Holli - October 26, 2015

Joe's Baptism

Hello Everyone!

This week was pretty awesome! We saw a lot of less actives this week and their stories are so interesting.

Gabriella joined the church when she was young but had a terrible experience and left the church. She's super sweet - still believes in God, but she "finds her peace in the mountains". We have a really unique opportunity as missionaries to meet so many different people and yet try to meet so many different needs with the same thing - the
gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked to Gabriella and her son for a while - the Spirit was so strong - but it's so hard because the experiences she had are holding her back from the blessings she could receive.

We went to visit an older couple in the ward and they are so sweet. Brother Wheeler joined about four years ago and then Sister Wheeler has been a member her whole life. She has Alzheimer's though but it was so great visiting with them. It was so cute watching Brother Wheeler care for his wife -  he showed so much love to her!

We went to another family. The mom (Cindy) had grown up a member and her whole family was trying to get her back to church. She told us she had had a spiritually dead moment at church which she took as an answer to never come back. They are a very strong Christian family and have two really cute kids, yet she had one bad experience and let go
of the rod. Pretty tough stories but Heavenly Father continues to guide His children so I know it will all work out in the end. It's hard though, to see how much this gospel has blessed my life and to find others who turn away from it the moment an opportunity arises.

Sister Maughan and I had an awesome experience. So we were busing it home when I accidentally hit the button to stop at the wrong stop! So we got off, when Sister Maughan told me there was a reason we were getting off early. We happened to run into Rick on the walk home. He had had some really tough life experiences and had gotten into some
bad things but he recognized us as Mormons and asked if we had any pamphlets so we gave him a word of wisdom pamphlet and a Book of Mormon. It was pretty cool!

We went to this meeting for the mission president’s wife, Sister Villanueva at the library - a police safety meeting. I think we were the youngest people in the room! But it was pretty interesting! We were supposed to take notes so

she could use it for STL training.

Haha, another fun bus experience. We were waiting at the bus stop and Sister Maughan says, "Alright, Hermana, we are going to contact the first person we sit by on the bus." I was like, alright, let's do this! So we got on the bus and sat down. Unfortunately I sat down by a man who only spoke Spanish and Sister Maughan sat by someone who only
spoke Chinese. Maybe it was a sign - still trying to figure out what it meant haha.

We visit this lady named Unnati Bishwakarma - she's from India and has grown up in the Hindu religion her whole life but she recognizes the Spirit every time we come over and after about 1.5 years of continuous missionary visits is finally reading the Book of Mormon. She has two cute kids and is going through a lot of turmoil right now but it was a huge step for her finally cracking the Book of Mormon open! We are
going to try to get her on date soon :)

President Villanueva came to our district meeting on Thursday - and our DL was late! Luckily it was an amazing meeting and President is pretty easy going :) We have some new Senior missionaries in the ward (The Allens) who are from Far West Utah and they are super sweet.

We do a lot of service for Sister Vega. She has five kids and a pretty hectic, tough life. She's awesome but she never comes to church or any ward activities - until last night! We were doing service at her house and our dinner appointment was the ward Halloween party so Sister Vega had her kids all dress up and we went together. It was pretty awesome!
Then we had a lesson right afterwards in the chapel with Anthony and Vanessa - they are really awesome and they love the people in the ward but they never read their scriptures or come to church - they are just trying to understand why we are the way we are. Kind of cool.

Big news was Joe's baptism! His dad, mom, uncle and aunt came for it and they were super awesome. Joe is 6'4" and huge but he was baptized in one go! Haha, we had to fill the font and . . . . . I've never filled a font before so needless to say it was cold. But Brother Lemm and Joe survived! It was a really cool service :) The youth did a great job with the program.

Alright, that's about it here from Arcadia! I hope you are all doing well and have a wonderful week!

Sincerely, Sister Dunn

Chelsea - October 26, 2015

Hey everyone! 

So typhoon update, my companion Sister Mariano didn’t hear from her family last week. Their area got hit hard and on the news, the water was up to all the roofs and so she was kinda freaking out. But she just heard from them and they are okay! Also, the chapel in Ilagan, the whole first floor flooded. Also one of our la's, their huge tree in their yard totally fell and it barely missed their house. Super scary! Ya some areas in the Philippines are totally flooded. On the news people are just floating and wading through the water but everyone's happy that they got caught on video camera which just shows how awesome the filipino people are haha.

