June 24th

      The end of President and Sister Weavers' service in the WA-TAC is coming to an end this week and we're sad to see them go. By the time I email next week we'll have a new president, and it will be my half-way mark!! Technically it's the 4th of July, but according to transfer schedule I figured Sis. Walker and I leave April 1st (on my birthday!), so we'll be celebrating it then as well as the 4th, (which won't be hard to do).

Sister Loy is the best natural missionary I could ask for. This first week was hard as we walked miles with very little success. I didn't realize how much people rejected us here until she asked if everyone here was this disinterested as apparently in Cambodian people approach the missionaries to ask what they are up to. She's wasn't used to walking so much and we counted down the days before we'd have the car again, since after this week Sister Noun will leave and we'll be a trio, so our walking days are over!! (Well, until October when the new Cambodian sister will be coming. Oh, yeah, another sister's been called Cambodian speaking!) 

Thursday was Park Day, so no one could drive the car and we used the bus to get places. That was the closest we got to a new, was finding an older man who was interested, but was too busy to set an appointment so he said he'd call us. Also, the buses in our area stop going around after six so we accidentally ended up walking (I don't know how many miles yet) home which is in a different zone. Talk about fit!

 It wasn't until yesterday that we found practically three new investigators in a row when checking referrals and Sister Loy and I looked at each other in astonishment by the end. So this week is shaping up to be a good one and I'm excited to see what people will come out of the woodwork to help get this Cambodian group started! Already a Cambodian that was recently baptized... wants to get a hold of us so he can help us get this group started. (...Just so you know, "poaching" is where a missionary teaches an investigator outside his jurisdiction. 'Nuff said.) So we're hoping to see some good progress going soon!

Love you!

Sister Dunster

June 17th

Of all weeks, the week I'm too busy to email - EVERYTHING happens!! I don't even know where to start (if I had changed missions it would almost be as dramatic) and I've been waiting all week for this time to come because there's just so much but I'll try to be logical and start where I left off.....

Ok, so as you know, my trainer and companion for the past 9 months Sister McQuivey's been sick a lot and hasn't been able to get out of the house. Over the course of last week we kept in touch with President and even considered having her work English rather than Cambodian since it's less stressful, but in the end, gave her the option to go home. She was adamant about staying and didn't want to consider the idea, but after a long time of agonizing over the idea, she suddenly became at peace with it. As hard as it was to face the fact, (especially with her only having 4 months left) it felt right. We talked to President about it, and although we didn't know when he would send her home, we figured it might not be for a little bit, and weren't surprised when at transfer calls we would stay together and be training Sister Loy from Cambodia!!

I was fine with the idea of training with Sister McQuivey the first few weeks, that's not so stressful for a new trainer, until when walking into transfer meeting President says I will be the sole trainer...... so I would be a single "parent" a little sooner than I thought. We'd joked that Sister Loy would have abandonment issues with Sister McQuivey (one of her "parents") and Sister Noun (her "grandmother") leaving within the same transfer she just arrived, but I didn't anticipate be the sole trainer so soon! But it's been going well and Sister Loy is the cutest ever!! She speaks about as much English as I do Cambodian, only she can understand more than she speaks, so the majority of our communication is in English, although I try to speak Khmer often to make her more at home. At least she has Sis. Noun here to talk to before she leaves in 2 weeks. But I've getting ahead of myself.

The next day we had a baptism; Brenda's. This didn't happen for my first baptism in Lacey with Say because the ward mission leader there is phenomenal, the ward is very supportive, and we had the elders there helping out, but this time - EVERYTHING went wrong. I doubted whether or not the baptism would go through several times; 

1. The day before Brenda wanted to change the day because she had an important errand and didn't know if she'd have time, so we just changed the time to the evening. 

2. Next, her grandfather Tom decided he didn't want to baptize her, so three hours before the baptism we had to find someone to baptize her while graduation is going on in the ward at which everyone's attending. 

3. Brenda's normal ride had work at that hour and couldn't drive her.

4. The suits weren't in the closet, but the other sisters were preparing for their baptism the coming Saturday, so we had to run back to our apartment to pick up a suit... 

