The Anak

FAMILY!! I'm alive!! I'm no longer sick!! Miracles!!! I'm seeing so many blessings in my life right now! I'm healthy, I have a fabulous new companion, and San Carlos is progressing! #work

Wednesday: I was crying like a baby in Toledo. I miss my first area. I saw so many wonderful things there. It was a blessing to pass through, even if only for a moment. We got a jeepney express with the other trainers to Cebu and got there pretty late. We weren't allowed in temple complex because we might see the new missionaries so we walked right on past and saw some senior couples! These lovely people pulled 1000 pesos out of their pocket and told us to get something good to eat! We found this fabulous chocolate cafe and got these delicious things called Frio's! and I got this like dark sipping chocolate. Mom, you would love it. pure dark chocolate. it's that tiny glass because it's soooo rich. we all shared it. Then we went to this super fancy build your own pizza place that reminded me of one of those fancy restaraunts in Seattle. We built our own DELICIOUS PIZZA's and then went back to the apartment. Sister Abenoja was there because she's training too! BEST FRIEND! 

Thursday: we got up early and headed down to the temple. President had us for breakfast at his house. peach cobbler, bacon, the whole nine yards. We are so spoiled! I love it! It felt good to eat after 2 weeks of almost no food.
They lined the new missionaries on the lawn facing the temple and then we walked out behind them and when I stood behind my new missionary I started to cry because I knew she was mine. The trainers sang called to serve and then the new missionaries turned around and saw us for the first time. It was a really special experience. 

When I walked down to distribution I saw Mai2x, who i haven't seen since my training! I cried when I hugged her, she got me through my training, and now she's in the MTC. I'm so proud of her!
We took a bus back to Toledo, and I got to FTE a sikad driver, and her remembered me from my training! I got to see Sister Atienza, my follow up trainee, she's follow up training now, it's amazing to see how she's grown. We got a boat back to San Carlos and didn't get in till late. 

Friday: weekly planning, everything is a teaching moment. It's interesting having someone watch my every move to see how I do things. That's what training is i guess, teach by example.
I'm almost out of time so I just want to give shining moments to Sister Angar. She's from Davao, her and her brother are both on missions. She's super white, like as white as me, everyone here thinks it's really funny. She's native visaya so I dont have to train in the language (thank goodness), She's so good I swear she's pretrained. I learn so much from her every day. I'm so proud to have her as my companion. She loves the people here so deeply. 

I was able to go on exchanges yesterday and I had a heart to heart with my STL sister Larsen. She was trained in the same area as me, so she loves the same people i do there. She is so down to earth and a really good listener, I'm learning a lot from her. It feels really nice to have a good support system in the house. I feel exceptionally blessed.
I always feel like I have no time, is it bad to complain that 2 hours isn't enough? 

I loved my personal study this morning. I was reading in Joshua about when the waters of the river jordan receded when the feet of those bearing the ark of the covenant stepped in. Then they laid twelve stones as tribute. I chose 12 stones in my own life that represent the things I have gained since I've started striving to make Christ the center of my life. I wrote them down and I just want to say I've gained so much strength from my Savior. Jesus Christ has done it all for me. I'm trying to now go the extra mile for him. 

I love being a missionary!! I'll see you family on Christmas! love youusss!
-Sister Katrina Dunn

Spoiled

Hello family!

I know I say that every week but I can’t think of anything else to say. This week has been long! Yet short… And I’ve been really sick. Thank you for the prayers you’ve sent my way.

Wednesday: Sister Iongi worked with us because the Gihulngan sisters were staying the night at our house because…

Thursday: ZTM! Zone training meeting. We have them once a month. This time the workshop was on the missionaries first needing to improve their attitude, and then work hard for the miracles. I agree, there’s always room for improvement.

We went out to Trozo and the Castillo’s had made us pinaypay and Bicol express. I was in food heaven! It was glorious! That night I deep cleaned the bathroom, because I wanted to do something productive. The smell of bleach was so strong.

Friday: We had weekly planning for week 5. I can’t understand/believe where this transfer has gone. Time is moving so fast. We went to Joy and we were teaching about Pre-Mortal life and she just says “No, I want to talk about heaven.” So we changed lessons haha, she’s our recent convert, I love her so much.

Saturday: I woke up sooo sick. I was throwing up, I spent the whole day nursing a large blue Gatorade. I couldn’t even make it through personal study I went into my room and passed out. I wanted to rest but we had things we had to do, so we went out to Trozo and the Castillo kids were interviewed for their baptism. They passed! Then we had to go back to San Carlos, because it’s Russel’s baptism! I was so excited! I gave the talk at his baptism, go me! I’m a trooper.

Sunday: Fast and testimony meeting. The most interested fast and testimony meeting I’ve ever been subject to, but I’ll talk about it another time. The Dunne’s had us sisters over for dinner and it was fabulous. Potatoes and Chili and creamed corn, and REAL PARMESAN! I’m so spoiled. It was amazing, and a lot of fun just talking with them!

There’s a fiesta in Campo 7 this week, so we went by to visit a family and this drunk German man approached me and asked “From what are you?” in a really thick, slurred accent and I had no idea what he was talking about, but he left us alone after a second so it’s all good. He thought I was German because of my blonde hair.

Monday: We’ve been doing this 22 days closer to Christ program for Christmas and its super awesome. Also our DL gave a really good workshop in District Meeting, I was impressed. We went on exchanges and I worked with Sister Iongi, and we were able to visit Charlyn and she was sick, but let us teach her anyway. We’re trying to help her feel the love in the church, and not feel so discouraged.

Tuesday: We had a CSP in the morning, it was fun, and we pulled rocks from the river, so I got to hang out in a really warm, beautiful river. It was all great until I started feeling sick again, so when we got home I had to rest. I feel sad, I want to be working but I’ve been so weak lately.

Wednesday: I woke up this morning and I thought I was going to die. Be thankful that I have enough energy to give a full accounting of my week. I do in fact love San Carlos, do not fear, I just have not been feeling so great lately. This week I hope I’ll feel better because we are headed off to Dumaguete tomorrow for Christmas conference. I hope the bus ride doesn’t make the situation worse. Anyways, I love you family. Always remember that Christ is working alongside us!

I love being a missionary!

Love,

Sister Katrina Dunn

Lechon Thanksgiving

Yea, we celebrated thanksgiving here! It was delicious do not worry! Also big happy birthday shout out to Dad and Kyle! Happy birthday:D I love and miss you guys! Basta, this week, was long but short at the same time. Missionaries understand what I mean. Also I have had an ongoing headache for well over a week now and it won't go away. Ouch. 

Wednesday: We celebrated Thanksgiving with Filipino style. Lechon Manok and rice. It was delicious, lechon is my favorite. Y'all don't know what you're missing. While all the missionaries played frisbee I sat and talked with Sister Dunne about the mission. I love her, she's so cool! Everyone was playing barefoot and one of the elder's cut his foot on some glass and it was bleeding pretty badly, but he's okay. 

Thursday: EXCHANGES with Sister Jopson. She's such a stellar missionary, and she's my kabalay! She gets it DONE! I'm so amazed whenever I work with STL's because they've got it together gyud. We met some really amazing people that I'm excited to continue teaching. 

Friday: Weekly planning, a huge stress-er for me. Organizing interviews and baptisms and everything. But it'll all work out. 

Saturday: We went out to Trozo and it started POURING down rain at the end of one of our lessons and we had no umbrella. So we had to run through the rain to the next house, it was quite interesting trying not to slip. My goal for Saturday was to smile at everyone I saw, and I got pretty darn close to hitting my goal! I was able to talk to more people because of it, everyone just says my face is so isog! I'm working on it, i'm working on it! 

Sunday: No impromptu talks, thank goodness. 5th sundays are always interesting though. There's a family visiting the branch from Utah and the little girls only speak English and it's so hard for me to talk to them. Because everyone here that speaks english also speaks bisaya so i can mix them together.. the struggle is real. I don't think I can talk when I come home.
We were able to teach Evelyn! She was home finally, and she had some friends with her. She's a LA who was baptized a few years ago, she's 16. She's really awesome! I'm trying to get on her good side haha. Her friends were excited to join in as well. 

Monday: the leaders all headed off to Cebu for MLC so we had the apartment to ourselves for 2 days, it's pretty cool hahaha. in district meeting we were practice teaching and I got super distracted by the elder's thumbnails. They've started this new disgusting thing where they think it is appropriate to grow out there thumbnails several inches long. NASTY! 

Tuesday: I pulled out all of the former investigators that I thought were potential to go back to and we tried to contact all of them but most of them weren't home or still weren't interested. At least I tried. We worked our butts off tracting yesterday but it was to no avail. Lisod kaayo, apan padayon lang mi. there's nothing else we can do. 

So I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ALREADY DECEMBER. I was looking at the date and I realized I hit 1 year next month. Who can believe I've already been gone that long? I can't, that's for sure. Time moves SO RIDICULOUSLY FAST as a missionary. Have pity on me that's it's going by too fast, i blink and I transfer, or another month has come and gone. I swear it was just my birthday, but that was 2 months ago. A LOT IS HAPPENING! And members keep telling me I need to get married IMMEDIATELY after my mission, like within a few weeks and I'm just like 'WOAH WOAH calm down there!'. But it's funny too, anyways, keep the prayers coming. I could use them!

