The Dixons

Greetings Friends!

2011-07-07T12:29:00.004-04:00

This update has been a little difficult for us to write. What should we write about? We are not yet in Ecuador and things have been really slow as far as raising our support. I’m not going to say we haven’t been a bit discouraged but I can say that we are being used by God here. A lot has been happening. Changes are coming. One big change in our lives and the lives of our loved ones here at our home church in Findley Lake is we are saying goodbye to our dear Pastor Jim Pegan and his wife Susi and giving a warm welcome to our new Pastor Tim Gleason and his wife Jennie. It’s interesting to be in a position where you feel incredibly sad, nervous, scared and excited all at the same time. We see that us being here is a good thing as our church goes through this major change. We just had our last service with Pastor Jim and Susi on the lakeside at Camp Findley.

We have been busy planning and preparing for Vacation Bible School, which will be held at Camp Findley on July 8th & 9th. We are excited to be able to use the camp and want to give the kids a feel for what it’s like to stay at Camp Findley. It’s going to be a fun and unique experience for them.

We have continued to meet with our fellowship group each week. We are now meeting on Friday evenings instead of Mondays because Kaiden and some of the other kids were involved in T-ball. Kaiden had a great time playing and Marshall had fun as a coach for Kaiden’s team.

We have been fostering through the Chautauqua County Humane Society and it has opened up a great opportunity for me (Tracy). One thing vets do not like to do in Ecuador is spay & neuter. So that is something I want to learn before going. The Human Society has been kind enough to let me

stick around and observe on the days I have fosters being spayed and neutered. We are learning a lot of other great skills regarding animal care through their kindness and the experience fostering animals bring.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Love & Blessings,

Tracy (writing for) Marshall, Tracy, Devin, Cameron & Kaiden Dixon

1670 Mann Rd. Support Address:

Clymer, NY 14724 The Master’s Mission

mtdixon@windstream.net PO Box 547

Robbinsville, NC 28771 Indicate : Dixon - Ecuador

2011-02-17T13:56:00.009-05:00

Our goal was to get to Ecuador by March and at this time we know that will not happen for us. We are content. We know that God will get us there in His timing. We still have a long way to go as far as support raising and outfitting needs but we can also see a bigger picture of God using us right where we are and that makes us happy. Things do continue to move forward, just not at the pace we had hoped. But…

We have had a great winter. Lots of friends, lots of family and lots of snow!

Devin and Shantel wade through the deep snow.

We have continued to meet in our home on Monday nights with all who want to come. It continues to grow and most Monday nights we have 13 adults, 3 teens & 13 little ones. We have dinner together, we sing together, read scripture together, we learn together and pray together. It continues to be a lot of fun and our favorite night of the week.

What a joy to have a house full of friends!

Marshall is involved in a new Hope House Project in Westfield NY this time. The family they are helping have been living contently with their kitchen gutted for many years now. We received a call from mutual friends about their situation and Marshall and Charlie Hodges pulled a team together to help them out.

Something new for me this winter is that a friend and I are learning the skill of couponing. I say skill because it does take a lot of time, effort and brain work to figure out deals. Not only have I been stock piling for our 4 years in Ecuador, we (my friend April and I) have also been able to share the items we’ve collected with others. We have supplied the church with enough Kleenex for each pew, we have been able to help some families in need, we have been able to give some supplies like toothpaste, deodorant, soaps, etc to people visiting other countries and we have been able to bless friends and family with fun and useful items. We have also been teaching others how to do the same.

Here’s an example of a planned coupon shopping trip. Total cost after coupons : $1.47

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. If you know anyone that would like to know more about us and what God is doing in Ecuador let us know.

Love and Blessings! Tracy (writing for) Marshall, Tracy, Devin, Cameron & Kaiden Dixon

Support Address: The Master’s Mission PO Box 547 Robbinsville, NC 28771 www.mastersmission.org

2010-11-17T08:25:00.003-05:00

With the Deitering family

We have had a busy but productive and fun couple of months. The Deitering family is on furlough at this time and we are enjoying getting to know them even more. They came to NY for a visit in Oct and last week we spent time together at The Master's Mission. Our week at the Mission was very good. We learned a lot of practical things and we got to meet the new candidates that are going through the training this year. Pray that the new candidates year at TMM would be a good one and that God would prompt some to come to Ecuador.

