Feb 25th 2014

     Last week's bishop's meeting was a little more frustrating than usual. We couldn't figure out why particularly, since it's like this every week, but maybe it's because we have progressing less-actives and investigators and no Cambodian authority to report them to. We report the bishop of the ward we live in, but few of the people we work with are in his boundaries, so we're really just taking up his time talking about people he can't do anything about. It's so frustrating not having a ward.      But we talked to President after Zone Conference this past Thursday and he said he'll talk to the Stake President about getting a group together since we have at least 3 Cambodian speaking less-actives coming to church which is enough to start up a group. And we've had some less-actives express a desire to come to church but they don't feel like they belong, so they'd be willing to reactivate if there was a Cambodian branch - it's just getting it started.

One of our hopes of getting the Cambodians in this area excited about reactivation is to get them to Say's baptism this Saturday. It's about a 25 minute drive, but we're going to reach out to a few stronger members and have them take part in the program. That way, not only will they feel the Spirit and have a stronger desire to come to church, but Say will see that there are other Cambodians around who share the same faith. He's so amazing! He's the only other Cambodian in his ward other than Sawine who's a married mother of three kids and has only been a member for one year. We've held Say's lessons at her house at her request so she can also learn from the lessons we teach him. She's also a great support with the language and adds her part to the lessons which is awesome, and during church Say has someone to turn to for questions we don't understand.

Zone Conference was this week which was really uplifting (I played the piano for the whole meeting!! :D) and one of my favorite times of the transfer. But this week I had one of the best experiences I've had on my mission. We had a member referral to a less active who's actually related to two other families we've been visiting (and her boyfriend is related to the other side of the same family) who'd told the member she wanted to go back to church but didn't want her family to know.

After our first visit she invited us back so she could feed us our first authentic Cambodian dinner. It consisted of chicken, rice, a fish oil dip with shallots and mango slices, and a soup with some more fish oil, vegetables, and a foreign vegetable that was kind of like a white cucumber, but different.     It was all really good and this family is younger so we were able to relate to them really well.       I didn't realize this until later, but this was our first Cambodian member meal, and I loved it. I didn't feel like a missionary eating at a surrogate member's house, I was eating at the house of the people I was called to serve.
      And don't get me wrong, I love eating with the ward members and getting to know them, but unless they know any Cambodian referrals, they work with the English missionaries. So for the first time, I belonged. This was how it is supposed to be; us working and eating with the Cambodians here in Tacoma, and I loved it!

The work is progressing!

-Sister Dunster

Feb 18th

      Last Saturday we had a pivotal meeting with Say, our investigator 30 minutes away. We've been pushing back his baptismal date because of his Word of Wisdom issues, and the fact that President doesn't want us traveling so far so often, so we couldn't visit him as much as we'd expected. But this Saturday he told us he'll be leaving on a trip to Boston to see his mom and would be gone for three weeks but that he was willing to get baptized after that. We got quiet for a second as we realized what could happen in those three weeks and Sis. McQuivey expressed her worry that once he got back he would not be interested in baptism anymore. He said he had enough faith to wait until he got back, so she turned that around and asked if he had enough faith to get baptized before he left. He was quiet for a moment before his fellowship Sawine started bearing testimony to him. He thought for some more before he finally agreed that he would get baptized before he left! We asked him to say the closing prayer to that lesson which he accepted and finished with tears in his eyes. I asked him if he felt warm in his heart which he did, and pointed out it was the Spirit. He is the most elect person I have ever met in learning the gospel! President's still cutting down the frequency of our visits, but if we talk to him about our circumstances more fully he'll let us keep going twice a week.

