December 30, 2013

Hello!

 Well, it's that time again for transfer news. I wish I could say that everything is staying the same but the opposite it happening. Sister Sparhawk is getting a new companion and I'm training a new missionary fresh from the MTC again. I'm also white-washing a family ward. Also, I'm going to be a solo Sister Training Leader! Talk about a change! On Saturday we ended up missing a call from President Jenkins! Biggest mistake ever! Then I got to do the dreaded call back. I could see me training again, but I didn't see the leadership position at all, and I was blindsided with a new ward. The Lord sure is a funny guy! I'm more scared to train this time than I was the first. I'm scared to transition back into "family ward mode." I'm scared that other sisters are going to be looking at me as an example. What if I'm not good enough! Those are just some of my thoughts after getting transfer news. But I humbled myself and turned to God in prayer and told him that I will do whatever is asked of me; no matter how hard it may be or how unqualified I may feel. The Lord and President Jenkins have confidence in me, so I need confidence in myself. Thank goodness for the Atonement! I've received so much strength from it in the past few days and I know I'll need it as this transfer goes on. The strength that I have to go on everyday is not my own, it's the Lord. It's always been him. I don't know what I would do without him. He's my rock and anchor in a constant sea of change. I feel so blessed to have had Sister Sparhawk as my companion. She's a wonderful missionary and my best friend on my mission. Luckily we'll still live in the same apartment complex and we will get to see each other often!

I had a really good Christmas. A member forced us to borrow one of their trees. She even gave us lights and ornaments to decorate it with! This same member also gave us TWO laundry baskets full of presents for me and Sister Sparhawk. I feel so blessed to have been in this ward for 12 weeks. Abe gave us the worlds softest blankets in our favorite colors along with a super sweet letter. He's one of my best friends here in Mesa as well. I'm sure going to miss my little Asian friend! It was really good to see and talk to my family. I can't believe that I haven't seen them for almost 6 months! Time really does fly when you're having fun!

Christmas lights are going to be over tomorrow! I can't believe how fast December has come and gone. I keep praying for miracles! There's been plenty!

Well, besides transfer news, nothing too exciting has happened. After getting really sick I've needed a lot of sleep to be able to recover.

So, there went half the week! Then there was Christmas. I guess the week was pretty mellow so the Lord could prepare me for what he has planned for me :P Also, after sacrament meeting yesterday Bishop Peterson literally PULLED me into a hug. It was the weirdest experience ever. Hope to not have too many of those in the next year!

Anyways! Happy New Year! Hope 2014 ROCKS!

Love, Sister Dunn

December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas!!

Well, this week didn't go exactly as planned. Nevertheless! It was a
very good week!

Zone Conference was amazing and inspired. The Assistants training
really struck a chord with me. I needed to change the way I worked
with members. I had been feeling that for a long time but I didn't
know how to proceed or what to do. I was making things so much more
complicated than they actually were. The Elder's training was so
simple and I was called to repentance for making working with members
so complicated and hard. I'm working in a YSA! This ward should be
having a lot more success than it is! I'm changing my ways now. After
Zone Conference Sister Sparhawk and I talked for a while about what we
learned and what we could do differently. I have never felt such a
drive to go and work with the members and help them have success in
helping others come to Christ. From that moment on we always
considered who we could take with us when we tried to contact
potential investigators or meet with less actives. Although we weren't
always successful, we tried. I have a feeling that the ward is going
to change if we can involve them more. Also, at the beginning of the
meeting President Jenkins said that this meeting was to comfort the
afflicted or afflict the comfortable. Well, I as definitely afflicted
and got my act put together. I wasn't disobedient or anything like
that but I was getting comfortable with what I was doing (once I get
comfortable with something that is where I get lazy). I was not going
to let myself get that way. I took a good look at my life with a
microscope and saw potential areas that could lead to problems.
Something that I needed to change was my attitude towards things like
planning or studies, etc.. Even though it wasn't bad it could be
better. Right now I feel like I have a good life, but I want a better
one. I hope to keep improving every week. I know it will be hard, but
in the end it will be so worth it.

Well, the first half of the week rocked then came Thursday....... Up
until then I had been feeling fine. That ended as soon as we had
dinner. After dinner I felt like I needed to throw up but I pushed
those feelings away because I thought that was just my mind speaking
because we had eaten something really nasty that should never be made
ever again. So we worked until we got to the late shift at Christmas
Lights. About 20 minutes into it I got this feeling we needed to go
home. I wasn't feeling quite terrible yet but I knew we needed to go
home. We told our shift leaders and went home. Well, to keep this
short I ended up throwing up every 15 minutes for 7 hours. It really
sucked. I didn't have the strength to do anything and I could hardly
keep anything down. But we have some really amazing members. Some came
and stayed with me so Sister Sparhawk could go and teach a lesson or
go to a meeting. Looking back, if we hadn't reached out to the members
earlier in the week I don't think we would have gotten the same kind
of help. What goes around comes around, right? I also got a blessing
from Abe and I swear it made all the difference. I'm still amazing by
the Priesthood and the amazing power it has. A couple hours after he
gave me the blessing I sent him a quick text saying thank you and for
always being worthy of his priesthood. This was his response: "Sister
Dunn, I'm glad I could help. I can tell by the inspiration that I
received the Lord has a careful watch over you. The revelation come
quickly and through it I can feel the love that God has over you. I
think it's because you're so obedient and submissive to him. I hope
you feel better!" This response made my day and made me feel a
thousand times better about myself. For a while I was wondering how
much The Lord trusted me and the ward. This simple text reassured me
that I'm doing ok. This is by no means an excuse to not work hard or
be complacent with where I'm at, but it made me feel better and gave
me a little more confidence.

