March 24, 2014

Greetings!

This has been the fastest transfer of my entire life. I cannot believe that it is practically over. I say how fast time flies every week, but I'm not exaggerating how quickly these past 6 week have gone by. I felt like I just barely blinked and it's already gone!

Transfer news!! I'm staying in Vista Peaks!! And I'm getting TWO companions! Yes, I will be in a trio! Sister Sacher and Sister Hartley are my new companions. We're also getting another ward, the Preston ward. I'm still a solo Sister Training Leader. Crazy stuff.

Well, transfer news was a definite surprise. It caught me off guard actually. First, it was different having it come from the assistants (that was different) and second.... I don't know. I'm just in shock really. I have a lot of mixed feelings that are confusing me and making me scared and nervous. I've never felt the way I'm feeling before and I'm working to make them go away and be replaced with hope and happiness, but it's been hard. The reading schedule on the Atonement that President and Sister Jenkins gave the mission has helped me tremendously. The talks have helped make the Atonement... more graspable... if that's even a word. I feel that I am learning how to really apply the Atonement and grasp onto it for dear life.... literally!

I'm a bit leery for this next transfer. I've never been in a companionship where I'm not being trained/training (the possibility of training this transfer was slim since there are only 3 missionaries coming in and they're all elders.... ;P). I was scared and very uncertain after getting my news. During Sacrament Meeting yesterday our opening song was "Be Thou Humble." Boy did I need to be humbled! The second verse really stood out to me. It says, "Be thou humble in thy calling, and the Lord thy God shall teach thee to serve his children gladly with a pure and gentle love." My fears were in the way of me being humble and being able to accept the callings that the Lord has given me here in the Mesa Mission. I learned how valuable humility is. I wish that I was always humble and that I wouldn't have a problem accepting the Lord's will 110% and all the time, but I'm grateful and humbled that I was humbled when I was. Better late than never, right? I know that the Lord trusts me and that He has a plan for me and a specific work for me to do. I just hope that I can remain humble enough to pay attention to the subtle whisperings of the Spirit telling me what the Lord needs me to do. The thing that I'm going to do to be humble and build unity in the companionship is to acknowledge that Christ is the center of our world and that as we're humble He will show us where to go to find those that are seeking the truth and He will teach us to serve our wards, other missionaries, and each other. This transfer I'm going to work extra hard to devote everything that I have to the Lord and not get distracted by the little insignificant things. Here's to next transfer!

As I look back over this past week, it went by really fast (a HUGE blessing) but I feel we didn't get much done or were able to see many people (not so much a blessing). Everyone that we are actively teaching left for spring break along with their fellowshippers. It was really weird to plan because there wasn't a whole lot of planning to do. We actually spent a lot of time in our assisted living center (Legacy) where a few of our members live. It's here in Legacy where I experienced an amazing miracle from the Lord. We were in a commons area talking to one of our members, Shirley Jensen, and a couple of her non-member friends. Well, the last time we were there her friend Jean was present for a short lesson on the Plan of Salvation and loved the message of it. We invited her to learn more but she declined. This time Shirley, Jean, and another lady named Polly were there and we got to teach and testify of the Book of Mormon. As we bore simple testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon you could see the countenance, especially Jean's, change and they lit up like their spirits were remembering something that they'd forgotten. Both Jean and Polly took a Book of Mormon and committed to read it. The Spirit was so strong and these ladies truly wanted the book because they felt that they wanted it. Afterward we were getting ready to leave and we gave them both invitations to the Easter Pageant and this was Jean's response: "Oh no, Honey I'm not interested in going at all." As I reflected on this I was amazed at how the Spirit works. As we bore simple and bold testimony about the Book of Mormon the Spirit helped these sweet ladies accept it and have a desire to read it but when we simply invited them to the Easter Pageant they both declined. The Spirit testifies of pure truth! That was such an amazing experience! In Legacy we also have a very missionary-minded member who also invited Jean to sacrament meeting and said that she would come. Miracles!! Miracles in abundance!

It was really hard trying to see everyone else that we are teaching, but we worked hard to keep in contact with them via text, Facebook, etc.. Despite this week being transfers, there's going to be a lot of work done in both the Vista Peaks and Preston wards. I'm scared, excited, anxious, and humbled to begin this transfer and to be working in the wards with these two sisters. 

