This week was again was a fun one...
We were going to have 4 thanksgiving dinners but that miraculously trickled down to 2 (tender mercies) with our relief society president and our ward mission leader. The rest of the day was spent studying, writing and dropping off thank you cards, and a lesson with our amazing investigators. The mom read all of Mosiah in 2 days... She's such an amazing example!
Other than that, this week has been more of the same old, same old. A few exchanges with some of the other sister missionaries. Oh! We built a blanket fort for district meeting. It was about building our testimonies and FORTifying ourselves. Hah. We also did 10 hours of community service this week. And I feel like that doesn't sound like a lot... But it is :)
Okay. So now that thanksgiving is officially over, I can be annoying about Christmas and it's a little more socially acceptable :) So in the spirit of Christmas... Go to Christmas.mormon.org. Don't watch the top video, it's kind of trash. But scroll down to the animated one. Watch it. Laugh. Cry. And then share it!! It's amazing.
We all know the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2 and if you don't I still love you. But in reading this story again, I found something different. When the Angels appear to the shepherds they say the
following which can be found in verses 10 and 11.
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the
Lord."
The birth of the savior was meant for "all people." He was born "unto [us]." All of us. In the spirit of Christmas, head the council of these angels and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those to whom
it already belongs. It's a lot easier to talk about Jesus in December than it is to talk about him in August. Do it. No excuses. I promise as you invite friends to come to all the activities and to church it
will make your Christmas infinitely more enjoyable and spiritual. Pinkie promise :)
Les quiero muchísimo. ¡Que sigan adelante protegidos y valientes en sus esfuerzos para compartir el evangelio durante esta temporada navideña! ¡Bueno suerte!
Hermana Lund
Address
Monday, November 30, 2015
Monday, November 23, 2015
Week 36 Gratitude (T7)
Hola otra vez del valle Gila :)
Fun fact... Not getting transferred!!! Still confused because EVERYONE, including president, said I was out... I'm honestly so so happy. I get to stay here with Hermana B and the branch for the holidays which is such a blessing :)
I sent a lot of pictures so refer to those for some frame of reference for the following...
Last monday we had dinner with members from our branch and they invited our district too. We were going to do a bonfire but it got too rainy. So the elders were put in charge of making smores in the oven... Long story short, they set em on fire :) We ended up using their toaster instead... We took some pictures at the temple afterwards!
We started a zone soccer tournament in the mornings for our exercise! First game, we dominated. It went a little downhill from there but it's been a blast! We have a bunch of missionaries going home/getting transferred so it was nice to spend time with them and start the day out right! We also took a lot of pictures at foodbank with all the bread we stack and such.
Friday night we got to go to the temple with a recent convert. He got baptized a little over a year ago and he was able to go through and get his endowment. It was amazing. Exactly 6 weeks ago we sat in the temple with his wife. We were all sitting on the couch... and there was one empty spot. That's when we knew it was time to get Johnny to the temple! Since then we've been visiting them and going through the temple prep classes but he's been so prepared. He is an amazing example!
Saturday morning. Oh my gosh. Saturday morning. Johnny got sealed to his wife and his 3 little kids. Hna B and I had never been to a sealing ceremony before... It was so beautiful. Their little baby girl was just beaming the entire time. Through the work done in the temple families can be happy together forever. What a blessing :')
Today we went on a hike up to Fry Mesa. We went to this dam and walked across with the 50,000 ft drop on the other side (sorry mom :P) and there were beautiful waterfalls. Hna B and I went exploring and ended up just climbing one of the mountains by ourselves. It was awesome! Afterwards we had a BBQ at a member's home in Thatcher. She has been helping us get more involved in community service. As a zone we've done over 100 community service hours for 4 weeks in a row... so we were rewarded with steak :) Amazing amazing day!
With thanksgiving and all the other magical holidays coming up, I feel obligated to talk about gratitude. More specifically gratitude for Jesus Christ. Gratitude for our Father in Heaven. This life is not about enduring hard things, it's about learning to be happy regardless of the bad or good. As a companionship, as soon as the alarm goes off in the wee hours of the morning... we get on our knees and say a prayer of gratitude. Even though there is so much we need to get done throughout the day and so much we want to ask for, starting the day with a prayer of gratitude has truly changed my perspective. We have been given so much from our Father. He loves us. I'm grateful I have this opportunity to learn and grow closer to him.
