El Oracion de Fe‏

Recently I have been trying to translate frases from english. lets just say some of them work but most of them dont. the great thing is that my companion loves laughing at them when I say them haha. I like to say "it never hurts to ask". nunca duele a preguntar...but more than that she just nods and laughs so thats a good sign i guess. haha. also you would be surprised but people get really confused when i say it is raining cats and dogs. it is hilarious. i cant imagine how people from sur america react when a someone from the US says it for the first time..

I like starting out with something random for the week keeps me sane. haha. Anyways this last week I have been doing a lot of pondering. Sometimes I think what am I doing wrong or why isnt this person progressing or how can i improve with all of this. More than that I have found that what I need to do is help people to strengthen there testimonies that is the principle.For example this last sunday my companion and I taught relief society on the testimony. It was funny because I got up to teach and my companion just sat there and I was like where is your support haha. Lets just say I am not a big fan of teaching relief society, but I learned a lot. A testimony is something that we testify. something that we share that we know is true. something that we share that we believe is true. one thing that is amazing about a testimony is it is the key to becoming a member of the church. or the key for us desire to change and follow God.  The only thing is that it is such a personal thing that as missionaries we are like How can we help these people to have testimonies? Lets just say I havent found the answer, but every day I am looking and I think the best thing we can do is help others to keep their commitments and feel the Holy Ghost. But I am always open to suggestions to find this answer if you all could help me out a little more that would be great. haha. But as I was sitting there I decided to open up the Liahona of October and read the presidency message. it is amazing and I love it. You should all read it, but I will share a little bit that I learned. it says," the investigator who reads the Book of Mormon before being baptized and confirmed may receive both an assurance that the book is true and a witness that Joseph Smith translated it by the power of God....We can have the Holy Ghost as our companion to confirm other truths. Then, whenever we PRAY IN FAITH, we can expect that the Holy Ghost will testify to us that Jesus is the Christ, the God the Father lives, and that THey love us and all of Heavenly Father's Children." I think this is the same with general conference too. if we listen and learn from those things that the Prophet and his apostles, and the general authorities have prepared for us we can grow and learn so much in our future.  I feel this spirit and confirmation whenever I share my testimony and all of you can too!

I love this gospel, I love my Savior and I am so grateful for all that he has done for me.  May God bless you all. 

Y tienen una buen semana, por favor,

amor de Quito,
Hermana Dunkley

                                                             Madison says it rains 3 to 4 hours a day

                          Madison made homemade Cinnamon Rolls she said it was just like Home

Buenas....tardes o noches....tardes..

haha this is like my thought in the street a lot. Is it time for the morning afternoon or night because time just flies by and then yeah all of a sudden you have lost time and you only have two more weeks left in the transfer.  That is when you realize wow yeah this time goes by fast!  Right now here in Argelia, Ecuador...we actually are in San Bartolo so yeah, but right now it is raining cats and dogs. I really have grown to like it. A few things about this area.  There are so many kind people here and so many people that ask me if I am from France and the other day someone asked me if I was from Switzerland, but all the people in our ward know that I am from the US so yeah my secret identity is known. haha. Also funny thing this last week we had a service activity. We had to make cement, shovel it into buckets, and then carry it up to the roof to put cement on the roof. im not sure why they wanted it up there but yeah we did it.  It just was awesome because i had so much fun. I shoveled a lot and wanted to start a fight but was afraid of what would happen with cement so I thought better of it haha. I shoveled all of the cement ino buckets for lie 3 hours and today I am just paying for it now. My back kills, but yeah thats life. haha.

This week I have really enjoyed getting to know this area better. Everyone is so kind and helpful and I have really started to feel at home here.  Somethings I have learned have really shown me what I need to do to be a better missionary here. When I shared my talk yesterday I was so nervous, but then when I walked up the stairs to give it I just talked and talked for 15 minutes and it was so funny because I am pretty sure I put some people to sleep, but yeah I talked in Spanish in front of everyone so I was happy.  I really felt the Spirit and was so happy for the opprotunidad to learn so much and share a little with the people here in Argelia. Right now we are really looking forward to some people who are progressing and I can't wait for this next general conference. It is going to be a great opportunity to share with everyone talks from our prophet. All I can hope to advise everyone is that you can prepare for this general conference and to hear the things that our prophet and apostles have prepared for us! I am so grateful for this church and all those things that I have learned from it. 

Remeber what Mosiah 5:15 says "Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfastand immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord GodOmnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye mayhave everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, andjustice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who isGod above all. Amen." I really love this scripture and I really love you all!

May God be with you and may you be steadfast and Immovable so that you can be brought to heaven one day,

Hermana Dunkley

Buenas Noticias

It is so nice to hear good news. We all know that bad news are apart of life so we endure when we have them, but when we have good news it is like, whoosh yeah here we go. haha. So good news we had 5 investigators in church this week. Bad news. I have to speak in church next week. Good news. I got into BYU!! Bad news the rainy season has officaly started and it pours for like hours...Good news I can roll my R's...(ever since my third week i just forgot to tell everyone)...Bad news...most people don't roll their R's when they say Carro (car...for all of you gringos...i am included in that one i guess so for everyone who doesnt speak spanish)..but thats not that bad just that its a little bit embarrassing when you roll your rs all the time and people are like who are you crazy? haha. 

