Dec 15th

I'm at that point in my mission where I can look around during a missionary meeting and realize I'm one of the oldest missionaries in the room and it's the weirdest sensation ever - so whenever anyone asks how much time I have left I just say "less than six months" and that works.

This past week we had an exchange (although it's a weekly occurrence nowadays) and I stayed in the area this time. I'd been fighting a cold recently and even though I was beyond the worst of it, I had to talk the most so it wiped out my voice. I expected it to come back the next day, but it wasn't until four days later I told Sis. Smith I diagnosed myself with a paralyzed vocal chord that it started making improvements. I sound normal now, except for when I try to hit a C, so it still has room for improvement, but it's comforting to know I'm no expert in self-diagnosis. :)

This week we had a crazy wind storm! The night of its peak a ward member told us people were advised to stay indoors, but we never got a text from President saying we shouldn't go out for 5-7s (our tracting hours), so we went out anyway. Everyone told us to be careful, and we felt a few stinging pine needles and a random pine cone, but otherwise it wasn't too bad. Our power went out that night so we propped our flashlights up to plan and a recent convert who lives downstairs from us came up with a lantern to me sure we were ok - she's a sweetheart! The next day it looked like a hurricane went through with so many branches across the grass and roads, but our power was back on by morning, so life was back to normal.

Saturday I got to go back up to Tacoma for the baptism of an older woman we've been teaching for a year!! I was SO excited, and probably because I got to see Sister Walker, Loy and Humphreys for the first time in three weeks! (Doesn't sound that long, but it feels like ages in companionship time!) It was a little different than I anticipated because a sister from the mission had to go home for medical problems, so Sister Walker got emergency transferred to an English area and came up with an English companion for the baptism as well. We caught up as much as possible as we could in that short span of time, I realized how much I miss hearing Cambodian, but most of all it soothed my worries about how well Sisters Loy and Humphreys would do in Cambodian work alone, and how well Sister Walker would adjust to English work! She's loving it already, said it would be a healthy challenge for the other sisters, and as it so happens she got transferred in an area Sis. Smith and I are STLs for, so we can go on exchanges with each other!!! Ha! I don't think President even knew that when he gave her the call, so God is good! :) It was an awesome baptism, and I'm so excited to hear about the progress they're making over there. There's no guarantee on anything, but I'm hoping to go back Cambodian for my last transfer, in less than six months or so. :) But I'm thoroughly enjoying the work where I am right now, so that'll come when it's time!

So for a spiritual thought in light of the wind storm, I would like to share a scripture, popularly quoted in General Conference; Helaman 5:12;

"And now, my sons, remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Song of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless woe, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

As we drove through the fallen branches strewn across the roads, I realized the wind just took out the weak or dead branches from the trees, so the trees are now clean, and stronger than they were before. I noted my thought process out loud to Sister Smith and how that's what happens to us in times of adversity; we are being put through a refiner's fire, and it's only through those experiences we are better able to put our priorities in line and focus on what truly matters in life in order to become stronger, and firmer in our foundation for life. In the words of the Twelve Apostles, "God be thanked for the matchless gift of His Divine Son"!

Love you!

Sister Dunster

                                            My first exchange with Sisters Graves and Geraldino!

                                                                    Hannah's baptism!

                                                              Yiay Rut Maorl's baptism!!

                                            Me and Sis Walker, marking our one year with Yiay!

                                                                        Larry's baptism!

                                                        Gingerbread house decorating at dinner :)

                                                                    Planning in the dark

                               

                                                       Our backyard during the blackout

                                       Second exchange: Sisters Harbough, Smith, Wilson and me

                              This is what happens when we run in the morning and it starts to rain...

Dec 8th

We were in such a rush to get to the library after shopping I left my planner in the car, so I'll just have to go by memory and hope that I get everything in! We had two baptisms this week; Larry, a 14 yr old boy, and Hannah, a 16 yr old girl. It's weird baptizing people I've only taught once or twice, but they were really good and Hannah's grandparents came and are interested in learning more about the church, so that's awesome! They'll only be in town for a short little while, but we can at least get them started.