I love being a missionary!
Love, Sister Katrina Dunn

Bruise

Hello family! Okay so I totally forgot to mention that I ate Balut the night before transfer day. It was really good, you should all be proud of me. Luckily it was dark because someone took a picture and I looked at it the next day and I was like "good thing I couldn't see it because I never would have eaten that". I would eat it again though, it was like a really hard boiled egg. Cge let's get to the weekly.

Wednesday: There was a brief amount of Ukayukay (thriftshopping) before we went to the church to practice for the Christmas conference. Turns out Irish dancing is actually incredibly hard and none of us our very good at it, but we have fun and that's what matters. One of our zone leaders looks like a leprechaun when he does it, it's really funny.
That night we bought a cake and we went to the Lopez family to celebrate Emma Hale's 4th Birthday. I'll attach some pictures, they are so cute. We had a Family Home Evening with them. Russell's baptism is this Saturday. 

Thursday: We began a tremendous undertaking. It was originally intended to be something we do every day but we burned out after one time. We went JOGGING! Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I JOGGED. It felt very nice, but the following mornings we were too tired. If we get around to it will do it again.
We got punted ALL DAY. We did manages to get some lessons, don't think we're entirely ineffective. I did manage to find 5 peso batchoy, something I haven't eaten since my first area. 

Friday: An investigator ran from us #missionarylyfe. We ate dinner from a calendaria, which I usually love but then I found a piece of plastic in my soup. 

Saturday: We got punted and then got trapped at a member's house because a huge storm hit and we didn't have an umbrella, and then her house was like flooding and we just had to wait for it to pass before we could run home and grab our umbrellas. 

Sunday: I gave a talk in church, but I was asked to give the talk 2 minutes before Sacrament meeting started. I talked on missionary work. It was in visaya, everybody clap your hands I'm officially bilingual, hahha. I just chose a scripture and managed to follow the spirit for 7 minutes while I talked about it. I shared about how Ammon and his brethren pray unto the Lord for the power of the spirit to go with them. GANI, every day I pray for that. It's a NECESSARY part of missionary work.
We decided to tract for all the less actives that have been hiding from member's for years. We found 2. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at finding them.
That night we get home and the STL's scared the living lights out of us I screamed so loud, and they got it on video so that's great. And then later I was trying to go to the kitchen and our water thing was leaky and there was water on the floor, so I slipped in it and my arm caught on the cabinet I was standing next to as I was reaching out to stop my fall and now I have this giant multicolored bruise on my arm. It makes a good story. 

Monday: There was a brownout from Sunday 3pm until Monday 10am so we were roasting all night, and the water went out too. And we had ran out of drinking water on Saturday night. Life is very exciting. When it came back on in District Meeting we all cheered! And immediately bumped the aircon on. Fabulous. Also I am really good at eating with my hands. Just saying. We're also doing a Samoan dance for the Christmas conference. I am not a graceful human.
Our IBD asked me if it was true we have to fight a multi-headed/multi-eyed monster to get into heaven. Her questions keep me entertained. 

Tuesday: We OST'ed an elect woman but she lives in another CITY so I am devastated. I was trying so hard! We found a few more less actives today, and I'm trying my hardest to help one of the Recent Converts in the area. She's special, I know she is, but she won't come to church. I tried to help her with Laba but she won't let me. She body blocks me from the laba bucket.
I spilled my ice cream on myself what else is new.
I hope everyone is having a good holiday season in America. I'm having fun here, don't worry. We laugh every day, we keep on smiling. Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope your breaks are fabulous. 

We've been sharing a lot about the atonement lately and I've been reading in 1 Nephi and there is a scripture that I love, 1 Nephi 19:9. "And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men." He was bruised for us, he didn't have to be but he was. I continued my reading in Jesus the Christ yesterday and the part I had left off at was when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. I was amazed that the apostles could sleep. And then I thought of all the times that we "sleep" in our lives, even in our missions. Do we not stand up for what we believe? Do we 'take breaks' when things get hard? Are we embarrassed of our Savior. I remember in my training whenever I didn't want to FTE my trainer would ask me "Are you embarrassed of Jesus Christ?" I want it to be absolutely clear, especially in this tough last days, that I am not. Even when people are willingly walking away, when they are 'sleeping' as it were, I don't want to walk away.
I love being a missionary! I hope the gospel of Jesus Christ is 'working for you'.
-Sister Katrina Dunn

Dunn & Dunne

Sorry the clock is ticking, I think I saved enough time today to write a decent amount for everybody.
Wednesday: I got a pedicure (and a really good one) for 50 pesos, and y'all probably don't know what that means.. that's just over $1. Yea, it was fabulous. Also I cleaned our bathroom at the house, because it was disgusting. It was well needed. I tried to make brownies yet I failed epic-ly. 

Thursday: I could not sleep the night before. I laid awake for hours I was so exhausted. It was Zone Training Meeting, it was really good. The zone is getting pumped up to work this transfer. Work hard. Also we're starting to prepare for the Christmas conference, I'm so excited I get to go back to my apartment in Sibulan for a night!
I received the second box! I have been devouring chocolate all week, and it's amazing. Also we have been punted ALL weekend. It's kind of annoying actually. That means I think, we're supposed to be FINDING someone. But I don't know who.. Our last appointment, the little girls brought their friends over to look at me because they'd never seen an american in person before. 

Friday: Friday the 13th, hold on to your butts. I hope you all enjoyed my Jurassic Park reference right there. Old habits die hard. We went out to Trozo (the farthest part of our area) and Sister Castillo gave us a referral who actually might be golden. I'm really excited. She's such an active member missionary. I love the Castillo family. 

Saturday: punted all day... sad. It's putting quite a dent in our key indicators, although I think everyone should be impressed that we still managed to hit our goals. The Lord is on our side. 

Sunday: primary program in Sacrament meeting. We ran out of gas in our apartment so we cooked this like corned beef mixture in the rice cooker. It seemed to taste okay.
We visited an LA who talked about ISIS the whole time. I didn't realize that was such a problem. We've been thinking about Paris the past few days, keeping them in our prayers. It hit major news worldwide I think, I'm not sure. I just hear snippets here and there. 

Monday: We started our practice for the Christmas program. We are doing an Irish dance, the Dunne's are teaching us. It's really fun, we just jump around and have a good time.
We visited Charlene (she punted us the last few days) but she PROMISED we could teach her on Monday. She's a recent convert, but she's about to hit a year. I want her to just COME TO CHURCH! I feel like the white missionary from the District. 

We had several OST's and we were able to go back to Rosie. She's a woman who called us out last week and told us she always wanted to go into the church but she was too shy. We taught her and her daughter and her niece as well. They seem good.
We had to drop one of the long time investigators. She just wanted us as friends, we kindly let her know if she wants to come to church and be baptized we'll keep coming to teach her. We just had to reexplain our purpose to her so she would understand. 

Tuesday: The Dunne's worked with us! It was funny explaining to people that we weren't actually related. Sister Castillo gave us a bunch more referrals, and they all seem really good. I'm excited to keep going back to them. The Dunne's are really awesome, and they speak Gaelic which is super cool. They told us a lot of the history of Ireland, and all the places they've been. It was a lot of fun to work with them.
The Gihuilngan sisters stayed the night for their exchanges, they are a lot of fun. 

I restarted the book of mormon, so I'm in 1st nephi again. Nephi is awesome! And he wrote a ton, and it's all good. I think 1nephi4:7 is one of my favorite verses of all time. "Nevertheless I went forth." 

We're gonna go forth! 

I love being a missionary!
Sister Katrina Dunn

San Carlos

Okay, I lied last week. My companion is Samoan. She lives in Australia though. Her name is Sister Tago (tong-o) and she's super cool. I think everyone would love her. 

Wednesday: I spent the day with Sister Rotamula and Sister Mower because Sister Quinney went to Cebu to pick up the new missionary. I had an early goodbye with Sibulan, I wanted to cry. Sister Mower is so cool, she's from Utah, she's brand new as well, and she is rockin the mission life. She's already fluent so watch out world. It was nice to just talk to someone who's new, and who has a fresh view of the mission. 

Thursday: I got up early, and the zone leaders took me to the Ceres Terminal and I got on a NON air con bus for 5 hours paingon sa San Carlos. That was definitely interesting. We drove straight into a storm complete with thunder and lightning. When we finally got to San Carlos we were taken to the Dunne's house and it's fiesta in San Carlos so their neighbors invited us over and we just ate their Lechon Pork and Black Sambo and it was delicious. We went straight out to work after that. 

Friday: Weekly planning. We went out to lunch with all the other missionaries to an american's restarant, he's from like San Diego. It was so delicious.
Okay honestly I'm out of time, but I'm meeting like lovely beautiful people here and I'm so excited to keep meeting them. 

Sunday: I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting cause I'm new in the area. my 4th time around, I don't stay in my areas very long. It breaks my heart. 

