Week 67 Will Ye Also Go Away?

Hey :)

SO. CRAZINESS. But I'll build up to it for dramatic effect.

This week was great! I love Hermana Sands so much! I was skeptical about this whole training thing 3 months ago... But she has taught me so much and been such a light to me. The Lord knows what He's doing!

So highlights from the week:
- planted a garden in our backyard last P day :)
- took grandpa out to Denny's for a belated Father's Day Dinner
- started teaching the new non-member husband of our ward chorister :) (They're all cute and newlywed-y)
- did some service for one of our new investigators who didn't have a good history with mormons but afterwards she gave us popsicles and said "hey, so you teach a bunch of lessons, right? I'd be interested in learning. I'm not planning on converting... but you never know!"
- we've had a pretty good streak of members offering us popsicles every day
- it's rained every single day! Usually only for a couple minutes but still... it's better than the hundreds and everything beyond that.
- Sister Sand's accent game has been STRONG this week. I'm gonna miss her southern-ness.
- Priscilla had her 3 month anniversary as a member!! (TIME FLIES!!!) To celebrate she got her Patriarchal Blessing :') She said she felt like she was right back in the temple! I feel like such a proud mom!

Besides that... Transfers. It's funny because last week I was feeling like I just wanted to die quietly here in Nogales with Hermana Sands, not rock the boat. Then Linda emailed and said that this last transfer is what the Lord has been preparing me for. HAH. Well.

I'm going up to to Los Reales (south tucson) with Hna Jimenez! She's a native with KILLER spanish, just got done being trained by my MTC comp so that'll be a blast. She's out in Wilcox right now so neither of us know a thing about the area... PLUS. WE'RE GETTING A BABY!!! :) Yup! Trio training and pinkwashing. Wooo. So much for dying quietly... I'm super excited and super [insert every other possible emotion].

We had a conference call with all the other trainers last night. President asked for suggestions of things we can do to prepare our new missionary to transition. All the other trainers were saying how important it is to make sure that the members are all prepared for the new missionary, make sure the apartment is clean, set up solid lessons, write down information about your people so they can have a cheat sheet yada yada yada................ I don't even know where our apartment is at, let alone who our people are. I just said we'll be doing a lot of praying :)

The Lord always provides. We are never alone. He always has a plan. The church is true and every other cliche in the book. I'm excited for this last transfer and I know who is in charge. There's a moment in the New Testament after Jesus has performed incredible miracles (feeding the 5,000, walks on water, etc) and he starts to teach about faith in him and repentance. All of a sudden, a whole group of his disciples just up and leave saying "This is an hard saying" (John 6:60). And so Christ turns to his faithful 12 apostles and asks "Will ye also go away?" to which Peter gives one of the most valiant responses: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou are that Christ, the Son of the Living God" (67-69). We know where peace and truth is found and that is in our Savior. We don't need to wander or even consider going somewhere else. His path is and always will be the right path.

LES QUIERO MUCHO!!!! Que tenga una buena semana :)

Hermana Lund

Tubac community garden! We found this tool that looked like a bunch of ninja stars put together... Photo shoot extremely necessary.

After serving at the community garden we decided to make the most of our square foot patch of dirt in our backyard last pday.... Before. During. After. Strawberries, tomatoes, Rosemary, and basil!

Oh!!! I totally forgot about the picture with the random couple!!!

We got a call this week saying "Hi, we're going down to Mexico and we need some Book of Mormons... Can you meet us in Nogales and give us some?" So we got a bunch of commissary and met up with this absolutely legendary couple from Utah! Most missionary-minded people ever! Total strangers! They gave us lotion and mentos too :)

*photo

Week 66 God knows what He's doing

Crazy week! Lots of ups and downs like always but it was allll worth it!

Monday we started with an FHE with the Montijos :) Priscilla made her famous wings and MY GOSH. I'm kind of a chicken with spicy stuff but DANG. Mmmm. It was so bad we were gonna tap out but then they said "don't you teach us that with faith you can do anything?" Mmmmmm. Yessir. Yes we do. We finished every last wing and picked the bones clean!

Tuesday we started teaching a 13 year old who got baptized when she was 8 but they lost her records! She's awesome! She already has that foundational faith and knowledge so her questions are different than I'm used to. Oh and she's super cute :)

Wednesday we had zone meeting up in Sahuarita. It was all follow up stuff from zone conference so we talked about teaching doctrine, family history and setting goals. Awesome meeting!