So on Wednesday, we worked our hardest and were able to get 9 lessons! That’s a record for us!  Also we had splits on Thursday. I was with Sister De Guzman. She is such a magaling teacher oh my goodness, she goes right according to the need and not the lesson. Definitely hard for me to follow, but it was cool to pick up some new teaching techniques. And so one of my personal goals on splits was contacting. So she really pushed me. Everyone we came across she was like, "Sige na! Contact them!" Haha like everyone! It was so hard and I hated it. But after that day, I definitely felt more confident with contacting. 

So... We got in a tricy crash!!!! So scary!!! Okay, so we were in Rizal purok 3 and it was so far from the other purok. So we had to walk about 30 minutes just to get there. So when we got there we did some contacting, and then we had to walk all the way back. But we were so tired and we saw a tricy coming so we flagged him down. A nanay was in the inside and so sis and I rode on the back of the motorcycle. Well the tricy driver was totally drunk, but we didnt know that. So we were driving along super fast and all of a sudden he starts driving off to the side, and the tricie totally tips over and we fall in this ditch thing. So scary! And the nanay inside.. kawawa siya! I think her body totally just hit against the tricy, she came out and she was just bleeding everywhere. We didn’t get hurt! Such a miracle! But oh man, the next day we were so sore. It was scary!! 

Haha funniest thing. So it’s saturday night, and it’s dark and we are in rizal. And we are walking and I see this American guy and so we go up and talk to him and this filipino lady. It’s Randy Hartman!!! He was in our area book and it said he owned a restaurant and we tried to look for him but no one knew... but we found him!!  He’s from Wisconsin and he’s been here for 3 years but he misses America so bad. His wife said he’s very picky and that he has to go to manila just to get bratts and hormel chili. Hahahaha I laughed at that one. So after we said goodbye, a little bit later, their car drove by and they offered us a ride to bonifacio. O my gosh it was so nice to be in an aircon car.. ahhhhh! 

So here in the markets you bargain for the things you buy but because I am American everyone charges us more.  Sister Mariano said it is a disadvantage of having an American companion and she tries to hide me whenever we go shopping.  Haha sad story. So we were just walking or something, and you constantly hear pigs squealing like all the time. And sis was like, ya they are killing that pig. Then she told me how they do it. She was like, they pour hot boiling water on them to kill it. I was almost crying! I was like that’s so inhumane! Isn’t there a better way? I was so mad. 

I haven’t been sick for one week! Record! Its been amazing! I think I’m just sensitive to everything I eat over here. So if it looks like it’s gonna make me sick, sister mariano explains to people that I can’t eat it. And yes living with the other two sisters now is fun! They are both super great! We all get along good too! 

Well I am doing good.  Struggling everyday but I think that the major thing I’ve learned here is that that’s ok.  Sister Mariano says I am doing good, but I still don’t get this language and I don’t feel like I connect with people very well. But if I was really good out here, I wouldn’t have anything to strive for.  Not being good and struggling hard teaches me patience, endurance, humility and all the Christlike characteristics.  So really, my goal for myself as a person here is to become the most like Christ that I can.  And this is the best time to do it.  Not a lot of temptations and my job is spreading His word.  Pretty good environment to learn to become like Christ, eh?!  And I really feel like God is pushing me to become more like him.  Even though I am shy—he compels me to be bold.  If I’m lazy one day, he pushes me until I’m exhausted.  God is constantly jerking me out of my comfort zone time and time again.  But it’s because he loves me and wants me to become as strong as I can be.  So ya I guess that’s what I’ve learned out here so far.

Thats about it! We have a ton of new investigators we are working with and it’s been great. We also committed one of our investigators to baptism and she said yes. So definitely a lot of progress in our area. Love you all! Thanks so much for your prayers!

Sister Dunn

Taylor - October 26, 2015

Hey Family!  Ya, sorry about not describing the picture I sent last week.  I decided to leave you hanging! So the sisters have been working with most of those people for a while and the baptisms kinda ended up being on the same day! Yes I believe there were 3 children of record getting baptized so that was good! Sister Mahterian is a really good missionary that just really works hard and is super good at missionary work! She is training the other missionary Sister Hutchinson who is pretty boss as well. And yes, I've given quite a few baptisimal interviews now. It's always a different experience to do it with the younger kids, the interviews are a little more...simple, but it's also really cool to see kids take that step of faith! I actually can't interview Domingo technically because he's my investigator and I've taught him but the ZL's couldn't speak Spanish so I translated. Ya he's not too hard to understand. Cubans in general though are a lot harder to understand than other Latins. 