Monday: District meeting. There's fire in the zone. We are going to find 5 new investigators every week. I'm excited for the challenge. 

Love you all, stay awesome
-Sister Katrina Dunn

The End of Dream Team: Queen & Doon

Hi family, i miss you. that's all. jokes, this week was good. I love Sibulan.
Wednesday: There was a wifi outage in dumaguete and it took us like 45 minutes of walking around to find a cafe with good enough internet access. Fernando informed us that evening as well that he appreciates that we understand him, and he said we have "old minds" like we think like old people do. it sounded better in visaya, i don't know how to explain it in english. 

Thursday: this man approached us and said "who is Moroni?" and we said "he's a prophet." and he said "he's a mormon god" and we were like "no." and he was like "oh... prophet?" "yes, brother." and he says to us "No i want you to speak in english". because we had been speaking in visaya to him. and then we walked away cause he was being kind of freaky. we had actually seen him a few weeks before and he has whispered "moroni" as he walked past us. I was confused.
one of our investigators pulled out and electric keyboard and sister quinney played it and it sounded like an 8 bit video game. 

Friday: Happy Birthday Landon! I hope your day was fabulous! We went to our less actives house and we were asking him about his feelings from before when he was going to church and he just says "my love life is personal" uh we weren't asking about your love life. it was sufficiently awkward.
The Bantigue's (whom I love) fed us lechon manok, my favorite. 

Saturday: Halloween and the day before fast sunday. Something about the philippines though, they celebrate halloween on November 1 and 2. think about that eh. right before we were about to go out to work a huge storm hit and a minor flood affected our apartment. We were stuffing sheets under the door to keep the water from coming in. after about 30 minutes it calmed down and we were able to leave the apartment unattended. Fernando came to witness the baptism of the elders, he wants a copy of gospel principles book so we are working on that. 

Sunday: We had 4 investigators at church! We were so excited. I had to play the piano in relief society, that was a doozy. I bore my testimony in fast and testimony meeting, all the missionaries did. It was a really sweet experience. 

Monday: we made our weekly stop at 7/11, there wasn't any chocolate ice cream, and the guy behind the counter was dressed as a vampire from twilight. so I bought french vanilla, which in america means like that nice rich vanilla right? WRONG. Here it means coffee. so I take a big bite out of my ice cream cone, and quickly discover that it's coffee flavor so I had to throw it out. #life...
Our RC broke my heart, she refuses to come to church or even pray about her decision. I just cried after the lesson, it was so hard. she wont even look at me. she knows what she is supposed to be doing.
one of our less actives had a dream that she needs to go to church. GANI! I wish they didnt need dreams to know these things. 

Tuesday: We had MCM and they bought us jollibee! It was very exciting. we spent the whole day dancing on ice about the topic of who is transferring. well. we had apartment checks by the new senior couple, and then transfer calls came. I'm transferring to San Carlos. I've never stayed in an area more than 2 transfers :( i'm really going to miss Sibulan, it's a beautiful area. it is full of the elect. I'm sad I wont get to see Fernando or Carl baptized. But I'm excited to go to San Carlos as well, I'm excited to see more miracles there as well. My new companion is Sister Tago, I've only met her once, she's really sweet. I think she's from Tonga, YAY another poly companion!! 

I spent all last night packing and then this morning the elder's came to pick up my bags. I travel tomorrow. I'm staying in Dumaguete tonight.
I love you all, I love being a missionary!
-Sister Katrina Dunn

2 weeks: Casororo Falls and pythons

i guess i owe you like 2 weeks of happenings but... umbot maybe i might be too lazy for that... sorryyyyyy... okay fine i'll do it. 

wednesday: we finally took a picture with the dumaguete sign. the one that has a hashtag and says "i heart dumaguete". i can't believe it has taken me so long, considering i've been in the dumaguete area for the last 6 months. i printed a bunch of joseph b wirhtlin talks, they are beautiful, i think sundays will come is my favorite one ever. 

we watched the restoration video at an investigators house but the remote wasn't working and it wouldn't go past tagalog so we had to watch it in tagalog, they all understood, we did not. 

thursday: we fte'd this man who we had fte'd before and he said 'follow me, my friends want to meet you' well we had already met his friends, and they had been drinking the last time, so we asked 'brother, are your friends drunk' and he said 'oh no' and so we started walking with him and then about halfway there he goes 'well they've been drinking but they aren't drunk!' and we are just like 'BROTHER' and so when we get there, we're talking to all of them and then one of them says 'i'll go get it' and we were like 'what is he going to get?' and then he comes back with a massive python! and he's like 'do you want to hold it?' we decided to forego all holding of exotic animals for safety reasons. 

we also taught a lesson to a woman who didn't have chairs, and was like 'just come back another time' but i got smart and went and grabbed a fallen coconut and so we sat on fallen coconuts and she sat on a tree stump and we taught her and it was just fine. who says you need chairs.
on the way home we saw this man with a stick playing with a giant crab on the side of the highway, nowhere near to ocean so i am trying to figure out how he got there. 

friday: we were tracting looking for this woman and while we were looking for her we had an ost with this really elect guy, and after that we were still looking for her and we met this other really funny guy who was like 'i'll help you find her, is it okay if you walk, about 60 meters with me in that direction' and then he pointed down the street. when we found her house she did not in fact want to talk to us (the reason it took so long to find her is because she lied about her name) but the man was like 'yes, mission accomplished' and then said 'up here!' and high fived us.
it was one of the land lords birthdays so when we got back to the apartment they had a giant feast and invited us to sit in, it was delicious, i ate so much bbq pork. and there was chocolate cake. #blessings. 

saturday: we went back to our ost from the day before, he is actually really elect, just letting you all know. we went to go get pinaypay but it was all gone, so we convinced the lady to cook more and we went and got it later.
we taught fernando and he was telling us about the last battle in ether, and everytime he talked about the lamanites he looked at me and said 'you ancestors doon' because i had told him in a previous lesson that i was related to native americans. its so funny. 

sunday: one of our investigators dropped us, that was hard. we met a bunch of kids who showed us their dance for buglasan festival. 

monday: we got ice cream from 7/11 before district meeting, it was delightful. except fate stepped in and i spilled it on myself. like a messy baby.. i went on exchanges with sister balagtas, one of the stl's and i had a lot of fun working in Amlan. we got clams for dinner and dipped them in vinegar and they were sooo good. 

tuesday: we met another elect family, and this was the day i stepped in the mysterious puddle and rinsed off my foot in the ocean. 

wednesday: casororo falls! it was so much fun, it looked like washington and made me kind of homesick, just sayin. but it was beautiful, and it wasnt hot up in the mountains, it was perfect delicious temperature. Sister quinney slipped and fell in while trying to make the jump from one rock to the other, and i accidentally knocked over this rock tower that someone had created. 

thursday: we feasted on corn on the cob for lunch. delicious. one of our trike drivers that we've befriended here gave us a free ride, #benefits
we got an ost because sister quinney closed her eyes and spun in a circle counting with her arm outstretched and when she got to the number that i had said we walked in that direction and the first house we got to let us teach them. yay!
we learned how to make puso, ive wanted to learn forever.
i got a free papaya!! its not ripe yet so i have to wait. 

Friday: we had a csp in the zone leaders area and somehow i ended up digging a pit for a bathroom, and while we were digging the elder kept saying "RAISE YOUR PUTHAW!" which means like iron rod and then we were breaking up the dirt and it was really muddy and fun and we took our shoes off and did it barefoot. 

saturday: work

sunday: 3 of our investigators came to sacrament meeting ;D victory!! #elect
i saw a huge camel in the back of a truck. 

monday; somehow one of the elders got in possession of a guitar that had <3darbz bedazzled on the side of it and was playing hymns on it when we got to district meeting. and i spilled my ice cream on myself again. i'm the worst. 

Tuesday; yea, work again... 

Wednesday; weird wifi brownout today, i don't trust this shop, i'll try i promise to do pictures next week, lots to catch up on... also fernando is finished with the book of mormon.

i love being a missionary!
-sister katrina dunn

No Time

Family, I am sorry. I am out of time. We have to finish email early. We are going to Valencia falls. I will take a ton of pictures. Just know, that I love you, and that we are seeing miracles, and that everything is beautiful even the challenges. We are growing #dreamteam. We have 4 IBD's and are extending 2 more invitations this week! Fernando is doing awesome, he is in Moroni, he's almost finished with the book of Mormon, and he loves it! His baptism is on November 21st! Sibulan is beautiful, and I know Jesus is walking here with us, for I've seen it. He loves the people so much, and they are so prepared. 

Yesterday, quick story, we were walking in this grove of coconut trees and there was this shady looking puddle and I didn't see it and I stepped directly in it! And I was like "nope nope, I am not getting a disease!" so I ran down to the ocean and cleaned off my feet, and my companion was just standing there laughing at me while I took a minute to clean this black gunk off of my feet. I'm sorry this email fails all of you... That was my awkward story of the week. sorry I love all of you!!!!!!!!!!! 

