Holli - October 24, 2016

Hello Everyone!!

We've had a pretty fantastic week this week!

On Thursday the BYU Dance Team came to La Crescenta and did a BYU Ballroom Dance performance. We were only allowed to go if we had a progressing investigator going. Luckily Jeremy and Ann wanted to go and we were able to attend with them. It was an amazing experience! I did recognize a few numbers from when they performed a few years ago and they were just as good as ever :) We were very blessed to be able to go to that!

We did a blitz in Tujunga late one night. We started at 7:30 and it was pitch black and the Elders asked us to tract some streets in the area because the area had just been split and they didn't have many investigators. So Kate (one of the YSA sisters that came with me) and I started to tract and it was quite the experience. We had a few miracles and only 1 out of the 10 people we contacted was slightly rude so it was a plus! And it was all in spanish (they are the spanish elders) so luckily Kate spoke Spanish! 

We went to the temple visitors center with Hana on Monday night and it was an amazing night. The Sisters gave us a tour and did a beautiful job. Hana was crying by the end. We are still working on a date for her but she is very sensitive to the Spirit and is doing really good. Please continue to pray for Hana! I hope you all get to meet her one day :) She's seriously the coolest.

We went on exchanges on Tuesday and I was with Sister Bailey and haha she is the sweetest sister ever. She's fairly new to the mission but has a huge love for the work and is so cool. She's also in chinese work so that's bomb!

So last night it was around 7 and we had had like three appointments fall through so we didn't really know what to do. Sister Hobbs had placed this less active named Kim in our plans - Kim had been contacted a few days before by members of our ward and they had invited her back to church and she was super happy they had stopped by. Turns out she has a roommate who also expressed interest in coming to church and learning about God. So we took the thirty minute drive out to Alhambra (and our car still isn't really fixed and it was raining so I was kind of concerned but we both felt strongly we should go see Kim) and we get there and Kim lets us in but tells us she has to jet pretty soon so our timing was kind of terrible. We were like, oh. But at least she let us in! And then we got to meet Adrian who was interested in coming to church and we were able to teach him and invite him to FHE tonight which he is super excited to attend. It was a really neat experience and he basically has no religious background and is super open to learning so that was great!! Truly inspired decision :) Sometimes we feel like those don't come a lot but when they come, it feels great!

Well, I love you all so much! I'm so grateful for this church and the power of the Atonement - how it can bless our lives. And how we can truly use it in this church to enable us to be more like our Savior. Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Dunn

Chelsea - October 24, 2016

Our backyard after the typhoon.  The pigpen was totally destroyed and nothing is green anymore!

The Gonzales Family!

Hi! 

Haha we are alive and doing well! So probably the craziest week of our life with so many funny things! So on Monday, we traveled from Solano back to Cauayan and stayed the night there after our hike to the rice terraces. Then on Tuesday we went all the way back to our area Tuguegarao and right when we got there we got a text from the zone leaders saying we needed to evacuate! I was like seriously?!! You couldn't have just told us that when we were in Cauayan?! So we had to pack up some of our stuff and put everything up high so it wouldn't get wet and we headed to Cauayan again! We were put in a hotel! Wooh!!! And it was pretty nice! So, we were a little bored out of our minds there but it was still fun. I also got to work with my anak and sister turley for a little bit so that was fun. 

So ya, the typhoon was pretty crazy. We thought our windows were going to break in the hotel. The next room over, their window broke though and their door! Crazy! But ya, the damage wasn't really that bad in cauayan...but on Friday, we drove back to Tuguearao and it is so sad! So many houses are destroyed, there is no green anywhere, it looks like winter! Our zone leaders apartment was totally destroyed, another sisters apartment was under water. Ours wasn't that bad surprisingly. Our mirror shattered in the bathroom, part of our roof flew off and our window broke in our room so our stuff was kinda wet. So we were told to move everything out. So we packed our stuff and went. People said that we won't get electricty back until christmas... or maybe earlier if lucky. So I hope I will be able to go back! We didn't even get to say goodbye to everyone :( 

It was kinda scary driving back because it was dark and there were trees everywhere in the road and power poles and lines, but we got back safe and had to stay at another hotel that night in cauayan, but it was the grossest hotel ever! We had to fit four of us in this tiny room with two beds. It smelled like someone had literally just thrown up and there was stuff all over our sheets. And so we asked for new sheets and instead they brought up lysol spray hahahahah I was laughing sooo hard. Also, the whole floor shared this community shower and bathroom and there were elders right across from us. So we called pres hiatt and they let us shower at the mission home the next morning. haha. So ya that was funny! 

So on Saturday they drove us to our new area, Diffun!!! Woooh get to go back to my first area! Haha my guess is I will probably be dying here. And Sister Atutubo is still my comp which I'm kinda excited about, because I know we'll have a great cycle in diffun! So ya, we have to divide the area with the diffun sisters into 3 and hopefully we can go back to tugue in the next month.  

Love you all! Thank you for your prayers!

Sister Dunn

Hotel!

Lindsay - October 24, 2016

This dog reminded me so much of Rudy!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all are doing well! This week was great!! On Monday we saw the Trujillo's! We are helping them to return to activity, and also to go to the temple. We talked about family history work, and they really like learning about their family! So we are planning to do some family history work with them this upcoming week!

