Come, Let Us Anoop!

The week between Christmas and New Years can be rather disorienting, you never quite know what day it really is, when Monday feels like a Saturday but then you get up and go to work instead of church! It seems we've been 1 day off all week and here it is Saturday again with the promise of another 3 day weekend. Have you been like us, trying to wolf down all your holiday goodies this week so you can start afresh with new eating goals for the new year? Oh, the irony. December has literally been a CarbFest every day, fellow missionaries have been bringing goodies to share at the Discovery Zone and we confess we have freely partaken. Tis the season, right? Keto Shmeto.  Well it's time to Anoop! This word became part of our vocabulary when we once went on a cruise and our steward's name was Anoop from India. (Little did we know then) We would leave our cabin in disarray but when we returned, everything was sparkly and organized. We loved when our world had been anooped! And so today we prepare for a new beginning, symbolized by the changing of the calendar to a new year. The thing is, every day we can be anooped, and every week we can partake of the Sacrament in remembrance of Christ's Atonement, this is the greatest renewal of all where, if we approach it with a humble heart and contrite spirit for the things we didn't do our best at or really failed at, we are freely forgiven by our Savior through this ordinance and our slate has been wiped clean by his mercy, and we feel encouraged and ready to commit ourselves to becoming a better version of ourselves the coming week. So if you're like us, yearly resolutions feel a bit unattainable, but when we approach repentance and change on a daily and weekly basis, they are more doable. We are absolutely loving this missionary lifestyle with prayer, daily scripture study, temple attendance and service built right into our schedule. We couldn't recommend serving missions and doing these daily rituals more highly. We are glad to know that 2023 will be filled with more of these same joy-producing habits.

We've been amazed once again at how the Lord doth provide for our needs. Last week, when we attended the early morning devotional at our old Sandy ward, good friends Steve & Jana Eliason asked us if we would be interested in using their missionary son's car that is sitting in their garage while we're here in SLC. Oh, would we ever! We really only need it to go grocery shopping and to the temple weekly but this has greatly simplified our life to not use TRAX or beg a ride from other missionaries. Thank you Eliasons!

Let us rejoice with one Accord!

And there's a cute story with my red ear muffs too. Our first week here, we met Tab, a sweet simple man who comes every weekday to the Library. I asked him if Tab was short for another name. No, in fact his father added Tab to the beginning of his name when he blessed him in church because his parents had a little joke about naming him after the Tabernacle Choir but mom was a little unhappy that he actually did it! Anyhoo..he was wearing a pair of gray earmuffs and I asked him where I could buy some just like his, pronto! I am so bothered by the cold. He said he'd find out. I asked the same question of our friends the Eppersons the next day where I could buy some in Salt Lake and they, being the giving souls that they are, gave me a gray pair they had on hand. But then back at the library on Monday, Tab presented me with a pair of bright red ones which I felt to graciously accept from him. What a dear! So now I had two pair. But not for long. That weekend I was wearing the gray pair as we were walking on W. Temple just outside our apartment. We met a sweet lady named Marie who had the happiest smile (but only 1 visible tooth!) She's not homeless, she lives somewhere nearby but looked very underdressed for the cold. She pointed to our badges and recognized us as missionaries. At that moment, I knew we were representing Jesus Christ and without any premeditation, I found myself taking off the gray earmuffs and putting them on her ears all pre-warmed. Her eyes lit up, she was so happy with them, just like a little child at Christmas! We all went away from the encounter rejoicing in our hearts. I felt so grateful for Dwight & Jillyn Epperson, and for Tab too, for they were really the givers of the gift for Marie but I knew the warmth we felt in our hearts was from The Savior himself. "Inasmuch as ye do it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

The happiest moment this week was arriving at the Discovery Zone Friday Afternoon after a morning at the temple to see our dearest friend, Grant Collier from St George! He completely surprised us with his visit!

A joyful reunion!

Grant, finding a a 64% resemblance to Philo T Farnsworth.