Oh, I have to tell you about the other investigators we have right now. Ian's is such an interesting lesson - every time! He has this puppy (or furry ball of energy) called Princess that bounces around her cage as soon as we get there and has to stay on a leash the entire time else she WILL climb all over you! It's kind of hard to concentrate during the lesson when you have to keep her entertained else she'll bite you, chew on your shoe, or climb into your lap, but fortunately Sister Smith has a red laser in her flashlight that helps the puppy focus her energy elsewhere. Not only that, but in spite of everything Ian's been through, he's really intelligent, and the first time the elders came with us to team teach him, Elder Pierce commented "I feel like you're teaching us as much as we're teaching you, I've learned so much!" and I completely agreed! It seems our job is simply to ask an inspired question and he'll just talk himself through the lessons. His thought process is very logical, and he comes to the same conclusions that we're going for, so we just give him the gospel and he teaches us it seems.

Bob is an older guy that repeats himself a lot because of the drugs he's been on in the past, but he's so happy to be in remission an is proud of the fact that he's able to resist temptation with which we share his joy. He's such a character and loves to talk, so it takes a bit of effort to make sure whatever we teach him is simple enough we can get it in between long spouts of conversation, but he's come a long ways.

This past week I've learned a lot from my scriptures study, especially when it comes to the Atonement. I never fully understood how central the Atonement was until I came on my mission, and everything leads back to it. I was reading in 3 Nephi 9 where just before, Christ is crucified and many people die in the upheavals and natural disasters that occur. Then, in the next chapter the voice of Jesus Christ is heard saying:

 "O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me." (verses 13-14)

 

At first glance the invitation seems like so broad, and repentance can seem so demanding and harsh until you look into it more and understand where it's coming from and what it truly means. Imagine someone you admire and look up to, who you don't want to disappoint. This is like Jesus Christ, who is our older brother, and who loves us more than we can love him back. He gave his life not just for everyone, but for you personally so he's felt everything you have; the good times and the bad times. He knows what it takes to succeed and have happiness, so he's with you at all times, waiting to help if you let him. Elder Pierce (one of the elders we share a ward with) described the Atonement during one of Ian's lessons this way; "it's not like the light at the end of the tunnel, but the light all around us". It's there to give us strength, as well as peace during times of trial. It's not just there to lift you up when you fall, but to run even harder when you're on your feet. And so my challenge is to look for ways you can better use the Atonement in your life, which can be as simple as recognizing something you need to change for the better, looking beyond your own problems far enough to recognize the needs of others and helping them, or giving up a small habit that is holding you back. From an all knowing, all loving God who is the essence of love and happiness, all He asks is that we give up what we think we want, for what we need. I love this gospel, and the power it's given me to be happy. I'm not perfectly happy all the time, and that's now what life means, but discovering how to be grateful in all circumstances. Because like I said last week, no matter what we do or don't have in life; everyone has power to access the Atonement.

Love you, and hope you had a great week!

Sister Dunster

Dec1

As I said last week, it's like the tornado swept me from my home in Kansas to the land of Oz! I honestly feel like I just got a new mission call: I'm in a new area, working with a new ward, teaching in a different language, and with a companion I'd never imagined working with - it's very different, but I love it! I still take note of Asians, pray in Cambodian, and do language study, but I'm adjusting to the fact that we teach every white person we talk to, these English investigators we have are now mine, and it's bizarre to be the missionary that ward members come up to and say "So you're the new one!"  

Lacey was actually one of my first choice of places to go, and it's definitely proved to be the best place! Comparing Tacoma to Lacey is like comparing apples to oranges - it just doesn't happen, so I'll just tell you my experience with Lacey so far. The work goes fast; we have member with lessons almost every single lesson, we have two baptisms coming up this week and two on the horizon, the members feed us nearly every day, and if not there are members in surrounding wards that we meet at WinCo and they pay for our groceries!! (This just happened an hour ago and apparently it's never happened to Sis. Smith before either, so that's kind of an exception) The dogs are more tame, there are more trees (yes!), and there are still Cambodians in the area I can scout out and... send over the Cambodians. Obviously it's a mental hurdle I have yet to overcome in realizing I teach English people for now, but that doesn't mean I still can't help out the others. :)

For Thanksgiving we went to three different meals. Not a smart idea! We ate as little as possible, but the middle meal was Samoan, so of course we had to have chopped suey, raw fish salad, taro, and rolls in coconut syrup (really good), in addition to the classic American meal they had out. So by the time the third rolled around I could barely manage of few more mouthfuls before I stopped. But I got to meet quite a few key members, and I love them! The ward, and the investigators we're working with! We've taught with both a member and with the elders now which is very different, but can actually work, and we have some good elders in the ward with us that have never served with sisters before (one's a greenie) so they're conscious not to step on our toes and are great in helping out.

