The Run-around

Rainy season has officially begun... you know what that means?!?! Flooding, brown outs, lightning storms, etc... Every day is an adventure haha! It's so fun.

Next week I hit 6 months since I boarded the plane in SeaTac. Man, I am a different person now than I was then. But yet I'm still the same in a lot of ways. It's exciting, changing so fast that I can actually see it in myself. 

Let's get to work, the clock is running down. 18 minutes.. go!

Wednesday: Zone activity! We drove out to Dauin because they are supposed to have legendary beaches, but it was fiesta when we got there. Drunks, and loud music. So we went to a different beach that me and my companion had stumbled upon while tracting. There was a fiesta there too, so we went to the field that was nearby. Our district leader introduced a new snack to me and I have been addicted to it ever since. They are these chocolate wafer bars, so good. 

That night we taught our recent convert, she is so awesome! She's already in Jarom in her personal reading. She's a rockstar! Her brother is a less active and sits in on the lessons, they are such a good family. 

We went and taught our IBD (investigator with a baptismal date for anyone that is wondering) and she had read too! I feel so blessed right now with these 2 amazing women. They are the lights of Bacong for me right now. 

Thursday: Still my least favorite day of the week. We tracted ALL DAY LONG! We still managed to get 3 lessons so I feel a bit better about it. One of our investigators isn't progressing so we had to drop her. 

We went up this really long road into the Bukid and got an OST, halfway through a man showed up who told us he is a less active. He had been baptized like 7 years ago and a month after his baptism he went to jail and he just recently got out, and he's really shy to go back to church. We're gonna work with him. 

Tender Mercy that night though, on our walk home we passed the park and we saw a woman we had OST'ed weeks ago that we thought was golden walking around so we sprinted over to her and started talking to her, we haven't been able to get in contact with her for weeks. 

Friday: Lots and lots occurred. We got another OST. There was tracting. There was frustration. That night when we went to teach an investigator there was a bat flying around their house that eventually perched in the rafters. We taught the 10 commandments and her husband says "I've broken thou shalt not kill" and we said "Brother what?" (keep in mind he is a HUGE jokester) and then he says "When I was a teenager, all the ladies liked me. I had a killer smile" I about died laughing it was sooo funny.
On our walk home that night there was this perfect circle of fog around the moon. It looked like a grey halo. 

Also we saw this mystery species that we spent the whole week trying to figure out what it is. We went back yesterday and discovered it was a hamster. First one i've seen here.
Saturday: Punted, tracting, nothing to report. Oh except we had a lunch apointment near the beach, it was beautiful. 

Sunday: We had kuyogs working with us! Yay! We ate cake! We taught one of our good investigators. 

Monday: We had transfer calls! I'm staying in Bacong with Sister K for another transfer! I'm excited I love her to death. We took a bus to Siaton and worked there with Sister Beyer because her companion went home, end of her mission. It was fun, we worked in the rain and the sunset was beautiful. We taught this old Nanay who I adore. 

Tuesday: tracting, I love it. 

Sorry, my time is out. I'll have a really awesome personal study for you all next week! Love you lots!!
-Sister Dunn

Chicks, kids, and puppies

Well let's get through this! Another week has come and gone, Pictures are taking forever to send, so be thankful if you even get 2 this week :(

Wednesday: After emailing we went to the native store and picked up the cases we ordered for our mini preach my gospels. We had Mexican food for lunch with the Dumaguete Sisters. I love Sister Hartog, she's from New Zealand and promised that I could come visit her after the mission and we would do the LOTR tour. So.. guess what I'm going to be doing! I got a chimichanga. not as good as back home, but it was REAL cheese. 

That night we extended a date for one of our investigators so we now have an IBD! Yay I'm so excited, she's ready. She's been taught by missionaries before, so everything we teach her is kind of a refresher for her. 

Thursday: A long disappointing day, no detail will be added. 