Thursday we took Priscilla up to grandpa's ranch :) we've been trying to get this to happen for weeks! But it was awesome seeing our two recent converts connect! Priscilla had never seen a horse before so it was so funny. Grandpa had his "professional horse trainer" hat on and was teaching her all the basics :) max kept trying to chew on her shirt and give her kisses but by the end she loved it! We had a lesson too where they each got to share their conversion stories. You've got grandpa: the single cowboy who's too stubborn to use a cane and then you've got Priscilla: the teen mom who makes killer chicken wings. SO DIFFERENT and yet so similar in their conviction :)

Friday was weekly planning. Nuff said.

Saturday was THE best day of my mission. Hands down. No questions asked. Happiest day of my life. So for Patsy's endowment we weren't going to be able to go because it's about 3 hours away and it would have shot all our miles. But! A member sent from heaven agreed to give us a ride!!! So we were able to go!!! To make it even better we've been doing all this family history recently so Sister Sands got to do the endowment for her Granny!! Oh, and to make it even better, a bunch of other missionaries we haven't seen in forever all got to come! It was an amazing, amazing day. To be at the temple with all the people I care about making big promises during big moments of change. Man. It
was incredible. I stinkin love the temple.

Sunday we had stake conference and some more planning :)

God knows what he's doing. He loves us. There is evidence all around us. Trust in his timing and mercy and all will be well :)

Last transfer call is this Saturday! I'll let you know what happens!

LES QUIERO MUCHO!
Hermana Lund

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1. I tripped on a dang weed and it wedge itself between my toes... Hna Sands got a kick out of it.
2. La Familia Montijo along with THE hottest wings I have ever had the pleasure of eating :)
3-6. We took Priscilla up to Grandpa's ranch. It was her first time seeing a horse!!!! He tried to keep eating the little jewels on her shirt so she was freakin out. Super funny and grandpa loved it :)
7-8. The best day of my mission :) we reactivated patsy (the superstar in the middle) back in the gila valley about 9 months ago. She got endowed on Saturday :') she got all her favorite missionaries back
together for the occasion too!
9-10. There's a tradition where every 6 months you burn something as a missionary. For sisters it goes 6: shirt, 12: skirt, 18: dress. Elders I don't know what it is but for 24 it's a suit. A temple trip isn't a
temple trip without a ceremonial fire I guess...

Week 65 nderful

This was another good week! It started off like one of those WHY DID HEAVENLY FATHER GIVE SOME PEOPLE AGENCY?? kind of weeks but turns out agency is wonderful :)

We started doing our one hour a week of family history and man, what a thrill! Hahah but honestly. It's so cool! And it's so dang easy! We've already found a lot of names ready for the temple that hopefully we'll be able to take this weekend :)

We also spent a solid 3 hours at pep boys while they fixed one of our tires... Whoops :)

Hmmm what else. Normal meetings. Oh! And we started our Spanish New Testament class this week!!! Our ward mission leader teaches it and he's the best! I'm definitely developing a greater appreciation for all the words of the prophets, not just the BOM (more on that later).

Oh! Hermana Sands knocked her very first door :') I mean, she's knocked on doors before but we've been drowning in referrals and good good work that we've never had to do the whole "welp, we've got some time to kill, let's knock that random door!" But this week we had a couple extra minutes so she picked the prettiest house on the block and knocked it with such pride :') it was beautiful. A 10 year old kid answered. His name was Kevin. It was also his birthday! We talked to him about God answering our prayers. He was awesome! A ton of faith! And he was the trendiest 10 year old I've ever met! Hope in humanity restored!