The Colliers brought the warmth of St George to us. 

We invite any of you visiting Salt Lake in the month of January to pop in unannounced like Grant did and visit the Discovery Zone and see you one more time before we're off to India.   Want to read more about the FHLibrary from Rob's perspective?...Click below:

Rob "In The Zone"

 We did receive another email from the Indian mission office. No change of status on our visas, but a change in city assignments. We won't be serving in Hyderabad like they told us last email, now they would like us to serve in the farthest southern area of the mission called Coimbatore, which is in the southern tip of India, but not near the ocean. There is no stake there yet, just a district with a few branches. How exciting and challenging! It's a good thing we hadn't learned too much Telagu phrases they speak in Hyderabad, now we will try to familiarize ourselves with the Tamil language! From what we learned from the internet, it seems like a lovely place to be, it's even nearer to Pondicherry, where the movie Life of Pi was filmed. We are up to any assignment where we can be of help to strengthen the young adults in that area. 

To keep our sights and hearts focused on India while we wait, we decided to find an Indian movie we could watch for free on Youtube last night. We found the Indian re-creation of Forrest Gump called "Lall Singh Chaddi", completely in Hindi with no subtitles and unlike the American version, PG.

It ran 2 hours and 47 minutes but we sat fascinated from beginning to end. Because we knew the story pretty well, it was easy to follow the plot without understanding a word. They of course added musical numbers or it wouldn't be a true Bollywood movie, in our opinion. Occasionally they'd use some English phrases, also they adapted it to show the significant events in Indian history that Lall was involved in that we had no clue about; the uprisings and civil wars in the 60's-70's, the Indira Ghandi assasination in the 80's, etc. The main character reminded us a little too much of Mr. Bean, still we found the movie charming overall and learned some interesting things too, especially about the Sikhs.

Lall with Lt. Dan equivalent

After the movie, we researched a bit to learn that there has been historical and ongoing religious persecution towards the Sikhs. In the movie, his mother put his uncut hair in a little bun, covered with the most unique little hat or sometimes a full headcap that looked much like a pair of pantyhose pulled over the hair. When an uprising was portrayed and there was killing and brutality in the streets against Sikhs, it showed his mom cutting off his hair to protect him from the rioters. 

The original manbun.

It's so fascinating to see the many parallels in Eastern religions to biblical Christianity, like the Nazarenes who never cut their hair as a token of religious piety. And it doesn't seem to matter what country, the fighting over religion and political power seems to be a recurring theme, doesn't it? What we know to be true and want to share with the people of India is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Prince of Peace and that he is the true hope of world peace. But until the blessed day that we are all united in faith in Him, we will respect and honor all the religions we encounter in India; Hindu, Moslem, Sikh, and other Christian faiths. We are all children of God and he loves ALL his children! 

Happy New Year 2023

 

There's No Place Like Om for the Holidays

This has been a truly unique Christmastime. Imagine if you will, living in an alternative universe where the focus of this season is solely on Jesus Christ, holy music celebrating the advent of his birth, and service to others in the temple, at church, the Family History Library, and with those you meet on the street. It has produced the true fruits of the season~ Joy, Love, and Peace~ with none of the feelings of stress, inadequacy, and frustration that normally accompany the trappings we've typically added to it. Oh that every Christmas could be a mission Christmas!

So this is Christmas.

(Missionary Mode)

Let us share some of our joyous moments of the week with you. It began with our Branch Christmas Party on Monday evening. This one came with a view since it was held on the 26th floor of the Church Office Building. We completely reveled in the fact that we weren't on the food committee, the decorating brigade, or in charge of the program but could simply come to a party and enjoy the lovely ambience. What peace and serenity! (But we know our turn is coming again soon.) We so love our Mission Presidency and our fellow missionaries and all they do for us. Dear Sister Howell gave us the use of her car while she went home to visit family for a few days. The Lord so often blesses us through the kind acts of others.

