Week 9

Hey y'all!

I hope everyone's week has been just dandy :) sorry again about the
mix up. From now on I will try to send the letters at the library so I
can do it on a computer. I hope school is going well for everyone. U
of L is in full swing over here so good luck to all the college kids
starting another semester over on the West Coast. Remember you will
always be more effective after an ice cream break. Always :)

Our week this week was great! Just like every week as a missionary it
had its ups and downs but I learned so very much about myself and my
purpose here as a representative of Christ so I am loving every
second. On Monday we went fishing with a couple in our Ward, which was
super fun! Sister I caught like 2 fish and they were huge! There is a
reason she is training me, she has got mad skills.

On Tuesday, we were on our way to go visit two less actives in our
Ward and Sister I's bike tire popped. It just went flat! So we walked
the rest of the way to our appointments and then a sweet member in our
Ward drove us and our bikes home. Luckily, we are super good friends
with the AP's and they live close because they need to be close to the
mission home so they came over that night and replaced her whole tire.
And they got us patches! It was so nice. Chivalry still exists my
friends :)

Wednesday was an emotional roller coaster for us! We started out
companionship study feeling the Spirit so strong and feeling so
motivated about our goal to baptize monthly, especially in October. I
had just had an amazing study in the Book of Mormon about how the Lord
is able to do His work but the work is only done according to our
faith. As we were discussing this, we felt the Spirit testify to us so
strong that this goal is possible and if we have faith in the Lord and
work hard, He will cause great things to happen. Then, in the middle
of this discussion, we got a text. It was from Jackie, our
investigator that I wrote about last week who was really trying to
figure out how to find happiness and peace and was progressing really
well. She told us that she had prayed about if the Book of Mormon was
true and felt that her answer was that she was not ready to become
religious yet and that she did not want to continue being taught. We
were devastated! However, I felt this peace come over me and I
realized that the study we had just discussed was exactly what I
needed at that very moment. The Spirit was able to reaffirm to me that
this goal required a test of faith and it wasn't going to occur unless
we worked hard and did all we could to accomplish it against all odds.
I knew that even if it wasn't Jackie's time to accept the gospel yet,
it would come in the future for her. There are children of our
Heavenly Father who are ready to hear and accept the word. They will
be put in our path or we will be out in theirs. Even if we only plant
seeds, the seed is enough to grow into a beautiful tree with time. I
know that our Heavenly Father is at the head of this work. As we have
faith in His ability to do His work and then act, miracles will happen
and hearts will change.

Speaking of miracles, after Jackie dropped us, a random man that
Sister I talked to on the bus called us and told us he would like to
come to church. And then, a girl I had talked to on the bus named
Alexia (I think I talked about her in last weeks letter. She dances
with a member in our Ward) texted us back! We are actually having
dinner with her and that member and teaching her tonight. I know that
the Lord works in mysterious ways. If we have faith, even when it is
tested, our prayers will be answered and we will see His hand in our
lives.

On Thursday, we had dinner with the Starks. Sam Stark texted us
earlier in the week thinking that we were an elder that he had met
with a year and a half ago. After we told him who the number actually
belonged to, he invited us to dinner! Sister I was immediately on
alert. She had experience in Lexington with some investigators who
invited them over often for food when the hidden motive was for the
investigators to convert the missionaries instead of the other way
around. We went anyway but we're prepared for the worst. They ended up
being the nicest people ever. He told us about how he had dated a
Mormon girl years before and had become very intrigued by the
religion. He started looking for religion in his own life and ended up
becoming Southern Baptist. He is now married to a sweet girl and they
are awesome. He is obsessed with our religion though! It honestly
don't make sense to us or anyone else as to why they aren't members
yet. He has a shelf full of doctrinal books like the Joseph Smith
papers, A marvelous work and a wonder by Legrand Richards (signed by
the way!), other books by Mconckie, a quad, etc. He has read them too.
Our theory is that right now, it is all out of interest instead of
actually looking for the truth, along with the fact that he works at
the seminary and aspires to be a preacher. We had a great lesson about
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we committed them to read the Book of
Mormon. We hope to help him realize why he is so intrigued...it's
because it's true! We will keep you posted on them. We also have a
lesson with them tonight so we are crossing our fingers! :)