Also big shout out to Kaylyn for getting her Young Woman's Medallion!
-Sister Katrina Dunn

Trust God and believe in Good Things to Come

Hello Family! How is Mother Freedom (America)? Anyways, it is now the 3rd week of the transfer, time is flying! As in, asa man siya...? Well, that's not worry about that. Also I want to testify that I have the best companion in the entire world. She is fabulous, and so much fun! Usually I bring my journal to email, but I forgot it this week, so I'll do my best from memory lang. 

Wednesday: We had plans to celebrate in style, but we were both so tired we just got our groceries (I did buy a pair of shoes for 45 pesos = 1 american dollar, no regrets). 

Thursday: we tracted, got 2 OST's, 6 new investigators, and were able to teach Carl again. He's really progressive, finding him was a tender mercy from the Lord. He's ready to receive the gospel. We had Zone Training Meeting that morning and learned some new things for the mission. 

Friday: Weekly planning, we're setting some big goals. Especially some new companionship goals. 

Saturday: Conference, it was beautiful. Jeffrey R. Holland's talk made me cry. Everyone go and give it an extra listen. We went out to lunch with the other missionaries at this really posh calendaria called FoodNet, the idea was to save money by going there, but I think we all ended up spending more than planned. They had delightful chicken curry and mango smoothies. 

We went and taught Fernando that night and he was like "You weren't there this morning!" and we were like "Tay, we were at conference what are you talking about?!" and then he told us he went to the Priesthood session, something we hadn't even mentioned to him. We think he found out from a member of the ward. We had to explain to him that it was only for men. He accepted a baptism date! Also, he's in 3rd Nephi already in the book of Mormon, he was explaining his study to us "So I was reading here about the apostles, which led me to this chapter where Jesus institutes the sacrament." We were just sitting there with our mouths hanging open, we couldn't believe it. 

Sunday: Fernando came to conference, and the investigator father of one of our LA's came, even though he had just gotten off the night shift of work and was exhausted! Yay!!!
The Prophets talk was beautiful, it made me realize how we need to really be different from all those around us, we need to set the example, be the better person. I've been praying so hard for our beloved Prophet. I love him, I sustain him. 

Monday: We went to Dumaguete for Zone interviews, even though our interview wasn't till Tuesday. The work shop was really good, about the enabling power of the Atonement. That night we taught a lesson to one of our investigators with a live in, and we invited to start saving money so they could get married, but she didn't take it very well. We're hoping she'll change her mind. We're praying hard for her. 

Tuesday: I witnessed a dog riding on a motorcycle. It was very interesting. I busted up laughing from the back of the jeepney I was sitting in. The people around me didn't understand why I thought it was so funny. All I could imagine was me and Bandeau riding a moped together and I laughed harder.
I had a really good interview with President, he gave me a lot of good counsel. I have many things to work on in the next few weeks. I'm trying to figure out what I should do. A lot of praying, a lot of scripture study. And of course, EXACT OBEDIENCE! 

I had a good study this morning in 3rd Nephi. It's where they are preparing for war against the Gadianton Robbers. What stood out to me was the very first thing Lachoneus had the people do, was to pray. "But he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength". and then they went about making the necessary preparations. They truly represent people who knew how the enabling power of the Atonement works. They prayed, they did their part, they worked hard, and then they humbled themselves before the Lord and trusted in him. There's a quote by Jeffrey R Holland that I love “Don't you quit. You keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late. Some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in Good Things to Come.”. 

In reality that's what most of the conference talks were about. What lack I yet? And how we need to accept the will of the Lord in all things.
I love being a missionary.
-Sister Katrina Dunn

2-0 (Livin' on a Prayer)

You all don't know how lucky you are. You've all had the opportunity to listen to conference... I'm very jealous. We have to wait a week. There's nearly a hundred languages that it is translated into for general conference, and 75 of those 90 odd something languages is translated live during conference. Visaya is one of the 20 languages that... isn't. So we wait a week. It's okay, it makes the anticipation more fun. 

So many of you let me know that it was my birthday, haha. Thank you for the birthday wishes. Big shout out to my 10 year twin in Ohio, happy 3-0! You know who you are... Haha, basta, this week was really good. There was a lot of miracles, and a lot of fun... 

Wednesday: We had made it a weekly goal to get an ice cream so obviously, after email time, we went to McDo and celebrated in style. It was... fabulous. Nothing short. Except for this is how ridiculous we are. We get to McDo and their ice cream machine is broken so... we eat lunch at THAT McDo and then we walk down the street to the other McDo to get our ice cream. Living life the way we do...
That afternoon I worked on BR's for Sister Conjelado and Sister Koyamaibole. They are going to love them, I'm a magician with words. Tears will be brought to their eyes.. jokes, I'm not that good. 

Thursday: The big 2-0... After my shower I went downstairs to see that Sister Quinney had taped two giant polka dot balloons to the wall with a sign above that read "Happy Birthday Sister Dunn, the big 2-0! (Malipayon and adlaw sa imong pagkatawo)". It was really cute. She made me french toast and even put birthday candles in them. Then the wax melted into the bread, but I didn't care. The gesture was so kind. 

Our first lesson was an OST... and neither of the people listening really paid attention, but at the end of the lesson the woman's husband showed up and he seems interested in listening so we are going to try to go back another day.

While tracting around we get to this nice house and it kind of smells like crab and so we started talking to the guy who lives there and he's like "oh it's shark" and then point to his yard where he has like shark fins and strips of shark meat hanging up. We were like "oh, okay, cool".
We found a Less Active who had a stroke a few years ago and is bedridden so we went to visit her. We sang hymns for her, it was really sweet, and the spirit was really strong.
We got HaloHalo my favorite, and then tried to find a woman we had FTE'd earlier in the week. We found her house, but she wasn't home. We'll try again another day.
That night we made mud cups with oreos and sour gummy worms, it was fabulous!
And now I'm 20. I hope you all celebrated. 

Friday: We had to drop an investigator who wasn't coming to church. It was pretty rough. We invited one of the twins to baptism (her sister wasn't home) and she said yes! Next week we're going to try and commit the other Sister. 

Saturday: It's October 3rd... I hope Kaylyn gets my reference. It was women's conference, so we went and got slurpees from 7/11 to celebrate. It was really trunky but we loved every second of it.
That night we went back to Fernando, the man who read from 1 Nephi to Words of Mormon. That night he was already to Alma... He's a rockstar! He's really bright and has a lot of good questions. At the end we invited him to church and he said "No, I don't know enough about you guys yet." and I was like "Brother, you've read half the book of Mormon, you've got to come to church to learn more." and then I just said "We'll wait for you." 

Sunday: Guess who rolled up on his motorcycle before Sacrament meeting. Yea, that's right, Fernando. He stayed all three hours. The spirit really worked on him that night. He was really interested in the Gospel Principles book. 

Monday: We went to District Meeting, and then District Lunch except for there was this massive event happening at Robinson's and I couldn't hear myself think. Also... my year mark since I opened my mission call.. Time FLIES!
We helped one of our investigators hang her laba, and then we taught her, and then she dropped us. We had a strange OST with three old women. Two of them kept talking over us, the other one stayed quiet and listened the whole time. At the end of the OST we invited the quiet one to give the prayer. It was a perfect prayer. 

Tuesday: We were punted all afternoon, it was awful, we were absolutely exhausted but.. EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON! Since we were punted so terribly we ended up being in the right place at the right time.. We met Carl. He had investigated the church a few years ago but because he was so busy at work he didn't continue. He got really sick in that amount of time, and told us that he felt like he was thirsty for something more. He started to read the Book of Mormon the Sisters had given him. We talked about scripture and mentioned how we believed in the KJV of the bible. We couldn't teach him right then because his mom wasn't home, but we promised we'd come back later.
We taught our recent convert and then went back and started to teach him. We asked him where we went while he had been waiting for us, he told us "I went down to where there was WIFI so that I could download the KJV bible on my phone" and then he showed us his phone and we were just grinning from ear to ear. We taught the Restoration to him and his mother, it was really amazing.. it was.. fabulous. 

Wednesday: Today is my halfway mark in the mission. 9 months. Oh, we're halfway there, woah oh livin' on a prayer... And I get to spend it with my batch, Sister Quinney. We have a day of activities planned. It's just weird how fast everything goes... I can't believe I've already made it this far. I can't believe that it's been a whole year since I opened my call, and discovered that I was going to the Philippines Cebu Mission, Cebuano speaking.
A lot has changed since last year. For one I'm not in America right now. I lost weight. I speak Visaya. I get to be a representative of Jesus Christ every day. Every time I teach the Restoration I have the feeling that I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. Even when I was in my Senior year of high school did I think I would be a missionary. Now I can't imagine doing anything else right now at this point in my life. 

I'm so excited for General Conference this weekend, I'm excited to see what the road map of the next 6 months of my mission will be. I love being a missionary!
Love,
Sister Katrina Dunn

Batch

No, I'm not talking about cookies. I wish I were. I miss cookies. Foreign concept here, but I digress. I hope that my weekly emails continue to inspire and uplift all those who read them.. JOKE but I hope you get a good laugh! 

