Week 42 - The one with all the beautiful blessings!

 There's a guy in one of our wards that told us he owns a recycling plant as a joke so they've been saving all of their water bottles to give him for his birthday! 

This week was insane. I don't know how to even start. Well first off, WE PUT MANUEL ON DATE. I have never before seen a miracle like Manuel. He met missionaries a year and a half ago and they told him about our ward so he just decided to show up last Sunday because he felt like he was missing something. He stayed for the linger longer, he was talking with people, and honestly we thought he was a member because so many people go in and out of our wards. But he isn't! YOU CAN NEVER ASSUME. So we set up an appointment with him on Wednesday and it was such a good lesson. We taught him the whole restoration and he just ate it up he was so excited. He accepted a baptism invitation and he's gonna get baptized  he says that he was feeling like something was missing and that he prayed and he knows that the church is true and that he needs to be baptized. Seriously the greatest miracle. It was a crazy crazy week. We talked to this girl named Marselene who had just come from Florida. She had decided that her job was not what she wanted anymore so she took everything that she owned and moved to California in her car. She has no job lined up, and no apartment lined up and she's just going on faith and living in air bnbs. She's seriously the coolest person. We have another appointment this week! 

Let's see...... oh. We hadn't found anybody to teach by Sunday and we were a little bummed because we had been talking to a ton of people all week and just none of them wanted us to come back. It was so sad! So we really felt that there were three people in our area that we really needed to share the gospel with on Sunday and so we went to church and I kid you not, by the end of church we had three new people to teach that genuinely wanted to know about the gospel. We had set up a return appointment with someone we had met during the week, someone who had been coming to church every week for months has finally decided to get baptized, and a member brought her friend who is very interested in the gospel! IT WAS A COMPLETE MIRACLE AND NO ONE CAN TRY AND TELL ME THAT ALL OF THESE THINGS HAPPENING WAS NOT DIVINE. God is so good. He's the absolute goodest. 

We had a zone activity today! Fun fact, Sister Swapp and I are the only sisters in the entire zone. So its a little weird, but it's a party! We had a couple of the housing inspectors take us to this pizza place called big mamas and papas pizza and they got this MASSIVE pizza. It was beautiful. Sister Swapp and i got our own pizza because we can't eat bread, but it was some dang good pizza. It was a good time! I might have to send pictures of that next week because I don't have them. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures! 

- Sister Dorrance 

Sister Swapp got her very first ticket this week!

It's just pretty. Don't ya think??

It was also sister Swapps birthday this week so I made her wear a tiara while we volunteered at a food pantry!

this sign was on someone's doorstep and I just thought it was really funny 

We did studies at a park this week and it was beautiful!

Two different people made our salads.... My guy was new... 

 

Week 41 - The one with MIRACLES

Sister Swapp

GUYS. GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS AND SENDS BLESSINGS. alright. I love this area. It's a great area. Now this week we saw some miracles and it was fantastic. We visited a lot of members this week and I'm starting to know these wards better even though it's hard because there's about a billion and a half or them. But all is well! We stay super busy in this area and it's the greatest because there's so many things to do! So we were going on our merry way talking about the gospel and we had some fantastic lessons. 

One in particular stands out. We visited Vince, who has a date to be baptized and he super ready, but he hasn't given up smoking. So we were just stopping in to say hello and he ended up bringing up that he still smokes and he probably should stop and so on and it was GREAT. We were able to promise some mad blessings and happiness for him if he did because he would be able to become totally free of his addictions and it was swell. Then it gets better! We were talking about how the book of Mormon helps us overcome temptation and that if he read it and really prayed every day that he would stop feeling the desire to smoke and with the help of God he would be able to overcome his addiction. So he came up with the idea to try it for 5 days. He said he would try it for five days and then if it was working he would keep going to try to quit smoking. So we're in the middle of that and we'll see! We made him a pack of "holy smokes" so hopefully those will help too! 