On Tuesday we saw Brittany who is our potential investigator! We brought Lacy and Kevin from Patton Ward to come with us and teach her! They are the cutest kids! When we dropped by to see Brittany, her parents weren't home, and so we rescheduled it later that day. So we decided to go to a member's home and practice teaching the Restoration to them. We asked Lacy and Kevin to help us, and they were shy at first. But when we asked them questions, they shared their testimonies, and it was so powerful! After teaching the Youngs, we went over to teach Brittany. Her parents invited us in and told us that they were supportive of her decision to be baptized. So that was good! We had to take Lacy and Kevin back to their home, so we just walked with Brittany and the kids back to their home. We had an amazing discussion with Brittany! She really opened up, and was able to voice her concerns about baptism, and her experience in the past with taking the missionary lessons. We talked about faith, and we were able to help Brittany understand that faith is just more than believing, but acting on the desires that we have. 

After the discussion with Brittany we had dinner with our Ward mission leader, Brother Reynolds. Brittany wanted to come to dinner, so we let the Reynolds know beforehand. Sister Reynolds made the Olive Garden Zuppa Tuscana soup with cheesy bread and salad. Oh my goodness, I was in heaven! After dinner, we had a lesson with the Reynolds kids and Brittany afterwards ,and we were able to talk about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it teaches us about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was amazing!!

On Wednesday, we helped a less active in Ward named Kelly. Her daughter was having a wedding, so we helped her make Mickey Mouse Rice Krispie treats. It was really good to meet with her! She had had a rough week, and so we were able to listen and give her feedback.

On Thursday we met with Vikki our investigator. We taught the Plan of Salvation. She feels the Spirit I know it! Vikki even tells us that she feels so much peace, and that all the LDS individuals that she has met has a peaceful spirit about them. She wants it, but there is something that is holding her back from being baptized! We just need to figure it out! She also talks a lot, and goes off on tangents, so we have to bring it back on topic. But we are determined to find out what is keeping her from being baptized!

After Vikki's lesson, we taught Brittany again. We brought Sariah with us, who is a good friend of Brittany's. We taught the Restoration, and it was so powerful! Oh my goodness!!! I invited her to be baptized on November 19th, and she said that she would! So we are super pumped about that!! We also visited with our recent convert Justin. He had been having a rough week, and he had stopped saying his prayers this week, so he was glad that we came by to give him a spiritual awakening:) hehe! And then Justin and his wife Amy came to church on Sunday, so that was good! On Friday we met with Brother Venn again, and he made us pineapple ice cream! It was really good! Then we had a lesson with him about the Holy Ghost, and we had a good discussion about how the Spirit will help us to remember the things that we have learned. Throughout my mission I have definitely looked forward to Sunday's! I feel so comforted to be able to partake of the sacrament, and renew my covenants with my Heavenly Father. But also to be able to ask for direction and inspiration on how I can be better. I just love being a missionary everyone! I love you all, thank you for all of the

support that you give me! I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true!

Sincerely,

Sister Dunn

Chelsea - October 17, 2016

Banaue!

Hi everyone, 

So we just got in from Banaue and it was amazing!!!! They are 2,000 year old rice terraces carved into the mountains and are known as the 8th Wonder of the World.  Sister Atutubo and I left after sacrament meeting on Sunday for Solano. And then Sister Porter was my comp going there. We got into solano on sunday night and then earlier today we got up at 3 a.m. and headed off to Banaue! The drive took about 3 hours and I was trying my hardest  not to throw up, but definitely feeling like God is blessing me and I haven't thrown up yet!  I had to go back to the doctor this week and I'm still having problems so ya... I have to go back again on friday.  Honestly, I'm not feeling the greatest. It's so hard for me to work.  But going to banaue I was so scared that I would get super sick. But the lord has heard my prayers and I've been doing a lot better. Hopefuly friday will be the last day for the hospital!

So basically there's apparently a typhoon that will be hitting us and we still went up to banaue! It was so muddy and wet everywhere and probably the most dangerous and exhausting hike I've ever done. But it was sooo worth it no joke! It was so gorgeous!! But ya probably wouldn't do it again. Pretty sure Christ's grace helped out with that one! It was the funniest thing though because getting up wasn't that bad but going down was crazy. We literally slid on our behinds the whole time! There was also a million stairs to walk and we couldn't even feel our legs! Haha but it was breathtaking and a one in a million opportunity!! 

We also had our career workshop this week and it was great! Elder Jones did a great job and it was all about getting a job and how to do it efficiently. The only thing I didn't like about it was it was all about us and we had to think about our strengths and what we were good at and we had to share it in front of the group like a million times! Definitely not my comfort zone but I learned a lot! haha. 

We also had Johannas interview this saturday and it was successful! It was scary though because she went to the hospital right after we came to her house! She's low on potasium and so she can't breathe sometimes and is so weak and her body hurts so bad that she was rushed to the hospital. But she is doing ok now and is excited for her baptism on Saturday! 

So there has been an infestation of rats in our apartment and they ate all my food and my food in my 72 hr kit which is just perfect timing because of course a typhoon is about to hit our area in Tugue and we are still in Solano and there's no way I'm going to be able to go grocery shopping! So looks like I'll be starving the next week! Haha love you all, sorry I didn't get to write a lot. We didn't get much work done because of the craziness of our week but we were able to teach one of our investigators Rodward and he's already in 1 nephi 9 and is progressing so much! Just have to help him get to church! 

Love you all,

Sister Dunn

Spider!

Holli - October 17, 2016

Hello Everyone!!

So this will be a short letter because not much has happened since I wrote last Thursday :)

We did a blitz in Sunland the other night. A lot of the companionships in our zone are struggling to find people to teach so we do blitzes in everyone's area to help out. Sister Hobbs and I each took a member of the Sunland ward and went to work trying to find people for the sisters. Rachel and I went by a lot of different people and it actually was fairly successful! We found this one cute part member

family with a little boy - please pray for Kayla, Scott, and Bryce! Kayla seems to have lost her testimony but we showed them a little video about the temple and asked Scott if he would take the

discussions and start coming to church.

