Lindsay - August 3, 2015

We have really cool street names here :)

I had an amazing week!!! On P-day, we had a water balloon and paint fight! (We should have excluded the paint). Sister Moe-Tufaga literally sprayed it in my mouth (Yuck!!) On Tuesday we went tracting. We had a great conversation with this one man who was  Catholic. He asked us what we like most about the Bible. I told him about the parables and how I loved specifically the Prodigal Son. We had a great time talking to him about religion! On Wednesday, we had district meeting. We talked about having member trust, and working with the people of the ward to hasten the work of the Lord. It was really good, and our new district leader Elder Beckstead is a boss! He is an awesome missionary, and he is going home this transfer so its nice that he ended his mission being a district leader! We tried a bunch of less actives this week, and we visited this older woman named Sister Wensorski. She is in hospice right now and she has many health problems. But she still let us in to have us share a message! Her daughter is taking care of her so that is nice. We talked about the resurrection with her, and how she will see her loved ones again.I started to talk about Grandma Dunn and how I miss her, and I started to cry! Sister Wensorski told me, "You miss her don't you? It's ok to cry". And so I cried! She seriously reminded me of Grandma Dunn. The spirit was so strong in that home. On Thursday, we had a great day! We visited one of our less actives and shared a scripture story and a Mormon message with her. She is the sweetest lady, and we have great discussions with her! After that we attended ASL class, and then headed to Sister Thomas's house. She is a less active, and we have great discussions with her! She asks really hard questions, but Sister Moe and I tried our best to answer them! But at the end of the lesson, something she said really hit me. She said, "Don't give up on me!" So we aren't!! We told her to sincerely ask God for answers to the questions she has. She hasn't necessarily done that so we challenged her to do so. We also visited a family that just moved into the ward. The mother's daughter isn't baptized, so we are going to teach her the basics of the gospel. She says that she is figuring things out and that she doesn't want to be involved in the gospel until later in her life. So we are just starting out simple! But she is such a sweet girl and I know that one day she will accept the gospel! On Friday we visited Sister Etzdorf again to read the Book of Mormon. She is such a sweet old lady, and she makes these really good fruit popsicles!! haha:) She is a cutie! We visited a family in one of the wards and we shared a gospel message and got to know them better. Their sense of humor, and perspective of the gospel is amazing! I have learned so much from them and I just met them! The parents are ward missionaries, and they have some less actives in their family.  Their daughter (a less active), got married to a non-member but he wants to know more about the gospel. The parents have been teaching him a little bit and they want some missionaries (it might be us) to teach him! I hope it all works out! On Saturday, we went to the church and participated in cleaning it. Brother Christiansen is the one who directs the cleaning. He is a bit older, so that is why he has a list of people to help him clean the church. He thought that we showed up at the church for a meeting. When he heard that we were there to clean, his whole countenance totally brightened!! He was so excited!! I love serving others! Later that day we had a great learning experience. A HUGE monsoon storm started right when we were going to try and visit some former investigators! It was literally like a hurricane! The roads flooded so quickly and it was hard to see out of our windshield.  Fear overtook me and I wanted to go back to the apartment. But Sister Moe-Tufaga expressed that we should go out and work. I reluctantly agreed, and we went out into the huge storm. It was literally the scariest experience of my life! In Tucson there are huge dips in the road. So when monsoons hit, there are huge pools of water at the bottom of the dips. So we are literally giving our car a car wash! And we splash water onto other cars on the street! And some of these pools of water are filled with dirt and rocks, so it can be very dangerous!! Also when washes flood the road, it can get really deep. Some people try to get through the deep waters, but some cars get washed away. That is why so many people die at this time of year. It was really scary, and I thought we wouldn't make it out! But we did and we contacted a former investigator! I learned a great lesson that day. Have faith, and know that everything will work out in the end. That is what I learned this week! The driving is definitely getting easier. I'm getting used to it which is great! And the GPS is amazing!  Sister Moe is great! She is very obedient. She loves to work hard, and she is so focused on others. We have great discussions! Sometimes we are planning and then we will go off on random tangents and we discuss things a lot! That's why our relationship is great because we talk things out. Especially on one occasion I was irritated because she kept correcting me on things that I did and I kind of got irritated because I thought she was just telling me that I wasn't a good missionary and that I should do something a different way. But I realized that she was just trying to help me. So we literally talked it out! And in the end our relationship strengthened and we could feel the Spirit again. I have truly learned on my mission that I get irritated easily, and that if I'm offended I stew over it for a while and can't forget about the situation. But I'm striving to improve. And Sister Moe-Tufaga has helped me to do that. I have a lot more to learn as a missionary!   I am so grateful for the many blessings that I have seen throughout my life. The Lord has truly blessed me as I am out in the mission field to serve Him! I love you all, and I continually pray for you!! 

Much Love,

Sister Dunn

Video of the monsoon storm clouds!!!!!

Driving in monsoon weather....Scariest experience of my life!!!!!