Thank you for all you do as well :) Be grateful. Feliz dia de accion de gracias :)
Hermana Lund
Fun fact... Not getting transferred!!! Still confused because EVERYONE, including president, said I was out... I'm honestly so so happy. I get to stay here with Hermana B and the branch for the holidays which is such a blessing :)
I sent a lot of pictures so refer to those for some frame of reference for the following...
Last monday we had dinner with members from our branch and they invited our district too. We were going to do a bonfire but it got too rainy. So the elders were put in charge of making smores in the oven... Long story short, they set em on fire :) We ended up using their toaster instead... We took some pictures at the temple afterwards!
We started a zone soccer tournament in the mornings for our exercise! First game, we dominated. It went a little downhill from there but it's been a blast! We have a bunch of missionaries going home/getting transferred so it was nice to spend time with them and start the day out right! We also took a lot of pictures at foodbank with all the bread we stack and such.
Friday night we got to go to the temple with a recent convert. He got baptized a little over a year ago and he was able to go through and get his endowment. It was amazing. Exactly 6 weeks ago we sat in the temple with his wife. We were all sitting on the couch... and there was one empty spot. That's when we knew it was time to get Johnny to the temple! Since then we've been visiting them and going through the temple prep classes but he's been so prepared. He is an amazing example!
Saturday morning. Oh my gosh. Saturday morning. Johnny got sealed to his wife and his 3 little kids. Hna B and I had never been to a sealing ceremony before... It was so beautiful. Their little baby girl was just beaming the entire time. Through the work done in the temple families can be happy together forever. What a blessing :')
Today we went on a hike up to Fry Mesa. We went to this dam and walked across with the 50,000 ft drop on the other side (sorry mom :P) and there were beautiful waterfalls. Hna B and I went exploring and ended up just climbing one of the mountains by ourselves. It was awesome! Afterwards we had a BBQ at a member's home in Thatcher. She has been helping us get more involved in community service. As a zone we've done over 100 community service hours for 4 weeks in a row... so we were rewarded with steak :) Amazing amazing day!
With thanksgiving and all the other magical holidays coming up, I feel obligated to talk about gratitude. More specifically gratitude for Jesus Christ. Gratitude for our Father in Heaven. This life is not about enduring hard things, it's about learning to be happy regardless of the bad or good. As a companionship, as soon as the alarm goes off in the wee hours of the morning... we get on our knees and say a prayer of gratitude. Even though there is so much we need to get done throughout the day and so much we want to ask for, starting the day with a prayer of gratitude has truly changed my perspective. We have been given so much from our Father. He loves us. I'm grateful I have this opportunity to learn and grow closer to him.
Thank you for all you do as well :) Be grateful. Feliz dia de accion de gracias :)
Hermana Lund
Monday, November 16, 2015
Week 35 Our Pet, George
This week was crazy once again!!
Tuesday we had... an incident... We were getting ready for bed. Hermana B was in the bathroom and I was in the bedroom. All of a sudden she starts screaming!!!!!!!!!! I run in, thinking she's dying and then we see.... George. Yup. We named him. The biggest spider I have ever seen in my entire life just camped out on our bathroom wall! Turns out he was a baby tarantula :) We ended up calling the elders that live around the corner. Hna B only asked them two questions... "How fast can you get here?" and "Can you come now?" They come RUSHING over thinking we were dead. We met em outside and they were all frantic and concerned... They were a little bit mad when they found out it was just a spider :P But they caught him for us and George is now our district pet :) He's currently in a mason jar in our truck with an "I'm a Child of God" sticker on it :) Pretty sure he's dead....
On a more spiritual note... We've been visiting this woman for a few months now. She's working to transition from the english ward to the spanish branch. She has been less active for most of her life. One day she woke up and decided she wanted to start back up and learn everything from scratch! We're currently in the middle of a BOM reading challenge with her and she is absolutely beating our butts. She's amazing :) Anyways. She has a lot of physical problems but we had been planning on November 15th as the day she would come to the Spanish Branch :)
Right before sacrament meeting started we got a text from her saying she wasn't feeling very well and sadly she wouldn't be able to make it. We were a little disappointed but we knew she had a good reason. Halfway through the meeting...... SHE WALKS IN :D She told us, "A promise is a promise. I asked Heavenly Father to make me well enough to come to church and he did." :') She had a wonderful experience. Her father used to serve in the branch presidency of our branch and so she met a lot of people who knew him. She was cryin and cryin and cryin. Man, it was beautiful. She said it felt like coming home :)
To be honest, when I first got to this area it was tough to love. But here I am 17 weeks later and it breaks my heart to think about leaving. It really does feel like home...