We had a lesson with Heidi the other day. She had forgotten but she is also super sweet so we had it any way :) Her mother was actually visiting and we talked with the mom for a bit. She had a read a few anti mormon books and kind of fired questions at us in a very loving way. Super hard. But we got through most of the plan of salvation and tried to talk about the first vision as well. We encouraged them both to read the Book of Mormon, which they are both open to doing. Super nice people but we are still trying to build real intent!

Sister Hobbs gave a talk yesterday at church! She did such a good job :) We also sang in the choir and it was Elder Boyack's homecoming so that was cool! Ironically he had just returned from serving in New Zealand which is where my companion Sister Hobbs is from! He brought Sister Hobbs a lot of her favorite New Zealand food - so I get to try it out too :)

Haha, funny moment. So we were traveling back from Sunland to Glendale late one night and right as we exit the freeway our car starts beeping at us and one of the gages says that the engine has overheated and we need to let it rest. Of course, being the calm one and the driver, I tried to rear end a truck in my haste to pull over. Haha, actually Sister Hobbs had the level head - I was just freaking out thinking that our car was going to explode. So we pulled over and let it rest for a while. The next day was Sunday so we couldn't take it in so driving to church was a start stop experience. Finally we just poured some water in this white container underneath the hood and it hasn't acted up since. But we're taking it in today :)

Haha, Sister Hobbs told me that some firemen came to visit her school and they had the kids assign certain people to do certain things in case of an emergency and Sister Hobbs was assigned to be the leader that led everyone to safety because she has a very level head in times of crisis. Thank goodness she's my companion. It might have been a different situation if Lindsay was there . . . ;) haha, jk Linds.

Yesterday at church Sister Corrigan (Bishop's wife) told this awesome story. She's a couponer and she was at the store checking out. The manager held her up, saying that she couldn't get an item or something. I think she had had a rough day and she also knew that she could get the item so she started arguing with him about it. He didn't treat her very respectfully in return and she just got super angry. Finally she just walked out of the store fuming. She said she didn't coupon for 6 months because she was so angry. Finally, one day, she walked back into the store because she felt so silly this had kept up for so long. She went to apologize to the manager - he actually didn't remember the incident and told her that some things had been going on with his family so he had been having a hard time. She said it was an amazing experience and really taught her a lot of charity. She went from seeing him as some unfair and unjust storekeeper to her brother that had his set of unique challenges and difficulties. I loved that story!

That's about it for the week here in Glendale! Love you all so much - thank you for your love and support :)

Love, Sister Dunn

Lindsay - October 17, 2016

This week was a rocky week, but we survived! Whew!! 

On Monday we had an awesome P-day, and we went to the Johnson's for dinner that night. They had a BBQ, so we invited some investigators and less actives to attend. Our investigator James showed up! I think I talked about him in my previous letter, but he was the guy who wasn't interested at first, and then he kind of warmed up to us, and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. Another thing about him, he talks a lot!! So we have to reel him back in to lessons when we teach him! Haha! But it was fun to have him at the BBQ! After dinner, we had a church tour with him, and Sister Crockett, a member of Pomerene Ward came with us. She knew James from high school, so it was really good to have her there. Oh  my goodness, I have never done a church tour on my mission, and it was so powerful! The Spirit was so strong! James asked a lot of questions, and when we would ask him how he felt, he would kind of dodge it! We KNEW that he was feeling the Spirit, but I think it made him a little nervous. He wasn't very active in his other faith, so I think feeling the Spirit was new thing to him. But nonetheless, it was a powerful discussion!

On Tuesday, we had a pass off lesson with an investigator named Jennifer. We definitely had to teach her simply so she could understand. But the lesson went well, and the elders are planning to give her a church tour so she feels more comfortable to come to church. Later that day, we saw a less active family named the Lewis's! Oh my goodness they are awesome! They let us right in, and we got to

know them better. Brother Lewis at one point lived in Austrailia, and so he started talking about vegemite and how good it was. He told us it was very salty, and invited us to try it on a piece of buttered bread. I was really hesitant, and so Sister Handy ate it first. She definitely didn't like it. So I was even more scared to eat it. But Brother Lewis expected that I would eat it too. So I finally tried it.

It actually wasn't that bad! Haha! I was really surprised! It tasted like a teriyaki beef flavor on bread. The lesson we had with them was awesome! We read 3rd Nephi Chapter 11 with them, and we asked

questions throughout the discussion. It was really neat to hear their experiences about their baptisms, and how it has strengthened their life. We invited them to come to church, and they said that they

would! Heck yeah!!!

On Wednesday we had district meeting, and I thought the topic was a really good one to focus on. Elder Perry talked about taking control of lessons, when the person goes off topic. We  role played so much, and we pretended to be one of our investigators who goes on random tangents. So the missionaries that taught us, had to bring the lesson back to the gospel. It was really funny. The Benson sisters pretended to be one of their less actives that was this Spanish lady who speaks really fast, and never stops to breath!! So we had to literally interrupt to get the lesson on track again. It was such a fun role play!! 

After district meeting, we had interviews with President Passey. I definitely needed it! President was able to give me advice and counsel me on what I could do to improve. I love interviews!!!

