Hey y'all!
How is everyone doing?? I hope school/work/life is wonderful!! Another week has come and gone and miracles seriously never cease. This week has been a top notch week over here in the Highlands area and I am loving every second of it :)
As you all know, I started training this week. My companions name is Sister Henderson and she is so cute! We instantly clicked and have honestly become the best of friends. She basically came pre-trained so I just have to show her the area and how to work the iPad apps. It is so much fun! She has such fire and such a desire to do the Lords work and it is showing in the work that we are doing. We are working our tails off and miracles are just falling out of the sky :) it is so great!
On Monday, Sister Israelsen's last day here, we celebrated Elder Sherwood's birthday at outback and the walking bridge and then went and celebrated both his birthday and Elder Hansen's last day on the mission at our Ward mission leaders house. It was a fun filled day for sure :)
Tuesday was transfer day so we basically just got Sister H settled in and then we taught a lesson to one of our investigators and then did a Skype lesson with a less active.
Wednesday was so amazing! So, y'all remember Abbie right?? She is the one that we started teaching and then the AP's started teaching. She is super prepared and super awesome! On Wednesday we heard that she had pushed her date back to November 12th and we were so sad because she is so so ready to take this step in her life. Her parents are nervous about the decision because they have never met us and really don't even know what she is getting involved in. So, she invited us to a dinner with her parents and the assistants. After we ate, her dad asked us how we know that our religion is true. Each of us missionaries went around the table and bore testimony to the truthfulness of this gospel, the reality of the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong! Her parents left the restaurant with such a different view of missionaries and the gospel in general. Her dad even accepted the invitation to sit in one of Abbie's lessons!! I am convinced that the Lord is in every single detail of this work. We started the dinner sad about the moved date and ended it with such hope for the future. It was an amazing experience:)
On Thursday, we met the new district leader! His name is Elder Peterson. He is literally so awesome. Our district is so strong and I know that is has been very inspired, as all districts are!
Friday was another day full of miracles and I don't think I have ever had such a packed day. We started off doing weekly planning and making cookies and then we went and did service at our Ward mission leaders house. After we got home, we hopped on a bus and headed over to a lesson. After that lesson, we ran into 3 teenage boys. I told them we were missionaries and the boy in the middle of the group said, "Is God real?" We responded to him by saying, "Yes! And you can know that for yourself if you pray and ask." Then he said, "And He will answer??" Both of us smiled and said "Yes. Of course He will." We gave him the Book of Mormon and explained to Him that God is our loving Heavenly Father and He speaks to us through prophets. We are meeting with them next week and we are so excited to see the potential that these boys have. We will definitely keep you posted because I have a feeling that they are going to be some solid investigators.
That night, we also had a chance to see the Grim's. We were originally planning on going to see Sarah Jane to continue prepping her for her baptism but when we got there, only Lucas (her older brother) and her dad were home! We felt very strongly that we should stay and wait (again!) so we sat on the steps and started updating our area book while Lucas climbed trees and stuff outside with us. After about 30 min of waiting, Sister H, Lucas, and I decided to say a prayer all together. While we were praying, I felt a strong impression come to my head almost as clear as if someone had said it out loud: "He is sitting right there. Why aren't you teaching him??" Lucas has been very non-committal at every lesson we have had with the Grim's so we have just been focusing of Sarah Jane since she is the progressing one. The whole time Lucas had been there with us and Heavenly Father was basically giving us the perfect opportunity to teach him one on one. So, we started asking him questions about his belief in God and what he has thought about our lessons. He began to open up about how he doesn't know God exists and basically won't know until he sees some type of witness that He is real. We taught him about faith and the Spirit and how faith precedes the witness. Then, he brought up a concern that I have never heard before but it's something I think a lot of people wonder today. He asked, "Well, what if God just isn't here anymore? What if He abandoned us? What if we failed Him?" The Spirit was so strong as Sister H and I were able to testify of living prophets and modern day revelation and how the Book of Mormon is clear evidence that God is with us. He speaks! He is involved in our every day lives. We testified of our Savior and His Atonement and how His love and power can help us through any trial. After that, we committed him to be baptized on November 29th and he finally committed to really read the Book of Mormon. As he gave the prayer after the lesson, he asked God if He was really there and if He would help him through the hard things he was going through. The Spirit was so strong! The Lord truly is preparing His people in these last days and it is such a privilege to be able to witness it. As we have faith and trust in God and our Savior, we will be instruments in bringing these wonderful people home. After we said amen, Sarah Jane and Miranda pulled in and Miranda committed to be baptized on the 19th as well. Like I said, miracles never cease and Heavenly Father is in every detail.
Yesterday was so crazy and awesome and jam packed with wonderful things. Like I said before, Sister Henderson has lots of fire and energy and enthusiasm for this work. So, when we were setting a goal of how many people we were going to talk to, she said 60. Now, just to put this in perspective, Sunday's are the second hardest day to talk with people after Monday because we have church and studies to do (and we had a fireside scheduled last night too!) so we usually only talk to about 20-30. I immediately said NOOOO. I was worried about setting something so inconceivably high and being stressed the whole day trying to hit it. But, a big push in our mission has been about having faith in our Savior and asking Heavenly Father to consecrate our efforts. So, after some negotiations, we set it at 50 and adjusted our schedule so we would have as much time as possible to talk with EVERYONE. We went to a park after lunch and ended up talking to 64 people by the end of the day. Heavenly Father cares about each and every goal we set and even though they stretch us at times, He will make them happen if we have faith and do all we can to achieve them. It was such a neat learning experience for me and I am grateful to have a strong, faithful companion to push me past the limits I set for myself.
The fireside last night was also incredible! The firesides here are a little different here than other firesides because they are basically just a meeting where investigators and new members have a chance to share their testimonies. Missionaries are only allowed to go if they are accompanied by an investigator or recent convert since Sunday's are such good proselytizing days. We were able to go with Sarah Jane and her mom and guess what? Sarah Jane got up there! She was so scared but she got up and did it. She is such a sweet heart and we are so excited to see her baptized this coming Saturday. Miranda also got a chance to mingle and make friends and see more of what Sarah Jane has been experiencing at church which was so good!
I love being a missionary and I love all of you! Thank you for all the love, support, and prayers. I can not even begin to explain how grateful I am for the amazing support system that I have. I know that this gospel is true. I know that my Savior lives. I know that missionary work is inspired and that each of us can share the gospel in any capacity that we can. I know that families can be together forever. I also know that eternity is not an easy prize to win because it is something that we must earn. As we ask the Savior to lift us and strengthen us in our trials, we will grow and become more like Him. In a talk given by Elder Bednar called "In the Strength of the Lord", he states that "The enabling power of the Atonement of Christ strengthens us to do the things we could never do on our own". It does not change our circumstances. Rather, it strengthens us so that we can overcome our adversity. In Alma 17:11, the Lord tells the sons of Mosiah, "Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls." We must be patient in long suffering and afflictions so that we can be examples that through the Atonement of our Savior, we will become instruments in His hands. It is a privilege to serve as an instrument for a brief time and I am loving every second.
I love you all so much! Have an amazing week :) send pictures!
Love always,
Sister Dorian 
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"Now if a man desired to serve God, it was his privilege; or rather, if he believed in God it was his privilege to serve him" Alma 30:9
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