Week 4 habla Espanol

our whole apartment at the LA temple this morning.

Left to right: yours truly, Sister Arriola, Sister Gillman, Sister Luke, and Sister Allen

One week down! Holy moly guys. This week has been so so crazy. We woke up at 3 am last Tuesday to get to our flight on time and we got to California at about 9:30 our time. Then we were at the mission office all day and they told us a bunch of information that I can't remember. I'm sure it wasn't THAT important. The mission office is attached to a church building so we took naps on the pews in the chapel. Then we got our companions! I'm in a trio with sister Allen and Sister Arriola! We are in the East Pasadena ward!

We've done a whole bunch of door knocking, walking around, and  so much studying. They were teaching a guy named Steven before I got here and he is so funny. He met with the elders before us but he says that the sisters are better. Ha. He also came to church on Sunday! It takes him a while to understand things, so all of our lessons move really slowly. That's okay though, it makes us think about what we say and we really have to know our stuff because he asks a lot of questions. He's awesome. 

We found three and a half new investigators this week! We found Karina on Friday; her mom met with the missionaries forever ago and we went to go and see her again just to chat so we went over to her house and she wasn't home. We were on Backus street which is full of a lot of run down sort of houses and a guy with a fruit cart! So we knocked on the house next door and Karina answered! She's the sweetest lady ever! We've got an appointment with her this Thursday. Then after that we walked down Backus street and Christina was out playing with her dog. We walked up to her, talked to her about her dog for a while, and started talking about the church. She already believes in Jesus Christ (holla) so we talked about that and we were going to go back last night, but she had to babysit. It's all good, though, we're planting seeds. 

Then yesterday we were knocking doors up and down a street and we found Daisy! Shes this sweet Hispanic woman that started comparing her beliefs with ours and they're basically the same! Aside from the fact that she doesn't have the fullness of the gospel but that's another story. So we went in her house and she had a neighbor visiting so we taught her too! So Grace Joy is our half an investigator. If she shows up to our return appointment, then we'll invite her to come unto Christ as well!

I've decided that I have to learn Spanish. That's really it, if anyone has any pointers that would be great. Sister Arriola is fluent so I can say the name of the church but that's as far as we've gotten. We're working on it though! 

We're in a driving area so I don't use my fancy bike but I think we might start to a little anyway because it's cooling down. 

It's not that difficult to eat gluten free, all of the members are super helpful and it's also a conversation topic which is pretty good because I'm awkward. 

Today we got to go to the LA temple which was BEAUTIFUL. Holy smokes. It took almost two hours to get there at 5:30 in the morning. Usually it would take 30 minutes. Traffic is the worst. But The temple is the best. 

I think I'm done, if anyone's made it this far then bless your heart. 

- Sister Dorrance 

New address for mail

614 West Foothill Blvd

Arcadia California

91006

Week 3 - California!

Notes sent over the last 24 hours:

Holy smokes. I'm in Arcadia. I'm exhausted. We've been told so many things and I don't even remember any of them. I ended up having to use my duffel bag which I'm sooooo glad that I brought it. It's only 3:45 here and I'm probably not going to get to my new apartment until 6:30 or so. I'm seriously delirious. But it's fine because the church is true and all is well! We are currently about to take a nap in the chapel which is attached to the mission office. Also, attached are pictures of sister Gillman sleeping, and the sky when we flew into Arcadia. Coolest flight ever. I love you all! I'm so glad I got to talk to you and dad and Syd today. I miss you a ton!

Love, 

Sister Dorrance 

Heyo!

I was told to email again but I'm not sure why so here's an email. I'm grand, we moved into our pad (aka apartment apparently) and it's a cute little townhouse. There's five of us living there and Sister Gillman is living there too which is stellar. I'm in a trio, my trainers are sister Arriola from new jersey and Sister Allen from Florida! I was up for 20 hours yesterday and I slept so well. Figuring out what to study for an hour was difficult, but I didn't fall asleep so I consider it a win! Now we're sitting outside a members house to use their WiFi because we don't have any. But we're doing things today! I'm not really sure what because I was mostly confused during daily planning, but all is well!

I love you!

Love, Sister Dorrance 

Week 2 - MTC

District in front of Moses mural (left to right: elders Bradfield, Banks, Lovell, Webb, Sisters Smith, Jensen, Gillman, Yours Truly, Elders Wilson and Cobb)

WHAT A WEEK.

I'm finally getting the hang of things around here, so I guess it's cool that this time next week I'll be going to Arcadia! The days are all pretty much the same here at the mtc, so I'll just give you all the important bits! After emailing last week, we went to the temple and had lunch and did initiatories. After that, we studied for a while and then went to the Tuesday night devotional! It was amazing! Quentin L. Cook and his wife, Mary came and spoke to us! Sister cook spoke about developing Christlike attributes, and being our own true convert through the end of your life. Elder Cooks talk was a lot longer and he talked about a bunch of different things! Most of his talk was about how we need to have four loves on our mission. 

