Week 14 - Biking and transfers

Sister Gillman, Sister Luke, mission grandma aka Sister Lund, yours truly, and Sister Allen Saturday night doing a service project for grandma/eating popcorn and drinking root beer. 

Crazy. This week was the last week of the transfer. We got our car sold so we were biking and busing and walking. Holy smokes. But transfers are today! Sister Allen and I are staying in East Pasadena and we are pink washing the Pasadena ward as well! They had elders for years so we are their first sisters in a while! We are just really pumped to get a car because biking has been a bit stressful and sorta sketchy after it gets dark but no worries, God has our back.

We did meet this lady named Lina on the bus, she's super amazing, she's Armenian and in a wheelchair but she was talking about how much she loves God and all that cool stuff so it was great!

We volunteered to help with the daughters of the Utah pioneer luncheon on Tuesday! We just served the food and stuff and got to chat with these ladies that were basically all from Utah. My people. It was great. 

This week and this day has been completely insane so I think that's all I'll write, but I'm so happy to be a missionary during the Christmas season!

The church is true and Jesus Christ is your savior!

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

Love, Sister Dorrance 

Week 13 - Biking, hiking and Christmas parties!

Pretty much all of the interesting things I can remember happened at the end of the week so we'll start there and see what comes to mind!

We have been doing light the world! Holy smokes I love Christmas time, it's seriously the greatest. If you aren't participating then you should definitely hop on that bandwagon because it's stellar. We just talk to strangers all of the time which I guess it's only okay when you have divine protection. Pretty sweet. We went and visited a lady in our ward that is homebound and she's a sweetheart, she calls everyone cute names like an old diner waitress. It was pretty cool except her house smelled really bad so we didn't stay long. 

Oh yeah, on Tuesday we went to and old folks home and played scrabble with some elderly ladies, I swear I found my tribe or something because it was that great. We're going back next week because we're supposed to do service once a week and we haven't been. I'm stoked. 

On Saturday we had our ward Christmas party! They strung fresh garland up in the gym and put twinkle lights everywhere. It was pretty, but there ain't nothin like an 11th ward Christmas party. The primary did the nativity which was so adorable, and we had a few nonmembers there which was wonderful! After the ward party we had a Christmas concert that was put on by the stake. They invited the southern California Mormon choir to sing with our stake choir and they had an 18 piece orchestra. They had 100 people and and orchestra on the stand in our chapel but holy moly. It was the most beautilf concert in the whole world. Plus we have two or three opera singers in our ward and a master pianist. Church on Christmas eve is going to be awesome. If I'm still here. Transfers are next Monday. Nervous. 

On Sunday we got a call from our friend Mary she was going to get baptized on the 23 of December but decided that she didn't want to. It's pretty sad, but her time will come. I can feel it. 

Today had been the busiest p-day of my mission so far. We had a zone activity this morning and we went hiking! It was up to this really pretty waterfall and it was great because it's December so it didn't get hotter than 80 degrees! Very very nice. I'll send pictures next week. When we got back down we had a text that told us that we needed to wash and deep clean our car because they were selling it (I'm glad I've had practice with that! Thanks dad!). Your home girl is biking now. I'm not sure how I feel about it but it's going to happen either way! Also, I recently popped my bike tube beyond repair so we had to pick up a new one of those. 

Anyhoo, that's all I can remember. The work is great, the people are awesome. If you're worried about the fires, it's all good. If they get too close I'll get moved to another apartment but as of right now we are totally safe so no worries. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures. Have a great week!

- Sister Dorrance 

Ps. Thank you for all of the letters and packages from the ward! They made my week!

Week 12 -Holly Jolly it's December!

I think I got one pin down this turn. I've gotten worse at bowling. 

Holy smokes, I feel like we just emailed yesterday. Missionary work is so great and so so busy. 

This week was a lot of visiting and finding and service. So your average missionary week. 

We had interviews with President on Wednesday! It was pretty cool because we learned about Facebook, which we were supposed to get on Thursday, but we'll get it this week instead. All is well. 

