What we learn

Well it is that time again.  I am sure you are all getting used to the weekly madison lecture maybe a little tired of it by now, but what can I say I will continue to go on. There are not many other ways that you can hear from me, so yeah haha. 

This week was just honestly sadly normal. We didn´t have much success in inviting people to listen and we didn´t have investigators in the church and we didn´t have the success that I sincerly desired.  The hard thing for me was that it has been the normal thing that has been happening in these last couple of weeks. I do not really like that it is normal for me here. This is what is actually happening in the mission right now and it is hard to share that I am not seeing many people progress, but the truth is that I am learning.

What I am learning:

We all go through times like these. Whether it be like a missionaries where we become down because we haven´t seen a lot of people with the desires to change or whether it be other trials that we all go through here in this Earth it doesn´t matter because we all go through this. I have been so strengthened to know that the Lord finds it convenient to test his people and to put them into bondage. (As it says in Mosiah 24 and 25) He does this so that he can test them to see that they endure his trials with faith and patience.  I feel that way now like I have been put into bondage, I also feel like I have found myself reading this passage and sharing this passage numerous times because God has wanted me to learn how to pull through this.  I need to act out with my faith and be patient through this trial I am having just as all of us need to be in those times that are the hardest. I am so grateful for the blessings I feel and my Saviour, but I too have been guilty of not using his atonement in my life. I must act and do as I can to change.

It is funny, but sometimes I think this whole email thing is the means by which I confess, understand and change. It is how I have been able to cope with the hard things of a mission and enjoy the great things I have been able to experience out here. As we end this year I have learned what it means to be and to change. I myself have changed so much, I am the same me, but a more dedicated person to those things that will edify me and help me to be more strengthened. I read my scriptures, pray a whole lot more, and surprisngly for all of you back home I am eating a whole lot healthier. If you want a testimony of this ask my companion and she will testify that I ate two apples today and a whole lot of vegtables and good things in these last couple of weeks...hahaha. I am just a little proud of that sorry.  I am honestly so grateful to my father in heaven for the will to endure that he has given me. I need to learn to have more faith and patience as I have been able to learn from the scriptures. 

May you all enjoy this time that you have to live, grow and share with others. In this christmas season be grateful for the gifts you have and remeber to share them with others.

I love you all with all of my heart!

Con mucho amor de Baños,

Hermana Dunkley