Just Talk to Everyone

Mi Familia!

This week--especially the past 2 days--has been incredible. I've seen miracles, both in investigators' lives and in mine. This past Saturday we had exchanges. The border zone Sister Training Leader, Hermana Isham (she lives in the same apartment with us, along with her companion Hermana Clark), came with me to our area--North Del Rio--and Hermana Ludeman went with Hermana Clark to the South. I don't know exactly what was special about that day, but I made it a goal to just talk to everyone the whole day of the exchange. I really struggle with contacting. I hate those seconds walking up to someone or waiting for the door to open when you have no idea what you're going to say or how the person is going to react. But, I decided that day that I was just going to do it.

And we did! Hermana Isham is super excited about knocking and contacting and she rubbed off on me. And I realized something. It isn't contacting that I hate, it's NOT contacting that I hate. I hate the guilty feeling I get when I pass by someone without talking to them. But on Saturday we literally talked to every person we feasibly could, and I loved it! We met some awesome people, bore solid testimony, and set up some lessons. I don't know, I was just being the kind of missionary I want to be and it felt so good.

So yesterday, not wanting to lose the new zest for missionary work I was feeling, I decided to talk to everyone again. We did, and guess what, I had the greatest day! I was so happy. It really is true, when you focus on other people and do your duty, you're happy. Who would've thunk. So this week I'm going to work extra hard to talk to everyone. Hopefully that will help me get out of the rut I've been in for the past couple months once and for all! Muahaha.

Also, on Saturday, we went to our Spanish area for my first time. It's kind of far away, especially for bikes, and we don't have any investigators out there right now so we haven't gotten there yet since I've been there. Del Rio is divided into subareas with their own names, which makes things easier to find. Our Spanish area is called Cienigas and it is SO COOL! It looks like a scene out of Chile or Argentina (which is really excited for us state-side missionaries). The roads are narrow and hilly, and the houses/trailers are small, old, and colorful. And, almost everyone speaks Spanish! Yay! We met some great people there and set up some lessons, so hopefully we'll be spending more time out there now.

Also, last Wednesday night one of our investigators who has been progressing pretty well, Amanda, texted us and said she didn't want us to come over any more. She said that she respected what we did but her mom didn't want us coming over any more and that she doubted she would ever change religions. We asked her if we could come by one more time the next day to talk to her face to face, and she said yes.

Amanda is amazing. She suffers from some pretty severe fibromialgia (don't judge my spelling) and consequently can't sleep at night. She got a blessing from the Elders a few weeks back that has helped a bit and really touched her. But her family is not supportive. She lives with her husband Isaac in her parents home with her mom, dad, and brother Matthew. They like and respect us, but don't like our church very much. It was apparent that they had been talking to her and somehow convinced her to stop seeing us. 

Anyway, we went by the next night to see what we could do. We had the lesson on her porch because her family was inside. We started out just talking and eventually started addressing questions she had. She asked about Adam and Eve, and that ended up leading into the Plan of Salvation. We taught her the whole thing and she knew it was true. I think it touched her to realize just how important she is to Heavenly Father, that He created such an incredible plan for her. It was amazing to see her light up as she learned about her potential as a daughter of God. The whole time I felt that surge of love where you have to hold back from leaping on them and hugging their guts out. I know that God loves Amanda so much. She is His daughter and He has a plan for her! I know she felt that, too.

She told us that she knows we were sent to her in a time when she needed it most. Since this lesson she has told us that before Hermanas Ludeman and Christensen came she was feeling lost and knew that she needed to come closer to God, and that she prayed to be able to. She recognized that we are her answer. She also told us that since we've been teaching her, her life has gotten harder, and that she knows that's because what she's learning is good and Satan is trying to keep it from her. 

It was such a powerful lesson, one of the most powerful ones I've had. We invited her to be baptized and she said she's working on it (that's what Robert said right before he started taking off, by the way). She wholeheartedly told us we could keep coming back and teaching her. We went back yesterday and had another powerful lesson, and we set a date for September 7. She is solid and I'm so grateful for the chance to teach her. Now we just need to soften up her family. We told her that salvation is a family matter and that we want to do all we can to help her family progress along with her. She said she would pray for their hearts to be softened. We definitely will be, too. It's just too common of an occurrence for a super strong person to get baptized and then fall away a few months later because they have not support system. I don't want that to happen here.

I love you all. I wouldn't say I'm homesick, but I've been missing you more lately than ever before on my mission. I love you and pray about you often. My scripture recommendation for you to read as a family this week is 3 Ne. 13:28-33. It seems like we shared this scripture a million times this week (probably because it's one of my favorites :)). What are ways you can seek the kingdom of God first?

Have a great week! Les amo mucho!

Hermana Lund