Holli - August 24, 2015

Hello Everyone!!

This week has been pretty great! We were able to teach a lot of different people - still working on the actual investigator part but we are definitely learning how to be better teachers that's for sure!

We met this homeless guy named Marshall the other day. He asked us for $1 for McDonalds but we gave him eternal life instead. Haha, jk, it was the Book of Mormon :) He had a crazy near death experience so he believes in God and everything. We had a good conversation and hopefully he hangs onto that Book of Mormon! Right after Marshall, a
few members of our Ward drove by and asked if we wanted some frozen yogurt and we were like . . . That sounds great. We are seriously so spoiled here in Claremont.

We also went knocking on potential investigators doors and we tried this one girl named Clarissa. Just as we pulled up, her dad walked out the door to grab something from his car so we asked him if Clarissa was home. He told us he would go check. We stood outside the door for a few minutes and then her younger brother appears and he told us she was in the shower. We were like, oh shoot - guess we'll try again
later! Then the youngest brother who was like 3, peeks out from behind his older brother and says, "She's not in the shower!" And then we hear Clarissa telling him to be quiet. Laughing internally, we looked at the older brother and he was like, "He's just a kid, you know." I guess there was a reason Jesus commanded us to become as a little child ☺️

We had Navajo tacos with this one member (the Fosters) - holy smokes they were so good. We had dinner with them and our Zone leaders and it was super fun. They were huge and I had  2 of them, so I think everyone was kind of surprised but they were seriously the best food ever! *just for future reference mom :) haha. We stopped by this less active's house to try to find out why they had become less active but he ended up talking to us for an hour about meat. Yes, meat. Needless to say, Sister Duncan and I are working on our conversation skills and how to get directly to the point, or at least keeping the conversation focused on Jesus Christ.

We knocked this one potential's door the other day (Julie) and it was hilarious. She has this big door with a square peep hole and we talked to her through that peephole for about 20 minutes. I guess we were establishing trust. As we were talking she told us all about some insane dreams she's had about relatives that have passed on. We managed to relate those dreams with Lehi's vision and that was when
she let us in! Power of the scriptures is real! We managed to give her a plan of salvation pamphlet and she told us we could come back which is great! She said the picture on the front of the pamphlet looked exactly like Jesus in her dream. Crazy, right? She also showed us her birdbath for the bees in her backyard. Apparently bees get very thirsty so that was interesting.

So crazy story! A few weeks ago we met this guy named Robert. He was the one who flagged us down on Mountain because we looked like dead fish and he wanted to give us water. We gave him a Book of Mormon and thought we'd never see him again. Well a few weeks after that we were walking up towards Mountain and ran into him again. We were both headed the same direction so we were able to talk with him for awhile. He gave us his number but he told us he had personal issues with God - so he's not super religious but he's pretty nice. Then this past week, during weekly planning, we had planned to go looking for Robert on Thursday but we ended up being super busy. Then Friday night we were walking in this neighborhood and who should we run into but Robert! We talked about church this time - apparently Sunday is his day of rest literally - but we had a good conversation. Hopefully we run into him this week and commit him to do something!

We had to run to the bike shop to get Sister Duncan's bike fixed and we met Eric and Caeser. Eric's roommate had been taught by missionaries before but they moved and left their Book of Mormon so he already had one! That was cool. He loves his Bible study and Jesus Christ and had lots of questions so that was awesome. We also met this guy named Ruben walking across the street. He was having knee problems and asked if we had a moment so we could pray for his knee. We were like . . . Ok. We'll pray for your knee.  But we managed to teach him a bit about the Restoration and give him a Book of Mormon so hopefully he starts reading!

We met this guy named Julio in a park and that was pretty awesome! We were sitting at a table doing some planning and I saw him kind of looking at us with his dog. He eventually stopped a ways a way to let his dog sniff around and then he started moseying over to us. Weird,
right? I waved and complemented his dog and then we started talking for probably 45 minutes. He has LDS friends and has seen the Salt Lake Temple so we invited him to check out the LA Temple's visitors center. He also talked about church and invited us to drop by his house
sometime - don't know how interested he is but we talked a lot about God and the importance of God and keeping His commandments in order for the world to be a better place.

Sister Duncan and I played the duet My Heavenly Father Loves Me in Sacrament Meeting and I guess it was a "like mother like daughter moment” Mom because the same thing that happened to you on Sunday happened to us.  Half way through the song, right at the most dramatic moment, half of our music fell down. We gracefully gathered it up, hoping the Spirit made our silence very profound. We only heard a few snickers from the congregation.

Missy is doing very well! She is trying to start her own landscaping business and wants to call it: The Promised Landscaping. Funny, right?

Well that's about it from Claremont! I've officially been told by 3 people that I look 17 years old 😐 I guess it's a compliment. I'll take it like one at least! The Lord is teaching Sister Duncan and I so much about how to be better teachers, listeners, and servants. We've been studying Christ-like attributes lately and there's so much hope and happiness that come as a result of developing them. I was reading
in Moroni chapter 9 today and this is Mormon's letter to his son Moroni who is serving a mission somewhere. Mormon encourages his son to keep on laboring and working hard but also lets him know of the horrible things going on back home. That must have been so hard for Moroni! He probably knew many of these people who had turned so wicked and were doing terrible things. Despite all of this opposition I love how Mormon ends his letter: (v. 25) My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body into our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.

Holy cow that's powerful and I know that's true. Christ has an
infinite ability to raise us up above all despair, doubt, and fear. I'm so thankful for Him and his sacrifice! Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Dunn