You know how much we enjoy having the international students here every year from the University of WV. Well, on our way back from spending time at TMM, we stopped in Morgantown WV. It was great seeing some of the students we have hosted over the years. We went to Church on Sunday and attended the international students Sunday School class. It's so encouraging to see the growth taking place in the lives of those attending. It was a nice surprise to see Jane there. She is a student that stayed with us this year. She had never been to the church before and she told me she felt that God told her she should go. She was so happy she did because she got to see us. She is not a Christian but I believe God is working in her heart. Please keep her in your prayers. She has a husband and a 20 month old baby in China. She gets to fly home this Christmas to see them.

The children's Sunday School program at FLUMC is going well. We had a harvest party for the community at Camp Findley and it was a lot of fun. A lot of people came and hopefully this can be the first of many years to do this. We are also planning a Christmas party for the community at Camp this year as well. Our prayer is that we would get to know the community more through events like this and as we get to know one another more and more we could help each other and be a part of each others lives. Getting to know the kids is just an open door for us to know the parents and meet the needs in our community.

We have had several opportunities to be the speakers at several Mission Conferences this year. What a great way to be stretched and to grow. God has been faithful in opening doors for us. It's amazing to see the different ways people have come together to help us in this journey. From writing letters on our behalf to using their talents to make and do things to help us. From big things to small things, it all adds up to what God is doing in the "bigger picture". Thank you all for what you are doing for Him! Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We still have kept our goal for being sent out in the spring of 2011. As the time approaches it almost seems impossible that we could get everything ready and have what we need by then but we will keep pressing onward and see what the Lord does.

Some more things to pray about:

We would like to keep our home here in NY because by time we serve our first 4 years and come home on furlough our two daughters will be 18 & 17 and may stay in the states. Please pray that the right people would want to rent from us. We do have people that will oversee that and keep up on maintenance.

Many of you know we have Great Danes. Cain & Leda have been a part of our family before we were called to the mission field. It is our desire to take them with us to Ecuador but we want to do what is best for them and us. Kevin Deitering thinks it could be a good opportunity to have the dogs in Ecuador not only for protection but also because people would be curious and it could help get to know them more easily. And because it would help us, especially the kids to adjust to living there. Please keep this difficult decision in your prayers.

Love & Blessings,

Tracy (writing for) Marshall, Tracy, Devin, Cameron & Kaiden Dixon

A Wonderful Summer

2010-08-04T07:46:00.007-04:00

Kaiden with friends at camp.

Last week was Camp Findley's 75th annual Family Bible Camp. This year was our 8th year to attend, except for missing last year while we were at TMM. I have to say I LOVE Family Bible Camp! With the thought of this possibly being our last year to be a part of Family Bible Camp before we head to Ecuador made this year even more special. It is so good to see old friends and make new ones. It's good to see the kids having such a great time. It is so good to learn under so many great teachers for an entire week. Dr. Johnathan Case taught on God's Triune Hospitality and used many examples from the scriptures. I especially loved that he would go through the scriptures he used verse by verse. Dr. Jerry Ward taught the discipleship hour on The Problem of Evil. It was very interesting and thought provoking. Bishop Al Gwinn was our evening preacher. He is such a gifted man that touched all our hearts.

We have continued to visit churches and it continues to be so encouraging. People are genuinely interested and supportive of what God is doing in Ecuador. It makes this journey so much clearer. We will continue to walk in the plans of our hearts as God guides our steps. A couple of weeks ago we spoke at our first Mission's Conference as the missionaries! We have several mission's meetings we have been invited to coming up so please keep us in your prayers. As we have been visiting with churches, doors have been opening for us all around.

A few weeks ago Bandage (our worship band) played on a platform boat out on Findley Lake. I swore I would never do that again, because the first time we set up on that boat was a few years ago for the boat parade on the 4th of July and with all the boat traffic causing waves, I almost lost Precious (my bass :) in the lake! But I was assured by my band mate Wayne that this would not be like last time & I'm so glad I agreed. It was a blast! People were coming all around to hear us play. People were pulling over and getting out of their cars & boats were floating up to listen to us worship our God in the most unusual way.

I am beginning to sing "it's the most wonderful time of the year!" which can only mean one thing, the international students are coming! Next Thursday the bus will arrive with 40+ students from The University of West Virginia that our church family will be hosting for four days of fun. We take them to Niagara Falls on Friday, have a picnic at the Post's on Saturday and they get to attend a lakeside worship service with us at Camp Findley before they head back. Some of these students have just arrived in the states from what ever country they have come from. Most have never been in an American or Christian home. It is such a great opportunity to show them love. Every year that we have had students in our home has always brought blessings to us and I'm sure to those we have opened our home to. Please keep this ministry in your prayers. I think it is such a great opportunity. These people come to the US to study and then go back to their own countries. If we can reach them while they are here, they can go back and become missionaries to their own countries!

