January 21 2014 (and some Christmas pictures)

     As it turns out, S is still going strong and keeping up his side of the bargain to not drink before we teach him, and he's one of our most dedicated... I guess he's still an investigator since we haven't found his baptismal record yet. It surprises me how interested he is to learn, because it's hard to keep him reverent during church and he's more of the person you would find in a gang, but he keeps coming, and he does take it seriously (he even takes notes during Sunday school).

Sai is the investigator that lives 30 minutes away, and when we met with him a couple days ago, we asked if he'd gone to our church before, which he said he hadn't. So far nothing sounds familiar to him, but he takes it all so well!! I thought for sure he was a member because of how enthusiastic he was about it, and in Gospel Principles Sunday as we went around introducing ourselves he said "Hi, I'm Sai and I am hear to learn about God" in his limited English which made me and my companions beam. So on Friday, after we taught him the first lesson and explained a little about what baptism was, we asked if he would like to get baptized to which he said once he's learned more about the gospel and if that's what it takes to follow Christ then yes, he would!! So we have a legitimate investigator on date!! :D

One thing I really like about this mission is we do musical firesides at different stakes. Not all missionaries get to go due to the distance so I was asked to sing for a sister who was too far South to travel up, and it was the highlight of my week (second to putting Sai on date!)! The whole stand was full of missionaries as we sang a few pieces altogether mixed with testimonies and special numbers. As it turned out, I was one of five sisters singing an unwritten, a capella version of "Lead Kindly Light". The sister next to me had written the arrangement on paper via lines where harmony comes in and squiggles when it moves, so I had to go mostly by ear and still sing loudly enough to support her as we were the only altos. After singing it about 4 times before the fireside started we performed and it went really well! And throughout the whole event you could feel the Spirit so strongly as we performed, I loved it!

- Sister Dunster

                                                                        With the Backburns 

          A surprise birthday party for Sister McQuivey (all the missionaries in the Mountain View Ward)

                                    Me and my friend Dirk Parker from my first semester at BYU-I!