4/24/14

Falling off Tunda Vala....taught them how to make Smores!!

Namibe Vale


So Peaceful....





Namibe Vale


I loved reading all of your wonderful emails! Mom that is awesome you are going to start doing a project with the orphanage in Luanda, the lady said we could come whenever we want, but then I was transferred down here to Lubango. Maybe I will see all of the dresses that you guys will make before I come home! I’m so excited to get the package! I wish I could give Brother Johnson um abraco but I’m still down here.
Brazilians next door!!!! whattttttttttttttttttt!!! I cannot wait to talk with them! That will be so awesome! Seriously that just made me so excited! and also the plan of salvation lesson plan you made. Wow the kids and families we are teaching are going to love that, I’m so excited and Ash I cannot wait to get the calendar. Well sounds like you and Dad had a fun trip at Enchanted Rock this year.  I will be going with you guys next year! I miss camping. I showed our branch here how to make s'more.  We found marshmallows at a South African store and they loved them! It was their first time ever trying them!  Elder money and I made pancakes for some Angolans and they said they did not like it haha. Disseram me que e muito doce meu haha. They thought it was too sweet, but they always say nooo we will like it and then we cook it and they don’t want to put any syrup on it, just a flap jack!  Well, I’m loving Lubango and my companion Elder Domingos from Mozambique.  He is enjoying it a lot here and so does everyone coming from Luanda.  He doesn’t really speak any English, so it’s just Portuguese, which is great!


Elder Money, Jorge and I


This week I said goodbye to Elder Money and he said goodbye to our investigators and then on Wed. he went to the airport and then we waited there to pick up Elder Domingos. It was a great first day, he got settled in and I explained to him about the area and introducing him to those we are teaching. Everyone was wondering where Elder Money.  I told Elder Domingos that we have the coolest investigators in the mission. Which we do!  We went to Mirandas and he showed us his collection of 12 or so elephant tusks that were carved by natives into really cool designs, each one would price at about 30,000 today, of course now they are illegal to buy. He bought them a long time ago before the law came out.

The Luisa Family

We had so much fun at Luisas house yesterday we went there at 16 at 4pm and she made 3 cakes and pero (turkey) and then she brought out batatas fritas(french fries) and then more food! bacalhau and salada(fish salad) AND WE ATE SOOOO MUCHHHH and we had just finished eating lunch at our house. I didn’t expect to get fed that much. So yes Riley I had a wonderful Easter with lots of food and love from the Angolan people(:  and it rained again yesterday.  It’s starting to get into the cold season here and in Lubango it gets a whole lot colder down here than in Luanda, you need a jacket. I’m really excited to be here and I hope to stay 7 months! But we will see.

Jorge's Baptism


Making lunch at Jorge's


Manuel and I


Elder Domingos, Manuel and I!

So my companion is really pretty funny and we have been laughing a lot. I’ve really been enjoying it so far.  We had 87 people at church on Sunday which is a record high! on Sunday morning Elder Domingos and I went to wake a family we wanted to come to church the Paulas family and she came and her 6 kids!!! So the primary was really full today. Elder Domingos and I taught part of primary and I also had my first interview as District Leader with in an investigator, Fernanda, who is getting baptized this Saturday. she has smoked for 28 years and had a son die  at age 18. She quit smoking cold turkey a little over a month ago and cried 6 times during the interview, she was super prepared, Mom you would like her a lot. Then after that I taught the jovenes (youth) Sunday school class so it was a busy Sunday. I’ve been very tired mentally these past few days wow…but it’s all been very worth it.
I love you all so much and I wish you the best week. love, Elder Dunkley

Falling off of Tunda Vala!!

Help!!




Haven't lost my sense of Humor!

Tunda Vala...Don't worry mom!!


4/18/14

District Leader...new Native Companion from Mozambique!!

