Christmas week and Sick...Again

So last week I forgot to tell you the "cold" part of my email. So to clarify, yea, at nights now, I get really cold with the fan blowing on me and the windows open. Weird really, but the days are still as hot as ever!!

Yes you read my email right, SICK AGAIN!!! I got sick yesterday again, I don't think Filipino food agrees with me to be honest... Maybe it will be better.

But this week wasn't too bad, we had three days of traveling for our big Christmas Zone conference then a couple of good days of work then sick and yea, not to much to say to be honest.

Other big news is that our mission is getting cut down, next July a new mission is opening up and our boundaries are changing, so it is a possibility next year, (6 month) I could be in a new mission. Who ever is in the area that is being changed when the change happens, become apart of the new mission so....exciting stuff!!!

Thought for the week, be the best person you can be!! Don't do things that will drag you down spiritually or temporally. I saw a video as well and this preacher said "The devil has you where he wants you, when you cry, he is laughing, when you're sad he is happy, when you're dying, he is dancing, don't let this be you." Be the one who stands out and is strong and doing what you should be and you will triumph. Be the best person you can be every day!!!

Love you all
Elder James Dunyon

So....we got to Skype with James today!!!  He looks and sound great.  Here are a couple pictures from the Skype. :)

New Comp, Same area, AND COLD (what????)

This week has been crazy!! We had transfers this week. But good new is that I stayed in the same area and have an amazing new comp, E Stevens!! He has already helped me so much in teaching and Tagalog and allowed me to have experiences with talking that I never got with me last companion so it has been really cool!! (Computer sucks so I can't do pictures yet, sorry)

Because of transfers too, I got to spend a lot of time with our Zone leader Elder Weston and he helped me so much as well with speaking and ways to make situations less awkward and how to teach and he helped a ton. I am looking forward to these next few weeks!!!

My thought for the week is to just open your mouth and say or do something nice this week. The lord promises us if we do something in his name and it is his will, he will bless us for our efforts. So this week I challenge everyone to go out and do an act of charity for the Christmas season!! Charity is the pure love of Christ, so use that to help someone out this week and not only they, but you will be blessed too!!

Thanks for everyone's emails, sorry for not responding sometimes but I do read them, and am so thankful for all you do and say. Everyone seems busy and getting ready for Christmas!!

Love you all!!!

Elder James Dunyon

Miracles, Moving, and learning

Mom, I will start out with Happy birthday!!

So this week was full of stuff but not at the same time. We have had some rough days with work so we haven't gotten to see some people we really want to visit, but we can officially say we are moved in to our new apartment. All those moves that I helped my dad with for the Elders quorum when I was younger  totally helped when we moved. But all set and I like the new place, it works pretty well.

Miracles this week, was Tuesday and Friday.

Tuesday I was on transfers with another new guy, and I lead our area. It was really fun and my Tagalog is good enough now that I was able to understand and communicate lessons, their concerns and other things too!! It was really cool to see progress. Definitely thankful for the Lord and his help in the language.

Friday, my companion and I tracked out a Barangay (a small village or township) and it so happened that everyone was related in this area and they all were willing to hear our message, so hopefully this goes somewhere.

Then this week as well is transfers week, so I will let you know what happens there!

Spiritual for the week just so happens to be what people have sent me in there emails. Don' t look for the bad things or things to drag you down. Look at the positives. If there is someone who you dislike, every dislike you think or say, come up with 3 good things. Always look to improve and love others, loving others is what Christ did, and that is exactly who we need to be like.
I Love you all!!

Thanks for all the many updates

Elder James Dunyon

Apartment Issues!!!

So this week was mainly full of really annoying issues of dealing with a landlord and sister who wants to move in so he is trying to kick us out illegally, being the middle men (my companion and I) for language translation, and finding our new apartment and helping our new landlord with paper work (again being the middle men, so that is my Tagalog now, I can understand and hold small conversation). So work this week also wasn't the best because I was sick all last week, so this week we want to kill it, but we will be moving sometime this week, so we will see.

We did have one really solid day of work this week where we met a TON of new people and some of them are "GOLDEN FAMILIES". Meaning they really accept our message and want us to come back and hear more. There is this one family, Robert and Shella and two little kids, and they are literally my favorite. They are a poorer family but so humble and we are hoping  to baptism them in January.
We were also able to extend some baptism dates in January to some others we are working with, so it is possible to have a TON next month. I am excited!!!

