April 8th

There's only so much you can do for your birthday on your mission, but it still turned out to be a really good day, AND it was sunny! What we couldn't do in celebration was made up in the numbers we ended up with that night, so it was worth it. Sister McQuivey made a carrot cake for me, and during the following days got packages and mail from friends and family, so thank you! I really appreciate it!

General Conference was super good, and we even got our investigator Brenda to watch it with us on session (her parents speak Cambodian, but she speaks English). She had a really old computer so it took awhile to download a faster browser, but we got through most of that session and she seemed to like it. As soon as conference ended the website stopped working, which was probably a good thing because Brenda was beginning to lose interest, and I was able to download the last three talks we missed on a memory stick to listen to later anyway.

Yesterday's zone activity was ultimate Frisbee which is Sister McQuivey's game. It's hilarious to see how competitive she gets during the game! I started to get into it and with good players on our team we won by one point, much to McQuivey's dismay. Afterwards one of the elders offered to lend his piano binder of sheet music I've openly coveted, so I got to play in the church building while the rest of the zone played basketball in the gym. (Well, the elders did. The sisters chatted awhile before joining us.) That was one of my favorite belated birthday presents.

Other than that, not a lot has happened this past week. We're back to walking for now, so even though all appointments are spread apart, at least we've been having some pretty nice weather.

Love you!

Sister Dunster

April 1st

Wow Kim you're engaged!! I freaked out when I got your email, and I'm still reeling over the fact that I would have to miss another marriage in the family and that I will be the last person in the family to get married! (Pretty appropriate I guess since I am the youngest, but still!) As much as I would hate to go, I really don't want to miss your wedding!! And even though you didn't give a date of when, I figured it'll be in about two months or so, so I called President Weaver about it and decided I'll be flying to Utah to stay with family the week of June 15th for the wedding. Once you let me know when your wedding date is we can schedule the exact date for the flight there and back, but I'll probably be home - or I guess, in Utah - for a week and a half!! Ah!

Oh, and by the way, happy April Fools. :) I was so excited to email on my birthday until I realized I can't trust any announcement I get today. But they've all been really good so far, so nice job! (So no, Kim is not really engaged, and no, I'm really not flying to Utah.)

Other than that, for not having the car this week we didn't have very many near-death experiences as I'd expected, but then again Sister McQuivey was sick most of the week, so we didn't get out much. (Just to make sure you know our car is not in the shop, we actually just rotate it between us and the other Cambodian companionship every week. It's rough since we cover three zones, but so far we've made it work, though we'll be clarifying any rules with President during personal interviews on Thursday.)

Saturday's Women's General Meeting was amazing!! Obviously it was different from the traditional general meeting they have since ages 8+ were invited, but even then, to participate in singing and to watch the videos they showed us, it was just what I needed and I loved every second of it!

Sunday the mission had a fireside (where the missionaries in that area sing and those assigned bear testimony) in Port Angeles which is a 2 hour drive from the area here, but Sis. Weaver asked that I sing in my regular group (we sing "Lead Kindly Light" which has become a special song for me now) and accompany another piece on the piano, so I was among the 16 other missionaries driven to Port Angeles to join the zones up there for the fireside. It felt SO weird being without Sister McQuivey, but because there was limited space I had to find a temporary companion that evening that was also in our group. (That day I realized that by the end of this transfer I will have been with Sister Walker and Sister McQuivey for an equal 6 months each, my only two companions so far.) It went really well and was another Spiritual booster for the week!

Otherwise the work has been going kind of slow this week, as Sis. McQuivey was sick, though we were so close to getting one of our investigators to church. She decided she wasn't ready and asked that we stop asking her and she will tell us when she's ready. But good news is Say made it back from Boston Sunday and came to church! Unfortunately we couldn't meet him there because President doesn't want us traveling all the way down there anymore when the ward and fellowship can continue teaching him. As thoroughly bummed as we were, at least I know he's in a really good ward and I couldn't trust any other ward to go through with their work more than that one. It's a hard area for finding, but they have really strong members and wards there.

Scripture for the week;

"Let him that is ignorant learn wisdom by humbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his eyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he may hear." D&C 136:32

This verse has come to mean so much more to me as I've experienced how delicately the Spirit works in our lives; from helping us learn and discern truths, bear witness of the holiness of temples and God's eternal plan for His children, and recognize His hand in the little everyday things of life. I'm learning to recognize the different between simply reading from the scriptures, and feasting upon them, and how the Spirit is the key to our spiritual growth as we doing so.