We started Light the World on Friday, I don't remember the scriptures attached to the days but on Friday we made so many cookies for people. Our kitchen was a mess but it was so fun to doorbell ditch people and leave cookies! 

On Thursday the scripture was "I was thirsty and ye gave me drink" so we bought water bottles and gave them to homeless people with light the world cards attached. It was pretty sweet. 

Yesterday's scripture talked about doing good on the Sabbath. We tried to call some people to go over and do good, but no one wanted us to do good I guess. We'll try again next Sunday probably. 

On Saturday we had another meeting with the people at the Church of Christ. They had invited probably 40 or 50 people to this thing which was TERRIFYING. it ended up being alright though because the ministers sermon/talk was super long so they apologized but said we couldn't give our schpeel (is that how you spell that?). His entire lesson/talk/sermon thing was talking about how believing in any other scripture outside of the bible was blasphemous and meant you were turning away from God. We'll probably meet with them all one more time and then call it quits. But nicely. It'll be fine. 

Today was the coolest p-day ever. It's Sister Luke's birthday today so sister Allen and I stayed up past 11 pm last night making a pumpkin pie for her birthday because we didn't want her to see it. It was great though! Sister Luke wanted to go bowling so we did! We were talking to Sister Wells, our mission presidents wife, and she said she was a really good bowler so we invited her and she came too! Sister wells beat everyone at bowling I think. She's a crazy good bowler. It got even funnier when the entire East LA zone was having their zone activity and the bowling alley they were going to go to was closed so they showed up too! It was so fun! I lost because I'm terrible at bowling, but it was fantastic! We're going out to dinner with our mission grandma and Sister Luke chose Mongolian Barbecue. It'll be a great birthday for all of us. 

Alrighty, I think that's it! I hope you all will look at the Light the World videos on mormon.org, they're great!

Have A fantastic week, don't forget to read your scriptures.

Love, Sister Dorrance 

riley.dorrance@myldsmail.net 

614 foothill Blvd

Arcadia CA

91006

 Sister Allen and myself in the car because we were talking about how we don't send many pictures home.

Basic shoe picture because we don't get out in the real world very much anymore. Plus, I was wearing my scooter socks.

Week 11. We went Thrift shopping!

There isn't much to say considering I emailed four days ago, but we do have a lady named Mary on date for December 23! Hopefully at least one of us is still in East Pasadena to see it! 

Yesterday at church we had a homecoming talk for a sister who got home last week, I swear she wrote it for our investigators. Seriously, sacrament talks are so cool. 

Today we didn't really have anything to do because we just had p-day four days ago, so we went to the goodwill and found some gems. See attached picture of sister Gillman and I. We will be sending this picture into Salt Lake as a possible new uniform for the Sister missionaries. Just kidding. 

That's it. I hope you are all having a splendid week! Don't forget to read your scriptures. 

-Sister Dorrance

Future mormon.org models:

Happy turkey day! Week 10

My p-day was moved to today because of the holiday, which means more time for turkey! It's so great, I'm pumped. 

Since we've been cut down to just  two of us it's been pretty weird getting used to things but its a party and a half between the two of us. Last week was a whole bunch of just talking to everyone and finding people to teach! There's something about the name tag that just makes people want to tell you their whole life story I think. But we've got a few new investigators and we're stoked to share the happiness!

On Friday we got to ride in Betsy. Sister Olsen has a 1996 red mustang that she restored and it is beautiful. She sounds like a champ and runs like a dream and I was riding shotgun. It was so so good. I love cool cars. Anyway.

On Sunday the Huntington Sisters had a little boy that was getting baptized and we helped them fill the font and whatnot. It was nice to know how to do that. We are teaching some family friends of that family so our investigators came! Holy smokes, it was perfect. I swear they wrote their little talks for Jenny, and they didn't really say anything about it, but you could see it. The Holy Ghost was working miracles. 

On Tuesday we had zone conference! ......we're getting Facebook! I'm sort of excited! I'll make a post on Facebook later next week when I actually download it, but we're getting it, it's a gift that Heavenly Father has given us to help in the missionary effort. If you have any questions about gospel topics, please message me and I'd be happy to help but I won't reply unless it's gospel related. 

