Week 50 Zone Conference (Year Mark) (T9)

1-2. Zone conference this past week... This is the lovely South East zone plus the Passeys :)

3. More family history with Cowboy Bob

Week 49 We NEED the Holy Ghost in our lives

Hola mi gente :)

I'm just gonna hope right in! This week was full of good gems.

Wednesday was Cowboy Bob's birthday!!! He turned 68 :) I'll send some pictures.. But long story short it was the best birthday ever :) For starters, we all went out to dinner at Denny's so it was bound to be a wonderful day! We got him a few bandanas and some of his favorite candy. We also got him a card with a few pictures of his horse and his dog.... And it was the sweetest moment ever. He looked down at the card for a long time and then looked up with big old tears in his rough cowboy eyes. So tender. Such a sweet man.

After that we went to the church. Everyone was there for activities so we recruited a few people and surprised him by singing happy birthday with an ice cream cake :) (my personal favorite, so that was an added bonus)

But!!!! After that we went to the family history center with him! Our mission president asked our companionship to really emphasize family history as a trial run for future things. So we went with cowboy Bob to get his parents information all put in. And miracle after miracle happened. I won't ramble but it was the most efficient thing ever. Things that usually needed passwords, didn't request them. Stuff like that. It was cool :) hopefully we'll be going to the temple with him soon!

Saturday was... Yeah... We tried to contact some old old referrals still in the system. This one house the lady didn't live there anymore but this other lady opened up the door. She invited us right in and fed us some REAL good fish tacos :) .... And then proceeded to bible bash us with her husband. Two hours later we asked to say a prayer with them before we went. We went into their living room, knelt down and both began to pray out loud at the same time. I just wanted to cry. I was just so overwhelmed and mad but sad and just a whole lot of other emotions. When they finished we said our own prayer and left.

But! Story not over yet! We went straight to dinner with a young family in the English Ward. They have 5 kids under 8 so they don't have us over a lot and it was clearly a sacrifice for them but they are so kind and so giving. Their children too. After dinner we shared the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As the two parents testified of the truthfulness of Joseph Smith and his divine calling you could cut the spirit with the butter knife. We were all just in tears. And then the dad looked at his oldest son and said, "how do you feel?" "The spirit," he said. And then he said one of the most profoundest things. "Remember this. Remember how you feel. You will need it. We are all going to need to rely on moments like this in the future."

Going from a bible bash where I couldn't even feel the spirit during a PRAYER to that home was an incredible blessing.

I echo what he said. We NEED the Holy Ghost in our lives. That peace. That light. If there is ever any way we will make it through the future or even the present, we need to draw power from those testimony building moments and strive more consistently to have them.

I love you all :) mucho :)
Be good! Read your scriptures! Say your prayers! Do family history! Go to the temple :)
Hasta pronto!

Hermana Lund

1. After weeks of no mail for either of us... I got 3 letters and a package on the same day!!! Thanks you!!!!

2. Yesterday at church. Note the hymn "Up! Awake, Ye Defenders of Zion" :P

3/4. Cowboy Bob on his birthday :)

Week 48 Live after the manner of happiness

Hola :)

Every day this week was monumental.

Tuesday was the 30 anniversary of my mom's baptism. That just makes my heart fill with gratitude, love, and a fire to keep going. I could hop on my mom soap box but I'll spare you :) I love you mom!

Wednesday was my 6 months to go mark... Yeah. Mixed emotions about that one. But we went up to Tucson for the best zone meeting ever! I've never been to such a spiritually significant meeting as a
missionary. And it wasn't even anything special! Just a normal meeting... But there was this moment where Hna H and I were doing a role play on inspired questions and the spirit just hit us like a train and we burst into tears. It was so bizarre but really powerful! I love being a missionary :)

Thursday we had exchanges :) I took over the area for the first time, which will always be a little nerve wracking but it all worked out! I got to go with a sister who is brand new! It was expecting it to be missionary work done with two very different perspectives but I was shocked how similar our points of view were, how similar our recent spiritual growth has been. It was kinda cool :)

Friday was Linda's birthday! Happy belated birthday, Lin! I love you buckets!!!

Saturday was transfer calls........ Hna H is going home halfway through the transfer so we were thinking a trio or she would go somewhere else in a trio. Either way, some kind of change. But......... We're staying? Yup. We talked to president and he said "I don't know what's going to happen in 4 weeks but we're just gonna act in faith and move forward. The lord will provide!" Sooooo yeah :) this
is a 7 week transfer so it'll be nice to get it broken up with some chaos :) we'll see what the lord has in store..

Sunday... Happy Valentine's Day :) it was also our monthly 7 hours of church Sunday... But! Miracle! Cowboy Bob, the recent convert we fondly call grandpa came to church for the first time in months!!! It was such a blessing to sit next to him as he took the sacrament again. He even got a little teary eyed during the closing hymn :)

Quick spiritual thought! 2 N 5:27. After Nephi and all the goodies split off from Laman and leamuel it says they have the scriptures, they learn to cultivate the land, they build a temple, they set up
priesthood leaders... And then "they lived after the manner of happiness." Cynical me, it doesn't say they were happy. The chapter goes on to say that they had wars with their brothers. There's no way
they were always happy. But. They continuously lived after the manner of happiness. They read their scriptures, they worked hard, they went to the house of the lord, they obeyed their priesthood leaders. Living after the manner of happiness GUARANTEES eternal happiness and often leads to momentary happiness that is pure and irreplaceable. True happiness comes from living correctly.