Kyle got baptized! It really was a miracle! We were able to see him
almost everyday this week <----- MIRACLE! His interview went very
well; he said he even got emotional and he's not a very emotional
person. It's been a wonderful blessing to have taught him and to see
the Lord change him. That power to change that we always talk about is
real. Seeing it in yourself is one thing but to see it in another
person is.... a privilege. His baptism day was an adventure though! I
still wasn't feeling all that well and I was wondering if I could even
go because I was so weak, but the Lord let a miracle happen and I
managed the strength to go. I may have looked like the walking dead
but I made it! This is only part of the adventure though..... So
Sister Sparhawk and I got there 30 minutes early to make sure
everything was in order and that the font was filled. Well, when we
got there the font was not filled and the building was basically
empty. We immediately called Abe and let him know and many phone calls
and miracles happened where we got a key and filled the font. We did
have to start the baptism 20 minutes late because of the set back, but
we got it done and Kyle was baptized. His dad even came, and his dad
is still very against Kyle joining the church but recognizes that this
is something that he loves so he's going to support him. Another
miracle!

Well, that pretty much was my week! Half of it was spent in bed but it
was really good. I've learned a lot and hope to never, ever, ever get
sick on my mission EVER again. Merry Christmas!!!
-Sister Dunn

December 16, 2013

Greetings!

This week has been so good. There were many miracles (most in unexpected ways) and I feel... Happy. I  haven't felt this happy since before my mission. Actually, I haven't felt this happy ever.

Kyle is set for baptism this Saturday! Our ward mission leader thinks that we should postpone the baptism until after the first of the year, but we've decided that him being baptized this Saturday would be best for him. But we did listen to him and pondered and prayed about what we should do. I spent a lot of time studying and praying personally to know what we should do. I honestly didn't know what we should have done. During our weekly planning session, we took an hour to decide what we should do for him. We said a prayer and we both felt that Heavenly Father was telling us that both of these options, baptizing him on Saturday or postponing, were both good options for him and to make a choice. We went through the pros and cons of both,  and after 45 minutes we both decided that baptizing him would be the best thing. After our decision I've gone back and forth and I've second guessed myself a couple of times, but I have been reassured that this is the right path for Kyle. As we were planning what we still needed to do for him, I saw the hand of the Lord in our planning. This is going to happen for him! He's had so many setbacks because of his dad, but I feel that nothing is going to stop him except if he succumbs to temptation. So his baptism is December 21, 2013 at the chapel next to the mission office at 4:00. It's going to be an awesome baptism! I'm super excited!

Scorpion in our car!!

Ok, this is a crazy experience we had this week. We had a scorpion in our car!! It was on our dashboard and it crawled out of an air vent as we were driving to Christmas lights and it fell off the dashboard as we were driving and I had no idea where it had gone! YUCK! I've never been so scared in my entire life! It's a miracle that we were able to pull over into a neighborhood. We were out of the car before I could put it in park! After we parked, we took a look inside and found it in the vent in the front of the dash. I didn't know how to get it out and I was too scared to try. So we did the logical thing and ran to the closest house for help. No one was home at the first house so we ran to the next closest house. Luckily someone was there and he was a member. Frantic, we told him our situation and he was more than willing to help us. We went to the car and showed him the scorpion. After some thinking, we got it out of the vent. It was a decent sized scorpion. After the traumatic event, our wonderful savior went back home. We didn't even get to ask him his name! But Heavenly Father blessed us with this man. Another miracle for the week!

We got to go to the temple this week! YAY! It rocked! I got to go with half of my mission. It was a really special experience seeing over 100 of the Lord's anointed in the temple. That was a very powerful experience. After the temple trip we had a mission Christmas party! It was so fun! President told us at the end of the activity that it was a present to us. He and Sister Jenkins didn't want us to work for that day to have a happy day. It was the best Christmas present ever! We had a DELICIOUS lunch of steak, greenbeans, potatoes, and green salads with desserts that were so heavenly. Ugh. I would have been happy with the food but we had a lot more awesomeness! We did service projects for local charities in Mesa. What would have taken a good sized group an hour to complete the projects there it took 220 missionaries 20 minutes to complete. It was so awesome to help give back to the community. The family that put this party together then had a performance for us! They played Christmas music using chimes! It was so fun! After their beautiful performance they gave the missionaries a turn! I got to play an F natural in "Hark The Herald Angels Sing." It pretty much rocked my world. After all this fun we had more!!!!!!!!!! Clyde Bawden and Freddie Ashby came and gave the mission a concert of music from "Reflections of Christ." I thought I died and went to Heaven! I've never felt the Spirit so strong before because of music. It was so powerful. Freddie sang my favorite song "Come See The Light'." That song changed my life. Listen to it and find out why! 