Anyways this last week was so interesting with a lot of good and bad news. The good thing is that we take in the good and only use the bad to better us for the next time. I really learned a lot from the email from my friend Sister Clonts this last week. We should always try to use those good things we do to bring our spirits up.  Through these things we can grow and become better people. Some things that really helped me were when the Elders from our ward accompanied us to a lesson with a family who has had trouble to have a goal to be married. We have been working so hard to get them to this goal, but it was like a dead end every time. Then Elder Harmer, and Rivaza came with us and they just like blew the house down with the Spirit. It was such an amazing experience for us. It was great because the same day we had interviews with President Christensen too and we got homeade cookies so I was really happy for that too haha. But it was just awesome because I was able to feel the Spirit so strong and really helped me out a lot to have more motiviation to trust in God and have faith. So this last Sunday as we climbed mountain after mountain I just prayed in my heart. time and time again. It was amazing because we walked up to the door of the family Paredes and boom they were all ready to go to church. I was amazed and so happy. It was an answer to my prayers and I know that you all can have your answers too!. I love you all thank you for the words of wisdom.

Hasta Ver! 

Les Quiero muchisimo,

Hermana Dunkley

PS. fotos, this is macaroni and chesse the ecuador style and im with one of the mamitas daughters. and the other is me with my shirt!

Dìa de Milagros

Hi everyone and another week gone and another week started. It is funny because today an elder said what does it feel like to almost have a third of your mission done. I was like...umm...well...it doesn't feel good. Because I don't want to think about how much time I have in the mission or how much time I have left. I just want to live and invite people to follow Christ. That has been the only thing on my mind. How can I fulfill my purpose as a missionary? How can I excercise my faith? So that was on my mind a lot as we went in to another fast Sunday. I had been thinking a lot about somethings I learned in the CCM. (MTC) I learned a lot about praying specifically and about praying and commiting to act in your prayers. So this Saturday we did that and for this reason we had un dìa de milagros. or a day of miracles. It is amazing what you can do when you pray and act. God answers.

Well basically what happened is that we had felt a lot of pressure this past week to have results...or numbers. And this is always hard on a missionary because we live by numbers, but we don't want to think of people only as numbers. It is extremly a lot of pressure. So this Saturday as we started our fast and I thought of all the things I have learned. That in reality if we excercise our faith in God he will help us to have results and that he will trial our faith and we will have to learn humility too. And so this last Saturday and Sunday went like that. We changed our minds about the work and we contacted everyone in the street that we ran into as we went from lesson to lesson. And we met people who in reality had truly been prepared by God to meet us. It was a miracle. And then Sunday as we waited at the steps of the church for those people we had met, well what happened is that we entered in without anyone that we had talked to. We sat down with our recent converts and contemplated what had happened. This was the trial of my faith and the opportunity for me to learn more humility. It was not apart of Gods will for those of our investigatores to come to church. But the amazing thing is I have so much faith that we are going to have better results this week. If there is anything I have learned in life it is that I need to learn from my mistakes or better off. Everyday that is hard or doesn't go the way I want it to. Wake up and have a better one. I honestly have no doubt that God will work harder here in this sector this next week. When there is one day of miracles there can always be another.

I am so thankful for this gospel and I am so grateful for the opportunity everyday to repent, change, and start again. The way life moves sometimes feels hard and slow. But as we refocus our energies in those things that are good, our mind changes and life moves so fast that we miss those days that have gone by. Be grateful for everyday that you live and breath. And thank the God who made us all for this opportunity to live and breath another day.

I love you all and pray for you always,

Amor de Quito,
Hermana Dunkley

well this is my zone...zone turubamba norte. and this other picture is the absolutely funniest picture that you will ever see in your life. lets just say yes. it is a llama...i think maybe an alapaca is what the lady said. 

Mi Testimonio

Well how to begin.
I love my Father in Heaven.
I love my Savior Jesus Christ. 

I love this gospel.

I know this church is true with all of my heart. 

I know this because I have prayed and asked my father in heaven if these things are true and he has responded.

I felt this response in my heart and it was just like peace and tranquility. It was strength and security. It was unwavering and sure.

This is my testimony and it has never changed. Only grown. I think I have shared something like this everyday. Lots of times it is different, but sometimes it is the same. Sometimes I can feel the spirit so strong in my heart when I share it. Sometimes it is just like a little fire that burns deep within but that continues on steadily.
I am not really sure why I wrote these things, but it was just kind of in my mind and in my heart and I needed to let it out another time. So that all could know these things.

This first week in Argelia was amazing. It was fun. It was tiring. It was extremly hard. And at times I just wanted to sit at home and sleep. But you wake up every morning with a new purpose in mind. You wake up every morning blessed to have your life and this opportunity to act...to live.

I think it was hard because there are a lot more people here who are catholic and they don't let you in. We have tried so hard to invite new people, but some just don't want anything. So you move forward. Yesterday in church I was blessed to meet the members and I already have my lovely friends who like to mess with my gringita-ness...haha but I truly like it and it is fun to talk to people and have a new ward family again. My companion is Hermana Rojas and she is from Peru. She doesn't speak any english, but honestly it is better that way. English is hard...Spani

sh too...entonces haha..that's how life is. The best compliment yet is that my bishop this sunday he is from the coast so he has an awesome accent...they don't pronounce there s like spain but it is cooler in the coast...and he asked me how much time I had in the mission after talking for a little bit and I said 4 months and he was all...wow thank you so much your spanish is amazing and I just flipped my hair and said thank you! haha. With more class, but it was pretty good. Anyways I am happy as normal I have some funny photos this week because my sector is like a straight up mountain and we have like stairs everywhere we also have a mobile!!! gas station!!! I was like wow society...usa...haha. But these things were pretty great and I am so graterful for all of the words from you this week. Keep working hard like I will be doing. Remeber that God loves you as always and wants you to remember these things too. love you all bunches!

Amor de Quito,
Hermana Dunkley

I dont have a lot of good ones but next week will be better dont worry. and next week I will have one with my companion!

First the stairs of one part...this isn't even the top of our sector..haha...