The weather's taken a dive as it snowed on Saturday! It stuck in areas with shade, and the temperature never recuperated, so we're stuck in the 20-30s, but we randomly got a text from a returned missionary from another ward who wanted to go tracting with us! He just got back from Ohio, so he's plenty adjusted to the cold, but I still had to give him kudos for volunteering in this weather!

We'll be going on my first exchange this coming week which will be fun and exciting. I'm told it's exhausting work, but worth it! I've learned a lot just from my first week here, one of them being gratitude. The reasoning's a little obvious, but as I pondered what it means to have an attitude of gratitude in your daily life and not just for little things, I realized literally everyone has something to be grateful for. No matter where you are in life, whether on cloud nine, or rock hard bottom, everyone has access to the Atonement. That's why, as much as some people don't like it, we missionaries are out spreading the message of the gospel to others; because there is miraculous power and life through the Atonement, and no one should be exempt from access to it! It's real, I've experienced it, and I've seen it in the lives of those around me. We have everything to be grateful for, and I'm so excited for the opportunity to really focus on it during the Christmas season, as it is the greatest manifestation of God's love for us.

Love you!

Sister Dunster

Nov 24th

Holy moly, transfer calls!! 

First of all, I was totally wrong when I guessed how many companions I would have by the end of my mission, but that juts goes to show how narrow our point of view is compared to God's plan for us! President Blatter didn't give us any clues as to what our transfer call was going to be, except during a phone call he asked if I'd ever served English before. He already knew the answer because we'd discussed this in interviews before,  and he also knew I wasn't particularly interested in serving English, but that I would pray about it if that's something he wanted me to consider.

Last week Sis. Walker mentioned how she'd like to go English speaking just to gain a different experience outside the ward we've been in for over a year now, and to gain a different set of skills. It wasn't until then that I realized it's something I should pray about and see if it really was something I should look into. So this past week with transfers looming up, I contemplated the option of going English, and strongly felt, I would be going English speaking this coming transfer. 

The closer it got, the more sure I felt, and the more I looked forward to it, as I never realized it until I got back from an exchange, that it's so easy to get stuck in a rut when you're in the same place for too long; things become too routine and less inspired, and I just really needed a change. Saturday was the day of the calls, and here's the verdict: I am now going to Lacey with Sister Smith, English speaking!! It's exactly what I needed, and although I'm going to have separation anxiety as Sister Walker and I haven't been away from each other longer than 24 hours for the past 14 months, it'll be good.

And, as it so happened, I'm also going to be a Sister Training Leader which means I'll be going on exchanges with lots of fellow sisters every week. I laughed when President said that because it wasn't at all within my radar of options, and it's always been a joke between us that I would get called as an STL. Then it happened. But in my heart I'll always be Cambodian, so as I get to travel in the areas surrounding Lacey, I will forever keep my eyes out for Cambodians so I can scout out the work down there for the others who are now going to be in a trio.

In the midst of it all I feel like Dorothy whose house got swept up by a tornado and she suddenly found herself in the land of Oz. But she made friends and conquered the Wicked Witch, so we never know what will happen in Lacey. :)

The other sisters had a baptism which they asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost for. I'd given a talk in Khmer before, but this time the words really flowed quicker and I was able to say a little more than I have the past. It'll be the last time I speak that much Khmer for a few transfers which I'm really bummed about, but for sure I'll go back for at least my last transfer. This will be my fourth to last, so who knows what will happen those last three!

That took the cake for this week, so anything else I had planned to write is no pretty insignificant to me now. Although the work will be very different and I'll miss the people of Tacoma, I'm excited for a chance to work in a new area, and gain a new experience. After all, the church is true, no matter where you go. :)

Love you all!

Sister Dunster

Nov 19th

Four out of the five times I've been on an exchange with the Sister Training Leaders I've stayed in the area, so I was pretty bummed when this fourth call came until I learned I'd at least have Sister Kaivalvatana!! She's a sister from Thailand that is leaving this upcoming transfer, so she only had 2 weeks left, and while she tried to focus, we definitely talked a lot about what it's like having so little time left. It made me reflect on the next 4.5 months I have left and what I'd like to accomplish in that time. One of the reasons I love Sister K is how absolutely loving and guileless she is: you leave her feeling more loving towards everyone around you, and one of those people you just love to be around! Unfortunately not very many people opened their doors for us, but that just means we talked everywhere we went and with everyone we met with. :)

Saturday we had breakfast at Bishop's house. It was our first meeting with the bishop so it was kind of a get-to-know-you, and where he established the vision he had for the missionary work in the ward and asked if there was anything we needed from the ward. It was honestly one of the most revolutionary meetings I've had in this ward which was spent over pumpkin waffles, scrambled eggs and bacon (Sister Oaks does so much and is simple amazing!). I'm sad to see our old bishop finish, but I'm also excited to see the change take place in the new presidency. I left feeling so pumped to get out and work, which also carried into Sunday where in Relief Society we talked about missionary work and all I wanted to do was just go out and talk to people. Granted I've always wanted to work, but I'd never felt so restless during church before.