Love you, and have a great week!

Sister Dunster

April 1st #2

Here's some extra fun April Fools material to read and pass on if you like that my companion wrote about us. :)

This has been a crazy week, even by our standards. First of all, remember Veasana, the one who writes the letters and proposes to us on the daily? Well, he was up to his old schemes in our latest lesson. The problem being that Sister Dunster hadn't gotten the best night's sleep the night before, so she was dozing off as he was talking. I elbowed her awake just as Veasana finished professing his undying devotion for us, and I guess she was in a dream because she woke up and yelled out, "I do!" (she later explained to me that she'd been in a dream in which the mission president had asked, 'who wants the last slice of cake?' and that's what she'd been responding to. Poor timing). Veasana was so excited, he lept up out of his chair and ran out the door to start making arrangements. Unfortunately since then, we haven't been able to get a hold of him to explain the error. His phone line is tied up because he's been trying to make reservations and book a florist and caterer. I was having so much fun thinking up cake flavors and dress designs that I just decided to get on board with it as designated wedding planner. Dunster was still opposed until she saw that she could put a baby grand piano on the registry, at which point she gave in and accepted the engagement. All Veasana can afford right now is a ring pop, which Dunster doesn't love, but I'm thrilled with it because it means I have a gluten-free snack with me at all times.

Then of course, it just got nuttier when the other Cambodian companionship crashed the car. We've been switching off every other week so far, but now without a car, we're forced to be full-time skateboard missionaries. President has asked that we spent 30 to 60 mins a day, following language study, at the local skate park practicing. He feels like we'll be much more efficient missionaries once we can skateboard quickly, and also hopes that we might pick up some investigators when we're showing each other skate tricks. So far, I've mastered the ollie, the nosegrind, and a pop shove-it. Dunst on the other hand has got down the inward heel flip and can land a frontside on a half pipe pretty comfortably. It hasn't resulted in more teaching opportunities thusfar, but we have learned some valuable slang and it's given us a whole new area to draw lesson analogies from, so that's promising. (For years, people were riding goofy footed because they didn't know how to skate correctly. This was called the apostasy, bro.)

Finally, we've officially decided it's more worth our time to just be full-time buddhist missionaries now. You see, all Cambodian people out here are already members of the church, but have been going to the buddhist temples in the years since their baptisms. When we ask them why, they explain to us that Jesus Christ and Buddha are the same, because they both teach us to do good and not go to jail. I didn't know that's all it took for religions to be the exact same! What's with all the religious confusion when all churches that recommend we don't spend years behind bars are actually the same church? So because Mormonism and Buddhism are so similar, we've decided to start teaching buddhist doctrines to all we meet. It's difficult because we don't actually know any, so we mostly just roll down the car window and yell at kids on the street to do good and not go to jail. It's going really well, except that we did get into a Spanglish fight with a Mexican mother for making her son Jose cry when we asked him if he wanted to go to jail. We called the Spanish Elders (who are now teaching Catholic doctrine to their investigators) and they quickly cleared it up by saying "estas chicas están locas en la cabeza" which they said means "these girls are beautiful daughters of God so don't get upset with them". We're so lucky to have them on our side!

That's pretty much all that's happening with us! Oh, except that I'm in love with my district leader and I'm leaving my mission early to marry him. I don't know what his first name is yet, so just go ahead and tell people that his name's elder. We got matching tattoos of our name tags over our hearts, because we love being missionaries. Isn't that cute?

I do insist that Parson Brown officiates the marriage, because he asked me if we were married and I said no man, but that he could do the job while he's in town.

-Sister McQuivey

March 25th

It's SO different being with only one companion rather than having the three of us teach a lesson, but it has pros to the cons, so in essence it's just really different. So far we've adjusted really well to having one other person in the apartment and working as two separate companionships, and I love Sister Noun, so we all get along really well (which is fortunate seeing we'll be around each other our whole missions, though it's Sister Noun's second to last transfer).

This past week there was an activity for the Relief Society birthday that the president, Sister Oaks, wanted to have a musical number for. She had a piece in mind, but it was poorly written, so she had her son take it and change it up a little bit. It came back a lot more complicated than they had time to put together, and seeing Sister Oaks is one of the two people in the ward who plays the piano, and seeing her plate was full, she asked if I could learn and play it for the activity. I will jump on any opportunity I have to play the piano (within reason), and after a little practice, managed to fumble between the accompaniment and parts of the singer's pieces together to help bring them in. It wasn't perfect, but it turned out better than we anticipated, and Sister Oaks was really happy with it.