I had a wonderful birthday! I received TWO cakes, ONE cheesecake, TWO pies, and TWO cinnamon rolls and a bunch of muffins. Needless to say I got fed well on my birthday. The members showed so much love and I feel so blessed to be serving them. I also got to plant cantaloupe at some investigator's home! It was a blast. Here's the best part of my birthday..... I GOT A DOCTOR WHO SHIRT!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!! WHY DID I NEVER HAVE ONE BEFORE!?!?!?!?!?!? My life is now more complete. End of story.

-Sister Dunn

Saguaro Zone Temple Trip

March 17, 2014

Greetings!

I can't believe that transfers are next week. Where has the time gone? Oh! HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!! Hope you all have a little green on! This week has been overall really good. Zone Conference was spectacular. President Jenkins talked a lot on obedience. I really needed it because I needed to be more obedient. It's not that I wasn't obedient before, I just needed to be more EXACTLY obedient. I'm working really hard now to be obedient in everything and I'm exercising more faith that blessings and miracles will happen as a result. Hope all goes well! I also accompanied two musical number (note to self: never agree to learn two songs when you can never find the time to practice. Lesson learned.), and we also had ZTM... two meetings in the same day! I gave a training on teaching people not lessons. Not gonna lie. It was super awesome and drenched in the Spirit. I could see that the other missionaries really needed it. But near the end of my training, in walks President AND Sister Jenkins. No pressure right? It went great! I only blushed a little! AKA I was as red as a tomato.

Something that we're starting to focus on as a zone is what we discussed in MLC, especially planning and really thinking about the needs of our investigators and others that we're working with. As I've really taken time this past week to focus in on the needs of others I can feel that I'm developing true love for them and I can see that others can see this love and are more open to what we teach and ask them do. It's really amazing to see the pure love of Christ in action. 

WE GOT A LESS ACTIVE FAMILY TO CHURCH!!! AHHH! We've been working with the Nino family for months now to get them active and to get to church and they came! We were giving talks in Sacrament meeting so we arranged for awesome families to sit next to them and I could see that they loved being there and could feel the love of members around them. Unfortunately they had to leave right after Sacrament meeting, but they sent us the sweetest text that made me cry! It said: "I also wanted to share that RJ's mom let me know that RJ had made a comment on Facebook about how the missionaries were over and have made him realize how far he has steered away and wanted to be better." RJ is 16 and has the biggest gauges in his ears. He basically looks like a punk, but he has been touched and he has let the Spirit guide him!!!! AHHH! Miracles!

I went on exchanges with Sister Sacher this week! So many miracles happened it's not even funny! But this is the big one for the week. We were going to contact a referral from church headquarters. The house look super sketch and not safe but we go anyways. The person that we're looking for comes out along with a man.... the story is about the man.... The lady said she had no idea how we got her name and is not interested in learning right now and walked away. After that little exchange the man walks up to us and asks where he can get his own copy of the Book of Mormon. How awesome is it that we just happened to have one in our hand to give out!? It was his lucky day. We gave him a Book of Mormon and bore our testimonies and set up a time where we could come back and teach him. He was the most open person I've ever contacted.... and he was sincere too! He really want to know! And he said he would go to the Easter Pageant as well! MIRACLE!!!!

We have had a hard time finding investigators, but we had plenty of less actives that we're working with. Currently we are working with 3 families and they're all progressing towards becoming active again. How exciting is that? The total amount of people that are coming back is 15. Even though we're struggling to find investigators, we're helping lots of people come back and start keeping the covenants that they're made and start feeling the blessings from doing so. I feel really accomplished right now. I'm frustrated with finding, but I still feel accomplished. 

Well, nothing too exciting is going to happen this week... except I feel that the entire ward is going to throw me a birthday party on Saturday. I'm anxious to see what tricks they'll come up with! This ward is so amazing and I feel so loved by them. I hope I get to stay here another transfer! 

-Sister Dunn

All my sisters!!

Demon cactus - the name says it all!  What an evil looking thing . . . .

Laser tag :-(    
I suck!!

March 10, 2014

Greetings!!

I can't believe that it's already Monday. Where did the time go? I'm having a hard time recalling what happened because it literally FLEW BY. 

