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)