Le pouvoir du tournesol.. The power of the Sunflower

HAPPY 6 MONTHS EVERYONE !!!  

half a year déjà !!! Wow!! 

I am stunned. 

So sorry last week's email was super short. P-days are great but when you're out it is hard to not only find the time to write, but find the Wi-Fi!! And after we visited the Abbey, we went straight into a McDonald's and just started writing lol. 

Well! I hope everyone is well ! I have had a week just chuck full of miracles ! Chuck full ! 

To start, marina and Phillip are doing great, we meet with them just about every day because they're our neighbors, we always bring them the food that the members give us because my goodness we are just two girls. Luckily they accept literally anything. Phillip is so sweet, so in our ward, we have one woman bring cucumbers and tomatoes every Sunday for the whole ward, literally bags full, and Phillip and marina partake as well, well last night we passed by their house and he was like my parents make jams, I'm going to start bringing jam to church, do you think the members will take it ? And we were falling on the floor, how perfect is that?? 

He's doing better, only smoking two cigarettes a day and IF he drinks, he drinks one beer, so we are making improvements. He says that despite not understanding the Book of Mormon He finds a lot of strength from it anyways, so he still reads it because it helps him go to sleep and wake up early. Lol how precious is that. Marina is doing great as well, were still working on her prayers because she doesn't quite understand the extent of our Heavenly Father’s love, but she's getting there. They both came to the relief society activity this Saturday, poor Phillip being one of the 3 men that came, he still enjoyed it. It was a soirée tahitien party thing because we had a soeur come back from serving her mission there !!! 

She's so cute. 

We also met with another ami, Eric, such a genuine dad. He has been investigating the church for so long. He's finally accepted the lessons!! We taught the word of Wisdom, his wife and I told him that he will look better if he stops smoking. So that's his motivation, aside from the blessings and love from God. 

His daughter is our inspiration, she is a member, 10 years old, and she prays every night that he will be baptized. She sits in the lessons and helps us teach him. 

We went to Rennes last week for our exchange with the STLs!! Oh my goodness it was so amazing, first off, we have to take 3 hour long trains just to get there, but it is so worth it. Rennes is a city of miracles. To start, Soeur Peterson was so kind to tell them that it was my six month mark, so they surprised me with the BEST macaroons I have ever tasted, rennes is known for one macaroon shop in particular. We finished off the night by painting. 

 Anyways it was Soeur Packard and I, in the morning we went to la marchèe des lisses, translates weird but it's an outdoor flower market, we bought the BIGGEST sunflower we could find, to give to an ami named Juliet.

Unfortunately the rdv didn't happen due to travel times, BUT God placed miracles anyways, so we had this giant flower, we thought we would go finding and use it. So we started by asking people if they would take our picture with it, once they agreed, it usually sprung up a conversation. We found so many amazing people !! 

Then we went porting, knocking on doors. We started the contact with the concept that the tournesol, or sunflower, turns towards the sun... how can we better turn towards God in our day? And the people giggled and answered sweet questions like we'll we can be kind to others, or do service. And Wow. The French loved it. 

Afterwards, we bought baguettes and waited for Soeur Peterson to meet us at the gare. Sad to part  but Soeur Peterson and I had a great trip home. 

We stopped at the gare de Le Mans, it's a Ville. We had an hour before pur next train, so we went to do language study outside because it was beautiful. We were approached by this man named Bashir, he told us " Hey !! You guys have a building here right ?? I want to know more about your church!! How many moms do you have ?? I know your bishop !!" Literally he asked all those questions at once, but yeah so he sat down with us and we taught him a bit about our religion. He was a bit strange but had a big heart. Asked me for my plastic water bottle because he was thirsty.

Then Soeur Peterson wanted a patisserie, so we walked to this boulangerie. She and I both this homeless woman and Bashir a small Apple tart. ( still had the flower) 

Well this woman, who was sitting at this shop, sipping her coffee,  stopped us, and said that was very sweet of you. We explained who we were and invited her to come to church, she immediately started crying and said my sister is dying. We had NO time because our train was about to leave, so I grabbed her hand and said she is going to be alright. After bearing testimony of the plan of salvation, she quickly said thank you. I tried to give her our card but she declined saying she wasn't ready. It was a very enriching moment. I hope she comes one day. 

