your brain making something up as to why it didn't process the event as fast. So I tend to believe more in that theory, more than us really seeing all these things in dreams beforehand. But at the same time if you write your dream down and then it happens oh heck yeah I 100% believe that you dreamed the future. So here's what happened with me this week.
So no, I didn't see the dream I wrote down. In fact that would be impossible because I was married in that dream haha. But I did have an experience with one of the dreams I had at that time over a year ago. So before I hop into the dream let me give some quick background on where I was and situations I was in prior to having this dream. I was a missionary in Brazil again. I was serving in Cotia with Elder Hancock and we were trying to go to a little super market store to try and get this drunk guy to stop talking to us haha. He kept asking for money and wouldn't leave us alone. He literally was like foaming at his mouth it was nasty and spitting on us. We got to the super market place and the guy said "You're going to buy me something right? If not I'll just rob you after you buy what you are going to buy". And I'm just like HOLYYYYYY COWWWWW LEAVE US ALONEEEE. And then out of nowhere a member from the Ibiuna ward comes onto the scene and takes this drunk man by the shoulders and leads him out and away from us. And the man was of course Kilton! Who I've talked about previously but yes Kilton saved the day haha it was cool. He was in Cotia for work and we were all just in the right place at the right time.(minus the drunk dood geez he needed to go) But so that made me crazy happy to have seen him for a split second so for the rest of the day I was just thinking about Ibiuna life(remember this was a little over a year ago) and thinking about all the members there and stuff. Of course the day wrapped up and I fell asleep. It was either that very night or the night or two after that I had a very distinct dream that I was teaching a Brazillian woman via facetime with Kilton's wife, Amanda. I don't remember ever seeing my companion though I know he was there but I only remember looking at a screen and seeing Amanda and a Brazillian woman.
Well fast forward to Tuesday of this last week. It was going to be our 3rd lesson with Gaby and we were going to solidify a baptismal date with her. We had taught her first about prayer, then the resto and we were teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this lesson. Oh also we had invited Amanda to teach with us as well! There came a point near the end of the lesson where I felt my eyes were opened and I remembered my dream I had over a year before. With Amanda, and the Brazillian woman (who I now know is Gaby). And I felt an immense amount of joy. In fact I felt the spirit and I was a little blown away. I didn't say anything at that moment because a little part of me didn't believe that I had really dreamed it a year ago. A little part of me resorted back to science explaining Dejavu. So... we finished the lesson and all was well. But I couldn't stop thinking about this experience I had and could not decide if it was a dream or science Dejavu. Two days later I decided to really pray and ask God if I had experienced science dejavu or if I really had dreamed this a year ago. And I felt so strongly that it was in fact a dream I had and that God can speak to us through dreams. It was a moment of great joy. My heart filled with joy and I prayed again in gratitude to Heavenly Father for speaking to me through this dream and revealing to me one of the reasons I was brought back here to Ibiuna. I know I know this is getting long I apologize! I'll just finish with the next day I relayed the experience I had to Gaby and dang we were all just in tears and she said it was an answer to her prayers and just another confirmation that she was making the right choice to be baptized. What a neat little experience huh? I'm so grateful and so humbled that God uses me, the unlikely, to accomplish the impossible. I'm probably on the more dull end of tools in the shed but my heart is filled with joy that Heavenly Father still uses me despite my many weaknesses.
Gaby's sweet experience was after she attended an Intro to the Gospel of Jesus Christ class my mission president puts on every week. The day after this class she was thinking back on it and about President Horsley and just started bawling. She said she felt so strongly that she had met him before and that she knew this was another confirmation that she really was making the right choice to be baptized.
All in all, God is merciful. He ties up loose ends! He can transform our lives into the most joy filled journeys. He can take hard times and show you the silver linings. Of course this is all if you let him! Be more faithful and more repentant and seek to hear the voice of the Lord. Since returning to Brazil I have kept a journal every day of instances where I heard the voice of the Lord that day! It has helped me be in better positions to hearken to His voice. The prophet has already instructed that those who do not know how to receive personal revelation will not survive spiritually. So... this is not a do it if you want type of thing... this is a do it to help you be fit for the Celestial Kingdom type of thing:)
I am grateful to be a missionary and to learn! I am humbled by how much God loves me. Me! Simon Hixon! He loves me despite my short comings. So, I am grateful!!
Love you all!!! Have a great week!!
Elder Hixon