Monday was a little more fun in the fact that we got permission to play volleyball with our district! I hadn't played in 8 months, but I didn't exactly have a good running stretch of practice before that either, so it was just fun to spend time with our district and do something fun and active. (Sorry, no pictures this week.) 

And, good news; this week after picking up a former investigator we got so excited to finally have an investigator and an actual sit-down lesson that for a second we weren't exactly sure what to teach him, especially when the last we talked to him he professed to being a Buddhist. But he really liked the Restoration and we're just praying that he'll take time to really pray this week to know the Book of Mormon's true! I love this work, and I know, no matter what your background or circumstances, it's meant for everyone!

Sister Dunster

Nov 12th

Remember how last week's email was super long? It might not be THAT long this week, but it's a pretty good follow-up email from last week!

First, Wednesday we went to an investigator's house to help him with bear grass which is where we takes sheaves of long green grass you seen in floral arrangements, and cut the dead parts off to make it look nice since they sell it and that's where a lot of Cambodians get their income. I didn't even do much but cut grass and listen to Sister Loy and the investigator chat away in Cambodian in this small, cold basement, but I felt such a love and belonging being there. We do a lot of work, but knowing my call is to Cambodians, those special moments I serve them are all the more fulfilling.

That night as we stood silent at a doorstep while this man pointed and ranted about everything "wrong" with our church, again, I felt that same assuring love that it doesn't matter what others say they think they know about the gospel, it doesn't make it any less true. It's moments like those that make tracting both really hard, and worth it.

Tuesday we didn't have any appointments, so we went tracting down a street that apparently gets knocked a lot because the people were very abrasive, so we stopped and just started walking down the sidewalk. I prayed that we'd be able to either find someone who needed us, or that they would find us, when two minutes later we saw a woman walking up with 6 bags of groceries balanced out and her pursed hooked to her belt making her way from the bus station. We offered our help which I expected her to brush off when she accepted! We walked with her a few blocks to her house where she told us she lived with a nephew, her cat Gato, and she'd heard of the church and had attended once but wasn't really interested in going. She wanted to show us her cat, so we arrived in time for it to get its medicine, and upon her request, we said a prayer for her cat's health before we left. You just got to love Tacoma!

Sunday we had several key less-actives coming to church which we were planning for, and there was a rumor in town that we were having a special guest visiting church, so a few hours before church when it was confirmed, we used that as part of our edge in convincing the last few people to come to church. The best part was that they were more excited about knowing who of their friends were going to be there than the fact that Elder Dallin H. Oaks was coming. We got a new bishop on Sunday, so naturally all the missionaries worked hard to get as may people there for this special event as possible which made it packed, but the best part was sitting down and being able to see a whole bench taken up by Cambodian less-actives, recent converts, and investigators!!! It was the most Cambodians I've ever seen to church in one setting, and it just added to our excitement to see Elder Oaks on the stand as our bishop was released and his son Lloyd Oaks was made our new bishop. It was definitely a memorableSunday!

Tuesday, which is why we couldn't email yesterday, we had a conference for a visiting authority of the Seventy, Elder Steven E. Snow coming to speak to us. The power went off near the beginning of the meeting, so we spent half of it in the dark which was fun, and still managed with various flashlights and cellphones to see our scriptures. We didn't get a lot of missionary work done as the meeting didn't get done until late and we were asked to participate in a mission fireside that evening where I accompanied a musical number. It was the most challenging music I've had so far, I'd only gotten the day before and hadn't had time to practice at all, so although it wasn't perfect, it turned out well, and the Spirit was definitely there, and I enjoyed it.

So that's been my week in the WA-TAC! Love you, all!!

Sister Dunster

Our zone-wide Sister's pday activity.