Yesterday was super great! We went to church thinking we were going to
have a few investigators there and were super bummed when they
didn't/couldn't come. We walked into sacrament and were pleasantly
surprised to see Abdul! He is the random man that had called us
Wednesday and told us he wanted to come to church. He actually came!!
We are meeting with him Friday :) it was such a tender mercy. Being a
missionary has helped me to realize that the prepared people will say
yes. They will keep their commitments and find the truth. It is indeed
a privilege to find and teach those people :) i know as we continue to
have faith and bind the Lord, we will find those who are ready to
accept this gospel.

I love you all and I love this gospel. It is so true! It brings so
much joy and happiness. As we learn more about the Atonement and
strive to play it daily into our lives, our desire to share it will
grow. We have been asked by our mission president to study talks on
the Atonement for 15 minutes a day with the question in mind, "Where
is your heart? Who have you given it to?" As we give our hearts to the
savior and accept His love and sacrifice, we will be able to find
greater happiness, peace, and joy. I love my Savior and i am so
grateful for the opportunity to serve as His representative here in
Kentucky. Continue to have faith and find joy in the little things. It
makes a world of difference :)

Thank you for all the love and prayers. I love you all! :) have an amazing week.

Hurrah for Israel :)

Love always,
Sister Dorian

"O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake
unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means
whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus
Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the
world." Helaman 5:9

"Underneath this skirt is another skirt" (Week 8)

Hey y'all!

So sorry about the confusion with the weekly's! For some reason,
 Sister Dorian thought she could be handy and send it to everyone all
 at once on her iPad but her iPad wouldn't have that so it just didn't
 send it to anyone :( everyone should be getting both weekly's this
 week so that's why you are getting so much!

I hope everyone had a great week! Mine was wonderful. I couldn't wait
 to write the email this week because there are so many good things!

 In my email from last week, I talked about the goal to baptize in
 October that the president and AP's gave to the mission a few weeks
 ago. We started off the week with the amazing training on Monday that
 helped all of us to really gain the desire and commit to work hard to
 accomplish this goal. Soon after we left the training, we tried to get
 in touch with our investigator, Terry. He hadn't been able to come to
 church on Sunday and we were struggling to reach him all
  Sunday/Monday. We had an appointment set up with him for Monday night
 and he told us not to come. We were shocked! This is our stellar
 investigator that had such a strong faith and has been keeping so many
 commitments. We kept trying to contact him the next couple days and
 nothing was working. So, we decided on Wednesday night to bring his
 dad cookies and see if we could catch him at home. To our dismay, he
 was gone! However, we ended up having an amazing talk with his dad
 about God and miracles and we even had a member of our church with us
 to give great input in the conversation. We left super happy about the
 conversation but sad about not seeing Terry. We tried again a few
 nights after and the same thing happened. No Terry, just his mom and
 dad. Again, we had amazing gospel discussion with them about the
 gospel and our Heavenly Fathers love. After we left, I was so confused
 about why we weren't being blessed with contact with Terry even though
 we were praying earnestly for it and doing everything that we could to
 make it happen. The Spirit was able to teach me something essential
 that day. I remembered that the week before, we had been praying very
 intently for us to be able to connect with Terry's family on a more
 spiritual level since he needed their support to make this decision to
 join the church. They never wanted to sit in on Terry's lessons or
 talked about the church at all. Then, all of a sudden, we were able to
 connect with them like we never could before. Heavenly Father  was
 answering our prayers, but in a different way than we ever thought
 that He would. I learned that I need to trust in the Lord. This is His
 work and His hand is in the details. As I work hard and have faith, He
 will guide us to those we need to share with in His time and in His
 way.

So, after being worried about Terry and having that miracle come to
 pass, we continued working hard to find more people to teach. James
 has also been very hard to reach (the guy with 7 kids) so we were
 changing our focus more to finding than to trying to contact those
 that were not easy to reach. As we were working on finding, we found a
 woman named Jackie.

