Hello everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July! Oh my
goodness we had such a great week! On Tuesday, we spent the whole day
in Hurley. The city of Hurley is 20 minutes away from Silver City, so
it is really far out there! We visited Sister Coldwell who is home
bound, and can't come to church. She is still a faithful member of the
church, and her granddaughter may be interested in taking the lessons!
We are so excited! After that visit, we decided to tract around the
house of a member. We asked a lot of people if they knew her. We had a
great experience! Before we decided to knock on a door, I told Sister
Brinkerhoff she would be doing all the talking. She is VERY quiet, and
doesn't say a lot, and so I have been trying to push her out of her
comfort zone:) It was a really good experience for her! She only
talked for a sentence, and then it became an awkward silence, so I had
to talk. Maybe I can try just being quiet the WHOLE time and see how
she reacts! Ok, just kidding, I think that would be rude. Haha!
On Wednesday we had zone meeting. And guess who is in my zone again???
Elder Nielson from my stake, and Elder Dilworth who was my district
leader in the Gila Valley! We had a great meeting about the doctrine
of baptism and we did an awesome role play that helped Sister
Brinkerhoff and I be more balanced. After the meeting we went to Dairy
Queen! Heck yeah! Then we had a lesson with Avery. We talked about the
priesthood, and we related a flashlight to the priesthood power. We
talked about how we have to push the button on the flashlight for it
to work. We related it to the priesthood, and said that you have to be
worthy to receive it before you can exercise that power. It was a
really good lesson! After dinner, we drove up to Duncan to exchange
with the sisters in Safford: Sister Reid and Sister Stebar. I love
them both so much! They are amazing! I exchanged with Sister Reid, and
we headed up to Silver City. Sister Reid served in Silver City for 7
1/2 months, and so it was an exciting day for her! :) We saw Sister
Scott, and she had made a 24 hour change! Oh my goodness, she was
dressed up and had makeup on, and she was soooo happy! She said that
from the moment she got the blessing, God helped her to change her
life. It was so cool to see! Later in the day we had a lesson with
David (a returning member). We had a very short but powerful lesson
with him about the priesthood. He has the desire to exercise his
priesthood again! So we asked him what he could do to be worthy to
exercise the priesthood. He had a couple of ideas, and so we committed
him to do that! It was such a great exchange, and I had an amazing
time with Sister Reid!
On Friday we finally met with Sabrina! We
hadn't met with her in two weeks, and we were getting concerned. So
apparently her parents aren't fond of her decision to be baptized. So
it has been hard for to go to church, and meet with us, because she is
doing it against her parents will. That has been tough! However, she
has such strong faith, and she told us about the undeniable feelings
she receives. During the lesson, she was explaining all of her
thoughts, and I literally had no idea what to say to her. Then a
thought popped into my head to ask her if she wanted a blessing. I got
a really warm feeling, and so I asked her. She said that she wanted
to! And thankfully 2 sets of elders were weekly planning at the
institute at that time! So we had one of the elders give her a
blessing. It was awesome! Then Sister Brinkerhoff shared an awesome
scripture story that applied to Sabrina's situation. The amazing thing
about this whole experience was that we didn't even plan for her! She
just called us randomly during the day and asked if she could meet
with us at that very moment. The Spirit truly led us during that
lesson!
On Saturday, we had a great day! We went out to Bayard and saw the
Bencomo's. We taught her, and her son James about the gospel of Jesus
Christ. We had an amazing discussion with her! She has a hard time
coming to church because she usually comes alone. And the church
emphasizes so much on family, that she feels uncomfortable going by
herself. So that has been tough. But we committed them to come to
church, and she said that she would try! Then we had dinner with the
Armijo's and then visited Sister Mitchell. We taught her the Plan of
Salvation. Earlier in our visit, she talked to us about a boy named
Dallin whom she worked with at a school. He has cerebral palsy. So as
we were teaching the Plan of Salvation, we talked about immortality
and applied it to Dallin's situation. Then I told Sister Mitchell how
precious, pure, and innocent these special spirits are to us on this
earth. As I asked how it has been a blessing to help and work with
him, she began to cry. She bore her testimony of the Plan of
Salvation, and it was such a powerful moment for me to see the love
that she had for this precious son of God.
Oh my word, Sunday was an amazing day! We went to Jace Porter's
farewell (The stake president's son). 200 people showed up, and half of
them were non-members! It was an amazing experience, to be able to
listen to Jace's testimony. Something that he said really stuck out to
me. He said, "If I didn't know that the gospel was true, I wouldn't be
leaving those that I love." And then he turned to his Mom and said, "I
want you to know that Mom!" When he said those words, I started to
cry! (Thanks Mom for those emotional genes!) haha! After sacrament
meeting, we went to the YSA branch and taught Gospel Principles, and
Relief Society! It was awesome to teach with Sister Brinkerhoff! It's
weird cause she is so much more confident when she is teaching a
class, but when we do missionary work, she is SOO quiet! Haha! We are
definitely going to work on that! Later that day we saw Brother
Darnell again. We also brought Alyssia with us! When we came in to
teach him, he told us that he did what we asked him to do and he read
his scriptures!!! He told us that he reached 1st Nephi Chapter 12!! We
were so astonished! He told us, "See what you did to me?" Haha! As we
started to teach the lesson, we told him that we were going to be
teaching him about the Plan of Salvation. He told us, "Oh good, I need
some salvation!" Haha! He is literally the cutest old man I have ever
met! We had an amazing discussion with him! So as you can tell, we
have had a busy week full of spiritual moments, awkward moments, and
moments to testify of this perfect gospel! I love being a missionary!
It brings me so much happiness in my life! I love you all, and I know
that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true!
Sincerely,
Sister Dunn
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