5. Run the sisters to a dinner we couldn't attend and apologize profusely so we could... 

6. Make copies of our program because the copier in the building where the font was wasn't working. etc.

By the time we were in the car on the way to the font (with a headache), and we finally got all the wrinkles smoothed out we realized everyone going to the baptism was doing something... and we were one priesthood holder short. Knowing they'd asked if they could come, and needed anyone available in the next 15 minutes, we called the elders (on bike) and asked them if they could speed to the other building in time to witness Brenda get baptized. 15 minutes and a deep breath later as I sat behind the piano playing my beloved Jon Schmidt hymn music, when who should show up but Brenda's grandfather Tom! He wasn't willing to baptize, and everyone else in her family was to "busy" to watch her make this important commitment, but she had family there!

The baptism went well, Brenda was SO happy (her ride's work schedule was miraculously moved by one hour so it worked out in the end!) and in spite of the water being cold, she was baptized!

Two days later (Friday), it's about 10 am and we get a call from President saying Sis. McQuivey will be leaving in 3 hours. She hadn't even started packing. So we all pitched in in organizing things, and she'd already decided to leave most of her things behind, so it was just a matter of her choosing what to take and leave behind. Those were a stressful and sad three hours as we said our goodbyes, and just like that she left. In mission terms when someone leaves or finished their mission we call that dying. It seemed pretty applicable in this case as one moment, the person I've been with every day 24/7 was there, and then gone. Only in this case we just had to wait four days before we could communicate with her via one email, but it's still quite an adjustment. At least Sisters Walker and Noun are still here, and of course I have Sis. Loy who, poor thing, is going through a very abnormal first week of mission-life.

All that, and our mission President will change in 9 days. Like, I said, the whole mission's practically changed for me. But it's been going well - the sisters went through similar trauma as their investigator got baptized the following Saturday, but we saw them both confirmed on Sunday, and the work is still progressing. My daily diet now consists of rice at every meal with vegetables, and fruit for dessert - thanks to Sis. Loy who loves to cook. (Last night she fried 4 chili peppers with the veggies, but with tissues to my left and a glass of milk to my right, it was really good.) Life is good, and the work is progressing. I will now end the epistle of a mission life-time in one email.

Love you!
Sister Dunster

                 1 Me with Sister Loy, McQuivey and Nanto (Sis. Noun's trainer who trainer sis. McQuivey)

                                                                     2 At Brenda's baptism!

                                               3 Me and McQuivey together for the last time here!

                                                              4 The four of us for the last time

June 6th

Except for a few appointments here or there I go on exchanges with to meet, I haven't gotten out of the house much because Sister McQuivey's been sick. She's making some improvement now so we can leave the house for a few things, but it exhausts her, so we have to go home right after. But Brenda's making progress towards her baptismal date coming up next week, and she's excited. The other sisters have a Cambodian baptism this week too, so it's been cool to have two Cambodians on date at the same time! Both of our investigators have been coming to church, so they've been teaching school in Cambodian the past few weeks and that's the most progress we've made towards becoming a group until someone is called, but it's progress.

Last week I forgot to mention when the Jehovah's Witnesses came to our door. I was doing language study and had no desire to bash with them whatsoever, but when they opened the door they pointed to the picture of Christ we had on the door and said "I see you're a Christian?". I showed them my name tag and at their request explained the process of becoming a missionary, and why we're here. The two women glanced at each other at the mention of prophets, but they listened and shared their message about whether or not misery ends from a scripture in Revelations. I agreed that we do believe there is an end to misery, and took their pamphlet (to add to the vase we have stuffed with those we collect at doors). I thought about trading it with a mormon.org card, but I knew they wouldn't care for it and I didn't want to be pushy. Before they left one paused and said, "You have a sweet spirit." I was surprised, but thanked them. I can now attest that even though they might not be willing to listen, showing respect can still make a huge difference. I love this gospel and I want everyone to feel the power of the full gospel in their lives, but I know everyone will listen in their own time and way, so we might as well love them through the journey.

Sister Dunster