It snowed this week! Not like snowed, but like snowed snowed. Snow. So much snow. Snow all over the place. It was also freezing cold all week. For our district tract in O'Malley area on Saturday, it was 18 degrees out and it was so cold that I wore thermal tights, thermal leggings, SmartWool socks, gloves, and both layers of my Patagucci parka (that makes me look like a dog mush team driver). I was warmish. Welcome to Alaska. I don't think I'll thaw out for the next 16 months #manyarecalledbutfewarefrozen

I went on exchanges with Sister Richards (my MTC comp) at the beginning of this week in Beach Lake/Chugiak where we ate nasty raw(ish) moose for dinner that a lady made for us (after she shot it with her bow #bossalaskanwomen), then we got barked at by a team of sled dogs and I thought they were going to break through the fence so that was terrifying, then Sister Richards played her harmonica all the way back to Anchorage. Good times. JK, I was about to chuck that thing out the car window onto the highway honestly. 

The Heckels are doing so awesome. They make my heart so happy! We went to dinner at their house the other night, and I was so touched to see the change that has happened to them over the past few months. The Spirit is totally in their home now and you can see how much happier they are. The gospel is a message of happiness, hope, and joy and being able to share that with people has been the neatest experience. November 5th is coming😍

I don't know if I've told y'all about Kaeloni, but she's this super cute little nine year old who lives out in Chignik (Alaskan Bush) that we've been calling and teaching. I had been looking through her teaching record, and found that she had been invited to be baptized back in June but nothing had been done about it and so we taught her about baptism and invited her again to be baptized, she was so excited and said yes! Here's the thing about Bush baptisms, they happen two ways: the person can be baptized by a priesthood holder (either by someone from their village that has the priesthood, Branch President Anderson, or someone else who flies out there with the priesthood) in a river/lake/ocean/glacier water/whatever is out there in the Bush OR they can fly down to Anchorage and be baptized in a font (boring). When we asked her if there was a river or something like that near her house that she could be baptized in, she said yes but that there were usually too many bears for it to be safe #AKprobs So we asked her about getting baptized in Anchorage. Kaeloni told us she and her family weren't coming down to Anchorage for a few years so we asked her to talk with her parents about her wanting to be baptized to see if it could be sooner than that haha. We'll see what happens. Hopefully by Christmas. 

Arthur is another Bush peep, who lives in Naknek. He told us that he was baptized by the elders in Soldotna back in 1980 but no one can find his records so he needs to be re-baptized. We asked him if that was something he wanted to do and he was like, "well, why not?". BOOM! So awesome! He is in a wheelchair and told us that he would be heading to Anchorage in the next few months for some medical check ups so that would be a perfect time for him to be baptized! We are starting over with the missionary discussions with him and so we can prepare him for baptism in the next little bit here. Two Bush Branch investigators [kinda] on date for baptism? Check. I'm so pumped.

Oh! Pastor Steve and his family went to church yesterday!! YASSSS!! He is in the Huffman Ward, so you can email the Huffman sisters about how it went haha. It sounded like it went super awesome though. So that was this week. Real cold. It feel more like Christmas than Halloween up here! Sister McGee went home on Thursday and so that was the saddest thing that ever happened to me, but Sister Ewing is awesome and is catching on really quick! 

Have a super (warm and sunny) week down there in the Lower 48☀️

Love y'all! Peace and blessings. 

Go forth and be awesome. 

xoxo/ Sister Dunlop

JACKSON HOLE!

IT'S MY TWO MONTH MARK TODAY!!

IT'S MY TWO MONTH MARK TODAY!! 

I'M A TWO MONTH OLD SISTER MISSIONARY EVERYONE!! 

SIXTEEN MORE MONTHS!! WOO!!

I'm just going to be super honest and tell you guys that writing weekly emails is ROUGH. There's so much that happens in a week and so much that I want to share with y'all but it takes a million years to write it all down & I feel like if I share it all with you right now, I won't have anything to talk about when I come home because you'll know it all already and I'll be super boring. I think my first email from Alaska (the one that was like six pages long) took it all out of me before I really even started my mission haha. So here's what happens this week in bullet point form (sorry not sorry)...