It was a super busy week at the Discovery Zone with all the foot traffic of people coming downtown to see the lights. One night two Indian families came in visiting from Chicago. I gave most of my attention to their four children in the kid's activities area. They were astoundingly bright and precocious, all under the age of 9 with vocabularies I would not expect to hear in even American teens. They spoke 3 languages fluently and they would say articulate things like "Where should we submit our completed papers? " We are so interested to see first-hand the culture that produces these prodigies! Indian families seem to do so well in instilling respect and discipline in their children. We observed that they were very kind and gentle to one another too.

Though we cannot actively proselyte at the Discovery Zone, they understood that we are going to India to promote Christianity and work with young adults. They taught us some Indian words but we promptly forgot them with our Teflon brains. Oh to be sponges again! 

It is with great joy to report that we got to meet Eb Solomon! After our morning spent doing ordinances in the Jordan River Temple, we went to the offices and asked if we might have a word with him. The temple workers eyed us a bit suspiciously until we told them we've been called to India, then they let us in to see him. What a kind and gracious man he is and so humble! He treated us like old friends. He told us many interesting things about the work in India. He was the 4th person in all of India to be baptized so we felt like we were in the presence of a true pioneer and founding father. The only discouraging thing he said was he predicted the Bengaluru Temple would not be completed until 2025, long after we leave, so we had to let that dream go :( but better to know now than having unrealistic hope for two years.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Steve Eliason, a friend from our former Sandy ward posted on Facebook about a traditional early morning devotional. Because we had access to a vehicle, we threw on our clothes and went and we"re so glad we did! As a Utah legislator, he helped pass a bill called "Sarah's Bill", regarding the jail sentences of DUI offenders who were walking away from their crimes the next day after posting bail. We were privileged to listen to Sarah Frei talk about her experiences of being involved in a head-on collision in Logan Canyon when she was 17 years old. She was immediately paralyzed from the waist down. When her injuries affected the blood flow to her legs, they had to be amputated to save her life. She was an exceptionally happy and grateful young woman, with deep abiding love in her Savior. She spoke of the peace that flooded her from His Spirit when she awakened from her induced coma to learn what had happened. She spoke of many other life lessons she had learned and we came away from the morning with deeper gratitude and faith that Jesus Christ visits us in our afflictions and consoles us so that we may bear any burden we have to endure in this life. What a profound example to us!

                                   
 Lastly, we were so happy to have spent Christmas Eve with my sister, the Rohlfings and my talented and darling niece's family, the Dukes. Again, we just got to show up with a mere veggie plate to the most wonderful meal and an evening of fun games with prizes even! We are so appreciative of Lolly and Tom's magnanimous expense and efforts. The Huertas, Maddy and Franklin came too and that was a true joy for us to spend more time with my daughter and son-in-law. In addition, Tom and Lolly's friends from Hong Kong, Jarvis and Crystal Kwong were there. They met Jarvis on their mission in Australia, and they are now students at BYUI. In the midst of their travels to Salt Lake, they were involved in a wreck with a truck that totaled their car. And on their way home from Disneyland, their luggage was lost. You might expect them to be morose and glum from their circumstances, but they were just as kind and sweet and happy as two young people could be, grateful to be alive and unhurt. It spoke to us that it doesn't matter the circumstances of your life, if the focus of your life is on Jesus Christ, you can find joy and peace through it all. 

 

Along with another recently married couple, Spencer and Victoria Duke, we enjoyed these 3 young couples so much as we ate, played fun games, and reenacted the Christmas Story.

                    Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus

                        the Shepherds visit the Holy Family

               Three Very Wise Men from the East

                                                         

We know for an absolute fact that Wise Men (and women) today still seek him! We are all like Innkeepers too, asked if we can find room for Him in our lives. We testify that He is the Prince of Peace and the greatest source of peace to every problem we might encounter. Jesus is the answer! All the meditation and mindfullness you can muster is fine, but it will fall short of the peace that passeth all understanding that only He, the Savior Jesus Christ can give and that never fails us. May you all find this peace this Christmas, we pray!