We were super busy on Saturday, so we didn't have an opportunity to find anyone to teach until almost 4 but we figured that we would pray and use the three hours until our next appointment to put in some good solid work. We went to visit three people that missionaries used to teach and we didn't talk to any of them, but in front of/on the way to all of their houses, we found a person that was genuinely interested in the Gospel. It was THE COOLEST THING EVER. The first one is named Ricky and he's so cool. He was locked out of his house and he figured that he might as well listen to us, but we talked to him about our missions and why we're out here, and by the end he said he wanted to come to church to see what it was all about! Then we met Wayne. He's looking into Buddhism right now but he still believes in Jesus Christ and when we started talking about the plan of salvation with him he asked if we could find a place to sit down so he could understand it better! We got through the whole plan of salvation and he says "what else to you have for me?" So we gave him a book of mormon and he said he wanted to come to church too! And then we met Ivan! He's an artist who has recently had a spiritual awakening and he said he wants to come to church TOO! I still don't understand even a teeny tiny bit what sister Swapp and I have done to deserve such wonderful miracles but it's the absolute most greatest thing.

So here's another one. We were at church yesterday and a nice man named Manuel came into the church and said that missionaries had talked to him in a Starbucks once and told him about this ward so he decided to come in and stay for the whole three hours. He said that every church says that they're the right one but that he really liked this one and wanted to join! Sister Swapp and i figured that Manuel was there because none of the three people that had said they would come to church had actually showed up. I guess the Lord works in mysterious ways.... but it was such a good week. 

Today we had a sisters activity and we 

made food and we tye-dyed stuff and we threw water balloons!  

MISSIONARY WORK IS THE GREATEST. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures

- Sister Dorrance 

holy smokes! All of the little papers have a scripture on them so when Vince wants to smoke he can read a scripture instead! I made the box out of the cardboard on the back of a notebook and a bunch of pass along cards if you were wondering!

Sister's Activity

Week 39-40 The one where I actually write a real email home 😅

 DODGERS GAME 

Heyyyyyyyy

How's the week been?? I guess I need to catch you guys up on the last month or so (if there's actually anyone that reads these), but I'll probably just skip around. The last major event I can remember was the Dodgers game! It was AWESOME. The rest of the mission went on Saturday for Mormon night, but because it was our stake conference on Saturday night President Wells said that we could go on Friday night! Super awesome opportunity, we were all pumped. What President didn't know, however, was that it was LGBT night at dodger stadium! It was a party like you guys would not believe. Just kidding. There was a lot of drunk people though, and the funniest part of the night was the couple sitting behind us spotting one of the elders walking up the aisle and saying "oh. He's cute. Can he teach me about the book of Mormon????" And they were all very nice and told us that Mormon night was actually on Saturday, and we had the opportunity to tell them that we had come on purpose! they thought that was hilarious! It was super fun and the dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves and all is well in Zion! Haha how many people can say they went to LGBT night at dodger stadium on their mission?? 

I'm pretty sure the next super noteworthy thing that happened was transfers!  I got transferred to Glendale!  Holy smokes this week has been CRAZY. We got the transfer call on Saturday morning from President calling me as an Sister Training Leader, and moving me to Glendale! (A sister training Leader is basically a zone leader but with no priesthood and less meetings but lots of blessings. it's great ) so I moved on Tuesday and it has seriously been nonstop since I got here! On Tuesday we still had Sister Packer and Sister Luke who are now home with their cute families! Sister Packed was sister Swapps last companion, and Sister Luke was on of the sisters in the zone who was closing out the area! So we were helping them close up their area, and get things settled, but also go to the appointments that sister Swapp and Sister Packer had set up, but also get the right sisters to the right appointments and it was wild. Oh! My new companion is sister Swapp! She's from New Mexico, she was in a bluegrass band and she's literally an angel sent from above because she's so kind and genuine. Its the greatest. 

So the rest of this week. We've had so many lessons, and it's the greatest thing because people that are trying to figure out life are SO OPEN TO THE GOSPEL. Which I understand, because when literally nothing makes sense/is going right, the gospel helps. So its really cool. So sister Swapp and I Cover young single adults and mid single adults and I already love them both. There's some serious stigma around mid single adult ward, but holy smokes that ward is a forest of spiritual redwoods and I LOVE IT. Also, the YSA is full of very talented actors/actresses and musicians. If anyone wants to make it big then Glendale is the place to be! Haha this ward is super talented and they are fantastic missionaries. It helps a little that a good amount got home from their missions less than 5 years ago, but they are awesome people to take on lessons. Everyone should aspire to be like the people in these wards I kid you not. 