Ya I was a little bummed about handing those investigators we found off, but hey it happens.  As long is they come unto the waters of baptism and progress I'm happy.  Though yes it would be great to baptize them! The other elders haven't been able to get into contact with Marco and Maribel for a while so I don’t know what’s going on with that.  They might drop them, dang. Venus wants to come to church and get baptized but Isidro is just kinda having a tough time, and kinda holding her back apparently, so ya a difficult situation.  We'll see what happens! 

The District Training went alright.  I wanted to improve on getting new investigators to progress, but it kinda turned into a testimony meeting which was great and super spiritual.  You strive to DPA (Doctrine, Principal, Application) when you are preparing for DT's and I just can't seem to get the hang of it. A big weakness of mine is DT's but I'm trying to do better! 

This week was tough success wise. We had a lot of spiritual experiences and people loved the prayers that we shared but not many people had time to listen to a message or come to church unfortunately. We saw some nice tender mercies though! We ran into this one lady who invited us in and gave us juice, cinnamon bread, and a mango nectar drink.  She was super nice and she loved the prayer and has met missionaries before! Hopefully we can get back in touch with her but she works 6 days a week, so I gave her the church invitation and invited her to come check it out! 

We also got a referral from the Boynton Beach sisters for a part member family so we are excited to go see them! We are working on being exactly obedient even on the little things as well as utilizing the members more! 

Oh ya fun experience, found out I had bed bugs this week. I was getting bitten like everywhere, especially my feet and elbows and we couldn't figure out what is was. Then we found a bed bug on the mattress and so we took out the box spring matress and underneath the box spring there was a ton, so ya I was getting eaten alive! So yep I have a nice comfy bed of couch cushions which is actually not that bad! 

This last week we had la noche de hispanidad (spanish culture night) and it was huge and super fun and a lot of non-members came. There were tons of booths representing tons of Latin american countries like: Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Honduras, Dominican republic, El Salvador, Peru, Mexico, and Colombia.  We did a little booth for America and passed out missionary stuff too! 

So ya we hope to improve and grow this coming week.  We were definitely humbled this week! Oh man Thanksgiving is going to be super fun in Pocatello.  You guys are going to have a blast, and man the Christmas music already for your piano students Mom?  Time flies! And the pics of those grapes looked so good. Haha save some grape juice for me! Thanks for the emails, love you guys!

Elder Dunn

Lindsay - October 26, 2015

We went on another hike! So fun!!

Hi Everyone! This week was awesome!! 

We had exchanges on Wednesday, and I was with Sister Chandler from my MTC district! We had so much fun together! We visited a lot of people but they weren't home, and we had the hardest time talking to strangers!! So we went to an apartment complex, and I saw this guy that looked like he was YSA. So I said, "Let's go up there and talk to him!" There comes a point in time where you have to go to talk to someone before the guilt of not doing it gets to ya! So we did! And it was awesome! He ended up accepting a Book of Mormon!! Even though he told us that he was going to move in a week, we gave him a Book of Mormon!! 

On Thursday we taught a guy named Michael. The elders in our zone were teaching him, but since he is a single adult, we had a pass off lesson where we start teaching him. He has never had a belief in God, but he wants to pursue it, and he has been reading everything that the elders have asked him to read! He has such a strong faith, and he has so much potential! 

On Friday for YSA wards, they have dollar lunch. You pay a dollar to eat an amazing meal! Before the lunch they have a devotional. In this devotional, they picked 3 recent converts to share their story and answer questions. It was amazing! Their testimonies were so strong, and there stories were miracles! I wish you could have all been there, because it was just a testimony builder to me that these people have truly sacrificed everything for the gospel! After lunch, we helped Kelly set up an account to work on her family history! We are planning to go on a temple trip so that she can do baptisms for the first time! She is so excited to go to the temple, and she is thrilled to help her family! 

