10/30/13

Tereza's Baptism....New Chapel....New Native Companion!

Elder Montgomery, Tereza, me & New Companion Elder Francisco

Ola Familia! I have missed you so much all the time! Wow Dad taking over the central region that is so awesome! And so Jensen, you want to be a missionary that is so awesome!
Anyway so I shaved my head again because my hair was getting so long, but it will grow back:). So you had a storm, wow I remember getting in the closet all of us during hurricane Ike that was so fun! Angola doesn't have hurricanes or anything of natural disasters, just heat, its getting hot, I really got sunburned playing soccer, I can't wait to have a warm Christmas...not! So we had transfers and...I WILL BE STAYING IN VIANA!!
This week was wonderful we had many successful events and lovely lessons with investigators who I have grown attached to deeply. I have some novidades (news) well Irmao Costa who is Angolan got his mission call to serve in Ghana Africa...learning English, he went to the MTC in Ghana but no one could speak Portuguese and everything was only in French and English. So no one could teach him English.  So they sent him back here in Angola and he is waiting for his Visa to go to the MTC in the United States. Anyway so I had an interview with President and he told me about his situation.  I had worked with Costa (Elder Francisco) in Cassequel before he was a missionary, so President asked if he could put him with me and Elder Dredge in a tripla (3 people) and I gladly said yes. I love Elder Fransisco he is so awesome, so I get the opportunity to serve with a native for a few weeks, and he is new so we are showing him the ropes of the mission, it has been wonderful, and I'm teaching him English during our language study...super fun!
So on Saturday Tereza was baptized.  I had the wonderful opportunity of going to the Baptism.  For just a reminder, Tereza is Serafim's girlfriend.  Serafim was baptized by Elder Montgomery and I while we were in Cassaquel.  So once he was baptized we started teaching his girlfriend Tereza and she was progressing when I got transferred to Viana .  She asked if Elder Montgomery and I could be there at the Baptism.  It was so awesome to see the fruits of our labors, she was so happy and it was a super great day.

Tereza's Baptismal Day

So really big news....We moved to a new Chapel in Viana. The church is now renting a new chapel in a place called Vila and it is wonderful and beautiful!  I think we have the most gorgeous chapel in Angola, truly amazing! I love it!  So as a branch we were able to watch General Conference in the new Chapel.  It was awesome, we overflowed the room.

New Chapel in Viana

Even has a pool!

Inside the Chapel

With Some of the Youth at the Chapel

We have found some wonderful new investigators this week, Irmao Mateus and Irmao Bula who have both accepted to be baptized on the 30th of November.  I think one of them still needs to get married but they both are really cool and I can see that they have been prepared by the Lord.  They are so ready and humble. Truly amazing experience to witness the Light of Christ in others.  So Irmao Luis was not able to come to church this week because he is out of Luanda right now, so we were not able to do his baptismal interview in time, so we are planning for the 16th of November.  I am super excited for him, and everything is going well here in Viana.  I will be staying for the next transfer and I am very excited for that, seeing that we just got a new chapel and there should be baptisms coming up in November! So excited! I love you and I wish you the best week!

10/24/13

Service at the Orphanage and Retirement Center.....

At the Orphanage with my new friends!