Be good :) Live after the manner of happiness :)

Hermana Lund
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Week 47 If we let it, the Holy Ghost can flood us with immediate, indescribable peace.

Hola :)

This week was a good one. Full of good things :)

For starters... So we share our wards with a set of elders. They cover Nogales right by the border and we cover Rio Rico which is more north and safer :) so we don't really know Nogales super well. Last Monday we took cowboy Bob out to dinner at Denny's down in Nogales. On our way back we were driving through downtown, not really paying attention and all of a sudden we see this huge sign MEXICO ONLY! We started freaking out! There was the huge wall, the border patrol, the dogs, everything! Hahah we made an emergency U turn and B-lined it out of there! But it was so cool!!!!! You could see Mexico! It looks just like Rio Rico except the hills are FULL of colorful houses. So beautiful! One day :) since then we've gone back to Nogales twice just to get a better look :P

We spent Thursday night at the mission president's home in Tucson for Hna H's meeting the next day, which is always a blast :) I went on exchanges with an English sister and went to YSA for the day! Good stuff! We also made a pit stop at the new Costa Vida before coming home :)

There were so many miracles this week! We ended up finding 4 new investigators!! 2 are the daughter and boyfriend of a recently reactivated family. They just moved here to get a fresh start and are so hungry to learn! It's awesome! Also their husky had puppies on Saturday night so we got to hold em and love em :) one of em pooped in Hna H's hair too :P

Spiritually, this week was amazing too. I LOVE going to two sacrament meetings. Maybe not so much for all the talks but for the sacrament!!!! Oh my gosh, I love getting that quiet time twice in one
day! I feel so lucky! Yesterday during the sacrament I felt the spirit the strongest I probably ever have. The spirit speaks to us in our minds and in our hearts. And if we let it, it can flood us with
immediate, indescribable peace.

The church is true! The Book of Mormon too!

Be happy :) and wear bright colors!! A good friend told me that this week and I highly recommend it :)

Los quiero!
Hermana Lund

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1/2. We looked around in relief society yesterday and we were completely surrounded by adorable Hispanic babies!! One of the hardest rules as a missionary is not being able to snuggle/hold adorable squishy babies...... Luckily we found a good alternative lying in the corner :) almost as good as the real thing.
3/4/5. A part member family we visit has a beaaaautiful huskies that had babies on Saturday night! So of course we went over on Sunday for a visit :) this was before Hna H picked up a puppy and it pooped in her hair :)

6. We went to Tucson cuz Hna H had MLC. She's a biiiiiiiiiig Costa
Vida fan so we made a pit stop of course :)
7. Cowboy Bob, or grandpa in his full glory :)
8. His dog Willy :)
9. Hna H likes Polaroids :)

Week 46 God truly is our loving Heavenly Father...I will forever be grateful for that.

Hola :)

This week was good!

Moderately uneventful. President and Sister Passey came down to our district meeting on Wednesday (AHHHH!). I had to give a spanish training, but it worked out well! Thanks for the assist, spanish angels! Afterwards we had interviews. Every time I talk to President Passey I just get so much more respect for him. We had a bunch of members of the 70 come a few months ago and they all said "He's honestly the best mission president." Agreed. He takes such good care of us.

We found some new investigators through a few miracles :) One of them had said she had been praying for us. LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!!!

We were also going to bust out of the mission boundaries and go to the Gilbert Temple this past Saturday with a recent convert to do baptisms for the first time. His name is Cowboy Bob. He's a real cowboy. We call him grandpa :) The trip ended up getting cancelled last minute (there must needs be opposition in all things...) but hopefully we'll get to go for his birthday in a couple weeks!

Oh also! it's been in the high 70s this whole week :) Yup, already have a solid watch tan going. No shame. But, that being said... I've been missing the rain and clouds. I haven't been in a good rain storm in WEEKS. So the past couple days part of my prayers have sounded like this: Heavenly Father. It's silly really. But I would really love some rain. Just a nice rainy day. If it's not too much trouble. If not, I'll get over it... But yeah. Pretty please?

And so! We get out of church yesterday and go visit this less active lady and she takes one look at us and says "Where are your coats??? Aren't you getting ready for this storm???" :) She over exaggerated a little bit, but there was a storm coming. Lots of wind and crazy cool clouds. I was still hoping for some rain though. Last night before bed, I peaked outside... Still no rain. I was a little sad but I went to bed anyway. As a missionary I've developed a talent for falling asleep fast and staying asleep til the alarm goes off. I must be tired or something. But last night, I woke up for just a second. Really bizarre. And I heard it. Rain :) I said thanks Heavenly Father and fell back asleep :) The storm had passed by the time we woke up but it's still a nice cloudy day!

God truly is our loving Heavenly Father. I believe that, I know that, and I will forever be grateful for that.

Comportales bien y tenga una buena semana :)

LOS QUIERO

Hermana Lund