Right now our oldest daughter Devin is at Kingdom Bound at Darien Lake. It is a 4 day Christian event that we have attend several times. This year our whole family was not able to go but we were able to send Devin with Teens on Fire. Teens on Fire is our local youth group. The area churches have combined which we all feel is such a great idea. Why have 5 separate youth groups when you can have 1 large one with many great leaders, right?

Last night we had our Sunday School meeting. We are excited about the direction our Sunday School program is going. Many more people have stepped up to become a part of teaching our kids. Please pray for our efforts in this area. Pray that we will be effective teachers to whomever God brings to us, whether it be 2 kids or 50.

Thanks again for your many prayers, support, encouragement & friendship,

Tracy (writing for) Marshall, Tracy, Devin, Cameron & Kaiden Dixon

2010-06-20T21:52:00.003-04:00

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

We have been doing a lot of visiting lately and it has been great. It has been amazing to finally meet people who have been praying for us and sending us support in our efforts to get to Ecuador. I have to tell a little story because it has been such an encouragement us. When we were training at The Master’s Mission we received support from a church we had never heard of before. I even wrote to them asking if perhaps someone made a mistake and it was supposed to go to someone else. I did not hear back from them but we continued to receive support. The second Sunday we were back in N.Y. the pastor from that church was visiting our church and the mystery was solved. We decided to visit this church recently. It was like a postcard, a little church way out in the country all by itself, nestled in the rolling hills. We went inside and sat down. It was the smallest church I have ever been in. Our prayer card & newsletter was on a little bulletin board in the sanctuary. There were maybe 15 people there, including us. To know that God has placed us on their hearts and they are being faithful to Him to pray for us and send us financial support is the most humbling thing I have ever experienced. It reminded me of the widow’s offering in Mark 12. They were so happy to see us and finally meet us in person too. It was a great day! We plan to visit more of you soon. We want to meet you and thank you personally from the bottom of our hearts for the blessing you are to us!

Our goal is to be in Ecuador by March of 2011 and things are going at a nice steady pace. I believe we are now at about 28% of our monthly income needed, which is up 10% since our last newsletter! We have applied for our passports so that is another thing to check off our list of things to do. We have finally finished our detailed outfitting list as well and can have that available for anyone interested in seeing it. Just let us know. Maybe I can figure out how to put up a link on our blog.

In April we took a trip back down to The Master’s Mission. It was nice to meet the families and individuals that are going through the training this year and to hear where they are in their future plans. It was also helpful to get some more detailed direction on where we need to be in our planning. We also stopped in Ohio to visit the Craig family who have become our missionary mentors during this time of preparation. The Craigs served in Kenya through TMM for 20+ years. They visited us in NY this spring and helped us with our prayer cards and spoke with our friends at Findley Lake UMC about how they can help in our preparations for Ecuador.

Once again we can not thank you enough for your prayers and support in this journey we are on. It means everything to us!

Love & Blessings!

Tracy (writing for) Marshall, Tracy, Devin, Cameron, & Kaiden Dixon

2010-03-10T13:15:00.016-05:00

Spring Update

We have a lot to share with you in this update. For starters the board members of The Master’s Mission met in Jan. and accepted us to serve as missionaries through TMM. We are still hoping to serve in Ecuador. At this time we are in the process of raising support with the goal of being sent to Ecuador by March 2011. We are at about 18% of our monthly income and 5% of our outfitting expense. If you would like a detailed list of our outfitting needs we can send one to you. We are excited by the progress we are already making.

The Clymer Hope Houses Project is complete! Here are some exciting *details: Project began late Oct. finished Feb.17. Approx 47 people helped with the project from 9 different churches and 5 denominations. The goal of Hope Houses is to help the “working poor” obtain a house, help put the house into “move in” condition, connect them with a local church, mentor them in finances, home maintenance and repairs, parenting, marriage, as well as help them meet other physical and spiritual needs to help them be successful in our communities. A convenient payback plan will be put into place for the family that will not be burdensome, but help assure a feeling of ownership and also assure that there will be finances for the next project. (*taken from Charlie Hodges report on the project)

The Findley Lake UMC’s praise bands (one of which I (Tracy) am a part of) put on a concert to benefit Bert and Roberta Anderson, who are not only friends of the Findley Lake UMC but local missionaries stationed in Haiti. The mission guest house which can house up to 40 people was destroyed. The medical clinic/hospital that the Anderson’s direct and live above and the orphanage sustained structural damage and have already been repaired as well as part of the security wall that surrounds the clinic. The plan is to build a new orphanage and turn the existing orphanage into the new mission guest house. Work teams will continue to be sent until the project is complete. It is very encouraging to hear stories from the Andersons of God moving in the hearts of the Haitian people despite the devastation.

