Holli - October 5, 2015

Sister Bennion and I at the LA Temple

Three missionaries (sitting down) from our 

district are going home this transfer

Hello Everyone!!

So this week was pretty good :) We got to go to the temple on Wednesday and that was so much fun! We went with an older couple (the Steimle's) and they are the sweetest people ever! We had an amazing session and because we weren't able to go with our zone, it was a very quiet and relaxed session which I loved. We stayed in the Visitor's center most of the afternoon because later that evening the youth came
up to do baptisms for the dead and our recent convert (Neil) was coming for the first time to do the baptisms for his dad and grandpa. So we got to be there for that and the Spirit was so strong!

On Thursday we had our last district meeting for the transfer. It was a great meeting where Elder P asked us all to bear our testimonies and share an experience we'll never forget from the mission. The Spirit was so strong as we talked about those faith promoting experiences. After the meeting Sister Bennion and I went on exchanges with the Sunland sisters so I got to go to Sunland for a bit! It was pretty cool :)

Sunland is so different from Arcadia and a lot of the work the
missionaries do there is less active work. You really learn to just love these lost sheep. The people here are so amazing and have been through so many trials yet continue to push through with great strength. We had dinner with one of the members that night and holy cow she gave me so much food! Sister Razzy was cracking up when she just kept piling it on. I somehow managed to get through it and then
for dessert she gave me like half a pan of brownies. I was seriously like, stop! Enough with the calories!

Crazy experience in Sunland. So Sister Razzy and I were walking up the street and there are these three teenagers riding towards us on bikes. They didn't look like the nicest kids and the closer they got the more I started freaking out. They slowed down as they approached us and kind of took up the sidewalk. I seriously almost had a heart attack but then the boy in front held out his arm to his friends and made sure they lined up behind him so we could pass. Thankfully my heart started beating again but I learned that it is so important not to judge others. And it's so hard sometimes! But everyone is a child of God and deserves the opportunity to hear the gospel and follow Christ.

We had a great time watching general conference on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we watched both sessions at the Bishop’s house and it was great! The Bishop invited their handyman Jim to listen and then we had a good talk with Jim about the gospel. He's never taken the
lessons before but he's come to church for 5 years. Crazy, right? Everyone in the ward keeps asking him when he'll be baptized. We encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it so hopefully he does! We went to Sister Leyva's house Sunday morning but something went wrong with her connection so we could only listen to the talks from the TV, so we didn't see President Monson's talk - we
just heard about it. We are glad he made it through. Saturday night we were  able to visit Sister Reynolds in a nursing home and watch the last half hour of priesthood session with her. It was awesome.

We watched the second session of general conference at our stake center and that was really cool as well. Loved all of the spiritual experiences!

That's about it from here in Arcadia! Hope you all have an amazing week :)

Love, Sister Dunn