On Thursday we had exchanges with the New Mexico sisters!! Sister Brinkerhoff came to the Pomerene area, and then Sister Handy went with Sister Nuttall in Silver City! It was such a great exchange! Sister Brinkerhoff and I made a goal for the day to be more bold in our teaching, and asking questions. We definitely achieved that goal! Heck yeah!! We saw some many people that day, it was awesome! We taught Jayci who got baptized a couple of weeks ago. We taught her about the importance of church, prayer, and reading the scriptures. Then we taught the Fletchers who are a less active couple. They are definitely talkers, so we definitely applied what we learned in district meeting, and we were able to control the lesson, and bring it back to the gospel! We had a really good discussion with them about the Plan of Salvation, and Sister Fletcher talked about how it is hard to choose the harder right instead of easier wrong. But when we do make the hard choice, it helps us to become stronger. It was such a great lesson! Later that night we visited a couple that we hadn't met before, that are related to Jayci. They told us straight out that the only thing keeping them from coming to the temple is the husband's word of wisdom problem. So we are taking baby steps and we committed them to say prayers together. So we are super pumped to be able to work with them!

On Saturday we visited Brother Fenn and we read the Book of Mormon with him, and he promised to make us pineapple ice cream the next time we come. So we are super excited about that!! For

dinner, Pomerene Ward had a chili cook off, and there were 15 kinds of chili, and judges to pick the winner! I tried a white chili, with shredded chicken, pinto beans, and green chilie. Oh my goodness it was fantastic! They also made homemade root beer! Did you know that root beer is naturally clear?? They just dye it brown for the color! What the heck?? You learn something new everyday:) 

So bad news everyone..... After James' lesson on Monday, a couple of days later he called us and said that he returned to Tucson. Apparently he lives in Tucson, but he was in Pomerene, because he was helping his mom recover from hip surgery. So we can't teach him anymore:( So that was a bummer, and then another of our investigators had a friend that pretty much threw a bunch of anti stuff at her, and now we don't know if she is interested. So yeah it has been a bummer week, but that doesn't stop us!! We are moving forward with faith, and praying to find new people to teach!! I love you all, and I love being a missionary!!!

Thank you for all your love and support! Oh and Sister Dougal, thank you so much for your notes and letters of encouragement! I really needed it this week!!! I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true!!!

Sincerely,

Sister Dunn

Holli - October 13, 2016

At the Temple!

Hello Everyone!

It has been quite an eventful week and a half! Our pday was switched to Thursday and we got the opportunity to go to the temple as well.

So we had two exchanges this week and I went over to Sunland and Huntington. It was fun to be with Sister Barrus who has been on her mission for only a few weeks. We had lunch with a recent convert and less active member of the church and it was so funny! Sister Barrus has a gluten allergy and this member bought pasta from Dominoes, forgetting that Sister Barrus couldn't eat it. So Sister Barrus told her and she felt so bad that she had Sister Barrus order a gluten free pizza - so the delivery guy came twice and we were there for quite a while! We just laughed about it though and showed them the Restoration video and the Spirit was very strong.

Sister Pehrson and I contacted this guy named Isaiah. He was working on a home and we started talking with him.He's super cool but doesn't believe in organized religion and doesn't feel that it's necessary for him to go to church to feel the spirit. He also feels that every church is corrupt and seeking money. We explained briefly about the Book of Mormon and invited him to read it and he was pretty excited to read it so are hopeful for Isaiah.

We received a referral from a recent convert named Michelle. She told us of this girl she knew named Mariah that "needed Jesus in her life" so we went by! At first Mariah didn't seem too happy to see us but her mom was there and she opened up and we started talking about the church and our beliefs. They're family has been through a lot of hard trials so it was sad to see them reject the gospel and not really understand what they were rejecting. But we hope their hearts will soften in the future.

We went down to see one of our investigators on Wednesday and he wasn't home and we were like, shoot! Plan B! We even brought a member with us and everything! So we found this one YSA member who we didn't know named Tanner and were able to share a quick message with him He told

us he was currently sorting through some stuff but he was really grateful we stopped by - he had also gone on his mission to Mexico not too long ago and loved it. Sister Hobbs told him about our canceled appointment and he was like "Haha, oh so I was plan B?" We kind of laughed about it but as we left we realized that we were actually supposed to see our investigator the next day - so Tanner must have been God's plan A!! We texted him that afterwards.

Alisha and Juliet came to church!! It was so cool! And the high councilmen spoke on the difference between belief and conversion. They paid good attention to it - though they kind of sat there and analyzed the whole time to make sure maybe one little sentence the speaker might say might not be in line with what Christ said in the Bible. However, the speakers used a lot of scriptures from the New Testament so it was great! Alisha had a headache because she hadn't had her morning coffee so they skipped out early but we hope they felt the Spirit.

Victoria also came to our choir class and sang alto so that was great! She did a wonderful job and liked it and is ready to perform with the rest of us this Sunday.

We were walking down the street when we see this guy named Roberto struggling with this huge bag. We hurried over and offered to help (and we do this a lot and literally no one takes us up on it). But he said yes! So we grabbed the bag and hauled it to his home which was like ten feet away haha. But he told us his daughter is working in Utah right now so we invited him to church and to learn more from the Spanish missionaries. Really cool service opportunity!

We were trying to visit a less active one night when we met Dmitri. He told us he remembered the missionaries coming by but would never sit in on the lessons. He isn't very religious and doesn't have a lot of time right now to devote to investigating he told us but he does believe in a higher power and he is going through some struggles. We asked him to think about and pray about baptism and he seems open to learning more. He's a super cool guy!

That's about it from here in Glendale! Thank you so much for all of your love, letters, and support! Hope this next week is a great one!

Love, Sister Dunn

Exchange in Sunland

Extreme Creepy Doll!!

Chelsea - October 10, 2016

Hi everyone :) 

So this week we extended a baptismal invitation to Gail for November 19th! Hopefully she will be able to go to church next week! We just taught her about the Book of Mormon and challenged her to read it so we'll see :) 

Joanna is doing great like always. She was also able to attend general conference yesterday and I think she really enjoyed it! We are helping her prepare for her baptismal interview this week! 

