More Toenails...Week 65

So this week was definitely crazy. But it for true had its amazing parts!

Monday night we did have an awesome lesson with a woman named Lyn and her daughter who are both preparing to be baptized on the May 3! We are super excited for that!

Tuesday we had zone meeting in Black Rock and had to get the truck checked out after so that took a little bit so when we actually got to an appointment we were able to see Deidre who is probably one of our most progressing investigators! She loves the Book of Mormon and wants to come to church, she just needs to find a ride. But we didn't teach her anything we were able to just go over and help her in her garden, pulling weeds and stuff, so that was fun and helped her out a ton! Then we went to go see a woman named Kim but when we got there she was working in her garden also, so we helped her water and move some dirt around and left just in time to get to an appointment with a woman named Juanne where we talked to her about the restoration which went really great!

On Wednesday we had everything fall through on us except a man named Ian who we talked to about the the Atonement and I think he really enjoyed it! He loved seeing how his sins have been paid for and how is brother Jesus Christ truly loves him. It was super cool to see. But the rest of our day was spent contacting which was not too successful.

On Thursday I was able to go in early with Elder Smith and have what the mission nurse called "minor surgery" Where I just got the sides of my toenails cut out. I feel a ton better and have been kicking it in slippers for the last few days which is nice, but not so nice as a missionary... But we spent a few hours inside with my feet up then had to head out due to stir-craziness and taught Kim about the restoration and invited her to church and she said she'd come if we worked in her garden on Saturday. We also had an amazing branch council that night where things were discussed and things got done! It was one of the first real successful branch councils I'd been to in a while.

On Friday we weekly planned in the morning and had to put my feet up for a few more hours and then that evening we taught Juanne again and we showed her the restoration video which she enjoyed especially because she didn't know how much tribulation the church went through in it's early days... Then we were able to go and do a baptismal interview for a young lady in the Oistins branch who was baptized on Saturday.

So Saturday morning we were able to help kim in her garden early and then bust it over to Oistins to go to the baptism of Mikayla which was amazing! then we spent the day running the new Barbados mission Assistants around all day doing their errands with them because they can't drive and then we were able to teach Deidre that night and set a baptismal date with her! She is planning on being baptized on May 31! We're so excited!

Sunday was really good! We had an awesome sacrament meeting with four investigators who came to church! Then later that night we had a sweet lesson with a member named Jalisa and her sister about desires which I think went really well!

It was a great week! my toes are healing well I hope and should be out back again full force tomorrow or Wednesday! Should be good!

I hope you have a great week!

I love you all

Love, Elder Dorrance

Crazy Hectic Weeks...Week 64

So this week was complete madness most of the time, but definitely a great week nonetheless!

But starting on Tuesday I taught my first district meeting! YAY I think it went alright. I taught about helping our investigators understand the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it will help their investigators to progress. That afternoon I was able to go on a trade off with Elder Smith. We had a lot of fun and also a whole lot of stuff fall through, we spent a good chunk of time finding or visiting members, it was a great day!

Wednesday morning we woke up and went to help a member in the branch move some dirt around for like 2 hours. Missionary work is hard, but manual labor is definitely a different kind of hard. We traded back and headed home to eat lunch and have every single appointment fall through on us for the rest of the day except for that night we were able to go and visit some of the only members in our area and talk to them about having a family home evening in their home. They agreed to it and have already started setting things up! So that will be really great!

On Thursday we woke up and headed to Elder Woodruff's old apartment to clean up a little bit more before the new missionaries got there later that afternoon. Then we headed to an older members home to help her hang her drapes. That didn't take long but she always comments on how handsome I am so sometimes it makes it a little uncomfortable... but she's super sweet. haha. Then we were able to have another lesson with Deidre about the Book of Mormon and what she had read in it. She told us all about how badly she wants to be baptized so that is really sweet! Then before I can go to a doctor to get my toenails removed we have to okay it by the mission nurse and she wanted pictures. So we had to travel down to the senior couples apartment to take some pictures. After we were done with that the Assistants to the President (who had gotten in that afternoon) wanted us to take them out with us. We went and picked up one of them while the other AP went with the zone leaders to see one of Elder Woodruff's old investigators named Lyn who is steadily moving towards baptism on the 3rd of May. She is way sweet and hopefully the lesson we taught helped her to understand the need for prayer.

Friday morning we weekly planned because we didn't get to do it on Thursday and we were able to see a guy named Chris again who we don't think will be progressing too much, so it may be one of the last times we see him.  Then the Assistants called us asking to give them a lift to the phone store to talk to someone about their new phone and they told us about how they were leaving the next morning and wanted to visit all the missionaries on the island before they left so they asked us if we could drive them up North to visit some of the missionaries out there. Lucky for the Assistants our last appointments for the night all fell through, So that took up the rest of our evening doing that. But it was fun and Dad knows how much I love to drive, So I wasn't complaining.

Saturday morning we woke up and took the assistants to the airport and had to run a couple of other errands and then picked up a member in Elder Woodruffs area to take with us to visit some of our appointments that evening. We were able to see Deidre again and draw up a cool pathway to baptism thing that shows her all that she needs to learn and understand before she can be baptized. She got really excited when we were able to check off a few things! She is beyond excited to be baptized which is cool to see!

