Sacrifices

First off.....I MIGHT BE AN AUNT NEXT WEEK!!!! AHHH. wow that is just all the excitement in side of me coming out. I am doing good everyone don´t worry. Hey I lost weight. It is possible everyone. oh and random thought. I ate something super good today oh and I had to eat cow foot again on Friday. Let me just tell you it is not always a pleasant experience. Just imagine eating your own snot, but it being hard and tough to chew. That is pata de caldo...

Well in the couple minutes that I have left I wanted to tell you all something that I have been contemplating. My sister told me of a story when I fell in the pool once and she heard a splash so she listened to the spirit and knew to look and follow that prompting. So I was thinking as she told me that and then told me that she is grateful for the sacrifice I have made and the prompting she recieved to look out the window that day so long ago.

  

Then it brought me to think that the only way we can be more like Christ is if we make sacrifices. If we are all like Christ then the world can be a better place. So we should make more sacrifices in our lives. That brought me to think about the promise I made to God when I was set apart as a missionary. I promised to be a representative of him at all times and in all things and in all places. I decided to obey the many rules we have as missionaries and decided to give up my own needs for that of others. Thanks to this sacrifice I have made and continue to make, my life is fuller and filled with the love of Christ. I feel like I have finally developed a lasting relationship with him that makes me want to just keep moving forward and changing my life. I know that the downfalls I have are my own and not from Him and so I have confidence that even when I fall he will alwyas help me to get back up.  The sacrifices we make in this life will help us out in the long run. I am so grateful for that and that I have been given this revelation.

as always I hope these few words that I have scrambled to put together are recieved well from all of you. 

wow I speak english like a spanish speaker now...whoops

Con mucho amor de Armenia,

Hermana Dunkley

oh and shout out on my blog para

la familia collantes. Les amo muchisimo...saludos a todos!!!!

A disciple of Christ‏

Well I thought I would just write everyone now and in general because I don´t have a lot of time. We had to come to Quito to renew visas today so that my companion can stay here in Ecuador for a while longer so that is what happened to me today and for that reason I can only say a little to respond to everyone.

alright breath. haha

okay so everyone has been asking me a lot about the work and everything and well I just wanted to respond to say that the work is hard, but I honestly love it.  I struggled a lot this week with my own dissapointment, but I learned a lot.  We talked about seeing the little miracles in our lives and really in every moment. We must have faith that we can see miracles and we must remember that faith is the opposite of fear and anger and impatience.  I felt more impatience this week with a desire to do good and be an example to others. Then I just remembered a scripture that just hit me,"3 Nephi 5:13  Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." Lots of times we are here to just declare his word and to help people to have everlasting life. We cannot force any person to recieve his gospel because it is their own choice, but we can help them to remember only through Christ can they recieve everlasting life. 

I am a disciple of Christ and all I want to do is help others to recieve that help and example. I am so grateful for all that Christ has done for me. 

I love you all and am so grateful for your examples.

Con mucho amor de Quito...por hoy...

Hermana Dunkley

A picture is a thousand words‏

Hi everyone. 

Well. I am at a loss of words this week. Sometimes I just get to this part and I think well what do I say. It is hard when everyone has lots of expectations for my emails. I try to keep them good, but then sometimes I get here and I am all out of ideas. Well anyways. I was thinking and they always say a picture is a thousand words so here is my picture to explain how I am doing. 

Soy feliz como misionera y solo quiero seguir como misionera. 

I hope that all the mothers in the world had a great day yesterday. I just wanted to tell of my mothers in Claremont 1 ward that I miss them and love them so much. I am so grateful for my own mother and all she does for me. My grandmothers and there examples for me and also just the hard work they do each and everyday for every single one of us. I am so grateful for your support out here and I hope that everything will continue well for all of you.  I love you all

oh ps...congrats to Jared Cicon and Dylan Wride on their mission calls!!! 

Con mucho amor de Armenia,

Hermana Dunkley

How can God permit that to happen?‏

Well we are going to stay together for another change. Hermana Costa and I are so happy and excited to keep going on!!!

Well this week was a hard one, but we learned a lot.  We were able to work hard and try the hardest that we could. That is what matters.

I have been thinking a lot about what Jesus Christ has done for us and as we heard some bad news about a sister missionary in Chile she told me something that her mother said. Even the things that seem the most ugly and hard to live through are just a small window into what Jesus felt for us as he paid for our sins. Lots of times we see the bad things in the world and we ask How can God permit that to happen? There is a simple answer to all of that we must suffer a little of what Christ suffered to be able to truly grow and change.  We may not understand the why of everything, but we do understand that we must have struggles to be able to become more like Christ.  As I was reading the scriptures I read a scripture that made me think even more in this. The scripture said that we must repent now because if we don´t we will have to suffer for all of our sins after this life.  One way or the other someone has to suffer. Christ suffered and gave us the chance to repent, but if we do not accept that gift we too must suffer as Him.  It is so great the gift he has given us and we can all continue to learn and grow if we leave our struggles behind and repent for what we have done.