1. Love your companion

2. Love the people

3. Love your mission president and his wife

4. Love the Savior. It is the single great love to aspire to on a mission. 

He said, "Taking his gospel to the world is how you show you love the savior."

Ya feel? Cuz faith without works is dead. 

After the devotional we had a district meeting that was such a happy time, and one elder started talking about how much he loved everyone and it was a hug/handshake fest. 

Wednesday was my week mark which was weird because I seriously felt like I had just gotten here and not much has changed. Basically we go to class all day and eat food. So many prayers are said and so much studying is done. 

Sister Gillman and I taught relief society on Sunday which was kind of difficult because we had to teach on the apostasy. All is well though, we found a seminary class lesson plan, and adjusted it to fit our needs. It went pretty well. On Sunday nights the MTC shows different talks or church movies after devotionals and on Sunday we went and watched a talk by Elder Bednar called "Recognizing the Spirit." SERIOUSLY THE GREATEST EVER. I'm not sure if you can watch it outside of the mtc, but try. Because it's worth it. In it, Elder Bednar talks about figuring out if it's the holy ghost, or just your thoughts. In essence, the whole talk can be summed up by this. "Stop worrying about it. If you are doing what you're supposed to and being a good boy or girl, your steps will be guided." So I guess I just gave away the ending, but still try and find it because Elder Bednar is the coolest. 

I think that's it! Hopefully when I'm in the field my emails will be a whole lot more interesting! 

Send mail,

Sister Dorrance

Ps. I see Bruce Robinson around the mtc at least once a day. #wardies 

Click HERE to watch Elder Bednar's speech on Recognizing the Spirit

https://video.byui.edu/media/David+A.+Bednar+%22Receiving%2C+Recognizing%2C+and+Responding+to+the+Promptings+of+the+Holy+Ghost%22/0_0nqqrz3z/13946502

 Sister study sesh

 Moses mural 

Moses mural scripture 

 Sister Smith sleeping feat. Sister Gillman

Sister study sesh part 

Week 1 - MTC

MTC companion Sister Gillman

Hi? I guess? I am at the MTC??? I haven't died yet??? Anyhoo, I am here, it is hard, but it oh so worth it. Wednesday, I got dropped off and it was probably the weirdest day ever. I didn't even remember what happened it was so crazy. If I'm being completely honest I don't actually remember most of what happened since I was dropped off. We've taught investigators which I'm  still learning how to do. And we've gone to a lot of classes. I didn't think there would be three weeks worth of things to do at the MTC, but holy cow. If I were to learn everything that I feel like I need to learn, I'd probably be here for months. And I'm speaking English. My district is the greatest. We're all super tight which is nice because some districts don't get along hardly at all. #BFFs my zone is also super cool and basically I'm really lucky. My companions name is sister Gillman, she's from linden, and she went to UVU! We work really well together and we get along great! Our roommates are named sister Smith and sister Jensen. They're the coolest. Sister Smith a I have the same sense of humor so we just laugh all the time. It's great. Our whole district just jokes around (when we aren't talking about how cool this gospel is) which is super helpful because this is a super gosh darn hard thing that we're doing and laughing helps. Last night before we went to sleep, our fire alarm went haywire and just went off and we all had to evacuate. There were girls crying, girls that had been in the shower and just had towels on, and we all started singing hymns. Our room was laughing, it was a swell night. I love being a missionary! I've done what they all said and I've made it to P-day! God is good, the church is true and all is well!

SEND MAIL PLZ  I can't write emails back until Tuesdays, but I can write letters any day! 

Mailing address

Sister Riley Jean Dorrance
OCT03  CA-ARC
2005 N 900 E Unit  33
Provo UT 84602

DO IT. MAIL ME A LETTER. SEND ME A PACKAGE.  SEE WHAT HAPPENS. I'M HERE TILL OCTOBER 3. 

Love, Sister Dorrance

View from where we are studying

Sis Gillman taking a picture of the view.

Roommates:  Left to right: sis. Jensen, sis. Smith, sis. Gillman, me

MTC Drop Off

'70's family head tilt

MTC Companion - Sister Gillman from Lindon UT

First note from the MTC:

They told me to email you and tell you i got here safely but you dropped me off so that's pretty safe to assume i think. my companion is super cool and we got first choice on bunks. so I'm doing great. my bags were really heavy though so i felt bad having my host take the big one up the stairs. shes a trooper though. talk to you later. ive only been here for an hour so thats all ive got. 

-Sister Dorrance

Pre-Mission Photos. (Sisters are Awesome!)