Taylor - January 11, 2015

Hey fam! So Elder Johnson is from Green River, Wyoming. He is super super super insanely quiet and slightly awkward. Haha if you thought I was quiet and awkward well, you have another thing coming! Haha. He's adjusting slowly and is definitely the polar opposite of Elder Toews. With Elder Toews I didn't feel too much that I was greenie breaking him. His Spanish was great and he knew what he was doing, he was on top of it! Elder Johnson is a little different but I believe he has a lot of potential! So basically I'm really trying to help him be more bold with people and "fear no man"(by the way look up the Ricciardi letter, it's where I get that quote and it's excellent) Anyways so we are just standing at the door and I'm like "you're up man" and he introduces us and then there's just like the most awkward silence ever! So ya it's gonna be interesting but I'm excited! As well he needs to keep working on Spanish so, every day all day, espanol! I'm excited to learn from him as well though, I feel like every comp has taught me something so I'm excited for this transfer. Also, yes it's super nice to have Elder Robishaw and Elder Angulo still here. They're awesome! 

The district is doing well as well as nuestra area. We have Jason coming up for baptism this Saturday and his mom and sister are coming too so we are excited to work with them! We are still working on finding those people that have an open heart to at least give the gospel a try. I've truly realized throughout my mission how important humility is and that as the people are humble and desire to learn they will be blessed. Truly we are trying to find those who are humble and willing to learn and giving them a chance to hear of the gospel, feel of the spirit, and find out for themselves. 

Oh and mom for the exhaustion comment it's just I don't think I've ever done something so intense and that stretches you in every way for such a long time so it's just exhausting sometimes, but ya I think I'm pretty healthy but thanks!! We go running every morning and work out so that's good! 

That's awesome for Spencer.  He's gonna have a blast at sweethearts! I didn't know he was on the ski team but that's pretty cool! Speaking of cool it's actually in the 60’s here. It's amazing! By the way I don't think I can express how happy and proud I am for all the guys going out on their missions, especially Jess and Dallin. That is soooo awesome!! They will do great! 

Anyways I think that's it, oh and thanks for sending me the talk Dad that was really good. I liked it a lot! Love you guys! Stay Safe!

Elder Dunn

Lindsay - January 11, 2015

Hello everyone from Safford, Arizona!! I love the area here! It is the Gila Valley and literally reminds me so much of Idaho! :)  The members are golden. They literally do the missionary work for you! haha:) Just kidding. But they are amazing. They are so missionary minded and they just love missionaries! We are covering 3 wards here in Safford! 7th Ward, (which we are pink washing) and 8th and 9th ward. It is so fun, but a bit overwhelming! But its ok! Sister Sayer and I have faith that the Lord will provide!

So about Sister Sayer. She is from Dallas, Oregon (20 minutes away from Salem). She LOVES the rain, and says that she will melt in the summer:) She is the most hilarious person in the world! She reminds me of so many people! She looks like Ali Bingham, she reminds me of Sydnee Miller, she could definitely be related to Austin Miller because I can see the resemblance. And she also reminds me of Aunt Emily Clark sometimes. It’s crazy how all my companions remind me of people that I know! She has a relaxed personality, but she does work which is good. She just finished her training and Sister Tibas who trained her was very relaxed with planning and missionary rules. But when I bring stuff up she isn't opposed to following it, it is just new to her, and you have to wait a little bit before she implements it. But I was put with her for a reason, so it’s amazing! I have no complaints, and I know that we will learn from each other! 

We live with a member named Sister Curtis. She is the sweetest lady, and almost every night we say good night to her:) Her cat’s name is Maggie and she can be a demon at times. Every time

we move she pounces!! haha:) I just smother her with love, and Sister Sayer gets irritated with her so she sometimes will kick her so she doesn't tear up everything! (Cause she literally will chew your

scriptures up).

On Wednesday, we met the other missionaries in the zone. Sister Moe-Tufaga is in my zone! (my second trainer). What are the odds!! Sister Charles is also in my zone!! I love her so much! Our district leader is a great missionary! He gives such great advice to help with our investigators. We talked about extending commitments and why it is so important to follow up with them. It was really good! We also visited with a 93 year old man named John Mcclain. He is the cutest old man, he has health problems and doesn’t understand why he is here on this earth:( But I know that he is here for a reason because he makes everyone happy! I have never laughed so hard in my life. His famous lines are, “Hot doggy!", and "Hallelujah!" He is from Becklow, Idaho!!! Yeah!!! and he was in the Navy!! Grandpa Dunn!! You probably know him!! (Maybe:) 

On Thursday we went to the Food Bank. It was so fun! There is a member who runs the Food Bank, and all the missionaries come and help her since she is older, and she can't do it by herself. There are so many service opportunities here in the Gila Valley! 