We had our regular interviews with president this past week and he essentially told me that I'm on my way out. He wouldn't tell me where I'm going but he said to just have faith :) We'll get calls this weekend so next Monday will be my last day here, most likely.
But yeah :) The church is true. No matter what. (Yup, that one's for you mom!) Just have faith. Have enough faith to give it a shot. Have enough faith to ask questions. Have enough faith that you will receive answers. Just have faith that it will all be okay :)
Tenga fe y tenga una buena semana!
Hermana Lund
Tuesday we had... an incident... We were getting ready for bed. Hermana B was in the bathroom and I was in the bedroom. All of a sudden she starts screaming!!!!!!!!!! I run in, thinking she's dying and then we see.... George. Yup. We named him. The biggest spider I have ever seen in my entire life just camped out on our bathroom wall! Turns out he was a baby tarantula :) We ended up calling the elders that live around the corner. Hna B only asked them two questions... "How fast can you get here?" and "Can you come now?" They come RUSHING over thinking we were dead. We met em outside and they were all frantic and concerned... They were a little bit mad when they found out it was just a spider :P But they caught him for us and George is now our district pet :) He's currently in a mason jar in our truck with an "I'm a Child of God" sticker on it :) Pretty sure he's dead....
On a more spiritual note... We've been visiting this woman for a few months now. She's working to transition from the english ward to the spanish branch. She has been less active for most of her life. One day she woke up and decided she wanted to start back up and learn everything from scratch! We're currently in the middle of a BOM reading challenge with her and she is absolutely beating our butts. She's amazing :) Anyways. She has a lot of physical problems but we had been planning on November 15th as the day she would come to the Spanish Branch :)
Right before sacrament meeting started we got a text from her saying she wasn't feeling very well and sadly she wouldn't be able to make it. We were a little disappointed but we knew she had a good reason. Halfway through the meeting...... SHE WALKS IN :D She told us, "A promise is a promise. I asked Heavenly Father to make me well enough to come to church and he did." :') She had a wonderful experience. Her father used to serve in the branch presidency of our branch and so she met a lot of people who knew him. She was cryin and cryin and cryin. Man, it was beautiful. She said it felt like coming home :)
To be honest, when I first got to this area it was tough to love. But here I am 17 weeks later and it breaks my heart to think about leaving. It really does feel like home...
We had our regular interviews with president this past week and he essentially told me that I'm on my way out. He wouldn't tell me where I'm going but he said to just have faith :) We'll get calls this weekend so next Monday will be my last day here, most likely.
But yeah :) The church is true. No matter what. (Yup, that one's for you mom!) Just have faith. Have enough faith to give it a shot. Have enough faith to ask questions. Have enough faith that you will receive answers. Just have faith that it will all be okay :)
Tenga fe y tenga una buena semana!
Hermana Lund
Monday, November 9, 2015
Week 34 Stop Trying to Magnify Your Calling
Hi :)
Every week just keeps getting kicked up a notch! This week takes the cake. High highs, low lows. But my goodness it's all just so worth it :)
In terms of lows, eeeeeeeeeeeeeveryone here is getting sick. They've been harvesting all the cotton so everyone with allergies has locked themselves inside their homes. And if you don't have allergies... Well, you do now :) Plus it's getting colder here :D Words I never thought I would say in Arizona... But everyone's been whipping out the sweaters :) It's absolutely magical. I think the summer here made me soft, bundling up when it's 70 degrees but I'm okay with it :)
Mmmmmm other lows. Eeeverything self destructed this week hahah! I say hahah because in hind-sight it's significantly more humorous. But there are some days where I really want to take away other people's agency... But then miracles happen and it's all okay :)
Okay. Enough of that. MIRACLES :D WE FOUND 8 NEW INVESTIGATORS THIS WEEK!!!! :D Among them is a family with 5 kids ALL over the age of 8 :'D Miracle miracle miracle. They have so much light and the kids all love to pray :)
Oh! Okay! This is a low and a high but mostly it's just funny. So Hna B was out of commission with a sinus infection. She's a total hippy so she LOOOOOOOOOVES natural light and fresh air and all that good stuff :P So we decided to move our mattresses into to living room with all our big windows and open the door to let some fresh air in while she rested :) It was all quite lovely......... And then we looked up on our ceiling and saw THOUSANDS of flies just camped out having a jolly old time. Our apartment is now the crime scene for the Great Fly Massacre of '15 :P
We had zone conference this past week along with a Regional Broadcast yesterday where Lynn G. Robbins, Linda S. Reeves, Lawrence Corbridge (the guy who came to our mission a few months ago!!) and Dallin H. Oaks! Power house line up right there! A big focus of both conferences was SIMPLIFYING. We also just had breakfast and studies with all the other sisters in our Zone. We read "Good, Better, Best" by Elder Oaks, a talk based on a simple but incredible true concept. We need to prioritize. There are things that are better. There's a portion of the talk where he talks about our responsibilities we all have. He poses it in the frame of church responsibility but it's equally applicable to just every day life. He says "Remember, don't magnify the work to be done--simplify it!"
