And...The Heat is Here!

Mi familia!

This week has been good and eventful. And hot. The heat is here and no one has, or at least uses, air conditioning. I had gotten comfortable and begun to forget last summer. Now it's all coming back to me. At least I won't get the worst of it, come August!

This week we found 3 people/families who are that type you only hear stories about, the Justin/Mari-type who accept it without reservation. Two were referrals from members, and one we ran into on our way out of a member's house..they literally were right there. We've passed two of them off to the English wards after teaching a first lesson and setting them with baptismal dates, but that's totally fine with me. We're also teaching Rocio, a referral from a family in our ward. Rocio cuts Hermana Gutierrez's hair and last week at her salon Rocio was asking all kinds of questions. I guess the los Gutierrez gave her a Book of Mormon about a year and a half ago and they've always tried, but it wasn't until this week that they told the missionaries about her. Hermana Gutierrez told us that we HAD to go get our hair cut by her immediately, that we couldn't wait until P-day. (It probably would have been easier for her to have just invited us all to her house, but whatever. Haha.) So we went the next day to the salon, and she cut our hair as we talked about the Restoration. She told us to meet her at Hermana Gutierrez's house the next day at 12:30 to teach her more. So we did! And she told US that she would like to be baptized before we could even invite her! We had another lesson with her this morning and she told us that it all fit with what she already believed. She was raised Jehovah's Witness but never really believed it whole-heartedly. She is incredible. She also has a 10-year-old daughter and a husband who we haven't met, but are trying to meet. Her husband apparently isn't that interested, but we'll see. ;)

Being a missionary is the coolest thing. When it's done right, you see that you really haven't done anything at all. Heavenly Father is doing all of it, and He's just nice enough to give you a front-row seat every once in a while. Every day, actually. It's the greatest.

Oh! And I just found out that Seth, the one from Del Rio who was so close to baptism, FINALLY got baptized! Somehow Sister Ludeman got to be there and she sent me pictures.

Also, I went on exchanges with Hermana Rodriguez this week! She and Hermana Clark are companions. :) It was so nice to spend the day with her and be able to communicate to her in Spanish so much more smoothly. It was a good day for me to see my progress. She is an incredible missionary. We had a good day.

I love you all! Go out and be missionaries yourselves and tell me all about it next week!

Mucho amor y besitos,

Hermana Lund

We've Proved Him in Days That Are Past

Mi familia,

It's been another great week. It's a good time of year to be in Austin..minus the allergies. Thank goodness for Zyrtec, Afrin, and Benadryl. 

This week we found a lot of new investigators! One is Erika's sister-in-law. She and Erika's brother (who is a member, but only because his sister agreed to pay him $20...which she never did, by the way..hahahaha) are really trying to turn their lives around. She told Erika she wanted to be baptized before we even met her. We've only been able to meet with her once, though. But we're seeing her tonight, so we'll see how they're doing. 

We also have begun teaching a family who's been taught a lot in the past. Hermana Morales is a member but not active. Her husband and 2 teenage kids aren't members but know a whole lot. Both Hermana y Hermano want to be sealed with their family in the temple. So...you'd think they'd just get baptized. I guess they've had some bad experiences at church before so it isn't clicking that easily in their heads. But we had an incredible lesson with them this week and they love having us over. We just need to get them to church and feel the Spirit and they'll be set.

We found another family of 5, all over the age of 8. We had a good lesson with them. We have another lesson tonight with them, so we'll see how that goes, too.

We had a zone conference this week. President didn't have a lot of structure for the meeting, we mostly just discussed things that were on our minds and he taught us like you wouldn't believe. I learned so much about revelation and following the Spirit and it's changing the way I work. President is incredible. I'm edified every time I'm around him.

I got to go on exchanges with Sister King! It was fun to teach with her now that we both have so much more of a grasp on the language, the doctrine, and the teaching skills. And it was so great to be together and talk about good times in Riverside. It's so crazy what we did there together! We were both so new when we were left on our own--she had only been in Texas for 10 weeks and I had only been out for 6. We didn't speak Spanish and we didn't know almost any techniques for missionary work. We were SO scared driving home from that transfer meeting. But we just worked! We worked SO hard. And we had so much fun! And we saw miracles. Now looking back I can see how unqualified we were to do what we did. But it didn't matter. God made us instruments in His hands and He did His work through us. I still don't feel qualified to do what I'm doing. But somehow it always seems to work out. 