On Saturday we went to Hope Fest! It is an amazing event where anyone can go and receive free food, free clothes, and free dental! It is amazing! We worked in the clothes section, and discovered that Deseret Industries sent two huge pods ( trucks) full of clothes from Salt Lake!! There were also many other churches that were involved. It was so amazing to be a part of it! We helped everyone find specific clothes in the aisles. They were so sweet, and some people were so desperate that they just grabbed clothes without looking at the size. I felt the love that God has for his children by serving them. It was awesome! 

We also met with Kara and Brian. Brian is a less active, and Kara is an investigator. She gave her first prayer, and she did amazing! We see so much potential in them! So those are the highlights of my week! I love you all! Have a great week! 

Sincerely, Sister Dunn 

Taylor - October 19, 2015

Elder Keys, Domingo and his wife, and me

Hola mis padres! Como estan? Sounds like you had a super awesome trip to Peru Mom. Wow the details almost overwhelmed me ;) haha jk love you mom! 

So, this transfer was quite a big one with new elders in the house/area! Elder Sandoval and Elder Winters really hit the ground running. The investigators that we gave them are progressing well. The new Elders have definitely been bold, have gained the ward’s trust quickly, and they're full of energy! Elder Keys and I did well this last week with an awesome member referral from Hermano Davila.  I believe I told you guys about Domingo, but he had been to church a few times and his wife is a member.  He was just waiting to come unto the waters of Christ.  We're so excited for Domingo as he continues to progress towards getting sealed in the temple with his wife and family! We really are getting the ward fired up for missionary work and they are ready for more as they saw Domingo's baptism.  We are excited for the coming weeks! 

The house is a little crazy haha.  We are sharing one bathroom and shower so that's wonderful haha. Oh well it's not that bad. Oh ya if you didn't catch it already, Elder Sandoval was my greenie breaker. Elder Winters is from Alabama and he has almost a year in the mission and he's really cool as well! We will send pics later in the week! The APs are coming to my District Training this week so that will be really fun. I better make it good haha! Oh ya we have car share in the area now so maybe I can get a little less fat! :) Oh ya and the West Palm sisters did really well and brought a ton of people unto the waters of baptism this week. I will send you the pics! 

Umm well I believe that's all for this week! Love you guys! 

Elder Dunn

Chelsea - October 19, 2015

Typhoon Lando 

The palengke (market) was destroyed!  Don’t worry, people are already selling there again right now!  Except that part is still destroyed...

The tree totally fell into the wire right outside our house

Pic of the flooding in Sister Baker’s area of Ilago

 Hello Everyone!! Wow... what a week!

So basically, I was sick Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday! Wooh! But I'm finally over it and doing good. But literally, this week was so rough. Sitting in bed all day is the worst, let me tell you... So I was so sick of sitting in bed, so on Wednesday we tried to go out. Right before going out, I was throwing up, but I was so determined that we still went out! Oh man, I was so weak but we were finally able to teach one of our investigators. It was such a beautiful lesson and after it we had to go home. But after teaching the lesson, I felt like that's what God wanted me to do that day. And He definitely gave me the strength to teach that lesson. 

So.. Typhoon! Oh man so fun! Just kidding it was kinda scary. So we got the warning earlier in the week so we were getting candles and emergency kits and all that. On Saturday it was super stormy but we went out anyway! Hahaha but seriously though, its the worst to go proselyting when there’s a typhoon coming. There is no one outside and when you try to go teach someone, they are like, "What are you doing outside? Go home! A typhoon is coming!" Hahaha pretty much the worst. But luckily we were able to teach a couple lessons. One with a 15 year old named Daniel. It was our first lesson with him. I was talking about the Atonement and we were reading in Alma 7:11-14 and I felt the spirit prompt me so much to commit him to baptism! So I did! I was so nervous but he said yes! He really is awesome in the lessons and I see so much potential in him so we are excited!

Mom, remember when you told me not to bring my blanket and jacket because it’s too hot here? Well I totally used them this week!!! It was cold here and I was so grateful I had my blanket! Also, I started boiling water for when I take a shower. Because it’s freezing... Like every time I dump a pail on me I scream, cause it’s so cold! 

Anyways, the typhoon! So it was getting super windy and rainy and kinda unsafe in the area that we were proselyting in. And then we got a text that all missionaries need to go in before it gets dark. So we went home. Oh my gosh funniest thing. So Sister Mariano and I were walking in our area. We were on this path with trees all around us. And then all of a sudden, we hear the sound of a tree falling down right behind us and we totally scream! I thought it was gonna hit us but joke, it was just like a huge leaf hahahaha. We laughed after that one.