I know it is true and that we can do all that we would like if we just trust in God and give him our burdens. I am so thankful to be able to serve Him.

Con mucho amor de Armenia,

Hermana Dunkley

This magic moment‏

Haylo family. ...that is how latinos say hello and I like it. haha

I am doing great. How are all of you? well im not quite sure if you all wanted to know that, but I told you anyways.

Well I just want to get to the point today. I went home to Mariscal and it was amazing. I died. I was like if this is how it feels just to return home to my first family in the mission it is going to be super crazy when I am in California....ya sorry just  a second of trunkiness. but wow it was so great and I want to share with you all an experience I had when I got to see my viejito, mi abuelito, Alfonso.

So I called him in the morning and he was all like: quien es. y yo dije hermana dunkley...oh mi reinita mi reinita que gusto escucharle como estas que haces....a donde te vas....vas a venir a mi casa...y yo le dije si alfonso vamos a venir a su casa y el me dijo oh que bueno escucharte. 

I had to put in spanish cuz it sounds better. So then I went to his house later and He asked me if he could give me a hug I told him he couldnt and he was sad, but we talked anyways. I asked him if he had finished reading his book of mormon and then he told me. Hermana Dunkley. I have read the book of mormon three times since you first gave it to me and doctrine and covenants twice. I was amazed. It was so great. haha. Then he gave the last prayer and he said. I am so thankful for hermana Dunkley she was the first one who showed me this gospel and light and now I feel so thankful for this opportunity. 

As he thanked God for me, I just sat there in disbelief. I  couldn´t feel so much happiness like that. It was amazing. I had never really felt that before. Just having the opportunity to find someone teach them the gospel and then return after 6 months and meet them again as active members of the church, is in experience like no other I have had in my life. I only wish for the day that I can see him in the temple. 

I am so truly grateful for this chance to serve a mission and meet people each and every day. You never know the day that will come when you can help someone change their life. So thankful for all those who have helped me to prepare to come out here, because if it weren´t for you all I wouldn´t have been able to feel this joy in that moment.

Con mucho amor de Armenia,

Hermana Dunkley

Bearing burdens with hope‏

Hello Everyone!! 

How are you all doing?

I am doing great. Just some few thoughts from this week and a video I saw on mormon messages that is from

 David A. Bednar he says,"Each of us also carries a load. Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints. Two guiding questions can be helpful as we periodically and prayerfully assess our load: “Is the load I am carrying producing the spiritual traction that will enable me to press forward with faith in Christ on the strait and narrow path and avoid getting stuck? Is the load I am carrying creating sufficient spiritual traction so I ultimately can return home to Heavenly Father?”

Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness. Because our individual load needs to generate spiritual traction, we should be careful to not haul around in our lives so many nice but unnecessary things that we are distracted and diverted from the things that truly matter most."

I truly love this because I think that we all have trials that are hard to live with and burdens that bring us down, but when truly can see that the burdens are what help us to lead onward we can find the guidance we need to continue onward.

This week I had some burdens with the responsabilites that I have and the people that I become worried about,  but as I listened to this I could truly see that it is possible to overcome all of those things.

I love you all so much

Con mucho amor de Armenia,

Hermana Dunkley

La Historia‏

¿Buenas días como están con todos?

Yo bien gracias. Hoy tenemos un actividad por eso estoy escribiendo mas temprano pero voy a regresar mas tarde para poder responder a todos.

So this last week was truly amazing. I had so much fun. We did divisions and I got to go out with a sister from Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was so amazing she is hilarious, and I loved hearing her accent. She always puts an sh when there is a y or ll. so she says things like (sh)yo soy hermana molina. It was so cute. I started talking like someone from Argentina. Then we had some really great lessons with our investigators and were able to find lots of new ones.  We had interviews with president I recieved so much help from him.  Something that he helped me to see was how I am continuing to strengthen my testimony. 

I told him that I have been trying to change my prayers so that they are more sincere. Like I am talking to God with all the energy of my heart like the scriptures say.  Then he told me something really amazing. When we go to pray to God we should imagine like we are truly in his presence and taking those 5 minutes to talk with Him like we need to do.  It made me truly contemplate. Everytime I talk to Him I am in His presence and so I should continue to move forward and do those things that are important. 

Just a cool quote that I would like to share with you all that I read today as we were on our drive to our activity. dice,"la historia no se la cuenta, se la hace." Manuela Saenz. In english, "History, you don´t tell it, you make it." 

So as I was sitting on the bus. I thought about all the importance that there is in this quote. We should always be doing our best to act throughout our lives. We should do more to make history than just tell the story.  

I hope you all are doing well and remember the importance of the gospel in your lives.

Con mucho amor de Armenia,

Hermana Dunkley