Taylor - April 25, 2016

Hey Family!

So the week was good! First of all Elder Craig did a 360 since last week! He improved so much! He grew a ton in his patience and love towards others, he was constantly more energized and positive when knocking, I know he felt the guidance of the spirit in certain lessons we had this week and he said the things the people needed to hear. So ya that's super exciting and I'm super proud of him!

So we are starting up a bible study class this week to see how it goes and see if we can help members invite their friends and less actives to come as well! I read a quote today from President's email about judging others and it said "Be slow to judge. You don't know what storm I asked him/her to go through." It's definitely true, everyone has their own struggles and challenges and really we just need to ignore those and be willing to help in anyway possible. As preach my gospel states, no matter what situation the investigator is in or what problem or situations they are going through, the gospel can help them. So our responsibility is just simply to open our mouth, and keep trying. As we do that, we will find happiness in the work of the Lord!

We've started working a bit down in bonita springs so there's more spanish down there so that's cool, but still I try to avoid it mainly because I feel bad I'm the only one doing the talking and teaching because elder craig is only english. Anyways we are just pushing forward and being as diligent and faithful as possible!

As for two most interesting conversations of the week, I would have to say one was with a born again christian and right when he walked out the door he was basically bashing on the mormon religion and said we believed in some weird stuff like becoming gods and creating planets and how satan is Jesus's brother and stuff like that. And then he asked us if we actually read the bible, the king james bible and we said yes and then we somehow got onto the topic of how he believes Jesus is also our father and how they are the same person. We both quoted references in the king james bible where it clearly states the difference and I honestly think the scripture was fulfilled of how we will not be confounded before men. We asked if he had ever read the book of mormon and he said he had heard enough from preachers and other people. Anyways it was actually a pretty short little exchange but his heart was so closed. We absolutely cannot force our message into the hearts of the people. It just doesn't work. We didn't try to, we just testified of what we knew. So that was interesting.

The other conversation was with inez and her family who are from the republica dominicana but speak really good english. They believe in God, and her son is like the leader of a little congregation of 12 or so people. They were really kind and gave us something to eat and everything. The hard thing was to help them realize that there is only one way. They had the attitude that if you believe in God you're good, but that's just simply not how it is. There are so many more blessings they can receive! We do have a return appointment with them because they had interest and want to come to church so that's cool!

I know where we will be doing face time on Mother's Day. It will be at the rodriguez's house but I still need to talk to them about what time. I'll let you know! Anyways I love you family! I also love the mission. It's the best thing ever. I've fallen in love with serving the Lord and his children! My testimony has grown so much!! I know God loves us, he wants us to be happy, He sent His son Jesus Christ to be an example and atone for our sins so that we can be with Him again! We literally have a way back. Aren't we so privileged?! I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ! I'm grateful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost each and every day!

Have a great week, stay safe, smile a lot! :)
-Elder Dunn

Chelsea - April 25, 2016

Josie and Family

Charmaine!

Kumusta kayong lahat?? sobrang mubuti ako dito pero grabiiiiii ang init!! pinapawisan kami dito every second!!! Umulan ng isang bese pero nasa lesson pa kami sa loob ng bahay, hahaha medyo galit ako noong pero masaya pa rin! Sulong pa! Translation...I'm good here but it's been sooo hot. We are sweating every second. It rained one time for like 30 minutes but we were in a lesson inside a house so I was pretty mad haha but happy still, keep on going.

So we had a great p day on Monday. Sister Elix and I were in Cauayan for something, so we spent the rest of the day at SM MALL! Oh my goodness it was like America... I was crying at like every store we passed haha so pathetic! I also got to see my brother in the mission there! Elder Tietra! So great..

On Tuesday we had a zone conference in Ilagan!! Super fun! It was all about the book of mormon since we just finished the book of mormon power read as a mission. I learned so many things and received a ton of revelation as to how I can become a better missionary when it comes to teaching about the Book of Mormon. I also got to see Sister Kibaimoa there so that was just the best!