Oh! Miracle for the week! A Relief Society president in a neighboring ward gave us list of Asian people in her ward directory to look up and check on. Many had either moved or their phones weren't working, and one family said they weren't interested and shut the door. We went back later on to ask about a specific family member, and the little boy that answered the door said she lived in an apartment complex down the road. We went to go find it, but didn't see it anywhere, so we gave up.

(This is slightly off topic, but also an exciting part of the week, and it does connect in the end;) This past Saturday we went to the less active's house that just got his heart (yes!!) and I got to use their riding lawn mower and till their garden! It was my first time tilling a garden, but it felt so good to get my hands dirty! Weird, I know, but it just makes you feel like you're working hard, and I really was exhausted after that.

(Here's where it reconnects;) On our way home from the service project, we passed the apartment complex!! We remembered where it was so we could drop by later on, and that evening Sister McQuivey and I went to go find her. We knew what building she was in, but didn't know the apartment number, so we approached a man working on his car that looked Cambodian and asked if he knew an Angela. He said she was right around the corner just getting into black car. I felt very stalker-ish as we approached this woman in her car just about to leave the driveway, asking if her name were Angela. It was, and we got her apartment number, and a return appointment!

We went to meet her again last night and had a really good visit with her. She's our age, so it's easy to connected with her, although her boyfriend is a Jehovah's Witness. It wouldn't pose such a problem except she's at such a place where she's not against learning more about the church, but she's not particularly looking for religion right now, so it's quite the challenge to let her know we are her friends and still teach her a little bit here and there without sounding pushy because she has a lot of problems that the gospel would be such a great support to her if she'll accept it. In all, we discussed all that happened in length, and it's quite the miracle that we met her when we did, and how it all happened, so we're going to be very prayerful as we continue meeting with her.

This week we are without the car! So stay in tune to hear more about near-death experiences as we walk the streets of Tacoma! Not really, but I'm sure I'll have quite a few stories to share by next week. :)

Love you!
Sister Dunster

March 19th

WE'VE MOVED! So send anything to the office address if you haven't already:

4007 Bridgeport Way West Suite D

University Place, WA 98466

What a transfer! So the Cambodian trio is no more. Right after Say's baptism President took us to a different room to tell us what was going to happen. We were to move to a different apartment (with two bathrooms) 10 minutes away in a different zone to accommodate having another sister living with us. Sister Noun, who is originally from Cambodia but called to serve English speaking and trained Sister McQuivey, was to join us and we would be two separate companionships. We anticipated this, so the only real mystery was who would go with who.

As it is, Sister McQuivey is now my only companion, and Sister Walker is now with Sister Noun and I'm literally having separation anxiety issues. Actually it's not that bad, but it feels super weird to not have our third companion, especially after having been with Sister Walker every day for exactly 6 months and 15 days. It's been hard, but at least we still live in the same place so it's not like I don't get to see her every day at least.

I'm going to predict this transfers going to be really hard, but worth it. We guessed that we would be split up the way it is, but we didn't predict that we would have to live farther away from most of our less-actives/investigators, work in three zones with another companionship - with only one car. Fortunately we live close to a bus station, but we're still not allowed to have bikes, so it's going to take more time to walk from the bus station to each person, as they're all pretty spread out. We'll be swapping cars every other week, but the place that we moved is right next to the mall and other shops unlike our old apartment which was a five minute walk to several apartment complexes with many potentials and less-actives, so finding people to teach without the car's going to be a little rough in this area. Like I said, it's going to be hard, but it'll be good.

Thought for the week: "Bringing our lives in line with God's will through repentance is a central purpose of our lives." - Preach My Gospel page 62. I don't remember the exact words, or who said it, but I read a quote that said anything we have to give God is already His - except our will. Sometimes it's the hardest thing to not think about things your missing on your mission, especially when I know the time I have here is limited and sacred, so this is a great reminder for me that it's not about what I want, but what the Lord wants.

Love you!

Sister Dunster

March 12th 2014

I didn't realize how much it rained here, especially in the spring. On P-day yesterday we got a patch of sun so Sis. Walker and I dashed outside the second we got home to play Frisbee and it lasted about 5 minutes before it clouded over and got chilly again. But at least we got a taste of what the weather will be like shortly in the future.