Elder & Sister Dunlap

PS: ( I had a short video clip of a Santa sitting in lotus position singing "There's No Place like Om for the Holidays" but it just wouldn't upload. Ah well, you get the pun.)

Left Behind or Divinely Detained?

This week, all 3 of the other couples that were assigned to India got their visas. Wah! Even one couple who came to Church Headquarters 3 weeks after us and going to our same mission will be leaving before us with a reassignment-- to Pakistan! They will all fly out the Tuesday after Christmas. We will truly miss them all as we have felt a real bond with them, along with other couples who left for Czech Republic and Kazahkstan. We sorta feel like we're the only ones still here holding down the Visa-waiters Fort, (well that's not really true, there are still couples waiting for Australia, Surinam and Norway) But the consolation is that now that all the India mission couples have their visas and travel itineraries, we were able to submit our application to obtain our visas on the 16th, as the Indian government requires it to be done in batches. When some leave then more can come in. We will be in the same batch with 6 young elders. It will be a treat traveling with young missionaries and worth the wait!

Us yearning to dip our hands in the pools of Agra.

Upon further reflection, we have felt like this time here has been designed by a loving Heavenly Father completely for our benefit. We can't imagine now if we had gone straight to India from the MTC. For instance, Friday night we went out to dinner with my daughter Maddy and her husband Franklin. They treated us to a marvelous place within walking distance of their apartment in the Aves called The Shambala for Tibetan food! It was such awesome cuisine, we loved it! But more than the meal, it was a real joy having the opportunity to talk to them and get caught up on their lives, hear of their courtship, see their wedding photos and learn of their future plans. Being here for that meant everything to us. We have plans to meet again, spend Christmas Eve together at Aunt Lolly's, and hopefully make the most of these next 6 weeks before we leave. And if that isn't happy enough, now 2 of my other daughters Cassandra and Rachel have made plans to come to Salt Lake after Christmas so it will be a marvelous reunion with 3 of my 4 daughters! I just couldn't be more grateful for that. Other people have told us many times there are blessings for serving missions and now we too can testify of tangible blessings that have come to us and our families while serving the Lord full-time. 

I posted this last picture on Facebook so most of you already knew about this but for those not connected with us through social media, I'll repeat the story. When we randomly kept running into Vaddi for the 3rd time, this last time at Music and the Spoken Word last Sunday, we felt the Lord was placing these Indian young adults in our path for a reason. So spontaneously and with not much food in our larders, we asked Vaddi and Sowmya to come to our home for dinner that afternoon, and then Sowmya brought her friend Gideion who's attending BYU and was in SLC visiting. 

 

 We had the best time with them! They are so intelligent, fun-loving, and filled with light. We laughed together and learned so much about India and it's customs and culture, within the subculture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We promised them we must gather again before we leave and keep our friendship growing. So there's yet another reason we feel it is so very right for us to be here. 

In our ongoing report of chance encounters, we had another one this week at Chuck-a-rama, (Auto correct called it Church-a-rama. Hah!) We met a lovely couple, the Ulriches who were past mission presidents in Manchester England, who joined us at our table for chuck and chat. Rob enjoyed talking about his days in Nottingham with them. They told us we simply need to meet another Indian member- Eb Solomon, who they work with at the Jordan River Temple.  He is the Temple Recorder and knows everything there is to know about running a temple. (Gee, I wonder what role he could possibly play in India's future?) We sent him an email and he was kind enough to reply to us, even being literal strangers. If we can get a ride some p-day out to S. Jordan to attend the temple, we hope to meet him in person. Until then we'll be singing the song from Bye Bye Birdie~ "Eb Soloman...Eb Soloman...we're going to meet Eb Soloman!!"