• We took our district photo on Tuesday after our last district meeting before transfers #squadgoals. But now that it's transfers, all of us are about to be shuffled all over Alaska (or sent home if you're Sister McGee) so this photo isn't even accurate anymore. 
• Sister McGee and I painted "Prayer Rocks" with the Heckels kiddos on Tuesday. They have been having a hard time remembering to pray and so we thought these would help them. Their mom is seriously the Crafting Queen and so it was perfect. I've never seen so many paint colors in my life. Dang Shakira. The Heckels kids are doing so awesome and it's so cool to see their faith grow each week and how far they've come since I met them in September. 
• Wednesday was seriously a day of miracles #aDisneyWORLDkindofday. It was so cool. We started out by going back and visiting the people that we had tracted into in our Ocean View district tract last week. We met a man named Steve who is exactly like the other Steve (in the Huffman area who is coming to church with his family next week!!) and so that was bizarre. He was really nice and told us that we could come back and teach his family next week sometime. Okay!! Then we met a lady named Erica who's husband Sister Martinez and I had tracted into last weekend. He wasn't very nice when we had met him and told us to go away. As we walked by their house, I remembered talking to him with Sister Martinez, but felt prompted to knock the door anyway. Luckily, his wife Erica answered and he was gone when we knocked. She let us in and we taught her and her brand new daughter, Ella, the Restoration. It was so cool. Follow the promptings of the Spirit folks. 
• After that, we decided to go visit the Stratton family one last time before Sister McGee goes home. They were home and let us in! Woo! We chatted with them about how things have been going and then they gave us a full grocery bag of freshly picked apples. Fresh fruit is a delicacy in Alaska, I'm serious. It's so good you guys, don't take it for granted! Jen Stratton (the mom) told me that I could come back with my new companion whenever we needed a snack or a bathroom break so hopefully I'll be able to sneak little pieces of the Restoration haha. The Stratton's rock. 
• Remember Jorene from the Bush last week? Yeah well, she had her little baby girl on Monday! Her name is Rylee Luca. So cutie! She asked Sister McGee and I if she would be able to get a Priesthood Blessing for both her and her baby before they had to travel back to Kwigillingok (the Bush village they live in). But she hadn't answered any of our texts or calls so we had to literally go FBI sister missionary and track her down. We called every hospital in Anchorage looking for her and then we called a bunch of hotels. We eventually were able to find her and went to her hotel that night with the Mayhue's (a senior missionary couple in the AAM that lives right next to us!) and President and Sister Andersen of the Bush Branch. It was cool to hear Elder Mayhue give little miss Rylee Luca a [basically a Father's] Blessing. I think that Jorene and her sweet family are close to being baptized! She told us she wants to recover from her pregnancy and then will get back into the lessons more. Yay we love Jorene!
• Normally, we have dinner with a member/family from our Ward each night and it always feels like an awkward blind date. Like who are you guys and what are you feeding me? Is this reindeer or bear meat? A bunch of super awesome moms from Ocean View decided to invite us to their "Ladie's Night" at Texas Roadhouse on Wednesday night to wrap up Sister McGee and my #Disneyworldday so that was a huge blessing. It was the best blind date food ever. Those rolls man...
• By the end of Wednesday, Sister McGee and I had handed out 8 Book of Mormons and it wasn't like handing out Halloween candy where you just open the front door, drop some candy in the kid's plastic pumpkins, and close the door again. It was like honest and real and awesome. Wednesday rocked. 
• We tracted Huffman on Thursday and Sister Jewel and I met this super cute old lady named Bonnie, who lives in a bright purple house. She told us that she was the author of the Bible and when we asked her how long she has lived in Alaska she told us that "Alaska is a conspiracy theory" and how she's really living in the South and that "the government just wants us to believe we are in Alaska because they keep pulling the wool over our eyes". K cool. Before we left she told us we couldn't come back unless we brought a new husband back for her with us. She asked us to play matchmaker for her. So that was a good experience. Sister Jewel and I made it out okay. You meet one of every kind knocking doors in Alaska. Tracting builds some serious character to say the least. 
• I went on exchanges with Sister Langford in Campbell Park on Friday. She's only one transfer older than me so it was just another "Babie's Day Out" like last week with Sister Richards. We met a guy named JR and after we gave him a Book of Mormon, I asked him to pinkie promise me that he would pray about it. He did. And pretty much smashed my little tiny baby pinkie in the process. Worth it though. We also somehow lost a hubcap but in reality, I think someone actually stole it off our car while we were out teaching. Campbell Park is way sketch. 
• Saturday morning, Sister Langford and I went to a Tongan baptism to support Elder Hawkins and Elder Tuimoloau (the Tongan speaking Elders in AK) with a bunch of other missionaries and I was just super confused the whole time. Tongan sounds super cool but it also sounds like they have a mouth full of Tic Tacs...cool. 
• This weekend was Stake Conference and a new Stake Presidency was assigned. Elder Hamula and Elder Stapleton of the 70 were up here and it was super cool to hear from them. In the adult session Saturday night, they talked about the process of calling a new Stake President and the importance of the Plan of Salvation. The Plan of Salvation keeps popping up everywhere I go- I teach it tons, it was all over General Conference, and then Elder Hamula talks about it. On Sunday morning, they called the new Stake President (President Esplin) and his councilors to come up and sit on the stand with them. It looked like a long walk from the back of the gym up there haha. Both the outgoing and incoming Stake Presidencies bore their testimonies and then Elder Stapleton and Hamula closed up the meeting with theirs. It's so awesome to see the organization of the Church and how it's directed by God and not by man. 
• Later on Sunday, we had a Q&A session with Elder Hamula and Elder Stapleton in the Bush Branch and so Sister McGee and I got to go to that and the members of BB could ask them any questions they wanted. It was super cool and they answered all of them. They even asked Sister McGee and I to answer one about how to be better at sharing the gospel haha yay for sister missionaries. I love the Bush Branch and all those experiences I've had serving in that [huge] area. We might have some Bush baptisms coming up in a few weeks - stay tuned and hope that I will get to fly out for them!
• We had a lesson and dinner at the Barbachano's house with the Heckels and then headed back over to the Stake Center for another Q&A with all the Stake youth. There were probably like 80 kids there. Go Alaska! Again, they were able to ask whatever questions they wanted and so questions came up like, "why can't we date until we are 16?" or "what's your favorite scripture and why?". And then Elder Hamula, was like no seriously, ask me the deep soul searching questions. He didn't really say it like that, but kinda. And then the youth started asking real questions like, "how do I learn to trust in the promptings of the Holy Ghost?" and "how can I grow my faith more in God's will for me?". Way cool. 
• When we walked out of the Stake Center, it was snowing!! It was like the second or third time Elder Adams (from Louisiana) had ever seen snow before haha and he was so pumped. The Anchorage temple looked so pretty all lit up while it was snowing. Side note: the sun rises at about 9am and sets at 6pm. The days are so short! I know I've said that in like every email, but seriously it keeps getting darker up here! And it's between 20-30 degrees everyday- I'm always cold. 
• Oh! And we got our transfer calls Thursday night! Guess who's coming in to be my next companion...Sister Ewing! She is coming down from Fairbanks to finish my training this transfer. I have no idea who she is, but I've heard awesome things about her so it should be super fun. I'm also way excited that I get to stay in Ocean View for this next transfer and work on all the dreams, things, people, and plans that Sister McGee & I have going on right now. Ocean View & BB are on fire! Yay!
• Sister McGee leaves on Wednesday💔😒😳😟😫😪😭😵so if you see me wearing only black for the rest of my mission, it's because I'm mourning her loss. And today is my last full day with her because President Robinson wants me to go on a 24 hour exchange with Sister Richards over in Beach Lake on Tuesday. So I'll have fifteen minutes to say goodbye to Sister McGee in the parking lot before she goes when I pick up Sister Ewing on Wednesday. I'll be a mess. 