Friday: After we finished weekly planning the AP's called and told us they were on Negros.. and that they were coming by our apartment in an hour with the mission president to check up on it. We jumped so fast into cleaning, I must thank Mom at this part for teaching me how to clean effectively and quickly. That place shined by the time they got there. shh, don't tell.
We got to hold baby chickens at our recent converts house! 

Saturday: We went to the Elder's baptism, a little boy. It was really sweet. He was so excited to share his testimony. And one of our investigators brought her family to branch home evening! Tender mercies! I was so excited. And a member from Dumaguete gave us a ride home in her CAR! It was weird riding in a Ford explorer in the Philippines. 

Sunday: We were late to church because no Jeepney's or trikes wanted to give us a ride. The day was really long, and really exhausting. We were punted all day. We tracted all day. Although we saw 3 baby goats in the middle of this field so we ran over to them and petted them, my companion almost picked one up. 

Monday: This was just the week of baby animals. We got to pet 2 adorable puppies. They were so fluffy. One of them, it was a man holding it on the back of a motorcycle. He didn't say a word to us, but nodded his head when I asked if we could pet his puppy. It was a very strange encounter. We taught our IBD, she is doing so great. Her understanding is excellent, and she is doing her BOM reading. I'm so excited we are seeing success here in Bacong. 

On our way back from District meeting we were in a jeepney and a man on a motorcycle drove by screaming at the top of his lungs. Everyone in the jeepney was shocked beyond all belief. and later there was this man walking 2 identical goats. It was interesting haha, just walking them down the road. Oh and wild chickens are a thing here. 

Tuesday: We tracted in a new area, and met this woman feeding her cow. It started raining so she invited us inside, we taught her the Restoration and I shared the first vision, the spirit was so strong I was sure it was going to be great... and she told us she didn't want to pray or anything, that our message was the same. I hear that all the time here, it's hard... 

On of our recent converts who is never home was finally home! tender mercy! we were able to teach her, we're trying to get her to read right now. There was a brownout so when we got home we had to light candles all around our apartment. I hate brownouts because the water is connected to the electric so it means no water, no light, and it's an invitation for every cockroach in the world to have a vacation inside our apartment. I killed like 10 this week. And a GIANT centipede crawled on my leg during planning earlier this week. Scariest thing of my life. It was like 8 inches long and fat, I about died. 

But that's life here, and it's actually wonderful haha, things that would have bugged me before, aren't as much of a problem or at all diay. I'm alive, I'm happy, I'm doing my job here. 

There's a scripture I want everyone to look up. 3 Nephi 21:9. This is a glad message, and no not everyone will accept it. but let's keep on trying. Everyone with me now!

Love you all lots,
-Sister Katrina Dunn-

Storm

Well hello all you beautiful people. I am currently bumping motab in my headphones because the people in this internethan are using less than desirable language. Well you get that no matter where you go in the world. Also I'm eating McDonalds french fries... no regrets. Sige, this week has been a whirlwind. I'll just share. 

I finally made it into my new journal, someone please be proud. I have a few happy birthdays to wish... for one: Happy birthday Nick! Happy birthday Taylor! I really hope i didn't forget anyone else, I'm sorry the days kind of blur together. 

Wednesday: after buying a ten year supply of mogu we went home and I napped. OR tried to. I think that i actually updated my journal. 

Thursday: A very long day. We visited 2 of our investigators and a few Less actives. 

Friday: Weekly planning, da da da da there was a bunch of punting. Oh and I got to try fresh buko juice. We were at the branch presidents house and he cut open fresh coconut from the trees outside, and we stuck straws in it and sucked all the water out, then we cut it all the way open and used a spoon to eat the inside. It was lami, and i managed to eat the whole thing. It was difficult. 

Saturday: We went up to Buntod, I was feeling kind of sick. I struggled through a few lessons. One of the less actives was feeding all of her farm animals and there was baby pigs they were so cute. the geese are crazy. i digress. 

Sunday: One of the members we love had her baby, he's a tiny little thing. We went by and saw him, adorable. We taught the nanny for their other daughter while we were there, she's one of our investigators. We also had a really spiritual lesson on the plan of salvation with a different investigator. The longer I'm out here the more I realize that EVERYTHING boils down to the plan of salvation. 