Dinner with Elders from Lubango & Huambo

I loved getting all the emails the past 2 weeks! First off I have some news... So we had transfers this morning and I am staying in Lubango! That is 6 months! The longest I have been in an area. My companion is Elder Dominguez. He is a native from Mozambique and speaks fluent Portuguese! I am very excited to serve with him. Also I am now a District Leader.
I get to Skype you for Mother's Day in a few weeks, hopefully it will be better than last time. The Internet is not very good here in Lubango.  I was thinking about the reunion the other day..Mom gets the first hug, then Dad or Ash..can't decide we will probably do a group hug!
So sorry to hear about Brother Marlow Riley, so great that you were able to sing at his funeral.  You are so amazing and blessed with so many talents.

Lubango and Huambo Elders & Sister Merrill

Mission Conference in Lubango


So Elder Money and I saw the blessings from all our hard work, as it was our last week together.  We also set goals and one was to gain the trust of the members. We have really seen the difference and have had success through the members and it has really helped the branch.  The branch has been experiencing real growth and inactive members coming back to church also. We are teaching Teodoro and his family, his wife is very prominent in the Methodist church and he is nervous to tell her, he is more interested with each lesson.
We have 5 baptismal dates set for may 10th with a family, Paula and her 4 kids.  Also there is a new family coming to church the Luisas family and they loved it, she said that she felt peace in her heart, she knew it was the right place. Fernanda also came to church and they all sat together, they are practically members already.

Dinner with President & Sister Merrill


So something happened and it reminded me of a story you told me from your mission Mom. We were on a busy road and there was a man holding down a lady on a bench and they were screaming and she was trying to get away from him and she was yelling that she wanted to die and take her life and run into the ongoing traffic. We were waiting for a taxi and then the lady broke free and the man yelled ajuda (help) and so I got between her and the street and held her back from running into the cars on the street, we finally got her down and into the neighborhood. I just felt sad the rest of the day. And later that night a young boy who was crying and he was pushing his brother's motorcycle and since he did not have the keys to it, the police stopped him and took the bike. We tried to intervene with the police but here you cannot and they were threatening to take us to jail. We had to show him our documents but mine had expired a week ago and the church hadn't sent the renewal.  I know The Lord protects us because the police ended up telling us to go home.
This week we had a soccer game with 7 members, literally in the grasslands of Africa, it was just dirt and big goal posts. It was awesome! We won 5 to 2, and there are some really good soccer players in our branch. We are going to play regularly, I can't wait..hopefully this will up my game!

Road In Lubango

So our baptisms are set for the day before Mother's Day, so hopefully all will go well. We have had great communication with President Marques, and we know the better friends you are with the members the more they open up and share their personal experiences with us. It has been an awesome 4 months with Elder Money, we are both ready for a change and are thrilled with the work we have done. We also came up with our ward missionary plan with everyone last night and we are helping to re-activate members. There is a lot of work and we will keep going, I love all the members here and the families we are teaching. Tonight we have a family night with one of our favorite families the Luisas. It will be awesome. I am glad I am staying another transfer and I will make the most of it.  I love you all so much.  Keep on moving forward! That's the motto in the mission!
Elder Dunkley

4/3/14

Tasted Alligator and Oryx....visit from the Mission President!!

Beautiful Lubango!