Marshall continues to teach the kids, while I assist, on Sunday mornings. Small group on Saturday night continues to be a blessing. I have been meeting with a couple of my friends on Monday afternoons to lead a bible study. It has been a great opportunity for me to continue to learn and grow. Monday evenings our home is filled with friends for dinner. We were using this night as a make up time for the adult Sunday School class but since the lessons have ended we have continued to get together and plan to continue some type of learning.

The kids enjoy their pets. Not only do we have a house full of Great Danes, but we have Lionhead rabbits. Devin spends hours at the sewing machine to make them outfits and Cameron sets up photo shoots. They even had a rabbit wedding, complete with bride, groom and bridesmaids. We now have baby bunnies as a result!

My original plan for our dogs was to train them as therapy dogs. I have been taking care of an elderly stroke patient who also suffers from dementia. One of her struggles is that she had a dog she dearly loved and misses. I have been able to help fill that void by bringing one of my dogs with me when I take care of her. Although not certified, I feel like I finally have my therapy dogs.

Cameron has been attending Bright Lights meetings with a friend and Devin has been working afternoons at a nearby farm feeding calves. Kaiden continues to be a help to Marshall on the many work projects he is involved in.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support! We are truly blessed!

(Tracy writing for) Marshall, Tracy, Devin, Cameron and Kaiden Dixon

2010-01-09T09:34:00.004-05:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Last year at this time our family was training at The Master’s Mission. This year we are home in NY awaiting acceptance to serve as missionaries through TMM. Hopefully we will serve with the Dieterings in Ecuador in the near future. Marshall is busy working and the kids and I have been busy with home school. Life seems normal and we are enjoying our time here with friends and family and enjoying being a part of our community again.

If you have been able to read our blog, you may remember reading about Marshall heading up a work team to help a single dad in Ripley with three little girls whose home was destroyed by flooding. Now he and many others have the opportunity to help a new family in Clymer. They are calling the project Hope House and plan to continue to bless families in need. If you would like to learn more about Hope House or would like to help in any way, feel free to contact us.

Marshall & I have been working with the children in our church. I have mostly been helping Marshall in whatever way he needs me, seeing how all of our students at this time are boys. They have really enjoyed having Marshall as their Sunday School teacher.

Every other Saturday evening our home is filled with Christian friends that want to learn more about the Lord. Jeff Rotunda along with Marshall put together a study. Right now we are watching a series of videos from Answers in Genesis about Life, the Flood, Creation, Heaven & Earth & more.

Another thing most of you may know about is that we had a litter of Great Dane puppies the week after we moved back home. I’m happy to say that we have found wonderful homes for them, which is a real blessing. I didn’t think it would be an easy task to find 10 homes that met my standards at such short notice, but God provided. We decided to keep one of the puppies. His name is Breech, for obvious reasons. He is the puppy on the left. Cain (the dad) is pictured on the right. We will not be having more puppies, as Leda was spayed.

We now have a teenager in our house! Devin turned 13 last month. She is such a joy to us. Kaiden will turn 4 on Christmas day & is VERY excited this year for his birthday. Cameron will be 12 in March. She continues to have a lot of the same interests as me, medicine & music. Strange combination!

Please continue to pray for us. Pray for the Hope House project and for future projects. Pray as we minister to the children. Pray for our future, whatever the Lord has for us. Pray for the work in Ecuador.

Most importantly thank you for all you do for us!

Love & Blessings!

(Tracy writing for) Marshall, Tracy, Devin, Cameron & Kaiden Dixon

Fall, Friends, Family & Puppy Love

2009-09-27T21:32:00.009-04:00

We have been home for almost two months now. It has been great spending time with family & friends.

What have we been up to? Well to start, the week after we got home we had a litter of 10 Great Dane puppies. They are now almost 7 weeks old and have kept me quite busy. I love every one of them and to me it's worth it! God knows my heart is to find the best homes I possibly can for them and He certainly has been helping in that area.