So these last few weeks have been a little rough and I wanted to share a little story because it sounds like some of you at home are struggling too. This is kind of paraphrased, in my own words.

"There was this woman who had some sort of sickness in her stomach and it caused internally bleeding. The doctors told her there is a procedure to help but has a 99% chance she would die. But with out it, there was also a 99% chance she would die. So she said 'Lets do it'.  Long story short, she lived. She went on the rest of her life knowing there is a God who is there to help her. She had the hope, the faith, the want to be that one percent that survived. And she got it. Hold on to that one percent. Find something in any situation to be your own percent or find that one percent that always makes you happy.

I have my one percent who always helps me, in any situation, no matter how far. Find that one percent to hold on to.

I love you all!
Elder Dunyon

3 Nephi 8:11

So, this week for me, in summary of the scripture in my title, which reads:

And there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward., 

I was sick for 5/7 days with that food poisoning. Yea it came back...

It was rough, we had two days of real work this week. Those two days of work were good though. One day I led my area with my district leader and it was good to have an american companion who didn't know the area, because then I actually had the opportunity to talk and have a relationship with the people we taught. My companion never lets me speak. So that day was an amazing experience to see how much I have grown and where I need to improve still. So that was really good.

We did have our baptisms this week!! They were amazing and so excited. Ivy even expressed wanting to serve a mission!! It was awesome!! I added pictures below!

My spiritual thought for the week while stuck in the apartment. The Lord is there for us in all things, all we need to do is ask and he will help us. Sometimes it might not be in the way we expect, but he does help us.

Sorry for the short one this week, more this next week hopefully!!

I love you all, please keep writing, I love reading the emails, it helps a ton!!
Love Elder James Dunyon

Lived what I teach

So this week has been a little bit rougher and it is hard to hear of the passing of my Great Grandma Kilgore.

Through the whole week, plans, appointments, and many things just kept falling through. Wednesday, literally our whole plan, which started out packed and not knowing if we would be able to get everyone in, was thrown out the window in the first hour of the day. So we had to do some changed plans. Then Thursday and Friday were Zone conference and for us on the island it is an all day travel and it is a really long trip. Then Saturday things were changed again because we had interviews that day and our normal plan, again, out the window. Then because of food from a birthday party Saturday, Sunday we had food poisoning and were throwing up, with LBM and cramps with terrible headaches.

So this week was rough, and I did what I have been teaching to people. Turn to the lord. I prayed a lot and read in the scriptures a lot. That made things go by better having the lords help. The two good things that went well this week were such a blessing. Both Jaicca and Ivy passed their Baptismal interviews so we are excited for this Saturday for them. And the other, was on Sunday, President Davies was on the island for District conference, so he stopped by our house for interviews and he gave both of us blessings . It was amazing and we both felt better after our blessings.

Always turn to the lord when you need help. Whether it is for a blessing or prayer or anything, he is always there for you, you just need to ask. "His hand is out stretched still"

This week I am looking to turn it around. I am thankful in the end for the rough week, it was a learning experience. 

And I just wanted to say thanks to my dad, for teaching me maintenance of things. I have fixed several things in our apartment this week from things you have taught me, so thank you and am so thankful to have you as my dad.

I love you all, Always stay strong!!
Love Elder James Dunyon

I can't remember what I wanted to put here

This week has been a busy week but a good week.

There were ups and downs and struggles but over all things were good. Our 2 baptisms on the 24th are progressing well. Jaicca is a little shy so we do struggle with her sometimes and there was one night we went to teach and she was so upset for some reason we didn't know what to do, so we just try to have a casual conversation with her and it kind of help. But she is doing a lot better now. And Ivy has been great and is so excited for her baptism. We are looking solid, so pictures soon to come, sorry none till next week of Zone Conference.

This week we also taught a guy, who is around 21 years old, and during the lesson his parents and his sisters came in. It was a really cool family lesson for the first time. Afterward Mark (that was his name) was holding his arm, so I asked him what happened, and he explained that not even an hour ago, he hurt his arm when he slipped. So we said a prayer to help him heal so he can return to work latter that week, and after I helped examine his arm, with my amazing PT skills. He strained his forearm pretty bad, I gave him some things he can do that will help heal it quicker. He was very thankful for that.