Bottom: Sisters Madsen, Rasmussen, Biggley, Lomu, Thompson, Jensen

Middle: Bishop, Walker, K, Hardy, Chipman,

Top: Me, Loy, Humphreys

 At Gig Harbor again with Humphreys, then Walker (we just happened to be reverse matching for the meeting with Elder Snow)

                                  Wishing our President a Happy Birthday!

Nov 3rd

The most interesting things generally happen on Tuesdays - after, I email. In this case Sister Humphreys and I had just studied "Finding with faith" in Preach My Gospel and how God either places us in others' path, or how others are placed in our path. Our prayer that day was that even if we didn't find a new Cambodian investigator, that we would at least meet someone who we could help. So, listen to this.... or, read this:

That night during tracting I realized it was a street I'd done before and knew nobody was interested, so I contemplated hopping over to the other side but decided to exercise some faith and knock it anyway. Near the end we got farther than I had before and at the last house of a corner, Sister Humphreys knocked, and after hearing our introduction, the woman who answered laughed and said "We were just about to have a fellowship about your church." We were thoroughly confused as we were ushered in and invited to take a seat on the couch. As it was, to our right was a couple from our church of a ward nearby, and to our left a Seventh Day Adventist couple; the husband, Poli, having been through several churches and many family members that are Mormons. What they meant by "fellowship" was that they were sharing each others' beliefs and having a sort of discussion which we had arrived just in time to participate in and all agreed it was by divine means we happened to arrive. 

I had no idea what the Mormon couple expected of us missionaries whether they wanted us to take charge or simply share comments, but I didn't have to worry about saying anything right away as what was supposed to be a discussion turned into listening to Poli talk about our differences and what we do and don't believe in for 20 minutes straight. We listened to him talk about many things including how we don't believe in the same Christ and how - although he never explicitly said but inferred in every way possible - the Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith. Although the Spirit was very present in the beginning, it didn't last long as he kept talking. When he finally gave us a chance, we were able to bear testimony of what we DO believe in, which contradicted this little red book about religions he used to tell us what we knew and didn't know, and even though he said it was an open discussion and he had a strong faith in Christ, he wasn't truly open to what we had to say.

His favorite statement was "I've read the Book of Mormon, I've done my research." and the comment that finally ended the discussion was about the fourth time we testified that the Book of Mormon was not written by Joseph Smith, but by prophets just like in the Bible, before it finally clicked for him that he was trying to argue and he back-pedaled, saying he could probably read the Book of Mormon again. We had told him several times and we could have kept doing it, but it was only when it was stated like a fact he wasn't willing to accept, and less like a statement to counter his attack that he realized how the discussion had turned, and he backed down. I have never sought the Spirit's guidance as hard as I did during this discussion, and I know it was only through the Spirit we were able to know what to say in order to leave him a little more open to continually seeking the truth. It was the highlight of my week to be able to feel the Spirit so strongly as we listened and tried to discern what we could testify in order to defend the faith, and to leave still on good terms. They invited us to come back next week, but since they weren't Cambodian, we gave it to the elders in the area to go.

It's just so cool how God works; a few days later the Sister of the couple called and thanked us for showing up. She shared how she and her husband had prayed to know what to say to the other couple and when they sat down after dinner to begin their discussion, it started taking a turn. It was at that point she said a silent prayer that God would support them and help them know what to say when there was a knock at the door. I didn't particularly feel the Spirit prompting me to keep knocking that street - I just wanted to exercise faith and do the right thing.  God hears our prayers and answers them!! Sometimes through divine means, and sometimes through other people. 

Haha, sorry this is going to be a very long email, but so much fun stuff happened this week! Just wait...

Park Day was insane as it just so happened to be the rainiest day of the week, and we chose to use the elders' bikes which we couldn't touch the ground on when on the seat the frames were so tall. We almost fell a few times and Sister Humphreys ripped her skirt when she did fall, otherwise we managed to stay upright most of the time. One thing about Park Days and tracting, is those are the times God pays special attention to our prayers. It took us ages to get to town, so by the time dinner rolled around we were nowhere near the church to get hot water for my cup of noodles in time to go tracting. We decided to visit 7/11 to see what we could get for dinner, which, did you know has boiling hot water available!? Oh, that was another miracle for the day as Sis. Humphreys and I sat on the wet curb eating warm dinner in a few minutes of rain-less weather.