Other exciting things!

Abraham! He wants to be baptized! He even came to church on Sunday and he forgot his phone so he couldn't tell us that he called into work early and was coming to the 9th ward at 11 instead of the 7th ward at 1. And he just showed up and walked in and he loved it! 

We had some wonderful humans that haven't felt the spirit in a while reach out for some help! They want to come back to church!

I GOT TO GO TO JC AND JULIANAS WEDDING AND BAPTISM  

Alright. I taught JC and Juliana when I was in Pasadena, and I taught them every week for three months straight. They have the cutest little daughter and the only holdup was that they needed to get married. Well. Last week I got a Facebook message from Juliana saying that they were getting married and baptized! So they were married at the church on Friday and baptized on Saturday and it was BEAUTIFUL. I don't think I can explain in this email how wonderful it was to be able to be there when two people I love so much make so many promises. It'd melt anyone's heart. 

Uhhhhhh this week has seriously been great and I love being a missionary, and I love the gospel, and God answers prayers, and the church is true times infinity and it's super sweet to be on the Lord's errand. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

-Sister Dorrance 

First crazy day as companions!

Wedding!

Nadine at her parents baptism. There's an age of accountability for a reason 

Sister Swapp, sister Luke, sister Packer, home girl

Week 38 - Pictures

Another week with no email but lots of pictures.  And she bought a Ukulele...

Waiting at the bus stop

"The Threesome is cool. We laugh all the time" 

#adorbs

We had to move our bunk beds downstairs and we didn't have the tools to take them apart so we managed to get it wedged between the railing and the ceiling. We got them down though.

El Pollo Loco

We got cute

Week 37 - Memorial Day

No real letter from Riley today but here are some snippets from her email to Mom:

My memorial day is going to be a lot of moving people and furniture because another sister is coming to be our companion for the last two weeks of the transfer. It'll be great! We just have to figure out how to shove all of her stuff into our pad but it'll be a party.

I kid you not I've moved more stuff this transfer than I have in my whole entire life. I hope I never have to move ever again.

I'm glad that Jonah is so pumped for Pennsylvania. Its going to be so cool. Plus, when he gets to the mtc and he gets to leave after three weeks and everyone else learning a language has to stay, he'll be glad to be speaking English. Hopefully there's more English speaking people there than there is here because holy smokes I'm pretty sure I'm in a cross between China and Mexico. I've totally left America.

Pictures from last Monday's trip to a Buddhist temple:

Week 36 - Wild!

ALRIGHTY KIDDOS THIS EMAIL IS GOING TO BE LONG BUT YOU SHOULD READ IT BECAUSE LOTS OF THINGS HAPPENED. so the week before last, sister bullock and I had a crazy week. we yanked out this big old bush from a members yard and she told us that the Elders before had tried to do it but gave up. So I'll just let you all figure that one out. and then we were walking around after we had showered and such, and we ran into Eric. He's a barber and he was sitting outside this barber shop with a couple of his friends and he was smoking a cigarette. They were all tattooed and pierced and stuff, so we went up and we started talking to them! We ended up teaching Eric, Angel (the guy getting his hair cut by Eric), and Carlos ( the guy learning how to cut hair from Eric. We taught all three of them the Plan of Salvation and it was awesome. We went back for our return appointment and there were FIVE OF THESE GUYS and we taught all five of them the plan of salvation again. it was crazy and they had all sorts of questions and it was awesome. Eric is the only one that actually wants to do any thing with it though so hopefully that works. We're referring him and a few other people that we're teaching over to the Young Single Adult ward missionaries so they can go to a ward with people their own age. 

