Greetings!
We've done a lot of service this week!! We helped stain an extremely less-active's garage door which led into a teaching opportunity for her and her hispanic live-in house maid. We invited the Spanish sisters to join us and a lot of good things happened as a result. That was definitely a miracle. Hopefully this member will reactivate herself by helping her "maid" learn English and the gospel. By the time we finished staining I looked like a freckled ginger. I wish a had a picture! We got to use a spray gun and I was the victim of being down wind of the spray. On top of that we did lots of service for the other members in our wards, but we did all this service in one day.
We were so jammed packed we didn't even have time for studies. I'm thinking to myself "Well, that was really dumb. Why would you let that happen?" I continue to ask myself this a lot.... As a result we didn't really get to plan our lesson with Al or find a a member to come with us. Needless to say I was stressed and disappointed in myself that I neglected one of the most important elements of the day: companionship study. After dinner we had 30 minutes to find a member and plan our lesson. We knew we were going to teach the Restoration but had no clue how or what scriptures we would use. Rather than letting my stress and anxiety cause me to doubt and abandon the lesson, I began to pray A LOT. I haven't prayed so desperately before. I prayed that our lesson would go well and that we would be able to find a member. I also apologized a lot for the poor planning and not doing the essentials like studies. It was the weirdest feeling... Well, not weird but new. I felt reassurance behind all the stress. I felt a determination to not give up finding a member even though we have called almost half of the ward directory. 10 minutes before the lesson started we called a member and she was available and agreed to come to our lesson. What a relief!
The lesson we had with Ed was amazing. It was an actual lesson as well and that made all the difference. He was always so busy that we struggled to even teach a single principle. He sacrificed his time and gave his full attention to us and to the Spirit and we had an amazing lesson. The Spirit was so strong and Ed can feel that it is true. I think this is one of the only lessons where I felt that everything that I thought and said was all from the Spirit. I could just feel him emanating from me and it was very powerful.
We're working a lot to have God be the most important person in his life. Even though he knows these things to be true, he isn't at the point where he will do anything for the Lord. He's let us down a lot after that lesson and his priorities have become very apparent. I know that as we continue to work with him he will be ready to be baptized in September.
Teaching the Lee family is going well. The cute little niece will have to wait till she's 18 but during our lesson this week she bore a really strong testimony of the church and how much she loves it. She really dislikes the Catholic church and is anxiously waiting for the day she gets to be a member of this church. We're going to teach her and invite her to start living like a member now rather than putting it off.
We've been spending a lot of time working with our members. They've been coming out with us a lot as well! I think that's where a good portion of our week went. We did a lot of finding with our members. They were great experiences and I think we really opened the eyes of one member. She has a daughter on a mission and she views that as her missionary work. She thinks that we always have appointments and that there is never a dark cloud in our lives. When we were with her, many doors remained unopened and she got to see that she needs to step up her game to help the missionaries. It's great to see the members see and understand what their role is in hastening the work. We went contacting with another member on the hottest day of the year... and I may or may not have been on the verge of heat exhaustion. But have no fear because I'm alive and well right now!
We're doing family mission plans with families and they're going great! A lot of members see that we can't really do "traditional" missionary work in this area and we need them. The members are starting to change in a good way :) CRAZY STORY! We were at the Hui family last night to help them put together their family mission plan. As we were talking, Brother Hui randomly stops the conversation and feels that he needs to tell his family about some missionary experiences he had at work the past week. He shared an experience that ended with a rejected offer to learn more about the gospel. Then we he was like "But wait! It gets better!" In my mind I was really happy for this man. He then told of his experience where one of his coworkers randomly came up to him and told him he just got baptized. He said his name was Jim. I was like "Hey! I know a Jim, but there's no way it's the same one." Then I randomly blurted/asked where he works. He said the same company where my recent convert Jim works at. I about died with excitement because he knows my Jim!! What a small world we live in!
I almost forgot! Transfer news! I'm ready for many, many, many miracles to happen this transfer! I'm grateful that I get to stay with my companions. Not gonna lie, I was caught off guard that we stayed as a trio. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I didn't see that one coming. But I am grateful to be staying with them. It was weird to not have any changes happen this transfer. Is this what "normal" feels like?
Fun times! We had a really big storm come in this week, which meant wind! We would play around and act like air benders! It was super fun! When I get home I'll have to show you all my water bending moves as well....
This coming week is going to be great! Everyone and their dog is coming home from vacation... and that means not as many empty doors! Yay! I'm excited to see what miracles are going to happen in the coming week!
-Sister Dunn
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