Week 58 Grateful for the bad days that help us recognize the good ones.

... I just wrote THE greatest email of my mission and my iPad just froze and deleted the whole thing. So. I'll take that as a sign from the heavens that I need to learn how to be not so long winded :)

But this week was great!

Picture 1: Last Monday, Hna Rodriguez (my mini missionary comp I had for 3 weeks) got her mission call to Louisville Kentucky speaking Spanish!!!! We got to be there when she opened it and her mom gave us a LITTLE piece of cake to take home... Wish I could say we didn't eat almost all of it within 24 hours but uhh... :)

I'll save Tuesday for the big finale...

Picture 2: Wednesday we got a call from a member who needed some translation help. The member only speaks English. Gloria (the abuelita in the picture) only speaks Spanish. And she also knows EVERYTHING about medicinal plants! They've submitted some of their stuff and found it has cancer-treating properties too! The member and Gloria have been working on a book for a while so we got to help. It was tough cuz Hna Sands' Spanish is limited so I got to brush up on all my plant vocab and help cure cancer at the same time :) oh! Gloria also makes pretty paper flowers too!

Picture 3: Thursday we had exchanges. I stayed here with Hna Burgoyne. It's been getting into the 80s and 90s down here and Tucson is even hotter so we got a little excited when we found a house with a little baby patch of REAL GRASS! Haven't seen that in a while!

Picture 4: Hna Sands LOVES watermelon. We've gone through 3 in a week. We punched a hole in this one and decided it looked like Africa.

Okay. So Tuesday. The morning started off horribly. Or at least my mood was horrible. Our washer decided to gush water ALL over our floor and so we spent most of the morning sweeping and mopping it all out. It's funny how Satan works so hard to get you down right before amazing things happen.

Tuesday night we contacted a referral we had gotten from a member. The referral's name is Nancy. She's been really sick and really scared for a long time. A member explained to her what priesthood blessings are and she got so excited and requested one! So Tuesday night we go over. We thought Nancy was a less active but turns out she's not a member at all! The elders gave her and her husband two of the most powerful priesthood blessings I've ever heard/felt. The spirit was so tangible, just ringing through my bones. Nancy was pretty emotional and explained how lost she's felt as she has tried to find the right church. One of the greatest moments of my mission was getting to say "You found what you've been looking for!" She just sobbed and laughed and said "but I'm so old!" :) I love that about the gospel. You're never too old, you're never too young, you're never too rebellious for
the gospel to change you. I absolutely love that. Nancy and her husband are our newest investigators. They love the Book of Mormon and are progressing beautifully :)

I love his gospel. I'm grateful for the bad days that help us recognize the good ones. There's an old lady here named Grandma Duke. She has a British accent and stuffs us full of candy and ice cream and soda every time we visit :) we asked her how she stays happy. She said "appreciating today will help you have a happier tomorrow." Amen.

Que tenga una buena semana, mi gente! Have gratitude-filled todays and happy tomorrow's!
Hermana Lund

Week 57 We Will Find Everything We Are Looking For and More

Hola :)

This week was great! We've been doing lots of service and keeping busy! We also got to go to the temple this past week as a zone for our quarterly trip. It was SO nice. Wow. I just love the temple. It just made me so so happy.

Hna Sands is crushing it. For reals. She doesn't even need a trainer. She's such a champ.

I know exciting things happened but I can't think of any...

We helped grandpa clean out his trailer on Wednesday and we set another goal for him to go to the temple to do the baptisms for his parents. This will be the 6th temple trip we've scheduled with him since I've been here......... Faith and patience have definitely been tested but we must continue forward when salvation is on the line.

Oh! We're having a mission conference next week and we just found out which apostle is coming to speak to us....... ELDER HOLLAND :D I did that whole dramatic gasp thing when I found out! I couldn't be more excited! Our mission president has really encouraged us to prepare by being more obedient and preparing spiritually.

I've been thinking a lot about preparation between Hna Sands, the temple, and Elder Holland. When we prepare we shall not fear. Not only that, but we will find everything we are looking for and more.

I love you all!!!! Be good :)
Hermana Lund

Enviado desde mi iPad

1. Nogales.
2. A stray dog wandered into one of our dinners and she took a fancy
to E. Anderson
3. Grandpa and Max
4. Bad hair-day friendly comp pics :)
5. Before we embarked on the adventure of cleaning grandpas trailer :)
6-10 Temple trip :) it was súper windy...

Week 56 First Week of Training (T10)

Hola :)

I kicked off this week in the trio in Tucson and then Tuesday morning I met Hermana Sands :D it felt so good to get back to Nogales with her. Holy cow, I wish you could meet her. She is bubbly and charming and motivated and so dang happy all the time! She's incredible! She's been working so hard too! When I first got out I think I just slept whenever we were in the car. Not Hermana Sands! She's memorized all of Doctrine and Covenants 4 and the Standard of Truth, both in Spanish!!! She's got her fire in her soul and I just love her to bits :) we get along great! (Knock on wood)

We saw so many miracles this week! Our area was on fire like it never has been! We found so many potentials, new investigators, set a couple baptismal dates, set a few temple dates. Man, I don't even know. It was incredible! The lord really does provide.