So that's pretty much what happened to Sister Dunlop this week. It's just a little bit of everything. Sister Allie Winter is headed off to the Alabama Birmingham mission field this morning. She's going to be so amazing you guys. Alabama better get ready! Thanks for all your emails, letters, photos, prayers, and love. Y'all rock my [Smart Wool] socks. 

Go forth and be awesome. 

xoxox Sister Dunlop

Cheechako Takeover

Time flies when you're having fun. My spirit is so tired and worn out by the end of the night, we just crash in our beds and then get up bright and early the next day and do it all over again. 

I'm exhausted, but this is the greatest adventure. 

Wednesday was the Mission Leadership Council meeting and so Sister McGee and Sister Grieve (the other STL) were gone all day. AKA CHEECHAKO SISTER DUNLOP IS IN CHARGE OF OCEAN VIEW FOR THE DAY WITH HER CHEECHAKO MTC COMPANION SISTER RICHARDS! BOOM! It was crazy and terrifying and so awesome. President Robinson must really trust us haha. 

Normally after morning studies, Sister McGee and I spend an hour doing my missionary training. But because both Sister Richards' and my trainers were both gone, we had to train each other haha- just like the MTC. After that, we went tracting in a neighborhood next to our apartment and met the strangest array of people I've met in a while - a retired man who used to meet with the missionaries until "the boys forgot about him" (elders!), a guy from Florida living in his girlfriend's apt and waits there all day for her to come home from work (we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him he should read it while he waits), a weed delivery driver who told us he wanted to pass our number onto his grandma, a business man named Wes, the USPS lady, and a lot of barking dogs. Yay Alaska. 

