Wednesday, July 14, 2010

July 6th

Ok so 30 min on email stinks so I'm gonna write you the rest of what I had to say in my July 6th email, "Trust in the Lord"

My motto for my mission is "No Regrets!" along with the lines from Elder Jeffery R Hollands talk about Missionary work, that I loved! (1) When you study...STUDY! (2) When you pray...PRAY! (3) When you work...WORK! "You only have 18 months! And then the rest of your life to think about what you did on the Mission!"

The devotionals and firesides and all the meetings we have all the time are amazing! You feel the spirit so strong and they just make you want to work so hard and also be a better person. I think one the THEE most important things I've learned here as a missionary is that it is NOT about you! It is about finding those that the Lord has prepared for you to help & to teach. It is about the Lord's children! There are millions of people out there waiting to hear & learn about the gospel and it is our duty to follow the promptings of the spirit always & find them. One thing that has been stressed is that we need to look at these people as the Lord would see them. Love them like He loves them, treat them as He would treat them, see them as He would see them... Picture everyone dressed in white, because that's how the Lord sees us. Sadly, there are those prideful missionaries out there that are only in it for the # of baptisms... I hate to say it, but there are and that is SO NOT what they teach us to do here! But rather to truly grow to love the people as Christ & Heavenly Father loves them and to truly help them in whatever needs they have and teach them how the gospel really blesses them and their families and their lives. Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can truly return to live with our families and with Heavenly Father. That's His whole purpose for it!!!! To give us joy and to grow and then to return to live with Him for eternity with our family's.

There are two places that we go for teaching experience. The RC which is the Referral Center, where we actually call people up and confirm whether or not they got the DVD's or free Bibles or Books of Mormon that they requested from our website. In there our teacher challenged us to bear testimony to them or teach a little bit about the church. It is nerve wracking but exciting at the same time. Cause you don't want to tick people off, but at the same time you can really teach them or share something that they needed to hear that day. I've mostly got answering machines but with a couple people I've talked about Heavenly Father's love for us and the atonement and Jesus Christ and eternal families... It was awesome! Then there's the TRC "Teaching Resource Center" where volunteers from the public ...who are members...come and act as investigators so we can practice teaching with them. That's what Spike did! Only he does it for the Portuguese speakers. When we first taught it was awesome!!! Having the spirit in the lesson really is the only thing that matters. What converts people is the spirit...the missionary is only acting as a mouthpiece for the Lord.

So.... Here's something I never thought I would admit or even come close to think! It has to do with a lesson I had about enduring to the end & never giving up or turning around!!! They used this marathon analogy in one of our classes. A marathon runner from Tanzania was competing in the Olympics or something and got injured before the end of the race. Because of that injury he limped the rest of the course not giving up until he crossed the finish line. He said: "My country didn't send me 5,000 miles to start the race. My country sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race!." It made a triathlon sound sooo much more appealing. Purely for motivational purposes and being able to say, I worked hard, I endured and I made it!!! No matter what time you got, it was the effort that counted and I just thought, "Huh...maybe someday... I might want to do a triathlon!?" HA! Then I laughed hysterically at that thought & said to myself..."That would be the day!!! ...long from now when I could actually be fit to do one!" But I think... if I had strong motivation & maybe even someone to do it with?....Em? Leah? Up for it?! ... That I might actually try! But that's a long time from now. Who knows, I never thought I would go on a mission & look at me now!! Same goes for the triathlon thought... Maybe I will Someday... LOL. "Maybe" & "Someday" are KEY words in that statement people... I'm not makin any guarantees.. HA HA!

One last story. Just something really stupid & embarrassing but really funny haha! The other day my companion and I were walking to class and one of the Elders who is our Zone leader & really cute I might add, called us from across the way. We turned around & talked to him from where we were. Well, when we said goodbye I started to walk & immediately turned around & LITERALLY walked right into a pole! LOL! well almost... I was a half of an inch away from hitting my nose/face & probably get knocked out because I turned around pretty fast. Well my reflexes we're cat-like luckily & I caught the pole & pushed myself back & my head jerked away from it as well... but basically I walked into a pole!...and a bunch of Elders were walking by too & probably saw. Luckily elder Grover, the Hot zone leader, didn't see! Hermana Papenfuss and I burst out laughing. As probably all the girls at the office will too. ha ha... yes I'm giving you permission to spread my humiliation for the "Humor at the MTC". LOL It was pretty dang funny though. I guess I was just so "awwed" by Elder Grover. LOL! HA!

Well that's all for this week.
Love You! Hermana Dunn

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