Week 28 - Rain, face plants, and Hacienda Heights!

 we were up at the very tippy top of a big hill and it was really pretty so we took pictures. 

This week was pretty crazy. A lot of pretty rough stuff happened, but all is well because we found some people that want to hear the gospel! 

On Tuesday we got all moved into our new apartment in Hacienda Heights! We couldn't really do much because our area book was all messed up (so we thought) and we didn't have the phone for the area until later in the afternoon. So we got all unpacked and it was great. Then we kept trying to fix our area book which we thought was a glitch or something because the people in the app hadn't been taught in almost a year or something so we called the previous elders to check and..... nope. They hadn't put a single person or event in area book since they had been there. So we had nothing. They didn't leave a note or anything. They have two people on date for baptism (Yay! Covenants!) But didn't think it was necessary to let us know they existed. But we've met them now so that's great! We're doing swell! We found this guy named Sergio on Tuesday and he's super interested so we're making progress! AND he's met with missionaries before and been to church and we are so pumped. Then Wednesday hit. 

And Wednesday was a struggle. We had to bike for maybe 4 miles or so over some hills to get to a McDonald's to meet with one of the elders that was here so we could get some information out of him about people and not only did we set off the fire alarm on our way out, but it started pouring buckets of rain on us on our way home. So we got home and then immediately had to go to an appointment with Sergio. He's so cool. Then we stayed inside until our dinner appointment. Then things got real crazy. We were biking to our dinner appointment and we were turning onto her street and bless her heart Sister Bullock totally face planted into the asphalt and we ended up sitting on the sidewalk while she bled from her forehead and no one would answer the phone so we ended up calling Sister Wells (mission president's wife) and she got the stake relief society President to come and take us to urgent care. On the upside they took us to Five Guys after!

The rest of the week was a lot of door knocking and a lot of friendly rejection and then yesterday we had church! I love church. We met so many people and the ward is super duper nice and they haven't had sisters in years so lots of them were really excited to see us and it was great! We also had dinner at a members home last night and they feed at least 2 or 3 sets of missionaries every Sunday evening. It's the best! They're so cool. We also knocked a whole block yesterday and found 2 new investigators! One of them is sorta iffy on whether or not she's a mega flake or not but the other one is named Wendy and she's so great! I love answering peoples deep life questions on the door step. It's the greatest. 

Anyway, this week has been super duper crazy and I hope you've enjoyed hearing bout it!

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

-Sister Dorrance  

Week 27 - Transfers, packing and in-patient

Goodbye to Pasadena (Picture from Sis Luymes)

It was quite a week this week! First off, I have to leave my dear Pasadena and East Pasadena wards that I've been in since the beginning my mission. It's a sad day but i guess they need a curly haired weirdo in hacienda heights first ward! I'm pretty pumped, but it's a pain trying to pack everything back into my bags and it's crazy how much stuff I've accumulated in six months. It sorta fits. 

Also, HAPPY SIX MONTHS TO MEEEEEE. I hit six months this week! And it was sister Nays birthday so we got pie for pie day!

So in-patient. We got a referral this week from a guy named Chris who referred himself. He's a convert from Huntington beach who is currently staying in an in-patient drug rehabilitation center and has made it his personal goal to baptize everyone that's living there! So we met him and taught him and a bunch of his roommates and they're actually really interested! If anything, this should let you guys know that you can do member missionary work anywhere! So we're teaching four new people because Chris wants to baptize everyone! Plus, he even managed to get a few to stake conference yesterday and they loved it. I love missionary work! Alrighty, I think that's pretty much it for the week. 

Here's what we do during weekly planning:

Week 26 - No time, but we got smart phones!

BBQ

The subject line kind of says it all because this week was pretty uneventful... But we did get smartphones! (Haha I've got more technology than Hayden did on his whole mission #stateside) it's super weird to have a smartphone again though so there's that. I can't type on it anymore. We also had zone conference this week and we talked about how to work with the ward council better and how to use the technology that we have to further the work of the Lord! Missionary work is so cool. We did exchanges on Thursday which was sweet. I went to Glendale and we carried around a ukulele when we would contact people on the street. I'm learning a little bit how to play it. Knowing guitar helps. WAIT. We had a miracle named Isaac. He requested a bible and when the missionary from Mormon.org called to confirm his address he said that he had met with missionaries before and that he knows that the church is true and wants to get baptized, but he moved and lost contact. Holy smokes was that the greatest thing ever. Seeing people accept the gospel is the absolute most amazing thing ever. Have a great week!

Don't forget to read your scriptures

- Sister Dorrance 

Picture sent to Mom by a visitor to our ward

Week 25 - Bothering Brings Baptism

here is a picture of us in front of the church in Alhambra to email and eat Wendy's. 

The thing that Sister Nay and I have learned this week is that persistence is key in missionary work. Bother them until they want to meet with you. It's worked pretty well. Sort of. 

This week was great though!  On Tuesday we were double signed up for dinner somehow so we had two dinners because we don't like saying no to nice people (it's quite the problem to have, right?) They both served enchiladas though so it was a pretty good night. I love enchiladas. 