In the church we often use the phrase "magnify" your calling, meaning work hard to fulfill all your responsibilities. In Preach My Gospel quotes Ezra Taft Benson by saying, "The Spirit is the most important single element in this work. With THE SPIRIT magnifying your call, you can do miracles for the Lord... Without the Spirit, you will never succeed regardless of your talent and ability."
My invitation is that you STOP TRYING TO MAGNIFY YOUR CALLING AND RESPONSIBILITIES. Your responsibility is SIMPLE: strive to be worthy of the spirit. Its guidance and the Holy Ghost will magnify it for you. I have seen first hand, that as we forget ourselves and follow those simple promptings of the spirit, we will have greater success than if we had done it our way.
Gracias por todo lo que hacen! Y tenga una buena semana :)
Every week just keeps getting kicked up a notch! This week takes the cake. High highs, low lows. But my goodness it's all just so worth it :)
In terms of lows, eeeeeeeeeeeeeveryone here is getting sick. They've been harvesting all the cotton so everyone with allergies has locked themselves inside their homes. And if you don't have allergies... Well, you do now :) Plus it's getting colder here :D Words I never thought I would say in Arizona... But everyone's been whipping out the sweaters :) It's absolutely magical. I think the summer here made me soft, bundling up when it's 70 degrees but I'm okay with it :)
Mmmmmm other lows. Eeeverything self destructed this week hahah! I say hahah because in hind-sight it's significantly more humorous. But there are some days where I really want to take away other people's agency... But then miracles happen and it's all okay :)
Okay. Enough of that. MIRACLES :D WE FOUND 8 NEW INVESTIGATORS THIS WEEK!!!! :D Among them is a family with 5 kids ALL over the age of 8 :'D Miracle miracle miracle. They have so much light and the kids all love to pray :)
Oh! Okay! This is a low and a high but mostly it's just funny. So Hna B was out of commission with a sinus infection. She's a total hippy so she LOOOOOOOOOVES natural light and fresh air and all that good stuff :P So we decided to move our mattresses into to living room with all our big windows and open the door to let some fresh air in while she rested :) It was all quite lovely......... And then we looked up on our ceiling and saw THOUSANDS of flies just camped out having a jolly old time. Our apartment is now the crime scene for the Great Fly Massacre of '15 :P
We had zone conference this past week along with a Regional Broadcast yesterday where Lynn G. Robbins, Linda S. Reeves, Lawrence Corbridge (the guy who came to our mission a few months ago!!) and Dallin H. Oaks! Power house line up right there! A big focus of both conferences was SIMPLIFYING. We also just had breakfast and studies with all the other sisters in our Zone. We read "Good, Better, Best" by Elder Oaks, a talk based on a simple but incredible true concept. We need to prioritize. There are things that are better. There's a portion of the talk where he talks about our responsibilities we all have. He poses it in the frame of church responsibility but it's equally applicable to just every day life. He says "Remember, don't magnify the work to be done--simplify it!"
In the church we often use the phrase "magnify" your calling, meaning work hard to fulfill all your responsibilities. In Preach My Gospel quotes Ezra Taft Benson by saying, "The Spirit is the most important single element in this work. With THE SPIRIT magnifying your call, you can do miracles for the Lord... Without the Spirit, you will never succeed regardless of your talent and ability."
My invitation is that you STOP TRYING TO MAGNIFY YOUR CALLING AND RESPONSIBILITIES. Your responsibility is SIMPLE: strive to be worthy of the spirit. Its guidance and the Holy Ghost will magnify it for you. I have seen first hand, that as we forget ourselves and follow those simple promptings of the spirit, we will have greater success than if we had done it our way.
