Week 29 Seven Months

HOLA :)

Here we go again :)

Welp. I turned 7 yesterday!!! Woohooooooo. So crazy. A lot can happen in 7 months :)

But can we talk aboout General Conference???????? HOW AMAZING WAS THAT?????? My goodness, I have never been so pumped up by listening to people talk for 10 hours! SO SO amazing!

I especially loved Larry Lawrence's talk. The one about praying to know what you need to change. Don't get me wrong, I love those talks that say "being christ-like is so important!" "have faith!" "be a happier person!" but I always end up saying... HOW? And so I loved that his talk had such a simple solution. PRAY. Ask God and he'll tell you the how. Stop stalling, humble up, and ask what you need to do differently.

Other than that, we went on exchanges this week with our Sister Training Leader, which are always just so nice and refreshing. We saw a lot of miracles.

The weeks/days are all blurring together.

Transfers are going down next Tuesday and transfer calls are on Saturday... It's kinda frustrating because literally ANYTHING could happen based on where Hna B and I are at soooo :) That'll be fun!

But!! Fun distracting things are happening this week... Including a surprise baptism :D I can't remember if I've told you this, but this lady is the only member of her family that hasn't been baptized and her husband has been waiting for this for 15 years!!! And, according to her request, she's just telling her family "oooooh, there's a baptismal service we should go to" and when they get there she's going to say "SURPRISE! It's mine!!!!" Hahah so... We're planning a surprise baptism :)

I'll keep it short and sweet this week :) Life is good :) Say your prayers :)

I love you all!
Hermana Lund

                      

Week 28 Monsoons, Faith Walks, Bible Bashes and Birthdays :)

HOLA :)

Como estan?

This week has been nuts!!! Again, I feel like everything legendary happens on Monday or Tuesday and I just want to tell you all about it but then I gotta wait... But ni modo.

Last monday was all stormy, like I said. It was the most amount of rain that Safford has gotten in yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeears. We had to take off our shoes and wade through ankle deep water just to get to our truck in our driveway :) It was a blast! We played soccer in the rain with some other missionaries :) Our favorite sisters had their apartment flooded so we got to have a president-approved sleepover :D It was amazing! One of the sisters was part of Divine Comedy and Studio C so she's a hoot and a half. She also has the voice of an angel that ate another angel..... She sang us lots of lullabies :)

Tuesday. Yeesh! Day of miracles!!!!! Long story short, Hna B's recent convert from Deming said "I'm going on a faith walk to California with no food or water :D" ..... We were a little concerned, but he managed to make it here and we had lunch with him on Tuesday planning on having an intervention and telling him to go home. Miracle after miracle happened.
1) He said "I'm too old for this... the faith walk is off!"
2) He had hitchhiked and met this drug dealer with a gun that didn't kill him :) woohooo
We decided before he went home that we should take him to the temple grounds :)
3) The one cab in the whole valley happened to be right by the park we were eating at
4) Hna B had felt prompted to take out some extra cash that morning which we used for cab fare for him
5) We got the temple and remembered it was closed for cleaning and so the gates were all up :( BUT there was this grounds worker who happened to be taking a break who was able to open the gate for us
6) There was this CRAZY storm rolling in (refer to the temple/sky picture) that waited just long enough for us to enjoy the temple grounds
7) As we left, it started to rain but we had to wait for the cab. As we waited, a man came by and was able to let us into the stake center so we could stay dry :)

It was nuts how it all worked out. This man felt that Heavenly Father had sent him on this faith walk. And I strongly believe that that's true. He had other plans though. It wasn't a walk to California, it was to the temple :)

Wednesday I was sitting in District Meeting and I felt a prompting that we needed to visit this less active we had met once. We went straight there after the meeting and ended up getting into the worst bible bash of my mission so far with this less active's father. MMMMMmmmmm it made me so mad. My arm was physically sore because I had clenched onto my Book of Mormon so hard during that conversation.

But it was amazing how our words were truly guided by the Lord. And there was a moment where we truly spoke with the power of God and this man changed. His entire countenance was changed. And he just stood back and said "wow. I like that. You learn something new everyday." We parted as "friends" I suppose and I was grateful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost as we followed that random prompting. As we listen to the spirit, we will never be alone as we venture into uncharted territory.

Yeeesh this is a long email. I'll be brief.