Highlight of the week, probably mining up in Patagonia to help out a member. We basically just shoveled a mountain for 2 hours. Service :) beautiful, beautiful service.

Oh! We also had zone meeting up in Tucson too. Our zone focus for this month is charity and service! (Hence the mining...) We talked a lot about the differences between the two. Someone shared Alma 7:24

24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

If we have hearts full of faith, hope, and charity the good works and service opportunities will naturally follow.

Serve others. Especially strangers!

I love you all! Have a great week :)
Hermana Lund

Enviado desde mi iPad

1. Zone meeting this last week. Isn't Hna Sands gorgeous???

2. Southeast zone at its finest :)
3-5. We've been asked to emphasize service this month so we went....Mining :) yup! A member needed some help digging out a mine so we went out there with the elders and our ward mission leader. Still a little sore... So fun!
6.Oh and it rained a lot this weekend (aka it sprinkled for more than 2 minutes) so the rainbow action was STRONG. This was our double rainbow siting after dinner last night :)

Week 55 Don't forget the rain drops

Okay. So. I'm gonna try and do this week justice because I honestly feel like my entire life built up to this past Friday, April fools day. It was crazy!!!!

I'll set the scene properly though... Last weekend we had a lesson with Priscilla and the girls that introduced her to the church. It was heavy. All those girls have been through a lot. We were all just crying. Mid lesson I just had this thought, FORGET THIS. WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE. The girls all got really excited! Reality kind of set in when we realized we needed 4 recommends, a car, a driver, and a lot of faith. So we made a pact of faith. We all promised each other that we would read the Book of Mormon and pray every single day and trust that if we did our part, God would provide what we lacked and we would make it to the temple on Friday :)

So the beginning of the week went well, everyone was reading, we got 2 out of the 4 recommends we needed, our ward mission leader and another sister volunteered to take us on Friday. It was all PERFECT. Then Thursday came. I don't know why it still surprises me but Satan always works so hard RIGHT before something amazing is about to happen.

So Thursday. We went up to Tucson for a meeting which was awesome and spirit filled. As we leave we saw we had a couple missed calls from the people that had offered to drive. BOTH had gotten sick..... And they both said it was just too poorly planned, too last minute to do anything but that we would make it to the temple in a few weeks.

Those calls along with lots of other whiny things had me at the end of my rope. The whole way home I just prayed. Was our faith just insufficient? Was it our works? I got pretty mad. Or frustrated with everything. And it had been cloudy that day and I finally just said "Heavenly Father, I'm done! I can't get us to the temple by myself! I guess it's not meant to be. I give up. And I could really use some rain to help me have a better pity party. Make it POUR! Please!!!" Not 5 seconds later it starts to drizzle... Not pour. Just a drizzle. I had read something that morning about drawing strength from the earth because the earth is an expression of gods love for us. Those few drops of rain reminded me where strength truly comes from. It comes from a loving father. Those few drops of rain lit a fire in my soul. We were gonna get to the temple if it took everything I possessed.

So we continued to pray. Thursday night we got the third recommend and went to bed without a car or a driver. And then everything fell into place... Friday morning we got the final recommend. We found a member willing to donate a car. And then a member willing to pay for gas. And then a member that was willing to drive. God gives us light line upon line and precept upon precept.

We made it to the temple. And it was perfect. So rewarding. The temple truly is a refuge.

Oh, also! Friday, before we left for the temple was another sisters bday and we wanted to decorate her apartment to surprise her. So we blow up all these balloons and stick em in the car so it's filled to the brim. Then we realized we had to pass a border patrol checkpoint........ Our car looked super suspicious ..... I got so worried. We were running short on time and energy and I was not in the mood to get stopped by BP. So we pulled over and prayed... We roll up the to checkpoint and the guy pauses and looks in the back. "Uhhhh... Do you have anyone back there?" "No :)" ".... Are you sure?" "Yeah?" ....... "I'm just kidding, have a good day, sisters!" .............. HE WAS A MEMBER! :) total miracle. While I was sweating bullets, the lord was setting everything up, perfectly. We managed to celebrate a birthday and make it to the temple :)

Friday night, Hna R also went home so I'm in a trio this weekend, back in my first area with one of my old comps. It's been really nice. I get my new companion tomorrow.... And I'm training! Wooohoooooo... Mixed emotions about that one. But if this week has taught me anything it's that if we continue in faith and obedience the Lord will give us strength and provide the way. I know that.

This email's already long enough, but conference was amazing too! It was powerful to feel the spirit of these servants of God as I looked into their eyes as they spoke. Amazing!!!!

I love you all!! Don't forget the rain drops!
Hermana Lund

Enviado desde mi iPad


We might have sneakily watched the priesthood session with a turtle...  :) he was not happy.

1. Early morning view will never get old :)
2. This begins the adventure known as Friday... We had the car filled to the brim with balloons ready for Sis H's birthday surprise :)
3. Mission accomplished
4. Last comp picture with Hna R
5. :)
6-8. Gilbert temple :')