Brother & Sister Ulrich

 And the week ended on a perfect high note. We had a marvelous full day beginning at 8:45am at the Discovery Center, helping people build their family trees followed by our Zone Christmas Party and for their gift to us, we received tickets to the Choir and Symphony Concert at Temple Square. Talk about winning the lottery! We had no idea we'd be able to see the concert, although we dreamed about it knowing we'd be here. The music was so moving and the stories made us cry. I especially bawled during the song about mothers carrying their child in their wombs sung by Lea Solanga and we both wept at the story of Nicky Winton and the refugee children in Czechoslavakia during WW2. The parents willingly sent their children onto England, knowing it meant the possibility of life for them with the almost certain knowledge staying meant death for those left behind. Not a single one of the parents was ever reunited with their children. (well, just in this mortal life, but we know the great Plan of Happiness for them and the joyous reunion they eventually had!) Nicky was reintroduced to the children he saved decades later as grown adults at a special tribute for him. Pull out the hanky again. It was once again an evening to remember as we felt the Holy Spirit along with immense gratitude for God's goodness and blessings. We hope and pray all of you dear friends are feeling the joy and happiness of this season of Christ's birth as a time to remember His life and mission. We thank you for your prayers for us, they are being answered! Well it's past bedtime for good missionaries and it's been a long day so we must end. We are grateful we have been detained.

Namascaramu,

The Dunlaps

Days Of Discovery

We have shifted to working full-time at the Discovery Zone in the Family History Library this week and we are loving it! I don't quite know what facet to begin with to share all that we are experiencing. It is so rich and rewarding. It is no surprise to us by now that we are here by Divine design before we continue on to India. Every day we have an experience or meet a person that feels vital to our preparation. Our testimonies of the truthfulness of the work we are engaged in seems to grow hourly! I guess I will begin with our "Spirit of Elijah" moments. For those of you unfamiliar with that term, it comes from a scripture in Malachi in the Old Testament where the Lord states He will send the prophet Elijah with the sealing powers to the earth to bind families and he will turn the hearts of the children to their fathers and the hearts of the fathers to their children before the coming of the Lord for the 2nd time.

 In the lunch room on our break on Monday, we happened upon an older wisp of a woman and and her American friend. Ambika is a native Indian working for the church in the Translation Dept. She studies in the library when she isn't translating. She shared with us her translation of the sacrament prayers in a language that starts with an M. Don't ask us what language it is, we can't remember now! She immediately took us under her wing when she learned we were headed to India and brought us Indian food for our lunch for the next 2 days! It was such delicious food. She is a force to be reckoned with in that tiny body of hers. For instance, don't you dare drink water with your lunch when eating her Indian food. Major no-no!

She's quite a legend and we're so glad to know her. But the true miracle was meeting Colette, her American friend who turned out to be a Swedish Genealogy expert. I just happened to mention offhandedly that Rob's line has a dead end in Sweden. His great Grandma Lovisa Bacon had only her parents' names listed (Andreas Anderson Finn and Golena) and the town she was born in. She was apparently the only one in her family to immigrate to America. Colette volunteered to come help us and with her expertise we found them! The "Finn" came from his having been a soldier who took on the name of his regiment, Finntorp. Golena was actually Carolina, and Andreas' last name was actually Larrson. With Collette's help we found all of Lovisa's siblings too -- Olof Severin, Carl Leonard, Johanna Maria and Andreas Alfrid! We were simply in awe for this chance meeting in the lunchroom that resulted in finding these ancestors and readying their names for saving ordinances! Would we EVER have been able to find that family on our own? We say unto you, nay!

A similar occurrence happened again with ancestors Anton Wallenta and Anna Marschalek.  These are Rob's great grandparents, but on the other side of his tree with a big dead end. The only hint was that they were born in Bohemia. I did some research on my own and actually found the passenger records of Anton, Anna, and son Anton coming over on the boat to America so I did that much on my own. Yay! But then we have the opportiunity and blessing here to request help from the big guns at the FH Library so we called in another European expert, Camille, and got some leads to find that they originated in Bohemian Austria. We did find Anton Jr's birth records in their parish. Camille had to cut it short before we could find their marriage records so that is work for another day. We were always told family history work is engaging and addictive and we now know this first-hand. We cannot wait to go back on Monday and do more research and get more help! Would we have found this kind of help in India? Again, we say unto you, about as much chance as there is blood in a rat's tail.