We started teaching Jackie on Sunday and she is literally my favorite.
 She has been in contact with missionaries for years but has never
 gotten very far in the lessons. Through random coincidences
 (miracles!!!), we bumped into her walking her dog three times so she
 let us come teach her. She works third shift (night shift) so it is
 super hard to schedule appointments with her but she was interested so
 she made it work. Our first lesson was so awesome! Then we weren't
 able to contact her much because of her crazy schedule. After praying
 about her and trying to figure out what our next step would be, we
 came up with the BOM class. We decided that it would be a good way to
 mix things up and it would help us in our finding efforts. We invited
 Jackie and literally everyone that we talked to on the street for the
 next few days and went to the church that night hoping that at least a
 few people would come but expecting that no one would so that we
 wouldn't be disappointed. But guess what?? Jackie came!!! And she was
 the only one :) we ended up teaching her an amazing lesson about the
 Book of Mormon, giving her a church tour, and committing her to come
 to church with us the next day. She came to church too and really
 liked it! What a miracle. The Lord truly is preparing His people to
 receive His message. She is very hesitant about baptism since it took
 her 5 years to even start meeting with missionaries but she is
 dedicated to finding out more. Miracles happen and it is so amazing to
 see our Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ guiding this work in
 every single aspect. It was necessary that the lesson was there so
 that she could experience the feeling of the church before coming and
 it made church so much more comfortable for her. Yay for tender
 mercies :)

My last miracle story happened just a few days ago and I didn't even
 realize the magnitude of it until yesterday. Sister Israelson and I
 are in a bike area so we are always riding the bus. Because of this,
 we talk to lots of people from all over Louisville. After sitting in
 the back talking to a girl, I decided to move to the front to sit with
 sister I for the rest of the trip. When I sat down, I looked behind me
 and saw a girl with my favorite brand/color of sneakers on! I had the
 thought pop into my head that I should go talk to her. Thinking it was
 silly since she just saw me walk past her to the front, I ignored it.
 The prompting only got stronger as I sat there so I decided that it
 didn't matter what anyone thought and I moved back to sit by her. I
 complimented her shoes and we started talking. I found out that she
 was from Australia and that she was here dancing with the Louisville
 Ballet. I remembered that a member in our Ward dances there too and
 they actually know each other! After that she opened up more and
 agreed to meeting with us to have a lesson. After the conversation was
 over and I sat back down, I texted that member that she knows and told
 her who I had met, thinking it was a super small world and not much
 else of it. Come Sunday, this member (Annie) tells me that this girl I
 had met was not treated very well at the dance company and because of
 it, they had become pretty good friends since she was the only one who
 made any effort to be nice. Annie went on to say that she had been
 feeling promoted to invite her over and reach out more but kept
 shrugging it off as nothing. When we told her about the meeting with
 Alexia (The Australian girl), she was so touched because she knew that
 Heavenly Father was watching over His children and that He is so aware
 of our needs. She is going with us to her first lesson and she is so
 excited!! Even though it was a small event, it made such an impression
 on Annie and helped her to feel of Gods love. Such an amazing thing to
 be a part of. :) It was reaffirmed to me that this mission has nothing
 to do with me. The Lord is so aware of each of His children and their
 needs and I feel it as such a sacred privilege to watch Him do His
 work here in Kentucky. As we have faith to act, miracles can occur and
 we can help our Savior bless His children here on Earth.

Some other random tender mercies of the week include cool weather for
 running in the morning, an amazing Ward mission leader that brings me
 Dr. pepper to coordination meeting, and free clothes and chocolate in
 the mission office :) it is amazing the things that will bring you joy
 as a missionary! The Lord truly blessed us with the things that we
 need exactly when we need them.

I know that my Savior lives. He is so very aware of each of us and our
 needs. I know that as we work hard to accomplish our work here on this
 Earth, He will consecrate our efforts and cause great things to happen
 As you strive to become like Him, He will become the center of your
 life. I have never been so sure in my life that God lives. He wants to
 bring each and every one of us home. As we apply to Atonement daily,
 we will gain a desire for the welfare of our brethren and have a
 burning desire to share our light. Don't be afraid to share this
 gospel! This doctrine is the only way that our fellow brothers and
 sisters can fully access the Atonement and even if we don't see the
 fruits of our laboratory, they are there! Have faith and trust in the
 Lord and I promise you, you will see His hand. I am so eternally
 grateful for this sacred opportunity that the Lord has given me to be
 a missionary to proclaim His truth to all that I come in contact with.