Another week down here in Lubango! I’m glad you are having surgery on your hand mom. I wish I could get mine done too, it hurts all the time.  I had Sister Merrill take a look at it and I don’t know what I can do right now. My arm kind of hurts sometimes too because I think the bones affected all down my wrist and until my elbow. Anyways wow I can’t believe Brother Johnson is so great! I did get the package and it was wonderful!  Thank you for the chocolate covered pomegranates and the turkey jerky those are my favorite!
Jensen! I miss you more than anything, Happy Birthday!  I saw the photos on the package and there was one of me and you outside the house in the backyard eating chick–fil-a. I think that was the last time I ate Chick- fil- A, it was with you! Well, it won’t be the last, that was a sad day the day I left.  They don’t have any Chick-fil A’s here, but they should Haha. Anyways I love you tons.
Well this week was a quick one. I can’t believe how fast it went we had lots of exciting new things happen.  We found some new investigators. One named Luisa. That is a reference from Leonor. a member. She is so awesome. On Friday President Merrill and Sister Merrill came down with the Assistants and the Elders from Huambo! There were 10 elders here in Lubango!
 It was the first time I have seen them and President for almost 4 months! It was such a blast!
 I walked with Elder Rigby an Elder from Huambo and we went and saw Leonel and then I showed him around Lubango, he loved it!  Lubango is the best area in the mission(:
After that on Saturday we had training with President Merrill and all the Elders at the chapel, it was very refreshing. We talked about how we are good enough, and overcoming the challenges of the mission. It was great because it’s been a while since I’ve had mission training like that and it’s been a little lonely for a while down here. Sister Merrill and President Merrill always do a great job of showing their love for us, always in their tears.  I cannot remember a meeting or event without Sister Merrill crying(: or President Merrill. This is a crying mission Haha.

President and Sister Merrill

 Well it was wonderful and we had some great laughs and some really great fun.  After that we went to a restaurant called Kimbo do Soba, which was the nicest in Lubango... It’s really cool; I would take my family there. Super awesome!  It’s all exotic meats... so I ate Alligator, oryx, also bird and some type of pig. We celebrated Sister Merrill’s birthday. We had a wonderful time, I took a lot of pictures, but these computers are not good at all. I will try and find a way to send photos.

Oryx


Well I hope to get them to you soon. So sorry for the delay, also it rained every day this week. So it’s been relatively chilly(:
Sunday we had 10 missionaries at church and the members did not know what to do there were so many of us! It was a blast! Sister Merrill got sick from the exotic meats the night before so she could not give her talk. So president just picked like 3 elders to talk.  After that we had lunch and I went with elder Tingey and we did contacting and I showed him around Lubango and was very impressed(: Haha. well there is lot of fun in the mission. You just have to look past the challenging days. I hope to stay here as long as possible. I had an interview with President last night. It was great I love talking with him always, and sharing stories it’s nice to have a check up every once in a while.
Week 50 of the mission was just straight up work, probably the hardest week of work that Elder money and I have had now 16 weeks as companions. ~it was a lesson week, and a ton of new investigators. We met a new family. The Paula’s family, she is a sweet lady and has two daughters and several other younger children and she suffers from HIV.  We met with them, 4 times in one week, they pretty much have been taught everything and have accepted baptism. Super awesome!  Joaquin. Leiocadias husband left the Hospital on Tuesday and is still recovering from brain surgery. We talked with the family and he is doing well and is healing and so is the whole family and because of this they came to church. Which is wonderful! We also are teaching another family that speaks English, one of my first and the grandpa’s name is Miranda. He has lived in Angola for 60 years now, he is a lively man and very funny and tells stories of the war all of the time… he can talk forever.  He was also a professional skater. (Roller skater) Out of the blue, he left the room and then came rolling very fast into the room on roller skates and began doing circles around us and doing little tricks and it was hilarious! He is really good and told us stories of when he used to skate. It was really awesome and we are hoping that they come to church. They fed us and they are just the coolest family. We probably have the coolest investigators in the mission.
Also Jorge has been coming to lessons with us and he is sooo bold. He just asks them do you want to be baptized? Don’t you want to be baptized like me?? Haha. It’s awesome. He is helping a lot in the church. And is always at church and has made friends. He has done a perfect transition. It’s such a blessing.  We worked really hard these past two weeks and we taught a lot, more than we ever have. Hopefully we can see the fruits of our labors in the next few weeks.
Well family and friends I love you all so much. Keep sending packages! I think I get the most in the mission! You are awesome! also I love you soooo muchhhhh!! I’ll talk with you next week!" I love you! bye bye! Wow week 50 in Angola already! 

Forca ali!! amo vos! e fiquem bem!!!
Elder Connor Dunkley