Alma 36...

Bonjour tout le monde ! 

I hope youre doing amazing today!! I will tell ya, today it is absolutely FREEZING. and RAINING. Could possibly SNOW.... not prepared that’s for sure. And in fact, today for P-day we are going to Puy de Fou again !!! So we will be spending our day outdoors! I am really pumped, it’s okay because it is so worth it to be quite honest. But in any case, this week was spectacular. Lots of highs and lows, but it really made me recognize the veracity of my calling. 

First off, we had exchanges. This was awesome because we spent them in my favorite city of all time, Rennes (: 

They started off really strong. I was with Soeur Pischer, and right when we arrived, we had a rdv with this sweet 19 year old named Noa. She wanted to be baptized !!! Only problem was, was that she wanted to wait until NEXT YEAR, this was due to her contract at work which made her work on certain Sundays. Soeur Pischer and I knew that she could be baptized earlier. So we went in, taught a lesson and launched the idea of baptism, she was taken back and defensively said "nope sorry can’t so that. I need to be fully committed before I can be baptized", we paused for a moment -this was a running problem within their previous lessons- and I prayed a bit, then asked, "well Noa, avez vous prié Dieu pour cette réponse?" Have you prayed to god for this answer? 

She looked at me, super perplexed and said no actually, I haven't included him at all. Hmmmmm.. Soeur Pischer and I grinned. So we gave her that as her engagement. AND GUESS WHAT. SHE IS NOW GETTING BAPTIZED November 10th!!! MIRACLES OF EXCHANGES. So amazing.  

On our way back from exchanges, Soeur Petersen and I had lunch in a park. There are some fun pics to see (: 

As for a low, that very same day I received a message from Eric say that he is no longer interested in the missionary lessons. He no longer wants to be baptized. This honestly ripped my heart into pieces. He was doing so well, and because of that, he has been absolutely tormented by the adversary. We met with him Friday night to discuss why he felt this way, he said I have simply lost the need for this, he said he believes he will be better off without it. We read in Alma 36 from the Book of Mormon, and we honestly felt the spirit so strongly. I bore a very sincere testimony of repentance. I know it registered to him because he agreed that it’s important we keep coming. So from now on, we will just meet with the family. Hopefully he accepts the gospel. He would be so much happier with it. 

As for sweet Mamadou, he is doing so well. We had dinner with him at a member’s house Friday, and he was just thriving. He writes down all of his questions from the Book of Mormon on a little piece of paper. Then he shows it to us and says well I hope you can read this. Lol

Keep praying for him. He is coming around. 

Anyways, I just want to say that I so love this gospel. I realize that my happiness is a choice, and it is a choice trusted upon the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, I am so grateful for all He has done for me, my amis and my family. I invite all of you to go read Alma 36. The power of the atonement is real! And applicable to everyone!! I love you all !! 

Oh and as for Halloween, there are some families that do it here but it is not that huge. We will still be celebrating that's for sure. Send pictures of yall’s costumes they love to see that stuff!! Bye!! 

Soeur Dunkley. 

An American Bishop was called....

Bonjour tout monde ! Another week of work and miracles ! Today we are working on our skirts again with soeur Ako, so i will keep you up to date on how those turn out (:  

As for this week, nothing super grand happened. Mais we worked super hard and had a BALL at the end of the week. It was loads of fun. 

So this week we had tiny miracles throughout the week, i will try and run through them. One funny thing that happened was, we were finding in Chemillé  and there was this one house with a cool window, i wanted to take a mirror picture. Now as missionaries we arent really supposed to be taking pictures willy nilly, and after a long day of having people say no, i wanted to take a funny photo. Just after we took this photo, the man came out of the house and i just stood there with the biggest grin on my face and said well hello we are missionaries, and he looked at me and said missionaries for what..... i saw you take that photo. I was DEAD. It was a big slap in the face for me to not do that again lol. Will work better on that. But we still have the photo so thats fun (: 

We have our amis Eric and Mamadou who are our best progressing amis, and it's funny because they were originally atheist. But as we have met with them We have seen and ENORMOUS change in their character and in their desire to change their habits for God. 