Always be looking for opportunities to serve and help others in any way possible. Do it out of Love like Christ. Even if it is praying for them, anything you can help if you do it sincerely and with loving intent.

Thank you all for the many emails and help this week!!!
I love you all!!
Elder James Dunyon

The Experience

So this week has been one of the best weeks so far on the mission, even with days that were bad, I definitely felt all your prayers and thank you for all the scriptures!! I am back in Mosiah and have to say, if you want something good to read, read king Benjamin!! He is the man!!

This week went by quick but slow but it was good. Big points I remember are, mapping out a new area all day and found 10 new people to teach!! Almost getting hit in the head by a coconut, don't worry, I am okay and safe!!! And Really wanting a motorcycle when I get home from my mission. Yea, I officially want a motorcycle, that is going to be a thing, they are everywhere here.

Now the experience is a person that was being taught for a while by the missionaries. We had a DO or Die kind of lesson with him that was unplanned. Through the whole lesson, he said he knew our message was true and could feel the Holy Ghost, but because of the miracles of Prayer in his religion, he won't ever leave his religion.

At first I was disappointed but was very proud of his conviction in his religion. He is a great guy, but my testimony of this gospel is still unshaken. This is the True and restored church! And his experiences of prayer really strengthened ,my testimony that if we go to him in faith, he will answer our prayer. We are his children and he wants to hear from us and he will help us!! I know this to be true.

On another note, WE SHOULD HAVE TWO BAPTISMS ON THE 24!!! I AM SO EXCITED, these people were people I contacted and have taught to the first time, it is so cool and I am excited!!

Well, that is it from me
Love you all

Elder James Dunyon

The Flu pt 2

So yea, yesterday I got the flu again!!! I spent all day in bed and threw up twice!! Got to love it!! But I am doing better now, just really tired and sore, good thing it is P-Day, have a little bit more rest and recovery.

This week has been an adventure. We went for 5 week check up and I got to see everyone from my batch, so that was really fun!!

Then this week our progress on our most promising people is starting to plateau, so we will be trying something new to try and help them out to be baptized!!

Then on Friday I had splits with another district, and it was me and another trainee out together, so two guys that don't know Tagalog all that well, going out and doing what we can. The Lord was definitely with us that day!!  We shared so many first lessons and we understood and spoke mostly in Tagalog, and were able to find some new people for them, that looked pretty interested and promising!! There was one family out in the center of this rice field, and we had the impression to go and see.  So we walked on this irrigation ditch with wood planks for a quarter mile to get to their house. It was so cool and they were so loving and nice!! I know Heavenly Father helped us.  There is no way we could've done what we did with out Him.

So that is also a majority of my pictures this week, the trip to the main land and the splits. There is one picture I love, I will let you guess which on that is. This week is transfers and also a large new batch of missionaries comes in, so we will see what happens, not sure if something will happen  to me but we will see, I have been prepping myself in case something does happen.

I love you ALL and know you are praying for me!!

Elder James Dunyon

Zone Conference and the Coconut!!

This week started out with an amazing Zone Conference!!!  We had Elder Teh of the 70 come, who by the way said the closing prayer in Sunday afternoon session of conference, and it was amazing!!

We had a question and answer session with him and I got to ask my question about how does someone decide between two good choices, for example, great colleges.

He said, we need to earnestly seek and get our feet a little wet and let the Lord know your choice and stick with it. He may prompt you then after the fact to go the other way or incorporate the other choice into your choice now. But he will help you.  He also said, sometimes, based on desires, wants, and wishes, we may think one option is also a good option, but sometimes, it really isn't, so be aware!!

It was awesome!! Then I got to interview with him!! One of the few who did and I loved it so much and he is so sweet and nice!!!

Thank you everyone with your emails this week. This week has also been a week of patience and practicing it, so everything you shared about it, really helped me. That is probably the Christ like attribute I need to work on the most.

A highlight of the week was yesterday where our three most progressing people all attended sacrament meeting!!! Baptisms soon?? Maybe???

Pictures:
DadBod (pictures at a restaurant and burger).  Probably the only place in the Philippines you can get an actual burger, it was so good!! 3/4lb gone instantly!

Coconut!! we visited a person we are teaching and he has his own small coconut tree and we had fresh coconut water and coconut!! IT WAS DELICIOUS!! Oh man, I can't even describe it!!!