At the Sister Dominga's Orphanage

Hello Familia! I miss you so much! I can't believe it is almost November! So my birthday here is a holiday apparently the dia los Mortes...the day of the dead, so everyone will be at the cemeterio (cemetery), should be fun. Riley I can just imagine you jumping up and down after your coach congratulated you! And Mason Awesome you are killing it in football...Keep getting big, I found peanut butter today and I am going to be making some protein shakes so I can get some muscle back, we will hit the gym when I get back.  Can't wait till Christmas to skype all of you!
This week we had several awesome events, so we had wonderful success and turnouts in terms of lessons and there were some wonderful service projects that we were able to do as a Branch. So the beginning of the week we taught a family that is from the Congo and the husband Alberto speaks Portuguese well but his wife Claudisse she struggles and is very frustrated, I tell her that she speaks well but her neighbors tell her that they can't understand her and so it is really tough for her right now, I offered her a book that has Portuguese phrases in it that I use and so she is studying that, and is learning a lot, and I also gave her kids some Disney Children's books, thanks mom. I told her that I study them and that she should read them to the kids at night before bed. She was grateful, we also got our member friend Max who speaks french to come and help with a lesson with them and they hit it off and are great friends already! Exciting!
Luis is still planning on getting baptized on November 2nd!
So today for our P-day we went to go and visit an orphanage, it was so awesome!  The Orphanage is run by a lady they call Sister Domingas.  This orphanage was the same one the show American Idol did a special on to try and raise money called "Idol gives Back". They raised a lot of money for this orphanage. This experience was so awesome and way fun. We taught kids math and we taught them how to add and subtract and to speak in English but the kids figured out that I spoke Portuguese and so it was difficult, I told them to only speak English.  Anyway super cute and awesome children, it was such a wonderful experience to visit and orphanage and play with all the children!
At the Sister Dominga's Orphanage
Elders Ferguson, Me Dredge and Banta
Arriving at the Orphanage
Elders with Sister Dominga's mother: Dona Isabella
And Elder Ferguson, Me, Dredge and Banta

At the school inside the Orphanage

The ladies that work at the Orphanage wanted a picture with us!

My best friend from the Orphanage...Papoite

On Saturday we did another service project, we went to a retirement home, it was very dirty and didn't have water or electricity.  We shaved old men's heads bald.  I got assigned to an old man named Adao, he was funny and cute, the ladies who worked there had only 1 pair of scissors, that were not hair cutting scissors and laminas (razor blades) and they did not have cream, only soap and water, anyways so I cut as much as i could with the scissors and then I put water and soap and rubbed it on his head, them with extreme precision I used the blade carefully on his head to shave it down to the nice clean smooth skin, it took a while and I didn't want to cut his head open, it was stressing me out, anyways I was able to do it, such a great moment when he stood up, he was so happy when he was done, I told everyone to look at Adao he is a new man! He was so happy he smiled and said he was going to go and visit people now.  I laughed and enjoyed the simple joy of serving someone.

Carefully Cutting and Shaving Adao!

At the Retirement Center with the Viana Branch and Elder Ferguson


Hair nets and masks required to do the service project at the Retirement Center
Elder Ferguson, Me and Elder Dredge


It was such a wonderful week full of service and love.  I am loving the people of Angola more and more each day and I'm enjoying the wonderful experience here each and every day.
Figue bem chau chau meu amado irmao, I love you all Elder Dunkley

10/21/13

Baptisms of Lala & Tati... and avoided Jail!