The typhoon was so strong that night oh my gosh. Worst night ever. The power went out and I couldn’t sleep like the whole night. You could hear the rain and wind just pound on the house and I literally thought the roof of the house  next to us was gonna fly off. We almost evacuated to the church cause we didn’t know if our house was strong enough. SO LOUD! I slept maybe 3 hours…it was the worst.  I was so scared and kept waking up. Finally, it was morning and we literally just sat outside and watched the storm for like 4 hours, waiting for an update from the President. Everyone is safe in our area though! But it was just kind of a mess everywhere! We could get to Santiago to email because it is just all rice fields so no trees anywhere.  But the road from Diffun to Cordon had trees laying everywhere. The rice fields don’t seem to be flooded here but I am sure they are in other areas.  Like I sent you a pic of Sister Baker’s area Ilagan which was totally flooded. I think our area was pretty lucky.  We are inland and in a super mountainous area so we are kinda protected, but I think the elders in Madella like an hour away got hit pretty bad.  I have no idea really the damage that happened. Our apartment is right in the city and it is not a flooding zone.  But I’m sure Liwayway and Rizal are totally flooded.  We haven’t been there yet.  We are going there tonight.  Literally the roads there are just plain dirt so I’m not sure about that yet.  And yes Mom Sister Busania lives like 5 minutes walking distance from our apartment.  She is great.  She was like just call if you need us!  We have a car so we can come and get you! Please thank everyone for all their prayers!

So ya that’s about it! I hope everyone is doing good! Mom, sounds like your trip was awesome! Glad that you’re safe! Love you all! 

Sister Dunn

This pic was actually taken before the storm hit

Martinez family!

Lindsay - October 19, 2015

The sunsets are so beautiful here in Arizona!

Hello Everyone! I miss you all! I hope and pray that you had a great week! Here are the highlights!   :)

On Tuesday we had breakfast with our recent convert Kelly! She made these pancakes that were amazing! She put nutmeg and cinnamon in the pancakes and made cooked cinnamon apples to go with it! Sooo good!!! We have been helping her to prepare for her confirmation on Sunday, so we talked about the Christlike attributes. She is such an amazing girl, and she would be such a great ward missionary for sure!

On Wednesday we had District meeting! Guess what??? Sister Chandler from my MTC district is in my zone!!! We totally flipped out when we saw each other! And I figured out that Sister Chandler and Sister Stebar are in our district! They are my absolute favorite sister missionaries! ( besides my companion Sister Grange:) In district meeting we talked about receiving revelation through church. It was awesome! We also visited Kelly again and watched the Restoration movie about Joseph Smith. It was amazing! And Kelly said that it was awful because she didn't know that everyone had been persecuted. But she expressed to us that Joseph Smith could have easily backed out of it and said that he was done. But he sacrificed so much because he KNEW it was true. And no one would go through something like that if they didn't know that it was true. And it was was worth it to go through so much pain and suffering to restore Christ's church so that we could have this wonderful record of the word of God. The gospel is amazing! And so many people have left a wonderful legacy for us to follow in these latter days!

On Thursday we had a lesson with our recent convert Arminda. We taught her the amazing rocks and rice lesson! ( Yes Dad, I remember when you taught me and the youth of the church that lesson:) We talked about how the jar represents our life, the rice represent the worldly things, and the rocks represent things that the Lord has asked us to do. If we put God first, everything will fall into place! Arminda loved the object lesson! Then we met with another less active who wants to come back to church. She is so sweet! We are planning to teach her the missionary lessons so that she can learn more about the gospel! She also takes Institute classes cause she wants to increase her testimony! She is amazing!

On Friday, we had a lot  of weekly planning to do! For part of the day, Sister Grange had to go to a Mission Leadership meeting because Lynn G. Robbins was in a town for the groundbreaking of the Tucson temple. So they had a sudden MLC meeting. So I went with Sister Condie and Sister Tracey in their area! We met with an older lady named Bev who has short term memory loss. She is the happiest most positive woman I have ever met in my life! She considers this issue a blessing! She is so grateful everyday that she learns something new! Her life is never boring! :) Then in our area, we had an appointment with someone who was a former investigator. When we met him last time, he said that he was about to serve jury duty for the first time! He asked us for advice, and I helped him understand the whole process! Now I know why I did my jury duty service right before my mission:) haha! What a fond memory! :D

We also met with Pearl, one of our less actives. She is awesome! And so hilarious! Sister Tracey and Pearl bonded so quickly! They liked the same things, they went through the same struggles. There was a reason why we visited her with different sisters! It is amazing how God works!

