Week 59 - Hi team!

Sister Smith and me eating cookies we made

I'm not super stoked about writing a whole email, so I'll just tell you about Kimberly who saw an ad for a free bible on the computer and then requested it and we went over and taught her and she's so cool and she wants to be baptized in three weeks. SHE IS AWESOME. We also had a super stellar Halloween party this Saturday and sister Smith and I went as each other. That's about as crazy as we could get. But it was rad. Also, we played truth or dare with some 11 year olds and I dared sister Smith to do 7 cartwheels. She was wearing a skirt (like your typical sister missionary) but according to Zoe "it's okay because she was wearing white shorts underneath!" .... oops  anyway, this week was mega great. We had a lady just walk into church on Sunday and then a member invited her friend. ALWAYS INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO CHURCH. EVERYBODY NEEDS THE GOSPEL BECAUSE IT'S THE COOLEST.

Don't forget to read your scriptures! 

Sister Dorrance

Sister Smith and me at the Halloween party with some scarecrows

Sister Smith and me eating wings

Sister Smith and me and the Hermanas judging the chili 

Week 58 - Holy smokes.

Sister Smith

Guys, this week has been wild. I got transferred! I think I talked about that last week, but my companion is Sister Smith! We were in the mtc together and it's just the greatest. She's so cool. Plus, the Woodside ward is true promised land I swear. We have met so many amazing people and seen MIRACLES. Working hard brings so many blessings! On Tuesday we had a zone meeting and sister Smith and I talked about how important it is for us to stop teaching people that aren't actually interested in learning about the gospel. (I guess some things aren't common sense to people???) So that was cool. Either on Tuesday or Wednesday we went to go and visit this guy named David. Now David is one of the coolest cats. He's been coming to church and meeting with missionaries for more than six months and we invited him to be baptized on Sunday. As in yesterday. So he said he needed to pray about it and we went back the next day and he said, " guys, I asked God to help know that I needed to get baptized and then our plumbing broke and a bunch of appliances broke and my mom had to go to the hospital last night. And we were like, " 🤤" and then the spirit was like, " he can still get baptized" so we said, " David, do you think that maybe God let those things happen to show you that you really need to get baptized to show your faith?" And he was like, " 🤤, thats pretty cool, I hadn't thought of that. I'm gonna get baptized on Sunday." BUT THEN SOMETHING DUMB HAPPENED.  His cousin who lives in northern California TALKED HIM OUT OF MAKING COVENANTS WITH GOD so that she could come. So that was sad. Because now he's going to wait until after thanksgiving. But he's still going to get baptized. Eventually. 

But before we found out that he wasn't actually going to get baptized on Sunday, we cleaned the whole font with bleach because he had gotten surgery a little while ago and he was totally healed but he didn't want to get into a gross font so we cleaned it. Because the church is true. 

So we continued on and it was fine even though it's sad. But other miracles happened! On Friday every single thing fell through. But it was so cool. We were visiting some strangers, like we do, and we talked to the coolest cats on the street. Her name is Yajaira (yuh-hi-ra)  and she's so awesome. We started talking to her about the good word and she was like, " this is so cool because I was praying for a way to get closer to God and I want to meet with you guys." And sister Smith and I went, " 🤤 " and it was magical. She's the coolest. 

On Saturday we did service! There's a ranch right next to the church in West Covina and our bishop volunteered our whole zone! It was their harvest festival and it was great! Sister Smith and I were in charge of the water pumping/doing laundry on a washboard station and it was a party. I got pretty sunburned but they fed us lunch. So it was worth it. Missions are the coolest. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

Sister Dorrance

Various pictures of us cleaning the font and hanging out at a ranch in pants!

Week 56-57 Hi!

with our ride Gail!

I'm actually writing a weekly this week! Yay! It's been a wild ride here in Glendale, but I've been transferred! I'm going back to Hacienda Heights stake but the Woodside Ward! My companion is going to be Sister Smith and she was my roommate at the mtc and we've been talking about being companions since the mtc. IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING PEOPLE. I'm stoked. I'm bummed to be leaving Glendale, but Woodside is gonna be a party and a half. I'll try to email more.... anyhoo, 

We went to the temple last week! I love the temple guys. It's a wonderful place and it was so good. Pictures below. 