Baptism of Lala and Tati

So this week has been awesome!  We are starting to see the rewards from all of the finding that Elder Hannay and I did together and Elder Dredge and I are reaping the blessings. It seems like forever since I have been in America.
This week I had a terrifying experience, so we were in a car with an Angolan who lives in Lubango and we ended up getting pulled over by the Angolan police who were in full armor AK 47's and he asks for my documents and I had forgotten them in the house as we were on our way to soccer.  In the words of my companion here is what happened:
"Today on the way to Soccer we caught a ride with a man in his truck (this time we sat inside) on the way there in crazy traffic we were pulled over by the police.  The police here drive around on motorcycles and have machine guns strapped to their chests.  So they stopped us and asked us for our documents. We all had them except for Elder Dunkley.  The police became very angry and started to rip into Elder Dunkley Then he told him that he was going to go to jail.  I had already been praying like crazy and I felt like everything would be fine, but when he told him that he would be going to jail my heart skipped a beat and then he ordered him to get out of the car and then my heart stopped This policeman was going to take my companion to an Angolan jail, I immediately got out of the car as well and he told me to get back in the car. I told him as missionaries of the Church we have rules and that I have to stay with my Companion.  He turned away from Elder Dunkley and looked straight at me and with a very commanding voice told me to get in the car right now! He put his hand up close to my face and ordered me again to get in the car, my mind was running, this guy has a gun,  when he told me a second time I had the thought that "You have to stay with your companion".  So I told him again that I WOULD NOT let Elder Dunkley go to jail without me.  He got really angry and raised his voice and started waving his arms in the air, but the whole time telling me to obey his command and get in the car. I slowly started moving back toward the door and then he just snapped. The both of you...get in the car..he yelled!  He gave us our documents and left.
I am convinced that the hand of the Lord was in every step of that encounter.  I was scared out of my mind, but I was a calm as could be.  I know that the Lord protects his missionaries and that we are here to do a sacred work.
After this experience I will never forget my documents again...anyways I avoided going to the Angolan Jail mom, no need to worry.
So I am glad you were able to go to Conference and see Grandpa, I remember the priesthood blessing that I got from him before I left on my mission it was very special to me.
Luis is still preparing to be baptized on the 2nd and I could not ask for a better birthday!  We had zone meeting and that was awesome, learned a lot the Angolan mission is so new and there are so many things that we still need to work out.. it is a work in progress but things are picking up as we speak. 
We had a discussion with a guy who sells saldo cards outside of our condo, who is from the Congo.  Saldo is a phone card, when we got to his house there was a picture of Elder Ferguson and Elder Hanson.  We invited him to church and gave him a tie and he wore it to church and he even tied it right!
We met Filomena's brothers and talked about the Restoration and talked with Osvaldo about tithing, he didn't know how to pay it...paying tithing in Viana is different here, you have to go to the bank instead of handling a slip to the Branch President because they were robbed once and lost all of it.
We had 2 baptisms on Saturday in Cassaquel.  We had to get the signatures for the forms back in Viana so we had to go back and get them from the parents. I conducted at the baptismal service for the first time and it went very well, Lala and Tati they are 9 and 10. We had 6 investigators show up for church and it was a great day.  On Sunday we had 145 at church and that was a record high for this branch.  We said goodbye to Fernando who is leaving on his mission to Cabo Verde.  We went to Norberto's to teach his family after that.  That was the week, had a great week, I hope you all are doing fantastic, I love you so much!
FIGUEM BEMM (stay well)
Elder Dunkley, Chau! Chau!

After the Baptism, and a long tiring day! Elder Ferguson and Dredge!

"Today on the way to soccer we 

10/15/13

Football on the Beach.... and General Conference!!

P-day- Football on the Beach with all the Elders!

Elder Ferguson and I

Ola Familia!! So the power went out and we could not get electricity and that is why the email is late. I was so sad to hear about Brother Riedel I got to know him while I was in his class with mason he was a wonderful man. I know that our relationship will continue on in the next life.
For P-day today we went to the beach, I got sunburned today, it is coming up on summer here and it is going to be hot, hot, hot for Christmas. I am not excited for that! So mom I got 3 packages, thanks for all the vitamins and protein and the pictures of old times, wow how time flies..on the mission sometimes, you think about your life, and my childhood. I am glad I prayed for Mason, I love all of my sisters so much but I'm glad that I have a bro: miss you like crazy!
This week we visited with Azulao and went over the Restoration of the Gospel, it was a great lesson.  Then we went over to Francisco and Cristina our old couple friends- who really have no idea what we are saying but love to have us over, they are really funny, they also give us a lot of references, it has been great. 
We had a discussion with Marcos and his daughter Ani who is 10 who comes to the church every Sunday. We went to Luis and I gave him some gavatas (ties) because he didn't have any...it was a wonderful lesson and he is getting ready to be baptized on November 2nd. My Birthday...so stoked! We then met the zone leaders for divisions and I went with Elder Hyde.  Azulao called me 6 times beginning at 6 in the morning to say that he didn't have to go to wok and that we could come over earlier...he is awesome!  We went to Tati's house and Elder Hyde and had her baptismal interview and then we went over to Lala's house and had her interview. Then we met up up with the other Elders and I went back with Elder Dredge.
So on Saturday we went back over to Francisco and Cristina's and we talked about the plan of Salvation and they loved it.  Francisco said that he needed to join this church and that it is the true church. I don't know if he understood everything, but at least he feels the spirit.
We went to see Paula that we had already given a Book of Mormon to and she had already read up to Chapter 11, super awesome! We had correlation meeting with Inancios after that.
Sunday we went over to President Merrill's house with all the Missionaries and we watched live both Sunday sessions of conference!! It was awesome!! In English too! Then we slept over and the next day we all went to the beach and played football!  It was so much fun! Super cool week!