Not a lot has happened since the baptism, but one thing happened that's pretty momentous. If you could be at our district meetings you would know every week we talk about this guy who has congestive heart failure. His wife works because he's literally living off a battery, and his parents come to take care of the children while she's at work, so no one can go to church, otherwise they would. With Cambodians, if you can get a critical person to go, the rest will follow, and this family is the core of half our less-actives so we've been praying the this guy will get a heart so he and the rest of the family can go to church. So one day as we were texting the sister to that man about when we can meet, she said she was going to be in Seattle because her brother got a heart!!! We were stoked!! We hope to maybe get special permission to go visit him in the hospital, but we'll see how president feels about that. Still, it's the beginning of a positive change!!

Weirdest thing happened last week on the fourth. Sister Walker looked up from her planner and said "Hey, can you believe today's our 6 month mark?"...............!?!?

I'm a third through my mission already, and I still can't believe it. Time flies!!

Another thing has crept up again; transfers. We're not so freaked out about it this time as we are 99.5% sure we're going to be put into two companionships this time, and it's not going to be as big a shock as we anticipated. Most likely we'll be living in a two-bathroom apartment together, so at least we won't be separated, but that itself will bring in new challenges as we will be two separate companionships. So we'll see what happens next week!

Quote for the week:

"Scriptures can calm an agitated soul, giving peace, hope, and a restoration of confidence in one’s ability to overcome the challenges of life." - Elder Richard G. Scott ("The Power of Scripture", General Conference October 2011)

I reflect on this quote over and over as I think about the challenges in life, both normal and in missionary life, and what to turn to in times of need. There are many times I have had a question in mind and even if I didn't find the direct answer in the scriptures, I have found the needed peace and comfort by seeking it out from the scriptures.

Love you, and hope you have a great week!

Sister Dunster

March 4th

This past week we prayed that Say would be able to keep the Word of Wisdom as his baptism came closer. He got a blessing after church, and a week beforehand we called to see how he was doing. A few weeks ago he cut down from 20 to 10, and this week he regretfully said he'd only cut down from 10 to 2 cigarettes a day which we were ecstatic about! And when we talked to him the next day at our lesson, we found out he didn't smoke again after that phone call. We had given him cinnamon gum, cinnamon toothpaste and cinnamon mouthwash - anything cinnamon to help him stop because we heard that makes smoking taste bad, and it worked! We also gave him Pero so he wouldn't have to drink coffee, and he's been using that as well.

The baptism was so good! We sang a musical number of I am a Child of God, half in Khmer, and we worked out the baptism so the first speaker was a Cambodian member (they all drove from Tacoma which is 30 minutes away) who would be active if he could go to church, but he has to take care of his grandchildren because his son-in-law has heart failure. It was so good! It warmed my heart to see him teach from his own Preach My Gospel, and I understood at least the gist of what he was saying. The other talk was given by an active Cambodian member, also around Say's age who is well rounded on gospel topics as he has a whole shelf of church books both in Khmer and English that he loves to read (didn't understand as much of his talk on the Holy Ghost). Sawine gave the opening prayer, and Sister McQuivey gave the closing, so the entire program pretty much was in Cambodian. The ward mission leader said he didn't understand a word, but he felt the Spirit and understood that we were well instructed during the baptism. I loved every second of it, and even President Weaver was crying by the end.

The following Sunday after Say was confirmed, we had just finished Gospel Principles and Say was saying goodbye, since he's leaving for a 3 week long trip to Boston to visit his mom. He said he doesn't plan on telling his family he's now a member because they're Buddhist and would try to influence him to stop going. I asked if he planned on taking his Book of Mormon with him. He pointed to his scripture case (which contains every pamphlet we've ever given him, every church program he's gotten, his Gospel Principles manual in Cambodian as well as his Bible and Book of Mormon) and shook his head. I figured he didn't quite understand, so I asked if he would take his Book of Mormon with him. He said "Oh, yeah, which one?" and opened his scripture case so I could point out his "preah koompii" to which he asked "Take it with me everywhere?" I nodded and he smiled, saying that he would. He is the sweetest! I couldn't ask for a more golden first investigator!

Love you!!

Sister Dunster

 Bro Hohaia, Elders Shuler and Geddes, President Weaver, then Say, me, Sister Walker, and Sister McQuivey.

  Us with Say and the one other Cambodian member in the ward, Sawine with her three children Veehah, Veasana, and "Monkey" (the girl).

 Us with Say! And those are the elders in the ward we've been working with who helped get rides, communicate with the ward, and help set up the baptism, Elders Geddes and Shuler.

 Us with Say!