After that adventure, we walked back to our apartment and the Huffman sister missionaries came over for lunch. Then we had to run some things to the Mission Office and pick up some pamphlets and stuff for the rest of our week. I got my Alaska driver's license on Tuesday so President LaVoie (the guy in charge of all the cars in the AAM) would let me drive Rhonda around for the day. PS I haven't driven since August and so driving was real weird at first. Don't worry, we were ok. After stopping by the mission office, Sister Richards and I headed over to the church to do some Bush Branch calls. I don't remember if I've ever explained how we do BB lessons before but basically we call the person and have a lesson with them over the phone- discussing, reading scriptures & pamphlets (if they have them from us- sometimes they get lost in the mail in the Bush), praying, and all that stuff we normally do in a face to face lesson. It's just us calling them over the phone from our church parking lot or Young Women's room and them hanging out somewhere in the Bush with sketch cell service. The hard part about the Bush though is that the cell service is so spotty and there's like no internet anywhere ever. So sometimes lessons don't go through. Like on Wednesday, when all of the Bush investigators we had scheduled to have lessons with dropped off the face of the earth. Cool Alaska Bush, cool. We had blocked off an hour to do BB lessons and I didn't know what else we were going to do so I pulled up the list of less active members of the Bush Branch and started randomly calling and checking in on them. One of them was a super nice old man named, Monte, who told us that he had been really sick and his doctors had thought it might be cancer but after doing a lot of tests, they found that he was clear! Yay! Monte then told us that he had been praying about it and he knows that Heavenly Father is there with him every step of the way. We are hopefully going to keep in contact with teaching Monte and work to get him back into full activity in the Church. We also called a lady named Sarah who is a 2nd grade teacher out in the Bush. She told us that she works Monday-Saturday at the school (the Bush has school open on some Saturday's for the library and things like that) and so by Sunday she is so tired and just wants to relax. Luckily for the Bush Branch, you can call in to church on Sunday's from your bed in your sweats and no one would ever know! So we are going to work with her on that. 

Then, we had a lesson scheduled with the Stubbs family but they called and said that their kids were sick so that was cancelled. So Sister Richards and I decided to go back to the neighborhood we had been tracting earlier that morning and finish knocking all of the doors on that street. We had about an hour before we needed to go and teach another lesson and so I knew we didn't have a ton of time. This was kind of a "fourth floor, last door" experience that President Uchtdorf had talked about last weekend in General Conference. So we had about ten minutes until we had to go but felt prompted to go and knock on this dark corner apt door. A super nice lady named Allison opened the door and after explaining to her who we were and what we were doing, she let us right in! We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and taught her about the Restoration of the gospel. She talked to us about how she prays and reads her Bible everyday and how she is wanting her 13 year old daughter to start to build her testimony in those things too. She's been in some other churches before but has never felt like she has found the "right one" yet. She's basically shopping for a church right now. WE HAVE A SUPER GOOD ONE ALLISON, COME AND TRY IT! Sister McGee and I are planning to go and visit with her later this next week. So cool. "Fourth floor, last door" is REAL all you fellow missionaries out there. Don't give up. 

Sister Richards and I went to go and teach our newest convert, Jason. He's moving down to Utah in November and we talked to him about eternal families and temples. It's cool to hear him talk about his goals for the temple. Temples are so awesome. Then we had dinner and drove over to the Mission Office to exchange back with our trainers. In summary, the cheechakos taking over Oceanview was successful. Go team. 

Other things that happened this week: Sister McGee and I trained at Zone Meeting, we found a less active member in our ward who runs a waffle food truck called Sugarhouse Waffles and is super cute, we met one of our BB investigators in REAL LIFE Saturday night because she came down to the valley to have a baby and so we were able to meet with her before she heads to this hospital later this week (before we left, she said a prayer in Yupik and it was SUPER COOL), the Heckels are doing awesome and the oldest daughter just got called to be the first counselor in the Beehive class of YW and she's so excited about it, and Sister McGee only has like ten more days on her mission so there's been some packing and crying. So crazy. 

The overall theme for fast and testimony meeting Sunday was missionary work which was really cool because Sister McGee and I have been working hard to get the Oceanview Ward excited about missionary work. They're kinda in a "lull" right now and so hopefully this meeting got them stoked about the work here. There's tons of missionary work here in this area and there are tons of people prepared to hear the gospel, Oceanview just needs to help us find them. 

"Every member a missionary" right??

On Thursday night, President Robinson will be calling us with transfer calls! It feels just like getting my mission call all over again - terrifying but awesome. Sister McGee flies back home to Utah next Wednesday so I will be getting a new trainer to finish up the last six weeks of my training. I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in Oceanview, but we will have to see on Thursday. It's scary because I feel like Sister McGee has been the perfect trainer and perfect fit for me. I've learned so much from her and am so inspired by her. It makes me sad she's leaving me and that I have to kill off my first companion but I'm excited for her to go and be a real human again with her cute family!