My birthday was great :) My comp and all the other missionaries were amazing and loving and we just had a blast :)

As you prepare for General Conference this weekend, I would encourage you to go with questions. And as you watch and listen to the words of our inspired leaders, don't just take notes... MAKE A TO DO LIST! That has been a downfall of mine for so long. We receive such amazing council, feel like we can take on the world, and then we never follow through. This conference weekend will be special. And we make lists of things we need to do in our lives based on the whisperings of the spirit and the words of our leaders, miracles will happen and dreams will be achieved :)

I LOVE YOU ALL! Sorry this is so long... Stay in school :) Make good choices :) Y que tenga una buena semana :)

Hermana Lund

'

Week 27 Love Your Family

HOLA :D

It's one of those rare cloudy, rainy days here and I honestly just want nothing more than to snuggle up and take a nap all day today so forgive me if my email is found lacking...

But this week was nuts!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like I say that every week... but this past week takes the cake. I won't even be able to put into words all the nonsense that went down so I'll just focus on some cool miracles, how about that? :)

We got to go to the temple as a zone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Our quarterly trip to the temple :') Leading up to it there were so many little things that came up... Satan will do just about anything to keep ya from the temple. But we went, and my goodness I just want to live there. We had an informal zone photo shoot (of course) afterwards so enjoy the pics :)

I'm completely drawing a blank on the rest of this week but we've been working hard and having fun, I promise :) I might have already shared this quote our zone leader shared, but this week I have again found that it is so dang true. "A frog is only happy when it's a frog. It's not happy being a bunny. Children of God are happy when they are being children of God. And missionaries are happy when we are missionaries. We are happiest when we are striving to be what we were put on this earth to be."

Oh! fun fact of the day!!!!!! This is a week of birthdays :D This Wednesday "The Family: A Proclamation" to the world is turning 20!!!! WOOHOOOO!!! As a missionary, I have seen just how inspired that document truly is. There are so many families here that are just falling apart and it just breaks my hear to see kids and good people getting dragged through the mud because of misunderstandings, hatred, and all kinds of dumb stuff. My favorite part of the proclamation is this:

"THE FAMILY is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. "

A to the MEN! I am so glad to have been born 3 days after the leaders of this church felt inspired to release this document. I would be no where without my family. My family isn't perfect (sorry mom :P) but I am so grateful for my parents efforts to have a Christ-centered home built on good morals and love :) Happy Birthday to the most inspired document ever written on the most inspired social unit ever created!

I love you all!!!!
Love your family a little more this week, especially on Wednesday!
Thanks for everything :)

Hermana Lund

Week 26 Moments that make the shelf

Hola :)

Pues. This week has been nuts! I'm seriously about to fall asleep at the keyboard, but it's so so worth it!!!!!!

Cool things happening!!! We had Zone Meeting on Wednesday where we trained on the new planning app on our iPads. We're going from alllllll paper to allllllll digital. Scheduling, records, personal information, you name it... it's all on there! Which is beautiful!!!! and wonderful!!!!! You can just search for a name instead of looking through papers for an hour!!!! ... But. The funnest part is that we get to put in all that information :D ALLLLLL the records of missionaries that have served here in the last 5 years. Every lesson they've taught. Every person they've contacted. Manually inputted into the system :D So that's a blast and a half... It's actually really funny reading some of these records, but it'll be such a blessing once it's actually done :)

Besides working on that, this week was mostly devoted to R (the one who asked if she could have her baptism bumped up a week!). Interviews, lessons, programs, other logistics... there goes all our time! And oh my goodness. Satan worked haaaard this week to keep that baptism from happening. But oh my goodness. When she came out of that water, she just smiled so big :) And then she came up the stairs and we all just cried together. I have never seen anyone filled with such pure joy and peace. It was a really special thing to be a part of :)

There are certain moments from my mission where I just wanna grab a mason jar, bottle up every aspect of that second, and put it on a shelf. And then when I come home I'll just get to stand in front of this shelf full of beautiful moments and just cry hahaha :) I really love being a missionary. I love working hard. And I love those moments that make the shelf :)

Work hard. Blessings are all around you. Savor those sweet moments.

Les quiero mucho
Hermana Lund

A lovely sunset after dinner with our RS president.
And our truck in all its majesty and glory :)  

Basically what all of the valley looks like. COVERED in cotton fields...
Hopefully we'll be able to get some good "field is white already to harvest" pics soon!

