Week 9/7-9/13

Hola mi familia!

First week with baby number three has been a huge success! She is adjusting great and we are having tons of fun.  It has been hilarious seeing her go through similar things I went through like not understanding how to give unawkward besos (cheek kisses that the latin people love to share), and not understanding 50% of lessons.  Luckily though, she has not experienced any break-ins... Haha. Hermana White is from Gilbert, Arizona and she is incredible!  She is a get up and go missionary, and is just ready to work.  She is friendly and loving to everyone.  I love her already.  Plus, now I am definitely a more experienced trainer, so maybe this time I won't mess her up ; )

This week we had a cool experience as we checked up on somebody the elders had street contacted into.  Her name is Maura, and after trying to contact her for about two weeks now, we finally got a hold of her!  Maura and Teo, her husband, are definitely going to look good in white. ; )  As we approached her door, a man came walking up behind us.  We turned around and told him we were looked for Maura and Teo.  He gave us the strangest face- like we had unicorn horns or something.  He walked in the house and yelled for Maura, who then came out and told us to come in and sit down.  His face looked even more confused.  Obviously at this point, we knew he was Teo... He walked out the room and we had an incredible lesson with Maura.  We're hoping next week to be able to teach him as well.  The  best part of this whole Maura story happened about 6 weeks ago.  SIster Jensen, Sister Sorensen (who was on a split with us), and I were walking to our car when we saw a cute mom and her two daughters playing outside.  We went and talked to them, and she told us she had been looking for a church.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and testified of it and then got her information.  Her name was Maura.  We went back the next week to check up on her, and her neighbors had told us that she had moved.  The only phone number she had given us was the shared home phone, so the likelihood of finding her felt about 0%.  4 weeks later, when the elders gave us the name of potentials named Maura and Teo, I thought nothing of it.  But then when Maura came walking out and invited us into her home, I knew I had seen her before.  Turns out it was the same Maura we met 6 weeks ago!  It is definitely evidence that she needs to hear our message at this time.  We are excited to teach her and her family!

Funny story from the week: After six long weeks in Mexico, Sister White was definitely excited to be back in the United States and to have a little bit of American food.  She was also super super excited to get some REAL Mexican food, not cafeteria stuff.  We had a dinner appointment almost every day, but here is the kicker: we had lunch meat sandwiches for EVERY SINGLE dinner appointment.  This began on Thursday (Sister White’s first day in the field), so by Monday, we were eating sandwich number 7 and 8! ... Strangest thing ever.

We have seen a lot of exciting things happen and are LOVING sharing the Book of Mormon with all our branch members.  The Spirit is strong and it will only get stronger as we continue to read the word of God together.

Love you all,

Sister Dodson

*Killing* Sydster Jensen

Hola mi familia!

Well, I can honestly say I think we ended Sister Jensen's mission with a big bang! We had an incredible week with a ton of miracles and a ton of fun.  We set a goal to teach 30 lessons last week, which was something on Sister Jensen's bucket list. We received a lot of prayers and help, and were able to teach 32, with 4 member present lessons! That was a mission record for the both of us. We were definitely blessed this week.

At transfer meeting we always close with “Each Heart that Touches ours for Good”  Singing it as I was sending Sister Jensen home had me bawling!  It’s an incredible song, and sister Jensen is an incredible person. I wrote her a note and wrote her name as Sydster Jensen, because her and I always her issues calling each other sister. Haha. I don't think I ever called her by her name when we were together because I was scared Syd would come out. Haha. Now it will forever be, "Syd...ster Jensen!" I'm gonna miss her lots. 

Last Sunday before church we went to go stop in and see a new investigator, Tita.  She is Dominican and incredible. She has been struggling to feel love and happiness in her life, especially since her son just went away to college, and it's hard for her to see her high schooler growing up. We taught an awesome lesson about the  Restoration and then invited her to be baptized on Sept. 27.  She thought for a second and then said, "Does that fall on a Sunday? Cause I can do it if it is a Sunday." So we set a baptismal date for Tita for Sept 28!!  We were freaking out, we were so excited!!  Tita is incredible and definitely prepared to accept the gospel.

This is the Yonkers Chapel.  It's hilarious to see the churches here and how they have been squished in some cities. The Yonkers chapel used to be a movie theater, and is squished between a bodega place and a Little Cesars.  Super funny. It doesn't look like a church at  all. Hahaha.