Sorry for the rando assortment of photos this week, it was a bit insane. 

Anyways, I love y'all. 

Go forth and be awesome. 

XOXOXO Sister Dunlop

Saw the paw print, but not the bear

Autumn leaves. Road. Train tracks. Low tide beach. Ocean. Snow-capped mountains. Alaska.

Invite People to Be Baptized & You'll See Moose

I've heard that with missions, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days...THIS IS SO TRUE! I feel like I've been on a mission for a million years but at the same time it feels like I just got kicked to the curb at the MTC haha. We seriously get so much done and jam pack every week. Woo! So here's some of this week in Alaska...

On Wednesday afternoon, the sister missionaries serving in Soldotna came up and we did double exchanges with them in Oceanview. President Robinson decided that it would simplify our lives (and put less mileage on our car, Rhonda) if Soldotna came up and worked in Oceanview and then they could stay the night with us before Sister's Training Meeting on Thursday morning. Sister McGee and Sister Williams (Soldotna) took half of our investigators to teach that day and then Sister Gardner (other Soldotna) came with me to teach the others. Honestly, it was kinda terrifying to be in charge but Sister McGee goes home in two weeks *tears* and so I'll be taking over Oceanview anyways pretty soon- depending on transfer calls. Scary. 

For our first appointment, Sister Gardner and I went and met with the Heckel kids and I taught them about the Restoration. When I was in the MTC, I didn't like teaching the Restoration to our investigators because I felt like there was so much information packed into the discussion that it would just overwhelm those we taught. PSYCH! IT'S FREAKING AWESOME! Each point of the Restoration aligns with our message as missionaries that we are children of our loving Heavenly Father & that He still speaks to us in the latter-days and has given us the restored Gospel in its fullness! It's the coolest, happiest, greatest, and most amazing message the world has ever known! And I get to share it all the time! At the end of the lesson, I invited each of the kids to be baptized. AND THEY SAID YES!! I was so excited, I started tearing up and gave all the kids the best high fives ever. So there you go, the Heckel kids are getting baptized! SO PUMPED! Side note: a couple of days ago, I complained to Sister McGee that I'd been in Alaska for a month and hadn't seen any wildlife yet. But, the day I invited three people to be baptized, I saw three moose. It's a sign. Invite people to be baptized and you'll see moose. Heavenly Father's sneaky like that, haha!

Thursday was our mission's Sister's Training Meeting (we ate Halibut Lasagna there and it was nasty I thought we were all going to die - I also ate reindeer this week, another scary food moment for Sis. Dunlop in Alaska). STM is so cool because all of the sister missionaries in the Alaska Anchorage mission get to be there, either in person in Anchorage or we Skype them from Fairbanks and Juneau. Technology is cool. Sister McGee and I had planned some of STM with President and Sister Robinson and decided to base it off the scripture, 2 Nephi 5:27, that talks about living "after the manner of happiness". We wanted to build a STM that made the sister missionaries leave feeling happy and stoked about missionary work and knowing that they can do it! We opened the training by showing clips of some of the sisters opening their mission calls. Sister McGee and I seriously had the exact same reaction when we read, "...you are assigned to labor in the ALASKA ANCHORAGE mission..." haha, of course. But we wanted the sisters to remember that joy, faith, and excitement that they had had when they opened their calls and we wanted them to re-implement that into their lives and work as missionaries right now. We are living our dreams! Then we watched Kid President's Pep Talk (because it's my favorite) and talked about finding joy in the journey and shared with the other sisters our inspiration to have every day on our mission be a "Disneyland Day". It was probably the happiest STM in the history of ever #TheRedsareonfire

On Friday night, we had a little bit of time before we needed to head back to our apartment and while we were planning the night before, I had felt really strongly that we needed to plan to go and visit a less-active member of our ward, Wanda, some time soon. We drove over to her house and had been knocking for a few minutes before she opened the door. Wanda was in her bathrobe and jammies and her eyes were wet with tears. "You're seven minutes late," she whispered between sobs. We were very confused what she meant by this but she let us into her house and we went on to find out that her daughter had passed away one year and seven minutes ago tonight. You could say that us knocking on her door that night was a "coincidence". But Sister McGee has taught me never to believe in "coincidences". As missionaries on the Lord's errand, we are directed to those He wants us to meet. I have no doubt that Heavenly Father needed us to be with Wanda that night; ESPECIALLY that night. We shared with her the joyous message of the Plan of Salvation and that she would be able to be with her daughter again. THE PLAN OF SALVATION IS SO REAL YOU GUYS! This wonderful and amazing Plan makes it so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again and be with our families forever! Wanda then went on to tell us about other trials her family is facing right now and all this crazy stuff she's going through. She's a trooper. Before we left, she handed us Ziploc bags to fill with candy and then sent us with 40 pro-biotic juice drinks that she wanted us to give to all of the Elders haha. We love Wanda. 