Thank you all for the support I love you all!!!!

Love Elder James Dunyon

I saw a white Guy!!!

So this week has been a lot better from last week and it is getting better. Still rough but not too bad.

Wednesday was a rough day because we ran out of gas for our stove and couldn't eat dinner or breakfast AND it cost 430 pesos to get a new tank, then we payed for a "special trip" to a family that cost us another 80 pesos which is absurd 🙄 then I left my water bottle at the families house and lost our phone!!! So that day was really rough. 

But we got things solved, budgeted (thanks dad), found the phone and got the water bottle back on Sunday when we could return. So patience and faith was a test this week but a really good one!! The many blessings and miracles the Lord gives me every week is amazing!! And I am so thank full for them. 

This week was general Conference and I loved it so much! I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAD NEVER SEEN A WOMEN SESSION OF CONFERENCE!!! THEY ARE AMAZING!!!!!! 

All the talks were outstanding and focused to me on the family, faith, and Jesus Christ. It was just amazing!! I hope everyone had an opportunity to watch all sessions, if not, go watch them. I really enjoyed the women's session!!

Here is a link to all the General Conference talks:

https://www.lds.org/

I uploaded two pictures:

One of a birthday party for B. Rico (in the wheel chair) which was so much fun!!  And the second is a drink thing called Hawlo-hawlo, if i spelled that right.  It means mix-mix, where it is literally everything. Rice, milk, corn, fruits, ice, a lot but it was so good!!

Spiritual, Be patient with yourself and the Lord. He works in his own time, that is why you need to have faith. If you do that he will bring blessings and miracles!!

I love you all, thanks for writing to me, and sorry if I am not able to email everyone!!

Oh and my title for the email, I saw a random tourist walking around and was the first white guy I have seen in weeks 😂😂

Love,

Elder James Dunyon

I am the Cow whisperer

So if you didn't hear, yea, it was been a really rough couple weeks for me and still struggling to be honest. I feel all your prayers and thank you for all the emails and help!! All of you...I love you so much!! Some of the things said really helped, but still praying and reading the scriptures, like a TON!! I read from Alma 10 to 3 Nephi 13 in no time and searching and praying too.

Through that reading though, I know how true the Gospel of Jesus Christ is and the Joseph Smith is a true prophet. Again my testimony is strengthened over and over again.

Now the Title,

Yea,  I am a cow whisperer. We were walking in back country and came across a bunch of cows in the way.  So I mooed at them to get out of the way because there was about 10 in the road and they are huge!! When I mooed they all moved out of the way so we could pass through!! it was Hilarious!!
I wish I took a picture. But other than that, this week has been mainly prayers and studying, not a lot of progress with people or pictures to report so sorry. But thank you for everything!!!

I Love you all!!!

Elder James Dunyon

The Island life!!

Sorry about last week but I didn't have a ton of time to write, today I have more!!! 

The Week has been great but hard!

My companion is a native Filipino so communicating can be a bit hard sometimes but we make it work. 

We have visited some of the same families again and again so I am trying to figure some new things that I can say in my broken Tagalog to get them to Church. 

The members in the Branch are so nice with the few that they are. They are really mission oriented and it is amazing. We work with them to strengthen their testimonies of everything.

This week I wont lie, has been really hard. I was sick Tuesday night and almost passed out going home and had the flu all day Wednesday.  Thursday was slow because I was exhausted. I also questioned my mission and being out here. After I talked with my Mission President, he helped, but still working on why I am out here if that makes sense. Like what is my purpose. 

I am staying on my mission but I am also praying and searching the scriptures the hardest I have in my life for help in answering the question for myself, "Why am I on a mission?"

This is my message this week is, have faith in the lord and know he will help you. 

If you go to the Lord in prayer and search the scriptures he will answer you prayers but you need to have faith that he will otherwise he won't be able to help you. 

Love you all!!! Look forward to Conference!!  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Love Elder James Dunyon

Quick but good

SO I AM ALIVE.

Yes we had a typhoon but it hit north of the Manila MTC so it was alright.
I didn't write this last week because we transferred out into our missions!!

We met our mission president and wife and they are the best!! I love them so much.

Then we shipped out. I am with Elder Lopez and he is pretty cool. We are on the Island or Marinduque which is the southern Island in the center of the bay in my mission.

I have met some cool people even though I understand none of them 😂 and it is constantly hot here, like you never stop sweating.