Our next baptism is Raviyah. She is living with her grandpa and half brother who are both recent converts last june. Raviyah is turning 8 and will be baptized on October 29. But man it will be a miracle to watch her get baptized. Haha she's the most distracted unfocused girl ever--kind of a brat, and has a hard time listening and she refuses to pray for the weirdest reasons and she'll start crying. Yesterday we taught her the plan of salvation and when she didn't want to say the closing prayer we were like do you want to go to spirit prison? Hahaha! She said the prayer right after that! I love her though. She's so blessed to have her grandpa tatay johnny as her guardian. Tatay Johnny is amazing. He went to all five sessions of general conference including priesthood. And he was just baptized like 3 months ago. Man I'm so impressed with him! We praised him on it yesterday and he was like siemps, I love God and am devoted to him. He's awesome. 

We get conference a week later than you guys.  It was great! Definitely received a lot of revelation and a lot of my questions were answered :) Loved Uchtdorf's talk and how he emphasized about how beautiful the gospel truths are and sometimes we kinda just take them for granted in our lives. Definitely made me realize how grateful I am for the gospel. I also liked Nelson's talk about how we can be happy in almost any situation, good or bad. And that our happiness doesn't depend on the circumstances but on our focus in life. Also liked Hales talk. He posed the question, if we love God more, will we suffer less? And then he was basically like no, we won't suffer less but we will suffer less spiritually. Really liked that and how problems and trials will never go away no matter how faithful we are. But as we are obedient and love God and are faithful to Him, we'll be given the spiritual strength we need in those times. So ya Conference was great!

We came across a muslim girl this week and she sat in on the lesson and even participated. We saw that she had potential so we asked permission if we could teach her but they said it was too dangerous. Well hopefully one day she gets a chance to accept the gospel! 

Haha funniest thing, I was contacting this old lady and I was like nay, have I ever met you before (in tagalog) haha and she totally thought I said did your sister have surgery on her heart yet and then she started to go into detail about how her sister hasn't been able to have surgery on her heart yet even though she really wants to and this lady started to get emotional and I was like oh my gosh I didn't even mean to ask that! So funny though because I just nodded and smiled and sympathized with her. After, she thanked me for listening. I was like well maybe Heavenly Father wanted her to hear that so she could feel like someone cared about her and her family. The Lord does really work in mysterious ways! 

Love you all! 

Sister Dunn

Lindsay - October 10, 2016

Exchanges!

Creepy Doll!!!!

Wow! This week has been insane!!! On Monday we taught a lady named Christa the Restoration. We had a very powerful lesson with her. She just had a baby, and so she wants to be a good mother, and raise her daughter well. So we are teaching her the lessons, and helping her to come back to church, so that she can experience the blessings of the gospel that are in store for her! She is very sweet, and she asked really good questions, so we had a wonderful discussion with her. 

On Tuesday we went tracting in the early afternoon. Wow, we got a lot of rejection. Not rude rejection, thank goodness, but a lot of "We aren't interested," or "I already go to a different church." But we found this one guy named James. He told us that he wasn't interested, and that he was Catholic but not very active. It was weird because at first he wasn't interested, but as we kept talking to him, and brought up the gospel, he was open to it. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and committed him to read it. And the next time we met with him, he had kept his commitment! We are really excited to teach him! After James we went and visited a less active family in the Ward. They were really sweet, and we were able to address their concerns of why they didn't come to church. The wife is really sensitive to perfumes, and strong odors, and she gets really sick if she is around them.  At church a lot of people wear perfume and cologne, so she gets really sick, but they stopped doing it. So we are totally going to get on top of that so that they can receive the blessings of the sacrament!! :)

On Wednesday, Sister Handy and I gave a training on the doctrine of repentance. We had a lot of discussion during the whole training, so it was good that a lot of the missionaries commented.

After zone meeting, we went and had dinner at the Watson's, and then taught Brother Watson's daughter Kairi. So the Watson's are a blended family, so Brother Watson has a few kids, Sister Watson has a few kids, and then they had 2 kids together.  Kairi is 11 years old, and she really wants to get baptized! She is the smartest little girl! When we asked her why she wanted to be baptized, Kairi said, "So that I can receive a remission of my sins, and be clean so that I can return to live with my Heavenly Father and have eternal happiness!" She is the sweetest thing, and she has so much faith!

 After Kairi's lesson, we saw Alycia who is another less active in our Ward. We were hoping that her nonmember husband would be home so that we could teach him the Restoration. But he was still at work, so we taught Alycia. We had a great discussion with her about it, and we recommitted her to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true. After the lesson, Alycia's son returned home from football practice. He needed some help with math homework, so Sister Handy helped him, while Alycia asked me to play some songs on the piano for her. She wants to learn piano, and so she asked me if I could play some songs for her, so that she could listen to it, and then try to play it later. I looked at the piano books that she was working on, and it was an Allfred's piano book! I was literally in childhood heaven!!! She asked me to play some songs in the book, so I did! It was so fun!

 On Thursday, we met with Sister Judd who is a reactivated member. She knows that the church is true, and she has a testimony, but she told us that there is a voice in her head that says, "What if this isn't true?" So we are just trying to help her solidify her faith, and stay grounded on the foundation of Christ. It is so hard when people doubt! I know that at some time in our lives, we all struggle, and our faith wavers! But for all those who are doubting, or feel like their faith is fading, please don't let go of the iron rod! If you let go, what else do you believe in? I testify that if we hold fast to the iron rod, and don't let go of the gospel, we will be able to be eternally happy! We can be with our families

forever! Stay true to your faith, and don't let go of it!