Wednesday: I shopped for my new companion, I mean of course because I love her! We had lunch with Sister Hartog and Sister Soleta and it was magical and we were laughing our heads off in McDo's for about 1 1/2 hours. I really love those girls. 

Thursday: Transfer day.. The Zone Leader (the only one remaining because his comp finished his mission this week) came with the other elders who have a comp transferring to pick us up and take us to the Ceres station. Sister Atienza left on a bus with her new companion to Bayawan.. which then started a strange day. My companions the whole day, were 5 elders. They spoiled me rotten. They were a lot of fun. They bought me a peanut butter chocolate belgian waffle and a slurpee, and a fruit cup. It was the first time in my whole mission there wasn't another sister missionary around. It was pretty strange. 

Sister Quinney was stressed from the long bus ride when she finally got to Dumaguete, so I let her unpack for a few minutes before we went out to work.
I slipped in the mud down a hill.. ugh... I got really dirty. The mud here is awful, because it's not like normal mud, it's like clay, so it's impossible to get out of things. 

Friday: We contacted a referral and TRIED to teach her, but she was so talkative we could barely get a word out. Sister Antonetta was home, and she had done her reading, so that was a tiny miracle (but she still isn't coming to church).
We FTE'd this man who was reading the book of mormon but wouldn't let missionaries visit him because he's scared of his wife getting mad. "Joseph smith found the book of Christ in a cave" Well he was pretty close. 

Saturday: Long bad day... It's difficult with two Americans, people compare you to each other. We're just ignoring the bad commentary. And we maglahutay hangtud sa katapusan. We taught these twins for the first time, and they were really talkative too, but really nice. They committed to come to church. 

Sunday: Miracles. We were sitting waiting for sacrament to start and no one was there. I was feeling really discouraged because we had worked really hard. I said a little prayer, just asking for everything to work out okay and I waited a few minutes and then THE TWINS WALKED IN THE DOOR! We only taught them once! The day before! It was magical. They stayed all 3 hours! And one of the Elder's investigators invited them over to his house next week so they could talk about the Restoration. We were in awe.
Our recent converts aren't coming to church, because they are shy, so next week we are picking them all up!

Monday: I got in a minor argument with an Elder about when my birthday was. I was wrong. I kept insisting it was next week, and he said "oh so on zone training meeting." and I said "no the week before that." "so this week." "no the week in between!" "There is no week in between! Your birthday is THIS thursday!" 

Needless to say I'm not adjusting well. I still have 11 hours left where I can officially say I am a teenager. Sister Quinney prayed that I wouldn't be sad about turning 20.
I met one of the new missionaries in the zone. She's from Utah. I played their investigator in practice teaching. It was interesting, it reminded me of my twelve weeks, the way she spoke visaya. It's how I used to speak it too. There's a lot hitting me this week. 

That night we went by the mans house we tried to go to on saturday (because we had set an appointment on saturday at 7 but he punted us) and he was home this time so we ayo'ed his house till he came out. he comes out and says "I waited for you on saturday!" and we said "brother, we came on saturday at 7, you weren't home!"
"I said 5 o clock!" (I promise you that he said 7) "I read your book all day!" then he produced an english book of mormon from like 1975. he had read from 1 nephi to words of mormon in one day... and he could tell us what happened. It was a miracles straight out of a char missionary movie! We wanted to share with him right then but we had no other woman so we couldn't teach. 

OKAY TIME IS UP But I love you and this week was a miracle and I love my companion! I'll let you know how my birthday went next week, I'm making mud cups and I'm going to buy myself something really filipino!
LOVE YOU ALL
-sister katrina dunn

I am Dinosaur

OKAY OKAY I NEED TO TYPE LIKE THE WIND! But seriously I have 12 minutes, why do I do this to myself. Basta, I love you all. 

Tuesday: We had a zone activity at the church, it was roasting hot but I just kicked off my shoes and we played volleyball barefoot. It was a blast. Also sister Hartog loves me and bought me lunch. Sister Conjelado showed up while we were playing, she rode with the Dunne's (note the E) the senior couple from Ireland. They always call me cousin, it's awesome. 

That night Sister Quinney and her comp stayed at the apartment with us and I talked to her forever and it was fabulous. 

Wednesday: I had to wake up early to shower so that we would all have time. All of my past companions (and future comps ;) I'll get to that in a minute) were at zone conference. It was so nice to see all of them. I adore them. I gave the white handbook moment in opening exercises, my first time to do something in a ZC. For practice teaching I taught Sister Conjelado, it felt like 12 weeks again. It was interesting. There was a super char slideshow from mission tour that I featured in WAY too much. It was ridiculous. Also I met a trike driver who speaks russian, finnish, english, spanish and visaya, and he's learning french right now. his name is Roldan, I took a picture with him.

Thursday: At an investigators house she said we looked like we went to the disco the night before because we had eye bags. It poured down rain. There was a flood, we climbed up a muddy hill to avoid it. all is well. 

Friday: I got asked a stupid question by a man today and I had to hold back the sass when I answered him. There was a family home evening and we played John the baptist, my favorite game. 

Saturday: It was the baptism. We sang "when I am baptized" as a special musical number. It was beautiful, it was small. I loved it. That night while buying bbq we FTE'd this extremely drunk couple in Tagalog, so that was fun. 

Sunday: One of the Sister's in the ward opened her mission call to Philippines Angeles Mission in Sacrament meeting. I almost cried because it's been a YEAR since I opened my call. Where is time. This is crazy. We got a new IBD, for october. I have high hopes for her. 

Monday: Stress. Also we got the zone tshirt, it was fabulous. and there's a bunch of characters on it and the elder who designed it won't say who is who. Well I finally got him to tell me, I am the T-REX. I AM DINOSAUR! That is all. 

Tuesday: I got on a trike and I am so fat it tipped over. I bailed and fast before it could crush me. All of the passengers were in between the ages of 11-14 and were all laughing at me. man oh man.. I was laughing so hard. 

We went to dinner at a investigators house and she cooked adobo. when I was grabbing some she goes "oh, liog na" (neck) and I'm just like "ehh whatever" so I ate chicken neck. not bad. the adobo was fabulous. 

TRANSFER CALLS CAME! I AM THRILLED!! MY NEW COMP IS... drumrolll...... SISTER QUINNEY!! MY BATCH!! I am over the moon, this is the best day. Man I love this, I am going to have so much fun this transfer. 

Okay times up, i'm sorry this was short. I sent a lot of pics!
Love,


-Sister Katrina Dunn

Spoons

Okay I'm writing to the big batch first because I always run out of time and I feel like a guilty goat... Sige, 1.2.3. HIT IT!

Wednesday: We had beach activity with the District. Sister Hartog and I just stood in the water, it was so warm and nice. Their was a storm blowing in so the water looked really cool. The District Leader made us play this 'District Unity' game where we had little lonzones (this tiny fruit) and plastic spoons. We put the spoons in our mouth and had to run around the person in front of us and then pass the fruit from one spoon to the other. Luckily the teams were divided Sisters against Elders. It actually turned out to be pretty fun. We were so exhausted after working that night. We had gone to Meler's house and she kept singing "I'm Sister Dunn and I am tired and I have yellow hair" I was laughing really hard in between bouts of exhaustion. 

Thursday: We had a CSP in the Elder's area in Dumaguete and they dropped us off down the hill from the place we were doing the service project so they could go pick up the other group of missionaries and as soon as they drove away it started to pour down rain. Hmm.. We had to sprint to a roadside calendaria to take cover. When the rain was finally light enough we continued our trek up the hill.
At the actual service project we were moving blocks and there were all sorts of massive spiders and cockroaches crawling all over them. Sister Hartog and I were like "oh no I am not touching that" and then Bishop comes over and says "No spiders here are poisonous" and then starts tapping the spider for it to run away. It was easily the size of a baby orange. It was huge.
At the bottom of the stack of bricks was a rat, when the Elder's chased out and then it ran over a sister's foot, and she screamed, and then another elder kicked it, and it went flying through the air squealing. We were dying of laughter.
We tracted that afternoon and I got so muddy. Man.. 

Friday: I commemorated 9/11 by myself because no one here knows what it is. People still seemed to be in a bad mood regardless because we got punted and rejected like no other. There was one lady we tried to introduce ourselves to and she said "ayaw na lang, I know who you are" in ENGLISH and I was stunned and hurt at the same time. We walked from one end of our area to the other, and I was absolutely exhausted but it was lovely nonetheless. Working hard bitaw. 

Saturday: We taught the grandmother of one of our recent converts, she seems interested in listening to us. She read the pamphlet we gave her last time we talked to her. 

Sunday: I got to go on splits with a wonderful ward member named Sister Dinglasa. She's been a member for almost ten years, and I adore her. She is so amazing, she doesn't know how to read but she doesn't let that stop her. She works with missionaries whenever she has time so she can learn about the gospel that way. She is so fun to work with, and she FTE's which is a miracle with kuyogs because they are usually way too shy. 