Taking out the big bush

On Friday we moved again. this is the third apartment in 3 weeks and it's a party and a half to be a missionary, let me tell you. I did not think that I would spend so much of my time packing. All is well though because our new pad is fantastic. It's 2 miles out of our area, but you get used to biking it really quick.

We did a service activity at a park in our area on Saturday. We were going to paint tables and pick up trash and re stain this big arch thing and it started raining. So we only ended up painting three tables and picking up trash and some older guys started staining the arch thing in between the little bursts of rain. it was a good time. I ended up with paint all over me because I always get messier than everyone else no matter what and it was great!

On Sunday we had miracles. Our ward, although fantastic and wonderful, does not invite their friends to things/to let us teach them BUT on Sunday a wonderful family in the ward brought someone named Frank to church. He's so cool. He said he had wanted to be baptized eleven years ago but decided not to, he had been making some not so good choices for all of those 11 years and he decided two years ago that he needed to clean up his act and he quit doing all of the things that he shouldn't and decided on Sunday that he needed to come to church and he wanted to learn more. it was the greatest thing ever. plus, Hayro, a guy we've been working with came to church on Sunday too! It was a magical day! The only thing that sorta puts a damper on it is that we referred them both to the young single adult (YSA) missionaries. But God is going to bless us for allowing them to flourish in a ward that they feel comfortable!

AND HE BLESSED US ON MONDAY. We met Sienah. She's a referral we received from mormon.org and she had been living in Provo for a year and a half to finish High school and she just got back to California and SHE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED. so we met her for the first time last Monday and she's going to get baptized on June 9th!!!!! it's a beautiful day when people want to make heavenly covenants. 

This last Thursday was crazy. we had a zone meeting (Not to be confused with zone conference which was on Friday) and that was a thing but then we had lesson after lesson! it was Awesome! except we didn't have the car that day so we bused and walked around our area all day and it was hotter than Hades, but we had some fantastic lessons and we invited Alejandro to be baptized and he said, "sure, why not?" so hopefully we can set a date for that soon. again, Heavenly covenants make for a beautiful day! then we were walking on this walking trail on the way to the bus stop and we talked to some cool cats. it was awesome, let me tell you about it. 

We were just walking down this sidewalk and there are two levels to this path and one of them is sidewalk and then there's one right next to it but on the hill a little bit so bikers and walkers can go on their merry way because its a busy street. so we were walking on the sidewalk part and there was this man that was walking on the dirt part and he stops and he starts trying to talk to us. He's trying really hard, but he doesn't speak a lick of English and its a busy street so we couldn't hear him if he could. So we had to climb up this little hill in our skirts to try and talk to him because everyone needs to hear about the gospel and we couldn't understand a single thing he was saying and he kept asking if we spoke spanish but he said something about Portuguese and he was dripping sweat and he just handed us some mexican candy and tried to tell us something about how expensive his beer is and then ran away. it was bizarre. 

So we kept walking. and we ran into James. James is a funny guy. We've seen him around because he walks his dog in the same place but we hadn't ever talked to him. So we go up and talk to him and long story short, He works at the First Marijuana Church and they smoke to "Get higher to God" so we gave him a pamphlet and maybe we'll see him again, but he didn't seem super interested anyway.....

We also met a few other people that just started talking to us out of the blue and it was really weird because no one in Southern California is that friendly and we gave out so many pamphlets.

Friday we had Zone conference and President and Sister Wells came and we got to eat authentic Chinese food and it was great. oh, and we learned how to work with the members better and how to help them share the gospel. for all of you members at home who have made it this far, TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE GOSPEL BECAUSE THEY NEED SALVATION TOO. and that's all i have to say about that. 

On Saturday we had an appointment with this older man named Enrique and it literally made my entire week. I kid you not. we were talking to him and honestly i don't think i could actually do this story justice, but we're going to help him cut down a tree on Wednesday and he wants to send his grandson to us when we're done with our mission because "He needs to get married so i don't have to see him around as much" so we might have a summer wedding next year!! please know i'm joking. i think his grandson is around 17. 

okay. that's it i think. Today we're going to a Buddhist

temple so i'll report back next week. 

dont forget to read your scriptures!

-Sister Dorrance