We had a couple of awesome lessons with our favorite family the Montijos :) HI PRISCILLA! The spirit has been changing the entire dynamic of their home. They've been reading scriptures and praying together as a family and you can totally tell!!!!!!!! Miracles up the wazoooo have been happening to them! They're our favorites :) Liz (Priscilla's mom) is getting baptized next Saturday too :)))))

Other highlights: rain for the first time in weeks!!!!!! Talks in the Spanish Ward about visiting/home teaching and missionary work in the family. Being at the right place at the right time to share the plan
of salvation with someone who's uncle JUST passed away. Scared Sister Sands upwards of 5 times this week, all with crazy southern reactions :)

On the spiritual side of things, we've been working hard as a companionship to try and read a little bit out of the BOM, New Testament, Old Testament, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Convenants, Preach My Gospel, and a talk EVERY DAY. Man. We haven't been perfect and it's kind of a crazy goal but our studies have been AWESOME. Talking about experiencing the "breadth, and length, and
depth, and height" of Christ's love (Ephesians 3:17-19). Being an "overachiever" by the world's standards, aka a disciple of Christ, definitely has it's perks. Namely, all that the love of God has to
offer. The church is so dang true.

Les quiero mucho!!!
Hermana Lund


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Found the hat section at Walmart :)

Pretty sunset so Hna sands decided to take a video... I hit her in the gut a couple times though :P

1-4. We've heard that our elders lived in a small little house way back in the middle of nowhere... After recruiting some help from our favorite member, Grandma Duke, we were finally able to find it during our dinner hour. We dropped off treats but we found so many random things outside that a photo shoot was SO necessary...
5. Got whacked in the head with a fishing pole

Week 64 Saving ordinances are sources of joy

Hola de nuevo :)

This week was another good one! I swear Mother Nature cranked up the thermostat this week just because it's June. We've been in triple digits all week!!! I'm just glad that we're a couple degrees cooler down here than in Tucson. And also we have a car. Man. To be on a bike in Tucson. Wooooo. I am counting my blessings!

But! We did get to go up to Tucson twice this week. First, on Tuesday for Zone Conference! It was all about teaching doctrine (not just practices or principles) and family history work! Our mission's making a HUGE family history push! President is giving us an hour a week to do our OWN family history too! Forced to spend an hour in an air conditioned family history center? Twist my arm. The goal is for each missionary to take a family name to the temple by September! We're starting tomorrow but we're super excited :) Spirit of Elijah, man. It's contagious!

Thursday I was back up in north east Tucson for exchanges. Best exchange I think I've had. We've been blessed with the best sister training leaders! We found a gorgeous palm tree forest, tried about 20 families, talked to a lady about MOLD for an hour, read some Old Testament with a member over froyo, and each downed a container of Ben&Jerrys on the drive back down. Pure missionary bliss :)

We also started volunteering at a community garden up in Tubac. A member suggested it and it's so cool! You wouldn't think that you could have a luscious garden full of fruits and vegetables in Arizona but dang, it has been done! I'll have to get some pictures this week!

Hmmm what else? We're still rolling in referrals. The lord has blessed us beyond measure! I have definitely been learning better time management and gratitude :) and humility. We worked so so hard all week long and then Sunday, NO ONE came to church. No investigators, no recent converts, no body! It kind of stunk. Wait. I take that back. We had one investigator there for Sunday school and priesthood but he literally ran away before sacrament meeting........ I think that's why people say missionary work is so hard. You get so invested in helping people progress and they don't understand how their simple decisions just break your heart. But it's all so worth it. So so worth it.

And the lord always provides sources of joy. If the work is getting a little discouraging, it just brings you and your companion closer together. Hermana Sands and I have been laughing so so much! Her
little southern comments just make my day. (You have to say these with the accent..) "One time I had a dream where fried chicken fell out the sky."

Oh! Or a conversation we had today:
"Imma go put it in the window seal!"
"Window sill?"
"No, window seal. Who says window sill"
"Anyone who doesn't have a southern accent.."
"... Ohh. I see it now."

I love being a missionary. Life is just so full of happiness. If all goes well the next couple weeks are going to be full of so many wonderful things: baptisms, temple trips with reactivated members to
do family baptisms, people getting ready to go on missions (namely my mini-missionary!!!!!), and my all-time favorite member from the Gila Valley is going to the temple for her endowment!!!!!!! Blessings. Wow.

Saving ordinances are sources of joy. Baptism, temple work for you and loved ones. If you're unhappy or if you feel like something is missing, find more meaning in renewing your baptismal covenants when you take the sacrament. Go to the temple. Hop on familysearch.org and
see what all the hype is about! Saving ordinances are essential to eternal happiness.

LES QUIERO CON TODO MI CORAZÓN!
Hermana Lund

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1-5. Went on exchanges up in northeast Tucson :)
6. Stellar sunsets will never get old!
7. Sister missionary physique...