Spiritual thought this week,
Always put your trust in the lord, he will help you in all things, all you need to do is ask with faith he will help and it will be given.

Sorry for a short letter, I had 30 emails I had to read.
Love,

Elder James Dunyon

IT IS CHRISTMAS TIME HERE!!!!

You read that right, it is Christmas time in the Philippines from September to December. They are called the BER-months. So people are a little bit more friendly, even though they are probably the nicest people you will ever meet!! So far things have been good though. And it has been an adjustment but has gotten better and have had tons of spiritual experiences.

Speaking of....

Whenever you are feeling down, time are hard, or you just don't know what to do, Turn to the lord, open your heart unto him and he will help you in all things. He loves you, and wants to hear from you. Give service to others because that is true Christ like love and that will bring you up as well. I love you all.

Sorry for the short one this week, not much time again. More photos will be next time, ran out of time, sorry!!!!!

Oh and BTW
I jammed my finger and it is now 3xs the size of my normal one!! That’s the first picture below.  The other is from the plane as we arrived in the Philippines.

Don't know when my next P-day will be, just always be on the look out for my emails.

Love
Elder James Dunyon

I skipped Tuesday!!

This week has been crazy!!

To start, this week began with Sunday. "What Elder Dunyon your crazy, it started with Sunday?" It began with packing everything up from the Provo MTC and also having an amazing devotional Sunday night about always knowing promptings from the spirit and being the best missionary you can be. It was amazing and a real testimony builder and exactly what I needed to hear before I left to Manila.

Monday!

This was the first day of two (or three) days of travel. We finished packing all of our belonging up from the Provo MTC and headed to the train station where we took the train up to Salt Lake City and rode Trax to the Airport. This was an adventure!! Tons of people looking at us, talking to us, seeing where 25 missionaries were going all at once. yea, it was packed!! But we have our flight from SLC to LAX at 4:00. On that flight so many people were asking us who we were, what we were doing, why we are doing it, it was really cool that people were interested and some of us shared simple messages to the people but we weren't allowed to give like a full lesson unless we felt spiritually prompted. But the flight wasn't to bad. We all arrive at LAX and there, people we not so friendly, like some literally hated us and several elders bags were checked again simply because security guards didn’t like us. It is interesting to see people’s reactions to the missionaries. But it is ok. I expected it. But the we had a 6 hour layover in LAX which wasn't too bad, we all got to talk to family on the phone so, Mas Mabuti.

Then our flight to Manila and the MTC was 15 HOURS LONG!! It surprisingly wasn't to bad but I slept for about 10 of those hours. Jet Lag is a thing and hurts my brain. But because of the flight, we literally skipped over the day of Tuesday and that hurts my brain as well!! ugh!! But we arrived to the Manila airport, meet up with the MTC president who is an outgoing small Filipino and he is awesome. We drive 12 miles to the MTC which took and hour and a half, because the people here, drive crazy!! I thought it was just a joke but seriously, no one follows the lines on the road and just moves into open spots if they are there. I WAS SCARED FOR MY LIFE!! But it is beautiful here none the less, but seeing the poverty and the lack of care of buildings here is surprising. It really is a culture shock and can't wait to get to know the people here.

But we get to the MTC and we have a brand new orientation and see this MTC and it really is beautiful, except for the fist sized black bees flying around, gross!!

But It has been an adjustment but a good one. Still getting used to everything and it is weird, not sure completely how I feel, but I guess that is how it works. It should be good though.

Spiritual thought.  Read 3 Nephi 11:29

I love you all!! Keep the emails coming!!
Love Elder Dunyon!!

Photos will come eventually, the computers are not letting me upload but I will have some soon!!

HAHA!!! The language and spiritual moment!!

So this week was a pretty normal week. The only difference was we leave on Monday to the Manila MTC for 2 weeks!!

The language this week has gotten a lot better!! I am more fluent, (I speak better and quicker but nowhere near FLUENT), and have learned a ton more mga salita (words) in Tagalog as well as find a way of studying that works out well for me in learning the language. I added a picture of a sentence structure using Pseudo Verbs/Existential's that we spent literally 60 min discussing to make sure that we kind of understood it. So it has been a blast and it is so cool when things just finally click with me. But there is still tons to learn and know for in the future. And I can't wait to be thrown in the language where I will be able to understand next to nothing. But it will be good I am sure.