We've been teaching this man who is a preacher for another religion and he is actually really progressive. The only problem I have is his visaya is really deep and really fast so I have trouble understanding him. Whenever we teach him we have our kuyogs with us who help translate for me.
Monday: We went to District meeting and then came home immediately afterwards and ate lunch at home because we have no money. Yea! Life! Budgeting! I mentioned something about 

Saturday'sWarrior to Sister Hartog and she was like "YOU'VE SEEN THAT TOO!" which branched into a discussion about Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Wow. Char mormon movies. I miss it. BTW I heard they are making a new Saturday's Warrior someone please keep me up to date on the progress of that lol. 

I convinced one of the Elder's in our area to draw me a picture of dinosaurs because he's really good at drawing. I'll get it laminated and bring it home.
AND THAT WAS MY WEEK IN A NUTSHELL! 

Well, I hope that it was both entertaining and instructive, but just to let you know, my weekly emails don't even give a glimpse of what life is like here. It's otherworldly, it's FABULOUS!
A bit of my personal study this week: I've been studying about our purpose in preparation for zone conference this week and I found a quote one of my MTC teachers had given me and I wanted to share it with y'all. 

"I am part of the 'Fellowship of the Unashamed'. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I now live by presence, lean by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power. My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until Heaven returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear."

I just think it's SO TRUE! AS IN GYUD! Don't be ashamed of the gospel, declare with the voice of a trump bitaw..
I love all of you, go forward in faith!
Love,
Sister Katrina Dunn

4 packages and the Malong

NOTE: IF YOU WANT ME TO RECEIVE YOUR EMAIL NEXT WEEK WRITE ME ON MONDAY BECAUSE MY PDAY IS ON TUESDAY. The time is a ticking, I received many a wonderful emails from many people I love that I wanted to spend a good amount of time replying to, so I apologize in advance if this email isn't what you were expecting. 

Wednesday: I bought a malong. It's fabulous. It's like a human pillowcase and I was the perfect amount of snuggly when I slept in it :D Also for dinner I told my companion I JUST wanted rice, nothing else and she about had a heart attack "Sister Dunn, you can't eat JUST rice!" 

Thursday: ZTM and my packages came! The ZL said "Sister dunn you have enough food to feed the whole zone" hahha i didn't share, just with my comp. Also Debbie sent me a shirt and as soon as I saw it I screamed "WHERES THE SECRET MESSAGE?!" and started tearing it inside out till I found it. My companion probably thought I transformed into a wild animal. Sorry sometimes I just need a little bit of home.. Our IBD told us she started coming to church again because when she wasn't coming her trials were worse, so she recognizes the blessings that come from going to church!

 
Friday: BER MONTHS PA! Long nights, short days. I can't believe it's almost halfway through september. Also everyone fails because no one understood my rock hudson reference last week. :P. We had to go to a far part of our area and It was really dark on the way back down so we had to hike the back way and we were just slipping through the mud. We looked like caribao's that had just climbed out of a mudpit by the time we made it back to the highway. I laid out the bubble wrap from my packages and we danced on it. We had a rockin two step going :D
Saturday: meh... 

Sunday: There was a brownout.. on fast sunday.. it was roasting through all 3 hours of church. I went on splits with my girl ann again, we always have a lot of fun. Later that night we were walking past this videokehan and this man was like "hi sis.. this is for you sis..." and then started singing a song on the videoke. It was so funny we all busted up laughing. 

Monday: We're budgeting so we didnt eat out after district meeting but went home and cooked. be proud of me please. Also I am a human that eats things like corned beef, and also I eat rice at every meal and I have no regrets. We contacted a referral who didn't think the elders were serious and was really apprehensive to let us in the house but she did and by the end of our lesson she was completely different and accepted the invitation to be baptized. The spirit was amazing. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! 

Tuesday: I ate kropeck and seaweed. SO GOOD! I shall try to make it when I come home. also a surprise zone conference was announced and I am so excited because that means I get to see my trainer again!!!!!


There was a lot of trials this week, but I am continuing in the work. I love the Philippines, it has become my holy ground. Love all of you.
-Sister Katrina Dunn

Come September.. jokes, go away.

Ugh.... September.... why.... it's too soon..... here in the Philippines they celebrate Christmas throughout all of the -ber months so... Christmas music officially began yesterday.
ALSO I yet again owe two HUGE apology birthday wishes to my MOTHER and Dylan. I am the worst, I'm sorry, I remembered right after internet time ended and I wanted to cry. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD TO MY FAVORITE MOTHER and TO DILLY BAR! 

On to other events, this week... i'm really tired. Work continues :)
Wednesday: It was a quiet p-day in the house, we cleaned, did laba, and then headed to Amlan that night for exchanges with the STL's. There are two sets of Sister's in the Amlan apartment so I ended up chatting with Sister Woodmansee (she's from Utah) about all things America. *sigh*

Thursday: I worked with Sister Jucutan. She is so funny. She's Ilocana, and speaks like 4 languages. She's a powerhouse teacher, and informed me that she received revelation for me regarding my mission. I'll take it. 

Friday: we got up and took a jeepney back to Sibulan and had weekly planning. Discovered something called cheese whiz (it tastes like easy cheese), and I convinced my companion that we should walk all the way to Ajong. It reminded me of my days in Bacong. Walking 24/7. 

Saturday: We organized the upstairs cupboard where missionaries had spent the last few years just dumping stuff and forgetting about it. I found more 'gospel of jesus christ' pamphlets than I know what to do with. I'm going on an FTE spree to hand them all out.
There's a recent convert here who was baptized a few months ago and promptly returned to her old way of life sadly... she's telling everyone that we are wasting our time here on our missions and a bunch of other really unsavory things. We're trying to help her..
We bribed a kid with candy in order to teach him because he wouldn't listen to his mother, I was trying not to laugh. We bribe children with gummies here. It's what the sister's are known for in Sibulan, that we always have gummies. It's on my shoulders to continue the tradition. 

Sunday: Our IBD came to church the 3rd sunday in a row!! YIPPEE!! We went on splits and I worked with Sister Ann again, she is so sweet. She was baptized like 2 years ago, and loves to work with the missionaries. I am thankful for her. 

Monday: Last day of August.. rude. Where is my mission? paspas na wala siya... The son of one of our investigators was really sick and got mad whenever we looked at him so we had to pretend we couldn't see him, he's better now, it was pretty funny though.
We had FHE at a members house, there was 3 investigators there. The Elders gave a really good object lesson, i'll share it when I come home. It was really chada. 

Tuesday: NO!! SEPTEMBER! GO AWAY! only one month till I'm 20. I can no longer say that I am a teenager. ugh...... We spent time tracting in a new area, and then we had ACM. the elders were on splits at the time so there was 4 elders at the meeting, and the other companionship was being loud so I pelted them with hard candy. didn't really make a difference. 

We're having our IBD do our laundry so that she has money to get to church :D We hike up a mountain to get to her, but she is worth it!
We just worked hard that night, there was a lot of lightning. We were trying to contact a referral and I felt to talk to this woman selling barbecue meat and I asked her if she knew who we were looking for and she was just like "That's me!" she was the first person I asked, miracles do happen. We set up an appointment for next week. 

This morning I studied in Alma 29, and if you haven't read it you should. It's basically Alma's passionate speech about how he loves being a missionary. I feel it. I love verse 9: "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy."
And we go out together. Me, my companion, and the Lord. To find those waiting to be found.
Love you all, make good choices!!

-Sister Dunn

Cebu Mission Tour

Wow. That was a lot of wonderful emails I just feasted on. Whenever there is a shake up in the p-day schedule I always get the best emails the following week! Okay, let's try to figure this out. Long long, busy week. I'm sorry, it will be two weeks with no pictures. Last week I forgot my camera and this week the internethan is looking pretty shady. I don't want to lose any photos. I did manage to glean one photo of my batch reunited again. We started together, we'll end it together. 

Tuesday: We shopped at SUPER LEE PLAZA! It's a giant shopping center that has everything a little american in the Philippines could want. Oh wait.. I'm not considered little here. Although being fat is admired here. Love it! 

I saw my last companion Sister K at McDo's with her anak (she's training right now). She's seems really happy. She caught me up with what had been happening in Bacong the week I'd been gone. A lot has happened apparently. 

That evening we bought pizza from a German man, it was delicious. We got it because Sister Soleta (MY MTC COMP) and her comp Sister Primero (SISTER ATIENZA's TRAINER) stayed the night with us, it was fabulous. Sister Soleta and I just chica'ed and laughed about the MTC. I love catching up with that girl. 

Wednesday: We got up early and caught a jeepney to Dumaguete! The ceres bus we took was basically entirely missionaries so it felt like a missionary bus haha, it was a lot of fun. I sat next to Sister Soleta so that Sister Atienza could sit with Sister Primero in the row in front of us. We tried to sleep most of the ride, we both got car sick. 

I ran around temple grounds all afternoon looking for Sister Conjelado. I knew she was there. I quickly found every other companionship but hers! Finally when I was in distribution I looked out the door and I saw her and I sprinted out of the building and she saw me and pointed at me smiling. I was crying before I even reached her and I just tackled her in a hug. It's the first time I'd seen her since training. She asked me "why are you crying?" and I just pathetically answered "I miss you!" I caught up with her for a minute, it was really nice. 