Anyways, on our way home we stopped at a member’s house, who just had surgery to remove a tumor, we gave her the flower. Because man it was heavy, and then we were off to the soirée tahitien !! Like I said Phillip and marina came, but then... HANNETA AND JULIANA! This mom and 13 year old daughter that we have just begun to teach, show up with crepes and chicken. And it was the BEST NIGHT EVER. I could not believe they came. Juliana was so well integrated to the young girls that were there. They came to church the next day late because haneeta had a headache but juliana said no I want to go Mom, so they came anyways, Hanneta bore her testimony in relief society and it was honestly so amazing. 

These past couple of days I focused on one principle. Think about Christ. And I can testify to you that if we look UPON him. We will rise up and be like him. 

I am so grateful for this opportunity to be here. God needs me here to not only bless the lives of others, but to bless mine. 

I know my Redeemer lives, he knows my weaknesses and strengths. He knows yours as well, and most importantly HE knows how YOU can overcome them. So rely on him !! 

Oh and there is a picture of taboule, it's something I eat all the time here y'all were asking me what foods we buy. 

Love you all 

Keep praying, keep reading. 

Also I love Tahitian food it is so good 

See ya later !! 

Dunkley 

Temple Trip & Joel's Baptism

So sorry everyone but I don't have time for a weekly. We went to an abandoned Abbey today and it was so cool !! Went to the temple Saturday and did baptisms for the dead with our recent converts, had food poisoning but it's okay because we were blessed anyways !! 

Also marina and Phillip have been progressing like crazy ! Phillip quit coffee and beer !! And he is cutting back on cigarettes. Since they're are neighbors they just came to our apartment one night and were like sisters, we succeeded our goals !!! We wanted to tell you we had hot chocolate for breakfast! 

I was in tears. 

ALSO!! I SAW JOELS BAPTISM. AMAZING. 

Truly one of my best friends. I love him. 

Joy in Fasting...

Hello hello ! 

This week was another testimony to me of why I am here in France serving the Lord. 

First off, we are focusing the month of September on a France wide Venez et Voyez, basically it's a special reunion of the sacrament on the 23 September, for people that are interested in the church. Or anyone that is just curious for that matter. So, our President has given us the assignment to visit with every member before the 16th of September. As you can imagine, with finding, our amis, and visiting multiple members each day, it is a FULL schedule. It is so worth it, that's for sure. 

We have set a goal as an équipe to have 25 people come to the reunion. SO. that should be fun. 

This week was full of fun. I have really seen the miracles of our efforts. 

I guesI will list off some highlights or miracles of the week, don't have a ton of time, as we are on a train coming home from a chateau

Alors: 

* Tuesday, we went finding and ran into this one lady who though we were the cutest things, unfortunately she wasn't interested, but she gladly took a brochure. Her son walked passed us and wasn't interested either, so off we went to our rendez vous just down the street. 

Well, apparently he said that we were cute Americans, so on our way back, after about 45 minutes, the woman stopped us again and shouted "one inside my boy thinks you're cute !!" And we didn't know what to do but figured we can still testify so off we went. HE WAS SO EMBARRASSED that his mom brought us in lol. She said Daniel they have a message!! So We taught the book of Mormon and as we were talking she filmed us. She kept asking questions over the phone. It was a bit uncomfortable but oh well. Tant mieux. Then we asked him if he was interested in learning more and he wanted the book of Mormon that had our number in it. We pleaded for him to read it lol. So hopefully he does. Anyways she took photos of us and said she will read the Book so everyone pray for her ! 

* well the next day we were in the same area and we saw her again !!! We incited her to venez et Voyez and she said she's taking her whole family !!! So that was a big blessing. 

* we have a new ami, his name is Giovanni, one of the most genuine people I have ever met. He truly wants to know the truth, he's had a very hard life but is obsessed with the book of Mormon, he's studied every religion, but claims the lives de Mormon is really the word if God. Well yes Giovanni me too. Thru our efforts we weren't able to get him to church, but we're still meeting with him so that's good. He just said he was tired. Church is not that early Gio  !!! 