 And if that wasn't enough reason to love our mission, on top of that we get to work with such lovely people in the Discovery Zone. 

Our Zone Leaders Brian and Amy! (My family will get a little chuckle out of that name combo) 

And Reed is a staple at the FHL who works with us every morning. What a joy he brings to our day! (He does a terrific impression of the Greatest Showman dance upon request too.) He is the son of Emeritus Elder Cornish of the 70. 

Each day this week, after studying our lessons, we shadow our mentors as we learn the different assignment posts. People walk off the street and say they they've heard of this place and wonder why they are there? After we help them start a free account, they start entering the information of the family members they know, usually parents and sometimes grandparents. Inevitably, a census record or an obituary pops up that greatly expands their family tree beyond their own knowledge and that's when their mind gets blown away. So many times we are asked why do we do it. Although we aren't actively proseletyzing, when we give them the basic explanation that family is so important to our Church, that it's our belief that we are all children of the same Heavenly parents and that he wants to find every one of them and get them connected to their roots and search out those that have not been attached to a family tree, that is usually a sufficient answer. 

In other chance meetings this week, I ran into Debbie Doxey, a highschool friend who sings in the Choir at Temple Square at Music and the Spoken Word. So great to see her again!

After a concert at the Assembly Hall this week, Rob struck up a conversation with this fine fellow, Brother Hamblin because of a mutual love of berets.

Had we finished our conversation 15 seconds later with Brother Hamblin, we would've missed meeting another Indian friend. We literally turned around on Temple Square and ran right into him!

We had actually met him last week at the JSMB but we couldn't for the life of us remember his name, (note to self-- write Indian names down immediately or you will surely forget them) so the Lord gave us a second chance! He told us to just call him Raj. He too is a Bengaluru returned missionary from Hyderabad. No way....get out of town! This is becoming a deja vu experience for us! We don't know yet why, but we feel it is not by accident we keep running into him. He mentioned an upcoming fireside involving many Indians, so perhaps that is one reason. These young people are the pioneers of their country who will be the future leaders, so we feel honored to know 2 of them already. And don't forget grandma Ambika! 

And there are others we meet too, who I don't always get a picture with; Lori Salazar, another missionary at the FHL who by much delving, figured out we had the same English class our Freshman year in highschool before she moved away. (It is so satisfying when you finally figure out where your paths crossed!) Another night we ran into our old Midvalley Bishop and his wife, Scott and Emily Childs at a One Voice Concert, also a Korean couple working in the FHL who I could only greet and tell them I have forgotten all my Korean, the amount I remember is equivalent to the amount of blood found in a rat's tail. And so it goes.

One last tidbit before I end~ Remember last week I introduced you to Kinzi's new beau Tom? We've been sitting on their secret for 2 months now but they finally revealed to his parents and children that they were married over Conference Weekend. Yes, he's our new son-in-law and we are thrilled, tickled, and absolutely overjoyed for them! Maybe they dared tell us their secret early on since Rob and I pulled a similar maneuver in our past and just decided to elope one day with no fanfare or preplanning. Maybe they knew we'd completely understand and were good at keeping secrets. Anyhoo, the first factoid of information Senior Missionaries first offer each other is how many grandkids they have. Tom has 6 children from his first marriage with his oldest son serving a mission right now, so YAY!, we can rightfully declare we have inherited 6 step-grandkids we've never met but hope to meet them all after we return at a family get-together.

 And, of course we can't wait to see what next week brings us. Stay tuned for our future encounters the Lord has prepared for us. 