Thank you for all the support, love, and prayers. It means more than
 you know. I love you all so much. The church is oh so very true :)

Much love,
 Sister Dorian

Oh my goodness! I forgot to explain the caption....my brain is leaving
me I swear. Too much stuff to remember

The caption comes from one of Jackie's many funny sayings. She always
makes fun of us for how modestly we dress as missionaries. One other
awesome one was "You are on your way to looking 3/4ths Muslim right
now in that dress"

Week 7

Hello everyone!!

How was everyone's week? How is school? Any cool stories or miracles
experiences? I really love miracle stories because they really happen
so much more than you think. If you are looking for Gods hand in your
life, you will ALWAYS see it. :)

Our week was super great. I learned a lot this week about myself,
life, and missionary work in general and I know that as I continue to
seek for knowledge and growth, it will continue to come, even if it is
a difficult path to walk at times.

On Monday, we went to the walking bridge with the STL's and some other
sisters in the area. It was so much fun! We got to go to a candy
making shop and watch them make candy and I got the best strawberry
shake ever! After that, we went to the store and then I came home and
made pickle pie. Yes that's right. Pickle pie! Those of you who know
me really well won't be very surprised by this. Some senior
missionaries in the office told me about this pickle pie that they ate
in Bicknell Utah once and I was so intrigued that I got the recipe and
made it! And it was good!! It had sweet pickles and cinnamon and eggs
and cream and sugar. Seriously, don't judge until you try. If you
don't believe me, I have pictures to prove it.

On Tuesday, we did service for our Ward mission leader. Afterwards, I
fed everyone pickle pie and delivered one to the office missionaries
and the assistants. And they all liked it!! y'all have to try it. Then
we did a Skype lesson with our less active. Skype has been such a
blessing for our work lately. Because of it, we can have so much more
contact with our investigators and less actives and help them to read
and feel the spirit every day instead of only when we can come there.
It's so amazing! I can't wait for all the possibilities that will come
out of this amazing installment to the mission field.

On Wednesday, we had a lesson with a member in our Ward and his less
active wife about the plan of salvation and then we went to go teach
Terry about tithing. Terry is so amazing! He has been so faithful and
obedient and we can't wait to see his progression as he continues to
work toward baptism. Wednesday night was definitely a pivotal night
for me on the mission so far. During Terry's lesson, he shared with us
that he wanted to move his baptismal date to February instead of
September because he needs more time to get a house and marry his
fiancé. When he told me that, I was speechless. February??? That is so
far away and he is making such progress. I have really grown to love
him and I want him to truly receive all the blessings he can in this
life for himself and for his family. It took all that I had to respect
his wishes and leave that night. We went home and I realized
something. Everyone in this work has their agency, including us as
missionaries. If we as missionaries do everything in our power to
bring our investigators closer to Christ, then we are being
successful. No matter how much I want eternal happiness for those that
I teach, they must chose it for themselves or it won't be eternal
happiness for them. I learned that the Lords time table for these
people is the most important thing and as long as I am following the
Spirit, things are going to work out.

On Friday we got to teach some recent converts that have been
struggling to come to church lately. It was such an awesome experience
to hear their conversion stories and see their faith. I really believe
that if we keep meeting with them and keeping that fire burning inside
of them, they will become rock solid members of this church for time
and all eternity. After their lesson, we walked out and ended up
talking to a boy who was baptized with his mom in Indiana but had gone
inactive and was now living in our Ward boundaries. We got their
number and are working on contacting them and setting up a lesson.
Such a miracle!! The lord truly works in mysterious ways.