* we were finding in a Ville and got slammed by every single door, on our walk back to our car, I immediately stopped in front of this door number 10. I had a very direct impression to sonner the doorbell !! Well, it was a mother with 5 beautiful children. Raphaelle, basically after talking about the book of Mormon, all of her kids and her wanted one, and they wanted to read it together as a family. I was so touched, she said I looked just like her daughter who has blue eyes and blonde hair too. I pulled out some photos that I carry with me everywhere and I showed them my family, she was so touched and said that it was very courageous what we were doing. I told her very softly Raphaelle it's because it's the truth. 

She was super touched, we are planning on meeting up with them next week. 

* we had a ward BBQ friday and had Marina and Phillip come ! Also our cute little French teacher came, Martine, she told us she wants us to meet her new boyfriend so I'm PUMPED for that. They WILL be baptized one day. 

* Also, this one member gave me a zucchini the size of my head. You guys we literally are so blessed, and also overwhelmed. It's a polarity that's for sure. 

* we have an ami Eric, who is amazing. His wife is baptized and a couple of his children too. Do y'all remember Anaïs? The 17 year old daughter of magali and eric? The one who left and cut my hair ? Okay well we asked her to read Enos a couple weeks back, WELL. She texted us and goes, okay soeurs, last night I woke up from a nightmare and could not go back to sleep. I saw the book of Mormon on the floor and decided to read the chapter. She read the entire chapter and after had the best sleep ever. She was like give me another one I want to sleep that way all the time. We were in tears it was so amazing !!!!! So cool 

* Also my mom met a girl back in new York who is from France, we have been in contact for the past couple of days, she is agreeing to meet with the missionaries who live in her Ville! 

As you can see, we have witnessed so many tender mercies. 

This week I fasted very specifically. I fell upon a scripture in D&C 59:13-15 

It compares fasting to joy. It's so true. These past 3 days, we have worked so hard, and although a lot of things didn't go our way, it was not because our efforts weren't enough. God saw how much we wanted the benefit for our amis and members and he blessed in ways we could not imagine. Because of this fast I have experienced so much joy !!! I am so happy to be here. I am so grateful for the simplicity of the gospel that allows me to have happiness through hard times. 

I encourage you all to fast with a purpose ! Even though it's a month away, focus on what you can do now to prepare. He will bless you for your efforts, and the joy will be reflected that's for sure. 

Heavenly Father loves you.

Love you all so much. 

SD 

24 semaine (week)

Wow. Déjà 5 mois into the mission. I am stunned. This has really flown by I don't know about you guys. 

Thank you by the way for all the love and emails. I SO SO love them. 

Maintenant we are in a Japanese oriental garden. Oh my goodness everyone if you could see the things I'm seeing !! Pictures do not do justice I will tell you that for free. 

Last week we were at a festival similar to the renaissance, called Puy de Fou. It's a historical amusement park filled with lives performances and simulation of historic events that took place in France. Specificaly near Cholet. It was surreal. Vikings, gypsies, les panaches, so cool.

But yes today I am tranquil sitting on a bench en face de a willow tree, drawing, and I could not be more happy. 

This week was pretty chill, and yes to answer your question there were miracles. 

Monday night we went finding and found someone named Jesus. We had a rendez vous with him Friday but sadly he bailed. Luckily we know he is not Him.

We also met this one woman named Natalie, who lived on the same floor as Jesus, she was so touched by our message that she started to cry, but told us she wasn't ready, so we said a prayer ensemble. It was actually a goal of mine to pray with someone I didn't know. Amazing that it was fulfilled. 

One miracle in particular really touched my heart, we had a rendez vous with an ami, who was a man, so we needed a female member from our ward, we asked this sweet woman Martine to come along because she had been asking to meet with us. 

She called us about an hour before the rendez-vous and insisted on taking us to burger king, it’s Soeur Peterson's favorite so we said yes bien sur. She brought her petite fille Maylese avec Elle, and it was super sympa. Afterwards, we went to the church, and our ami nous a poséun lapin or in other words he frudged us. So we thought we would read the scriptures together for a little bit. Maylese didn't know the dream of Lehi so we read 1 Nephi 8. It was so tender. She was really trying to learn !!!! 