This weekend we (all 14ish missionaries in Anchorage) watched all the sessions of General Conference at the Stake Center, right next to the Anchorage Alaska temple. It was so cool to walk out of conference (into the freezing cold rain) and see the temple right there! One bummer of Alaska though (there's only one) was that conference was on at 8am and noon instead of 10am and 2pm. It was rough, honestly. But there's a super awesome family in the Stake that makes breakfast for all of the Anchorage missionaries before the Sunday morning session, so at least we got pancakes as a reward for waking up super early. But can we talk about how amazing General Conference was this weekend?! IT WAS FIRE! SO GOOD! And it was like all about missionary work! I loved Elder Oaks & Elder Andersen & Elder Hales' pep talks about missionary work. They rock. Missionary work rocks! I also especially loved when they talked about how missionaries go out to convert people to the GOSPEL, not to the Church. A mission is SO NOT about baptismal stats. It's about bringing people JOY! 

That's all I've got for y'all this week. Go back & listen to conference because it's so good! Go forth and be awesome. 

XOXOX Sister Dunlop

conference morning pancakes

Anchorage area sisters

Letter from Grandma Charlotte

Selfie with a moose :)

Snowy Mountains and Chinese with Lisa

Okay so honestly, this week was a little rough. It was a lot of crazy stuff and a lot of crazy people. But we made it to PDay. Woo. Thanks to all the homies that sent emails and photos though, it seriously saves my life. The mountain tops were white with snow when we woke up on Thursday morning- winter is here!! It's already starting to get dark around 6pm up here and it makes the days feel super short because the sun doesn't seem to come out until 10am. Sister McGee and I take tons of "Sunshine Shots" aka Vitamin D supplements everyday and drink tons of water to keep our bodies going. We're supposed to be able to see the Northern Lights later on this week! Alaska is such a crazy (but awesome) place. 

When we went grocery shopping last Monday, Sister McGee and I were walking down the isle and this cute lady who was giving out Dove product samples stopped us and said, "are you the Mormon missionaries?! I was just watching a documentary all about y'all and how you put your whole life at home on pause to come and be out here in those black name tags and share your gospel with strangers! And now, y'all don't just wear those name tags and cute floral dresses on Sundays at church, but you're missionaries EVERY DAY! Young ladies, your faith inspires me!!". Meet Lisa Langley, everyone. She's awesome. We talked to her about what we do as missionaries and then I gave her a Book of Mormon. Sister McGee gave her our contact information and Lisa told us she wanted to meet with us sometime so she could ask us more questions about missionary work. OKAY!!

Friday night, we met Lisa at this super sketchy hole in the wall Chinese restaurant (home to the biggest goldfish I've EVER seen). I was terrified the whole time but we made it out alive & without throwing up. Blessings. We shared our stories with Lisa and then she shared hers with us too. At first, we had to do some clarifying between Mormons and the Amish for her, but eventually we got it all sorted out. She asked us if we could contact our Amish for her because she wants to go live with them and learn to make furniture like them haha. Lisa is almost 50 and has lived her whole life trying "a little taste of everything" and serving others. We shared with her Mosiah 2:17 and she LOVED it (and thought we had planned to share that with her but no, it was a prompting from the Holy Ghost)! She told us about how meeting with us would be something for her "Memory Box" forever and how she doesn't believe in coincidences and that God does everything for a reason. Lisa is the bomb! We taught her about the Restoration and the priesthood and invited her to read the Book of Mormon and as we were testifying of it, she started to cry. The Spirit was so strong in that scary little Chinese restaurant with Lisa. I'm so grateful for my knowledge of the gospel and for the way that it has shaped and molded my life. Never take that for granted. I love being able to share that knowledge each day with these random people and to help them come to know Heavenly Father and the Savior better that way.

We've been teaching this family (the Heckels) where both the mom and dad are less active members of the Church and they have three kids who haven't been baptized yet. This week, Sister McGee and I decided that we are going to focus on teaching the kids and helping them grow their faith and testimonies, then hopefully be baptized soon! It's so cool to see how the gospel impacts and blesses families. That's what missionaries do! We walk around teaching about eternal families and of Heavenly Father's love & His Plan and of the Book of Mormon & the Restoration!! It's so awesome!! The Heckels have been coming to church every Sunday that I've been up in Alaska and when we told them that they could watch General Conference this weekend (so stoked) from their couch, they were so excited haha. Side note: y'all need to watch General Conference this weekend because it's going to be powerful and we get to hear from our LATTER-DAY PROPHET which is the coolest thing ever so don't miss out or you'll be bummed. 

