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