The Errand of Angels: Dec 15th

I'm at that point in my mission where I can look around during a missionary meeting and realize I'm one of the oldest missionaries in the room and it's the weirdest sensation ever - so whenever anyone asks how much time I have left I just say "less than six months" and that works.

This past week we had an exchange (although it's a weekly occurrence nowadays) and I stayed in the area this time. I'd been fighting a cold recently and even though I was beyond the worst of it, I had to talk the most so it wiped out my voice. I expected it to come back the next day, but it wasn't until four days later I told Sis. Smith I diagnosed myself with a paralyzed vocal chord that it started making improvements. I sound normal now, except for when I try to hit a C, so it still has room for improvement, but it's comforting to know I'm no expert in self-diagnosis. :)

This week we had a crazy wind storm! The night of its peak a ward member told us people were advised to stay indoors, but we never got a text from President saying we shouldn't go out for 5-7s (our tracting hours), so we went out anyway. Everyone told us to be careful, and we felt a few stinging pine needles and a random pine cone, but otherwise it wasn't too bad. Our power went out that night so we propped our flashlights up to plan and a recent convert who lives downstairs from us came up with a lantern to me sure we were ok - she's a sweetheart! The next day it looked like a hurricane went through with so many branches across the grass and roads, but our power was back on by morning, so life was back to normal.

Saturday I got to go back up to Tacoma for the baptism of an older woman we've been teaching for a year!! I was SO excited, and probably because I got to see Sister Walker, Loy and Humphreys for the first time in three weeks! (Doesn't sound that long, but it feels like ages in companionship time!) It was a little different than I anticipated because a sister from the mission had to go home for medical problems, so Sister Walker got emergency transferred to an English area and came up with an English companion for the baptism as well. We caught up as much as possible as we could in that short span of time, I realized how much I miss hearing Cambodian, but most of all it soothed my worries about how well Sisters Loy and Humphreys would do in Cambodian work alone, and how well Sister Walker would adjust to English work! She's loving it already, said it would be a healthy challenge for the other sisters, and as it so happens she got transferred in an area Sis. Smith and I are STLs for, so we can go on exchanges with each other!!! Ha! I don't think President even knew that when he gave her the call, so God is good! :) It was an awesome baptism, and I'm so excited to hear about the progress they're making over there. There's no guarantee on anything, but I'm hoping to go back Cambodian for my last transfer, in less than six months or so. :) But I'm thoroughly enjoying the work where I am right now, so that'll come when it's time!

So for a spiritual thought in light of the wind storm, I would like to share a scripture, popularly quoted in General Conference; Helaman 5:12;

"And now, my sons, remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Song of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless woe, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

As we drove through the fallen branches strewn across the roads, I realized the wind just took out the weak or dead branches from the trees, so the trees are now clean, and stronger than they were before. I noted my thought process out loud to Sister Smith and how that's what happens to us in times of adversity; we are being put through a refiner's fire, and it's only through those experiences we are better able to put our priorities in line and focus on what truly matters in life in order to become stronger, and firmer in our foundation for life. In the words of the Twelve Apostles, "God be thanked for the matchless gift of His Divine Son"!

Love you!

Sister Dunster

My first exchange with Sisters Graves and Geraldino!