So on Saturday Tatay Fernando had his baptismal interview and he passed!! He's getting baptized this Saturday!! We had a miracle on Sunday this week! Our eternal investigator, Josie, came for her first time! She was super late because she lives far away and she has to walk like half of it and she has three little kids but she came and we were so happy!! Basically in our lessons we've been just telling her and telling her that she needs to come to church in order to know that our message is true, but her husband hasn't let her come. But she's been praying and praying and he actually told her to go to church yesterday and she came and she was so great!!! We are planning on setting a baptismal date for her this week. Charmaine is doing so good as usual! It's been so amazing to watch the changes in her and tatay fernando. Even like their countenances have changed and it's amazing how much the gospel changes us into the people that God want us to become.

Love you all!

Sister Dunn

P-day hike

I love this little guy.  His name is Doggie.  He is always chained to the house like that :(

Lindsay - April 25, 2016

I love my Zone!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!


I hope you all had a great week! The Lord truly tested our patience this week! We visited a lot of people which was really good, but one of our baptisms got postponed. But it is ok! The Lord's plan is so much better than what we want! On Tuesday we saw our investigator Sharon. She technically isn't in our area, but she preferred that we teach her instead of elders. She is the sweetest lady ever! When she learns something new, she literally gets so excited and happy! She truly knows that this gospel is true! We are so happy for her, and it took 5 years until she finally was ready to take the missionary lessons and make the commitment to be baptized!


On Wednesday, we met with Kris! She moved out of her house into a cute little trailer home that is bright blue. It is such a humble home. She let us have the tour of the house, and inside, there is a wallpaper in the kitchen that has bright blue flowers all over it. Her house is blue inside and out! She is so glad to be moved into her new home. And so many people from the ward helped her move! 9th Ward is amazing! We are working with her to be able to go to the temple. She told us that she is going to stop smoking cold turkey. We pray that she will be able to overcome that addiction. We also saw Floyd. Oh Floyd..... haha! We are still reading the Book of Mormon with him, and slowly but surely, he is beginning to understand it. Later, we had dinner with the Stewarts, and their boys names are the most interesting names I have ever heard in my life. The oldest boy is named VoyTech, the second oldest is Rushton, and the baby of the family is named Thadius. Wow!! :)


On Thursday we had a great lesson with Roxy! I have learned so much about asking inspired questions during lessons. Whenever I think about what to say, and ask a question, I know that the Spirit guides me through that lesson. When we ask questions, we are trying to understand their needs, and when we understand their needs, the spirit can guide the words that we say. We also went to the temple that day! It was a much needed experience. In my prayer before the session, I asked to have peace. The Lord truly answered my prayer. I was so grateful for the joy that I felt while in the temple. The celestial room was beautiful, and quiet, and I did not want to leave! When I get back from my mission, hopefully I can request to work in the celestial room:)


On Friday we did a lot of weekly planning. Then we had dinner with the Nunley's. Their tradition as a family at the dinner table is to talk about a sweet thing that happened that day, and then a sour. Their family is so cute! They have so many animals, and they just got a baby horse named Sky. She is white with brown spots, and is the cutest thing! We then visited the Crum's who are a less active family. Their kids, Serenity and Owen are so cute! We talked to Sister Crum about the Book of Mormon, and she told us that she had never read it, but that when she was 15 she got baptized!!! hmmmmm...... so that was interesting to learn. So we began to talk to her about why she likes the church, and the things that she knows to be true. She told us that she liked how the church is so focused on families and she likes the values and moral standards that are set. So we are building her testimony off of that! She is really a sweet person, and we know that she wants what's best for her children.


On Saturday we had a lesson with Tiandra, our new investigator. She has been struggling with the Word of Wisdom lately, but she has a daughter that she truly wants to help. Her daughter will talk to her about going to a church, and so Tiandra is striving to find a good church to go to. Her roommate, is Rachel who goes to the YSA ward!! So we are so excited that she gets to participate in the lessons. After we had a lesson with Tiandra, we went to see John. Earlier that day we called the caretaker Renee, and when she answered we asked how she was doing. She told us that she wasn't doing good. We asked why, and she said, "John.... is dying." We were so shocked, that we didn't say anything for a moment. Then we decided to come and see him, even though Renee said that he would be unresponsive. We stopped by to see him, and the hospice nurse who attends 7th ward told us that he would pass away in a couple of days. We walked into his room, and he was sleeping. We decided to say a prayer together with him in the room. Sister Steele and I started to cry as we looked at John's frail body. Sister Steele gave the most beautiful prayer, and the spirit was so strong in the room. It was really hard to say goodbye to John, but we know that he will be a strong missionary on the other side of the veil. I have been truly blessed to know such wonderful people here in Safford, Arizona. I have faced so many challenges in this area, but the Lord has given me so much strength. I know that God is real. I know that He has a plan for all of us. And I know that as we strive to be faithful, and accept God's love for us, we will see who we can become.