Later, on Monday, we went to go see another investigator, Banessa, (also Dominican), but she wasn't home.  So, we went to visit Olga who lives in the same building.  We had tracted their building about a month ago and found Olga, from the DR. (Fun fact from the last 6 weeks: our teaching pool is 500% more Dominican since I got here... Hahah.  We're not really sure how that happened…)  When we first talked to Olga (a month ago) she didn't seem super interested, but we decided to go back and see her anyway. She immediately let us in, and we had an INCREDIBLE lesson where we taught her about our purpose and how the message of the Restored gospel will bless her life. The Spirit was so strong, and we invited her to be baptized on Oct 18.  She said she would be baptized, but was hesitant to accept the date!! Neither Sister Jensen or I had ever invited somebody to be baptized on a specific date in the first lesson, but the Spirit was so strong and we just felt so prompted to throw it out there. It definitely paid off, even if she didn't accept it right now. Olga is also extremely prepared, and we are so excited to keep teaching her. She has such a sweet presence, and she has three kids, all baptism aged! BOOYA!

It is official, I will be training my third child, and will also be getting two grand kids!! This cycle is going to be CRAZY, but I am excited.

My new companion!  Sister White from Gilbert, Arizona

Today is definitely a little sad saying bye to a Sister Jensen, but I couldn't be more grateful to Heavenly Father for letting me serve with my sister!  We had so much fun, and I learned so much from her. Sister Jensen is a fantastic missionary, who knows how to make people feel loved and knows how to care.  She showed me a lot of love and taught me a lot about being really aware of people' situations.  I'll miss her a lot, but also feel super blessed that she will be so close by once I get back home ; )

Love you all,

Sister Dodson

120 Day Book of Mormon Challenge

Hola mi familia!

This week was incredible, and we had a lot of awesome things happen!

Isn’t this sign hilarious?!?  Sister Ramirez is under the impression that the whole United States is like the Bronx, because it's all she knows…. haha. We keep trying to convince her otherwise.  Apparently, it’s an All-American City! ….even though the rest of America is NOT like the Bronx!

Friday we had an APF (a finding activity- I've never been able to figure out what it stands for...haha) It was the with our whole mission. Sister Ramirez and I went on a split! We were assigned to go tracting in Yonkers, which is basically an extension of the Bronx, so it definitely felt dejavu-ish... Haha. I love my first born : ) Anyway, we prayed before heading out to knock doors that God would lead us to the people who were prepared and ready to accept our message. We started heading to a house on the corner, and the door was unlocked so we walked in. (Don’t worry, houses here have split stories.) There were strange sounds coming out of the door downstairs, so we headed up, but no luck. Then we knocked the downstairs door and a shirtless Dominican man walked out. We told him we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he told us to wait a second. His wife, Randi, came out, and she told us all about how they had been looking for a church and she had taken all the Mormon lessons in the DR! We sent the elders over later, and they told us that Randi and her husband had been discussing which church they should go to and how they had been praying to know. Soon after, we showed up at their door! They took it as a sign from God that this is the Church they would join!! I know God answers prayers, and leads us to those who He has prepared.

Hermana Jensen & I in Bryant Park.  I’m going to miss her!

On Sunday we had an incredible ward activity, which I fully plan on instigating in every ward I am a part of when I return. It is so much fun! We call it "Dominion de las escrituras"-- basically "Scripture Domination". About three weeks before the activity, us four missionaries choose a few scripture stories from the Book of Mormon, we tell all the members which chapters to read, and then at the activity we ask trivia questions about the chapters. We hold it as a competition of men vs. women, and the team with the most points win. Examples of questions include: How many boats did the brother of Jared and his people construct? When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of who? Who were the brothers of Nephi? People get so competitive and it is super fun. The main purposes are to 1st) get people to study and read their scriptures, and 2nd) to show people how enjoyable it can be to read them.  Last month the men won, and this time the women won! BOOYA!  (We run the show, so we don't participate, but I can still cheer for the sisters ; )  It was a big success and we’re thinking about next time challenging the neighboring Spanish ward.