We did a temple session that night and it was so nice. I sat in the celestial room with my mtc companion and we just held each other's hands and prayed. It was so beautiful. I love the temple.
Sister Conjelado showed us the way to the apartment we were staying at because she's staying there too. It was amazing, walking down the busy streets of cebu city at 9 o clock at night with my trainer. She was just giving me advice. I'll always remember it. 

Sister K was staying at the apartment too. I felt like i was getting ready for bed with all of my comps. It was interesting. 

Thursday: Elder Haynie spoke to us. It was great. We were allowed to ask him questions so I took the opportunity to ask one. Hearing from General Authorities is such a wonderful chance!
I caught up with Sister Quinney too, another person I love. And Sister Abenoja came out of a bathroom stall when I walked in and we just screamed and hugged each other when we saw each other. 

There was a mission wide picture. I saw my whole batch. All 8 of us together again. When everyone was catching up with each other I just stood with Sister Conjelado and tried not to cry because we both knew it was the last time we would see each other. 

The zone leaders gave 10 of us sister's a ride home, back to Dumaguete that night and we just laughed and played car games and told funny mission stories because we can't listen to music. It was a great experience gihapon. 

Friday: I was absolutely exhausted. I started a new journal. My 4th journal of the mission. Look out world. 

Saturday: Still tired. I made a list of english/visaya translations for a investigator who wants to learn english. 

Sunday: Primary program in Sacrament. It was beautiful. All of the kids sang beautifully, no one was distracting to the audience. It was perfect. There was an illongo woman in gospel principles class so they taught in tagalog. I felt like a new missionary again. 

I went on split with two ward missionaries. One of them is preparing for a mission. I asked her at the end how she felt about missionary work and she said she was nervous, i told her "I won't lie to you, it's not easy. But it's worth it." 

Monday: we had a CSP in dumaguete. I talked with Sister Hartog the whole time. She is so funny. 

Tuesday: we just worked hard. We went to a member's house for dinner, they bought chooks to go, it was amazing. 

Well I'm out of time, I love you all! Make good choices, and I'll try to have more time next week :D
-Sister Katrina Dunn

The Sibulan Shakedown

Well I have a beautiful, long amount of time to write to you all!! Mission tour is this week so they moved our P-day to Tuesday because we are all riding up to Cebu tomorrow. There's One Direction playing in this internethan, I'm wearing my back up outfit, let's do this! 

Wednesday: Sister Curameng and I forego'ed the shopping because I needed to pack and she has a tiny store in Siaton called 'Migs' that she can go to with her new companion on Thursday. I couldn't do laba because it didn't have time to dry, so I had to take like a weeks worth of dirty laundry to my new area. I got smart with packing, I moved my luggage downstairs before beginning the packing experience because I knew there was absolutely no way I was going to get that full suitcase down the stairs if it was full. I would perish. That night when we went out to work I didn't tell anyone I was transferring. I know, I'm rude. More like a 'SURPRISE! SHE'S GONE!' for my companion. That night when we got home we just talked it out, our fears and expectations for the upcoming transfer. 

Thursday: I got up at the crack of dawn, packed up my last minute things, and we got my luggage down to the chungie and onto a jeepney. It decided at that exact moment when we left the apartment that it was going to pour down rain. LYFE. Shortest transfer of my life. We got to the Ceres station, I waited there for my new companion to arrive, I loved her as soon as I saw her. 

SISTER ATIENZA! She's 4'7", weighs like 5 pounds, has long black hair. She's adorable, and so sweet. We speak in Visaya, so that I can improve. She's teaching me a little bit of Tagalog too, so I can become doubly bistak, but just a few words. I'm focusing on Visaya jud. She's from Batangas which is pure Tagalog, but one night when we were FTE'ing we encountered a group of men who speak Tagalog and she discovered that after 3 months of Visaya she can't speak Tagalog anymore. It was pretty funny. I admire her for enduring the FTE. 

The Zone Leaders drove us to the apartment, I love it, it's small, I have my own bathroom with a flushing toilet and everything! My first flushing toilet since I got here. We jumped into studies because it was still early, and during lunch she asked me "Are we going out at noon?" and I just looked at her confused and was like "yes..." it wasn't until later that day that I realized, it was her first day out of training which means that she leaves at noon now. During training you leave the house at 1:00, for extra training stuff, but now noon. I felt bad, I didn't even realize. I was ready to just get to work, but she killed it nonetheless, she is a powerhouse teacher and FTE'er. She was trained well.
Sibulan is a beautiful area! We tracted on the beach my first few nights. As in, wonderful view of Cebu island! It's so fun. There was a giant group of people trying to get a boat into the water by rolling it down the beach on bamboo logs, there were children knee deep in the water looking for salowocki (sea urchin) for dinner. It was just picturesque. 

Our last appointment of the night was these three girls named Miller, Trixie, and Carla. During the lesson i killed a mosquito that was sucking on my leg and Miller says "thou shalt not kill" I was stunned beyond all belief. Then she, and I kid you not, grabbed a fan and said "So you don't kill anymore mosquitoes". She's so funny, she likes to give me a hard time. I sang "where love is" from the children's song book because they like my American slang (accent) when singing. 

Friday: the senior couple worked with us for the last time before they go back home to Oregon. It was my first time translating a lesson. I was translating for them everything my companion and the investigator were saying into English, and then had to turn around and translate everything they said from English to Visaya. I think I'm a seasoned missionary now. It is not an easy task, but it was a lot of fun.
Miller informed me I have bad Visaya. I'm telling you, she makes fun of me. I just laughed it off though, I love her. 

Saturday: Vanessa (the investigator I translated for) has a son, his nickname is Dodong. He usually is terrified of white people. In two days flat he has become my best friend. We play hide and seek, we're tight. 

We had a baptism! A really sweet couple, it was really nice. It was Sister Atienza's first baptism she was so excited! While we were there a boy from Germany shows up (he's on vacation here with his family) he was with two girls that live by the house he's staying at. I quickly discovered that all the German I learned in high school has been replaced by Visaya and I know zero German. I was talking in Visaya to the girls he was with and one of them turns to him and says "You should be like her, she speaks our language." I felt bad, because he's only here for a few weeks, and I've been here for 6 months. Anyways, he was really nice.
I found a really delicious halohalo place on the beach that uses all fresh fruit. We're going there again today, it is fabulous. 

Sunday: We are officially out of food. and out of rice. We have reached crisis mode. We were supposed to shop of transfer day but we didn't have money. We are currently surviving off of biscuits. New missionaries bear their testimony in sacrament meeting on their first sunday in an area, that should be tradition in America too I think. It's a lot of fun. I just stared at my comp to get through it, my visaya was okay though. I had no idea what I was going to bear it on, and then I got up there and just started talking about the family. Umbot. 

After church we went to Dumaguete because Sister Atienza was getting her patriarchal blessing! While I was waiting outside Sister Hartog showed up (WE'RE CO ZONE AGAIN) and I just ran at her saying "SAY IT AIN'T SO!" and we tackled each other in a hug. I missed her dearly. We're staying in the same apartment in Cebu so it's going to be a blast. 

Then a family of people I ADORE from Bacong showed up! I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to them, so that was a real tender mercy.
We went to a bukid part of our area that afternoon. My comp said we would be hiking, I was like "haha yea whatever, i hike all the time. my whole mission has been bukid". No. I was not prepared for what she meant. It was like legit hiking up a mountain, grabbing on to rocks, and everything IN A SKIRT! It wasn't bukid. It was super bukid!

We extended a baptismal date for the people who live up there so we have two new IBD's! On the way back down the dangerous mountain side, Sister Atienza slipped and fell and now has a massive bruise on her leg. poor thing. 

Monday: Right when we woke up there was a brown out. Curses! Luckily I had water in my bucket so I was able to shower. Then right before studies the water came on again. tsk tsk tsk. Life is never dull. We went to Dumaguete again for District meeting, lingaw kaayo. Sister Hartog was there. We were able to be companions for practice teaching, that was a lot of fun. We had KFC for lunch, I ate something called a zinger, I think everyone should try it. 

One of our investigators that night requested a priesthood blessing because they had fevers and so we called the Elders, they didn't have oil with them, so they borrowed it from a member. The bottle was from 1988. As in, the bottle of oil is older than I am. It was really interesting.
Wednesday: We're back again. Well the personal study I want to share with you is two weeks in the making. 

It's the story from the New Testament after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ where he meets his disciples on the shore and they rejoice together. And then Jesus asks Peter three times "Do you love me?" I was studying Jeffrey R Holland's talk from October 2012, it's a beautiful talk. His reply that he creates for the Savior is absolutely heart wrenching, and has really put my mission in a new perspective. He said: "Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me."

I've been trying the past two weeks to, every time that I get tired, or even a little bit lazy, remember the words here. Sister Curameng said it best in zone training meeting "It isn't supposed to be easy. We are supposed to work hard." I wish I had my journal with me, I have her exact quote there.
The point is though, that we need to remember our job here. Exactly the reason we are here. I reread my call this morning, it talked about how we are expected the live the highest standards of conduct that are expected of a servant of the Lord, and if we do, then we will be endowed with power. Alma and Amulek were given power of the Lord, and only then were they able to work the miracles.


