Chelsea - March 28, 2016

Hello everyone!!

So I'm going to start this letter with something pretty lame but I'm pretty proud. I was in the grocery store on monday and I saw italian pizza sauce and mozarella cheese (you never see that kinda stuff) and I freaked out and grabbed it and I made little pizzas in the toaster oven. It was just so great cause I've been really craving american food this week haha!!

So on Wednesday I found out that Sister Porter, Sister Turley, and Sister Ngakuru from my MTC group are training! Gosh, I'm super excited for them!! It was funny because Sister Clarin had to go to Cauayan too for career workshop. So our plan was to meet with Sister Tupou (sister ngakurus companion) in alinguigan and work with her for the day while sister clarin would travel with sister ngakuru. But... they were so late coming in so we got permission to go with Sister Clarin to Cauayan. Unfortunately, Sister Elix and I hadn't even showered and we looked so gross when we had to go to the mission home!! Haha we were dying. But I got to see Sister Turley and Sister Porter and talk to them and I got to see my nanay again!!! That was probably the last time I will see her before she leaves... hopefully not! But it was super fun to be down there and to breathe in some aircon for a while! Unfortunately that same day we saw another accident. This guy was drunk and his tricie totally flipped over and oh man, I really thought he died. I walked up to where he was and he was just laying there and blood was everywhere. But we heard from someone a couple days ago that he's still in the hospital and buhay pa siya!!

Super good experience this week. We went tracting in Santa Victoria-an area that we have never gone in before. We were there for about 3 hours and we just were contacting and contacting and we were getting no lessons... We were pretty disappointed haha. But then we remembered that a less active lives there and so we asked around and were able to find her. Her name is Roda and her family and the rest of her kids actually live in San Isidro. She and her husband were married in the temple and just last year they separated. She took one of the kids and is living up there right now. It's so sad but we had a really good lesson with her and she remembers everything about the temple. I just think the whole messed up family situation is keeping her from coming back. But we are really excited to keep working with her and try to get their family back to the church.

So this week was the baptism of Irish, Divine, and Krizzel!! And there were no problems and everything went smooth! And that's a first!! haha. It was really fun. Those girls are so cute and I just love them! I'm just glad that I'm able to be a part of this experience for them. I will send pics! Yesterday, Tatay Fernando and Tatay Marcelino came to church! The ward is doing a really great job at fellowshipping them! And then, a couple of the brothers from the ward went with us to teach them yesterday in ibanag. They are really progressing and we are pushing for a baptismal date on April 23!

That's about it for the week! Sister Clarin leaves tomorrow and I still haven't accepted that she's leaving but I will really miss her. She has been a great companion and I've learned a lot from her. 

Anyways, love you all!

Sister Dunn

Lindsay - March 28, 2016

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day! This week was good! We had an awesome experience this week! So every week we see Gayle. She is preparing to go to the temple. She referred us to stop by and see an old lady (Sister Polluck) in the ward, and so the next day we did. Then she referred us to another old lady to see, (Sister Miller). So we saw her the next day, and guess what?? She referred us to another lady who is a recent convert, but hasn't returned to church in a while!!! So we are going to see her this upcoming week! What a domino effect! It is so amazing to be led to so many faithful women despite their health challenges!!

We have been seeing Roxy a lot lately and she is doing so well! Satan is working really hard on her! She is working on obeying the Word of Wisdom completely, and so far she has quit smoking!! So we are praying that the challenges she is facing will strengthen her faith. On Thursday we witnessed a miracle! So Frank and Chelsea are some people we have been working with for a while. Frank is a recent convert, and Chelsea is investigating the church. But the unfortunate thing is that Chelsea is really really lazy. She literally sleeps all day! So we are trying to see if she even sees her purpose in life. We finally caught both of them at home! Usually when we come over, Frank is working on his cars, and Chelsea is a sleep. So..... when we knocked on their door, and Chels answered the door, I was totally taken aback! So we taught them both about hope. We asked Chelsea what she wants to do in the future. She told us that she had never thought about that before. So I asked her, "Chelsea, do you want to have a strong family? Do you want to have a stronger relationship with God?" She nodded her head to both questions! So I said, "There you go! You do have some goals that you want to reach!" You really have to dig in to what Chelsea is thinking cause she is pretty quiet, but when you ask the right questions (by the Spirit), then she opens up! It is great!

