No news is good news - week 35

We had an alright week this week, nothing too crazy but still had some great lessons anyway!

This week we have really been focusing on talking with and getting to know the members more and more. There were three families that we really wanted to focus on this week and we were able to see some of them a couple times which was really good. Most of the members in the branch have other people in their families who arent members that we can start teaching so it is really great to be able to meet with some of these people and really start to get to know them.

On Wednesday we had everything fall through except the member family that we had FHE with. It was actually a super bummer day but things always end up working out alright.

On Thursday we had a fantastic weekly planning. We looked through our area book and found a bunch of people who had been baptized kind of recently and we hadnt seen them at church so we wrote some names down and decided to start trying to find some of these people which turned out to be really good.

On Friday we had a missionary Fireside in the evening. We focused a lot on studying the scriptures and really making sure that people understood the promised blessings that come from reading the scriptures and keeping the commandments to actually read the scriptures from modern and olden day prophets.

On Saturday we had a whole lot fall through but another great lesson with the Ashton family about the restoration just to make sure that they really understood the importance of the priesthood and how vital it really is..

Sunday was nothing really out of the ordinary but a fantastic lesson with a woman named Sharon and some of her family. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was able to focus a lot on baptism and the need to be baptized.

Its been a pretty great week. Nothing too much out of the ordinary, but I hope you are all doing well and I love you much!

All my love,

Elder Dorrance

I'm a goof!

Investigators had some pet turtles

This Week Was So So...-Week 34

I have come to notice that as I progress farther and farther on my mission these weekly emails will get shorter and shorter....

Really all I want to say is:

"This week we did more missionary work. There was good things, there was bad things. I got tired and hungry and I slept and ate. Yep. Have a good week."

That's pretty much it, but I know you would come find me and make me write more... so here it goes...

On Wednesday we had an extra long Zone Meeting because we had to watch a driving safety video and we don't even have a car... but it was still good. Then we had lunch and thing and taught some lessons. We also had a kick butt correlation meeting with our branch president about what he would like us to do in the branch. It was really interesting to see how he views the branch and how we view the branch and how the members view the branch. There is one end goal that we all want, but a plethora of ways of accomplishing that goal. But it was good to get his perspective.

On Thursday we had a pretty good day scheduled and had almost all of the lessons fall through that we had set up before hand. So that was a little frustrating. But we were able to go to a birthday party for a young girl turning 7. She is seriously way cute and reminds me a ton of how Sydney was at that age. But after that we were able to have a fantastic lesson with the Ashton family answering all sorts of questions about the Book of Mormon and talking more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

On Friday we scheduled a couple members to go see some people with us, but not only did the lessons fall through, the members fell through also. But I have come to realize that the Lord cancels appointments for a reason. I think that reason on Friday was to talk about the Book of Mormon with a young girl named Zouvia. It was a sweet lesson!

On Saturday we had a ton of stuff fall through again but at the end of the night had another fantastic lesson with the Ashton's about the Plan of Salvation. I was for sure they would be at church but they flaked on us which was kind of a bummer...

On Sunday we had a regular church and some lessons fall through but after church we headed to a members where we had CHICKEN CURRY again! It was amazing. I thought I was in Guyana again... haha. But we had choir practice and a pretty good lesson with a woman named Kelly. So it wasn't a terrible day.

The branch is great but kind of weird, it is the closest thing to a ward I have seen. They have pews (They are not fastened to the ground) But still pews. And they have speakers and everyone goes to their own classes... haha so they have enough for everything. Priesthood is real interesting at times haha its good stuff. 

The church built a building in the 80s and is really nice. It was remodeled a few years ago. It's cool.

This week had a lot of lessons fall through and lots going on, but we are staying busy and working hard! Elder Pohl is a great missionary and I'm excited for the rest of our time together! 

Love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Loves!

Elder Dorrance

Elder Pohl and I fake studying.

St. Vincent

St. Vincent and Barbados combined Zone Conference in Barbados

New Companion and VIP flights to Barbados - Week 33

This week was another week for sad days and happy days.

On Tuesday we had a zone meeting and lunch by the Zone Leaders which was a whole lot of fun especially because there was a few missionaries leaving the next day. Elder Aukusitino and I spent the rest of the day trying to see some people but had a whole lot of stuff fall through which kind of sucked... But we were able to see some members that weren't at church on Sunday that Elder Aukusitino wanted to say goodbye to.

On Wednesday, bright and early, we woke up to get Elder Aukusitino to the airport, which was really sad. My time with Elder A was pretty dang short, but he has been a fantastic companion and we did a lot of really good work here. I also said goodbye to Elder Tillotson who headed home. After that we headed to subway to grab some breakfast and just waited until about noon when the new missionaries got in. I was able to get Elder Pohl, my new companion from Canada, and I thought it would be funny to take him up the biggest hill in our area on his first day. He didn't think it was too funny... haha

On Thursday we had almost every lesson fall through but a great lesson that night with a woman named Shawn. She just shot off questions about the book of Mormon all night long which was super great and I really think she understands it well!

On Friday we had a pretty long day because all of our appointments fell through again, but at the end of the night we had another young lady ask us a bunch of questions about the Book of Mormon. We told her that it contained everything needed to be saved in the kingdom of God and she told us not to come by for a while because she needs some time to look into the book. So that could be good or bad... haha

On Saturday we had an alright day. Lots of people are cancelling because they are all catching the Chikungunya. But we were able to catch a couple people at home and we visited Shawn again and shared the gospel with them which went really great! But they didn't come to church for some reason. We are going to see them tomorrow which should be good! 

