Week 20 - Exchanges and a visitors center trip!

(Huntington Library pictures from last week)

archway in Chinese gardens. #asthetic. 

This week went by so fast. It was totally crazy. We went to the visitors center with Steven on Friday which was the coolest! He's so prepared for baptism it's  insane and he was asking a ton of questions about the temple and stuff and it was so cool because you could just feel how much Jesus Christ loves him in that visitors center. He's getting baptized on Saturday! It'll be such an amazing experience and I just can't wait. I'm not even nearly as excited as he is though which is also stellar. 

We met a guy named Jeffrey earlier this week and he is so funny. He's this older man with no front teeth, and he was just plastered so he was laughing at everything. He said he was going to come and visit us at church, but he didn't show up. He told sister Allen and I that we were like two angels and that he felt like he was dreaming and then he would throw his head back and open his toothless mouth really wide and laugh and laugh and laugh and stop his feet and clap his hands. It was so funny. He said that everyone needed to listen to what other people had to say to cure stupidity, so he would love to hear our message! It was great. 

Today we are having a nerf war with our district and it's super fun so this email is going to be short.

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

-Sister Dorrance

Brother Tafua( ward mission leader), Sister Tafua, Steven, home girl, Sister Allen

comp goals, awkward missionary gap, Steven 

More from Huntington Library

everyone in front of fountain

fountain pic

companion feat. Sister Lavetter

Week 19 - No time, but I'm alive

Huntington Gardens

Hello! We don't have much time, today because we went to Huntington gardens today! ( most beautiful place ever in the whole world in California)

We have had some stellar lessons this week, and we put Juliana and JC on date! They're getting baptized on February 10th! We taught them the law of chastity, which neither of us had taught, and they're living together with their daughter but they still wanted to be baptized! and they're coming to church so that's fantastic. 

We had a sisters conference on Saturday! We did yoga and then talked about missionary work all day, but it was specifically from a female perspective which was super cool.

Basically that's it. I'll write more about Huntington gardens and things next week, but until then, here's a picture of me with a big plant!

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

- Sister Dorrance 

Week 18 - Church is great!

Zone mixtape dropping next transfer

I don't have much time, but this week was awesome! We helped a member of the Pasadena ward move on Thursday and we recruited the Huntington Ward sisters to help! We thought it was just going to be putting some boxes in a truck, but she hadn't don't any of it yet, plus she's got a lot of roaches and spiders in her house. And a lot of stuff. So we spent a couple hours shoving stuff into a truck and then we had to leave so we went home and put all of our clothes in the washer and got on with our day! It was great!

We visited a less-active member of the East Pasadena ward this week and shared a little thought with him! He ended up coming to church yesterday, so the spirit must've said something really special to him. We talked about prayer a little bit and he said he doesn't pray because he feels like he's talking to himself, but we asked him to try again and he said he would. Then sister Allen shared a scripture that's one of her favorites and it turns out that he loved the same one on his mission! Seriously, God knows all of his children. 

We went to yogurtland with Steven before we had an actual lesson and we ended up just sitting in this yogurtland talking about the book of mormon and the chapter that he read. Then the coolest thing, we invited him to baptism again! It wasn't very eloquent, it just came out while we were talking about preparing for baptism and I just said "so, when do you want to get baptized Steven?" He's getting baptized on February 3rd. Coolest thing ever, and it all happened in a yogurtland. 

We had Juliana and JC at church yesterday! We've been inviting them for weeks but she hasn't been able to get work off and they want to all come as a family, but they came! We didn't really find out until Saturday night so it was a little stressful getting them a ride, but it all worked out and they came! It was the greatest church block to bring people to for the first time. The first speaker in sacrament meeting talked about his conversion and how the Book of Mormon influences his life. Then his wife got up and talked about our divine worth as children of God. And the rest of the block was just stellar too. Also, if you see someone in church that you don't know with the missionaries, please introduce yourself. You'll be the missionaries hero. And mine. 

Today we had a zone activity and we had a barbecue and played some games at our church building! I'm really bad at foursquare, and pretty terrible at Wilson ball too, but Elder Madsen brought his lacrosse sticks and that was a party. I could do that sport for more than 5 seconds without dropping the ball. Anyhoo. I think that's it. It poured rain on Tuesday and I think it was the most beautiful weather I've seen here in California. Missions are so so fantastic. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures.

Love, Sister Dorrance

Week 17 Elder Oaks, addiction recovery meetings and Golf

Where's Riley?

 As per usual, nothing super duper noteworthy happened until the latter end of this week, so we'll start in the middle. On Wednesday we played scrabble at the retirement home, and not much has changed but now I'm really good friends with a deaf lady named Helga. 