So to start, we met with Eric to talk about his fast, he was actually super discouraged with what happened. He had a goal to not smoke at all this week, but he unfortunately didn't completely reach his goal, he did succeed for the most part!! But not all. Anyways he was really upset with not accomplishing his goal, I then asked him if he prayed during the days that he smoked, and goes well no not really, and then I asked him okay and when you prayed, what did you pray for? And he said well I prayed to God for strength. I asked okay, well. Did you pray for the healing power of the Atonement ? He starred at me and was like I didn't think at all about Jesus Christ. And we all three raised our hands and said ohhhh wow ok!!! Well let's assess this souci, or problem. So we had a beautiful lesson on re-teaching the atonement of Jesus Christ. It was extremely touching. I was in absolute ah with the feeling of the spirit. We gave him the option to choose the 17 November for his baptism, he raised his eyebrows and said hmm. That sounds nice. SO WE WILL BE VERY RELIANT ON THE LORD !!! (: 

We're having a family home evening with them tonight so that's exciting. And Anaïs is here !!!! His daughter, the one that cut my hair. She's visiting for a week,  we are really wanting to instill more of the gospel into her heart. 

We met with Mamadou this week multiple times, we taught him the importance of the temple and family history work. He was SO INTERESTED in learning about the temple, he was like Okay well how do I get started?? This is a man who used to deny completely the idea of God. Now every time we mention prayer or God, he gets this funny smile that comes on his face saying I hope so. It's the cutest. 

At the end of this week we had a BALL chez notre eglise. Oh my gosh it was so fun. Our French teacher came and she got to talking with the people there, she said that she wants to go to the Temple !!! This is huge because she has rejected the church for so long. Hopefully this is our shot. 

We also set a baptismal date with a 9 year old named Luyanna! Her mom is a less active and her dad is a non-member and she has agreed to be baptized !! It was honestly a really spiritual lesson that we had. Teaching children really does bring the Spirit. 

The weather here is super fun, it's super cold in the morning and really beautiful during the day. I'm not going to lie I am really starting to love it here. Even though the work seems slow, and super difficult, I have developed so much love for these members and our amis (friends). It's amazing to see what love can compensate for. 

We gave talks this week in church, we had a new Bishop who served his mission here,  he's from Utah. He's super awesome but always tells me to stop speaking to him in French lol. Anyways he asked us to give talks. I talked about how the Book of Mormon has allowed me to recognize the reality of Jesus Christ. I have truly come to know him as my Savoir all because of the Book of Mormon. I am definitely and eternally grateful for what it has brought me in my life. I have taken the initiative to restart the Book of Mormon and highlight all the references of the Savoir. It's been such an eye opener to me even in just the first few chapters. I especially love chapter 11 and 13. 

Sorry don't have a ton of time left. But I'm very happy and grateful to be here (: feel free to send an email if you are rereading the book of Mormon too!!! I would love to hear about your experiences. 

Love you all (: 

Autumn in France!!

Hello from the most beautiful place on earth!!! Cholet !!!! 

And the longer I'm here the more I love it. It's super interesting. 

But anyways, transfer week !! What a time. We had a lot of changes happen. Sadly, Soeur Peterson has departed for Rouen, which is nord du France. Or north. And now I have the fresh, brand new Soeur Petersen!! She is just a couple months out. Super fun girl from Utah and loves to work hard. Great. 

And with that said, because of our efforts these past couple of days we have truly seen so many miracles. It has been incredible. 

First off, Monday through Wednesday was visiting members and saying goodbye to everyone for Soeur Peterson. She was really loved here. 

Anyways, so we dropped her off in Paris and I GOT TO SEE SOME OF MY OLD TEAMMATES SOEUR BAKLY AND SOEUR KENNINGTON. i was overcome with joy. There are pictures to show my excitement. 

So I guess I will list out some miracles 

First off- the very first thing that happened once Soeur Petersen and I met up, was we went outside to go get something to eat. While i was waiting in line, i get a call from the one and only ANAÏS. If anyone remembers the story of my ami cutting my hair, she gave me a call and said she is coming to visit her family ( the Boutins, Eric- our other ami and his recent convert wife Magali ). She was like you HAVE to be there. I was in tears, God is so working on this family that’s for sure. 

-on the fourteenth I hit my 7 months on my mission wow !! Crazy. Time flies. 

