Ambato, Ecuador

Well I was hoping to throw a lot of quotes in herre from conference, but they arent all loaded up yet, so there went my idea. haha. Conference was so amazing I loved it so much and I was so happy. It turned out to be a conference that really helped me out. I loved when they helped me to see what I need to do. I felt it was really cool that lots of them asked us to ask ourselves questions. It has made me ponder a lot in my heart. I loved the stories that they told and all of the advice they gave us. It was a wonderful experience being able to sustain 3 new apostles. I feel like they all gained our love when they shared those beautiful testimonies. I am so exited to keep trying to apply these things in my life. This next Sunday I have to share with my ward in Ambato how the mission has made a difference in my life....the thing is I dont know how to express there isnt one thing that hasnt changed...well to make sure that that makes sense I wanted to say that everything has changed about me in the mission. The amazing thing is that it has been a change so amazing and I can't wait to keep going. 

As the time goes down to coming home I have been thinking a lot about how I want to keep the changes I have made, and conference made it very obvious to me....the goal is exaltation, discpleship is a journey. We as disciples of Christ need to be on the right journey never stop, never weary.  Keep going. As I look back on all this time, thats what I think it has been a journey that never stops. Just the scenery changes sometimes. So as the scenery changes from here to there we must go and do as the Lord commands. I am grateful for all of you. I hope that you all will be okay and keep going on.

Con mucho amor de Ambato,

Hermana Dunkley

Miracles

So one of the many miracles we have been able to see. The baptism of Bryan. It was such a spirtual day and it was so great. He is a super funny kid and he is so awesome. He has had a harder life, but he truly chose to change. It was so amazing when he bore his testimony and said Thank you to everyone for the faith you all have had in me. He said that it was hard to change, but he truly wanted to do it. He thanked us too, and I was astonished, it feels so good to help others to come unto Christ and to see them take these steps. I cant wait to see these upcoming days that we are able to help others to recieve this step of baptism. The miracles just keep on coming. We have to work hard to be able to recieve them. I am so grateful for what Christ has done for me and for the chance I still have to keep on changing. I need these last weeks so that I can still change and become a better person, and so that I can have more amazing experiences as a missionary. There is only one time I can serve a mission this way, and I hope to be able to do it like Christ desires me to do it.

Thank you everyone for everything....We will see you in 3 weeks.

Con mucho amor de Ambato,

Hermana Dunkley

El cambio‏

Well first off sorry, this computer wont let me put any pictures on, but its alright, you will all see my face rather soon. 

What do I want to tell you all? I am struggling to write in english. I have thought over how to speak, it is kind of hard. I am not quite sure if that is written correctly. 

Okay. So let me say it gets harder at the end. I thought it would get easier, but that is a lie. haha. 

The great thing is that thanks to this time I have spent here my convert Alfonso, that I always talk so highly of was able to go to the temple. As soon as he finished a year as a member he did it. I think that is so amazing, because I know that it is only thanks to our Savior that I had the opportunity to knock on his door and help him recieve this gospel. I think of how amazing it feels to help people choose the right and become baptized and then I think of how it is even more amazing it is when someone chooses to take that next step and recieve more blessings from God. He made a huge sacrifice in going there, but he choose to do it because he knew it was right. 

I am so grateful that I can serve a mission. This week an elder asked me if I could sum up my mission in one word what would it be. I thought change.  The most important thing that has happened to me in my mission is the change in my conversion that I have been able to have. I have seen so many other changes as well, in the people of Ecuador, in my family at home, in the way I see the world in general...but the greatest change has been the change in my relationship with God and Jesus Christ. I hope you all can meditate in the relationship you all have with them. It is something so important, because without them we are all just here living and then nothing else will matter, but thanks to Our Father, and Savior, there is life in each and every one of us. I testify this to you all, because the one thing that I can do as a missionary is testify and I most do it until the last day I have that authority as a missionary.

Thank you for your prayers, love, and help. I feel your support each day.

Con mucho amor de Ambato,

Hermana Dunkley

Get caught in the work

Well not much time again, but I need to tell you all that we are seeing miracles. I am so thankful. This amazing family went to church yesterday and now we are going to help them to keep moving forward. I am so excited to see them baptized this change. I know it will happen. We are doing great here working hard and just pushing forward this last little bit that is left in the change.

Now I just need to share one thing that sister Mori shared with me, Elder Jeffrey Holland. "When the Savior comes I want to be caught living the gospel. I want to be surprised right in the act of spreading the faith and doing something good. I want the Savior to say to me 'Jeffrey' because He knows all of our names ' I recognize you not by your title but by your life, the way you are trying to live and the standards you are trying to defend. I see the integrity of your heart..."

I hope one day I can say the same thing of my own life and that one day each and every one of you can too. I am so thankful that I can say at least for now that I am trying to do these things. I want to be caught sharing the gospel when the Savior comes as well. I love you all and wish you an amazing week.