Gracias por todo lo que hacen! Y tenga una buena semana :)
Hermana Lund
Monday, November 2, 2015
Week 33 "If ye love me keep commandments"
Hi :)
Yeesh today's been a crazy P day... But all good things :)
This was a result of our district breakfast. We ate goodie. Jammed on the piano, did studies and then stole the elders vehicle so they stole ours and my name tag got caught in the middle... :)
Yeesh today's been a crazy P day... But all good things :)
This past week... Hmmm...
Wednesday we had our district meeting and we carved some pumpkins too :)
Thursday we had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders. I stayed and Hna B went to the only biking sister area in the whole mission :P It was fun because the sister that came with me had served here about a year ago so we got to go on a trip down memory lane together and find a lot of people that had just fallen through the cracks. I also got to teach her some Spanish :)
Later on Thursday we exchanged back, had 2 normal hours together, and then we got another English sister with us because her companion was going to Tucson for a meeting. So. Exchanges and a trio back to back... woohoo... :)
Friday was... Yeah... We started the day with service at the foodbank with the whole zone like always. Hna B hadn't been feeling 100% that morning but she's tough. After foodbank... it hit her. She ended up passed out on our living room floor for the majority of the day. But the trio turned out to be a blessing because I was able to go on exchanges with a sister in our branch so I could go help with a ridiculously chaotic service project while Hna B was cared for :)
Saturday and Sunday we had our stake conference all about Reverence and Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy :) It was really insightful. As a part of the conference we had this open forum where everyone got to share their ideas about how they've tried to make their Sundays more sacred and Christ centered. Our temple president's wife shared an amazing quote that President Monson said: "I would rather break a rule than a heart." And think of Thomas S. Monson. He has given his life to fixing broken hearts. I really admire his ability to love and care for others. And that's what Sundays and honestly every other day should really be about. Love. Even the bible tells us "If ye love me, keep my commandments." The reason we should keep the commandments, the clearest set of guidelines given to us by our Heavenly Father is because of love. I love being a missionary. I love my area. I love my companion. I love my zone. I love my favorite. And I love my Heavenly Father for blessing me with all of it :)
¡Que tenga una buena semana!
Love others :)
Hermana Lund
Enviado desde mi iPad
I clapped while I had soap on my hands.... Hna B was struck by the debris
About half of the cotton fields are gone... But it's nice to go back to the glory days. The cotton fields remind me of snow.
Wednesday we had our district meeting and we carved some pumpkins too :)
Thursday we had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders. I stayed and Hna B went to the only biking sister area in the whole mission :P It was fun because the sister that came with me had served here about a year ago so we got to go on a trip down memory lane together and find a lot of people that had just fallen through the cracks. I also got to teach her some Spanish :)
Later on Thursday we exchanged back, had 2 normal hours together, and then we got another English sister with us because her companion was going to Tucson for a meeting. So. Exchanges and a trio back to back... woohoo... :)
Friday was... Yeah... We started the day with service at the foodbank with the whole zone like always. Hna B hadn't been feeling 100% that morning but she's tough. After foodbank... it hit her. She ended up passed out on our living room floor for the majority of the day. But the trio turned out to be a blessing because I was able to go on exchanges with a sister in our branch so I could go help with a ridiculously chaotic service project while Hna B was cared for :)
Saturday and Sunday we had our stake conference all about Reverence and Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy :) It was really insightful. As a part of the conference we had this open forum where everyone got to share their ideas about how they've tried to make their Sundays more sacred and Christ centered. Our temple president's wife shared an amazing quote that President Monson said: "I would rather break a rule than a heart." And think of Thomas S. Monson. He has given his life to fixing broken hearts. I really admire his ability to love and care for others. And that's what Sundays and honestly every other day should really be about. Love. Even the bible tells us "If ye love me, keep my commandments." The reason we should keep the commandments, the clearest set of guidelines given to us by our Heavenly Father is because of love. I love being a missionary. I love my area. I love my companion. I love my zone. I love my favorite. And I love my Heavenly Father for blessing me with all of it :)
¡Que tenga una buena semana!
Love others :)
Hermana Lund
Enviado desde mi iPad
I clapped while I had soap on my hands.... Hna B was struck by the debris
About half of the cotton fields are gone... But it's nice to go back to the glory days. The cotton fields remind me of snow.
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