Anyways, ONE DAY later, Martine surprise us with nos courses !!!!she had bought our groceries for us, and even bought me some veggie juices it was so sweet. 

Afterwards we KNEW we had to make something for her, so we mimicked the fruit of the tree of life and make a peach cobbler. We went over Sunday afternoon, did a bit of finding and surprised her and Maylese. We finished the chapter together and left them with the gâteau. They were so happy. Here's the interesting part, it turns out the Maylese isn't a member, she's living with a foster family about 7 hours away, but she stays with Martine during vacances or the summer. Martine told us that she was so grateful we took the time with this little 9 year old to teach her the importance of the Book of Mormon. It was such a surreal experience. 

We are at the closing of this transfer, and wow I have learned a lot. It is interesting of God's timing in all things. The attributes I needed to improve in Nogent have been well applied to my life here in Cholet, even though it's completely different. Soeur Peterson and I will stay here for another 6 weeks and I could not be more thrilled. Because we have so much planned !!!!! The work is hastening !!!! And we are making a mark here in Cholet that is for sure! 

Anyways there was probably a lot of other things that happened but I can't remember. 

Trust in the Lord everyone !! It's on our part to trust in him!! 

Soeur Peterson told me something simple but profound, if your thoughts are focused on the savoir, it will be very difficult for you to fall, he will catch you. 

It's so true. 

Love you all !! 

Puy du Fou Festival

Bonjour à tous !! 

Cette semaine était trop étonnent. On voyait les miracles par tout !!!! 

So much growth and so many blessings. 

First off, today we are at Puy du Fou, en fin contre, its basically like a GIANT Renaissance Festival, for those that live in Texas you know exactly what i am talking about. But its composed of mini spectacles or plays throughout the park, and there are these giant bird float things !!! Ugh its so cool, will send pictures. 

I don't have a ton of time so I will list off some highlights of the week:

*For P-day last week we were walking through this garden, and we got to talking to this couple, they were super intrigued that we decided to fly over here and to talk to people about the Gospel, well yes pourquoi pas , we told them about the gospel, they weren’t super interested but he asked for our photo with his wife Danielle to show his family and friends, we said sure ! And he whips out this 500 € professional camera, and was like okay y'allget next to these trees over here, he wanted a bunch of candids and things like that lol, took about 10 minutes, it was pday so its cool. Anyways, gave him my email, I  realllllly hope we get them because they were the cutest black and whites. 

* we met this DARLING WOMAN Priscilla, and her 2 year old daughter Gabrielle. They walked by our church, we were in the parking  lot for a rdv, and she was just staring for the longest time. So we walked over to her, and just started chatting. She told us she stopped going to church after her mom died. She didn’t really have a desire to know God, but now she wants to show her baby girl who God is, it was super touching. En tout cas, we had to meet with Charly, our recent convert, so we told her about church next Sunday, she said she wanted to come !! Then we were like well the church is open right now, you're more than welcome to walk in. She said maybe another time but she'll come Sunday. WELL, about at the end of our rdv with charly, Priscilla walks in :)))))), we found her praying in the chapel room, she was like yeah we were walking home, and then i decided to turn back so here we are again !  You can imagine our excitement. What made it even better is that we asked charly to help give a church tour, which gave him the opportunity to bare his testimony and the pour guy is so shy, so we were thrilled. 

Pray for her for sure 

*Soeur Petersons mom gave us the cutest care packages filled with q-tips ( which  i desperately needed) pens and fun quotes, how sweet am I right.

 

* it was Orestis bday, so we made a giant cake pour lui. It was so good he had like 3 slices. We also had burritos that night so I showed every how to form a burrito properly it was hilarious.

* okay so we have an amis(Friend) named Anaïs, shes about 17, her mom is a member and her dad is investigating the church. She is so cute. But she doesn’t believe she has a relationship with God. Luckily, we had a couple of really good lessons with her. She is starting to make those small changes for herself to learn who her Heavenly Father is !! Unfortunately,  she left this Friday to go live with her dad (divorced parents). We really wanted to have a rdv before she left, she said well, i really would like to cut your hair... i was like oh. My hair ?? Pourqoui? So she's a coiffeuse or hair dresser in training, and she wanted to cut my hair for some reason. So i said, well, if we can teach you one more principle you can cut my hair, she agreed to it ( she would have had it anyways), and we went to her house, taught her about repentance and prayer, and then she cut my hair ! Lol so here are the pictures. She asked my companion and she shook her head very aggressively haha. Probably because she goes home soon.