Yesterday we had exchanges and I went to Glendale with Sister Zollinger! She's the sweetest ever and we had a blast. We volunteered at a food bank type of place called Friends in Deed and it was so fantastic. Service and missionary work is the greatest. We also taught a less active lady named Ida who feels trapped and by the end of our conversation she had promised to read the Book of Mormon and come to church on Sunday. Seriously, God loves all of his children. There is always hope. 

Alrighty, because it's Thanksgiving I want you all to go and watch the Mormon message called "In the Spirit of Thanksgiving" and write down what you're grateful for. Send it to me if you feel so inclined, I would be more than happy to hear about it! 

I could tell you all about what I'm grateful for, but it would take too long. I will tell you this though, I'm so very grateful that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that I get to take part in sharing it. 

Okay now the coolest thing. The Light the world campaign for Christmas has come out. The videos are out, we've got cards to hand out to people, and we know what we will be doing for the first 25 days in December. Holy guacamole, us missionaries in the California Arcadia mission are pumped. If you haven't already, look up the videos, watch a couple and figure out how you're going to light the world!

 Alright I'm done. Don't forget to read your scriptures. 

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Sister Dorrance 

Here's a picture of everyone after zone conference. Believe it or not, this was the best one. 

Week 9. Church of Christ Minister and two months down

my district for this transfer (left to right: Sisters Gillman, Luke, Arriola, Yours Truly, and Allen, Elders Mortenson and Mitchell) Elder Mitchell was the district leader and he's getting transferred so Elder Mortenson is the district leader for this coming transfer. 

HOLA, COMO ESTÁ TODAY IS MY TWO MONTH MARK

This week was pretty uneventful up until this weekend. On Thursday we went to visit a former investigator named Cole. She and her husband have a little boy who is more accomplished than any seven year old I've ever met. Such a well rounded individual. Anyway, we knock on their door and they were about to leave for something so they told us to come back the next day, they would feed us, we could chat and get to know each other and then we could roast marshmallows.

We spent the whole dinner on Friday talking about spirituality and we answered some questions about baptisms for the dead. It was an adventure from start to finish. These people were not afraid of any question. We did our best, and we would habe failed if it wasn't for the spirit teaching through us. 

On Saturday the sisters in the Huntington ward met a guy named David who is a member of the Church of Christ (from the Philippines not from Missouri). He invited them to his church to compare the Book of Mormon and the Bible but his church is in our area so they asked us to go. So we went on Sunday night to this office building type place and we had invited our ward mission leader (Brother Tafua) because he's pretty knowledgeable and we weren't sure if it was going to be a bible bash thing or a rumble or if they really just wanted to compare. We needed someone that knows more than us. 

So we get there and we get in and people started showing up. There were maybe 10 people from this congregation including their minister so we felt pretty outnumbered but we've got the true church so it wasn't THAT stressful. Their minister gave a little sermon about what they believe which I really tried to listen to, but his accent is really thick and it was pretty difficult to understand. We tried. Then we got up. We started to teach the restoration lesson because where else would we start then from the beginning right? They asked really good questions. I was sweating something awful and they were pulling out bible verses and it was intense. I mean, it probably wasn't that intense but I'm not a fan of being in front of people anyway so it was interesting. They were actually being really nice about their questions and we were able to answer most of them and the ones we couldn't, they said we could come back and answer another time. We'll be more prepared. When we left we were talking to Brother Tafua and we were asking him if we did okay and such and he said that he could have jumped in more but he really wanted us to have that experience. I guess it was pretty cool, but super stressful. We gave the minister a Book of Mormon. I'm curious how that turns out.

That's probably it for this week, other than your basic all around wonderful missionary work. 

For a spiritual thought this week, I'd like to remind you to help out your missionaries and share the gospel. The church is true and brings joy so why wouldn't you want everyone to have it! As a missionary who currently doesn't get any referrals from members. Make missionary work a little lighter and share the joy! *steps off soapbox*

I hope you all are having a stupendous week and life! 