On Friday we went to see the Gilberts. The wife is a member, and the husband is a member, but he hasn't received the priesthood. So we are teaching him the lessons so that he can be prepared to receive that and then go to the temple. I am going to honestly say that he is the most stubborn, hard hearted, bluntly honest man I have ever met. He is very picky about who he accepts into his home. He fought in Vietnam, and he experienced some things there that weren't good. He has a hard time forgiving himself of the things he has done. When we started teaching him the Restoration, we got onto the topic of Joseph Smith. We asked Brother Gilbert how he would feel if he saw God and Jesus Christ. He told us that he would ask the question, "Why do you let other people kill each other? Why can't you come down and stop it?" In every lesson we have with him, it is so hard to know what to say. Towards the end of the lesson, he started talking about his past experiences in the war. He started crying, and it was so painful for me to watch. I literally started crying in the lesson. It was very excruciating for me. I don't know why, but for some reason I felt his pain. Sister Steele was very bold, and upfront with him. It was good because he is pretty blunt too. He wants answers from the Lord. He literally needs a kick in the bum to get him going. But he hasn't prayed. And so we made it pretty clear that he needs to pray so that he can receive those answers. Sister Gilbert talked to us and said that us being there to help him is a kick in the bum to get going! haha:) But he is pretty hard hearted, so he doesn't recognize that. It will be a tough challenge, but we are going to help him until he finally forgives himself and accepts what has happened in the past.

On Sunday, we had a wonderful day! We went to church all day, which was amazing! Then we had a lesson with Devan finally at the Hargis home! We set a new baptismal date, and we are going to meet with him every week so that we can help him be prepared for baptism! We then had Easter dinner with the Hargis family! They are the sweetest family! Some of the Fox family kids were there so that was fun. We had an awesome discussion on missionary work because some of the kids are going on missions. So it was really good to help them and answer their questions. That was my week! I love you all!

Sincerely,

Sister Dunn

Taylor - March 28, 2016

This week was quite a week. We learned a lot and grew in faith and diligence! Though we didn't find many people that wanted to learn of the restored gospel or wanted to come closer to Christ, we did have the wonderful opportunity to testify of the truthfulness of this Church. We testified and invited all to follow him!

We did help our investigator Cira progress towards baptism this last week and I'm super excited for her baptism coming up this Thursday. We hope to get good member support for her! She's super cool and passed her interview. Her daughter also decided to sit in on a couple of lessons so hopefully we'll be able to work with her!

This District is good and pretty young besides Elder Dabo and myself. They are all super cool and I think I've felt a pretty good bond with them and all the missionaries where I've been district leader. I am still doing district training every week and yes they come a bit easier now but I still get a little nervous and on edge. I just always hope I'm able to help the District!

Elder Johnson and I work pretty well together. He's an awesome missionary. He has really good Spanish and is hard working! He's super funny and keeps the mood light which is a big strength we share! It helps us press forward!

In our mission, for finding, there is something called "The Liahona". We fill out a list of prospective Elders, less active members, recent converts, and part member families during weekly planning to go visit during the week. The mission also focuses on knocking, Obedience is considered 1 hour a day but we are usually 2 a day, usually averaging around 15-18 hours a week of knocking.

For the door approach we really try to focus on needs and desires of the people we are talking to. We state our purpose real solidly and we center it on Jesus Christ and the restoration!

For my whole mission I've covered one ward at a time and attend the whole block on Sundays. I believe multiple wards for missionaries are just for the missions with bigger populations of members.

