Chelsea - July 11, 2016

Hello everyone!

This week has been a very interesting week and a tough one for Sister Tupouniua. On Monday and Tuesday she was super sick and so we weren't able to work. On Wednesday, we got our flu vaccinations and ever since then, Sister T has been having some problems with her neck and shoulder area. It has been hurting her sooo bad that it hurts to walk and get up. On Sunday during church, we had to leave during sacrament meeting to the hall because she was about to pass out. Despite her objections, I told the Senior couple, the Jones, and they drove us straight to the hospital on Sunday. We got her checked in, they hooked her up to an iv, got her an x-ray, got her a room, and gave her some pain meds! We are still in the hospital right now and have no idea what the results are. Just waiting on the doctor.. haha. The Jones have been so great though because we have absolutely none of our stuff with us, so they bought us food yesterday and have been bringing us things we need. Sister T is doing better today, but we are still waiting..

On Wedneday, we went to cauayan and had a meet the new mission president zone conference. President and Sister Hiatt are super great.While listening to them, I definitely felt that they have been called of God to be our new mission President and wife. President Hiatt has a lot of great ideas to get the mission progressing. After the conference, they chose Sister T and I to work with them. So they drove down to San Mateo and worked with us! They are so great! They are super interactive in the lessons and are always asking us to translate for them and so it was such a great experience.

Tatay suguitan is doing great! We were kinda nervous this week because we had to follow up on his word of wisdom with coffee. We asked about it this week with him and he basicallly told us that it doesn't have an effect on him anymore and that he doesn't even want it in the morning. Ahhh its amazing! I know that God has helped him overcome this.

Love you all, don't have much time sorry. Sister T and I are sharing a computer haha

Sister Dunn

Holli - July 3, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Oh my lands this week was super great!

So this is Sister Cook's last transfer but she extended for a bit so
she'll leave early September. But she is seriously the bomb.com.
She is like the perfect missionary. Knows how to get return
appointments, loves talking to everyone, invites everyone to come to
church and be baptized. It's great! Haha, she lived in Emmett for a
while and we both love Idaho so she's the best. She is the youngest of
10 kids and has quite the story! (I'll include that in the journal I
send home). We have done so much this past week that I've just been so
exhausted but it's good :)

So get this . . . 3 people came to church yesterday, all of whom we've
met this week. Crazy!

We met this awesome family the other night. The mom (Natalie) hasn't
been to church for a long time and her brother Carlos hasn't either
but he came to church yesterday with his three kids and it was
amazing. They are a super sweet family who a lot of bad things have
happened to so it's kind of sad but they're doing well. They have the
cutest 4 year old named Danny and I occupied him while Sister Cook
talked to the rest of the family. He was hilarious! I showed him a few
Bible videos and had him point out whenever Jesus appeared on the
screen - pretty fun :)

We met this awesome guy named Sam the other day. We were walking down
the street and started to talk with him outside his home. He had just
returned from a chemo treatment but told us we could come back so a
few days later we popped by and he was like, "You came back?!" And
then he brought us a lot of fruit and we sat outside his house and
taught him a little bit of the Restoration and invited him to church
the next day. And he showed up! Right at the end of gospel principles.
One of the members made a remark about how the commandment to keep the
Sabbath Day Holy is more like a gift and if we can see it as a gift
we'll have a greater desire to come to church etc. Sam then raises his
hand and asks the class "What is a humane way to catch a monkey?"

Sister Cook and I are like, "Oh great, here we go." But he went on to
say that the humane way to catch a monkey is to set a banana in a trap
and then when the monkey grabs the banana to close the trap and once
the monkey has the banana he won't let go to free himself from the
trap. Then Sam said that he felt like the monkey, holding onto this
banana because that morning he had been contemplating whether or not
to go to church etc. Then he said that he was letting go of the banana
now :) He's super cool. He told us he would be at church next week
too!

We met this sweet girl named Emma the other day. She had been taught
by missionaries about a year ago but she lives with her grandma who is
very against Emma learning about Christianity or going to a Christian
church so she had to tell the Sisters she couldn't meet again. But we
sat with her for a little and talked with her about her life and then
went into the Restoration and before we knew it she was bawling. Kind
of the way she described her life was like modern Cinderella - super
sad but she was really stressed out so we sat with her as she cried
and then asked if we could continue to meet with her. Though her life
is hard she agreed so we hope to see her this week. Prayers for Emma!