Love, Sister Dorrance

Ps. I forgot to mention that we had transfers, I'm staying in East Pasadena with Sister Allen, but Sister Arriola is going to Hacienda Heights. Back to Spanish work she goes! She's excited. 

Attachments area

Week 8 Halloween, hoarders, and spray painted bathrooms.

Yours Truly, Sister Arriola, Sister Allen in front of our ward building

Alright kiddies, settle down and buckle up because this week was a roller coaster. 

Halloween started out with us waking up to a very very sick Sister Allen. We had interviews with the President and because Sister Gillman is the only other sister allowed to drive the car, she did a lot of driving back and forth because someone had to be with Sister Allen all day. It's alright though. Between the other four of us, we conquered the East Pasadena and Huntington areas, and stayed with Sister Allen. On Halloween we had to be inside by 6 and we had gotten face masks and balloons and popcorn so we were going to watch The Testaments and have a righteous party.  It didnt really happen though because we were all exhausted and we didn't want to do it without Sister Allen so we all read scriptures and studied for 4 ish hours. Super cool, super not spooky Halloween, it was swell.

On Wednesday I was with the Huntington Sisters in their area and they have lunch every week with this lady named Eliana. I had only heard stories about this lady and let me tell you, she's straight up crazy. She's this older lady and she makes terrible looking floral arrangements out of fake flowers and what looks like things from the dollar store. It's a sight for sure. She speaks Spanish and English, but she says she has the gift of tongues which apparently means speaking gibberish and calling it the gift of tongues. It's hilarious. Get this, she spray painted her bathroom. I'm not saying she spray painted the walls or anything, no she painted her bathtub red. And she got tired or something because it's not even done. Then she painted the outside red and purple. And her toilet red, and the floor half purple. It's a sight for sure. 

On friday, we had a couple lessons which was SWEET. We had dinner at a members house and I kid you not, her house loomed like four houses put together. It was so gosh darn huge. The dinner was great, but in her entryway she has this really cool looking thinking man painting and the thinking man is red and the rest of the canvas is this really vibrant yellow so as we were leaving I was talking to her about it and I asked her what it was painted with and where she got it stuff like that, it's an original and IT WAS PAINTED WITH URINE. She has some artists urine hanging in her entryway and she wasn't even a little weirded out. We had a good laugh about it on the way home. 

On Saturday we were going to do some service hours for a member who really needed some help cleaning her kitchen and it was kind of our way to get to know her husband who isn't a member. She definitely took advantage of our service, we cleaned out three of her cupboards and we were cleaning for over two hours. She's a hoarder. We got her to throw away 8 trash bags of stuff from three cupboards and they were still full. But then we had a great dinner and then a lesson with the whole family. We told them we just wanted to practice teaching the first lesson (righteous lie?) So we had a fantastic lesson, he had a bunch of questions, it was golden. But he's not interested, so we'll just keep getting him and his wife to feed us and let us practice our teaching and it'll be great. 

Sunday was a party, we were asked to teach gospel principles that morning, which actually turned out pretty well, we had us three and then two guys in the lesson. These two guys, one is Brother Sorenson who is a little mentally disabled and the absolute sweetest man in the whole world. He walks with a walker and he is so nice and his little hunchback and sweet smile will just warm your heart. The other one is another sweet old man named Brother Shoemaker. We visited him yesterday, he's a hoarder too. So nice though. His neighbor wanted us to come and visit him because he tries to get Brother Shoemaker to clean by reminding him that girls are coming over. He's not creepy, just old fashioned. 

Last week we visited a non member named Moira and as we were talking she said she'd love to have us over for a little bit but she's not in the mood for the lessons, but if we wanted to come over and paint with her than we could! Shes an amazing artist so that's what we did this morning! I'll attach a picture next week maybe. 

I think that's everything, it's been a crazy crazy week. 

Have a good week!

Don't forget that Jesus Christ loves you heaps and bunches. 

Love, Sister Dorrance 

Grandma (aka Sister Lund) took us out for tacos last Monday

Sister Allen and home girl ft. Weekly planning wall. 

After picture 1.