So the spiritual for the week,

On Tuesday we have our weekly devotional, and this time we had a member of the 70 come that is the president of Missionary board in Salt Lake. I can't remember his name right now and I don't have my note book so sorry!! But he and his wife talked about the importance of the work we are doing right now, and it was really good, but that is not all. During choir, our director, (I love brother Eggit so much, I think that is how you say his name) was having us sing, Testimony, which is about Christ living again. He told us "think about your testimony and what it means to you". I started thinking about family, and friends, and girlfriend and how because of what Jesus Christ did for us, we can all be together for eternity, and I started crying a Little bit. Then after the devotional we had a devotional review as a district where we shared what we learned and what the spirit taught us. Every single one of us were crying our eyes out. The spirit was so strong from what we thought of the devotional and the special musical number, we grew closer as a district and, wow it was just amazing. I know for myself that I felt the spirit. I couldn't stop crying for 10 min afterward 😂 but it is all good now. Look for what Christ has done for you and your life, he is apart of everything you do, and he loves you so much. He will help you in all your trials!!

And with that, that is my week!! I leave for Manila in three days but won't get there for 5 days, It is a really long flight!!
Keep on writing
I love you all!!

Love,
Elder James Dunyon

Quick week/language...and BIG NEWS

This week went by so quick!! It is already Friday again and I can't believe it. It might be because our district has countdowns in our rooms for Sunday's, Tuesdays, and P-Days!! So every day is another countdown to the next change of pace. We have a Sunday countdown because those days are super spiritual and just amazing along with Tuesday's where we have a Big Devotional. Then….well P-Days are THE BEST!! TEMPLE, FAMILY, STUDY, it is really a needed day to reset for the week.

So Monday we had an Amazing TRC where we taught two people completely in Tagalog using word and phrases that we know. Our second "person being taught" (we aren't supposed to say investigator anymore) was the sister that we had dinner with that lives across from Grams and Pop!! She took a picture of me and my kasama and said she would send it or show it to Grams when she had the chance. I would have loved a picture but I didn't bring my camera with me.

Tuesday was our big devotional, and guess what?!? Elder D Todd Christofferson came and spoke to us. It was amazing! He talked about the resent news the President Russel M. Nelson shared about the proper name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was really cool how he broke it down and shared the importance of it all. If you have any questions you can go on to LDS.org and there is a post about it. I recommend you go and look at it.

The rest of the week was really repetitive and became a little slower. Wednesday dragged on and on but I just focused on studying and learning the language more and it got better.

The Spanish Elders…..So this week things died down because they had been reported on several times by other districts as well, and I think they leave today and some on Monday, so things will be alright.

Spiritual though for me this week, is the Lord knows all things. He knows your trials, your wants, and your needs. He will answer your prayers!! When He does answer them, you can know the Lord’s will, and if you put your faith in him, He will help you!!

SO HERE IS THE BIG NEWS THAT WE JUST RECEIVED!!!!!

FLIGHT PLANS!!!

WE LEAVE SEPTEMBER 3RD TO TRAVEL TO THE MANILA MTC WHERE WE WILL STAY FOR TWO WEEKS INSTEAD OF ONE!!  I am so excited!!!!  We leave Salt Lake, head to LAX and then straight over to Manila.  It's going to be a long flight, but I'm excited to get out in the field.

I love you all, keep writing to me, I love it!!

Love
Elder James Dunyon

Adventure to the Hospital!!!

This week has been full of ups and downs spiritually, along with crazy moments and fun stories which I will get into throughout my email.

Sunday, during Priesthood, we were talking about charity and love and giving service to others when I received a warm comforting feeling from the Holy Ghost about family, and giving love to others. It was such a cool experience and one I never hope to forget.

The rest of the week was normal studying and classes. I have never studied the scriptures this much, and diligently before, and it up lifts my day any time I read! Monday, we had a TRC, which is essentially teaching a member something they need to hear based off of their real-life situations. We had to do it in as much Tagalog as possible and it went so well that we connected with the members!! It got me really excited for missionary work. My Tagalog was better than I thought it was, and that was super exciting as well.