I LOVED MLC ON THURSDAY!! It was so amazing! I learned so much and received a lot of revelation. I actually took a lot of notes which is a rare thing! I learned so much about the Doctrine of Christ and the eternalness it has in everyone's life. I learned most that we are not just trying to get someone baptized, we are helping them receive eternal life like our mission statement says. That is our purpose as missionaries. Until this meeting I had never realized that I "get it" like Brother Packer (a member from the missionary department from Salt Lake who also happens to be the grandson of Elder Packer.....) kept saying. I get why we do the things we do and I get why the people we work with need to do certain things. I'm not teaching people to mark off one more check on the list of things to do. I'm literally helping someone become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. This knowledge is so precious to me and I recognize that it is the driving force of why I'm a missionary. I want all of my brothers and sisters to come back! Now I take more time to think about a person's needs and I seek revelation to know what Heavenly Father would have us do to help this person. Planning means so much more to me now than ever and I want to make it powerful, effective, and a time to receive revelation. Brother Packer had us do an activity in the parking lot of the church. We stood at one end of the parking lot and when Brother Packer said something like "invited to read the Book of Mormon" we would have to decide how big of a step to take that would bring us to the other side of the parking lot which represented baptism. The activity in the parking lot made me really think about how big the little things like prayer and reading the Book of Mormon are in someone's journey to eternal life. I LOVED MLC!! I gained such a strong testimony of the Doctrine of Christ and everyday during my studies I seek earnestly to learn the doctrine more and to find way to make it apply to EVERYTHING and try and see the eternal perspective of everything. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!

The work in the ward is coming along. Our most promising investigator is Jackie. She and her boyfriend Don (who looks exactly like Johnny Depp....) are former investigators. Don was the main person being taught when they first starting investigating. We've gone by a few times to talk with them and we've attempted to teach the first lesson with no luck. But every time we've gone by we teach them about how God is our LOVING Heavenly Father. Don has his own beliefs and rolls his eyes at us (we'll keep working on him....) while Jackie is attentive and you can see that she listens and wants to know if God really loves her and is her Heavenly Father. Last night we taught that principle again and I felt like I needed to share a very special experience about how I came to know that God is my loving Heavenly Father. The spirit was there so strong and she was crying and I was crying and I'm sure if the Spirit could physically cry He would have been crying as well. It was so spiritual and peaceful and I KNOW that she felt the Spirit. We're not sure that Don was touched as much though... We're praying that his heart will be softened. We invited her to pray and she was more willing to do it. All the lessons we've taught them have been on their porch, but not the next one! A member offered to have the lesson in their home so our next lesson with be in a member's home where we know the Spirit can be there. Jackie is our most promising investigator that could really PROGRESS. Otherwise we have 3 less active families that are returning to activity! YAY! There's so much going on in our ward. We always have people to see and teach and we're doing what the Bishop has asked us to do... which is to help the members of the ward be more converted. We've seen the excitement level of the ward increase and the members willingness to come out with us, especially the sisters, has skyrocketed. There's a lot going on! Although we don't have a lot of investigators, that part of the work is starting to pick up now that the members are more on-board. So exciting!! 

I'm so excited for Zone Conference this week. The talk that the assistants asked everyone to read in preparation for Zone Conference is the talk "What's the Blueprint of the Church?" by Elder Callister. I study it all the time and I'm strengthening my testimony that this is Christ's church on the earth. Reading this talk, studying the scriptures and "Jesus the Christ," and even watching "The District" DVDs has really helped as well. This Zone Conference I'm determined to be the most prepared that I've ever been. I'm so ready for it!!

Oh, it was so cool seeing President and Sister Jenkins at our stake conference. Now our members have a face for the name. Many of our members were touched by the comments they made about families and how easy it is to talk about family. Many, many, many LOVED it. With a new stake presidency and after being fed spiritually and receiving encouragement for how to do missionary work, I know our members will blossom and grow. I hope that we can keep this excitement going! 

-Sister Dunn

The pictures are of the stage for the Easter Pageant. The structure is BIGGER than the Visitors' Center!! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!

Beautiful flowering tree

Tree flower

March 3, 2014

Greetings!