* Sunday was so fun, we went to church with our voisins, or neighbors who live just above us. They are the cutest couple ever, slightly awkward. But super cute. 

* we had a goal to take a photo with someone we met, whom we taught the gospel, Frédérique ! He had sooooo many dogs, he was telling us that he’s trying to teach them how to obey, but the guy just shouts SSHH TOI

Anyways, I love you all. Sorry it's short this week. Stay close to the Lord!!!! 

Patience brings Miracles

Bonjour à tous et à toutes ! 

Happy to hear from all of you. This week was a good one that's for sure. It was chuck full of tiny miracles. 

Le  dimanche passè was so amazing, having Oresti be baptized was one of the coolest experiences I have witnessed. It was really stressful trying to put together a musical number, but in the end it went super well. Hopefully you all can see it. 

During church our DMP said that ' we as members need to prioritize the missionaries. So they created a calender for us to eat chez eux.  Which is so nice but au même temps you're like guys we are fine we're not starving lol. Anyways so we have mangez-vous three days in a row and then one on Samedi last week, which is like unheard of but that's how Cholet is. They were all so amazing. And I have already raved about it in my Individual emails but I had hands down the best meal of my life chez buron. Wow. Actual French cuisine. C'était une galette qui vient de Britain, it ressembles a crèpe but it's more savory. So yeah, and best part she made it with vegan cheese, i was just overwhelmed with Love wow. Then she made a tartine and that was just dairy free heaven. So all in all we are taken care of. 

We've been meeting with this one woman, Madame Jacob, she used to be a Catholic Soeur, now she's 77 and extremely handicapped. She has studied the Mormon religion towards the end of her life and claims to be Mormon. She loves Monson and le liver de Mormon alors that's good. She's wanting to be baptized this October 14th. Our soul problem is just getting her to church, we are working with our DMP and ward to find vehicles that are made for those in wheelchairs. So we need lots of prayers !! Keep them coming !!!!  

This Thursday we met with an amazing woman named Madame Mercier, she has been really reading the book of Mormon and really wanting to know what it is that we believe. We invited her to be baptized and she sat there in silence and said, "you know what, i just don't know if he was a prophet", well madame guess what you CAN KNOW. So we asked her to pray ofc and meet again and she said let’s do it let’s test tgis theory. She is going to be such a leader I can feel it. 

Thursday night I played football with the ward, it was so fun and yes I was the only  girl playing. Soeur Peterson graciously cheered me on from the side lines. I loved it so much, first off our ward is amazing at encouraging me because all I did was run around haha. Je m'améliorerai. 

Friday we had a rendez vous with José again, but il m'a posé à lapin. After talking with the members, low and behold this tiny little man pulls up and says well I was just curious to know about your church !! Lorenzo !! Well this tiny man had the biggest mouth !! Lol, he was just super opinionated to what we believed. We gave him a church tour and he accepted the book of Mormon, alors on verra. 

OH I was driving the other day with our windows rolled down. We were at a stop light when this other car approached us. These two men asked if we wanted to get a beer, we kindly said we don't drink beer, then they asked le café? No we don't drink le café... then he goes... jus d'orange ? Finally I pulled out our card and said were missionaries, if you want to know more about your heavenly father give us a call, they took it and the light went green, that was kind of fun. 

This week I studied a ton in my  bénédiction patriarcale. I realized that the things I have been blessed with should be used throughout my mission, and all the weaknesses which I have, can be made into strengths if I appliquer the things de dans the blessing. I am so grateful and blessed that we have a literal liahona to guide us throughout our lives. And it is always relevant!! He word is the same but it always applies! 

God lives and he loves you. If you're going through any trial, know that he is aware. It is important to know that Christ knows your trial as well. 

My dear friend Kayla Hughes shared this scripture with me once, c'est 1 Peter 1:7

7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ

Your weaknesses and trials make you stronger !! Remember that!! Love you all !! 