Remember Pastor Steve and the homemade tortillas from last week? Yeah well, he invited us back for his giant Sunday night family dinner this week! SO BLESSED! Sister Jewel, Sister Martinez (the Huffman sister missionaries), Sister McGee, and I are the powerhouse Quad Squad teaching Pastor Steve and his family about the gospel right now & it's so cool. I shared with him the story of my car accident and how Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and then we jumped in to teaching him about the Restoration and he asked us about temples and thought it was so "inspiring" the work that we do in temples for eternal families and how he believes everyone should have the chance to know about God and Jesus Christ. Pastor Steve is literally a Mormon, he just doesn't know it. So that's awkward. We're working on it. He said he would watch General Conference with his family this weekend so that's super cool & amazing. Go Pastor Steve! 

I know my emails keep getting shorter and shorter...haha sorry about that. But shoutout to [Sister] Allie Winter for heading to the MTC on Wednesday afternoon before she goes to Alabama for 18 months! She's going to do big things people, y'all better watch out #rolltide

"...behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the MOST WORTH unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father..." -Doctrine & Covenants 15:6

"The time has verily come that it is necessary and expedient in me that you should open your mouths in proclaiming my gospel, the things of the kingdom, expounding the mysteries thereof out of the scriptures, according to that portion of Spirit and power which shall be given unto you, even as I will...verily this mission is for a season, which I give unto you." -Doctrine & Covenants 71:1-3

I testify that there is NO GREATER OR MORE IMPORTANT work than that of missionary work. This is the most important job in the world! That's been going through my head over and over this week. Something that Sister McGee and I always say to each other is, "you only have eighteen months to be a superhero, so don't you dare waste a moment,". Missionary work is hard mentally, physically, and spiritually (I'm still trying to figure out how to wake up 6:30am every morning...) but I know that there is no better work than this. We are up here literally saving souls and it's the coolest experience ever and I feel so lucky to be a part of it all.

I have to drive down to Soldotna this week so #prayforsisdunlop2k16 that it's not icy.

Watch General Conference, read the Book of Mormon, go forth & be awesome. 

Thanks for all the love and support, y'all rock.

xoxo Sister Dunlop

PHOTOS: some from PDay hikes, the sister missionaries in the Anchorage Zone, and we stole the rubber duckies from one of the Elders's truck

Fashion Shows, Pastor Steve, Spanish & Doughnuts

Hi peeps! I promise this email won't be as long as last week's haha.

Sister McGee and I have been doing a lot of work this week as we are trying to "make Oceanview great again" haha. PS there are so many Trump supporters in Anchorage like what the what. The Oceanview Ward has been in a lull for a while in regards to missionary work and so #TheRedsareonfire will fix it!

Sister McGee and I put on a Zone Conference training on Wednesday this week.  President Robinson wanted us to train on dress code...boring. Everyone hates dress code lectures, let's be honest here. But we decided to make it awesome! We split everyone into groups and then they had to make missionary outfits from garbage bags, duct tape, and newspaper-that Sister McGee and I went dumpster driving for (another good story). Then, we had a mini fashion runway to show off all their fabulous designs. They actually were pretty awesome haha. After that, Sister McGee and I rallied it all in by talking about how as missionaries, we are representatives of Jesus Christ. His name is on our tags and we wear them everywhere we go so it's important for us to follow dress code and look good as representatives of Him. "When you look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you teach good," -Sister McGee.

After Zone Conference, Sister Martinez and Sister Jewel (who are serving in the Huffman area of Anchorage right now), Sister McGee and I went to the Farr's house for waffles. All week, Sister McGee had been telling me about their waffles and how they were like French toast/waffle/croissant amazingness...they were!! The Oceanview Ward knows how to make some amazing dinners. I'm starting to understand why missionaries have to exercise every day haha.

After waffles on Wednesday night, I went on exchanges with Sister Martinez in Huffman for 24 hours. Sister Martinez and Sister Jewel are "pink washing" that area (meaning that President Robinson decided to pull the Elders that were serving in that area and replacing them with Sisters) and there hadn't been a ton of missionary work being done there so on Thursday Sister Martinez and I drove around tracting in the rain all day. We found this super steep driveway at the end of a street and decided to go up and check it out. There was this guy up there with all his dogs (Alaskans have a thing for having gigantic dogs and having a lot of them) out building a shed in his yard in the rain. His name is Pastor Steve and was the nicest guy. He told us about how much he looks up to the LDS Church for not just "walking the walk, but talking the talk as well" and he told us how much us going out and devoting 18-24 months of our lives to sharing the Gospel inspires him. Then he invited us to come back for Sunday dinner with him and his family- it was taco night. DUH! Pastor Steve is a homie.