That night i was woken up at about 12:30 by the loudest storm i have ever encountered. It sounded like a teenage giant was learning to play the drums. Or that the sky was literally trying to tear itself in half. the sky was flashing white with lightning too, it was so crazy, so loud that i had to cover my ears. 

Monday: We had district meeting in Dumaguete, we got KFC for lunch. BAD IDEA! I was sick for the rest of the day. I do not suggest KFC unless you want your stomach to be in the worst pain of your life. Usually its pretty good, but not that day! We only had one lesson because we got punted the rest of the day. It was hard tracting for 7 hours. 

Tuesday: One of our harder less actives was being really sassy when we got there. we have a really good new investigator who lives right on the beach, we shared about priesthood with him and his family. I'm really excited to see how he progresses. 

Wednesday: here we are again, talking about my week. And here we will be again in exactly a week.
I continued my study this week on the Atonement. I hope everyone realizes how big of a deal the atonement is. EVERYTHING boils down to the plan of salvation, and what is the center of the plan of salvation? The atonement. 

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 

This is the only way to return to live with heavenly father again. The price has been paid, we just need to do our part. I am so grateful for my savior Jesus Christ, I hope you are all too.

Love the missionaries in your area, they are trying the best they can.
Love you so much,
-Sister Katrina Dunn

Chika

Hello to all, I hope one day you can all join me in the wonderful land of the Philippines. Everyone here is buotan gyud, I'm excited to continue to serve here.

Wednesday: We did the fish eating thing again, fabulous. Bonded over buko shakes. The vicious little fish bit off one of my scabs, rude. I was able to print a bunch of really pretty pictures, :D We visited a girl, it was our 2nd visit with her. She is 16 years old, really nice, really willing to learn. Then her Lolo (grandpa) came out and was asking us "why don't you do the cross? Why do you use 

pamphlets?" kind of accusatory. I was trying not to laugh, cause he was just this tiny little old man. We found out her aunt is a less active, who remembers almost nothing about the Church. We have a lot of work to do. The night when we were half asleep during planning (don't judge us we were exhausted) and I felt the mattress shake, and I thought it was Sister K and so I looked up, but then I saw the table moving too and I was like "what in the world? OH It's a earthquake!" It lasted like 30 seconds, it was really cool. Luckily no damage or aftershocks that we could see. 

Thursday: we got up early and went to Dumaguete for Zone Training Meeting. They shared about becoming the 4th missionary. Everyone should read it, it was beautiful. It's a talk. It's not just for missionaries haha. After that we went to Robinson's for lunch. We spent the day working with Less Actives, my favorite. they need a lot of help. 

Friday: Weekly planning, that means a ton of snacks :D. We taught a less active named Julita, who hasn't been active since the 90's. Her entire family was baptized but they have all died, her parents, her daughter, her husband, so her life has kind of taken a sharp left turn. We're trying to help her come back too. We were able to teach a woman named Aimee, she's has slightly odd beliefs, but good nonetheless, we think she might be receptive. That night we bought tempura on our way to our last apointment, and I went to throw out the plastic bag in a garbage outside of a restaurant and when I pulled back the garbage back a GIANT RAT came flying out of the garbage. It was bigger than Bandeau, I screamed so loudly and jumped backwards. This man driving past on a motorcycle looked scared when I screamed. My companion could NOT stop laughing. It was terrifying. 

Saturday: Sherilyn's baptism! Our one and only IBD, it went really well. One of the other missionaries there was talking to us about less actives, stopped halfway through her sentence, turned to Sherilyn and said "You better not go inactive, you stay strong." she just nodded solemnly. 

Sunday: Fasting. Is definitely something I have had to gain a testimony of on my mission. Raquel (one of the members) worked with us and showed us more of the area. We would be lost without her. We were able to visit even more less actives. That night when we were home, these two boys were in their backyard (which backs up against our patio) and were singing Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith at the top of their lungs. I started laughing, and they saw me in the window and were like "WHAT!?" shocked probably to see an American diay haha. 

