Week 1 Dogs

HOLA!!!!!!

This week has been a week of DOGS. yup. 3 types of dogs to be specific...

1) SONORA DOGS. Twice this week members have taken us to these food trucks in random parking lots or on the side of the road to eat Sonora Dogs. They're basically hotdogs wrapped in bacon with beans, salsa, cheese, guacamole, and everything else you can think of stuffed into a bun soaked in butter....... My goodness gracious. SO stinkin good!!!

2) NICE DOGS. There aren't a lot, but there some really really really cute sweet dogs around here :) Like last night we went to a member's home and they had a lil baby puppy that could fit in your hand! All the missionaries in our ward (2 sets of elders and us) went to this one guy's house to do service on Saturday :) We pulled weeds and raked his rocks (yup. yards here are made of dirt and rocks). Got a real nice farmers tan :) But he had a dog named Brownie. So sweet. So wonderful. Perfect.

3) ....... OTHER DOGS. I have never been afraid of dogs until this week. There are some real nasty ones in South Tucson. Our area covers basically all the sketchy parts of Tucson, really poor, really run down. And the people ALL have dogs that could kill you. The only thing that's stopping them is a little baby fence. Yesterday I literally saw a dog drinking another dog's pee...... :)

Hermana Ellis and I started off on a good note ;) Our first day we had 2 near death experiences. One involved a driver who just wasn't paying attention and then the other happened when we were meeting with this investigator. We sat out on her front porch (cuz it's been 90 degrees :D) and towards the end we heard these loud shots. She quickly rushed us inside. We said a prayer, said goodbye, and BOOKED it. Turns out it was just fireworks but the fact she thought it was something else was definitely a new experience :) Hermana Ellis is great though... There are so many sketchy, crazy, unpredictable things happening in our area and all we can do is laugh about em :) Every day is just better than the last :)

Hmmmmm what else? The people here just have SO much faith. Everyone lives in trailer parks or bad neighborhoods and they could go on and on about how their brother got shot or their sister is a drug dealer or just really horrible, sad stuff... But they all have SO much faith!!!!! It's really humbling to see how they really do believe that Heavenly Father loves them and hear and answers their prayers!

My testimony of the gospel has been totally shattered and rebuilt on a whole new foundation! Today we went on a sunrise hike as a zone :) woke up at 4:55 wootwoot!!! It was a tough hike but the view at the top was amazing!!!!! Attached are some pics of the top with my companera :) We took some time at the top to read scriptures and sing and talk. The zone leaders did this exercise where they offered us an oreo one by one. There was this member who came with us who just got back from his mission who used to be in the marines. And as they offered us a cookie they would say "Andrew. Can you do 7 push ups so to pay for Hermana Lund's cookie?" and they just went around one by one. All 22 of us. And it started out really light hearted, like "oh okay, trying to prove a point.. got it." and it turned into something really profound! When you see someone in physical pain, struggling, all for you, it really gets to you. And there were some people who said they didn't want a cookie and he still did push ups for us anyway. It was a really humbling metaphor. Andrew had showed us where the hike was, walked along side us, helped the people who fell behind, and then physically sacrificed for us just like our Savior. I know that God is real. I know his son died for each of us, individually. And I know that we can return to live in their presence some day :)

I love you all :) Send us some letters n such!!!