Finally Spring at the MTC!

Oh my It is a BEAUTIFUL DAY here in Provo, 

Thought I would never say that, but it is FINALLY SPRING! J'espere. Gosh I miss you all so much. FIRST OF ALL HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE FLOWER. Happy 17th Jensy :) I hope you got my letter and you know how much I love you??? a ton. anyways have a good day with Phoebe, glad she could fly down. This week flew by so fast, a lot of routine stuff happened, so we will see if I can remember it all. BIG NEWS and honestly I don't know if I mentioned this last week but IM GOING TO FRANCE EARLY. Our whole zone for some reason is only in the MTC for a little under 5 weeks instead of 6. Which has really put me in my place because I am so stressed yet excited? But yeah, apparently there is a special conference they all want us to be a part of. Exciting Rumors are going around but I'll just keep those within these walls :) But to start: 

Today:

Today is our P-Day, which means, going to the temple. We go at 6: 15 in the morning lol.. Yeah.. BUT it is so worth it, because not only are you in the Lord's house, but you get their breakfast as well on the bottom floor ;) so that’s fun. My companion (Soeur Larsen) and I have been skipping and running outside all day (can you just picture it) because it is an astounding 60 degrees. Another blessing, when we did laundry and Elder gave me THE REST OF HIS DRYER SHEETS. exciting no? hahaha, that was the peak of my day. 

Thursday, we had a workshop, and something funny and weird happened to me. We were told to partner up with someone other than our companion for an activity, so we all stood up, and there was an Elder who came up to me and said "Ok who goes first?" with a cocky tone, I hesitated but continued on, he literally would not participate because he said it was a waist of his time, I was so done. Then by the end of the activity we were told to leave the "investigator" a pass-along card, basically saying go visit Mormon.org. We obviously didn't get to that point given his already struggling motivation, so at the end he shouts to me, "wait we never exchanged pass-along cards, can we meet at exercise time and do the exchange" literally SHOUTED ACROSS THE ROOM. I stood there like what?? haha Elders.... yeah well now every time we see each other I see him split a 180 over to my table or classroom and he asks about these cards that we need to exchange and if we can trade emails too, don't worry guys I've locked my heart. anyways, Thursday, we learned more French. And as exciting as that seems, it was a bit different. Yesterday we learned a couple new concepts that I had honestly never heard of. It was the first time I had felt completely inadequate in the language. Soeur Larsen and I left the class and I just thought to myself, how am I going to learn the language to teach these people about the gospel. How? I started tearing up, just feeling down, and Soeur Larsen said something profound. God did not call me to France because I would be good at the language, or because I took in earlier and had a head start. He called me to France because I can (to the best of my abilities and with the Spirit) convey the message of the Everlasting Gospel to those living in France. It is all about the PEOPLE. That is why I am here, it is not to perfect French (which I will in due time lol) but to share my testimony and do the Lords work as best as I can. Anyways, that helped me a ton. ALSO MOM, sent me yet ANOTHER PACKAGE of Sweet Tooth Fairy Cupcakes, yes mom I get it I need to gain weight hahaha, but thank you so much. My district absolutely loved them. and my teachers, I gave them some as well 

Wednesday Soeur Larsen and I were in a trio with our dear sweet Soeur Morrison, she's from the Philippines, so spunky. But we were all working out and I pulled out my workout band things haha (thank you jensen and mom), and I made all the girls in my zone do an arm and butt workout with me. it was so funny because I was like their coach, after the next couple of days they've just been like we hate you were so sore, but they love it its fine. I also got a package from my sweet macey and he wrote all over it. pics below its super cute. 

Tuesday was special. We had our first lesson with another investigator (mock lesson for practice, it was actually our teacher Sr Allred), her name was Florence. She had a bunch of addictions, super depressed, and wasn't sure on how she could continue life. As we kept talking with her about the Plan of Salvation, she grew to be more receptive, I read a scripture from Romans 8: 16-18, " For the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us", after reading that. She froze, and the Spirit filled the room. I told her that life will continue to get hard, in fact, because of your desire to grow closer to God, it may get harder! But our trials will become light, and as we rely on God and Jesus Christ, we will GROW, that is an absolute, it’s not an indefinite answer. IT applies to all; if you try your best at acting on your desire, listening to promptings, trying with your heart, you will be fortified, and the sufferings at this moment, will only be a memory. They will not COMPARE to the person you have become. She loved it, she felt the hope we had been praying all week for her to find. She said she would work towards Baptism. Good stuff. Now again, this was my teacher, so it was nothing new, but when we returned into the classroom, she started to cry, she said that Florence was someone real in her life. And she had been praying on how to help her. She felt comfort and guidance from the messages we gave her to help Florence. It was amazing. 

Monday was a sad day, brought a lot of people closer together. We found out Sister Davidson (a 19-year-old) was going home. She said she had had some mental problems that she needed to resolve, and so it was her time. Didn't really get to know her but she told me I had an influence on her. Wasn't sure how, hadn't really talked to the girl. But it was there, going to miss her. We also found out that Elder Kuia is going home too. He tore his ACL while playing basketball and has to have surgery. I told him about Mason and he has SO MUCH RESPECT FOR YOU MACEY because he can't imagine having two legs injured. Needless to say you're a tough kid. anyways, Elder Kuia is from Hawaii, he's 23 and honestly ya'll he is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. After he turned about 18 he fell away from the church and some terrible experiences happened, but he has had a huge change of heart while working towards coming back, his testimony is so strong, he is so kind and had such a way of testifying how the gospel works! I’m sad he's going home BUT he will return after surgery. He needs to. Keep him in your prayers.

My whole district calls me Mere Dunkley (which basically translates to mama Dunkley) because of the amount of work I make them all do and also the amount of treat I bring (referring back to the cupcakes). It’s a good time. 

Anyways my time is a bit shorter today. But I want to leave you with this story: 

Sister Larsen and I had TRC's this week, (don’t know what it stands for lol) but basically we meet with members and give them lessons in French. We had two meetings with Ryan and Frere Mahaffey. We had a whole lesson plan in French to go over and guess what. NONE of it was applicable to what we were discussing. lol, but that’s okay because we obviously had the spirit that day. I felt prompted to pull out my scriptures to a story I had read previously THAT DAY, just a small excerpt in Alma 15. Zeezram, ( a convert to the church) was so full of anxiety over the lost connection of Alma and Amulek ( missionaries) and his own sins, that he became physically ill. Bed ridden. Once Alma and Amulek heard the news, they quickly met up with Zeezram to give him a blessing. Prior to the blessing Alma asked, " do you believe in the power of Christ?", he responded yes, " do you believe that you can be healed through him?" YES, he cried. So Alma continued his blessing and Zeezram leaped upon his feet. it was that simple. Think of the power Christ has in your life, think of the faith you had to obtain to overcome trials. With Christ, all is possible. I love this Gospel and i know i am meant to be here. I am so Happy :) thanks for the support and love. i love you all so much! 

Soeur Dunkley