Monday: District meeting, KFC afterwards. Fabulous. They have something called a mexican rice bowl. wait.. texas barbeque bowl. It was delightful. We visited one of the active members, her house is right on the beach underneath all these palm trees. We stood on the beach for a minute and just watched the waves. It was gorgeous. We taught a lesson to an investigators who has a TON of questions about the end of the world. Hard to answer let me tell you. One of the members gave us a referral and said "I'm trusting you with her, I'm putting my trust in you, don't let me down." scary. The STL's came over monday night, slept over, and the next day I went out to work with Sister Beyer for exchanges. It was so much fun. 

Tuesday: We taught one of our less actives up in Buntod, and he finally opened up to us. He was offended, we are working on it. We went to visit another Less active and we sat under this tree and tons of ants kept falling on us and biting us. She flat out told us she didn't believe in the book of mormon or joseph smith. I was soo grateful for her honesty. I hate when people beat around the bush to save face. I'm excited to help her. We went to try and find a family, and this nanay we often walk past had just died, like an hour before, so we talked to her daughter, and gave her our information. Back at the house we did char shining moments! hehe :D lovely. The STL's slept over again and left before we woke up to head back to Siaton.

Wednesday: so far, we have gotten a jeepney to dumaguete..
So chika means like chikachika. Hard to explain, like talking like.. chit chat I guess. Me and my comp have just gotten so close this week, chika all the time. I love it!
My study this week really focused on the atonement. How Jesus Christ is our light. Yesterday i asked one of my LA's to choose the song for the lesson and he chose "the lord is my light" the lyrics rang true for me for the rest of the day. Light will ALWAYS conquer dark. I am so excited to be a missionary, and spread the light.
Love you all sooo much.


-Sister Katrina Dunn

Kalayo/Fuego

Well it has been an incredibly fast and incredibly slow last 9 days. Murag, exhausting gihapon. Family, mga tawo, I miss you. 

I'll keep this email fairly brief, well that's a lie, i will probably write a WHOLE LOT! 

Last week was a STRUGGLE! People literally ran from us when they saw us coming, but things are turning around. We did in fact save the life of a seahorse, it was suffering in this little plastic cup so we ran it down to the baybayon and released it into the ocean. We are some real mother theresa's. 

The fish spa was... fabulous! Everyone should try it in their life. And if you haven't tried a buko shake, try one of those too. Lami gyud siya. Zone conference was fabulous, we are always so blessed to hear from our mission president and his wonderful wife! I love President and Sister McCurdy. 

They are so funny too. 

In stake conference, we found out Elder Perry died. We were devastated. My companion and I just sat there and cried. The Elder's were very startled. The worst part is we didn't even know he was sick, he looked so healthy at the last general conference. 

Our designated ice cream lady in san miguel REFUSED to open the chocolate swirl for us last week, but when we went back yesterday it was open so of course i bought two cones. My companion was reduced to calling san miguel "dautan" (wicked) for a few short moments. just a joke hahah. 

In district meeting we were practice taught by one of the brand new missionary's, and at the end, it was my turn to give advice. I AM SOME HOW FAR ENOUGH INTO THE MISSION TO GIVE ADVICE TO NEW MISSIONARIES! Also, i hit five months in the mission in a few days. Who's puking? Time is moving way too fast. in a month i will only have a year left. WHAT IN THE WORLD!?!? 

So the title of the email... kalayo is the visaya word for fire. and everyone knows fuego. in weekly planning we decided our theme this week would be 'NEVER LOSE OUR FUEGO' it's going pretty good. We are starting to ROCK this area this week. Bacong is also right on the beach, We found several new people to teach. 

There was this beach villa and everyone was saying "it's soo mahal, it's so mahal" (expensive) and so i asked out of curiosity. I converted the amount into american dollars. To stay in this beach villa for a MONTH, is only $600. No wonder there are so many joe's here. 