After we visited Sister Judd, we went and taught Jayci who just got baptized a couple of weeks ago. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ. She really liked the lesson, and we committed her to include

her family in scripture study. Her mom isn't a member, but her Dad and sister are! Jayci is definitely going to be a pioneer for her family!

On Saturday we went on exchanges!! So I went to Douglas with Hermana Perschon, while Hermana Morales went with Sister Handy in Patton and Pomerene. It was such a great exchange! Hermana Perschon is a new missionary, and so it was really fun to serve with her for a day! She wanted to focus on finding new people to teach, so we decided to do some contacting. We went to an apartment complex to find this one less active. For some reason, we could not find their apartment number, so we said a prayer. After the prayer, I looked around a saw a door, and felt prompted to knock on it. I expressed my thought to Hermana Perschon, and she received the same prompting!!! So we knocked on the door, but the TV was blasting, so we don't think they heard us. We asked each other, "Why did we get prompted to knock on this door, when no one is coming to the door?" So we walked around and knocked on a couple more doors. The people that opened their doors only spoke Spanish, so Hermana Perschon took the lead.... Of course:) After knocking on a few doors, we just kept walking aimlessly, trying to find our way, when suddenly  I can tell you right now, that the Holy Ghost led me to look to the left. I saw a lady pulling weeds in her front yard, and I told Hermana that we should ask if she needs help. So we did! She didn't speak English, so Hermana Perschon took the lead. I asked her afterward what she said, and Hermana said that we could come back and teach her! She wasn't very religious, but she was still open to learn! Wow! The Spirit truly leads us to those that are prepared! I definitely learned that the Spirit doesn't immediately give us results when we follow promptings, but we will be led to those that are ready to receive his gospel! I am so grateful for the

Spirit! Later that day, we taught a lesson about tithing to a boy named Jace who is a recent convert. He was such a nice and sweet kid! After that lesson, we taught a girl named Aitzsa, who has a sister who just got baptized. So Aitzsa isn't a member, but the hermanas have been teaching her. We talked about revelation, and how we can receive answers to prayers. It was such a great discussion, and we were able to ask questions that helped us to understand Aitzsa's concerns. We were able to testify about prayer, and how Joseph Smith received an answer at a young age, so anybody can receive an answer from God! Overall, we had an amazing exchange!!! I had so much fun with Hermana Perschon, and we were both struggling with the same things, so we were able to confide in each other. :) It was great! 

After we unexchanged in Tombstone, Sister Handy and I drove back to St. David. As we drove on the highway, a line of cars suddenly stopped in front of us. Sister Handy braked more than usual to stop. All of a sudden, a car from behind us just rams into the back of our truck! Oh my goodness, it scared Sister Handy and I soooooo bad! And Sister Handy had never been in a car accident, so she was definitely shocked! We had no idea that was going to happen! So we got out of the car to asses the damage. There was only a dent in the back left bumper of our car. But that guy that ran into us.... Wow! He was driving a Toyota Camry, and his hood was totally smashed and his right headlight was out. God definitely saved us from the worst! Thank goodness for Nissan Frontier trucks! Just imagine if we were driving a Corolla (which is another mission vehicle that we drive). Wow! So that was intense! But we got everything figured out, and then we ended up giving a Book of Mormon to the guy who crashed into us! Haha! :) We are so sneaky:) 

On Sunday, we had a great dinner with the Trepanie's! Oh my goodness mom it reminded me of your roast beef dinner! It was good!! We finished up our weekly planning after dinner, and then we practiced giving a church tour, because I had never done that on the mission! Oh my goodness, even when we were practicing doing a church tour, the Spirit was so strong! We are planning to teach our new investigator James by having a church tour. We are so excited for it!!! I am so grateful to be a missionary! It is hard, and challenges come every time you move to a different area or receive a new companion. But the Lord helps us when we work hard, and when we are diligent. I love you all, and I know that God loves you! I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true!

Sincerely,

Sister Dunn

Chelsea - October 3, 2016

Sister Atutubo's favorite...chicken head!

Snake!

Hi everyone! 

Another great week as a missionary here in Enrile! So I would say the theme of this week is bugs! First of all we've been getting bitten like crazy from these stupid mosquitos! Even like on my neck and face. Lets just say I go through a bottle of mosquito repellant per week! Also, on Friday, we caught a snake in our bathroom! It was so long and so sister caduada tried to catch it and so she grabbed a stick and a tupperware and was trying to get it in there but it was like fighting against her and we were screaming our lungs off! Finally sister caduada was like stop screaming! I need to focus! Haha reminded me of that time holli told us to stop screaming when our car broke down in the middle of the salt lake city freeway hahaha. That same day, we saw so many rats in our kitchen and I found a huge spider by my bag! I was like ok I've had enough!  Elder Jones came later that day though and blocked the holes with cardboard and duct tape so animals couldn't get through. But something chewed through it already! Hahaha the joys of life. What's funny is that the snake was a baby cobra apparently and so we let it loose across the street and people were like nooo, you should have killed it! That thing is just gonna get big! We were like ohhhh oops haha. So yes, its been kind of annoyance this week but we have the Lord as our protection, no worries haha. 

So our investigators are doing ok. We are working with Gail and she is awesome. The only problem is that she just had a baby and so there's this thing here that you can't go outside of the house after a month so ya, we kinda have to wait until that time but she is praying and reading and everything. We are planning on setting a bap date for her this week.   I was talking to Elder Jones and I asked about tatay suguitan and he said that he said the closing prayer in sacrament meeting and blessed the sacrament twice! woooh! Man I was so excited to hear that. I know how nervous he must have been though but I know the Lord is helping him magnify his priesthood! 