This week has been absolutely crazy with three exchanges, blitzes, and
life in general. Last week was super busy, which is great but I'm
grateful that it's over and a new week has begun. I'm ready for a
fresh start :)

Sister Mitchell is doing great with the exchanges. She learns a lot
from them and gets different perspectives on missionary work which is
AWEOME. She's really supportive and goes with the flow when life gets
crazy. She's progressing well :)

Well, I'm not sure that there's a lot to report on in our area. We've been
working hard to find people to teach and help to get baptized, but I
swear that everyone that we've talked to either is not interested,
can't contact, is excommunicated, or whatever. I've never worked so
hard and yet it's hard to see the fruits of our labors. This ward is
on the verge of greatness! We still have a lot of work to do though.
We're seeing and teaching a lot of less actives and many are on their
way back into activity. So, I guess that's success... Right?

Well, I honestly don't feel like I have a lot to write today, which is
not normal. I loved the Gilbert Temple dedication! This was definitely
not my first and probably not my last, but this one was the most
amazing one that I've been to yet. It was the most memorable and
spiritual. I definitely journaled that one. President and Sister
Jenkins got to be in the Celestial Room with President Monson and
President Eyring. How cool is that!?

It poured on Saturday. It was about time too! The roads were beginning
to flood and it was an adventure! I loved it! This is an example of
why you don't park your car under a tree during a storm. Lesson
learned.

 

 

February 24, 2014

Greetings!

This week has been... really good. It was really hard near the beginning of the week because I really missed my family, but it got so much better near the end. The members in the Vista Peaks ward have been fantastic and have shown so much love and compassion for me and my family this past week. I've never felt so much love from a ward before. Friday was a little harder for me, but it went well. Heavenly Father definitely helped me this week. He helped my mourning speed up so that I could be as effective as I possibly could. There was this really sweet member last Sunday. I was in the bathroom crying because I was sad and in mourning. She came up and gave me a hug. She didn't even know that Grandma had passed away. But later that week on Tuesday her husband, who is one of our ward missionaries, came to visits with fudge sticks and a card for me. The card said that she later found out about my Grandma and she wanted me to know that their family was always there for me. Then she said "I was going to get you flowers and ice cream, but I hope that you can settle for fudge sticks instead." She is so sweet and loving! This ward is really fantastic and I've never felt so much love from members before... ever! I love Vista Peaks! The members have made this week super wonderful, but my studies have really helped me as well. My personal study is my favorite hour of the day. This precious hour has given me solace and has brought me peace, comfort, and love. I'm studying a Book of Mormon with this question in mind. It's "How does Heavenly Father see me?" I've received so much personal revelation this week and it has been amazing. I feel guided to know what Heavenly Father would have me do to live up to my potential. This week in DLC we were discussing what we can do to help the zone grow and live up to our potential. We decided that we needed to get back to the basics of basics and learn who we really are as children of God. The way that we're going to help the zone do this is start with our selves and when we see the other missionaries tell them about it and share our enthusiasm about what we are discovering. I'm really excited to see what will happen in the zone. I know that I've already seen many blessings from doing so. 

Our area is picking up work! YAY! We've found 3 new investigators this week through many miracles. We have return appointments with them this week and we've found members to come with us each time. The ward is starting to really get on board and is more willing to help and come out with us. It's exciting to see the ward grow. We had a really neat experience on Tuesday. One of our goals is to help the ward become more converted, especially the sisters. We had a member, Sister Lautenschlager, come with us to contact a potential. We were able to see the potential, share a message, set a return appointment, and have a prayer. It was so amazing. The Spirit was so strong and I know that both the member and the potential were touched. Afterward, Sister Lautenschlager thanked us from the bottom of her heart that she had the privilege of feeling the Spirit, watching someone else be touched, and for strengthening her testimony of the gospel. Our goal is being accomplished! It's so exciting! She shared that experience in Relief Society and I could see that the other sisters were touched as well. 

A HUGE MIRACLE HAPPENED ON SUNDAY!  Our investigator, Christian, came to church with his super less active mother and they stayed for all three hours!!!!! HUZZAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've never been so happy in my entire life! But, we have to push back his baptism date.... His dad will not let him be baptized. :( but we'll keep teaching him! Him mom is ok with us coming over and teaching. She is the custodial parent, but she doesn't want to cause problems between her and Christian's dad. Until then, we'll keep teaching and praying :)

I feel very hopeful. I feel like I'm emotionally, almost physically (my back is causing me problems again....), and spiritually stronger. I feel like the Lord is able to do more work through me now. It's a really sweet experience and feeling. I know I still have a lot of learning to do, but I'm seeking to earnestly learn and improve every day. Good things are going to happen, I know it. I hope I'm in the right place, at the right time, with the right people when it happens.