Another thing that happened the week after we got home is that our church got a call to help a single dad with 3 little girls whose house was badly damaged by flooding. Our Pastor called Marshall to see if he would come with him to assess the damage. The carpet throughout the house was destroyed, as well as the kitchen tile & all the walls. Funds came in & Marshall was able to lead a crew of volunteers to put this man's house back in order & make it livable again. The project was just finished last weekend. They had to tear out all the walls, from the floor to 3 feet up, let them dry out, put in insulation, put up drywall, mud, sand, & repaint. They also were able to get new carpet and put that in as well.

Aug. 13th-16th we were blessed to have 7 guest in our home. Every year our church hosts a trip to Niagara Falls for the international students from the University of West Virginia. We feel that this is such an important ministry. If we can reach these people for Christ while they are in America, they can go back to their own countries and share "the good news". Most of them have never experienced staying in an American home, let alone a Christian home. What a testimony it can be. We had an incident where Kaiden got his legs stuck in the bars of the bunk bed. I came out to the kitchen to ask Marshall for his help, of course everyone got up and followed him to the bedroom. Kaiden was crying & Marshall told him to calm down, which he did. Then Marshall explained to him what he needed to do to get his legs out himself. After Kaiden was free, Sanket, a man from India was very impressed by how the situation was handled. He said in his country everyone pampers children and he feels it's not good. He was also impressed by how helpful our girls were. It was very humbling, yet rewarding to know that although we are so imperfect, God helps us to raise our children when we lean on Him for guidance.

Another very exciting thing that is happening right now is that Pastor Mario is here all the way from Pedro Betancourt, Cuba! It is a true miracle that he is able to be here. He is the Pastor of our sister church in Cuba. The Findley Lake UMC has been to Cuba many times over the past 5 years and have built a very special bond with the people there. We look forward to the next several days to spend time with Pastor Mario.

We are excited to hear about what is happening in Ecuador. Kevin Deitering just spent several days in a jungle village that has it arms wide open for possibilities. Please be in prayer about this. This is very exciting news! http://deiteringecuador.blogspot.com/2009/09/ishkinambi.html If you would like to read about how the Lord is bringing this about & to see pictures of Kevin's journey through the jungle. Our hearts are still being lead to Ecuador. Please pray with us that the Lord will lead others to Ecuador as well.

Our Last Week at TMM

2009-07-25T22:16:00.007-04:00

Things are wrapping up here, but they certainly are not slowing down. Marshall has been working on his final drafting project late into the night. Last week we had a great week of VBS at Little Snowbird Church. The kids had a great time and I think us adults had an even greater time yesterday as we finished out the week with an obstacle course that the kids had to work through while we all tortured them with water balloons and buckets of water.

We had a wedding here today. Brody Stevens & Rachel Kinniburgh, who are fellow candidates, tied the knot today. What a blessing it has been to see the Lord bring these two together.

The rest of this week will be busy with finishing up packing. The guys drafting project is due Weds morning. The Deiterings will be coming in on Weds as well. And our final Bible exam is Thursday. Please keep us in prayer for Thurs! Our company comes in on Friday and graduation is Sunday! Wow, it's almost over. I can't believe it. It went by so fast. Our time is going to be busy when we get back to NY as well. The week after we come home we are expecting an unexpected litter of Great Dane puppies. It's a well welcomed unexpected surprise though. It's ok Janice, we still love you very much! Marshall will be going to Ohio for a week or two to help out the Craigs. And we are looking forward to the international students coming in for their annual trip to Niagara Falls. Oh yeah & sometime in there we have to unpack. We are very excited to be coming home and being with everyone again. We will see you soon!

5 weeks left!

2009-06-27T12:03:00.003-04:00

I can't believe we have only 5 weeks left in our training here at TMM.
This past month has flown by. We have had friends and family visit us this past month. We had two wonderful weeks of Biblical Counseling. We took a field trip to The Creation Museum and Marshall broke his leg!

No, he didn't break his leg at the museum. He actually broke it 3 weeks ago playing soccer with the kids at church. But even though his whole foot swelled and turned purple from his toes to his calf, he swore it was just a bad sprain. The good news is he was using crutches for the first two weeks before he finally did go to the doctor and the doctor said that for as bad as it is, it looks good and was healing nicely. So right now he is still on crutches with a walking boot cast for another 3 weeks or so. Perfect timing eh?

Update Finally

2009-05-31T11:33:00.004-04:00

Sorry about not keeping up with our blog. I'm not going to give excuses, I'm just going to apologize.