On Friday we literally weekly planned all day. We didn’t have our car with us cause the STL’s drove it to MLC. So, we were contemplating on what we were going to do for the rest of the night with no car. We thought of maybe tracting, but we would have to walk a long time to get to our area. Then we thought maybe we could get some bikes, but that didn't happen. So we called the senior missionaries, the wonderful Reynolds couple from South Carolina to come and help us. They are amazing!! Their accents are so great! I love them! So we contacted some potentials and referrals for 2 hours, and it was so fun! We actually made contact with some people even though it was a late time of night for families! 

On Saturday we met with Lance and Landon, two boys that are so intelligent and kind. They are two of our investigators who are ages 9 and 11. We taught them the Restoration, and we are planning to extend the baptismal date next time! The spirit was so strong, and they are so close to the spirit. They told us that whenever they read the Bible they feel good inside. So we are going to help them get into reading the Book of Mormon, so they can get to know God better. We are so excited for these two boys! 

On Sunday we went to church from 7:30 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon! And I fasted, which wasn't a good idea. haha:) It was a long day, but I loved it so much! And we both spoke in 8th

Ward, so that was fun. Guess what the topic was Mom and Dad? The Worth of Souls. What a coincidence, that I get to prepare a talk about the same topic I spoke about at my farewell! :) Also, a girl that is going to be leaving for a mission gave her farewell talk too, so that was a special moment to be a part of.  At 5 we went to Bishop Hargis's home for a lesson with an investigator named Devan. He has been taught by the missionaries in Colorado, and he moved up here, and came into contact with us, and we have started to teach him! Even though he is YSA age, he has social anxiety, so he told us that he would be comfortable in 9th ward, and then he would think about YSA ward later. He has such a strong testimony of the gospel, and the thing that made him so interested in the gospel was General Conference. One of his friends is a member of the church, and she invited him over when General Conference was on. So he watched it, and one talk spoke to him, and he knew that he needed to learn more! The Lord has truly prepared him! We then had dinner afterwards. The Hargis’s invited a lot of people over. So it was really fun. The Reynolds also showed up, and we had a correlation meeting with our ward mission leader, Bishop Hargis and the Reynolds right after. Then the Reynolds invited us to join in with their family prayer. They sing the primary song, “Let us gather in a circle and kneel in family prayer....... etc" I love the Hargis Family!! Then right after that we headed home. As we were driving home the light was already on the empty sign of our gas tank. But we told each other, "The Lord will provide!" So we waited until today to fill up, and we didn't run out of gas! So that is my week! I hope you all are safe and doing well! I

love you all! I know this church is true!

Sincerely,

Sister Dunn

Taylor - January 5, 2016

Hey! Sounds like you had an awesome week. Thanks for all the details! Ya sounds chilly down there. I think it actually dropped into the 70s here. We were surprised and a little cold while biking haha. 

So this week was good with some awesome miracles! We did super well at being bold and persistent! We made sure everyone we talked to knew our purpose and truly invited them unto Christ with trust that as we invited everyone to come unto Christ there would be those who would really be touched and accept. It was a little difficult at the start of the week because a lot of the people didn't want to act but then at the end of the week we found Sharry and she is super sweet and awesome! She has had some difficult things happen in her life but God is super important to her and she has been baptized in a church before but being baptized in the true church of Jesus Christ caught her attention and so we are going back on Thursday to help her understand more.  We're super excited! 

So for transfers. First of all, Elder Oaks, the apostle, is in charge of the missionary department and so now, worldwide apparently, there aren't really going to be transfer meetings. So, we got the call on Monday night. They tell us if we are going or staying, where we will be going, if we're transferring and who our companion will be. So ya everything is revealed in one call which is pretty intense. I guess we don't have to waste time doing the whole transfer meeting thing. So Elder Toews is transferring to an area called Riverside South which is an all spanish area with Elder Huggins who just got done being trained so elder Toews will have a super fun time. He will do so well and I think they are setting him up to train soon. He's just a super boss elder. I will be staying and greenie breaking again a guy named Elder Johnson who I don't know so we'll see how that goes. Elder Robishaw and Elder Angulo are both staying which surprised me but that will be fun! Sister Jackson is going home and Sister Larson transferred so they pink washed and two elders are coming in. I kinda forgot one of them but I believe that Elder Winters is one of them, and he was in my last district. So ya I have a district of elders which is sweet! 