Reunion at the Chapel picture

- So we met with Ophelie, one of our new amis, she is a single mom with two babies and is so precious. We went over to teach her about the Restoration, but ended up just sharing about the Book of Mormon because we didn’t have time. We watched a film that described the Book of Mormon and she started crying. She was like what is this feeling that I have, I have never experienced this?? I started crying too, I said Ophelie, I feel it too. It’s the Spirit. It’s the presence of God. I told her you can have this feeling with you always, she said really? Can I be baptized? Hearing those words literally made me speechless. We didn’t want to set a date until she had a bit more knowledge, but we said yes yes you can! So we will keep you tuned in for her (: 

- We met with Eric Boutin this Sunday, we had a lesson planned on fasting, quitting smoking and a baptismal date. So basically this guy has been investigating the church for quite some time. He can’t quit smoking. The last rdv we had with him, we asked him to pray for a date. We prayed as well, and originally we had the date at the 17th of November. But we both felt the 27th of October. It was crazy. But that’s what we felt. So during our rdv, he told us that he wants to fast from cigarettes for a week. But do a fast. So we said that’s a great idea. Afterwards we shared one of my favorite scriptures with him, its D&C 59:13-14, 

13 And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full.

14 Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer.

Teaches the value and correlation in fasting. We told him he will be more receptive to the Spirit if he does it properly. 

At the end of the lesson we told him the date we thought of, he was stunned. But super calm about it. Magali was too. Magali said he is ready. 

I kid you not, the Spirit was tangible in this house. I have developed such a love for this family. I have truly seen this man, in just a few weeks, develop the attributes of Christ. The patience, certitude, love, long suffering, that Christ shows. He just needs to commit for heaven sakes !!! Lol. Pleasse please pray for him. 

Afterwards Magali grabbed my hand and said i want you to spend Christmas and Thanksgiving with us. I almost cried!! Geeze Soeur Dunkley- i do not cry every day, I’m not that emotional people. 

But I just truly love this family that’s all. They are a family sustained by God 

- Mamadou came to church !!! It’s a miracle that he came because he is completely Atheist. But he is gaining such a light !! It’s incredible. 

- we witnessed a lot of sunsets. It was nice 

- today for P-day we decorated the apartment for Christmas, so that’s how our day is going (: 

I love you all, this week was fast Sunday, after fasting for my family, amis, my companionship, myself, i have truly seen the hand of God. I have also been so much more receptive to the whisperings of the Spirit. It’s so real ! It’s so surreal the connection we can have with God. 

 since being out on my mission I have acquired a peace in everything i do, thinking about Christ always, truly brings peace in our lives. 

-Oh I love this gospel. And it’s also mango season in France get that !! They’re really good right now. 

Love you all !! 

SD

Une Baguette Epi...

Bonjour à tous !!!! Joyeux weekend de conférence générale !

J'espère que tout le monde avait eu le temps de la regarder. C'était très enrichissante et profond !!! 

This week was so enriching, so fulfilling !!! We had so many miracles !!! 

Une Baquette Epi

First off, it's transfer week ! I'm staying in Cholet, but sadly Soeur Peterson is taking off for her last 6 weeks, and I am getting a new companion... Soeur PETERSEN. Haha, practically the same name. However completely different person. I am so excited to meet her!! This is her 3rd transfer in, so that should be so much fun. 

Really sad for the change but I'm excited to see what the future brings for me and my two Soeur Petersons !! Lol 

Okay so last week what happened.. OH right ! District p-day!!!!! We went bowling, and then painted at a chateau in Angers. It was honestly one of the funniest times I have ever had. I loved it. MY district is by far the best!

We met with Anthony and Sabrina, daughter and father, both atheists, and super curious. We taught them the Plan of Salvation. It was so interesting they had so many questions. Sabrina who's fourteen asked to meet with us again. We kindly agreed. 

Then we met with OPHÉLIE !!! Oh  she is just an angel. Truly, Sadly we didnt have too much time with her, I will explain: upon our arrival, there was no one at the door in her apartement, normally with an appointment we pray to discern if we should wait or go, with this one, we decided to stay. After about 18 minutes of porting in the same building, we hear two little kids entering into the building. Low and behold it was Brooklyn and Layne !! The kids of ophelie ! We were so grateful. We didnt have much time, because we had another rdv, so we started with a prayer, immediately after, she says, okay so how can i develop faith? We were stunned, well, we had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation but we are missionaries so have at it, okay. So we read alma 32. She LOVED the passage. Then she asked if she could come to church, we were like no, sadly no... jk haha. But yeah! The spirit was honestly so strong, so tangible. Afterwards we asked her to pray, and she prayed for thr first time to God and thanked him for blessing her with two angels. 

I'm not going to lie. It felt so good for once to have someone actually ask us for the rdv, ask us for the scriptures, and ask us how they can have a testimony too. It was such a breath of fresh air and a testament that God had prepared ophelie and US, to meet. Very grateful for her. She texted us that night saying that ever since she had met us, her life has been slowly piecing back together. We were truly grateful. 

