LIFE UPDATES - THE REAL REASON YOU’RE HERE
Hello hello family & friends! Can you believe I made it this far? I can’t. This is insane. I’m pretty sure you’re all just here for the photos+transfer news anyways so...I’m staying in WASILLA for the rest of my mission #ripsisdunlop. This is not a drill. When I came up here in the beginning of August, did I think I would stay here until the middle of March? No. When President Toone called us to tell me I would finish my mission in Wasilla and that Sister Bentley was going to be my last companion, did I think he was kidding? Yep. What’s six more weeks when you’ve already done six months? 🙃 it’s definitely bittersweet #sisdunlopcantbestopped. I’m pretty sure that President just didn’t know where to put me anymore because I’ve already served all over the mission and so he just left me up here in Wasilla. If I’ve learned anything about the transfers of my mission, it’s to trust in God’s timing and not my own #patienceishardsometimes. Sister Melton is heading down to Eagle River to be with Sister Jewel (lucky) before Sister Jewel and I head home in March. Mission life is crazy.
JUST BECAUSE IT’S TRANSFERS DOESN’T MEAN WE STOP 💥
I went to the Colony Ward with Sister Fa’anunu on exchanges Tuesday & Wednesday and we celebrated my seventeen month mark on January 17th (ps happy birthday dad) by eating ice cream for lunch. Oops. Sometimes I forget that we were companions up in Fairbanks together for so long and then we go into teaching appointments together and say the exact same things haha. She’s a good one 💕
This week Sister Melton and I have continued working our tails off trying to lay a strong foundation for future missionaries serving in the Wasilla Ward. Lots of tracting and contacting. Frozen hair and frosted eyelashes. Some return appointments but a lot of “we are not interested but stay warm out there” and a shut door in the face. Sister Melton is a champion though because she’s felt sick all week but still wanted to go out and work. I adore her #proudmom.
Our return appointment with the Cult book lady went well, I guess. She had cancelled our prior set lesson on Tuesday because she wasn’t feeling well (everyone and their mush dogs have the flu up here right now) but we stopped by on Friday to check in and see how she was doing and almost an entire century later, we popped back out of there alive. Patti (that’s her name) wanted to know how+why the Book of Mormon had made such a big difference in our lives and our personal testimonies of it. She had a lot of “deep questions” that we helped clear up for her using the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Things are starting to click for her. Conversion isn’t an overnight process but “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass”. It’s coming.
Because we’ve been tracting so much, we’ve met a lot of people who have potential to become more serious investigators. So we have been touching base with a lot of them and figuring out who’s really ready and willing to let us invite them closer to Christ and help them grow. I think that one of my favorite parts of being a missionary is that the message that we share in no way demeans or destroys the already standing testimony of those we meet, but it enhances and enlarges it. The gospel is so good.
THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE+SUPER GOOD
I don’t know if you remember me telling you this, but Sister Melton and I set a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon together this transfer. And we did it 🎉
I absolutely love the Book of Mormon and am so grateful for the way that it has brought me closer to my Savior and to come to know Him better. People love to bash the Book of Mormon and tell us that “it’s replaces the Bible” or bring up the scripture in Revelations 22 - which is not relevant to the Book of Mormon - or whatever but that’s usually because they have no idea what it really is. In no way does the Book of Mormon replace the Bible, it supports it. It’s an additional witness. Here’s a really good chocolate chip cookie, don’t you want another one? Duh. Anyways, I wanted to share a scripture that I read and loved this week with you, it’s a classic ☺️
“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.” - Moroni 10:32
I love this scripture because it invites us to “come unto Christ” and have total faith in Him. Total faith is scary sometimes but He always meets us where we are and helps us become more. “His grace is sufficient”. He loves you more than you know.
I’ll just be up here in Wasilla for the rest of my life if you ever need me.
XOXO Sister Dunlop the “Wicked Witch of Wasilla”
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