Also the pictures, members gave us some more veggies 

Beautiful sunflowers  

sunrises on our morning runs ..

Souer Dunkley

Members building the Kingdom...

Salute à tous et à toutes ! 

Comment ça va ? 

On a eu UN BAPTÊME !!!!!!!!! 

That's right !!! Oresti was baptized!!!!!!! Oh my gosh it was one of the most stressful/ amazing experiences I've had on my mission. 

The service was so wonderful and the entire ward was there to soutenir (support). I will give more details in later paragraphs. 

Some highlights of the week:

 - I started driving !!!!!!! No !!!!!! I'm very upset about this. If there is one thing I have learned thus far on my mission, it's that I love looking out the window.. It's one of my favorite 'me things' to do. And now that I have to drive I can't look at beautiful France, so that's a bust. But on the other hand I am super good at whipping around round-abouts. Don't worry everyone we are in good hands, Soeur Dunkley is behind the wheel. 

- we had a lesson with this women named Kaheejhad, she seemed really nice. But when entering into her vous, her husband was NOT at all happy to see us. We were in a very uncomfortable spot. Then for the rest of the lesson, basically we sat there for 45 minutes while he told us how wrong our message was... haha. We tried numerous times to leave but he wanted to make sure we 'understood'. Well afterwards we were super down, o we decided to do some finding. I was telling my friend earlier that one of the things that I have to do to relieve stress is actually talking to random people about the gospel. Which is what were supposed to do so that's good. En tout cas, we left to find and we found these two amazing people who excepted a BOM and agreed to meet with us again. It was a shock that that occurred back to back here in Cholet, given that is it a smaller, more difficult Ville. We were very blessed indeed. 

- I RECEIVED THE BEST PACKAGE IN THE WORLD FROM MA MÈRE. Oh My goodness gracious. I was in tears. We come home after a long day of planning the baptism with members and such, and I find this technicolored box with my name all over it. Inside was a beautiful yellow dress, which I wore for the baptism, dairy free cookies and protein bars, wash cloths, and at least 7 FOLDERS FULL OF FHE ACTIVITIES. HOLY MOLY. My comp and I sat and planned out our rdvs for the next following week with how we will use them. Oh my gosh I am so grateful. Thank you mom and family !!! You're amazing !!! 

- lastly THE BAPTISM. 

Okay Sunday, super long day. Met at the church at 8h00 to practice our song, "souviens-toi" its a french song. Definitely recommend looking up the lyrics. Talks about the importance of remembering why we came to this earth. 

Anyways, we had a surprise ami (friend) show up at church, his name is José! What a timid man !! Super cute though. It was funny to see him because his flannel was completely unbuttoned... We had to ask him to button it up and he said, malheureusement, il n'y a pas les boutons ! So We just asked him to keep it covered. 

After church, we had a ward repas or meal. The members wanted to do this so that Oresti would have food right before his baptism, because, being an 18 year old boy, you're always hungry. How sweet is that?? The entire ward got together. Truly one big family. 

Afterwards we had the service. It was so good. Oresti told us "je ressent fière " or I am proud. And you know what? He should be !! He took that leap of faith !! I am proud of him. 

- another highlight is that we are bombarded with members wanting to invite us over. We had a goal last week to make daily member contact, however now this week We do not need that, given they are the ones contacting us. It is actually quite overwhelming. They've set up a schedule for the ward to make dairy free meals for us. I have honestly never felt so loved !! Wow !! 

With that said, i might have mentioned this before, but this ward is truly building the kingdom of Zion. When I look at everyone I see a family, building upon each other, brick by brick. C'est magnifique !!!! 

As far as my title for my email, one thing that I have taken up is painting with water colors. Whenever I am stressed from the day, right before bed I just start painting. SO basically I have been doing a lot of that given the baptism.

I am grateful to be here in Cholet. I am seeing my purpose as a missionary being fulfilled piece by piece. God has given us so many miracles. Please pay attention, he wants to hear from you. He wants your love. Devote your time to him and you will be blessed !!!!! 

I love you all !! Read the scriptures every day !! They are a literal guide book. 

Soeur Dunkley  Memv