Time here is flying by with only two months left in our training. We are learning so much! We are learning everything from raising bees, to outfitting for the mission field, to eschatology. I'm really excited for the middle two weeks of June. We will be in Biblical Counseling class 4 hrs a day for the two weeks. It will be a lot of time in the class room but what we will learn will be invaluable.

A lot has been going on here. Marshall and I joined a co-ed softball team in Robbinsville with some friends here at the Mission. That's been fun and it's nice to get to know more people in the community. Devin & Cameron ran a 5k in Cherokee. They did really well and we had a lot of fun that day. I had been to Cherokee as a kid and it brought back great memories. Last weekend there was a Cherokee Indian festival held at Little Snowbird called Fading Voices. It was another great way to spend time with people in our community and learn about their traditions. There was traditional Cherokee foods, crafts, games, dancing, stories and more. Also last weekend there was some joy and sorrow. Clover our milk cow had her calf. She had a little bull. Madi & Ali Cole named him Carmel. Kaiden and I were there for the whole event. But on Sunday Clover died. Heidi found Clover down early Sunday morning with milk fever. She was treated immediately with Calcium. She perked up but didn't fully recover and died that afternoon. It was very sad.

On a happier note. The Deitering family that serves in Ecuador through TMM will be on furlough for a couple months and we are excited to meet them. We have been in contact with them through email and have been following their blog for almost two years now. So it will be nice to finally meet them. Here's their blog if you would like to know more about them. http://deiteringecuador.blogspot.com/

Also, I added lots of pictures today.

Tracy

2009-01-18T11:52:00.004-05:00

The Dixon’s @ The Master’s Mission PO Box 547 Robbinsville, NC 28771 Jan/Feb 2009

It was cold this morning. As I walked by moonlight to the barn, the grass crunched under my feet. It wasn’t until I was finished milking and the sun was rising that I noticed the beauty surrounding me. It was as if the trees and grass had knit for themselves little sweaters of icicles to keep warm.Winter is finally here in the mountains of North Carolina.

Our vacation last month was great. We had a wonderful time with friends and family. We enjoyed seeing everyone and spending time just catching up with one another. I wish it could have lasted longer. It was especially fun getting involved in the Christmas Eve service at our home church in Findley Lake, NY. Marshall was able to fill in as Joseph when Chris Hooks suddenly became ill. Thankfully Marshall didn’t fill in for Chris on the songs he was to sing!
We spent part of our vacation in Ohio visiting family. It was fun to finally play the guitar with my step dad Steve, who loaned us one of his guitars years ago because I told him I wanted to learn to play. Of course, it wasn’t until we moved to the Master’s Mission that I made it a priority to learn to play and I am so happy I finally can. After visiting with family in the northern part of Ohio, we headed to southern Ohio to visit with the Craig family for a few days. What a blessing that was. The Craigs have been missionaries for 20 + years. It was a great encouragement to us to spend time with them and learn from their experiences.

As part of the Women’s Technical, all canidates were required to shop for 3 months of supplies. Marshall and I found the nearest Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart and drove 2 hours to get there. Jill Craig told me that when they were in Kenya, they had a 2 day’s drive to get food and supplies. You wouldn’t want to forget an item if you had to drive 2 days to get it! Two hours didn’t seem too bad but by time we got home, sorted through everything, and repackaged all of our items to freeze, then drove them to our freezer, it was quite late and made for a long day.

Marshall has been busy in Men’s Technical. He is learning auto mechanics. Right now his class is overhauling an engine. The knowledge he is gaining has already come in handy.
Bible class is going well and is such a blessing. We just began 1 Kings. We are still amazed at all we are learning.
At Little Snowbird Church, we continue to help with the kids program on Wednesday nights.
Please continue to pray for us as we minister to the kids and as we learn and grow in our faith and knowledge of the scriptures. Pray we would be a good example to those around us, especially to the kids. Not only to the kids in the community and at church, but to our own as well. Pray that we would retain the knowledge we are learning here everyday. Thank you for all you do for us!
Love & Blessings, Tracy (writing for) Marshall, Tracy, Devin, Cameron & Kaiden

Quick Update

2008-11-29T13:21:00.004-05:00

Wow, it's been a busy month. Our friends Jeff & April Rotunda, Pastor Jim & Susi Pegan, & Ana Post came all the way from NY to visit us. It was a great time and we were so happy to see them.