Come Tuesday night, remember what I told you about those Spanish speaking Elders on our floor. Well it is basically an all-out war between the Filipino groups and Spanish groups. I just wanted to study and go to bed when at 1:00 in the morning I am woken up to go to some "peace treaty" between everyone. Well, it was stupid and the Spanish Elders broke the treaty the next day by taking the study chairs around the halls nd ponder spaces, and moved them into their rooms. That was enough and my district leader got the branch Presidencies involved, and finally things have toned down. I will keep you updated with any future experiences.

Now to the title of the email:

First off, all is alright. Elder Holingshead (my companion) got a sty in his eye Wednesday morning, and it got worse overnight and into Thursday. So, we went to the MTC clinic, and thanks to our luck, they were closed for the day. So, we went to the front desk where they called us a shuttle to the instant care to have it taken care of. Just for your information, a sty (as I found out) is essentially and pimple underneath the eyelid. It hurts and you need to do things to pop it. So, our trip there was fun seeing the outside world again. And people either loved us and honked at the Elders, or hated us and turned the other way as soon as they saw us. It was interesting to see it all unfold. But the whole trip took about two hours and my kasama is ok and his eye is getting better.

Wednesday, we had to teach a surprise lesson in Tagalog, which we were not ready for it because we didn't have time to study, and similar on Thursday, because of our hospital adventure, our planned time to study was out the window and we didn't have time again. I think I wasn't in tune with the spirit, so those two days were rough, but I am doing a lot better now. Pray to our father in heaven when you need assistance and he will provide you in all things. I know that, but I did struggle a bit with it at the end of the week. I am doing a lot better and look forward to another week.

Love
Elder James Dunyon

Week 2, The Language!!

Kamusta! Magandang Umaga! Kamusta po kayo? (Hello! Good morning! How Are you?)

So this week has been an ... interesting... week

The weekend of Saturday and Sunday were probably the hardest part of the week. I struggled and had a hard time.  I didn't think I should be out in the mission.  Why would I go to the Philippines and not somewhere else?  What difference could I make?  Why send me somewhere where the language is SOOOOO hard? But, I wasn't the only one struggling.  My companion was even worse than me.

Come Sunday, my kasama (companion) asked for a blessing, because that was just how bad he was doing.  So I gave my first EVER Blessing!! Even though we were both not feeling the greatest, that experience both made us feel a little bit better because we could both feel the spirit.
Sunday lessons were not the greatest because the elders from another district were teaching something weird, like, border line false doctrine, with the executive secretary from the MTC Presidency (Brother Swenson) in the room with us. He stopped the Elders half way and exclaimed,

"BACK THE TRUCK UP AND GO BACK TO THE LESSON!!"

This was probably the funniest thing ever, which gave the rest of us a pick me up laugh! Brother Swenson reminds me of Elder Holland of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, so I think he is amazing!

Then we get to the Sunday night devotional.  Jenny Oaks Baker came to perform and talk. Her playing the Violin was wonderful!!  Afterward my Kasama and I saw a movie from Elder Bednard's talk on "The Character of Christ”, which is a show that is only available in the MTC. It was just what I needed and an answer to my fast. It talks about how no matter what terrible situations you may be in.  If you turn outward and focus on the needs of others versus turning inward, it draws you closer to Jesus Christ and His attributes. I LOVED IT!!  Throughout my day I received answers to my prayers through reading the scriptures and praying. It really strengthened my testimony of the power of the scriptures and how to follow the feelings of the holy ghost.

Then throughout the week there were on again off again days of how I was feeling but I'm doing a lot better now through prayer and study. It was more of an adjustment period.

The language has been a challenge…trying to learn, memorize, study and also teach. But we had a teach back last night that went well, and pulled some new things from that which get me excited but still nervous for our 20 TRC on Monday. I will tell you how it goes!!

The only bad thing is I made all the Spanish speaking Elders, who are going to Texas, on my floor hate me.  I yelled at all of them at 11:00 at night to go to bed. We have been asked to be in our rooms and studying from 9:45-10:30, then lights out and silent at 11:00. I did it because they were playing football in the halls the whole time and as I was trying to read the account of the first vision which always makes me feel better, because I can feel the spirit.  With them not following the rules, I couldn't feel the spirit!! So now those Elders Don't like me.  It’ll be fine though. I'm twice their size  😊

Well that was my week in summary

Always turn to the lord when you need help, He is always there for you.  Read D&C 18:12. This scripture helped me out and helped me realize that He is always there for me.

Until next time

Love Elder Dunyon