We had to teach part of district meeting on Thursday and we were talking about the role of the holy ghost in conversion and it was cool because in a missionary broadcast Elder Bednar talked about the difference between bringing the spirit unto our investigators hearts versus into their hearts. We can give them everything we've got, but we can't shove it into their souls and that's kind of a bummer, but agency is sweet so I'm not totally mad about it. We also had a stake relief society birthday party and the theme was Finding Joy in the Journey and they had four speakers get up and talk about their hard times and how they've found joy through them. It was fantastic. 

On Friday we got chick fil a. I love chick fil a. We cleaned the office too, but chick fil a is more important. 

Saturday we helped one of our new friends destroy his drug paraphernalia by smashing it with a hammer in the hopes that it'll help him get sober. It was pretty funny because he wasn't totally sober while he was trying to smash it. All is well. I'm making friends mom! No need to worry! 

On Sunday we had a guy named Jason come to church and we hadn't actually ever met him, but a member from Australia gave him $600 worth of bitcoin for charity (whatever that is) so he figured as a thank you he should just go to church! He's pretty interested in learning too, so it was a good Sunday. 

Today we're going bowling again. I'm still terrible at bowling and I don't think I'm getting any better so not to worry. Last time my top score was about 76 I think so I'm hoping to hit 85 today.

I realize that a lot of this email has been about food, but you talk about what's  important to you right?

 -Sister Dorrance

Also, just for kicks and giggles and I havent sent it in a while, my mailing address is 

614 w foothill Blvd.

Arcadia, CA

91006

Email:

riley.dorrance@myldsmail.net

bowling beats Battlestar Galactica

Week 24 - Sunny and 75

Katie!

Hey everybody, how's the weather in Utah??  

Anyhoo, it's been an awesome week. We found a family to teach which is GREAT. They're names are Carolina, George, and Daniel and we're pumped. We put Dejah on date to be baptized on March 17th! She didn't come to church like she said she would, but we're still optimistic that she'll make the right choice. She's fantastic. Sister Nay got a stomach sick kind of thing on Friday but it wasn't the flu so we stayed home that day. On Saturday we had a young woman come from LaCrescenta to be with us for most of the day and she was so nice. She bought everyone pizza. She is so pumped to be a missionary and she was so great at it! Her name is Katie, she gave a book of mormon to a pastor and she was pulling out scriptures in our lesson with Steven and I think I learned more from her than she did from us. That's all I've got for the week, sorry it's so short, but enjoy the pictures!

 

Katie part 

comp date at the Chevy dealership getting our blinker fixed. (I could've done it in the driveway, but I guess that's okay....)

Sister Nay ate Elote for the first time! (Aka best street mexican food ever)

Week 23 - Miracles and dog washing!

 in a tree

We had miracle this week everybody and her name is Dejah and she's the coolest. So. We met her mom Casie last week and she was super cool and we went back for casie's return appointment and she wasn't feeling well BUT THEN Dejah said "well shoot, I'll listen" and we taught her the whole restoration lesson and then we went on to the part of the plan of salvation because she had questions ( WOOT WOOT) and we started talking about the three kingdoms and she said "woah, I've never heard it like that before. That's really cool" and then she said a bunch of times that she was so glad that she opened the door and that her mom was going to be so bummed that she didn't come out. It was great. Then as we were leaving she said " I hope you two inspire someone else like youve inspired me today" it was a good day. 

We took sister Nay to the doctors office too. She had hurt her foot falling down some stairs on her second day and we found  out that her foot isn't broken, she just has a torn tendon. Shes got a giant boot on her foot now and she really hates it. But it's chill. She's doing great. Other than her foot. Training isn't as scary as I thought it was!

We washed a golden retriever this week named Chico and it was swell. I wish we had some pictures of the actual dog washing, but all we have is some pictures of us climbing a tree and making stupid faces. Stellar. But anyway, this week was amazing and I love being a missionary and I'm pumped to keep teaching Dejah and 

ALSO, STEVEN LOPEZ GOT THE PRIESTHOOD YESTERDAY AND I'M REALLY EXCITED IT'S GREAT.

But I think that's all the important stuff. The church is so true everybody. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

- Sister Dorrance

temporary splits with sister Mecham

 waiting for Nancy and Chico

playing star wars with Ezra

with a bow and Mili

Week 22 - Training and Driving!

Sister Allen and I right before we left to transfer!

This week has been pretty great! I picked up Sister Nay on Wednesday! She's from Honeyville Utah and she's amazing! She's got a ton of passion for the work, but the only bummer is that she might have broken her foot on Thursday so we were inside keeping it elevated for most of the weekend. We're going to the doctor tomorrow. But on a completely different note, I'm driving now! I haven't driven since September, but I still drive like I'm 97 so it's pretty cool. I missed driving! All is well, Sister Nay says she's fine so I guess we'll just have to see about that tomorrow though. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

Love, 

Sister Dorrance

Sister Nay on a wheelchair at target

Plan of Salvation in front of the church