Me, R, Hna B :')

We set individual and companionship goals every week and
this week we decided to spice up the board a little bit :P 

Week 25 Nothing is going as planned and it's wonderful

Hola :D

This week was nuts!!! SO many miracles!!

Let's start with transfers :) My new comp Hermana B is as wonderful as every says she is. She's funny! She's an AMAZING musician! And she teaches with such power and humility.. she's amazing :)

On Tuesday, her first day here, we were able to go to the temple to watch our recent converts A&A do baptisms for the dead :') What a way to start the transfer! We also snagged some pictures with us and the Branch President's daughters :)

We've also been taking advantage of the many missionary discounts here! We went to the free snow cone place with 2 of our favorite sisters in the zone, which was a blast! The other picture, where we're holding the white things preceeded one of the funniest moments of my mission...

We've heard AMAZING things about this Mexican drive through place called Mechy's and their Chile Relleno Burros. We also know the lady who owns it :) So we decided to try it out... A chile relleno burro is basically a really hot green pepper stuffed with cheese, breaded, and wrapped in a glorious flour tortilla.... Usually the seeds (the spiciest part) are taken out.... These ones weren't. We gradually realized just how spicy these little burros were and we had to drive home and chug a carton of milk. It was pretty funny :)

In terms of miracles, it has been amazing how in charge the Lord really is. About 99% of our plans fell through this week. And because of that we ended up being able to contact 3 people I haven't been able to see the whole time I've been here. One really cool experience... Hna B plays the viola. She's a total rockstar. And she had been saying that she was hoping to see if there was someone here who had one that she could play. So. First day here. All our plans fall through, so we do a hail mary and try to see this woman who hasn't come to church in a looong time. And she opens the door!!!!! Not only that, but she totally opened up and agreed to come back to church! And then her daughter comes in with a viola case.... Turns out she had gotten the viola THE DAY BEFORE WE GOT THERE! What are the odds???? MIRACLE!

Oh, also... We have this investigator that was planning on getting baptized on the 19th.... Yesterday, she came up to us at church and asked if she could get baptized this saturday instead!!!!!!!!!! ..... CLARO QUE SI!!!!!!!!! And her husband that originally said he would have nothing to do with her and our church, agreed to come to the baptism and is totally supportive :D

Nothing is going as planned and it's wonderful :) A man's heart deviseth the way but the Lord directeth his steps. He's in charge and it's so much better that way :)

Oh! also I hit my 6 month mark this past week!! Crazy. This time has flown by. I'm glad that I'm done learning most of the big logistical missionary things so I can focus more on fine tuning certain skills and getting lots of good work done :) This next year is gonna be a crazy one :)

Thanks for all the love and support!!!!

Les quiero
Hermana Lund

Week 24 Tacos, Tendons, Transfers, and Tattoos (T5)

Hola :)

This week was nuts. Complete chaos all leading up to Friday (which was our combined taco fiesta single-handedly executed by 4 sister missionaries and the best family ever) and Saturday which was baptism day and transfer calls.....

On Monday I got to talk to my recent convert from Tucson... Remember H&P? Well, H blessed the sacrament yesterday and he was so dang excited :) I felt like such a proud mom.

Oh! You'll get a kick out of this... We came up with this game this week. I'm pretty sure I've told you about Tiwi before (the lil machine in all the mission cars that yells at you when you go 7 over the speed limit). Well. The game is... whenever the driver gets yelled at by tiwi, you switch drivers until they get yelled at by tiwi........ Needless to say, I've driven a whopping total of about 20 minutes this past week :) You can take the girl out of Boston but you can't take the Boston out of the girl :)

Wednesday was a really good day. Lots of running around (picking up stuff for the fiesta, printing baptismal programs, etc) but it was a lot of fun! And we were able to have 2 lessons back to back with 2 awesome investigators where we set baptismal dates!! One of em is married and her husband told her he wasn't going to go to her baptism and she was like... "Oh well!" :) She's so prepared... She stinkin knew what an endowment is... Her date is set for the 19th of September :)

Okay. Friday. Long story short, we got to the church in the morning with the other sisters and started setting up, giving us plenty of extra time. Lunch time rolled around so Hna M and I went to get food. We come back a little while later and we see one of the other sisters laying on the ground with her foot on a chair, her companion holding a bloody paper towel to her ankle. She had sliced the back of her heal on one of those chair cart things JUST LIKE LINDA!! It was really deep. Through a huge fiasco and some assistance from some elders we managed to get her to the doctors. They poked and prodded and tweezed and man, it was actually really really cool. Like part of you wants to throw up in a trash can but there is absolutely no way you're gonna pass up on seeing a doctor hold someone's tendon with a pair of tweezers :) She partially severed her Achilles tendon which isn't ideal.. but she's tough :) So that killed a few hours so we were running around frantically the half hour before the fiesta was supposed to start.

