Sister Dunlop: It's warmer in my freezer

I had this super sad (but awesome, because Alaska rocks) moment this week where I realized it was warmer in our freezer than it was outside...killer. We were knocking doors in 12 degrees on Saturday (yay for human popsicle life) but at least the sun finally rose around noon so it warmed up a little bit (to like 18) haha. I love AK. This email isn't going to be very long, but I promise to make up for it with lots of photos because let's be honest here, some of you only look at the photos. Don't worry, that was me too.

It was a pretty good week up north. On Tuesday, we were able to go to the Anchorage temple with our zone and it was so awesome. I love the Alaska temple! Alaska and Wyoming now have the same number of temples (one, haha) so that's really cool. The Heckels weren't feeling too well on Wednesday so Sister Ewing whipped out these hidden chef talents she has and made them chicken noodle soup! She even handmade the noodles! I was so impressed and just watched her work her soup magic the whole time. We left a giant vat (@amillz) of the soup on their porch and tried to ding dong ditch their house. I slipped under the car while we were running back, but I don't think anyone saw me haha. Slipping is a daily struggle for Sister Dunlop. I had my last trainer & trainee meeting on Thursday which was super happy because those meetings sometimes feel like forever and a day long. I also turned 3 months old that day, along with the other four sisters (Richards, Cox, Lake, and Jewel) that came out with me. Yay! There is a lady in the Oceanview Ward who owns a floral company and we texted her Thursday night to see if we could come by and get some flowers from her to take over to Sister Heckel the next day (because it's the anniversary of when her mom passed away). She called us back and invited us over to her house to help her do a huge Christmas floral arrangement thing in honor of Sister Heckel's mom #tendermercies. Friday & Saturday were exchanges with the Jewel Lake sisters and Sister Neild came to Oceanview with me and Sister Ewing went with Sister Jimenez to Jewel Lake (which was the area she was trained in!). Sister Neild and I were at the church building doing some Bush Branch calls and this lady had been in the gym setting up for a party later that night, and we get to talking to her and she tells us how she was the first sister missionary in Alaska. SHE IS LEGEND! So, so, so cool. She told us about how she and her companion opened up Ketchikan and then now here we are with almost 30 sister missionaries scattered over Alaska.

This next week is insane. Today we only have half a PDay because our zone is going to help with a giant Thanksgiving service project for Anchorage and then Sister Ewing is getting dropped off at the airport at 6am tomorrow morning to go and do exchanges in Juneau (little salty I'm not going, but hopefully I'll get to Juneau eventually) for two days and so that means I get to TRIO WITH HUFFMAN FOR TWO DAYS! So stoked. We have a partial PDay on Wednesday, I'm not really sure why that is, but I'm not complaining. Thursday is thanksgiving (duh) and we have dinner at the Barbachano's and then we are just going to house hop for leftovers and whatever for the rest of the day until we get transfer calls that night *anyone who guesses my transfer call correctly gets fireweed honey or something* and I honestly have no idea what's going to happen. I could stay here, but then I will have been in this area for almost 5 months by the time next transfer rolls around, or I could get shipped off to Fairbanks or Eagle River or something like that. And then Saturday is the 100th day of my mission- they grow up so fast.

Also, I know this isn't really AAM related but, tomorrow (11/22/16) is the one year anniversary of my Tincup Canyon car accident. I think about that day all the time and have never ever questioned for a moment that Heavenly Father was watching over me as my car crashed into that icy river. Even though I was the only one in my car, I know I was not alone. And I know that we are never alone. My car accident is such a strong testament to me that God is our loving Heavenly Father, that He has a plan for us, and that He is always watching over us. I don't know why things turned out the way they did, but I know they could've (and logically should've) turned out much worse. I'm grateful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost, seatbelts, Lifeproof phone cases, the human body's "fight or flight" nervous system/adrenaline rush, the random strangers that picked my dripping wet and freezing cold self up, and so many other little puzzle pieces like that. I know guardian angels are real and I know that they were there that day to pull me out of my car. So remember that you're never ever alone and that you have a Heavenly Father who knows you and loves you and that He has a plan for you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Sister Dunlop