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. 

Week 7 Givin away Books of Mormon

Hello all! 

This week was fantastic. 

We were at the Olsens house to teach Lynnea on Tuesday We've been teaching these people for a while now and they are so amazing. Well, they just barely decided to show me an absolutely gorgeous car that they just had sitting in their garage this whole time! They have a 1996 cherry red mustang that they restored. All of the interior leather is red, and she replaced the speakers and got an old school looking stereo that's actually Bluetooth and holy cow. I love this car. It's so pretty. 

I GAVE AWAY A BOOK OF MORMON ALL BY MYSELF. It probably doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but it definitely is. We were on the bus, I started a conversation all by myself, and gave her a Book of Mormon. Is was so nervous. I didn't even ask her name but it's all good, I'm spreading the gospel. 

Our car died on Friday. We were in a lesson, we were running late for curfew, we go to start the car and it's super dead. I checked the battery, everything was screwed on tight. That sucker was not starting. So we decided to say a prayer, I said Heavenly Father, If you want us home on time so we can be exactly obedient like we're supposed to, this car is going to need to start. It started right up. #miracles. 

On Saturday we took the car into a car shop and we had to get the battery replaced because it wouldn't hold a charge. It was a bummer that we had to pay someone to fix the car. I was not a fan. It's all good though. On Saturday night we had the trunk or treat! We dropped of so many invitations to less actives this week and so many of them showed up! It was the coolest! So exciting to meet all of these awesome people! Also, who doesn't want to just watch all of these adorable little children in costumes run around and to get candy??they were so adorable. This one family dressed their son up like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes and gave him a little tiger and then they were his parents, I was dying. It was the cutest.

I think that's all folks! 

Eventually I'll get better at taking pictures during the week. 

Until then, here's a picture of sister Gillman emailing. 

And a picture of our animal socks. 

Week 6, 100 Degrees and Sunny

Here's a selfie with my cute scripture case

Hello! This week went by so fast, I feel like I just emailed! It was a pretty uneventful week, we've been trying to work with members so we mostly did a lot of visiting members and sharing messages. We had zone conference on Wednesday which was awesome. Elder Dyches from the 70 was there and he talked to us forever at least it seemed like a really long time, it was only 4 or 5 hours. 

HOLY MOLY I ALMOST FORGOT. We biked on Thursday. I think I was trying to erase it from my memory. Just kidding it wasn't THAT terrible, but it was pretty hard. It didn't help that it was super hot and we've been riding in a car and the first time we biked, was up all of these massive hills. I really tried to be positive, but I don't think I've ever prayed like I did on Thursday. Apparently we're biking again on Wednesday so that'll be interesting. Will report back later. 

On Friday we taught the Olsen family and they're so cool. Brother Olsen is a member and Sister Olsen and her daughter aren't. Lynnae (her daughter) is 9 I think? Anyway, they've been teaching them since before I got here and Lynnae's dad has been saying no to letting her get baptized. Sister Olsen invited him to dinner and he said yes because he really just wanted to learn more about the religion, especially the Book of Mormon! (Golden) so we taught the restoration and he said it made sense! Awesome guy, we'll see what happens I guess?

On Saturday we went to visit a ward member and after finding out I was from Utah continued with, "the reason I really don't like Utah Mormons is because they all think that the church started in Utah, but I really like to remind them that it didn't." It was all kind of downhill after that. I was mostly silent. On Saturday night we met with Steven who had a baptism date set for November 4, but because of some word of wisdom difficulties, we had to postpone it and he wasn't sure when he'd be ready. Super sad. 

Sunday was so good! We had a bunch of investigators come to church which was absolutely stellar because it was the primary program! I mean, how could anyone not like the primary program?? It was great. Such a good sacrament meeting. We even had a couple of surprise investigators come and say that they wanted to come again! God is so so good!

Bless your heart if you've made it this far, I hope you're all doing well! If you'd like to send mail my address is 

614 w foothills Blvd

Arcadia CA

91006

If writing a letter down is too much, my email is 

riley.dorrance@myldsmail.net

Have a happy week!

Love, Sister Dorrance

WEEK 5 - I'M A WHOLE MONTH OLD

On top of a random roof with a pretty view

WOOT WOOT

I never know how to start these things. 

Last Tuesday after emailing we taught Steven, who my companions have been teaching for a while. And I extended my first baptism invitation! He's such a cool guy and he said yes to getting baptized on November 4th! Holy cow guys. I was stoked. I'm still stoked. Then on Wednesday we went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders! We knocked so many doors that day. We got rejected so many times. It was crazy. BUT we made some contacts and met a couple potential investigators. It's really difficult to find people here in the East Pasadena ward, because nobody really wants to talk to us, and the members are so so great, but we haven't gotten a lot of referrals. But it's okay because we're making these people mega-ready for the next missionaries. 

Basically Thursday-saturday was a whole lot of rejection and a little bit of make yourself feel better frozen yogurt. But on Friday we did meet with this guy named Enrique who is so so smart and he's a member of maybe 2 or 3 years, but I think he just likes to talk to the missionaries. Pretty weird guy, but we had an awesome talk about the Book of Mormon. 

I TURNED A WHOLE MONTH OLD ON FRIDAY. SUPER WEIRD. I FEEL LIKE I'VE BEEN HERE FOR TWO DAYS AND 80 YEARS ALL AT THE SAME TIME. But it's pretty cool. 

Yesterday we went and talked to a bunch of less active members to see how they were doing and we ended up at this couple's house for maybe 45 minutes. Let me tell you about the Jeanmaries. He is this little man from the carribean and she is a small asian lady. Both have thick accents from where they're from, and both of them talk like you wouldn't believe. I understood less than half of that whole conversation and by the end we left with two grocery bags of food and a stuffed animal for all three of us. It made my whole week I think. She kept telling me that since I'm the newest one, if I ever get homesick to just go over to her house and she'll put me right to work and I'll forget all about it. 

Yesterday was stake conference too, it was awesome! We had Elder Dyches from the 70 presiding, and he gave an awesome talk about building up families and building up testimonies. He said, "keep it simple, build it strong, and make it work." 

Today we had our zone activity and we played Wilson ball which is basically dogeball, but every man for himself. It's pretty intense. The elders all started racing each other in the parking lot, and this one elder who I'm pretty sure is 7 ft tall lost pretty much every time. 

Missionary work is super difficult, but I love love love being a missionary and getting rejected isn't really that bad. Especially when we get yelled at in Spanish and I don't actually understand what they're saying. But I am learning Spanish, it's just going to take about 5 years at the rate I'm going. Anyway, I love being a missionary and I miss fall in Utah. It's 90 degrees and sunny here. 

Love, Sister Dorrance

With our signs because sister Arriola turned 1 year on Thursday!

Random roof part