We also met with Mamadou this week again (: oh Mamadou. let me just make this funny notion clear that ALL of our progressing amis do NOT believe in God haha. I swear I have the Plan of Salvation memorized. 

Well we met with Mamadou, who is extremely stubborn. But continues to ask to meet, and continues to read in the Book of Mormon every day. We met and after a long 45 minutes of discussing Korihor in chapter 30 of Alma, he finally said yes to praying to God for the first time. This was huge, and took a lot of humility on his part. After the prayer we all felt the Spirit so strongly in his home. 

We met the next day right before General Conference for another meeting. This begun with a frustrating start, because he said, I do not want to believe in God. I do not want to know Him. Afterwards, we sat and asked him, well why do you continue to come? He sat there for a while and couldn't answer. I testified that when we make the conscious decision to act and grow closer to God, the adversary immediately acts as well. I testified that "I knew God had placed a man as kind and generous as you in our paths because he wants you to benefit from His blessings. You deserve His blessings Mamadou" afterwards I clearly asked. Do you want to know God. If not we will stop meeting with you, but if yes, be humble. 

He stopped and said yes. I do I want to know. 

Afterwards, we all knelt down together and prayed. 

Teaching those that truly don't believe that there is a Heavenly Father is something so miraculous to watch unfold. I saw the outcome of all the anxieties and prayers I had poured out for him, because of that one simple prayer and that one simple "yes." 

I know God's timing is perfect. And I know with patience and faith comes miracles, and brings others to Christ. 

He stayed after to listen to a bit of conference. He had the biggest smile on his face watching the choir. (: 

OKAY. SO CONFERENCE. WOW. what a turn !!!! Finally we won't have to convince amis to stay for 3 hours of church!!!!! This is going to be such an off the hook moment... thank you President Nelson!!!!! 

I have to admit, I can't exactly pinpoint which talk I loved the most. They were all so amazing. I was really touched by Elder Jeffery R Holland's talk, I thought about the moments in my life that I was held back because of selfish desires, and how much more worth it, it is just to put the Lord in the center of our lives. I have been trying this for a couple of weeks now, focusing every thought on him, specifically on His name. And I found that he is so much more real to me than ever before. After listening to His words, it was a testimony to me that life is moving in an abundance, what are the things we want to remember ? How are we wanting to be remembered ? What are we willing to forgive, let go, leave behind, to establish a life fulfilled with love and gentleness just as He is. 

I received a lot of help and guidance from Elder Gongs talk on the nature of God. Being that all of the people we encounter do not know how to visualize a God, it's been in my prayers to discern what to teach and how to teach it. So I'm grateful for his council, to follow him with all our souls, all our minds, and all our strengths. 

I found A TON of direction from the Young Woman's session. Especially talking about divine discontent. I think being a very motivated person, but we have to be careful with not confusing that with being overzealous or self critical. God is wanting us to constantly reform and realign our lives by his standards and through the love from the atonement. That does not mean never be satisfied with the work you do !! That means, recognize the blessings, say thanks, and continue on. 

We also ate A cool new baguette this week I thought I would note it. 

Also we teach english class and everyone was asking questions about Texas, so I finished the lesson with a simple phrase. 

Teaching English Classes

Love you all !! 

Soeur Dunkley 

Je Crois...I Believe

Hello ! Salut ! 

Wow this week was so fun. Seriously we witnessed SO MANY BEAUTIFUL THINGS. very grateful. 

To start, we went to a member's association for sewing, she owns the shop and basically hems dresses and skirts for free for others, well she let us stop by and start to make skirts so that's super, she basically picked out my fabric because she was like THIS this is the style, but it's still beautiful even though. 

Then the next day we had Zone conference in Rennes, and wow we had such a time getting there, first off the night before was super busy, we were teaching a lesson and got home just in time to edit our talks for zone conference ( every zone conference you have to prepare a talk on a Christ-like attribute, this one was on diligence ) and  at 22h00 I get a call from the zone leaders asking me to give a 5 minute talk on what we learned last zone conference. No it's not that big of a deal, but at the same time I was like I'm doing so much, given I was also in the choir. 

Anyways, we left early that morning to drive to Nantes, and then make our train up to Rennes, each city is about an hour away from each other. Well on our way to Nantes, we ran into MAJOR traffic, 45 minutes... inch by inch... or I guess I should say centimetre par centimetre. But basically we missed our train by 1 minute. Literally 1 minute. So we ended up having to drive all the way to Rennes in order to make the choir practice. It was a very long morning. 