I love Sibulan. I love being a missionary.

Siaton to Bacong (and back again)

So this week was a week of changes, gyud! AS IN, I am startled by everything I experienced this week, but alas, life goes on. So here. we. go.

Wednesday: Sister K's birthday siempre! The cake was delicious in case you were wondering. That night at our Recent convert's house they had bought her a cake from Sans Rival, so duha ka cakes. Lami! And one of the people there was giving us dating advice for when we go home "you have to flirt a little!" okay, well thank you. 

Thursday: Zone Training Meeting in Siaton. The workshops were really good, gave me a lot to think about. President's was on having our own Sacred Grove. The AP's was on Character of Christ. The STL's presented it really powerfully. 

Sadly, it was the last day I would see Sister Beyer in the mission because she goes home this week. I cried and asked her for her last minute advice, it was really powerful but I won't share it :) We took some selfies (of course we had to take model selfies, that's our thing!). 

On the bus ride home I talked to this really nice girl. She was 16, on her way to Dumaguete for a pageant. Before I started talking to her I was feeling really nauseous and so I said a prayer for strength and then I thought "well fulfill your purpose" so I looked up, the woman on my right side was sleeping so I talked to the girl on the other side. I don't know what will happen, I won't ever see her again, but maybe I planted a seed, I don't know. I didn't feel sick when I spoke with her either, my car sickness, vanished. 

We recontacted Felix, the man that said we could come teach him and it turns out HIS WIFE was a woman sister K had met on exchanges with Sister Curameng. the woman had complained that missionaries never come visit her but she got off the jeepney before they could get her name, so when we went back to find her it was near impossible. THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS, everything happens for a reason. 

That night was hard, we were wandering around in the rain, so we contacted an old contact that had been taught by the Sister's a year before. She's really nice, it was a good visit. 

Friday: a quiet day. when tracting we met a woman who declared "I was born in this religion and I will die in this religion. I am not interested in what you have to say." We were just trying to ask her where her neighbor was... then she said "I am 82 years old. Perhaps my departure time is coming. My airplane is coming soon and I will fly, fly to another world". Her name was Petra Beducan. It was really funny. 

We visited this woman named Esther who is really awesome. We found her while tracting last week, she's really receptive. I have high hopes for her. 

Saturday: We visited a less active who all of her kids wanted to take turns reading the book of mormon out loud. We went to the branch presidents and their neighbor got us coconuts out of the tree to drink and eat. Lami kaayo as per usual. 

Sunday: I woke up with a fever and I was really sick so we stayed home :( We went out that afternoon though and managed to teach a woman that has punted us for the last month. She's doing okay. We walked by this group of boys who every time we pass them they call me Janet. I don't know why. 

Monday: District meeting in Siaton. We worked there with Sister Curameng because Sister Beyer already went to Cebu to go home. It was fun, I love Siaton. We taught probably the most shy teenage boy I've ever met in my life. He hid his face behind his book of Mormon. Kono he's usually like that.
Tuesday: A good hard day of work in Bacong. We were able to visit Felix's wife again, unfortunately he was at work. She has a lot of good questions. And we went back to the other woman from early that week, and her husband was really thinking about what we were saying. It was awesome! He gave the prayer too. 

TRANSFER CALLS! They moved it to Tuesday night, right before P-DAY. I'M TRANSFERRING!!! To Sibulan it's like 30 minutes away haha. I'm follow up training, I don't know much about her yet, I've only met her once at a zone conference. She's tiny, I know that. Cute little thing. 

I'm going to miss Sister K, she changed my mission, she is so kind and loving. I hope that all of you get a chance to meet her some day. But she's going to be training a new missionary now, so I am so excited for her. 

Okay I lied, I know I promised a good study and I have one I want to share but I'm out of time again! Just know I love you, and I'm sure next week will be equally exciting!
-Sister Katrina Dunn

Manghula & Belgium Chocolate

I never know how to start these emails, it's always so awkward so I apologize. So like... hey, how was your week? I guess I'll tell you about mine... 

Wednesday: The crazy man that followed us on Tuesday.. you would not believe it but when we got on a jeepney after shopping he showed up again!! He came out of nowhere, it was terrifying. I was gripping my groceries like there was no tomorrow.
The lightning was crazy that night, it was pretty cool.
Also I forgot to mention last week but I was able to see my MTC comp at zone interviews, it was so cool to catch up with her. I missed her a lot! 

Thursday: Least painful Thursday I have experienced. Usually they are long and tiring, but this one went by fast. I exercised, did a bunch of squats, and then was super sore for the next three days, but I learned the visaya word for sore. In a statement it would be like this: gipamaulan ko (i'm sore) Well technically I learned the word on Saturday, but the word applied to Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

We discovered a LA family that lives ACROSS THE STREET FROM US! They've been hiding. We've been here almost three months and we finally met them. A woman we had met a few days before, we went back to see her, she had read the pamphlet we gave her, and was really receptive. I hope it goes well. 

We found another woman I decided to FTE and she said "oh yea missionaries visited me 7 years ago and then never came back!" she was really cool, she let us teach her, we tried to go back yesterday but we were a few hours late. But when we tried to find her again, we found another potential investigator who had been taught by missionaries before too, and had even visited the church!
Also the word hiccup in Visaya is sid-ok, which is funny because "hiccup" is also a word in visaya and means touch, like to touch something. Very confusing. 

Friday: HARRY POTTER'S BIRTHDAY! I'm still classy as ever and have my priorities straight on the mission. I hope you all celebrated with butterbeer, bertie bott's every flavored beans, and that you waved some wands and traveled through time. If not, disappointed.
We visited one of our OST's from before, she was acting kind of whatever about the lesson, so I looked her straight in the eye and bore my testimony and she got quiet. I think it worked haha, God gives us power when we need it. 

We tracted an area and found this woman shucking napier (it's like sugar cane) for her cows, so we helped her do that. It was really fun surprisingly. We took pictures in the corn fields there. The air was so heavy, we were sweating buckets. I took a video of us walking, and you can see the sweat (singot in visaya) dripping off of us. I'll show you all when I come home, just how hot it is here. 

Saturday: The first day of August. I think I might puke. I realized this week that I hit halfway in the mission a week after my 20th birthday. No no no no NOOO. Anyways, about this day... We fasted, which became especially difficult when one of the members offered us fresh pineapple... man.. I did not like pineapple at all growing up. I love it here. That should tell you all back home that actually LIKE pineapple exactly what you are missing out on here.

An LA's chihuahua had puppies. She looks exactly like Ginger, with the personality to match... BANTAY! 

We went to another members house and I sat in their hammock. Most people here just use fisher's net for hammocks, and I asked where I could buy some and the woman told me "from the fisherman obviously!" that doesn't help me.. hahha. 

A met a man from another country (i won't say where) who said some incredibly offensive things about the people here. I had to grit my teeth to get through the conversation with him. Sometimes I wish that I did not have to deal with people like that, I figure it makes me stronger. 

We went to an LA's house and her friend was there too. She's a manghula. That's a fortune teller. It was a very very interesting conversation that followed. She was very nice. She knew that we didn't participate in those kind of things, she was nice about it. She told me she had to burn her tarot cards because they were bad.. 

Sunday: A family from Utah visited church. The son had served here in Bacong like 17 years ago, his visaya was almost perfect still. Gift of tongues is REAL! We got punted all day.

Monday: District Meeting in Siaton. In the ceres terminal bake shop they have this hot dog rolls for only 18 pesos. They were fabulous! 

We tracted in Lutao and met a man, that I will always remember. He's never visited the church, but he remembers when he was 14 years old, back in the 1960's when he met mormon missionaries for the first time (that's when the church first came to the country!), and how he had some discussions with the Elders. We taught him, it was a very interesting discussion. I was really impressed by the spirit the whole time we were teaching him. I want to go back and teach him again. 

A member just got back from living in Belgium for the last 4 years, she was so funny. We went and shared with her, and then she gave us chocolate. From Belgium. I don't think you understand the import of this. IT WAS DELICIOUS! Some of the best chocolate I have ever had in my life. 

Tuesday: I saw my first horse in the Philippines. Well technically it was a Shetland pony but it was of the Equus family so that's what I think is the most important. One of the LA's is watching her Sister in law's baby and I asked her how long she would be watching him for and she said "oh 5 years." the mother is moving to South Korea for work. It is an interesting dynamic, but you've got to do what you've got to do.. 

Our IBD informed us she is moving to Bindoy, so now we don't have an IBD anymore. But I'm hoping that several of the new people we found this week will progress towards baptism quickly. I'm trying to stay positive. 

I cooked tuna afritada for dinner, and Sister K bought bananas and boiled them. She said "a little piece of Fiji here in the Philippines" lagi.

Wednesday: Well, it's Sister K's 21st birthday, which is the biggest most important birthday for Fijians so we are trying to celebrate right! We splurged and bought a cake from Red Ribbon. I am so excited for the rest of this day. 

Well I love you all, I'll try to have a good study for you next week, I'm almost out of time.
-Sister Katrina Dunn