The rain went tracting with us, and by the time we rode our bikes towards a members' house, each car parted a mini red sea every time it passed, which, if the puddles were tall enough to splash us, we were too soaked to notice a difference. We washed up at a recent converts' house who put some of our wet clothes in the dryer for awhile while we rested until we had to leave in time for bishop's meeting. We didn't have any flashlight to see the street, so we rode mostly in the dark where God blessed us again with no traffic coming behind us so we made it safely to the building; just as wet as before our clothes were dried. We found the other poor sisters barefooted and huddled around the kitchen stove, with stories of their adventurous day and how Sis. Loy almost got hit by an oblivious car. Needless to say we got a ride home that night, but I gained a respect for the elders on bike, and slept very well that night!

Almost there....

For Halloween the whole zone got together for 5 hours at the church building for a meeting (you know you know you've been a missionary awhile when you get the Conference issue of the Ensign and three letters and feel like it's Christmas!), dinner, and a movie. They set it up on the projector in the gym, and although we sisters had a couch all to ourselves, it honestly felt kind of weird to be watching a movie in a semi-dark room with other guys. I guess it just shows how long I've been out. That, and the fact I thoroughly enjoyed watching The Best Two Years! Mostly because I can watch it from my missionary perspective and see just how accurate or inaccurate it really is, and it's just hilarious.

So that's just a part of my adventure for the week! 

Sister Dunster

 Post Halloween party they had us go home at 8, so we had a little spare time for me to create Ñoñoom (Khmer for "smile"). :)

                                                       1. Setting out for our bike adventure!

                                             2. Cambodian Sarongs for Halloween. (And Elder Kearns)

Oct 30th

We share the car every other day, so a lot of our work consists of walking or contacting new people. During the day I have a whole stack of things I'm memorizing that I go through with Sister Humphreys so whether or not she plans on it, she'll memorize it with me. :) We get to experience quite a few nights walking around in the dark although naturally we stick to bigger streets with street lamps as much as we can, though it's always fun to see how people react or what people you meet as soon as the sun goes down.

Saturday we helped one of our less-actives, Phaling, move. We had all four elders come and help load/unload the washer and dryer for her. It ended up taking a lot longer than we anticipated, but since we wouldn't accept payment, she took us to a buffet. I tried whole shrimp (where I had to tear the head off) and frog leg for the first time. I decided to try octopus a later time in life, although the food was pretty good. Phaling is so amazing the way she takes care of others so selflessly! She takes care of a handicapped man on Sundays so she can't come to church, but she never ceases to amaze me how much she serves others every time I meet her. 

We have a few potential investigators we're hoping to meet, so hopefully we'll catch them and start teaching some sit-down lessons again. Sorry for the short email, but the work is good, and I will send pictures next week!

Love you!

Sister Dunster

Oct 21st

We didn't really have that many investigators in the first place, so now that we've split the companionship we've been hitting it hard in finding. Poor Sister Humphreys is probably exhausted from all the knocking/potential checking, but at least we've been able to have a few sit-down lessons with a few non-progressing investigators (eternals) or recent converts. Side note: this past week Sisters Walker and Loy knocked into a family that suddenly moved away and we couldn't contact them for months, so when they saw them the father went and almost hugged them the family was so happy! Love it when that happens!

One night while tracting we talked to a guy sitting in his car outside a house. He said he'd met with missionaries before, and although he had his opinions and wasn't really interested in learning, he always ended up picking up the Book of Mormon here and there to read a little more since his fiance's father became a Mormon. I was about to ask him the father's name, but he kept going on about what he felt was wrong about the Book of Mormon. I could tell he wasn't going to change his mind, so I tried to keep the discussion as friendly as possible and asked in the end if he'd be alright saying a prayer with us before we left. He accepted, and when I asked if there was anyone in particular he would have us pray for, he the named one of our close members' daughters that we're going to start teaching soon who's been having health problems with her baby. As it turned out, he was the almost son-in-law to our close members that are working so hard to get their family to accept the gospel. I was grateful that for one; I didn't get into a bash with him, and two; that if he does start investigating the church soon, I'll know a little bit about what's holding him back. And now that we don't have any English sisters in the ward anymore, we can teach English investigators if they would rather take the lessons from sisters than from elders - which is a little intimidating seeing it's hard enough for me to teach a good sit-down lesson in Khmer, let alone in English where you can end up saying too much.

It's been really weird with this transfer finally having an even balance of four elders to four sisters in the ward and it's even harder for the English less-actives that were baptized by sisters to see it change over to all elders. We've helped a little in that aspect to get a hold of some and help set them up to go to church so they can meet the elders and get to know them better. As for our own less-actives - I caught one coming home on Sunday from the Buddhist temple and committed him to go to church this Sunday, ha! Supposedly he'd been sick, but if Buddha's a good enough reason to get him out on a Sunday afternoon, than he can certain attend the right church for a much better reason!