Love, Sister Dunn

Elder Nilson

February 17, 2014

Greetings,

This has been such a hard week. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it because it doesn't need it. I don't want to glamorize how hard this past week has been. This has been the most challenging week yet on my mission. I'm glad it's over and a new week has begun.

My week has been hard because we've worked SO HARD to try and get members with us every hour. We've prayed, fasted, and called to get members out. We planned in advance and called and texted often to make sure that this would happen. Out of all the people we asked to come with us and agreed to come, only 3 were able to make it. That is really discouraging. We're working so hard to do what has been asked of us and everything is literally crumbling in our hands. It's the most sad thing to see and feel. It's been hard to not get mad or sad, and I'd felt that I'd been doing pretty good not feeling sad or mad.

I've spent a lot of time praying and studying in my spare time and that's help a lot. But I still feel like I failed in someway and I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong. I don't know, but it's been hard. The the other thing that made my week hard is my Grandma's death. I can't explain this enough: No matter the amount of preparing or bracing yourself you do for a death, it's still hard. I can FEEL her loss and I'm hurting because I can't be with my family at this time. I'm a little sad and mad because their lives are going on while I have to live mine like they don't exist... But they do. I'm completely cut off and there is nothing that I can really do to help them except pray. But I want to do more to help them! I wasn't ready for her to go. Who would have ever thought that my short time with her on Skype would be the last time I would see her in this life. I literally would not be here or be as hopeful as I am if I didn't have a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I don't know how people make it through life without that knowledge. I guess that's why I'm a missionary ;D

I got a letter from Elder Perry (yes, THE Elder Perry) on transfer day. When I read it I thought it was kinda weird. It wasn't bad but I didn't see the meaning of it. But after my Grandma's death this sweet letter brought me so much comfort.

It says: "Dear Sister Dunn, Leo Cornia and his wife are great friends of mine. They have done just what they should in this life of rearing a good family, taught them the joy of honest labor, and built a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in their children and grandchildren that should be the envy of parents all over the world.

"Now as a granddaughter you have the obligation to carry on the same spirit. They have certainly given their family tree a rich source of nourishment for continued growth of the Cornia family.

"We wish you good blessings as you serve in the mission field. As I have traveled around, we see how valuable the sisters have been in this new effort of hastening the work. You have been called at the right time. With the background you have, the training and heritage which is yours I am sure that you will make a contribution that will endure like that of the Cornia's."

This is what I needed to not be depressed. I needed motivation to keep going and not get down. Yes I am mourning, but I'm not disabled or incapable of work. My family motivates me now. Even though I am separated from them and I feel cut off, I'm working hard to keep my sadness  and anger at bay. There's no room for it here. I know that they are still ok and are moving on with this chapter of their lives. I need to as well.

In President Jenkins email to the mission for the week he wrote something that I really needed. He wrote: "Never lose hope (don't be afraid). Never give up or give in. You are stronger than you think.  The power of the scriptures, of our personal righteousness, and of our faith and belief in the Savior, combined with the enabling power of the Atonement are sufficient for all our challenges, trials, heartaches, addictions, tendencies, and weaknesess. I promise you that this is true." I felt that a part of it was written specifically for me. I really needed because this is a difficult time in my life, but I want to be stronger from it. I don't want it to incapacitate me. I still have a lot of emotions going through me so fast that I have a hard time keeping up, but I have definitely felt heaven's help. I always feel Heavenly Father's and Jesus Christ's love for me and I can see the tender mercies that they are blessing me with. They know that I'm having a hard time and they are helping me.

I'm really hopeful for this coming week. I don't know what's coming or what's going to happen, but I'm hopeful. That's all I got right now; hope, Christ, and Heavenly Father. There's more I have, but these things are going to play a major role this week :)

Love, Sister Dunn

(PS.  You have no idea how many hugs I got on Sunday! I hadn't made it too public that Grandma had passed away but people were just giving me hugs right and left. Then when they found out I felt like I was at Niagara "hugs" )

February 10, 2014

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