Holli - July 13, 2015

Hello everyone!!

It was a good week this week! We dropped like 5 investigators and our teaching pool is more like a kiddie pool but that's ok! Sister

Robinson is determined to go door knocking this week in the wealthier parts of the area and So that's what we'll be doing a lot of - pray for us. We tried a bit of door knocking yesterday and it wasn't too successful but that's ok.

So guess what? I figured out what a graveyard shift was this week. Ok, just think about this logically - graveyard shift. Shouldn't that mean they work in a cemetery? Well that's what I thought until we were talking to a less active family in our ward and he was talking about putting loads in the truck during his graveyard shift and I was like (loads of what? Dead bodies? Dirt for the dead bodies?) Sister

Robinson laughed for like 5 straight minutes when I finally tried to

clarify, and so did the family.

This was like last week I think but Sister Robinson and I were riding our bikes back from a District meeting and we were going up this insane hill and we passed a lemonade stand. We try to say hello to everyone so we kind of gasped out a hello to this couple parked in front of the stand. We finally got to the top of the hill and then

started cruising back down it towards the Zylstras. Sister Robinson

was flying ahead of me but out of the corner of my eye I see this car pulling up beside me so I look over and it's the couple from the

lemonade stand. They are waving to get my attention so I pull to a

stop and glance forward to see that my companion is too far away and is still flying down the hill. Anyways, I must have looked like a dead fish because the couple gave me some money so we could grab a lemonade - I ended up giving it to Sister Zylstra to put in the missionary fund because we aren't suppose to accept money but I didn't know that since my companion had abandoned me . . . We are working on that :)

One last funny story. So the other day we were walking down to an

investigator and we see this lady (Mother Holloway) sitting on this

porch swing outside her house. We go over and ask how she is doing and it turns out that she's locked herself out of her house! I looked through the dirt and miracle of all miracles found a bobby pin! Being the Representatives of Jesus Christ that we were I graciously volunteered to pick the lock to her front door and she accepted the offer :) She had windows but the big ones had screens that we're screwed into the frame so we couldn't get those off. The other windows she had were up pretty high and kind of small - she said she was trying to get a child from the neighborhood to come over but she had left her phone inside so she couldn't get ahold of anyone. Sister Robinson figured she was small enough so we got a chair, wiggled the screen off, and then I stood on the chair while she began lifting herself to get inside. When one leg was through we stopped and said we should probably say a quick prayer so she doesn't die. Anyone driving by would have been so weirded out by this scene. Mother Holloway gave the prayer and it was . . . Interesting. But it worked because Sister Robinson managed to get in the house and unlock the door!

Haha so funny Spanish story (last one, I promise) We have an

investigator named Karina who has the 4 cutest kids and they all speak English but her husband doesn't and she wants them all to go to church together and we're like yes! So we call the Spanish elders to meet us at her house and kind of pass her and her family to them so they can go to the Spanish ward so her husband can actually understand it. It was late last night and my comp. and I were at the house waiting for the Elders and decided to knock. The husband answered the door and we forgot he couldn't speak English until he told us "no ingles" . It was super awkward because we stood outside their door for like 20 minutes waiting for the elders. Karina was asleep so that was no Bueno. We just started saying things like "Libro de Mormon" y "Jesu Cristo" y "Iglesia" y "Leche" - pretty good right? When the elders got there we just pulled out this tiny Jesus puzzle and tried putting it together with the kids on the porch. It was pretty fun.

So we were down near the bottom of area one day and we were on the side of the street, looking at our area book and deciding where we should go next. We were talking about it for like five minutes and when we decided, we got back on our bikes and looked straight ahead and there was this dog staring at us. Talk about creepy! It was in its cage and I think it was a Great Dane (it was huge!) and it had just been staring at us the whole time. Not one bark or growl. Weird!

We had a Potluck in the Park the other night and it was kind of a

small turn out. We had invited pretty much all of our investigators

but none of them showed up. Sad :( we had texted one of our recent

converts to see if she was coming and she asked if it would be over if she started biking up. We told her no! So an hour later we texted her again, wondering where she was! Turns out she had stopped at Walmart to grab a veggie tray and a coconut cream pie. We ran out to the Main Street to flag her down as she was riding up to the park and it was so funny. She is so dedicated. She lives at the bottom of the area and it's about a 5 mile bike ride uphill so she's exhausted, slowly biking up the sidewalk, wavering back and forth with all of the food she has in the basket on her handlebars. We turned to each other and were like, the Lord needs more people on his side like this - she was so determined! Almost everyone had gone home and the food was almost all gone but she came!

I know that when we put Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ first in our lives, above anything else, then we are blessed. They provide the strength needed and the help necessary to overcome trials, deal with temptations and stresses, and ultimately to find true happiness. I'm so thankful for this gospel and the opportunity we have to share it with others who have become burdened down with bad choices, both of their making and others. It's comforting to have this hope in kind of a hopeless world. Thanks mom and dad for all you have taught me! Love you so much!

Taylor - July 13, 2015

Thanks for the letter Dad you didn't go too deep, it was pretty simple and that really helps. I'm just going to do the best I can to serve the Lord. Obviously, I won't be complacent but I won't get down on myself for thinking I'm doing something wrong if we're not having success. If you keep writing the way you are you're going to end up as an apostle or something ;) That's definitely an interesting story from Jordan, I really like it and it kinda puts it into perspective for me. I also really like that quote from Gordon B. Hinckley, it definitely rings true! 