On Sunday we had good church, nothing out of the ordinary and lunch at a members house WHERE THEY FED US CURRY. IT REMINDED ME SO MUCH OF MY HOME IN GUYANA. It was great! I couldn't believe I found some ok curry in St. Vincent. But we only had a couple lessons then we had to head back home by 8 to meet some elders who were staying the night with us because we had to get up early the next morning to go to....

BARBADOS! Early yesterday morning we woke up to head to Barbados for Zone Conference with President and Sister Mehr and Elder and Sister Zivick. Elder Zivick of the first quorum of the 70. He talked a lot about obedience and focusing on the members with missionary work. It was really cool to have him there and get to meet him! 

It was a great week here in St. Vincent. I'm still alive, still working hard, and still being weird. Love you tons! Have a great week! 

Much Love, Elder Dorrance

Elder Aukusitino

Elder Tillotson finishing his mission

Elder Parker

Elder A

Broken Bed

Birthday Subway with Elder Stahley (see the candles)

Add caption

Chikungunya -Week 32

Oh man, this week was a pretty boring week but probably one of the better weeks on my mission.

    On Tuesday we headed to district meeting in the morning which went alright but my head was pounding the whole time. Then we headed back to the apartment and slept for the rest of the day. 

    On Wednesday we just hung around the apartment. I was feeling better than Elder Aukusitno, so I was kind of just reading and stuff while he tried to sleep. Nothing too eventful for the day.

    On Thursday Elder Aukusitino was told not to leave the apartment again but I was given the green light to take a half day. So Elder Staley and I headed out because over a few days Elder Tillotson had also caught the Gunya. So him and Elder Aukusitino chilled at our apartment while Elder Staley and I went and ran errands and picked up a missionary. Who we found out had to be driven to the complete other end of the island, so we actually had a whole lot of fun on that 3 or 4 hour car trip. Elder Staley is a good guy and we had a whole lot of laughs throughout the whole day. We even got to teach a lesson which was fun.

    On Friday we were all confined back to our own apartments and while Elder Aukusitino slept I cleaned our apartment because it probably hadn't been cleaned in a couple months... haha. We also had a branch BBQ Friday evening which was pretty fun. It was an FHE kind of thing so there was a lot that was going on. 

    On Saturday we were both given the OKAY to head out for the day but to take it easy... Well we went out for most the day but we were both drained and achy by about 7 o'clock and the Dr. told us that if we overexert ourselves chikingunya has the tendency to come back, so we headed home and took it easy. But while waiting for a bus we got a phone call from the AP's telling us that Elder Aukusitino will be leaving this Monday and Elder Pohl will be coming to serve with me from Barbados. I've only heard great things about him so I am super excited to start working with him. I was pretty sad to hear that Elder Aukusitino was leaving, I have loved serving with him and he will do great things in Trinidad. 

    Yesterday we had normal church with 6 investigators at church! Which was pretty incredible! Then we headed to a members house for lunch afterwards, which was nothing out of the ordinary, then we had a ton of lessons fall through for the day and we both got super tired and sick later in the evening so we decided not to push it and headed home.

    Then this morning we woke up a little early and headed to the beach to have a little get together with the whole zone which was a whole lot of fun. Especially because it is Elder Tillotson's last P-Day. He heads to Trinidad on Wednesday and home on Thursday. He's a good guy and a great missionary, it's been fun serving around him.

    But everything is going well. Still pretty tired and a little achy. I'm also kind of sad because I think my tan is fading a little bit;) But I'm doing great. We have plenty of great people lining up for baptism, so the next few weeks should be pretty great! 

Thanks for all you do! I love you tons!

One Love,

Elder Dorrance

Yes, those are bats.

Rollercoaster of Emotions - week 31

This week started out extremely promising and had a lot of success at the beginning of the week but then the gunya happened.

On Tuesday we had a pretty good District Meeting and I headed to Campden Park for a trade-off with Elder Nedd. We had a lot of really good lessons and a whole lot of rain hit us all day long. It was a whole lot of fun working with Elder Nedd though!

Then on Wednesday we had some lessons in Campden Park and headed to Kingstown to trade back. Had some alright lessons in the evening, nothing too crazy.

On Thursday We had a wonderful day of none of our planned appointments falling through. Not a single one! So we had lots of really good lessons where the spirit was really strong! It was really great! We had an awesome lesson with a woman named Brontie about the Restoration and she really understood it, it was a great time!

Friday is when it started to go downhill. We had some alright lessons in the day but around 4 o'clock both Elder A and I started to get a little exhausted but we kept going, that night we had to go and clean the font for a baptism the next day and when we were walking home Elder A was basically limping back to the apartment because his ankle was giving him problems. But we got home and got to bed and when we woke up on Saturday, neither of us could walk because our ankles hurt so bad.

We caught what is called chikungunya where there is really bad joint pain, in all your joints. Every single one. fingers, toes, wrists, neck,back, all of it. and you get a real bad fever and chills. It hit Elder Aukusitino and I at about 930 at night on Friday night and we were both shaking so bad. So we spent the entire day on Saturday inside with another Elder, Elder Staley who caught it too. Then the mission doctor told us we probably shouldn't go to church so Elder Staley got dropped off on Sunday Morning and him Elder A and I all just hung out in pain all day yesterday. Last night was pretty rough too, not a whole lot of sleep. It's been a pretty rough week. But I think we are on the tail end of the sickness.

Sorry this one is so short, my wrists kind of hurt from typing. I'll be better next week.

Have a great week. Love you tons,

Elder Dorrance