BUT nonetheless, zone conference was sooo enriching, sooo good !! I SAW SOEUR BAKLY, she is in my zone and I cannot express how happy I am to have her, she is the most. It was hilarious, she forgot her plaque again, so she was "Soeur Packard" for the day. 

Her new companion is a francophone, and she is the sweetest thing ever so I know she is in good hands. 

OKAY. So. After zone conference, we felt powerful to kick in diligence and really take on Cholet. The weather has been incredible, just the start of Autumn, everyone is out with their dog and there are leaves everywhere, making it perfect contacting time. 

We met some amazing people this week, to start, OPHÉLIE. This sweet single, young, mom, oh how I love her. We were walking back to our car from the association, and she was just getting out of her car, I told Soeur Peterson ok were going to talk to her. As we started the conversation she was not at all interested, kept saying she doesn't believe in God or in joy and happiness in this life, we were like OPHÉLIE we have the happiness in our hands !! She was super intrigued. 

After testifying of the plan of salvation, she looked at me squared in the eyes and asked is this something that really brings you peace in your life? 

I replied softly, this is why I left my family, to share the peace and joy that I have DURING my trials. Then I shared Alma 36: 20-21, she quickly took the book and asked if we could come next week, SUPER PUMPED for her. 

Wednesday night we met with our sweet member Ven Phen and Simon.  TWO OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. Simon goes finding with us a lot, he speaks French, Cambodian,  and English. Lo as the gospel and is super gentil.  Ven Phen speaks little French and pretty much only Cambodian, so it's always fun to teach her because she also talks forever. She made us noodles and was stunned that I put so much hot sauce on mine, yes well Ven Phen, my girl, I am from Texas. 

After the repas, we were refreshing back to the lesson that we gave, and we asked her where she was in the Book of Mormon. She pulled out hers and showed us the book mark. I was dying laughing, it turns out she had finished the book of Mormon 2 weeks ago, and she was now in the topical guide. She literally was like I thought it was just another way of testifying scripture. We were all laughing so hard. I gave her a big high five and said you did it Yen!! She held my cheeks after and it was a tender moment that's for sure. We surprised her with flowers later on in the week.  

Then we met with mamadou this week, and oh my gosh he has really brought out my competitive determined missionary side. Haha 

He is completely athée, atheist,  and says he wants to find nous from men not God, he doesn’t want to go through Him to be happy. This man is so kind, but is also a little stubborn (::::: 

Ça va, because the gospel will change his life. He's still willing to meet with us, and listen to our message. He expressed he does need to change. We are willing to work with that. 

Another person that comes to mind is Anthony. We met him last night. Another athée en fait. He was also super not into our message, but then something randomly changed in this countenance, we were talking about the plan of salvation and I asked if he wanted to live with his family forever he said well... yes .. how ? WELL WE WILL TELL YOU HOW !! After testifying he said I would love to hear about this plan actually , we were like okay!!! 

We scheduled a time for the WHOLE family to meet. This Thursday. PRAY FOR THEM. it's going to be magical. 

Currently, I am sitting on a train, headed to Angers for district p-day (: bowling and Chinese food. Doesn't get more missionary than that. I will send pictures today. 

But hey! Everyone ! This gospel is so real. And also, the plan of salvation is so real. I cannot stress it enough. I thinking meeting all these people this week made me realize the veracity of God. How much he truly wants all of his children to know. And that's why we stop everyone and talk to everyone. 

OH that reminds me, I forgot another miracle. We're driving home from Ven phen, and we had to make a U=turn in a parking lot, there was a super old beetle that caught my eye and a cute couple sitting on the gravel next to it. So we thought we would stop and talk to them,  I wanted to know more about the beetle lol. After a couple minutes of discussing who we were and also the origin of the car, we fell onto the subject of the Book of Mormon. We testified of its truth and of it’s simplicity in understanding God’s nature and the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Laura and Jordan both accepted one and exchanged emails to hear more. It was a very special moment because when you testify to people your age, there is a certain genuinity that comes out. And they really become really receptive to the Spirit that you bring. It was also super beautiful outside as we all sat om the gravel watching the sunset, reading the introduction of the Book of Mormon. Will never forget that moment. 

Super fun week, SUPER grateful to be here, and I cannot express the joys I have felt from the diligence and faith we have exercised. I think the theme of my time here in Cholet has revised into the verses I shared with Ophélie. Alma 36:20-21, I cannot describe the joys I have felt, and it is because we have worked through the hard times. 

It's so worth it. 

Have a fantastic week tout le monde 

Je vous aime (: 

Soeur Dunkley