 Until then, 

The Dunlaps

Oh, the People You'll Meet! ~ Part 2

 Continuing on for just a bit more~ (I didn't realize I could run out of space on this format.)

 We just have to express more appreciation for all of their kindnesses. They have driven us to the temple, and to the grocery store, have taken us out to eat and have given us extra food from their cupboards, since one of them is ending her mission in 2 weeks. Their good works are never ending. They emulate the Savior in word and deed.

After our last Go Forth Luncheon, they sent us home with a platter-full of leftovers. We knew we had to share the wealth so we went door to door to share our platter with the Shramms, the Neffs, the Minarchics~going to Czech Republic (anyone we found home, really). We then thought, "Let's go visit the poor young Spanish Elders, they will surely appreciate some cheese squares and ham". We caught them at dinnertime and they were sitting down to steaks! Hah! It definitely shattered the illusion of the so-called starving spartan missionary life! They are so darling though, I wish I had a picture of these friendly, hard-working elders that share our building. Maybe in future blogs.

Our last encounter once again shows how truly small our world is, especially in the fellowship of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We saw a young woman in the Joseph Smith Building. She looked suspiciously Indian so we just had to ask. Yes, we were correct! Sowmya is a returned missionary from the Bengaluru Mission, now attending Ensign College here in Salt Lake City. Not only that, she is from Hyderabad and knows our ward friend Vijay very well. What a lovely coinkidink to meet her!

This picture is a bit fuzzy but her inner beauty simply radiates! She was so friendly and happy, we are already loving the people of India and look for them everywhere we go; on Temple Square, at Christmas concerts, at Indian restaurants. Our mission has hardly begun but the Lord is richly blessing us with connections daily that enrich our lives. We're glad we could share some of them with you, the reader. 

Our testimonies of the gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil has increased significantly. We feel it written on our hearts! Our Heavenly Parents love each one of their individual children who has ever lived on this earth and because of that love will give the opportunity to each one to be taught the saving doctrine of their son Jesus Christ, either in this life or in the Spirit World. They will have the agency to accept Christ's gospel, choose to be baptized or accept the proxy baptism done for them in holy temples, and then they may choose to accept the proxy marriage and family sealing ordinances that bind married couples and families together eternally if they want to live in family units, rather than a lone existence for eternity.  And so His church goes to great expense and efforts to preach the gospel to all the world, and to find every soul in genealogical research and link them together in family trees so they can be together forever. What a merciful plan! And that is why we send out missionaries, why we build temples in every nation, and why we have the largest free family history libraries in the world, and index every record that has ever been kept to find every soul who has ever lived. It blows the mind! Only the Lord could orchestrate the magnitude and scope of His work and glory. Gathering those who will believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ and accept His saving ordinances is no small task but it's what we've been charged to do, to build His kingdom before He comes again and so we and many others engage in this work at their own time and expense. But the blessings are so worth every sacrifice because the worth of every soul is great! We are told in the scriptures,

" and if it so be that ye should labor all your days... and bring save it be but one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father".

We believe this with all our hearts and we are already feeling the promised joy as we went and did temple work today for Thoraldus de Strivelin from Scotland and Mrs. Anna Zipfel from Germany from our ancestral lines. It's the greatest work ever to be involved in! We bear our testimonies that this work is true and it is a testimony to the love God has for each of His children!! No other church on the face of the earth goes to these global lengths to reach every person. It's because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His restored gospel on the earth. We proclaim it boldly!!

Next week, we hope to share the beautiful power point presentation that Sister Miller made for us that touched our hearts so deeply. We want you to feel the joy too! 

Namascaramu!

Elder & Sister Dunlap

Oh, The People You'll Meet!

 It keeps happening. We just keep meeting more and more people we love and care about! And EVERY DAY could literally merit its own blog if I went into all the details. For the sake of protecting identities and respecting their privacy, we'll use just first or last names. (But you know who you are and why we want to remember you forever!) But for the reader's sake, I will try to be brief and condense our experience, mostly aided by the pictures I'm trying to be better at. 

