Week 59 - Hi team!

Sister Smith and me eating cookies we made

I'm not super stoked about writing a whole email, so I'll just tell you about Kimberly who saw an ad for a free bible on the computer and then requested it and we went over and taught her and she's so cool and she wants to be baptized in three weeks. SHE IS AWESOME. We also had a super stellar Halloween party this Saturday and sister Smith and I went as each other. That's about as crazy as we could get. But it was rad. Also, we played truth or dare with some 11 year olds and I dared sister Smith to do 7 cartwheels. She was wearing a skirt (like your typical sister missionary) but according to Zoe "it's okay because she was wearing white shorts underneath!" .... oops  anyway, this week was mega great. We had a lady just walk into church on Sunday and then a member invited her friend. ALWAYS INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO CHURCH. EVERYBODY NEEDS THE GOSPEL BECAUSE IT'S THE COOLEST.

Don't forget to read your scriptures! 

Sister Dorrance

Sister Smith and me at the Halloween party with some scarecrows

Sister Smith and me eating wings

Sister Smith and me and the Hermanas judging the chili 

Week 58 - Holy smokes.

Sister Smith

Guys, this week has been wild. I got transferred! I think I talked about that last week, but my companion is Sister Smith! We were in the mtc together and it's just the greatest. She's so cool. Plus, the Woodside ward is true promised land I swear. We have met so many amazing people and seen MIRACLES. Working hard brings so many blessings! On Tuesday we had a zone meeting and sister Smith and I talked about how important it is for us to stop teaching people that aren't actually interested in learning about the gospel. (I guess some things aren't common sense to people???) So that was cool. Either on Tuesday or Wednesday we went to go and visit this guy named David. Now David is one of the coolest cats. He's been coming to church and meeting with missionaries for more than six months and we invited him to be baptized on Sunday. As in yesterday. So he said he needed to pray about it and we went back the next day and he said, " guys, I asked God to help know that I needed to get baptized and then our plumbing broke and a bunch of appliances broke and my mom had to go to the hospital last night. And we were like, " 🤤" and then the spirit was like, " he can still get baptized" so we said, " David, do you think that maybe God let those things happen to show you that you really need to get baptized to show your faith?" And he was like, " 🤤, thats pretty cool, I hadn't thought of that. I'm gonna get baptized on Sunday." BUT THEN SOMETHING DUMB HAPPENED.  His cousin who lives in northern California TALKED HIM OUT OF MAKING COVENANTS WITH GOD so that she could come. So that was sad. Because now he's going to wait until after thanksgiving. But he's still going to get baptized. Eventually. 

But before we found out that he wasn't actually going to get baptized on Sunday, we cleaned the whole font with bleach because he had gotten surgery a little while ago and he was totally healed but he didn't want to get into a gross font so we cleaned it. Because the church is true. 

So we continued on and it was fine even though it's sad. But other miracles happened! On Friday every single thing fell through. But it was so cool. We were visiting some strangers, like we do, and we talked to the coolest cats on the street. Her name is Yajaira (yuh-hi-ra)  and she's so awesome. We started talking to her about the good word and she was like, " this is so cool because I was praying for a way to get closer to God and I want to meet with you guys." And sister Smith and I went, " 🤤 " and it was magical. She's the coolest. 

On Saturday we did service! There's a ranch right next to the church in West Covina and our bishop volunteered our whole zone! It was their harvest festival and it was great! Sister Smith and I were in charge of the water pumping/doing laundry on a washboard station and it was a party. I got pretty sunburned but they fed us lunch. So it was worth it. Missions are the coolest. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

Sister Dorrance

Various pictures of us cleaning the font and hanging out at a ranch in pants!

Week 56-57 Hi!

with our ride Gail!

I'm actually writing a weekly this week! Yay! It's been a wild ride here in Glendale, but I've been transferred! I'm going back to Hacienda Heights stake but the Woodside Ward! My companion is going to be Sister Smith and she was my roommate at the mtc and we've been talking about being companions since the mtc. IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING PEOPLE. I'm stoked. I'm bummed to be leaving Glendale, but Woodside is gonna be a party and a half. I'll try to email more.... anyhoo, 

We went to the temple last week! I love the temple guys. It's a wonderful place and it was so good. Pictures below. 

Two weeks ago we had a miracle and I'm still floored. So we were on exchanges and I was with Sister Pack in Glendale and it had been a fabulous day full of talking to strangers and a taco truck and we were walking down the street as we do and this guy says, "hey sisters!" Which is weird because people usually avoid talking to us so we took advantage of it and it turns out that his ex-wife and his daughter joined the church in South Pasadena and he was all set to be baptized but it just never happened and he wants to change his life! So he invited us back the next day! So we go back the next day (I was back with Sister Escalante at this point) and we meet his wife! So Sylvie, around the same time as her now husband, was meeting with the missionaries on her own and wanted to be baptized but she moved and lost the missionaries. SO WE PUT THEM BOTH ON DATE TO BE BAPTIZED AND IT'S JUST THE COOLEST THING HOW GOD WORKS AND I'M SAD THAT I'M LEAVING BUT THEY'RE SO WONDERFUL. so that was pretty magical. God is good.  

So..... other things have happened and it's been great and I love being a missionary and I thoroughly enjoy sharing the gospel and highly recommend it to all of you. It's the coolest ever. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

Sister D'orrance

our district feat an awkward Elder Burt who didn't want to sit on the wall 

sort of a picture of everyone that wanted to be in the picture!

Week 55 - We're building.

Companionship! 

This week was pretty uneventful! It's alright though because we talked to a ton of people and it was great! Because we got transferred to the family ward and  we're opening the area we are just talking to literally every person we see and trying to build our teaching pool! The people of Glendale need to hear about the gospel! It's a party though because we meet the most interesting people! 

This week we also got special permission from President to go to the L.A stake center for church with our mid singles ward to see our friend Davinder get confirmed! It was magnificent. I didn't take pictures of the inside of the building because I didn't know if that was against the rules but that's okay because it was still really pretty. The funny part though was that the member that took us accidentally picked us up early because she though it started a half an hour earlier and so she drove past the Hollywood walk of fame and the Chinese theater on the way  it was so cool! Famous people! 

Sister Escalante and I felt especially fabulous though when the member that was talking us home (because we had to leave after the first hour) showed up in a beautiful black mustang. We felt so fly and it was BEAUTIFUL. 

Other than that we're just building our group of buddies that want to learn about the true church! 

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

Sister Dorrance 

The church that looks like a temple!

 The mustang 

Your face when you wake up with bed head + humidity hair

Our roommates who were burning their negative feelings on our patio