Sige, so now I want to share my personal study from this week. Think about this question: "Why is Jesus Christ so important in my life?" Just think about it. I ended up studying grace, and it was beautiful. 2 Corinthians 12: "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." 

Isn't that beautiful? I think it is. We need to bear affliction in patience, this last week has been the Refiner's fire for us. But we just need to remember, every time someone runs from us, we are blessed, for we are in Christ's service, because he will make us strong. I testify that that is true. He strengthens me, lifts me higher than I could ever imagine. 

A quote from the last conference, the talk by Jeffrey R Holland: He grabbed me, he helped me, and refused to let me fall. 

Let us all remember Jesus Christ, and thank every day for everything he's done for us. For we were in free fall, and now we are saved. 

I love you all, have an awesome week!


-Sister Katrina Dunn

White Wash

I just want to let you all know that you have missed out on a fabulous opportunity to talk to me. Haha no it's not your fault, you didn't know my P-Day would be changed to a Monday for just this week because Zone Conference is on Wednesday. I didn't even find out till Saturday. So I don't remember if I talked about it in my last email but... I am White washing this transfer, which means both me and my companion are new to the area.. patay... It is extremely hard. We don't know anything here. There has been a LOT of tracting. When you imagine missionary work what do you imagine? You imagine missionaries walking for miles trying to find people to teach. That has been my life this week. And it is hard. Although I have discovered a new boldness in myself that I did not know existed. I will talk to ANYONE! 

Also, I am finally at a point where I'm comfortable with the language. I woke up last Monday and I was thinking about it and I just thought "I'm comfortable, I've got this, I can speak Visaya." and then just a few short hours later I was thrown a curveball in transfer calls. The Lord has decided that I always need a challenge in my life. I sure have a lot of growing to do.

 
White wash is my new challenge this transfer. We are going to whip Bacong into shape. I just know it. 

So last monday thru Wednesday there were a lot of tears. My favorite experience was we went to go say goodbye to one of our Nanay's and as we were leaving she starts hugging me, she's just a tiny little thing, and she just starts sobbing saying "Don't forget about me" and I promised her I wouldn't forget about her. 

So Wednesday night was a hoot. We spent a ton of time doing last minute packing and trying to deep clean our apartment because it's been closed. They closed our area... Cleaning out missionary kwan and the gunk of 20 sister missionary's past was very exciting. Not. I did find this rocking purple mumu with peacocks all over it. 

We woke up so early though on Thursday, we get all packed. We flagged a trike for Sister Conjelado, and loaded her stuff up. I managed to hold myself back from crying as I hugged her goodbye and watched her drive away. She really was like my nanay. I relied on her so much. 

Sister Beyer and I started the very fun adventure of trying to get a trike for ourselves... We even tried to bribe the taggiya to do it but she doesn't know how to drive any of her 5 trucks. Salamat. We were running down the street, our bus was leaving in 15 minutes and I stopped and said "Let's pray." so we said a prayer and as soon as she said amen she looked up and Sister Poteki and Sister Abenoja had come back for us. We sprinted to them (Sister Beyer rocking a limp run because of her foot) and we loaded up our luggage. There was no room for us, so I climbed behind the driver, used one hand to balance my giant suitcase on top of the back of the motorcycle through the window, and Sister Beyer sat on my lap. Life here is very exciting. We made it on time. 

The bus ride was sickening, I got car sick so I hung my head out the window and got mud all over my face and arms. We rode to Cebu and then we got another bus to Dumaguete. Four hours of driving along the coast, gorgeous beaches. We just talked and talked for hours. The bus drove onto the boat, we got out, went to the bathroom. There was a porthole window on the bathroom and I died laughing over it. We got back on the bus, drove to the station. The zone leaders picked us up, took us to our new apartment. It looked like a typhoon had gone through it. It was disgusting. There was still rotten food out. The cleaning had not been done... We spent a few days picking it up. We're still taking care of all the kwan. 

We got to go to Robinsons, which is like a mall, fabulous. 