Sabbaths are the happiest day of the week for us. To walk a block and get to listen to Music and The Spoken Word live each Sunday morning is a special spiritual experience that people travel halfway around the world to have, like Sally from Indonesia that we met on Temple Square. (Many people are grateful to have you take a picture of them instead of a selfie so it's an easy conversation starter.) Turns out, she was interested in getting a Book of Mormon and other literature about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in her native language of Bahasa so we walked her over to the Conference Center to get her that before she got on a flight to Las Vegas.

And who also showed up after the concert was over but our last week friend Nicky! It was soon evident he was more interested in getting his temporal needs met than hearing the pleasing word of God. We directed him to the many organizations that help the homeless in the downtown area since we have been directed to not give money directly to people asking for handouts. But we still thought it took some initiative on his part to show up so we praised him for that and told him to come back anytime he's ready to feast at the Lord's table for the Bread of Life and the Living Water that will never leave him wanting!

Because of all these unexpected encounters, we were late meeting up with Rob's son Mori who was in town. Nothing like standing up your own son! It was grand to spend time with him at our apartment, feed him some pie that we procured at the single's gathering, have a good chat with him, and send him merrily on his way back to Idaho Falls. 

Rob and Mori share a love for Old Man hats!

Then off to church we went. We are probably the only LDS congregation that holds church in a chapel that looks like a Catholic Cathedral; all the ornateness minus the crosses.

 

The Joseph Smith Memorial Building ala Hotel Utah Grand Ballroom

Our ward consists of all the full-time senior missionaries serving in the Church Headquarters Mission, led by President Holmes and his counselors. It's like being in a Zion Society; happy, helpful people so full of love for their Savior Jesus Christ and genuinely interested in your personal welfare too. You can strike up a meaningful conversation with anyone you sit by and find common ground instantly. I can't recommend the missionary life more highly for anyone looking to find meaning and purpose and great friends in their life. I will comment specifically about some of these dear people later. 

Later that afternoon we got ANOTHER visit from one of our children! We have seen more of our kids since deciding to serve our mission, we did NOT expect that blessing! Rob's daughter Kinzi came for a visit and introduced us to her new beau Tom! We took an immediate liking to him and think they make an absolutely darling couple. Four thumbs up from us!! He works for the church and was getting a church car to drive to a conference. How convenient to just pop in from Burley, Idaho where they live for an introductory visit. Please, come again! We are thrilled to meet you Tom!

As if the day wasn't full enough to overflowing, we realized we had more pie to share so we invited the other India Mission Visa waiters over to our "pad" to get to know them. They live above and below us in the same Garden Apartment complex. The Neffs and the Bairds are both going to the New Delhi Mission in Humanitarian capacities. They are ahead of us in the queue for visas so once we hear of their imminent departure, we can start thinking we're next. 

Our entire week was spent in the Training Zone where we were taught and nourished by the kindest, most helpful people on the planet. Each day we would hear great presentations about The Doctrine of Christ, The Doctrine of Temples and the Doctrine of Family History. Then these experts and friends taught us many new skills and abilities on the Family Search website and apps. (And they fed us alot too!) One of the training missionaries turned out to be a friend from my past- Sister Hughes. We were young mothers together in Yalecrest Ward back in the 90's and it was so rich to reconnect and do a Heinz 57 "Catch-up" of the last 30 years. We were both much greyer but I had a completely new husband since I saw her last!  Her husband is also serving with her but he was out with a gombu so we look forward to future times with both of them.

All of these dear missionaries did something I hadn't been able to do for many years- get Rob enthused about doing Family History! Sister Miller and Sister Howell have been our personal mentors who both welcomed us to the mission with loving open arms and saw to our every need. But it was the one on one time they each took to help us with our family lines that gave Elder Dunlap some Elijah moments he'd never had before. It was a joy to watch.

Sister Howell (up) Sister Miller (down)