Two weeks ago we had a miracle and I'm still floored. So we were on exchanges and I was with Sister Pack in Glendale and it had been a fabulous day full of talking to strangers and a taco truck and we were walking down the street as we do and this guy says, "hey sisters!" Which is weird because people usually avoid talking to us so we took advantage of it and it turns out that his ex-wife and his daughter joined the church in South Pasadena and he was all set to be baptized but it just never happened and he wants to change his life! So he invited us back the next day! So we go back the next day (I was back with Sister Escalante at this point) and we meet his wife! So Sylvie, around the same time as her now husband, was meeting with the missionaries on her own and wanted to be baptized but she moved and lost the missionaries. SO WE PUT THEM BOTH ON DATE TO BE BAPTIZED AND IT'S JUST THE COOLEST THING HOW GOD WORKS AND I'M SAD THAT I'M LEAVING BUT THEY'RE SO WONDERFUL. so that was pretty magical. God is good.  

So..... other things have happened and it's been great and I love being a missionary and I thoroughly enjoy sharing the gospel and highly recommend it to all of you. It's the coolest ever. 

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

Sister D'orrance

our district feat an awkward Elder Burt who didn't want to sit on the wall 

sort of a picture of everyone that wanted to be in the picture!

Week 55 - We're building.

Companionship! 

This week was pretty uneventful! It's alright though because we talked to a ton of people and it was great! Because we got transferred to the family ward and  we're opening the area we are just talking to literally every person we see and trying to build our teaching pool! The people of Glendale need to hear about the gospel! It's a party though because we meet the most interesting people! 

This week we also got special permission from President to go to the L.A stake center for church with our mid singles ward to see our friend Davinder get confirmed! It was magnificent. I didn't take pictures of the inside of the building because I didn't know if that was against the rules but that's okay because it was still really pretty. The funny part though was that the member that took us accidentally picked us up early because she though it started a half an hour earlier and so she drove past the Hollywood walk of fame and the Chinese theater on the way  it was so cool! Famous people! 

Sister Escalante and I felt especially fabulous though when the member that was talking us home (because we had to leave after the first hour) showed up in a beautiful black mustang. We felt so fly and it was BEAUTIFUL. 

Other than that we're just building our group of buddies that want to learn about the true church! 

Don't forget to read your scriptures!

Sister Dorrance 

The church that looks like a temple!

 The mustang 

Your face when you wake up with bed head + humidity hair

Our roommates who were burning their negative feelings on our patio

Week 54 - Alrighty pals. This week was a party.

Davinder!

On Monday and most of Tuesday Sister Escalante and I were cruising through missionary work having a wonderful time minding our own business and we got a call from one of the APs who told us they were with President and Sister Wells and they were wondering if we had a minute. We said, "sorry, we don't really have a minute, but is there something that we need to know?" And he said nope, everything's fine we'll call you at 9:30 tonight." So we continued on our merry way with a little less skip in our step and a little more stress. But anyway, 9:30 did eventually roll around on Tuesday night and they told us that we are both being transferred out of the YSA ward and being transferred into the family ward! We're now sharing the family ward with the AP's because "there are so many people that they're teaching that they're struggling to find time for them all." So that's what went down! It's sad to be out of YSA but it's so fun to be back in a family ward! Weve just been visiting and meeting so many people! Plus, there really are a ton of people that want to hear the gospel in this area and we are blessed! 

We taught a ton of people this week and we're super excited! In other news, we still cover the Glendale 9th mid singles ward and we had a baptism yesterday! Davinder was baptized! It was beautiful! Anyway, all is well in zion and the work is still progressing and all that jazz! Its a wonderful time to be alive! Share the gospel with your friends! 

Don't forget to read your scriptures! 

Sister Riley Dorrance 

Pictures from on top of Forest Lawn Mortuary 

Week 53 - WAIT. I HIT ONE YEAR???

temple visitors center! It's so great! Take your friends!

Alright team, so I've been out for a year. You know what that means? Exactly. I've been out for a year. Good talk. This email' s gonna be short because we're going to go and see Michael Jackson's grave. But it was a good week! Sister Escalante and I were able to go to the temple on Tuesday for a meeting with some other missionaries and it was WONDERFUL. I love the temple! We're working really hard on trying to build relationships with members and get them to let us teach their friends! (Side note: share the good news of the gospel with your friends!) And so it's been really hard ( fantastic) work to build the relationships because we're going to all of the activities! So its been a wonderful week and we've also been finding a lot of people on our own and it's a beautiful life to live as a missionary! We talked to this man on the street who's trying to learn English and it was so cute because all he wanted to do was ask us if he was saying words and sentences in English right and holy smokes, our language is so hard. But it was so good. We talked to this guy named Warren who had the coolest gold grille I've ever seen and he thinks that running into us was a sign from God that he needs to come to church. It totally was. We also talked to this man named Ricky who is a vet and he talked to us all about how many religions he's tried out and how he watched a video about how archaeologists found proof that there actually were horses when the Book of Mormon says there were (shocking) and so Joseph Smith isn't a crook! And he watched this video and he kept wondering about where he'd heard of Joseph Smith before and we called two days later. So God has great timing always. 

