May 20th

The other day we went split tracting with the Parkland sisters and Sister Bishop and I were walking away from a door when the woman in the garage asked if she could help us. She's an avid church member of Champion Center (you'll hear more of that in the future, or if you want you can probably Google it) and wasn't interested in what we had to offer, but when we offered to serve for free, she couldn't believe us. Her husband's mother and great-uncle just died three weeks ago so it's been a little rough for them lately, and she, Crystal, had just gotten back from buying cleaning supplies to get back into the groove of things. Not only that, but she said that morning she had just prayed that God would send someone to help her. That evening we arrived. After we set an appointment with her to come weed her flower garden, she asked if she could take a picture of us and send it to her friend to tell her who God just sent to her door. The second we said goodbye she was on her phone with a friend, saying as we walked away "Jenny, you just won't believe who just knocked on my door..." 

Crystal wasn't Cambodian, but we still got the opportunity to do service for her, and as we left her house today, who should we find walking down the sidewalk but one of our more solid Cambodian less-actives who lives nearby! We stopped to chat with her and told her about the new Cambodian Sunday school we're starting (if we can ever get them to stay past Sacrament Mtg) and she said she would tell her husband about it but that they would be out of town this weekend. I asked her what time we could meet up with her this week and she said her goodbyes. Not very subtle, but if we can get her and her husband back to church, they'll all come, so we're not giving up so fast.

Thursday we had Zone Conference which was amazing! It's the last ZC we'll have with President and Sister Weaver, and I'm going to miss them! I took loads of notes just to stay away because apparently I have issues with that, no matter who is speaking - it's ridiculous - but the benefit is that I now have record of everything they talked about, and it was a powerful meeting. They talked about how "extra ordinary prayer will lead to extra-ordinary effort" which I have found is very true. We discussed the parable of the talents and how regardless of how many talents you have, all that matters is that you give them all: the Atonement makes up the difference. 

President shared an experience he had at a meeting with Elder Dallin H. Oaks where the question was asked: "What is the one thing we should teach our children?" and Elder Oaks responded, "To learn to recognize the spirit and react." I thought that was a really powerful statement and helped me recognize how I could better listen for, and act on the Spirit, and it emphasized what Elder Neil L. Andersen talked about when he came last November about looking for the things unseen, which takes having a strong relationship with the Spirit, and is something I would like to work on more.

Yesterday we were just finishing our shopping at Kmart when the car battery died. Again. Our mission leader came to jump us and when his cables didn't work, he went and bought some new ones before giving them to us! That was so sweet of him, but he just told us to go have fun for P-day instead of sitting in the Kmart parkinglot. So we did; we were an hour late for the zone activity, but we still made it in time to BBQ some hotdogs, steak, and squid. Yes, a Korean member gave some sisters squid and Sister Noun loves it, so she cooked it up. Can't say I liked it, and it especially took more effort than I expected to get the tentacle near my mouth, but I managed. We then played Ultimate Frisbee which was a little more difficult with so many people and so little space, but it was still pretty fun. And that was part of my week!

Love,

Sister Dunster