As of yesterday I have officially been in the mission field for TWO MONTHS!
So as I mentioned last week, I ran into a little cold and it wiped me
out for the majority of the week. If colds aren't bad enough at home,
they are even worse on missions! But I received a priesthood blessing
and we we still able to manage a few lessons!
L**** is my saving grace! She is such a giving and hard working little
lady. We had a lesson with her about God giving us strength and I
shared Alma 26:11-12. She talked about how the Lord should always come
first and then your family and then everything else. She shared that
life is nothing unless you have people to share what you love with! I
just love her! She didn't make it to church yet but she did go to the
ward function and she chatted with a lot of the ward members :)
B*** was a busy man this week with work but we did talk to him on the
phone. His son was in town this weekend so we'll meet with him next
week.
T**** is a new investigator. He has taken the discussions before and
wants his grandchildren to be baptized. He is great and we taught him
the first lesson last week and we have an appointment with him for
tomorrow so keep him in your prayers that it goes well!
So..you may have noticed that the only investigators we get are of the
male gender...we wouldn't want to break that tradition so in our
mid-singles 7th ward we have a new investigator named T****! He is
awesome! He used to be in the army and is all tatted up and said he
feels a little judged by Mormons but he is ready for a change in his
life and gets a good feeling being at church! We have an appointment
scheduled with him tomorrow! Keep him in your prayers :)
So today the sweet S********* girls are going to paint our nails! I am
so excited...I will take pictures for you to see the end results! I
love you all. The gospel is the truest thing ever. I love our Heavenly
Father and Jesus Christ. Being a missionary is the greatest blessing
in my life!

For anyone who received an email from me today (Tuesday) I am not
being rebellious. We had zone conference yesterday and so our
preparation day was moved to today. Do you know what that means? I GOT
TO GO TO THE TEMPLE THIS MORNING! The temple is a place like no other.
We went to the Jordan River temple as a zone. It was AWESOME! If you
haven't been to the temple in awhile, PLEASE GO. God is waiting to
bless you.
So this week was good except for the fact that I'm sick. All I want to
do is get cold medicine and  orange juice and hot chocolate and bundle
up in my bed. But I am a missionary and missionaries don't do that :)
I am so blessed to be on this mission and to have met all the people I
have and to have the opportunity every day to grow my relationship
with my Heavenly Father. I love being a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints! LOVE IT.
L**** is fabulous and she is just like a grandma to us. We love her.
She has agreed to come to church with us but we have yet to find a
Sunday that is good for her. I can feel how much God loves her and
wants to bless her but she has to have faith enough to get her booty
to church first!
G***** is apparently a zen-Buddhist. He is not what we expected. He
asked A LOT of questions about the church and asked our views on women
not having the priesthood. Let's just say it was not the lesson that
Sister Unrast and I had planned but we have an appointment to go back
and have another lesson with him and hopefully we'll be able to talk
about the restoration! :)
B*** is a super star! He makes things too easy on us. He asks for
scriptures to read throughout the week. But he has yet to make it a
priority to be at church. I wish he understood the importance of
partaking the sacrament and starting every week by renewing your
baptismal covenants...that being said I think I know what his next
lesson will be!! Hahahaa.
The P*****s make every week a little better! I love them. But...they
need to go to church too! hahaaa.
I am so blessed to be able to serve here and be with Sister Unrast. I
am so blessed to have faith in my savior Jesus Christ and see how his
life changes mine. I hope everyone has a rockin week and comes a
little bit closer to Heavenly Father.
I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Elder Wilcox moment:
He made pancakes again this week and he found out I had a truck back
home...so he made me a truck pancake!!! Hahahaa

And here are some classic Unrast/Dodd selfies!! Hahahaa

Those are our zone leaders. Elder Ramirez and Elder Sirmans.

No longer a trio!