For P-day yesterday all the sisters in the nearest 3 zones got together to play basketball. I've never played in my life other than shooting hoops, so I pretended to act like I knew what I was doing - though for a little while another sister and I just "guarded" each other while watching the ball go around. It was actually more fun for us than for those watching since we only had about 4 seriously good b.ball players, so not a lot of points were made. But that's the thing about not keeping score; we were there for a good time, so the second the ball touched my hand and I yelled "What do I do?" they would coach me on how to throw, and where to go. The best learning opportunity is through experience, so I can now say I know a lot more about basketball than I ever did before!

Sister Dunster

 1. Saying goodbye to great missionaries. (the Mountain View elders also happened to be there, so it's Elder Kearns, Sisters Loy, Walker, Elder Esquivel - the one "dying"-, me, Sister Humphreys, and Elder Johnson.)

                                                                           2. Us & Sister Young

                                       Playing ping pong in the parking lot! gets pretty intense :)

Oct 16th

      I forgot my old planner this week, so I don't remember everything that happened but I can go by my camera. So we had interviews with President Blatter this week, and what should we see outside the church doors but 4 goats nibbling on the lawn! We figured they were the neighbors so Sister Blatter had us go out and see if the neighbors were home so we could tell them their goats were out and somehow tie it into a gospel message to see if they'd be interested in learning. They weren't home, so we just let the goats be and took pictures with them.

For every segment of a missionary's time there's a burning ceremony if you have a place to do it and even care to. At 6 months mark the sisters burn a pair of tights, year mark it's a skirt, and 18 months mark is a suit jacket. Sister Walker and I weren't interested in doing it at first until one of the Mountain View sisters that's going home was planning on burning a jacket, so we decided to participate with our year mark burning. It was kind of hard to give up a skirt, but we chose ones we hardly ever wore, and mine was passed on from a sister leaving the area that was pretty old anyway. There's one family that does it for all the missionaries, so we went there and celebrated our year mark! November 4th will be the year mark for being in the mission field, and it's crazy how fast it's gone!!

We were invited to go to the Blatters for zone lunch yesterday (probably because it was Columbus day- they always have us over for Holidays, even the little ones). We watched a few sisters play basketball in the parkinglot or the elders at ping pong while eating pizza and chatting in the house. It was actually both the Tacoma zones, so it was fun to see people we don't see very often, and I have to say; even though we don't ever get transferred, at least we get to stay near President where we can participate in mission-home activities!

A lot of our work consists of tracting for people we generally don't end up teaching, but we've learned that if we give referrals, we usually get referrals from others. So even though it doesn't feel productive, we get to meet some interesting people and it's the interesting conversations I have with people that help inspires my personal study. It blows my mind to hear some of the things people can be content with believing in, but they have their agency to live life the way they want or receive guidance and support from an omniscient and loving Father in Heaven, and it's our job to help make them aware of that.

Sister Humphreys is doing well and even though we're two separate companionships now, we mesh really well and it's fun having four again. Sister Humphrys and I haven't had a sit-down lesson with an investigator or less-active speaking all Khmer yet, but it'll be interesting to see how well my Khmer will be after Sister Loy took the brunt of teaching and conversation the past few months. Otherwise, we're doing well and are excited for the coming transfer!

Sister Dunster

                                               1. We're allowed to give church tours right?

                                                                     2. Our year-mark skirts!

                                   1. They had a can of lighter fluid that really helped add to the flame.

                                                                         2. The celebration crew

                                            1. Tacoma East & West: Columbus day at the Blatters'.

1. Our last district photo for the transfer! (Sisters left to right: Lomu, me, Young, Walker, Frandsen, Loy and Muti. Front of elders: Durgin, Johnson, Shuler, Hansen, Bellows and Muirbrook.) 

                                                                  2. Gig Harbor harbor!

Oct 7th

A lot happened this past week, so I'll try to be quick - but starting from Thursday we went to Wallochet with the Sister Training Leaders which was a different, and fun exchange! Different because we went up in the morning, and instead of having a companionship work here in Tacoma, we had two companionships in their area, so it was more like a day off for us in doing English work in their area. It was a lot of fun as we went on Fox Island, and went to a nursing home where we visited those with dementia and chatted with others who don't get a lot of visitors. I got tons of pictures this time of Gig Harbor and wish I could send some, but I actually forgot my camera cord this time...... next week though!