So we had a funny experience this week. We were tracting and this guy shouts out, you're the first mormon missionaries that have ever come here. We were like yess he's interested! So we asked him if we could share and he said he would give us 30 minutes. So funny because we didn't know he's a bible basher like no other! Man, probably the worst debate I've been in in my whole mission! Basically the whole time he was trying to test our knowledge of the bible. He asked what the Lord told Moses to say when he was freeing the people from egypt and so sister atutubo answered and she got it half right and he was like wrong! haha. Also he brought up the scripture about how women should be quiet and should not teach and only submit to their husbands and he was like why are you here? If you believe this you shouldn't be teaching. I was like wow rude!!!  After a little bit, I said brother we don't know all the answers to the questions and that's fine with us. We're not here to prove ourselves. We're here to share a message about how the church of jesus christ has been restored and it's your choice if you accept it or not. We then testifed and just left. Before an investigator receives the gospel and knows it's true, it's so important that he has an open mind and heart. If he doesn't, the spirit can't force its way through and that was so evident with this guy. But oh well, we know god loves him! Haha hopefully he'll be able to soften his heart a little. We gave him a book of mormon though :) 

Mahal ko po kayo lahat. ingat po

Sister Dunn

Holli - October 3, 2016

Charles and Jocelyn

Hello Everyone!!

We had a pretty bomb week this week!

We have this awesome girl named Alisha we've been teaching and she's

super knowledgable about the bible and her beliefs.  She's willing to pray 

and come to church so prayers for Alisha. We've had a few lessons with 

her. One this week was particularly hard. She will read the BofM but views

it very critically and with a lot of doubt - she feels it conflicts with the

bible. We taught her the plan of salvation and her roommate Juliet was

there and they both kind of bashed on a good portion of the plan.

They felt that the plan did not show a loving God because we might not

all be able to live with God again. Ultimately we told them they needed 

to pray and ask God about what we taught. And yesterday we did a follow 

up visit with Alisha and we told her we believe in modern revelation. So we 

invited her to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. She's got a lot of 

searching to do but she's very committed to finding the truth.

We have an investigator named Charles who was writing a paper on

numerous different religions and we had been teaching him. He just

finished his paper so now he can actually participate in lessons! He

and his daughter Jocelyn had us over for dinner (and we had fried

chicken . . . Yes!) and basically told us his life story with Jocelyn

and it was super sad. But we invited him to pray about baptism and the

church - he needs those added blessings! 

One day this week we had to drive up this ginormous hill and park and go

see this family. And I was driving and let me just tell you I thought

we were going to die! Sister Hobbs was super calm but I was freaking

out! Literally I felt like we were trying to drive up a vertical road. So

that's the exciting moment for the week. We both survived :)

We did an exchange on Wednesday and so Sister Huang came here and both

Sister Hobbs and I forgot that we had planned to do a split with two

YSA girls as well that night. A split is when one companion goes with

a member and the other companion goes with another member and we work

in different areas to try to cover more ground. Poor Sister Huang

didn't know the area, or the people we planned to visit, and the

lesson we had for the night cancelled on us last minute. So I gave her

a list of names and she and Rochelle went to work. Mission life is so

great :)

Melissa and I went to one of our investigators and as we go over

there's like ten kids in the yard. The neighbor to our investigator is

actually a very less active family - and the parents only speak

Spanish, but the kids speak great English. Anyway we gathered the kids

around and asked our investigator to grab her kids BofM -  and then we 

showed them a video about Jesus getting baptized. Their faces were so 

cute to watch! They just gazed at the screen the whole time with their mouths

open. So funny! The next night Sister Hobbs and I came back and the girls 

grabbed their books, came over and we sat in a circle and every body took a

turn reading a verse. It was a sweet moment :)

That's about it from here in Glendale! Hana is on date for baptism

people so please pray for her and that her family's hearts will be

softened! Love you all so much! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Dunn

Pday at Forrest Lawn - coolest thing ever!

Lindsay - October 3, 2016

Mack!

Eagle Missionaries!

 

Hello Everyone!

Wow what a week it has been! Oh my goodness! On Monday we had a great

P-day, and we taught part of the Restoration to a couple that is trying to come 

back to church. It was such a powerful lesson, mainly because we asked a lot 

of questions to understand them more and to listen to their testimonies. We felt 

the Spirit so strongly, and I am so grateful for the Spirit that leads and guides us. 

On Tuesday, Sister Passey came to our area to go over sister training leader 

responsibilities! It was so helpful for me! Sister Passey is amazing, and I am 

truly excited to be able to work more with President Passey and Sister Passey. 

Later that night we saw a recent convert family, the Wright's. We had such a 

great lesson with them! They have a little boy named Hunter who we are teaching 

the new member lessons too. But it was so cool, because the parents participated 

more than Hunter did! Usually the parents don't say a whole lot, but we talked about 

prayer, and we asked questions in which they responded! It was so sweet! 

On Thursday we went on exchanges!!! Heck yeah! So Sister Handy stayed in

the area, and Hermana Flores came to go on exchanges with her. So I went on 

exchanges with Hermana Steele and the new missionary Hermana Farias. 

So Sister Steele, the missionary I trained, switched to Spanish! It was so fun to be 

in a trio again! We studied a lot in the morning, because Spanish sisters have an extra 

hour of language study. Then we visited a man named Jack. He is the sweetest old 

man, and we taught him a part of the Restoration, and invited him to watch General

Conference. Then we decided to try this referral that the hermanas had received from 

a member. So we had the new sister take the lead in the door contact! It was awesome! 

He invited us right in. He didn't have much of a religious background. He was born in 

a specific religion, but never really progressed in it. So he wasn't sure about religion.