We met this sweet lady named Juliet the other night. She's from the
Philippines in the Cauayan province is what she said so I was 
super pumped :) We shared a brief message about the gospel and asked
if she would be interested in meeting again and she said yes! She told
us she had this intense stomach pain for the past few days and she had
been praying to a God for help and that day it had eased somewhat. So
as she started her walk she continued to pray for help and that's when
we stopped her :) We went to Starbucks the next morning and she bought
us some juice and we taught her the Restoration and gave her a BofM
and she seemed to enjoy it. Her job prevents her from going to church
but she really wants to come to our church so it was a cool
experience.

One last cool experience. We were walking down the street (haha, we
tend to do that a lot) and we ran into this lady named Sylvia walking
her dog. As we stopped to talk with her she got really curious about
who we were and what we did. We shared a brief message with her and
invited her to learn more. She told us she had been having some family
problems and was struggling but she didn't have the time to meet but
said she might check out the church. So we gave her the address and
encouraged her to come. Super sweet lady!

Well that's about it from here in Glendale! Thanks for all of the
letters and pic.'s mom of Taylor's return :) Sister Cook said she was crying for me 
haha :) I love you so much and hope this next week is a good one!

Love, Sister Dunn

Lindsay - July 3, 2016

Hi Everyone!

Oh my goodness what a week it has been!! I love training soooooo much!

My new sister missionary is Sister Brinkerhoff. She is from Missouri.

She is the sweetest thing! She is very quiet, and doesn't say

much. But when she does speak, it is powerful. I love training her!

She is definitely obedient which I am so grateful for! On the first

day, she was very very shy. She also looked pretty nervous. I say that

because half the people we saw the first day asked if Sister

Brinkerhoff was ok. I think they could tell that she looked nervous,

haha! I remember those few moments of anxiety the first day! It brings

back fond memories:)


So on Tuesday we had a trainer, trainee meeting.

Then we all went to lunch. So Sister Sayer, Sister Condie, and Hermana

Kerr are training! It was such a relief knowing that I knew some

sisters that were training with me! It brings me a lot of comfort. We

drove 3 hours just to get there from Silver City! We are really on the

outskirts of our mission!! So, rewind to a couple days ago when

I was preparing to train. Our dinner canceled on the day that the new

sister would come into the area. So I called a bunch of families in

the ward and asked them if they could provide a meal for us.

Thankfully, a family offered to feed us! And then I set 2 appointments

after that! The first day went great! I was totally not expecting

that, because the last time I trained, the day didn't go as planned:)

So it surprised me! We had dinner with the Jenkins family, and

then we went to the Porter's (Stake President), and taught the

Restoration. It was a great experience! The Spirit was so strong! Then

we visited a returning member, Sister Post. She was so sweet to Sister

Brinkerhoff. Sister Brinkerhoff is 4'11" and so Sister Post just

treated her like she was her own child. It was so sweet:)


On Wednesday, we had an awesome district meeting! We talked about

adjusting to missionary life, and setting goals as a companionship to

help each other transition. It was really good! Then we had a great

lesson with Avery. We were talking about service, and teaching and

learning, and Avery made a comment about something that he learned in

primary. He talked about how testimonies are like pieces of string. If

you have only one string, you can break it easily, and that represents

a weak testimony. But if you have a lot of pieces of string tied

together, it's harder to break. That is a strong testimony. It was so

cool to see his face light up about something that he learned in

primary. It was a great lesson! For dinner we went to Bishop Roth's

home. We helped them grease the horse stall railings. It was a fun

job! Then we had waffles for dinner! It was so good!



On Thursday we had a lesson with Asia. Oh my goodness, I have never

seen someone that happy! Literally, by the end of the lesson, my cheeks

hurt from smiling so much! She brings so much joy into the world, it is amazing!

We talked to her about family history, and told her about the family

history center. She was so excited to find out that she could find

family names and take them to the temple!


We also had a lesson with David. We talked about the Atonement, and

asked him questions about it, and how it has helped him in his life.

