Hola! The halfway mark

Hola! I hope everyone is doing well! I have now been in the CCM For about 3 weeks crazy... Time has flown by! I have about 3 more weeks till I get back on the plan and head for Paraguay. 

 

Nothing crazy has happened, but the spirit has been so strong. We have been learning about faith in Jesus Christ specifically this week. Belief is a part of Faith but faith also includes action. When we fear it is the lack of action, it reminded me of being out on the streets of Argentina for the first time and not knowing how to even start a normal conversation or buy ice cream. It was very scary and intimidating. When I decided to just say a few more words to people and tell them about the Book of Mormon is when I received the courage. Courage and strength come after we have decided and have taken the action. it is like the leap of faith. As you stand on that ledge all sorts of things go through your mind and when you jump you find that the harness is there to catch you no matter what, if you are able to grab hold of the bar or not. Heavenly Father is always there to catch us, he wants us to keep trying, He loves us, and He sent his only begotten son so we could return to him but first we must Have faith in Christ and use his gift of the atonement and give up ourselves unto him! Read Alma 5, It is now my new favorite, it is so powerful and it really gets you thinking about if you can see Christs image in your countenance. 

 

As for news here in the CCM, we have a new Presidente! His name is President Willis and his wife Hermana Willis, They are so amazing i love them already and I just meet them last night for about 5 minutes, butI know they love the Lord and that they are here for a reason and are here for specifically me and others so they can teach us things we need to hear! 

 

My district is great! There is 2 sets of sister missionaries and then there are 3 sets of elders! It is amazing the spirit we have had in our disscussions and lessons. We have been growing together and really support one another. I shared my batman voice with them and now they have put Dunagan in for the batman jingle. haha I'm so grateful for each of there spirits and for the knowledge they have!

 

As for info I have heard about Paraguay there is some kinda legend, that elders from Paraguay believe to be true. It is about a Lobizon. Which is some kind of werewolf looking thing.... Not quite sure how I feel about it, but you should look it up, haha. 

 

I am so grateful to be here in the CCM. Teaching our I.P. ( teachers who pretend to be investigators) is difficult and the language is hard but Heavenly Father is really helping me to see my potential and has been teaching me about my faith. I have really been relying on my faith and on Jesus Christ to help me through everything, it isn´t easy, but it is rewarding. 

 

I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! I know that He created this plan so I could become like Him, so that I could learn and progress to my potential. I know that while he may give me trials that are hard to understand that he is trusting me to take those experiences and have them help me to understand who I am and who He wants me to be. I am His servant and His hands here on the Earth. I want to be "steadfast and immovable always abounding in good works"  I am a woman of God and want His trust always! I know that as we turn to the Lord and give everything up unto him on the alter of sacrifice is when we will become true disciples of Christ and when we will be humble and meek like Christ. I know that the temple is the house of the Lord and that He visits there often, that the family is central to His plan! He has given us the opportunity to be sealed for all time and eternity. What a blessing that is! I love each and everyone of you and your beautiful spirits. We each have our own divine role here on the earth and Heavenly Father has given us our free agency to decide who we will be and where we will go! continually strive to be the person Heavenly Father wants you to be! Have His presence with you every moment of every day, because there is no greater person to have on your side! 

 

I love you all and hearing from you just makes me so happy!!! :) 

Remember to be strong and to keep pressing forward! 

 

That is all for now! Have a great week! 

Love Hermana Dunagan!  

Week 2 (CCM)

 Hola! ¿Come le va?

This is your Hermana Dunagan reporting ;)

This week has been very long, hard, and beneficial! I had the opportunity to be on the streets of Buenos Aires! The dropped us off on the side of the road and we went proselyting, with the amount of Spanish I know majority of the conversations were " Hola! ¿Come le va? Somos misionerias de la iglesia Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Dia¨" And then I got completely lost... Had no idea what anyone was saying, but after all of my fears and doubts I was able to get the courage and just try and start a conversation with a few people, no success with making contacts, but Heavenly Father taught me so much! He taught me patience, love, diligence, and that I can do this. Getting turned down isn't the scary part, but not being able to understand was difficult because I wasn't able to answer their questions of the heart. So my new goal for this week is to learn how to really listen to all of those around me in Spanish and English to really be there for others as Heavenly Father is there for each and every one of us!

