Week 7 Beans

Hola Familia y Amigos :)

Today's my SECOND BIRTHDAY :D hahah I'm two months old in the mission :)

I feel like I haven't talked a lot about spanish and learning the language and stuff.... but Spanish is AWESOME! I'm feeling more and more confident every day :) There are still some humbling moments though :P Like we tried to call this one member to see if she could come to a lesson with us. I called her.... We got through the whole Hola, Como Esta? Muy Bien. Esta ocupada ahorita?.... and then she started to just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk.... and I got NOTHING. Not even a word. "Mande" (very important spanish word.... basically means "I have noooo clue what you just said..... wanna try one more time in simpler spanish and 1000000 times slower? please and thank you" :) ) And so she did the whole thing again...... and I still got NOTHING. Zip. Not even a word. So I just handed the phone to Hna Ellis and we got it all squared away :) hahah But it's a really beautiful language. I'm so grateful I get to speak it and learn it. It's just takes it to a whole other level when you communicate with people in their own language. It's like if you went to church in Tongan. Like, you'd still feel the spirit, get all the warm and fuzzies, and maybe understand bits and pieces of doctrine they taught.... but you'd get SO much more if it were in English :) I'm willing to sacrifice my own linguistic comfort in the hopes that our investigators can experience that comfort. I don't know if that makes sense... but oh well :)

The food's also been really good :) However. I am realizing I have this problem. Mexican food is good. Like really yummy about 99.9999999% of the time. And we're out working hard and such. So when we go to member's home's for dinner, I'm starving! And since it's really good, I eat really fast! And if a Mexican sees you have an empty plate, they IMMEDIATELY fill it with even more than before. And I obviously have to eat it (slash I also really want to) so I keep scarfing it down. But then it hits me. Usually half way through the second plate. Like I am FULL. Like NO ROOM AT THE INN full! ... but ya gotta endure to the end.

hahah this week we had dinner with this one member and she's AWESOME! LOVE HER! and she makes the BEST food! ... but I swear... She and Hna Ellis ganged up on me and somehow I ended up having to eat twice as much as them. Another important note about Mexican food.... Beans..... Let's just say that you gotta watch the beans or hope your car has some seriously good ventilation or you're gonna be driving with the windows down for a looooooooooooooooooong time :P hahaha That one meal though this week... Thought I was gonna die. I was going through all the steps of grief. Bargaining. Denial. Oh yeah. Wooo. That was a rough one.. But it's so worth it :) mmmmm

On the spiritual side of things we had a miracle last night :) We've been having a hard time having lessons with investigators with a member present. And these lessons are SUPER important!! Having members, real people share their stories and faith brings a spirit to a lesson that missionaries sometimes can't. Anyways. So last week we had ZERO. yup. Big fat ZERO. We tried! but either the member cancelled or the investigator cancelled or something fell through... So we tried again for this week cuz zero means you gotta step it up! So we took members out with us almost every single day! We had one lady (the same one with all the good food) stay out with us for 4.5 hours!!!!! woooweee. But yesterday rolled around and we STILL had not had a member present lesson despite all our efforts :( Long story short, we were determined to get this member present lesson!!!!! And we got it :) Last night we went out with this one member to see this couple who we met while we were walking down the street :) It was a beautiful lesson. This member had had such unique and special experiences in her life. And COINCIDENCE... this investigator had had very similar ones. They were able to share this connection of faith that neither Hna Ellis or I could have even dreamed of replicating. The couple wants to know more and we're going back later this week :)

The church is true :) I don't really know what else to say besides that... Being a missionary is such a privilege. I've never been happier :)

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Les amo muchisimo! Que tenga una buena semana! Estoy animada a placticar con ustedes en el dia de los madres :)

Hermana Lund