On a sad note, Marshall's grandfather passed away and we were not able to make it back to N.Y. for the funeral.

We are through with our first quarter & had our first Bible exam. I think it went well for us, but we haven't gotten our results back yet. We will also have our first evaluation soon.

We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving with family in Waynesville, N.C. It was a first for us to spend Thanksgiving with my North Carolina family, so it was a special time.
Soon we will be traveling back north to visit with friends and family in N.Y. and Ohio. Our plans are to arrive in N.Y. on Dec. 20th and spend Christmas there and then travel to Ohio for a few days before we head back to TMM.

I uploaded a lot of new pictures be sure to click on the OUR PICTURES link and check them out.

Bush Driving

2008-11-06T11:17:00.011-05:00

Last week we had bush driving which was a fun experience. Dan took the men out one day, then it was the ladies turn. As Dan was taking us out to the path we were to drive on, us girls were thinking we were already on the path, which we thought was quite rough. Little did we know what was ahead. There were ditches down the middle of the path and rocks and boulders. And we each were to take a turn driving this path. We all survived and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The next day, the guys had to take this poor old Blazer out and get it stuck. The first attempt at getting it unstuck was too easy for them, so they decided it would be better to just drive it off the road. I posted a few pictures, which don't do the real thing justice. The first picture is of the first time they got it stuck.

Dan ( our teacher ) was used as traction :)

The guys had to take the truck out and get it stuck. The first attempt wasn't a big enough challenge, so they drove it off the road.
Believe it or not, it didn't take them that long to get it out.

These are the brave fools :) that drove it off the road.

Us girls having our turn bush driving.

Clover the Cow Clan Club

2008-10-19T17:24:00.006-04:00

Maddison, Allison, Cameron, Devin, Kaiden & Preston
Yes! That's Marshall milking a cow! Her name is Clover.

The Clover Clan Club :-) (that's what we call ourselves)

Jeff, Gena, Preston, Madi, & Ali Cole, Heidi Brompton & us Dixon's

It's been a busy week here at TMM. We got our milk cow Clover last Sat. She is a sweet little girl and has been very good with us all learning to milk her. Heidi is the expert though. She comes from Colorado where her and her family have a farm. She has been milking by hand since she was 8yrs old. So she has been a huge blessing to us. We have been getting about 2 gals of milk each milking. We have also been making our own butter using the cream.

Another exciting thing that happened this week is that we had a film crew here working on the new Master's Mission video. They were here for two days and we had a lot of fun with that. The kids were even crazy enough to get in the water for filming. Marshall was filmed welding and I was filmed playing paintball. Seems like it should have been the other way around.

In my women's class, we have been learning the do's and don'ts of writing a prayer/news letter.

We have been enjoying meeting some of the families on furlough. Right now Jon & Becky Woodworth is here. They have been serving the Lord in Kenya for almost 10yrs. The have 5 children. 3 girls and 2 boys. Ofcourse our kids have been enjoying theirs. Devin keeps asking if we can go to Africa now instead of Ecuador. :) We just tell her, we'll go where ever the Lord needs us. We have really been thinking of home lately. Especially with our church's missionary conference this week. We will REALLY miss being there. We have the schedule and you all are in our prayers. God moved in our hearts last year during conference and I pray He will do the same for someone else this year.

We love and miss you all!

October already!

2008-10-06T16:03:00.006-04:00

Hi everyone! It's been busy but we still continue to have a great time. We have been spending time with family in Waynesville NC when we can. This past weekend we went to my cousin Heather's wedding. It was beautiful and a blessing to have been able to be there.

Marshall had a test last week on air strip construction. He had to draw up a blue print of where he would put his air strip, here on top to the mountain at TMM. He also had to write up detailed instructions. Last week he also learned to operate the bull dozer and he gave me and Cameron a lesson today. That was interesting and fun to drive something that powerful.

Another exciting thing that is happening around here is that we are supposed to be getting a milk cow tomorrow! We are going in with two other families and 1 single canidate here to get her. Milk down here is so expensive and we have been trying to talk to Cole family into getting a milk cow and it's finally happening. The Cole's are on staff here at TMM, so they will keep her once we are gone. She is a Jersey cow and I'm sure pictures of her will be posted soon. You all know how much I (tracy) LOVE cows. I'm so excited. :)

I'm working on uploading pictures to add to our blog. Hopefully it will work. You might have to click on a link to see them.

The adventure has begun!

