Greetings!
I can't believe that another transfer has flown by... Where did the time go?! I'm staying in my area (huzzah!), staying as a STL, and Sister Mitchell and I are still companions. I'm grateful that I get to stay in my area. I definitely felt that my work there is not done and that the Lord still needs me to do a specific purpose. Right now our Bishop is making a big push for strengthening the members (especially the sisters) and having the ward become more converted. The best way we know how to do that is to get the sisters out with us doing visits! I firmly believe that this is what our ward needs, especially the sisters! It's been hard in the past to get sisters out with us because they had no experience before we came so we didn't make the effort that we should have been to get members out with us every hour. But I've changed my way of thinking and I'm always thinking about who we could take out and how we can inspire the members to do missionary work on their own. During our weekly planning we created a list of when we needed members and who we planned on seeing, then we called people who we felt would be great to bring out with us for specific people and who would really benefit from coming out with us. We spent hours doing this because we wanted to listen to the counsel of our leaders and act on the inspiration we've received about strengthening the ward. I've definitely seen the blessings of doing our best to do what we've been asked to do. By no means are we perfect at it, but we've seen and experienced some sweet miracles.
One of our miracles came through a 9 year old boy named Christian. Christian's parents are less active and divorced and he spends half the week with his mom and the other half at his dad's. We found him through his mom, who lives in our ward. We found out about Lisa from our primary president who encouraged us to see Lisa. When we saw the family for the first time you could just feel how prepared Christian is and you could feel his desire to be baptized. He's so awesome! When we asked him if he wanted to be baptized this was his response: "Yes, I do want to be baptized! But.... I don't know if I'm prepared enough..." How lucky for him that we're there to help him be prepared! His mother is ok with us teaching him; she wants to come back to church herself! From watching her during our first lesson, I could see that she was interested and was happy that we were there. He's reading and praying on his own already and committed to ask God to know the truth. He's 9 years old and so prepared! When he goes to his dad's, he does attend church with his grandma so the next step is to get Lisa to take her kids to church. We've set a baptism date for March 8th. We're waiting for permission from his dad... So hopefully this will all work out.
We had a really neat experience on Saturday. We do combined companion study as a zone each week and normally we do something from 12 Week, but his study was a little different. The zone leaders include me in their DLC meeting the previous day and we discussed what we could do to make this transfer end with a bang and keep the enthusiasm and energy of the missionaries up. So, Elder Moschetti led us in a study that, for me at least, got me pumped to keep going even if I had gotten transferred. He had us do a personal study activity from PMG chapter 8. We planned our homecoming talk and gave it in front of each other. Doing this activity made me think a lot about the person I want to become, what I want to do on my mission, and what differences others will notice in me. I've realized that I've come a long way since the beginning of my mission, but I have a long way to go. But I have the motivation and enthusiasm to keep working and improving. My end goal, or the vision that I have for myself, is to have others recognize, feel, and see me as a disciple of Christ. I want others to know how much I love him and want to do exactly what He asks me to do. I've made some huge steps towards this goal. I'm gaining and exercising my faith, developing Christlike attributes, and I'm willingly accepting the will of The Lord as my own. I'm far from perfect, but I've definitely progressed and I hope to keep progressing.
We also got to go to the temple this week! It was so amazing and much needed. I'm still amazed how pure the Spirit dwells there. So much peace! I love it!!
I'm so excited for this transfer!! This transfer is going to be filled with blessings and miracles! Make February FABULOUS!
Love, Sister Dunn
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