Well, that's my week! Little random note: I've been out in the field for 5 months as of today. It weird how fast time flies!

Love, Sister Dunn

 

December 9, 2013

What a week... A very cold week! I've actually really needed some winter clothes down here! Who knew that it would get into the 30s in Mesa Arizona. But I'm still alive! There was also frost on our car! It wasn't a lot but it was there!

A lot has happened in the past week. On Friday I got a blessing of comfort and peace from our Ward Mission Leader Abe. Even though these wonderful miracles were going on, I felt a little alone even though I knew I wasn't! It was just one of those days when I really needed to hear from God. The blessing was exactly what I needed to hear. The blessing was packed full of love from God. Most of the blessing was reassuring me that He is there and is mindful and knows everything that I'm going through. One part of the blessing said that many things may go unnoticed, but He notices them. That meant a lot to me. We go every day to contact potential investigators and less actives and most of the time the door remains unopened. After doing that for a week with little success can be discouraging but hearing that in my blessing reassured me that all the things that I'm doing to help the work progress doesn't go unnoticed. I feel so reassured that God and Jesus Christ are there working right with me and that everything we do has a purpose. I may not understand that purpose but I have to keep going!

Christmas Lights is exhausting but so much fun! It's neat to see people light up as they see the lights and displays! We had a really cool experience this week. We were roaming around the grounds near Joseph and Mary. There was this family walking the opposite direction of us when this older gentleman walked up to us and said he'd like to have the missionaries come and teach him. His name is Toast (aka Anthony) and he said to come during the evenings Wednesday through Friday and to come before Christmas because that is his birthday. It was a crazy experience. He's out of the mission though :( But we got him referred! He's so great and eager to learn. Christmas time is the best time to find people who are prepared!

So a really crazy thing happened during Christmas Lights on the 6th. Sister Sparhawk and I were walking around near the White Nativity Statue when I saw my dentist, Dr. Baugh. It was really strange seeing someone from home here in Mesa. But it was really neat as well!

Kyle is progressing to baptism! Yay! He's still set for the 21st of December. He's doing awesome. He's really trusting us. We taught him the Word of Wisdom the other day and asked him if he struggled with anything and his initial response was no but then he hesitates and said that smoking was something that he had struggled with. He worked in an environment where smoking was the thing to do so he did it but he hasn't had a cigarette in 4 weeks! He and another member are going to clean through his belongings and remove any evidence of tobacco. He said that he trusts us a lot because he told us something that he hasn't told anyone. He's awesome :) We know he has a testimony of Jesus Christ, the  Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. We're praying extra hard that nothing comes up that will have his baptism postponed!

Well, I'm having a wonderful mission despite the cold ;)

Love, Sister Dunn

December 2, 2013

The Lights, light up my soul!

Greetings!

This week has been a whirl wind.

Thanksgiving was so good! We had two dinners. One was at the McAllister's (Brother McAllister is the ward clerk) and the other was at the home of a less active named Kambria. I have never eaten so much food in my entire life! Since we couldn't be out proselyting unless we had an appointment, President gave the missionaries permission to have our own Turkey Bowl! Our zone leaders arranged it all. We got to play touch football and I actually caught the ball 3 whole times and scored twice! That's pretty good considering that I don't like football nor do I know how to play it, but it was fun being with the zone. We always have fun together.

So the people who "gobbled" President and Sister Jenkins door were..... Me, Sister Sparhawk, Sister King, and Sister Willahan! It was so much fun! I've never felt so sneaky in my entire life! It was so fun being able to do something so sweet and nice for them. We also gobbled the mission office :)  (They made turkeys from hand prints and wrote thank you notes on them. They also made two turkeys out of  pumpkins, complete with missionary name tags for Pres. & Sister Jenkins. They taped the handprint turkeys all over the door, put the pumpkin turkeys on the door step, rang the doorbell and ran!)

Christmas Lights is a lot of fun, but it is also physically taxing. We are standing for 2 hours, but it's so worth it to see people's faces light up when they see the lights. It's a really special experience. On the temple grounds we hostess and we welcome people. But we also collect referrals and invite others to come unto Christ. We are doing missionary work, but in a more subtle way that isn't as aggressive as working in our areas.

I had a small miracle happen last night. The place where we had our shift wasn't the most exciting place on the grounds. Actually, it was quite boring. After an hour of not really talking to anyone, I saw this family and I felt inspired to talk with them. I met the Slack family from Woods Cross! They are in the other stake, but they know President Traeden. Their son knows Jamison as well! They're in Jazz Band together! It was a very sweet experience meeting this family. They have a wonderful spirit about them. This family really lifted up my spirits and helped me remember my purpose of being on the temple grounds.

There's so much more that happened this week, but I don't have a lot of time and I still have to write President.

Love, Sister Dunn