2008-09-17T11:15:00.002-04:00

Hi this is Cameron. The adventure begins in my story. It's been a lot of fun here. Abby just came back from Florida. Madi and Ali Cole went to Ohio for a missionary conference and they will be back on Friday. We miss them so much and it will be really fun when they come back. We have been helping my dad clear the woods for a dam. My dad's real name is Marshall. We ate Bologna the other day at the Meyer's, they made lasagnia out of him. He tasted really good. Yesterday we were getting wood and found a lizard that was black with yellow stripes down it's back and it had a bright blue tail. It was really pretty. It also dropped it's tail because it got scared. That is what different kinds of lizards, salamandars and gekos do.
Bye!
cameron

How to reach us

2008-09-06T11:51:00.004-04:00

Incase anyone wants to write to us. :)

PO Box 547
Robbinsville, NC 28771-0547

if you send a package, send it to:

2902 Mission Rd.
Robbinsville, NC 28771

The number we can be reached at is 828-479-6873
we will get a note in our box with a message of who called and we can
call you back.

Also, if you would like to send us support, you can do that online at The Master's Mission website, on the first page, click on the donate online link. Or you can send support to the address above. Make your check out to The Master's Mission and put dixon support in the memo line. Thanks!

Hi from Devin

2008-09-05T20:32:00.000-04:00

We got to TMM last week.We have made lots of friends.It is LOTS of fun here. We get up at 6:30 then go to class. We have to be at morning devotion at 8:00 and then we do our school work in the classroom. We had a tea party at the Teasdales yesterday. It was a lot of fun. Our chicken's are doing well. Bye for now! Devin

Greetings from The Master's Mission

2008-09-05T20:19:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! We are all settled in and classes started this week. We are starting to get used to our schedule. Things are going really well and we are having a lot of fun. At first it was hard to break the habit of reaching for a light switch every time we walked into the bathroom and you never quite realize how much you use a microwave and a toaster, until they are not available. The other thing that was a bit hard to get used to is just how dark it is up here at night. But we are adjusting well. Right now Marshall is learning about constructing dams. They picked out a site and started cutting away a trail today. When I say trail, it needs to be big enough for them to bring in a dozer and it is down a ravine. I learned how to use a ringer washer today. Which is nice because I have been washing our clothes in the bathtub. So I'm actually looking foward to using it. I will write more when I have more time. There is so much more to tell but it's getting late and Devin's waiting for her turn to write.

Cameron's mission talk

2008-08-23T08:53:00.000-04:00

We are going to The Master's Mission in 3 days and I am so excited to go. I have a friend. Her name is Abby. I can't wait to see her. We are going to bring our chicken's to the mountain. My brother Kaiden used to call them "bauk, bauks". I want to climb the trees at The Master's Mission. When we went to the barn, we went passed the fence and up the hill and saw the bull named Bologna. And then we ran backwards down the hill, so Bologna wouldn't charge us. It was fun. I fell running backwards down the hill, but I didn't get hurt. It was still fun though. We are going to be living in a cabin without electricity. When it snows, I want to take a sled and ride it down the mountain. That will be fun too. I have a lot of family that live near where we will be.
My grandma and grandpa from up here will be going down with us when we go, to help us get moved in. There will be others that will go too. And some of our friends are coming down to visit us in Nov.

Hi from Devin

2008-08-23T08:41:00.000-04:00

We are going to The Master's Mission in 3 days. It will be a mission's training. We might go to Ecuador after that. We already have friends at The Master's Mission. I am excited to see them again. One of my friends name is Abby Teasdale and we have been writing to each other since our church's missionary conference last Oct. We got to see her in Nov. when we went down to see the school. It was a lot of fun. We climbed up the side of a cliff and we played with a cow named Bologna.

Our new journey begins.

2008-08-22T23:07:00.000-04:00

In a few days we will be leaving for The Master's Mission. A lot of emotions are stirring. Excitement for what's to come and sadness for what we are leaving behind. We will miss our family and friends. We will miss what has been so familiar to us for so long. It really hasn't sunk in yet, which is probably a good thing. Marshall said that reality will probably hit as we are saying goodbye to those who will be traveling with us to TMM. When they drive away and leave us up on the mountain, then it may become real. Those who are planning on taking the trip with us to help us get settled in are, Joseph and Janice (Marshall's parents), Keith and Pat Hagenbuch, Gordon, Archie and Alechia Post and Shannon and Candy Scarem and their boys, Billy, Alex and Andrew. Hopefully we will have an uneventful, safe trip. We will let you know when we get settled in! : )