We had a mission wide conference with Elder Oaks and it was so amazing to hear from an apostle. He answered some questions that I had, and it was pretty stinking great. Plus, it was in Glendora and the only Cafe Rio in the mission is in Glendora so we went over there right after the conference which was great. Sister Gillman and I had been talking about cafe Rio since the mtc so it was a stellar day all around. I'll attach the picture from the group, see if you can spot me. My first picture with an Apostle of the Lord. 

Sunday was crazy. We had to be at the church at 7:45 am for our first ward council and then go to sacrament meeting, and Sister Allen went to the other ward council while I sat with our investigator in sacrament meeting. But then we had someone that we didn't think was going to come to sacrament say he was coming, but then he didn't actually end up coming except a less active member that said she was coming didn't get there until halfway through the meeting. Then we had two more hours of church. BUT. Miracles.

There's a less active family in the East Pasadena ward that we've been trying to get in contact with forever and they were at church and the Dad came up to us and told us that we've been slacking off with the unannounced visits and we need to work harder if we're going to keep their family active. We can definitely do that and they are going to be active for sure.

Miracle #2: the less active woman that came to church is Hispanic and she wants to come to church and we were trying so hard to communicate and help her during the lesson and she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to the Spanish branch or not and this very nice lady came and introduced herself to our new friend and it turns out that she could speak spanish, and she was talking to her about the Spanish branch and holy smokes, it was divine intervention because sister Allen and I dont know anyone yet and we couldn't have planned that better if we tried. 

Last night we went to an addiction recovery meeting with Steven and it was the most amazing and spiritual experience I think I've ever had. It was so fantastic to see the the atonement and the repentance process in action. I can't even put into words how much light and love was in that room with these people that feel so down in their lives. It was so amazing to gain that perspective. Don't hesitate to ask for help if you need it. 

Today we went to a driving range for a district activity (plus our zone leaders) and I'm really bad at golfing, but it was super fun! Maybe I'll work on that when I get home because it was sweet. See attached.

I think that's all the important stuff for the week. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!

Don't forget to read your scriptures.

-Sister Dorrance

There she is!

Waiting for Elder Oaks to arrive

District trip to the driving range

Week 16 - Spa day and Rose Parade!

Alright kiddos, I can remember this week very well (it comes with age I guess?) So we are just going to start. 

On Christmas we had lunch and dinner with members and then we went caroling as a district. Some people were just confused but a lot of them were super excited! We just sang the same three songs for every house but it was a party. On Tuesday I officially finished training! That's right, your home girl is officially a full fledged missionary 

We went and played scrabble at the assisted living home this week. We were all talking about the little necklace things you can put on glasses and they really liked mine, so thanks mom! We had two dinners that night because we had to combine two ward dinner calendars. Its really not a bad problem to have but holy smokes was I glad I wore a stretchy skirt! Anyway...It's been super fun having such a big area because there's so many more people to talk to about the gospel! It's great and it makes me and Sister Allen feel more productive which is just swell. 

We've been teaching Juan and Juliana this week. They are referrals and they have the sweetest little girl named Nadine and they are on date for baptism! They are so cool and we asked them to come to church yesterday but Juliana had to work and Juan never came. All is well though. They ask so many great questions and they are loving the Book of Mormon so I'm pumped. 

Yesterday we had to be in by 8, which is alright because after five hours of church we get pretty beat. We had a rager last night. Well, we put all of our mattresses on the floor and drank a cup of martinellies before bed. I guess you could say we live on the dangerous side. #megabed  (Mom note: It's tradition in the Dorrance house for the kids to put all their mattresses together in one room for Christmas Eve and they have always called it Megabed)

Alright, so now for the coolest day of the week so far. Today we went to the Rose Parade which was pretty sweet! I had heard about it but I wasn't really sure what it was so it was pretty cool to see! The captain from Forest Gump was there and the guy that yelled "move that bus!" on the home improvement show, and the flowers were really pretty so that was a plus. 

This afternoon we went and got our nails done. Sister Allen and I received some Christmas money from some lovely and generous members of our ward and so we decided to spend it on us five sisters! We were just going to have us five sisters go, but we were telling our district leader about it and he and his companion decided to come! Then we invited the zone leaders and they came too! Then they invited elder Cho! His companion didn't want to come so they went on splits. It was seriously the funniest thing in the whole world because none of them have ever been into a nail salon and they didn't know what to do. They all ended up getting some super bright colors and it was so funny. Mostly because they didn't know how to walk in the little sandals. It was fantastic. 

I think that's all I've got. Missionary work is the best, I know the church is true, Heavenly Father loves us all.

Happy New Year! 

Don't forget to read your scriptures

- Sister Dorrance 

 everyone except Elder Madsen enjoying their pretty toes left to right: elders Cho, Xu, Hansen, Madsen, and Lebaron

 Rose Parade! Left to right: Sisters Dorrance, Allen, Gillman, Lavetter, and Mecham

this was at a train station on our way home a couple weeks ago