So we had to start from the very beginning, and talk about God. Wow, the Spirit definitely 

guided us, because we were just planning to teach him the Restoration. We specifically 

talked about the Plan of Salvation, and the hope that it brings. When we asked him 

questions, he was always unsure. But as we continued to talk about God's plan, and His 

son Jesus Christ, the Spirit just kept building and building. We emphasized a lot 

about prayer, and we taught him how to pray. Then Sister Steele invited him to give a 

kneeling prayer. Oh my goodness the Spirit was on fire at that point! We all knelt in a 

circle, and one of the sisters said a prayer. And then we had Bart say another prayer. 

Before he started he told us, "This feels awkward." But we reassured him that it will 

feel like that at first. He gave such a beautiful prayer, oh my goodness! It was awesome! 

And then we set up a time to see him next week! Oh my lanta, I love the Holy Ghost!!! :)

After Bart's lesson, we had dinner with the Bryant's. We had such a powerful lesson with 

them about missionary work! It was awesome! And guess what we had for dinner??? 

Gyoza!!! Heck yeah! 

After dinner, we went to go see an investigator named Gustavo. We went to their house, 

and all of the family members spoke fluent Spanish, so of course everything went over 

my head. As we sat down, Hermana Farias took the lead in teaching the wife Jaty. 

Hermana Farias is a native so she spoke fluent Spanish. It was really awkward trying 

to listen to Jaty speak when I couldn't understand a word she was saying!! Haha! It was

truly awkward! But what a cool thing! After that visit, we went to see a less active named 

Tiffany. We had such a powerful lesson with her, and she opened up to us why it was hard 

for her to come back to church. Hermana Steele told me that that was the first time Tiffany

had ever brought up a personal concern before. So that was really cool. Towards the end 

of the lesson we were just making small talk when we hear 5 gunshots go off, and then 

seconds later an additional 3! We totally flipped out!!! We started to duck, and then TIffany

had her son turn off all the lights. It was so scary!! And we saw the police cars lights, and 

guess where the police cars were? Literally two doors down from where we were!! Oh my 

goodness I thought we were going to die, and a robber or criminal would just barge into the home! But thank goodness, that didn't happen, and Tiffany led us safely outside to our car. 

She brought her guard dog with her, so that was good. But heck yeah! Best exchange ever!!!!!! 

On Friday, we went to Missionary Leadership Council. Wow it was intense for my first MLC!! 

We received a lot of trainings, and we counseled together as a group. It was really fun!!! 

Then on Saturday we had an amazing day watching Conference!!! I seriously loved 

Conference so much! Mom and Dad, did you see Annie Johnson in the MTC choir?? 

I totally flipped out! Before the conference, I told Sister Handy that I would love to see 

someone that I knew. And heck yeah I did! :) One of my favorite talks was the Elder who 

said, "No one is too young to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon!" That is so true! 

It may not develop automatically, but God will help our faith grow, as we read the Book 

of Mormon.  

On Sunday, we watched the wonderful General Conference, and then visited Justin and Amy. 

They have a desire to get sealed in the temple, so we are helping them get there!! Justin really

wants to learn the new member lessons again, even though it has been year that he has been 

baptized. So we taught them the Restoration. It was such a great lesson. We had to be very 

persistent and bold with them, because they get off topic a lot! So we had to bring it back a 

couple of times. But we were very determined to teach them the whole Restoration, which 

we did! I am just so grateful to be a missionary!!!! I am going to end with my testimony in 

Spanish. (I wrote my testimony in Spanish on exchanges; the hermanas helped me). Taylor, 

tell me if this is accurate!!! :) Yo se que Dios le ama. Yo se que El Libro De Mormon es 

verdadero. Yo se que Jesucristo es El Salvador de el mundo. En el nombre de Jesucristo, 

Amen.

I love you all!!!

Sincerely,

Sister Dunn

Chelsea - September 26, 2016

Hi fam! 

This was a good week and we got a lot done! On Monday, it was Sister Atutubo's birthday and so we partied it up! The tradition here in the Philippines is if you're having a birthday you have to pay for everyone's meals. But I switched that around and I paid for everything! haha. I think she really enjoyed that. We got siomai in the morning and then went to the breakfast project for lunch and had delicious waffles and then I surprised her with a cake during nighttime! I think she had fun! I really tried to make her birthday special since it was her first birthday away from home. 

On Tuesday, we had our district meeting and we have two new sisters in our district. Sister Golong and Sister Gadd. Sister Gadd is a new missionary that came right from the mtc!  Just watching her struggle with the language and everything just reminds me of those good ole days!  But she's doing great, she really loves it here, and is excited to learn tagalog! Haha the other night she ate blood and was so thrilled about that!  On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to go on splits with my former comp, sister balaoing. She was a challenging companion at times so oh yes was I excited! But it turned out to be not that bad. We were able to have a really good day finding and teaching in her area and I definitely learned how to be bold with my investigators in my area! 

On Thursday we were working in Roma and were teaching one of our investigators Jessy. We were teaching about the family and a brief background of the temple. I felt prompted to say that the temple gives us hope, because we can see  those members of our family who have passed on before us again.  Jessy said she really liked that concept and then she started crying. She explained that her brother and dad recently died and that she doesn't know where they are or if they're happy and she is still feeling burdened down. We were able to explain the plan of salvation a little bit and touched on how families can be together forever. The spirit was so strong! And I know that what we shared gave her hope that through our message she will see her family again :)

On Friday, we were able to teach Joanna and she is doing awesome! The gospel is really changing her and it's even evident in her countenance! Sister Atutubo and I are doing great and are as unified as ever in hastening the work here in Enrile. 

Love you all! 

Sister Dunn