Here’s the Men getting beat during our “Scripture Domination” activity

Tonight is training calls, and it is likely I will be training again, and there's a pretty high chance Sister Ramirez (who has been one of our roommates this cycle) will be training as well.  So, if that is the case, then we will be a cute little Hispanic family- Grandma (me), living with daughters and grand baby.  Except it's a little more awkward on my side since I will be having a child and a grandchild on the same day... Haha. Mission genealogy is crazy.

We went to the Cake Boss Bakery! The original is in Jersey, but it was still super rad! They had a cake with canolis on top. Mmmm... Canolis.

Love you tons!

Sister Dodson

P.s. Thursday we had zone conference, where President invited all the missionaries to participate in the 120 day Book of Mormon reading challenge! So on Monday, Aug 25th, the 250 missionaries in our mission all started to read the Book of Mormon together!  We are suuuper pumped about this challenge. We are supposed to end on Christmas Eve (but I think someone counted wrong...), but what better Christmas gift to give to our Savior, than strong testimonies of His book?  I have started to go through and mark and make notes of every time it talks about Jesus Christ.  I have been blown away after I've looked at a chapter I’ve read and seen that it is almost completely marked. I know the Book of Mormon is a book from God, given to us to understand more about our Savior. We will sweep New York, New York with the Book of Mormon!  BOOYA! If you would like to participate, I am attaching the reading schedule. I know as you participate, you will feel the power of the book as it brings a new light and perspective to your life, giving you direction on how to live a more Christlike way. If you start on on September 1, you will end on my birthday! Or you can start later, or just catch up to where we are.  I love it!

Grand Central Station

Hola mi familia!

I am writing you this letter on the way to Grand Central Station. Dreams are coming true! I love New York! We had another incredible week here in White Plains, which was the perfect way to kick off my last six months! It is crazy that a year has already passed by. Time goes by waaay too fast.

Hermana Dodson demonstrates how the Whisper Corner at Grand Central Station works!

Sadie's Grand Central Station Tour

Sunday morning while doing my studies, I found a talk by Elder Christofferson called Born Again (see it here https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/04/born-again?lang=eng). I didn't really feel like my studies had a lot of direction that day, so I decided since Elder Christofferson is one of my favorites, I met as well read it. Turns out, it was his first talk right after being called to be an apostle. I LOVED his first couple paragraphs. "I plead with my Heavenly Father to sustain me as He ever has that I might measure up to something that is far beyond my native capacity and be able to focus outwardly, losing myself in your service. I trust in Him, and I know that His grace is sufficient, and so I here unreservedly commit all that I have and am to God and His Beloved Son. I also commit myself, my loyalty, my service, and my love to the First Presidency and to my Brethren of Twelve.” 

I felt the Holy Ghost tell me that I need to follow his example.  It is time to become fully invested again in missionary work, and recommit myself to this work!  What better time than at my year mark? I am here as a full-time servant of The Lord, and it is my responsibility to be that servant and be the change that He needs me to be.  I finished studies with this idea, but without clarity on what this recommitment means, but as I have worked throughout the week, I have found a clearer direction of where The Lord wants me to go.

Also on Sunday, the missionaries got roped into doing a musical number!  Sister Jensen played the violin, which left me with the two elders to sing... It's a good thing their voices could drown me out.. Haha.  Sister Jensen then gave a rockin talk about leadership, which blew my mind.  She spoke of some of the examples of good leaders in her life, and the spirit was strong as she testified of their influence. It made me think on all the leaders I have had and their influence on me, and thought about how grateful I am for them. I know that I am here serving a mission not just because of the great example and love of my parents, but also because of all my young women's leaders, primary teachers, bishops, friends, etc. who have guided me throughout my life. God always blesses us with the people we need, and my heart truly is full of gratitude for those people that He put in my life.