For the zl’s Elder Jensen is out and Elder Adams who was a district leader in Hialeah before is the new zl with Elder Gamez. I don’t know too much about elder Adams so we'll see how that goes! Elder Naea is gone after being in Key West for 5 transfers and Elder Johnson is staying with a guy coming in named Elder Miller. So ya that's how it went. 

I'm super excited for this transfer, we have Jason set for baptism on the 16th so that's exciting! I just hope to continue to do the will of the Lord! That's something I've been really trying to do, replace my will with the Lord's will and I pray for His help. When I came on my mission I thought I was in a pretty good spot, I studied the scriptures, said my prayers, graduated from seminary stuff like that, I knew I had my weaknesses but I felt pretty good. Haha the mission wakes you up a little with that, I have sooooooooooo many weaknesses! Man it's frustrating, I'm just so glad that (1) I have the Atonement in my life and can apply it daily and (2) That this is the Lord's work and not my work, haha that brings relief! 

Anyways ya so we're OYMing like crazy and working on talking to everyone that passes so that we can let the world know of the Savior and find people who are ready to change. I love this work! 

Oh another thing I realized is that I've been super exhausted lately while working so I'm trying to energize myself more by smiling constantly, praying really hard, and constantly looking outward... I'm getting there! Anyways love you guys, thanks for everything!!! Good luck on your talk Dad!! Stay safe! 

-Elder Dunn

Chelsea - January 4, 2016

My new companion Sister Clarin

Jess and fam!

Hello everyone!!

Ahhh so I’m transferred! Saying goodbye to the people in Diffun was so sad. On tuesday, that’s all we did and it was kinda depressing! I really cried when we said goodbye to the Martinez family and Jessa. Pero, my new area is Ilagan zone, Alinguigan A! Right next to Sister Baker's old area. Haha our area is so far away. The area by our apartment is the other sisters. So our area is really far. The closest place that we go to is about 10 minutes away. The other one is about 20 minutes. Malayo! They haven’t had a baptism here in a long time so we are really trying to work hard in this area. But we have a lot of potentials! We are teaching two boys, Jerome and Jason. They are so awesome! They have come to church twice now and I can really see the spirit working with them during the lessons. We scheduled their baptism on January 23rd!! What’s funny is that his sister-I think Elder Igleski baptized her in Madella. Super weird di ba?! 

My new companion is Sister Clarin! She's from Negros Occidental! I don’t really know where that is, but somewhere in the Philippines! She’s really great!! She’s a really simple teacher (which I love). I will probably “kill" her though because she goes home in March! So she only has two cycles left!! 

So our apartment is the flooded apartment! haha! But we haven’t had any problems yet! But oh my goodness, we have so many rats and mice in the apartment. And they eat everything!! They eat my food and my sticky notes and my clothes, and they chewed off the zipper in my luggage so it’s now ruined, and also chewed a huge hole through my other luggage, and chewed three holes through my backpack. Honestly, that has been the hardest part of this week. Watching all my stuff get ruined. And honestly, I have no idea what to do! We set a trap and caught one, but I think there’s a ton in the apartment. We are going to buy some rat poison mamaya!! 

Haha also, the hardest thing this week has been no english. I mean siempre it’s such a blessing. But I'm the only foreigner in our apartment. And they speak no english!! During cls time though, i make them speak english, and they hate it hahahah. At least I will learn fast! 

Haha so since it’s new years eve, everyone makes salad over here which is like macaroni and mayo. And literally, it is so gross. So we were out teaching one day, and at three appointments they served salad! Usually, I can get out of it, I’ll make sister Clarin eat it when they aren't looking but we went to this one nanay and she like stared at us as we ate and she was like sister!! Eat more! I was forced to eat it and it was disgusting. Hahah. 

Ahhh sister Porter from my MTC district is following up training sister kibaimoa!! They are gonna have so much fun!! Sister Turley is also in Santiago North! Like seriously, when I transfer, everyone goes to my zone!! Ooh I got to see my nanay on transfer day, and right when she got out of the tricie I ran up to her and we both screamed and hugged. I missed her so much! She’s matured so much, she seems different!! Anyways, that’s it! Love you all!

Sister Dunn

Sister Kibaimoa and I at the last FHE in Diffun with the Padilla fam!  The more marks on our faces- the more we lost in the game.  haha. I was the obvious loser...

Nanay Cervantes!  She sells pork in the palengke!!

Nanay Villenuava and Josefina!

CJ!