Watching General Conference at the Mission Home!

10/1/13

District Conference in Luanda, with 600 members!!

District Conference in Luanda

Ola Familial! We are coming up on summer here and it is getting really hot, although I can’t wait for Christmas!  I can’t believe Mason is 188 I am starving over here and only about 170.  No time to work out either!  I got the Visa and finally and the 100 things we love about Connor!  Send more I loved it!! I smiled all night.  So glad you are getting my letters! I hope that you will be safe Mom in Honduras...Doing awesome work..I am praying for you this week. I know it is listed as the most dangerous country in the world! I love how my bedroom has not changed, please keep it that way and if you could make sure that my treasure box stays safe, I have all my important memories in there! Have fun at General Conference! 
So we received 2 new missionaries and 11 more are on their way!  Things are going well over here, we are still learning the area it is huge and takes awhile, anyways we are looking at some baptisms coming up in this transfer I am really excited.
When Elder Dredge arrived we did some shopping since he just came in from Huambo and that was a Province.  Then I had the opportunity to explain the area that I am working in and then we went to visit Norberto, I got lost and I had to call Elder Hannay (my old companion) and he helped me find their house.  We talked with him and his brother Luis and gave them a Book of Mormon and invited Irmao Norberto to be baptized on the 26th of October with his wife, he accepted of course, they will just need to be married first but it’s a sign of progression!  It was a super good first day with Elder Dredge.

With the District

We had a meeting at the Chapel with all of the District Leaders and then we ate lunch at a Turkish Restaurant.  Then we went to visit Rebecca and Pegar they are awesome kids from South Africa and they speak English. We met with a lady named Sani and we tried to go over the 1st lesson and she was so shy that she would not talk or respond, the people here in Angola are sometimes really shy. On the 26th of Oct. Norberto's wife Elisa committed to be baptized, super good day.
We went to the Priesthood session and President Merrill spoke it was awesome.  We had a great turnout! We also had a district conference of Luanda, The 6th conference they have had and about 600 people showed up and I sang in the choir, it was way awesome!  One of the speakers talked about the Lion King and how we all have a purpose like Simba returned to be King and fight his Uncle Scar...anyways super awesome, I thought it was cool because we are in Africa..and the Lion King.  We then had dinner at Irmao Nickatela's house, he was a missionary here in Angola and Mozambique just a couple years ago, now he is married.
We went to go visit Garcia and I smelled Alcohol he was also not driving right and not paying attention, I told him that it is against the law to drive while intoxicated, he is a police officer and did not slow down.  He finally got to his sister's house, somehow, I was praying the whole time. We taught his extended family about the importance of families and Garcia about giving up alcohol.
We met some new investigators that live in our condominiums and also with Cristina and Francisco and we talked about the restoration, they loved having us there, but I don't think that they understood one word we said, having to rely on the spirit, that they felt. We met with Domingo after that and he offered us a soda which is always a good sign.
We had zone conference with our President and all of the missionaries for the entire day.  We then visited Filomena on Motos since the taxi's don't go that far. We then went to see Tati to go over the Baptismal interview questions for her baptism this month on the 12th. Then our appointments fell through and we ended up knocking doors and we found an investigator we had been looking for, for a long time, named David, really cool.
We had 7 investigators come to church! It was way awesome and we had Norberto and his wife and also Alberto's wife and Luis and Marcos and Lala and Tati, way awesome Sunday.  We also had a meeting with the Branch Missionaries and we devised a plan to start working together, its going to be really awesome once this starts happening.  This next week should be booming as companions are set and the wheels are turning.  I hope all of you are doing well and keep moving forward!! Elder Dunkley

Before the Conference

After the Conference