One of the highlights of Friday was a tracting experience we had. We weren't having much luck as we went house to house, but this one lady walked by and as I said hello, she stopped, saw our nametags and said "You're mormons, aren't you?" As it turns out she was a less-active member who remembers growing up in the church, but for reasons she didn't explain, left and is currently working her way out of circumstances she found herself in due to desperation. She talked to us for a bit, and asked if we had a Book of Mormon. We didn't have one with us, so we walked to the car with her to give her one. Although we have no idea if she was able to get the help she needs (she wasn't Cambodian, so we gave her the number to the missionaries in her area), it's always inspiring to meet people who have struggled through life and turn back to God to seek that source of strength that some people believe doesn't even exist.

Conference was awesome! I wrote down some questions which were answered, and overall it was very inspiring. Unfortunately we didn't have any investigators watch it with us, but we had a couple less-actives express interest in seeing it, so we're going to wait for it to come out in Cambodian to watch it with them that way.

Some news-breaking developments - we're now two companionships!! Our new sister, Sister Humphreys just came in today from the MTC! What's funny is that we called President Saturdayafter we didn't get any expected transfer calls, and he said he hadn't even thought of putting us into companionships as he assumed we would just work together. We said it would be nice to work as a very flexible companionship, but that someone should still be designated to train Sister Humphreys. So after some interviews I was designated to be her trainer, but we can do "exchanges" without permission, and we'll report our numbers as one, instead of two companionships. So it's going to be different from our previous two companionships even, but exciting!

Love you!

Sister Dunster

Sep 30th

The church owns some campgrounds out here called "Zion's Camp" where for half a day, half the mission went over to do some group activities to help strengthen unity, and faith. It was the highlight of my week! We went through different courses with scriptural ties in order keep a spiritual perspective, and as cheesy as it was sometimes, it was a lot of fun! 

The last course we did was "the wall" where you get someone over the wall to a platform up top where they stand and help lift others up until everyone's been over the wall. Sister Walker went up first, and ended up staying up there the whole time (she might be small, but she's a lot stronger than she looks). I found myself up third, and as soon as you get down from the wall, you can't help anymore. At all. That was the hardest for me, because I wanted to help SO bad, but you can only have three people there at a time, and I'd already completed the course.

We happened to have all three Tongan sisters in our group, and we got two of them up, but we couldn't get the third, the largest, up the wall. We tried several times, but even with the two Tongans and Walker up top to help lift, she fell each time, and completely gave up. We kept helping others up the wall as she rested, but the time came when only three people were left on bottom, and three up top. At this point I realized we were probably too late, as, according to the rules of the scenario, that meant the rest of us couldn't do anything but watch. Technically we weren't allowed to speak either, but we gave up on that as those of us standing around did all we could to encourage her vocally. She'd requested a prayer earlier and didn't make it, so at this point it wasn't about getting her over the wall anymore as much as it was not letting her give up. After precious minutes of encouragement, we finally convinced her to try again, and as the three sisters - who'd also been there helping people up the whole time - struggled to lift her, we all surged forward and helped lift her up. What had started out as a simple activity, turned into a struggle of faith as we all sought to help her succeed, and we went wild when she finally made it over!! 

As simple as it was, I felt the Spirit so strongly during that activity, and re-learned, that with faith - all things are possible! Not only that, but it was torturous to see others struggle and not be able to help! But as we talked about it afterwards, I realized that's how it is for others watching us from the other side; they can't physically help us, or even offer words of support like we ended up doing, but we have friends and family on the other side that are cheering us on during our toughest trial! And it made me realize how important it is to remember that we're never alone! 

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." - Isaiah 41:10

Afterwards we came together in a building and got to see "Meet the Mormons" before it's come out in theaters!! It's really good, and I highly recommend referring friends to go see it, or going to see if yourself if it's in theaters near you.

Our investigator Kim, came to church on Sunday, but we were questioning whether or not we should bump his baptismal date back from this Saturday because we weren't sure how much he understood, or if he was even ready. Then, this morning when we went by, he asked if he could postpone for a little bit - so that answered our question! Now we just need to keep him on a date not too far away, but still give him enough time to gain a testimony of the gospel. The truth is real!

Sister Dunster

                                              1. Let's play a game; how many spiders can you count?....

                                                               2. Our Zion's Camp crew!

                                                                 3. Hogwarts! It's a high school?!