On Saturday, we had another miracle happen to us. We went to a chapel
about 20 minutes away with a less active of ours that we do Skype
lessons with. We were going to do family history there because they
have a library there that has those facilities. We were super late so
i, being the pace setter that I am, rushed into the building so we
could have time to do the work we were planning on doing. As we walked
in, we saw two people dressed in white. One was elder Permann and the
other was his investigator, Tatiana. We had no clue who she was but
for some reason, my heart filled with an indescribable joy. We ended
up sitting in and watching her be baptized. After the baptism was
over, we went over and gave her a hug and told her congratulations. We
clicked instantly. It was as if we had known each other forever! My
heart was filled with joy and love for her that can even be described;
for someone that I had never met! She turned to me and said, "I just
love you. It's as if we have been friends forever!". I know that we
were supposed to be at her baptism that day. I know that our Heavenly
Father knows us and he will lead and guide us to those that we need to
meet. Tatiana and me are now the best of friends after meeting for 10
minutes and I hope to be able to serve in her Ward while I am here.
Heavenly Father is so aware of us and as we are obedient and
righteous, He will facilitate remarkable things.

The last couple highlights that I wanted to talk about happened on
Sunday and yesterday. Sunday night was the fireside where missionaries
can bring investigators, less actives, or recent converts and anyone
can share their testimony, no matter what stage of the conversion
process they are in. Man! Sitting there and listening to these
wonderful spirits get up and proclaim the truth was such an amazing
thing. The Lord is preparing the hearts of His people and they are
strong and valiant. What a blessing to be able to listen at that
amazing meeting.

Yesterday was the new missionary training meeting. There is just too
many things to tell about so I will just mention some of my favorite
things. Our AP's just challenged our whole mission to have each
companionship baptize in the month of October. When I first heard
this, I will be honest, I was a little skeptical. However, I began to
pray in every prayer we gave for that blessing to be realized in our
companionship and my faith began to grow. I was filled with a stronger
desire and a firm belief that it is in fact possible. The AP's gave a
training yesterday about just how possible it is. They had us read in
the story of Enos. They pointed out that immediately after Enos was
forgiven of his sins, he began praying for his brethren. Then, after
much prayer and earnest pleading with our Father in Heaven for their
welfare and the desires of His heart, the Lord said in Enos 1:12 "...I
will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith".
I learned that first, we need to apply and access the atonement fully
in our lives in order to have that desire to help and bring our fellow
brothers and sisters closer to Christ. Once we have that desire, then
we have to have faith that the Lord will grant unto us according to
our desires. And then, we have to work. If we have sincere faith that
we can baptize and that the Lord will bring us to those who are
prepared to be baptized, then our work with be motivated and fueled by
that faith. We will do everything in our power to accomplish that
goal. I know that this can translate to anything in our lives. If we
are sincerely striving to apply and internalize the Atonement, that
desire in our hearts will come. If we then have faith in the Lord and
his ability to grant unto us those blessings, then we will be able to
set realistic goals and achieve them with His help. I know that our
Heavenly Father will help us in accomplishing His work. We must have
faith and experience the Atonement for ourselves so that as we come
closer to Christ, we can bring others with us as well.

President Brough then gave us an update on the use of our iPads and
Facebook. Since we are a test mission, headquarters wants to see just
how much good this new installment can do. We are now authorized to
teach investigators outside of our mission boundaries through Skype.
We have permission to teach those investigators in the homes of our
family members and friends as long as we coordinate with the
missionaries in the area and get permission from the president. How
amazing is that?? So, please email me or message me on Facebook if
there is anyone that you know that my companion and I could reach out
to. With the help of the missionaries in your area and permission from
the president, we can skype into lessons and teach them in your homes.
The work is hastening. It is so amazing just how much the Lord is
using these tools to move His work forward and share the gospel with
all of His children.

I know that this church is true. Our Savior lives. His Atonement is
full, all encompassing, and glorious. Strive to apply it more fully in
your daily life and watch how it can truly change your heart. Trust in
our Heavenly Father and His plan for you. It is so much more glorious
then the plans we try to come up with for ourselves. Be believing and
never ever give up. We are never alone. Pray earnestly and with the
intention to act on the revelation you receive and you WILL see
miracles. I can testify of that.

You are all the best. Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and
love. I will forever be grateful for this decision to serve and how
much I have been able to learn just how important it is to forget
yourself and go to work :)

Hurrah for Israel!!! :)

Much love!
Sister Dorian