So, last week I mentioned that we were putting the Parleys stake back
together and that we were becoming a trio...I didn't lie! But on
Thursday we got a call that told us to come pick up another sister
because the Lord was mad at them for recombining the stake. Hahahaa so
Sister Bates and Sister Case are now companions and cover wards 1, 3,
5, and half of 7. And Sister Unrast and I are still together (thank
goodness!) and we cover 2, 4,6 and the other half of 7. There is so
much that goes into splitting a stake, this week has been a headache.
But let's not relive the trauma of this past week! All 4 of us had to
give talks in the 7th ward yesterday...yes that means I talked in
front of about 800 people. I will never again complain about giving a
talk in church! and also we left for church at 8:30 yesterday and we
weren't done with all of our wards and meetings until 5:30. 9 hours.
NINE HOURS OF CHURCH! So I will never complain about going to church
for 3 hours either! Hahaha. I am just getting called to repentance all
the time. It's great :)
Sister Unrast and I got invited on a double date this week. HAHHAAHAA.
B***: IS AWESOME! We went on a church tour with him and his
fellowshippers, the R******, came with. We talked about the Atonement
and sacrament and we invited him to begin attending church! He agreed
but he was out of town yesterday for his anniversary. But he informed
us that he looked up LDS churches back home that he could go to. Then
he told us that there were 14 bars and 14 churches in his hometown and
that they have different hours they are open so that he can attend
both! Hahahahaa.
K****: The H***** (which are the SWEETEST family in the 2nd ward) went
with us to teach K**** about the restoration. It was interesting. I
think he may be too smart for his own good. He overthinks everything
and is really just interested in learning about what we believe in.
L****: Oh my heavens I love this lady! We helped her clean out her
brother's apartment because he is going into assisted living. She was
so appreciative and it was fun!
G*****: So he is probably in his 30s and he is a bartender at a
country club and a writer. We've stopped by G*****'s house before and
just chatted with him and we went by this week just to check up and he
said "So when can you set up an appointment with me to teach
me?"....for those of you that are not familiar with missionary work
here; THIS IS NOT NORMAL! Hahaha so we have an appointment with him
for Wednesday!
Life is full of the Lord's tender mercies. This week was hard
(especially since Sister Unrast and I are not eating sugar this
month!) but the Lord blesses us every day! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!

We Love Sunny Days!!!

We Love Twinning!

Elder Wilcox moment of the week: So we have lunch with the Wilcox's
every Thursday for planning. On Wednesday Elder Wilcox asked what I
wanted for lunch and I said a knuckle sandwich...well this is what I
got!!!! HAHAHAAA. He said "I could barely sleep last night because I
was so excited to make this for you!!!!"

THANKS MOM FOR MY PRETTY PINK SHIRT!
(Also, can you tell how much I miss Princess with how many pictures I
take with dogs?!)

A few new changes!

For those of you who don't know, transfers happen every 6 weeks and
you have the possibility of getting transferred to another place. So I
have officially made it through my first transfer! Sister Unrast and I
are staying here together and instead of covering half of a stake we
will now be covering the whole stake with Sister Case so we will be in
a trio. I am SO nervous to cover 7 wards but I know the Lord will
help.
This past week we went to a luau for one of our wards and they have
some tongan family members so they put on this awesome performance
where they sang and danced and explained what all of their songs meant
and it was so spiritual and cool! Sister Unrast and I decided that
we're marrying Polynesian guys!! Hahaaa
L**** is awesome! We invited her to come to church last week but there
was a miss-communication so we're hoping she'll come next week! She
opened up this week about her family and bragged about her grand kids
(typical proud grandmother! hahaaa).
The P****** are the best. We ran into them a few times this week and
talked about their lives and played with their sweet grandson Junior!
We didn't get to meet with B*** this week because his wife was in town
from Colorado. But we have a lesson with him tomorrow and we're going
to try to do a church tour with a family in the ward, the R******, who
have been fellowshipping B***.
K**** is a guy that we always run in to as we're walking around
because he's always sitting outside reading. He is a professor at the
U so a lot of his students have talked to him about serving missions
and the gospel. We have planned to meet with him on Thursday and we're
super excited!
Last Sunday a sweet lady in one of our wards passed away so we are
going to a funeral today. As missionaries we expect to leave people
but we don't expect them to leave us. Hug your loved ones and tell
them you love them!
All my love, Sister Lauren Dodd!!!

Loving my new shirt, and headwrap. Thanks Kam!

Officially done with my first planner! Holllllla!