On Saturday we went on exchanges! Sister Fowers and I had a great day! We had many fun adventures. One time we had to visit a less active in a gated community. We didn't know how to get in so Sister Fowers called some random person in there! It was bad!! They were kind of confused as to who it was, and when they heard we were missionaries they swore and said "Oh no". That was fun!

On Sunday I spoke in Sacrament meeting! I spoke on the purpose of home and visiting teaching. Also, Kelly got confirmed too and that was amazing!! Sister Grange and I have really felt close to the ward this week! Everyone is amazing, and we are so excited to spend another transfer with them! Well, that is my week! I love you all!

Sincerely,

Sister Dunn

Holli - October 19, 2015

Sister Maughan and the peacocks.  Peacocks are to
California as squirrels are to Idaho!

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all doing well and the week was good!

Man it's been a week full of miracles that's for sure! We met Melissa last pday - she was lost and needed some help figuring out where this restaurant was. Haha, she came to the wrong missionaries but thankfully we had our maps. We pulled it up and then walked with her to the restaurant. Come to find out she is from Bangladesh which is awesome and she readily accepted our invitation to learn more about
the gospel. She's going through a lot right now so it was cool to help her out spiritually and literally.

Our other crazy miracle happened last night. We were sitting at this bus stop for about 45 minutes waiting for the last bus of the night. Thank goodness it came! We got off at our stop and saw two ladies looking kind of frantic near the intersection. We noticed one was holding her contact and on the phone with someone so we asked her friend if she needed contact solution. Because we were close by we
sprinted to grab some (something I would not recommend in a skirt) and they were very grateful. They asked who we were and we told them we were missionaries with a unique message about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Laura (one of the ladies) asked, "So what's this unique message?" I've never had anyone ask that question before but it was so
exhilarating! We gave them a run down of the restoration and Laura said that it was a great message and that she wanted to have us speak at her work sometime and to her bible study group. So we'll see where that goes :)

Interesting learning/testimony building experience this week. We were sitting at another bus stop waiting for the bus, and there was this guy on the bench and we could tell he was kind of coming out of a "drunken stupor" . We finally got his attention so I asked if he was ok. He asked if we were Mormons and then started trying to explain to us how our religion wasn't true. It was so sad because he couldn't
hardly make a coherent sentence and we could tell Satan had a strong hold over him. So sad! Sister Maughan and I laughed because we were politely listening to him ramble about being a psychology major and truth and then he would randomly say, "You have really beautiful eyes, but they don't mean nothing." He said that like five times - kind of
creepy. Thank goodness the bus came but that was an interesting turn to our day.

We were street contacting and we ran across this guy named John who has talked to the Sisters before. He kind of just likes to talk but he did tell us we were more beautiful on the inside than on the out. Sister Maughan said she couldn't figure out if that was a compliment or not :) . We ran into John by the dumpsters again yesterday and I saw this big black garbage bag by him so I grabbed the bag and dumped
it in the dumpster with a big smile. He kind of looked at me and I noticed he was grabbing a water bottle from the dumpster. Haha, he was collecting recycling for money. Oops! As Sister Bennion would say, "Soak in the awkward!" So I helped him grab a few more water jugs from the dumpster and we went on our way!

We tried our potential investigator Pati who lives really high up in our area again. We knocked on her door and she invited us in and fed us pie! We talked a little bit about the challenges she was facing. Don't know if she is interested in learning more but we'll keep trying!

One last miracle was we were walking down the street and noticed a Chinese pass along card just sitting there. Sister Maughan picked it up and stuck it in her bag just in case. Later in the week we were trying to find a potential and we happened upon a small Chinese family (Lisa, Leo, and Andrew) so we used the Chinese pass along card and
told them about the Chinese missionaries so that was cool!

We had a Church tour with Yiwei (E-way) and Amanda and it was pretty awesome. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and miracle of all miracles, a baptism was going on right as we were showing them around. So Amanda got to see the baptism and we asked them about what they felt in the church. Amanda said it felt peaceful and then she asked
how she could feel like this more in her life. It was so great!