I never thought all those painful hours sitting through Señora Bowker's Spanish classes in high school would amount to anything; especially not when I was serving as a sister missionary in Alaska. But Heavenly Father has a sense of humor (like when I told Him I didn't want to serve a mission somewhere hot and so He called me to serve in Alaska #frozenchosen).

This week, Sister McGee and I were referred to a lady named, Adrianna, from Colombia. When we first met with her, she spoke English pretty well but I could tell that she would feel way more comfortable speaking and learning the gospel in Spanish. I gave her a Book of Mormon in English and one in Spanish and told her that she could read from whichever one she wanted to. Our first lesson with her went really well but that night I tried to figure out how we could help her learn and understand the Gospel better. Oh wait-we have awesome Spanish-speaking elders in our mission (bless). At Zone Conference on Wednesday, we tracked down Elder Paulson & Elder Taylor and I was like, "yo, we've got a homegirl for you to teach,". Not those exact words, but kinda.

Friday night, we all met with Adrianna to do a pass off lesson together. IT WAS ONE OF THE COOLEST LESSON EXPERIENCES EVER. Sister McGee and I had prayed to know what we could do to help Adrianna and understand her needs better and changing her over to the Spanish elders was exactly it. Here's how the whole thing worked: Sister McGee (who speaks zero Spanish) and I were leading the lesson and so Sister McGee would say whatever in English and I would add on to her in Spanish. The Spanish elders then translated what Sister McGee said into Spanish for Adrianna, Adrianna would reply to them or me in Spanish, and I would translate what Adrianna was saying to them into English and type it onto my iPad under the table for Sister McGee to read so she could keep teaching the lesson. Then the elders would teach a little and then Sister McGee would speak in English a little and I added on in Spanish and explaining it sounds like it was a mess but it was seriously so cool and the Spirit in there was SO STRONG. Luckily, the Holy Ghost is a perfect teacher. My brain was stuck in Spanglish for the rest of the night. But hey, I guess I must have learned something in Bowker's class. Or it was just my little Hermana Dunlopez coming out haha.

Saturday was my one month mark!! I'm like 5% done with my mission haha. I've heard that with missions, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days...true. Sister McGee and I celebrated with doughnuts (Alaska makes some amazing doughnuts people). Later that day, we had a District Tract in the Huffman area and it was sprinkling rain the whole time but as Sister McGee and I were walking down the muddy and bumpy gravel road in the forest, I was like, "this is exactly how I pictured being a missionary in Alaska,". It's so awesome. Being a missionary is hard sometimes but something Sister McGee always tells me is that, "giving up these eighteen months and devoting them 100% to serving Heavenly Father through a mission is the best thing you can do for you, your family, and your future,". That's so true! I haven't been out very long, but have come to realize more fully how much the Gospel has blessed my life and I'm so grateful for it and can't imagine my life without it. THE SCRIPTURES ARE TRUE YOU GUYS! HEAVENLY FATHER REALLY LOVES US! Now, being able to be out here and sharing that good news with people makes it mean even more to me. I love being a missionary. I'm staying in Alaska forever.

Okay so going back to Pastor Steve. On Sunday night, we and the Huffman Sisters had planned to go have dinner with Pastor Steve and his family. We had thought it was just going to be Pastor Steve and his wife but PSYCH, it was their whole family!! It was so awesome. His son in law, Jorge, made us homemade Mexican food- Mama Laura, you would've died it was SO GOOD! He even hand pressed his homemade tortillas with a mini tortilla press like the ones they have at Costa Vida (blessings)! The whole time we were there, I kept thinking about The Family: a Proclamation to the World and how the ability to be with our families forever is one of God's greatest gifts and it makes my heart so happy. Pastor Steve and his family aren't members of the Church-yet-but I kept feeling like we should share The Family Proclamation with him. So Sister McGee and I ran out to Ronda (our car who doubles as a moving LDS Library) and grabbed one for him then came back and gave it to him. I told him about how this Proclamation was like God's blueprint for families and how families bless our lives. It was really cool and he promised us that he would read it before we saw him next. Pastor Steve and his family are so cool and they already seem like members of the Church haha, we'll work on that.

Sorry if that wasn't very exciting. Here's an awesome scripture to make up for it: "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory in myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory that perhaps I might be an instrument in the hands of God in bringing some soul to repentance" -Alma 29:9.

Anyways, I love y'all.

Winter's coming.

Go forth & be awesome.

XOXO Sister Dunlop

Twins!

Alaskan ocean wind

"why can't they just say speed limit?"

First week in Alaska photos!