Alrighty pals. Keep the faith. Don't forget to read your scriptures! 

Sister D'orrance

we went to the DI today and I wasn't that impressed because they're everywhere in Utah, but sister escalante is from Canada and so we took a picture! 

 various zone pictures feat. Sister escalante and I not knowing what to do with a bunch of elders. 

Week 50-52 - The one that makes up for not emailing for a few weeks??????

Finally got a real haircut after a year out

Hello everybody!! 

I've been really enjoying not writing a weekly email for a little while, but I've received complaints from my mission resources department (aka. Mom) so here we are again!

I've been great! I was in a trio all of last transfer and it was a magical time! We all managed to get pretty sick in different ways but all at the same time at the end of the transfer so that was cool. We got to know the doctors office in Glendale pretty well. 

People we're working with! 

ALISA! holy smokes this story is a trip let me tell you. She has the sweetest testimony ever. She's this sweet southern lady that was excited to talk to missionaries because she missed talking about Jesus with people and she knows the church is true because our tithing doesn't go to preachers and the book of mormon answers all of her questions about the bible! So we've been working with Alisa for about three months or so and we taught her the word of wisdom and she's a smoker of about 15 years and a coffee drinker for about 40 years and she just about kicked us out of her house when we told her that God wanted her to quit both. She's also from Oklahoma so when we told her that included sweet tea she almost cried. It was really sad. But we've been meeting with her a few times a week every week and so we know her pretty well. She calls us her Jesus girls and it's the greatest. So we taught her that and she said she'd think about it, but that she'd have to talk it over with God because she wanted to be sure. She says she has an open line straight up to heaven and she's tuned in 24/7. She's going to be a powerhouse when she gets the gift of the holy ghost. So we taught her that and we were helping her work through her questions and things. We did a full 24 hour fast for her to stop drinking coffee and smoking and i kid you not, the very next day after 40 years, she didn't even want her cup of coffee. MIRACLES. Then she got a blessing from the elders! That was one of the sweetest blessings I've ever witnessed, and she LOVED IT. She still talks about it and it was a couple weeks ago. But then everything changed when her preacher attacked (only jokes, her preacher didn't actually attack). 

The elders gave her a blessing on a Friday and that very next morning her preacher took it upon himself to send her a whole bunch of anti-mormon stuff about polygamy and race and all of this stuff and it shook her so bad she was in bed for two days questioning her faith. Then when we came over and talked to her about it she wasn't so much worried about the church not being true,  she wanted to pack us into her car and take us back to Oklahoma to keep us safe from the creepy men marrying little girls. It was sweet really. But we talked her through that and helped her see that if we actually believed those things then we would've gotten into the car with her. So she was good for a week and she had worked up the courage to come to church the next Sunday and THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN and her friend from Oklahoma was texting her about this being a cult and a bunch of other stuff and it put her back in bed for two days again. So that was sad. She actually told us that she was going to just stop meeting with us and have church in her apartment on Sunday mornings. But then we told her that sister vanSon and sister kang were both getting transferred (oh yeah, I have a new companion), and she said she wanted to say goodbye to them! So we got back into her house and we talked her through it again and put her on date for October 7th! 

But then yesterday morning she texted us and told us she's moving back to Kansas and she's just going to find the true church there. So we went over yesterday morning just to drop off little notes to say goodbye and not push her to join the church or anything and she caught us so we went inside and it turns out that she didnt want to find a different true church (which is an oxymoron) she wanted to find the real true church in Kansas because she hates LA. So that was a relief and she's still going to get baptized and I just love her to pieces and I'm sad I won't be there for her baptism, but she's the greatest ever. So that's Alisas story and she's going to do fantastic things in Kansas and in the world and she's going to be a great member of the church when she does get baptized. 

Hmmmm that's all I really want to write about....  

We're working with some other cool people, but most of them have stopped talking to us.... So we're working on finding. If any of you happen to have any really good friends that live in the Glendale area and want to learn about the true gospel of Jesus Christ, then you can use that handy dandy referral button on lds tools and send them our way! We're over the singles wards right now. Just fyi. 

Oh! My new companion! Her name is Sister Escalante and she's from Toronto Canada and she's great and we're working hard!  

Don't forget to read your scriptures! 

Sister D'orrance

ALISA!

Trio in the car

chilling in the doctors office waiting room trying not to spread germs

Face masks with the trio

Big hat feat. Sister kangs arm

Sister kang and yours truly feat. Big hat

Homie lookin real fly with her salad

there was a pretty view!