Joe is getting baptized Sunday and it's going to be crazy! But we are excited! Because Joe is 17, our ward is trying to have the youth take charge which is interesting but hopefully works!

We ran into this guy named Brick the other day. He was telling us how his Jehovah Witness friend was trying to convert him, but Brick had all these questions that his friend couldn't answer. Brick said he liked to give all religions a fair shot, hear what they have to say. We asked him if he would like to learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He said no. Haha, we were like, ooohkay.

Sister Maughan and I were talking about the parable of the sower this week. We were talking about how truly merciful our Heavenly Father is. He allows His children to hear his word, but he keeps His word from some so they won't be harshly condemned at he last day. If they don't know the greater light, they can't sin against it. It was really cool as
we were applying it to missionary work. Those who refuse to listen to us won't be blessed and truly happy but they also won't be harshly condemned in the last days because they really didn't know much better.

Anyways, that's about all from here in Arcadia! Hope you are all doing well and have a great week! Thank you all for your love and support :)

Love, Sister Dunn

Taylor - October 5, 2015

So this week was a good week and we were definitely able to find some cool people! We found a super cool family of 4 who are excited to learn more about the gospel! It's Vilma her two daughters and a son. The husband is still in Honduras. They are super cool! They didn't know too much about prayer or anything so she was asking me if they had to like recite something during the prayer. It was kinda funny! They loved hearing about the restoration. We're excited to get them to church. One of the daughters loves Harry Potter. She says it with a hilarious latin accent! We also found another couple, Marco and Maribel from Honduras. We were surprised they were from Honduras because the guy was straight up black! Maribel is a little more religious and grew up in the Catholic faith but Marco kinda just does his own thing, but they really liked the prayer and I can tell they felt something different when we meet with them so we are excited to continue to teach them. 

Conference was awesome this week.  I learned so much and sometimes feel a little overwhelmed because of the billions of things that I need to work on but it was awesome! The main things I got from it was that I need to use prayer even more powerfully,  not just in my work as a missionary but as a son of God. I need to ask the Lord what I am doing well and what I yet lack. I need to constantly be in tune to the spirit and look for it more. As well, I need to teach simply and clearly, as Elder Uchtdorf taught we need to simplify the gospel. I learned the mothers are awesome ;), love you Mom :) and I need to continue to work on all my Christlike attributes. I need to let his atonement take a part in my life and take even the smallest burdens away. So ya it was super good! 

The Spooky bash with our zone is actually today and we are carving pumpkins and playing smash face and dressing up so it will be fun!  You asked about transfers, especially for Elders they usually keep the greenies and their trainers together for a couple of transfers. 

Oh and ya mom my comp is pretty chill and doesn’t feel too much stress. For me being DL it's just typical missionary stresses and as well I want to be an example to others and when the area isn't doing so great I feel bad. But that's alright it happens. I just keep pressing forward. 

I'm glad that Stan is doing a lot better, his circumstances and perspective definitely changed! Also I'm glad Corey is recovering. He is a tough guy! Have fun in Peru mom, stay safe and you're gonna love it! Sounds like Spence is having an awesome time with his friends and ya I'm super glad he's with a good group! 

Umm well not much else happened this week, sorry I couldn't be too detailed but I kinda have to go! I love you guys though! Oh and tell Grandpa Dunn thanks for the letter. I love him, though he's too nice! 

See ya later!

Elder Dunn

Lindsay - October 5, 2015

Our Temple Trip picture

Hey Everyone!!

I hope you all had a great week and that you enjoyed General Conference! I love when the prophets speak to us! The spirit is so strong at every session! General Conference was amazing! As a missionary, I know that we cling to what the prophets have to say! We need all the help and guidance we can get! The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was magnificent as usual! I get chills on every song they sing! I miss our traditions of watching conference as a family! But I am so glad that I get to experience conference here in Tucson! Sister Grange is an enthusiastic and hyper person at conference! She would just randomly put her arm around my shoulder and squeeze and say, "I am so happy, I love General Conference!" or "Aren't you so excited?" She is awesome, I just love her! I took a specific question to conference, and really didn't expect an answer right away. It came in the first talk by President Utchdorf! I LOVED how he talked about simplifying things! Because I complicate things, and make them more stressful than I should! So I was so grateful that I received my answer! We watched all of the sessions at the East Stake Center, and we went early on Sunday to watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing! It was awesome!