On the more awkward funny side, on Monday we were invited to eat a late lunch with one of our incredible members, Gladys. She is Dominican and absolutely hilarious. She invites us to eat about once a month, and cooks enough food to feed all four of us for the WHOLE month. She makes loads of food! After hearing horror stories from Sister Jensen about having to eat 3 pounds of her food and then take home another 6 pounds, I was super excited and a little terrified to go.  Haha. So we decided to invite some other missionaries to help attack the food mountain, and there ended up being 8 of us instead of the expected 4... This was a  little surprising for Gladys, but her heart is so big she was excited to have so many missionaries.  We invited Elder Johanson and his baby (brand new missionary), and the Portugese elders. We ate mongu (mashed plantanos, kind of like mashed potatoes), and it was HILARIOUS to see the faces of Elder Johanson and Elder Burton.  It probably din’t help that Gladys gave all the Elders her shirts and had them wear them backwards as a bib (so as to protect their white shirts) Hahahaha. I don’t think they’ve ever eaten food like that, or even that amount of food. We were able to finish almost all the food Gladys cooked—can you imagine if only us four had gone... Uh... Haha.  And Gladys was super happy in the end that we ate so much, even though she did get sassy at Elder Johanson at one point for not being able to finish the food on his plate. Haha.

I am loving being on my mission, and could not ask for any better way to have spent the last year .  I am excited to see what miracles come in the next six months!

Love you all,

Sister Dodson

Chapulines

Hola mi familia!

I seriously don't think I have ever had a bad week on my whole mission.  I am so blessed! I love it here! This week we had a lot of fun and saw good progress, so it was definitely a success.

On Sunday, two of our investigators, Daniel and Maria, showed up to church! It was the miracle of the century. We have been teaching them seriously for a little over a month now, and they are incredible. They sell amazing Mexican food out of the back of their house, and do fairly well. Daniel is about 20 years younger than Maria, he is about 40 and she is about 60, but they are a hilarious married couple. Love has no age boundaries. Haha. Anyways, their progression is hilarious. Throughout every lesson, they go back and forth multiple times between "oh yeah, we need to step it up and do this and this," and “we're already doing so good though! We’re good!"  The Spirit is strong every time, and they feel the Holy Ghost pushing them to do more.  By the end of our last lesson, they decided they needed to come to church…..but somehow made the conclusion they needed to go to their old Catholic Church???  Not sure how they got that... Haha. But anyway, on Sunday we had a HUGE surprise when they walked into the chapel!  They haven't had a Sunday off working in years and years; so it was a BIG deal for them to take time to come to church. The branch went crazy and really welcomed them. They loved it and are going to come again next week! Woohoo!

On Monday, we went to dinner at Mimis and Rocio's house with their brother, Ernesto! Last week Ernesto told the elders that we should all come over and try chapulines. We had no idea what it was, but you know I'm always up to try new foods.  At their house they hand us plates with eggs and beans, and tortillas, and then tell us to prepare ourselves for the chapulines, and to promise them that we would eat them... Mimis then brings out the chapulines.... Translation: GRASSHOPPERS.  So we ate grasshopper tacos for dinner!  Mmm… Grasshoppers. They were crunchy and had a little bit of a sweet/bitter after-taste, but really were pretty tasty.  

   Mmmm. Grasshopper tacos for dinner! Sorry for the bad lighting… 

However, I was terrified that I had little grasshopper legs sticking out of my teeth the rest of the night... Hahahaha.

The work here is incredible, and the people are even more amazing.

Love you all,

Sister Dodson

Car-less and Loving It

Hola mi familia!!

This was a week of crazy adventures! Mostly just yesterday and today consisted of really crazy adventures, but still. It has been an awesome week with an awesome companion.

On Monday the whole mission got banned from using their cars Tuesday and Wednesday because we have had 8 car accidents in the last 3 weeks... Uh.... (Mom, it wasn't me!) Even on your mission you can get in trouble and then your dad comes and takes away your privileges. Haha. So yesterday was definitely CRAZY! We live in Yonkers, about 10 miles from our area, and most our members don't have cars, and almost all of them work, so we ended up taking metro north to get to White Plains! We walked probably at least 6-7 miles yesterday.  The good news is that both Sister Jensen and I are city girls, so we LOVED it!  We got to talk to more people, get more exercise, and just had a lot of success! God blessed us with a dinner and a lunch appointment, Popsicles and tons of bottled water from investigators and members, and even better, the branch president's wife was a Godsend and took us home. Today is a little crazier since it is P-day and the closest grocery store is about two miles away, but it's all good! We are definitely sore, but also it's P-day, so we took a nice long nap this morning : )

A gross Cockroach in our apartment!!