Seems like everyone has been ditching you Dad, you gotta take mom on a nice date night or something one of these days, relax a little ;) I'm glad that boat cover didn't nail someone's car when it flew off, that could've been bad. I'm really sad those trees had to go, are you going to put anything else there or just leave it. Maybe let the grass grow out a little more since it seems to be dwindling in that area ;) Sounds like Chelsea's luggage got lost on the way to the Philippines, hopefully everything will work out with that! Haha. Ya she will definitely have to branch out with the food there a little ;) 

Ok, cool miracle this week.  Even though it was tough at the beginning of the week we endured to the end and found Maria and her husband! We knocked into Maria and her husband and said a prayer. She really felt the spirit and went into a story of how her daughter had gotten into drugs and died on an overdose of heroine at the age of 26. She asked if she would be able to see her daughter again and we said "For Sure!" We testified of the Plan of Salvation and she later said that she wanted to be baptized in this Church! The next day we came back and showed her and her husband the "Because he lives" video and they were touched. They both want to be baptized and they both really wanted to learn more and come to church! Unfortunately the next day Maria got sick and they weren't able to make it but we are seeing them tonight so we are excited to talk with them about the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration! 

We visited Jenny again this week but she's really depressed and not doing so good. She has a lot of pain in her stomach so she's going to go to the doctor to check it out. We really tried to ask inspired questions and help her realize what will be able to make her happy. The visit went pretty well and we hope she comes to church this Sunday! 

Haha oh mom you let Tyson talk you into buying Cutco Knives?! ;) Haha I think that's why he called you up, he knew you would get some ;) Oh well I'm sure you're enjoying the knives! Oh man I heard about Jurassic World it sounds sick, put that on my list of movies I need to watch! Jk! Thanks for the boating pics, the wake looks boss, Spencer is getting pretty good at it, you need to tell him to try a backflip one of these days, he can probably stick it! 

And ya we didn't do much for my year mark but I can't believe it's here. Things are going by way too fast :( Oh and we drive a ford fusion, it's nice but doesn't really get good gas mileage. Anyways love ya Mom and Dad, enjoy your time with Christy Mom! Thanks for the emails! 

Elder Dunn

Chelsea - July 10, 2015

AHHH I'M IN THE PHILIPPINES! Just emailing you real quick to say that I made it! The plane ride was 14 hours long but it actually wasn't that bad and the plane food wasn't horrible! haha. I literally slept for 10 of the 14 hours we were on the plane so it was great! At the LA Airport some guy came up to us and cussed us out for being mormons so that was cool haha. Oh well fun surprise, my luggage is lost! Haha so I am literally living off of Turley's stuff and the stuff I brought in my carry on haha. Supposedly its in Hong Kong. So both my bags and then one of Sister Esplins and then one of Kofes and then both of Siratas were all lost. It took about an hour to report them and we couldn't understand anything haha. 

We get stared at so much here. And some Filipino guys are creepy! haha. We haven't experienced the heat yet since we haven't gone outside during the day but we will today! I can feel the humidity though, ahhh i can't breathe haha. Manila is crazy! It's this big city and walking outside during the night was so cool. 

So I'm freaking out right now because we are going out

proselyting from 2-6. I am going with a missionary who is serving in Manila. And bad news is, is that I'm leading everything. I have to

approach the people, talk to them, get to know them, and invite them! Like I can't even speak Tagalog!!!!! Oh man I almost cried when they told us that. Wish me luck... The food is nast here. For breakfast we had hotdogs and rice and eggs. nast!!! It's been super rainy here and apparently we are going to get drenched out proselyting. And they were like bring an umbrella, and I'm like its in my suitcase which is lost haha Oh well! I went through customs okay so that was good! Also, the Hong Kong airport was so cool! So many Asians! I'll send pictures later if I can figure it out. The computers are kinda different here. I'm not sure when the next time will be when I email, but I love you all! Oh and Kofe says hi

Holli - July 6, 2015

Holli making indoor smore's

Hello everyone!

It's been a pretty good week! David, who is our investigator with a baptismal date was able to come to church yesterday. It was an amazing fast and testimony meeting and David was very touched by it. He stayed for all 3 hours and I think he was kind of overwhelmed by the ward and the Spirit. He is coming to FHE with us tonight so that's good!

The investigator that told us we had glowing eyes (Nathan) left us an hour long voicemail basically rejecting our message. That was interesting. We couldn't help but laugh as we listened because Nathan has just had a pretty hard life and I don't think he liked being called to repentance :)

We had interviews with President on Monday which was fun. They went pretty well. Yesterday was fast Sunday and holy cow I'm spoiled. Brother and Sister Hurtsler feed the missionaries every fast Sunday and they go all out. There was omlets, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and blueberry waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Holy cow it
was good!

We invited Karina to FHE as well but it's been so crazy with her and her kids. Pray for her!

My watch strap broke this week so I was kind of like, guess that's what  $10 at target gets ya :) don't worry though because Sis. Robinson is a pro. With super glue! We glued the strap back together and then clamped it together all night. The next morning it was good as new! We seem to have a mechanical problem every week ... This week it will be the closet  door in our room (the doorknob broke and the door is shut) and the toilet  (Sis. Robinson got a little feisty with the flush handle and it broke off) so  tons of adventures here in Claremont!

It's going well here in California! The weather is great and we're staying alive and healthy. Thanks so much for the letters mom and dad! Thanks for the updates on the mission calls dad - you're the best! Mom, thanks for all of the pictures - I absolutely love them! I'll try to send you more :)

Spence, sounds like you rocked it up at tennis camp! So proud of you dude! Did my letter come for you yet? Let me know when/if it does!! love you all so much!

Love, Sister Dunn