The day after Valentines day the ward held a Valentine's dinner and asked us missionaries to do a musical number. Elder Rhodes had the sheet music for the song "Open Arms" by Journey, and I'd never seen it, but we decided that's what we would do. When we got there the whole building and parkinglot was dark. There were cars in the parkinglot, but the only thing we saw were a few people coming in and out of the building with bobbing flashlights. As it turns out the power randomly went out, so they had as many flashlights as people had (which was actually a fair amount) to light up the gym where they had just finished eating. I only got to practice the piece a couple times - not even the whole way through - before going to perform in front of the ward. But the best part was wearing the headlamp so I could see my music. My companion also held a flashlight to a part of the page that had the lyrics on it so the others could sing it. It went really well, and having the power out made it all the better. Dishes afterwards was quite the chore though since they'd used glass dishes for the dinner and the hot water was out for the first load so we were just rinsing until Bishop was able to turn it on and we could wash them all thoroughly.

We're still meeting with Mr. S, who turned out to be a less-active not an investigator, but we've been avoiding him a little bit recently.  During our first few visits he wrote Sister McQuivey a four page letter and said it also applied to me but not Sis. Walker, and goes off on this idea that we have STDs. I wish you could meet him to know that that's just the way he is, that he's totally non-threatening and the whole thing was so out of the blue it was comical. But needless to say, ever since he got our number and acquired a phone (he admits not in an honest way) we've screened most of his calls and texts. We'll see whether or not we drop him, but so far he's no longer considered in-active since he's come to church every week since the first day last transfer.

Our mission is doing what's called March Madness where every week we have an assignment we do and turn into the office so by the end of 6 weeks the zone with the most assignments accomplished will be treated by the President to an activity of their choice such as bowling, or laser tag, etc. This past week was our first and even though we were asked to study things from Preach My Gospel that I've studied multiple times before, I learned so much more! It's actually a part of our preparation for the one time we get to go to the temple which is coming up in April, and I am so stoked!

Love you!

Sister Dunster

pictures

Feb 12

Good news! Several times we went to church with our golden investigator Say, President Weaver would be at a different ward and we tried to get them to meet, but Say always left for home before President was out of the meeting. Then, Sunday after last Lacey had a stake conference which Pres. Weaver went to apparently, and not only met Say, but also met his fellowship Sawine and the returned missionary from Cambodia! President congratulated us on having such a great investigator ("He even wore a suit!") and we just glowed. He's working on a few Word of Wisdom issues, but other than that he's excited to meet with us and learn more, in spite of how slow we are at communicating in Khmer.

The other day we got a referral from a member in the ward that sent us to this Cambodian woman (related to almost all the other Cambodians we know) who wanted to get back into the church but didn't want her family to know she was investigating again. Although she doesn't want to go back to church until we have a Cambodian ward organized, she was super sweet and does couponing, so we didn't leave without three bags worth of bathroom supplies!

Saturday and Sunday we got snow! We were a little worried church would get cancelled, which it did in some areas, but our ward still held meetings. It's the worst snow they've had in two years (which was like, 3 inches) and our mission fireside was that night as well. Fortunately the roads cleared up pretty quickly, so nothing was cancelled.

But every so often the Weavers will hold a fireside in different areas where the missionaries nearby will come together to sing and bear testimony to as many people as we can get into the chapel. I love them! I've never left without having felt the Spirit so strongly and seeing many of the people in the congregation wiping away tears. One of the sisters put together an arrangement of Lead Kindly Light which I mentioned in a previous email. I was asked to sing it again and according to my companions it sounded even better than last time. This time however, Sister Walker had to bear her testimony first in English, then in Cambodian so she was super nervous and had a sister switch places with her so she could sit next to me. But she did really good job and at the end of the fireside we held a group hug in support. By the end of this transfer I will have been with Sister Walker for 6 and a half months, and Sis. McQuivey for four and a half and how I love them! In some aspects it will be good for us to have another companionship next transfer, but mostly we dread the day it happens and look forward to making this transfer the best! Which will most likely include a baptism!

Love you!
Sister Dunster

Feb 5th

Sorry I haven't emailed this week, but it's been a packed day and I'm out of time, so I'm just writing to let you know I'm still alive and going strong!

Results from transfers................. we're all staying!! This will be our third transfer together and we're going to make it good as we have an investigator on date, so our hope is to baptize him before we get split up for sure next transfer! 

Love you!
Sister Dunster