5 minutes before everyone was supposed to arrive, we realized we needed some ice!!! So Hna M and I hopped in the truck and booked it to the gas station. As we got there, a man held open the door for us. Hna M asked him his name... He said it was Jim.... Turns out he was a former investigator that we have been trying to contact for WEEKS!! So Hna M snagged some ice, I set up another time we could see him and we were off :) Really cool miracle and the fiesta was great :)

Saturday. The baptism of A&A. The two sisters. So beautiful. Not a dry eye in the house :) And transfer calls came............ Hna M is headed to a border town Everyone says she's gonna get kidnapped and hear gunshots and such but she's really excited :) and I'm staying here with...... Hna B :D I've only had brief conversations with her, but I've heard only wonderful, positive things about her :) I'm really excited :)

Sunday. A&A got confirmed :') and we also made plans with them to go to the temple to do baptisms on Wednesday :) we also got to go to a special fireside from Al Fox Carraway also known as the Tattooed Mormon. She's a convert from New York with a killer story, a super successful blog, and AMAZING public speaking skills. So so so cool. We were able to snag a picture with her afterwards with A&A and our sister training leaders :)

The takeaway I got from her story was TRY. Just try. There's that Gordon B. Hinckley quote, I think... "Try a little harder to be a little better." And the power of just TRYING is so underrated. I've seen so many nonmembers, members, and even missionaries that have just given up. Just try. God loves us. We have been given an incredible gift to choose. Agency. "As you submit your will to God's, you are giving him the only thing that you can actually give him that is yours to give." Turn to him through prayer, reading your scriptures, and TRYING and you will be blessed. I know it. I've seen it.

I love you all :) Que tenga una buena semana :)
Hermana Lund

Week 23 "We can break the cords that bind us"

Hola :)

I'm struggling to remember what happened this week...

Hna M has been really sick so our time out of the apartment has been limited... but we were able to hit mission standards of excellence for the 3rd week in a row :D So many little miracles and coincidences.

We also had zone conference with all the missionaries in the Gila Valley and New Mexico on Tuesday. It was nice to see a lot of old friends I served with in Tucson :) Plus, President and Sister Passey are absolutely legendary. Really really great conference. Learned a lot.

Mmmmm what else. Oh! We went bowling this morning :) That was fun :)

Mmmmmmm oh! this coming week is going to be absolute chaos. We put together this bi-ward TACO FIESTA NIGHT that's going down this friday. Hopefully we'll get a lot of nonmembers or less actives to come out. Should be a blast :) We just have to do all the running around and organizing, which I kind of love, but hopefully Hna M will be well enough. We've also got 3 baptisms this Saturday (wooohooo :D).

And then we also have transfer calls this Saturday as well. At this point, anything could happen. With Hna M being sick, we might get put in a trio. I probably won't leave. I feel like Hna M and I are just going to stay together and that'll be that, but WHO KNOWS :) Woohooo gotta love the suspense.

With Hna M being sick I've had a lot of time with just me, myself, my thoughts, and my scriptures :) I read the story of Alma and Amulek in Ammonihah this week (solid alliteration right there). They preached to the people and some converted. Then because of a whole bunch of nonsense, they were bound, beaten, tormented, forced to watch those converts burn, and put into prison. Ouch. And you thought you had it tough. And the scriptures say that they were put through those things for DAYS. And the whole time, God tells them to be patient and endure it well. After days, Alma just can't take it any more and he says: "How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance. And they broke the cords with which they were bound"

I find it particularly powerful that THEY broke the cords by which they were bound. No doubt, God gave them that strength, but God required him to give it all he had and then he was freed. And then a whole bunch of other cool miracles happened.

But I know that God requires a lot of us, especially when we're going through hard things. But if we have faith, and if we give it all we can, we can break the cords that bind us.

I love you all :) Read your scriptures... I promise it'll help!

Gracias por todo :)
Hermana Lund