I'm so grateful for my district after our long day of hard work we came back and at first we were all a little bit hard on ourselves, but we had a very spiritual testimony meeting and decided to change our course of action in learning the language and learning the gospel. Our room was filled so strongly with the spirit and I could feel Heavenly Father had so much for me to hear! He Really wants us to succeed, but we must first put all our effort into reaching our potential as missionaries as, members, as His children!

The temple here in Buenos Aires is beautiful I will try and send some pictures. We listened to the whole thing in Spanish last week which was good, but I definitely think I will be listening in English because I need to really here the blessings and wisdom that come from it.

My teachers are amazing I have been learning so much! It has been difficult and as we are approaching the third week they will no longer be translating for us and only speaking in Spanish! Aaaaahhhh.... It is a little bit scary but I Know that as we only listen to it and only learn our lessons in it we will do much better! Our district is doing and English fast on Friday, which means speaking no English the whole day not even to ask how to say something, so you can bet your money I will be attached to my dictionary all day haha!

We have been teaching our "investigators" (aka teachers) almost every day and now we have two different ones and yikes one of them is so difficult, but I'm trying to prepare myself to just really bring the spirit to those lessons because that is how Heavenly Father teaches and They need to learn from Him and not me, I'm just his instrument and servant and I want to be prepared to be what he needs for each person we come in contact with.

Please pray for my ability to be able to understand the language and to be able to succeed in the English fast!

We are getting a new CCM mission presidente on Tuesday! It is sad but good! I'm excited to learn from the new one as much as i have learned from Presidente y Hermana Openshaw! I love you all! I hope you are doing well!

One scripture I really liked this week, Melanie will appreciate it because it has to go with our motto, "No Excuses", Alma 39:13 That ye turn to the Lord with all your mind, might, and strength; that ye lead away the hearts of no more to do wickedly; but rather return unto them, and ^aacknowledge your faults and that wrong which ye have done. I hope that is correct I will double check to make sure and let you know next week if it is for sure. ;)

Keep going and remember He loves you! Trust in Him and your blessings will be great!

Love your favorite Missionary!

 Hermana Dunagan  

Hola! It has been a long week but a good one! {Jan 9, 2014}

Buenos Dias! It is early here and my fingers are like lightning trying to write as much information as possible! The CCM Is fantastic, but hard. We are always praying, teaching, practicing! the language is coming slowly so I don't understand everything all the time. It is improving though! I´m so excited to go to the temple today we are leaving right after this! I am going to listen in spanish which will be a ton of spanish so hopefully I can learn as much as possible in the temple!I am so glad to hear from everyone and I can´t believe Carson is already 6!!! Crazy, he is growing up so much! I miss him and Ihope he has a great birthday!We already had a crazy rainstorm which Hermana Sump and I were in trying to get to the distribution center! hah we got attacked by flying cardboard! ;)While at the airport as funny as this may seem Heavenly Father blessed a few of us sister missionaries. We went to do money exchange and the man at the counter asked if we had $1 and 11 cents, and none of thought we had some. I decided to look in my wallet, but I knew I had taken out my change. Lo and behold there was exactly 11 cents in my wallet kinda cheesy, but it all gave us a good laugh :) My district is probably the best! Elder Pulsipher is our district leader, yes bishop Pulsiphers nephew! We are always having a good time, but always trying to increase our knowledge and the spirit in our room! It is amazing how Padre Celestial puts people in our lives so we can Learn from them!And yes mom I make my bed every morning (big shocker I know) and say my prayers (lots and lots of prayers) ;)We watched an MTC Devotional and it was amazing it taught me that in order to have converts I must be my First convert. I never looked at it that way so as I have been trying my hardest to learn things that strengthen my testimony and truly convert mi corazón to the Lord! In order to reach those who I´m meant to teach i mus be more dedicated and become a consecrated missionary! I read a talk by a general authority before coming to the CCM about being a consecrated missionary and I thought it wouldn´t be to hard because I love the Lord so much, but being here it is something that I´m learning I really have to work on. i know I´m not perfect, but I´m now the Lord´s servant and want to be an instrument that works when and where He wants me not where I want to be! I have truly felt his love and your love all the way here in Argentina!You guys are always in my prayers! I love you! And never forget that the Lord is always with you and that He loves you and wants to see you succeed. Continually convert yourself to the Lord and you will see numerous blessings! Have a grand week!

Love your favorite Hermana,Hermana Dunagan!