Friday: After a really kalo-oy weekly planning (pathetic) we went out proselyting. We taught this group of drunk people who were harvesting mangoes so they have us two GIANT bags of mangoes to take with us. We found another girl after that who is really good, I'm excited to go back and teach her.
There has been a lot of wandering these last couple days, we have talked to so many people though. SO MANY! 

On Sunday we got to take a hable hable (motorcycle) up the mountain to Buntod and we fit 5 of us on it. It was fabulous. I loved it so much. 

This morning we had district meeting and we ate at Robinsons in the food court and after this I am going to have little fish eat all the dead skin off my feet. Yea. We found a place that does that. 

My new companion is fabulous. Her name is Sister Koyamaibole, she is from Fiji, and she's a light. She serves everyone, and loves everyone. I love poly's! I am so excited for this transfer. 

Something from my personal study i want to share with you: So my first morning in Bacong I woke up super stressed (obviously) we don't know what we're doing, or who to talk to, and my mind was running. I was reading in Ether, and this one verse stood out to me. Because of the setup of my book of mormon, the first line of Ether 2:16 says: "And the Lord said: Go to work" 

It answered my question. We are going to hit the pavement (or the bukid so to speak) and teach like we've never taught before. We are going to GO TO WORK! We're finding, we're teaching, we're baptizing. Hold on world, we're rocking this. 

There will be tears, but it will all be worth it in the end. 

Pray for me! I love you!
-Sister Katrina Dunn

Toledo: the City of Copper with a Heart of Gold

No I'm not just being char. Those are the exact words on the sign by the bay in the city. And did I have an exciting week or what in the 'copper city with a heart of gold'.


Wednesday: Of course I went to the temple. The bus was so hot on the way home. One of our less-actives hid from us but we hunted her down and taught her anyway. It was very exciting.


Thursday: Bandeau's birthday. I hope y'all celebrated right! He deserves the best. My companion told me I needed to humble myself. I was embarrassed. Thank you for the wake up call Nay, I needed it.


This woman we OST'ed when I was only a week in the field, we walked by her house and she invited us in and let us teach her, and she told us her husband has been reading the BOM! Awesome.


The elder's gave us 'perfect directions' (no joke they even titled them that when they handed us the slip of paper), to Talavera. We taught a woman there named Charmain, and I botched the first vision, but the lesson was still really good. I just need to do better next time.


My companion stepped on a tiki and it was smashed so bad. Just killed it dead. It was an accident, it was really funny. But we were so tired we didn't throw it away till the next morning.


Friday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT LINDA! I haven't forgotten about you! We had a CSP and they blasted 'Complicated' by Avril Lavigne. I was laughing so hard. Rocking old school there. Norein and MaiMai treated us to Jollibee that night. Spaghetti and reeses mix in. Fabulous.


Saturday: We FTE'd a group of incredibly drunk men. Want to know why i hate alcohol. It makes people ridiculous. One of them went back and forth from yelling at me, and being nice to me. And then he bought us soda. I don't know. It was very strange. We celebrated Sister Abenoja's birthday in style. We ate mexican food! It was delightful. We got to go to the halls and have snacks for dinner! One of the member's kuyog'ed to an appointment.


Sunday: We went to Casoy in the morning for special sacrament but it got canceled so we just took pictures and hung out. Fabulous. We almost lost each other too. Whoops. It is the cutest little mountain village. We said our goodbyes to sister Lamoglia, she's heading home #char. There were tears, not from me.


Monday: Transfer calls. and guess what... I'M TRANSFERRING! to the other island. I'm going to the land of Milk and Honey. My new area: Bacong. bukid. fun! Let's go. I'm gearing up for follow up training. I'm not a baby anymore.


We have spent the past few days saying goodbye and packing up. I'm scared, I'm stressed, I got this. I love all of you


I have a challenge for anyone willing to embark. Read the Book of Mormon before I come home, and you will get a boss gift.

Gihigugma ti mo!


-sister katrina dunn