This week we finally got to get in with a new investigator that was found two weeks ago, and she is LEGIT!! She was found by the marvelous Sisters Wankier and Sorensen. They went home yesterday along with 13 other missionaries who went home early in order to get back into school. Basically they had no area and were our zone monkeys for 2 weeks, helping us find people throughout Westchester County! They are incredible! I am definitely going to miss those girls : )

Anyway, two weeks ago they found Francis, a 46-year-old mom from Peru. SHE IS INCREDIBLE! Our first lesson with her, she broke down and told us how she is living in sin and wants to make things right with God. She is living with her baby-daddy, who is 20 years younger than her. She is just soaking up the gospel! We invited her to be baptized, which she agreed to if she is prepared enough, and wants to meet with us practically every day!!! The only down side to this story is that she is moving in two weeks to Massachusetts…  : ( 

Either way, we are going to keep progressing her towards baptism and then hand her off all ready and dressed in white to the Boston missionaries! I LOVE HER!

A member gave us Popsicles that matched our outfits!

Funny story from the week!

Ever since I got here, all our members not from the DR have been calling me the Dominicana, and keep telling me how Dominican I speak. Yesterday we had lunch at a Dominican family's house, and the wife told me I spoke like a Brasilian!!  Hahaha. I love people.

The work is incredible here in White Plains. The people are so ready and listen to the Spirit so well. They know God loves them and have desires to change and do what He wants them to do.

Love you all,

Sister Dodson

Biking in Central Park

Hola mi familia!

This has been an awesome start to an incredible cycle! It really is such a blessing to be with Sister Jensen! God knows what He is doing. Haha. We have had so much fun and laughed a ton about our moms freaking out about us being companions.

I am in LOVE with this area! It feels like the Bronx but a little less sketchy. I think I am bound to serve in the ghetto my whole mission, so it is a good thing I love it. Haha. We have a tiny branch- last week there were about 40 members who came. Our area is huge and there is tons of potential. Last week we found 4 new investigators! My goal is to make this branch a ward ;)

We have a couple really promising investigators and we also work with a lot of Inactives. One of my FAVORITE people we teach is an investigator named Marielos. She is the biggest sweetheart ever. She has two little boys who are crazy! Diego is 5 and Anthony is 7. Diego's favorite song is the Happy song ("cause I'm happy, clap along") and he constantly has it on repeat. Marielos is incredible and totally ready for baptism. She knows the Church is true and honestly would be baptized tomorrow, but she is not married to the father of her kids, even though they have been together for about 10 years. He is totally against marriage, and so we just keep praying and working so that a miracle will happen!

This not being married thing is actually a common problem for most everybody here- investigators and less actives. I am so excited to get teaching here and I pray that the Spirit will work through me and Sister Jensen to help others understand the sanctity and blessing that marriage is. We had a lot of miracles this past week where people told us they were ready to change and come back to church, or change and progress. Through the grace of God we figured out a lot of people's needs and now are just ready to work away!!

Here is something mom will like- we have this incredible less active who works at a French bakery! Sometimes it's easier to just stop by and talk to her there, and sometimes she gives us free baked goods :) mmmm. Baked goods.  Her sister is super active and is one of my favorite members here.  She is only 20 years old, but has an incredible testimony of the gospel and LOVES everybody. You can feel it when you talk to her. I love this place!

Funny story- my Dominican accent was fading up in Connecticut because there are no Dominicans, and because Sister Vicino's accent was so strong it made mine go away :( BUT here in White Plains there are TONS of Dominicans (and Mexicans! We get Mexican food almost every day. Mmm. Mexican food.) The first time we talked to a Dominican it all came right back and all the sudden I was speaking like I had just come from Santo Domingo. Hahaha. Needless to say, my talk on sacrament meeting was in fluent Dominican... Hahaha. I definitely get sass from the members...

I know this Church is true and I feel so blessed to be where I am doing what I am doing! I feel the Spirit testify to me everyday of the security and inspiration of my calling.

Love you all!

Sister Dodson

P.s. Today we are fulfilling one of my life long dreams: WE'RE GOING BIKING IN CENTRAL PARKKKKKK!!! I'm freaking out.

A Sisters Selfie!  Hermana Dodson, Hermana Jensen, Hermana Wankier, Hermana Sorensen

Hermana Jensen in Central Park!

I'm loving this cycle with Hermana Jensen!  What a treat to be comp's with a dear friend from home!