So here are the highlights of my week! So on Tuesday, I asked an investigator to be baptized for the FIRST time!! Ahhhhh!! It was awesome! Sister Grange kind of gave me a cue to go and ask, so I am thankful that she did that! His name was Justin, and he had been through a lot in his life! He wanted to have a clean slate, and we told him through Jesus Christ and his gospel, you can be made clean!

We also met with a member in the ward named Yazmin. She has a boyfriend who is a convert to the church, and she converted him! They told us their story, and it was a simple invitation to church that made the difference! He is such a solid and sweet guy, and even before he became a member, he was a guy with good moral standards and values. I love member missionary work! Yazmin is an amazing example of being kind to everyone! She is so happy and enthusiastic! She doesn't push the gospel on anyone, and she casually brings up the gospel and wants everyone to be happy! We really want her to be a ward missionary!

On Wednesday we had a tough day! We tried potentials all day, and we were just praying to talk to someone! Sister Grange and I were coming back from trying someone when we met a guy named Marco. He was painting a gate outside in the parking lot. She wanted me to start the street contact which wasn't a good idea. I was so awkward! Out of all the things I could have said I chose to say, "So are you painting a lot today?" ughhhhh:) But it progressively got better and we ended up giving him a Book of Mormon! He told us that he respects us and knows that what we do everyday is good. We set up a time to meet with him and his children on Monday!! That was definitely a miracle!

On Thursday we went on exchanges. I was with Sister Charles in our area! She was amazing! Something happened that night that was amazing! We were just randomly walking in a parking lot surrounding an apartment complex. Then a guy passes us and says, "Hello sisters!" We asked if he had seen missionaries around, and he said that he had. We talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon and he said that he had read a little bit and liked our good moral standards and values. We didn't give him anything, not our number, a pamphlet or anything! Even though he said that he had a Book of Mormon! So we repented to Heavenly Father:) And we pleaded to meet him again! After 20 minutes of searching we went to our car. We were about to leave when we see their whole family (excluding the husband), walking down the street!! We totally freaked out and talked to them and ended up giving them a Plan of Salvation pamphlet with our number!! God is so good!

On Friday, Sister Grange had to go to a Mission Leadership Conference so I went to Sister Adam’s area!!!! (the Sister that was in my MTC district). It was awesome to be with her for half a day! We just vented to each other about missionary life and different things, and we felt so much better! We were totally struggling with the same things, and Sister Adams said that she felt like a weight had been lifted just by talking to me! :) We first went to do service at a community kitchen and it was so fun! Then we went back home to do some studies and then we went to dollar lunch. Dollar lunch is an activity for the Young Single Adults and everyone is invited! You pay a dollar and you get lunch! As missionaries we serve the food, and we get to know everyone! It is awesome!

We went to visit a less active in our ward named Michelle on Sunday. We had visited her before and found out that her mother was a member but converted to Islam later in her life. So that really took a toll on Michelle and she fell away from the church. It also effected her whole family. So when we went to visit her before, her mother was kind of angry that we stopped by. So we met at the park the next time because her mother didn't want us in her home. So we stopped by Sunday and brought a little loaf of bread for her because Michelle had been in the hospital because of a bladder infection. When we were talking to her on the doorstep, her mother came and asked if we wanted some tacos! We of course accepted the invitation and she fed us! Then Michelle's mother went into a bedroom to pray. Michelle explained to us that she told her mom, "I have respected your religion, and I even teach my younger siblings to. So why do you disrespect my religion?" She didn't think anything would come from it until that moment where we sat in her home and ate tacos! We got to know her cute siblings, and we prayed to end the night. The mother came in before we were going to say the prayer and asked the little ones to be quiet because we were going to say a prayer! It was a miracle! Her heart was truly softened! 

Things are great with Sister Grange. We are literally like sisters! We have had our bumpy roads but we are as close as sisters!  I am learning so much, and I have been stretched by the Lord! It has been extremely hard, but the Lord knows me and I know that he is strengthening me! I know that he is preparing me for the future of my mission! I want you to know that I am in the Lord's hands and that he is protecting and guiding me. I feel of his presence every day, and Sister Grange has been the person that has also pushed me to become the confident missionary that God wants me to be!  So that was my week! Thank you to everyone for your love and support! I couldn't do this without you! 

 Sincerely,

Sister Dunn