I love all of you! I hope you have a wonderful week!



Sincerely,


Sister Lindsay Dunn

Holli - April 25, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Sounds like you all are doing great :) We had a pretty great week this week!
Nothing super crazy happened but we are working hard trying to find
people to teach!

A lot of people here are Armenian so we were walking down the street
one day and we see this little old Armenian lady using only the bottom
of a broom to sweep out her driveway because this huge tree kept
dropping leaves all over the place. We asked if we could help and had
to use body language to communicate because she spoke zip English. So
probably pretty hilarious to all of the drivers as two sister
missionaries start miming sweeping motions. But she let us do a little
bit and then asked if we were Jehovah Witnesses but we clarified and
then she just kept nodding and saying Jesus Christ and smiling. Then
her husband came out and stared at us smiling for a little (he didn't
speak any English either) and then he pulled out his wallet and showed
us pictures of their grandchildren so it was pretty neat! We pulled
out a piece of paper and the lady (Navart) took it and wrote her name,
her husband's name and their phone number so that was pretty sweet . .
And then she wrote all of it again in Armenian haha. They then
invited us in for coffee haha - but they also told us to come back so
we are sending the Armenian elders and hopefully they can teach them
more!

We had interviews with President this week. That was pretty cool. They
were about ten minutes long, so short, sweet, and to the point. So it
was fun!

We were walking down the road the other day and there was a man
sitting on the porch so I urged Sister Colson to contact him and it
went great! His wife and kids go to church but he says he has to worry
about paying the bills so he doesn't have time for that. Super sad.
His son came in halfway through the conversation and said, good luck
trying to get him to go to church. I've tried and now I've just given
up. They then referred us to their neighbor who actually turns out to
be a Jehovah Witness so that was a fun conversation! She was actually
super nice and gave us water and she asked us when we were going to
come back but we didn't think that would be super productive. She kind
of threw a lot of different bibles/pamphlets in our face so that was
fun.

We had some pretty cool tracting experiences the other day. We met
Miles who is this super nice Christian guy and accepted a copy of the
BofM. He told us he had friends who are LDS but they never really ever
talked about their religion - so we got to give him a brief rundown!
Super cool. He told us he wasn't interested in being baptized but he
was super cool.

We also met Samantha and Ryan who are like the sweetest couple ever.
Haha, Samantha answered the door and said a Jehovah Witness had
actually come by earlier that day so they got double duty! But we
briefly talked about the Restoration and we could see the Spirit
working in both of them. It was awesome! Ryan even talked about how he
can feel when something is true or not. But they didn't want to learn
more so it was kind of sad - but we hope one day Heavenly Father will
lead them to the right path!

We have this awesome investigator named Kevin we are working with.
Kind of makes all of the struggles/hardships of mission life worth it.
His stepson Sam actually moved to Logan and came into contact with the
church there and Kevin was so inspired with the change in Sam that he
accepted Sam's invitation to learn about the church from the
missionaries - however he told the missionaries right up front he
wouldn't get baptized. Haha, funny right? ;) But he is the coolest guy
ever and has this great desire to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God and have more direction to his life. He came to church yesterday
and the YM took over the program and did such a great job - said a lot
of things Kevin needed to hear.

That's about it for the week! Haha, we were in McDonalds one day
(don't worry, I got a salad . . . And a Mcflurry ) and this lady
comes up to us (Anna) and she sees our tags and then says, "Let me
give you my name and number so in case you need anything, you call me.
I'm a Roman Catholic by faith but I have a few friends who have their
kids out on missions so I know about you guys."

We were so touched by her act of kindness - definitely a great example
of Christ!

I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Dunn