It was a powerful lesson. Sister Brinkerhoff, in the middle of the

discussion talked about the scripture in John 15:13. It says, "Greater

love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his

friends." David made a comment about that scripture, and how in the

military they would always refer to that scripture. He told us that he

never thought of the scripture as a verse that applied to the

Atonement. So it was really cool to see, that he learned something new

that made an impact on him. For dinner that night we went to the

Meija's for dinner. Oh my goodness I love that family! Brother Mejia

is a goofball! He went to the Philippines on his mission, and I asked

him all about it! He said that during his mission, his mom sent

him some crocs. This was the first time that they had come out with

crocs, and so when he got the package that had only one shoe in it, he

said, "What the heck?" Then a month and a half later he got the other

shoe. So apparently in the Philippines, if you send a pair of shoes

in the mail, the people will steal them, no matter the size. He also

told us that hot dogs in the Phiippines are nasty, and that he would

rather eat balut or bat than eat that. Haha! Oh my word, I was

hysterically laughing!!! :)


On Saturday we went and saw Sister Scott. She wasn't doing so well,

so we called the elders before the appointment to have them come over

and give her a blessing. Wow, was that experience draining. She felt better

after the blessing, but she was very anxious. I talked to her, and encouraged

her and tried to be as positive as I could. It is hard to teach someone that has

a mental illness. But, there is a joy that comes from helping them and

encouraging them. In a way I felt like I could relate a little bit to

how Sister Scott was feeling. She would say something that was

negative about herself, and I would immediately tell her that that

thought wasn't from God, and that she should choose to be happy. It

was definitely an interesting experience.


On Sunday, we had a wonderful Sabbath! There were so many great people

from 3rd Ward that bore their testimony. The Spirit was definitely there. After church,

we did some studies, and then met with a member of the YSA to go see

an investigator. When we went to his home, he was there, so we decided

to see a less active that we had met briefly only once. He was home!

We had a great discussion with him! He was very honest and

straightforward about what he was struggling with. He told us that he

has a hard time obeying the Word of Wisdom. He also talked about how

he hasn't come to church in a while. It was weird, because during the

lesson he told us that he wasn't ready to make the change. But then

towards the end, he asked, "So what do I need to do to be able to go

to the temple?" Yay!!! There is hope for this man!


I am so grateful to be a missionary and share my testimony with

everyone! I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

is true! I hope you all have a Happy 4th of July! I love you all!! :)


Sincerely,

Sister Dunn

Chelsea - July 3, 2016

Kumusta po kayong lahat?!

So right at the start of the week, we found some great new investigators! I was so relieved because man... we've got nothing here. We were actually teaching a lesson to this little girl part member, and these two twins come and sit in and then they start asking all these questions and I was like yes.... so I explained the restoration and they said we could come back! Super exciting!!

Embarrassing moment of the week: I was like kinda out of it on this day and we had just gotten out of the tricie and were walking down the street and I see these two ladies and I'm like well I'm gonna go contact them!! As I started contacting them, Sister T whispered, you're right in front of Jehovahs witness church. I was like ohhh.. (haha we are not allowed to go proselyte near the church) but it would be super awk if I didn't finish the contact because I already started so I totally shared about our message and invited them to church! I think they were kinda mad and offended but hey, have to share the gospel with everyone right?! hahaha.

So we have a great investigator we've been working with this week! His name is Elpidio Sugitan and he is amazing!!! He had a stroke a year ago and just 6 months ago he started walking again. He's about 40 years old, he's quiet, but he's amazing! My second lesson with him, I was asking him about his book of mormon reading and he said he loves reading and that he reads 2 chapters a day and he understands everything. I then asked him if he knew the book of mormon was true and he was like ya, I do. Ah great moment! Then next lesson, we talked about baptism. IT was so stressful!! His wife sat in on the lesson and she's not really supportive, so the whole time she was asking all these hard baptism questions about age and already getting baptized, and sister T didn't understand a word, so I had to teach the whole lesson! It was horrible... haha but the spirit took over and tatay happily accepted the invitation to be baptized on July 23!

I forgot to mention that Sister Baker's companion is actually assigned in chile conception south or something like that. And she needs to learn spanish! And I remember nothing whatsoever about spanish! It would be great taylor if you could send some helpful basic spanish guides or something!! haha

So another bad moment this week. Sister T and I were walking to this appointment and we were on this dirt road with a bunch of rocks and then these huge trucks pass by and one of the wheels of the truck hits this huge rock and it came flying at me and hit me right in my foot by my ankle bone. Let's just say that Sister T was laughing while I was crying. I literally thought my foot was broken and I wouldn't be able to walk for like a week haha cause it hurt sooooo bad. But amazingly like five minutes later, I could walk on it. It hit at the part of my foot where it doesn't effect my walking at all! Hallelulah!! Haha but it still hurts super bad when I just sit down. Sister T has been doing her polynesian massage on it and I have been screaming every night hahahah!

Thats about it for the week though! Love you all!!

Sister Dunn

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

The creepy cemeteries here.  They don't bury them in the ground, they just leave the coffins out.
It's so sketch.  It's more creepy in person.  We had to walk by this in the dark! haha