This last week, we had fast and testimony meeting. Unfortunately, no Easter program or anything. The Bishop actually is basically less active. He works at the airport or something so he's never really at church. They hold ward council usually every other week but we haven't had it for like 3 weeks now. Our ward mission leader is a recent convert so we don't even do correlation but we explained it to him and we're having it this Friday, yay!

For transfer predictions I believe I will remain here and possibly train but I don't know. Elder Johnson will most likely transfer because he's been here for 3 transfers. Elder Dabo is going home and Elder Lloyd will probably stay. Sister Kronmiller is training Sister Flavel so they will probably stay.

Yes we usually get fed a lot, though in this ward. A lot of it has been pick up or drop off at our house.

Well I hope I answered all of your questions. Oh and thanks Mom for the letter and thanks so much for the Easter package. It was delicious and the other elders say thanks! Anyways I think that's about it for this week, love you guys, stay safe!

-Elder Dunn

Holli - March 28, 2016

Hello Everyone!


We had a pretty good week! Haha so on Thursday our DL told us that as

a district we had really been struggling with finding new

investigators so he challenged us to make a district goal to contact a

certain number of people a day. Our district goal is 20 contacts a day

so it's been a very fun goal to reach. Sister Barney and I are having

a lot of fun with it :)

We went to Maria's house last night (the Egyptian family) and it was

so sad. Her mother passed away a few years ago and you could tell it

was pretty hard on her. We tried our best to comfort her but she

stayed pretty sad. Angelina (her daughter) said that at the funeral

everyone was crying and screaming and it was super sad. It reminded me

of the story in the scriptures where Jesus raises the daughter of

Jairus - all of the mourners are weeping and wailing outside the home

and he asks them why they're weeping and mourning so much. He is able

to bring Jairus's daughter back to life and it was a cool experience

to have on an Easter Sunday - where we could truly testify that Jesus

is the Resurrection and the Life.


Maria also told us that she loved when we came because every time we

come she feels better - but when we leave, the feeling leaves with us.

We wanted to tell her so badly that it was the Spirit and that she

could have it in her own life but she's very stubborn in her own

beliefs and isn't super open hearted to learning about anything

different. But we love her and pray for her!!


We had a wonderful Easter Breakfast Saturday morning. Maria and her

kids came at the end and Brandy and her children came at the

beginning. They seemed like they had a good time! A few of our less

actives came as well so it was good to see them. There were lots of

non members there as well and we were able to share a little spiritual

thought with the kids before they went out to hunt for eggs so it was

so sweet! We showed the Follow Me video the church just came out with

and it was super touching to see all of the kids and their parents

watching the video. Then we talked briefly about different ways we can

follow Jesus. Go to church, get baptized, believe in Him etc. - they

all gave wonderful answers.So fun!

We were teaching Brandy one day (initially she wanted us to help her

with her English so we are teaching her English, through the English

pamphlets) and she was raised in this really interesting religion in

China and she had all of these deep questions. Luckily one of our

members walked in who speaks Chinese and was able to help

translate/explain our side of it. We had actually asked this member to

stop by and invite Brandy to the Easter Breakfast so it was perfect

timing that she came right when we were there!

We met Manuel street contacting one day. It was super cool! He told us

he's seen missionaries before and he's open to hearing what we have to

say. We referred him over to the Spanish missionaries because his

primary language is Spanish (go figure :). ) but we were stopped at a

stoplight for a while and just really started talking and it was

really cool! He asked us when we had become converted to our church -

when we had known that this was the church right for us - and we both

got to bear our testimonies about the power of prayer and asking God

and then little experiences building up over time. We also got to

testify about the blessings and the happiness that are found in the

church and Manuel got pretty quiet and he nodded his head and the

Spirit was super strong!


So this week is a 7 week transfer so no transfer calls until next week

:) Since I've been here for 5 transfers we're pretty sure I'm going to

be transferred but we'll see!


That's about it from here in Arcadia! Hope you are all doing well and

that you have a wonderful week! Thanks so much for your prayers and

support!


Love, Sister Dunn