On Sunday we had church which was good, nothing out of the ordinary and had the only two appointments in Elder Woodruffs area cancel on us so we spent some more time contacting in our area and had an interesting lesson with some young ladies that night about the Atonement. Which I think they understood... haha

It was a great week! Another crazy one ahead I think!

So I hope all is well! I love you and hope to hear from you all soon!

Love, Elder Dorrance

Hard Work - Week 63

Elder Woodruff, Elder Moli, Elder Ort, Me

It was definitely another week of hard work.

On Wednesday we had to drop Elder Woodruff and Elder Ort off at the airport which was kind of sad but I am happy to have met them both and excited to see them again! But later that night we had another lesson with Philippe and he told us basically that he would never join the church or get baptized. So that was kind of a bummer, but I guess it just isn't his time yet!

On Thursday we did weekly planning in the morning and some finding after lunch. We had a lesson with a man named Chris about the plan of Salvation which he didn't agree too much with, which was kind of a bummer... But later that night we were able to go and do some service for an investigator we contacted last week. We pulled some weeds in her garden and cut down some bushes, it was a lot of fun and helped her a lot! Especially good because she paid us with dinner on Sunday!

On Friday we had a whole lot fall through and spent a good chunk of the time finding. We found some okay people, hopefully that will turn into really solid investigators who want to learn more! But the rest of our night was spent trying to contact some other investigators and setting up lessons for later in the week.

On Saturday we went to visit some of Elder Woodruff's investigators in the morning because the missionary to replace him and his companion don't get here until Thursday. So that was good and by the time we got back to our area we had all of our lessons fall through and then had to go back down to the church for a talent show! It was pretty great, there are a lot of really talented people here with voices and they sure can dance! Haha

On Sunday Church was really good and we were able to have a young man named Khalil come out with us, but the first lesson that we taught was to a Jehova's Witness man who just wanted to try and prove us wrong, so that was kind of a bummer. But we did have a great lasson with a woman named Marisa who seems really interested in the gospel and changing her life around!

All in all it was a good week, not a whole lot going on.

Hope all is well

With love,

Elder Dorrance

Kite flying - Really cool Caribbean Easter tradition

Elder Woodruff

Elder Harding

Barbados Zone Beach day

P-Day was spent here every single week for volleyball and hanging out.

Happy Easter/ Conference Week! Week 62

So yes! Another wonderful exciting week here in Barbados, West Indies!

On Tuesday we had a great District meeting by Elder Woodruff and then we were able to have a member up in our area with us for most of the evening named Gerad who is a returned missionary and is super fun to work with! We actually had almost all of our lessons fall through except two 18 year old young men. So it was nice to have Gerad there to meet them and get to know them a little bit. We had some great lessons with Gerad there. The problem with our area is that there are only like 5 members who live in our area and they are all either old or full time working. So it makes it hard to move the member work forward in St. George Barbados...

But on Wednesday we had a sweet lesson in the morning with a woman named Anita and her adult daughter named Juanne! It was a sweet lesson about the book of Mormon and they enjoyed it so much they asked us to download the app on their tablets so that they could get it in print size that they could read! It was sweet! Later that night we were contacting and actually were trying to talk to this lady as she was closing the blinds on her sliding glass window and ended up talking to them for a good while about the Book of Mormon and our work as missionaries! And told us because we don't cook enough for ourselves that she would make extra food on Sunday for us to go pick up! So that is always welcomed as a missionary! haha.

On Thursday we had an apartment inspection in the morning (yes mom, we passed) and later that day when most of our appointments fell through we were able to see a woman named Marisa who we testified to that she could also gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon through Prayer. I love testifying to people, it's probably when I feel the spirit the strongest when I testify of the Book or Mormon or of the Prophet Joseph Smith! I love this work!

On Friday we spent a good chunk of the afternoon and evening going finding with not a lot of lessons that day, just one that really stuck out was again with Anita and Juanne, we had invited her to read the first two chapters of the Book of Mormon which she started but stopped because she couldn't follow it. So we read it with her and explained the story a bit and she agreed to read the next two on her own which hopefully will work out!

Saturday was amazing! I love Conference but haven't experienced like I have on my mission. It's so uplifting and just amazing to hear from a living day prophet and apostles. But because of the time difference it started at 12 and so that took up our entire day with priesthood session getting over at ten o'clock in the night. We took some other Elders home with us for the night and woke up just to go for four more hours! It was awesome! I loved it! Also on Saturday I found out that elder Moli and I would be staying together and that I would be the new district leader replacing Elder Woodruff as he leaves! So I'm nervous/excited for that too! haha

Sunday was also spectacular! I love Conference! After Conference though we did go grab some food from those people we contacted and it was some of the best rice and chicken I've ever had! It was seriously amazing!  I can't really describe it, I may have just been hungry but it was pretty darn good!

It was an especially good week this week! I love being here and am excited for another transfer with Elder Moli!

Love you all and wish you the best! Happy Easter!

With Love, Elder Dorrance

Elder Moli, Ort, Woodruff, Dorrance