Con mucho amor de Ambato,

Hermana Dunkley

Love

Yay. I am staying in Ambato. I am so happy and excited for this change I can´t wait to keep on going, learning, and growing more. I will be staying these last couple of weeks with Hermana López. My poor companion is going to have to kill another one of her companions, but yeah I am happy. So little things I learned this last week. I love doing divisions with the Hermanas they are so great and it is a learning experience for me when I can be with a newer missionary again helping them out and everything. I really do like it because they always have so many questions for me and I can usually try to help them out a little. We have some really great investigators in our sector too, and some great families that want us to work with them I can't wait to see them be baptized and become families more firm and strong in the church. what else? 

As I have been contemplating these last couple of weeks, I have started to think, What have I done to show Christ that I am willing to serve him and to keep on going? So as I have thought about this, I have seen really how much Satan wants to tempt us at the end of it all. I feel like I have been omnipotent like no one can tempt me or bring me down as a missionary, but then what happened, is that it has become so much harder to fight off the natural man these last few months. Now I need to keep going and work hard, I feel like as we all see the challenges that God puts in our way we have to try so much harder to show to God what we can do better. I know that if we work our hardest to show the Lord what we can do we won't need to worry about our future. I am not worried about anything, I just worry that I can finish saying I have done all that I can, so that means I need to be obedient, and keep being a good examples to others, that means I will work my butt off every day to see blessings and to help others to find there way forward.

As we were going to buy groceries today I ran into these two older women that the one is a less active and her very catholic mother from my old sector in Guaranda. I felt so sad as the very old woman cried to me saying "Come back with us to Guaranda, I need you there, You need to marry my grandson" In those moments I thought of the blessing I have truly seen to be able to love so many people out here and feel the love from them. I know that even though I can't go to Guaranda or marry her grandson, because I really just don't want too haha, that I will see her again one day, and only thanks to the mission I have been able to serve.

I love you all and hope that my mom sends that picture of  me with them because she is just such a sweet old lady! 

Con mucho amor de Ambato,

Hermana Dunkley

More and more miracles are coming our way‏

HI EVERYONE!!!

Can I tell you I love you all, and I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU ALL SOON!....

not that I am trunky or anything hahaha. just kidding. 

Well I just have a little bit of time to tell you all that I love you and I am so thankful to serve the Lord. This week was a rollercoaster of emotions. Sometimes I feel like a pregnant woman and I just go crazy. It is called emotional stress disorder I think haha, but it has all been worked out. My companion and I had an amazing week filled with miracles. We were able to work so diligently and then see so many people at church on Sunday. For a hard change opening a sector I felt so extremely thankful to God for giving me this one blessing of closing off this change with so many people at church. We found this one man who we just happened to call and we said hey church is on sunday here and at this time your invited and then he showed up. I was like "this does not happen every day hahahah" then we were able to visit him and he told us that he really wanted to recieve this guide. I think the best part of all of this work, is that we have been able to work with so many members here in Ambato and they are all helping us out with the work of the Lord and our investigators. It is so amazing when members tell us they want to come out with us and when we can see we have investigators to teach!!!

I am so extremly grateful for these blessings that I have seen. Like my mission President told me, you will see so many blessings in your last months of the mission and I feel like I am seeing them. 

Thank you all for your prayers, I am being lifted and helped by angels everyday.

Con mucho amor de Quito....(I am in quito today sorry forgot to tell you)

Hermana Dunkley

Listen the first time‏

I had this amazing experience. While on divisions, I just got stuck and was like what do I do next. Like usual sometimes all of our lessons fall and then you just say to yourself....what next? So as I started to walk in what direction I don't know where I saw a family walking on the street and I like felt in my heart this voice that was my own that said "contact them". So I did it. I went up to them and they were really positive like, "ya come on over anytime were home all the time" they gave me their direction and then we went to see them on Sunday. As I found there house I was like wow, I had passed that house a couple of times and everytime I felt you should contact this house. The problem was that I told myself, well it is a work place and if I contact them they will surely tell me they can't talk because they are working, but how wrong I was to not listen to the voice the first time. I should have listened, but thankfully God put them in my way another time and we could find them. As we walked into the house I showed them a picture of the temple and we talked about how we wanted to help them to be able to go there one day. The first time I have ever done that and they really were interested. I felt a special spirit about the whole lesson, talking about how they could have an eternal family made me anxious to see them baptized and sealed as a family in white one day. Sunday night was only the beggining, but I have faith that this family will become an eternal family one day. I just see them and think, wow I finally had the experience that I so desired. One of my goals before I end my mission is to see a family be baptized and I have faith that I will be able to see them and one other family be baptized between now and October.

I love you all and hope you know that even though we might forget or choose not to listen to the voice of the Spirit the first time, God will always repeat his answer to us, or he will put others in our path so that we don't forget them. I am so grateful that God gave me so many chances to find this family and I know that the same will happen to all of you if you choose to listen to the voice of the spirit not tomorrow, but now.

I am so grateful for my chance to serve, even though it is coming down to only a little more time, I feel that it will all be okay.

Con mucho amor de Ambato,

Hermana Dunkley