Last night I had a thought: if there's 84,000 missionaries, that means there's 42,000 companionships. If every companionship taught or talked to 5 people yesterday, that's more than 200,000 people who were taught about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. And that doesn't even count the members who talked to their neighbors or posted something on Facebook or gave someone a Book of Mormon. Hundreds of thousands of people come closer to Christ each day. I'm beginning to understand that I'm such a small part of this. It isn't about my mission, about how many baptisms I have or how many lives I change. We're all on the same team. God's team. Yes, He could do it if I wasn't here. His work of salvation would still roll forward. But Iam here. He lets me be a part of His work and He lets me see the blessings of it. I'm part of bringing to pass His work and His glory, and I'm being changed along the way. Pretty cool.

I love you all! Have a great week and be good.

Love,

Hermana Lund

FINALLY, Some Texas Thunder!

Mi Familia!

It's been raining SO hard this morning and thunder is cracking outside. I LOVE it. Reason #784 why this is the greatest mission in the world. 

It's been a good week. We haven't had a lot of action going on, but we work hard anyway. And yesterday we got a ton of referrals from Erika's family. Apparently her sister wants to meet with us and already wants to get baptized. And her brother, who just got out of jail, is turning his life around and was at church yesterday. His "wife" and daughter want to learn more, too. And Erika's husband's heart is softening a lot. Also, Yoanna and Melvin fasted with us yesterday to be able to get married soon so she can get baptized. Since she's 17 (yep.) her dad has to be present, I guess. And they don't know when he'll be able to come down here. But she's so ready and it's totally going to happen. 

I've learned so much these past couple days. Somehow the weekends are always my time for epiphanies. I've praying for help with a lot of things lately. They're righteous desires, and I've had complete faith that there can be immediate change. But..it just hasn't happened that way. I've learned that faith is more than a confidence in seeing miracles. It's also being confident in the Lord and His timing. Sometimes I can't see a good reason why He wouldn't answer my prayers right away and in the way I want. But then I look back and I can see the wisdom in it. He truly knows. He gets it. And He gives us what's best for us. 

This morning I was re-reading David A. Bednar's talk from this Conference. It hit me hard then, but it meant just that much more reading it this morning. I love this quotation: "Most of us know that when we do things wrong and need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives, the Savior has made it possible for us to become clean through His redeeming power. But do we also understand that the Atonement is for faithful men and women who are obedient, worthy, and conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully?"

And then when he says, "The Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquities--but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and shortcomings, our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that beset us.

"There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul of heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, 'No one knows what it is like. No one understands.' But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice, He has perfect empathy and can extend to us his arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon out own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light."

He talks about us learning to pray for strength to "learn from, change, or accept our circumstances rather than praying relentlessly for God to change our circumstances according to our will," thus becoming "agents who act rather than objects that are acted upon." The Atonement is not meant to magically wipe away all sorrow and responsibility. It is meant to change us, to enable us to reach our potential. Christ literally went before us when He descended below all things. He has already been there, He experienced it first. And as we take His yoke upon us by making and keeping sacred covenants with Him, we are only joining Him, and He will see us through.

I love my Savior more now than I ever have in my life. I know His Atonement is real. There have been several times on my mission when I have literally called down His strength from His Atonement. And every time I have received it, in that very moment. It is real, it is always there, for every person and in every moment.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary. It's exactly what I need at this point in my life. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. 

I love you all!

Hermana Lund

An Attitude of Gratitude

Mi Familia!

I think someone is stealing days out of the weeks. Last P-day was no more than 2 days ago. What a week it was, though. Especially Conference. My goodness, it's better than Christmas. I can't wait to read the talks again. I especially loved President Uchtdorf's talk. An attitude of gratitude. That concept makes so much more sense to me now. Sometimes it truly is hard to find things to be grateful for, and you don't really feel like thanking God for the air. But just learning to be a grateful person, to be constantly praising God for His goodness, to always have an eternal perspective and faith that all truly is well is what will lead to happiness. As he spoke, I was overcome with thanksgiving. I offered a prayer that consisted of nothing other than the words "thank you." That was all I said, but it was one of the most powerful prayers I've ever experienced. There really is no reason to do anything but rejoice. 

I loved the theme of obedience that seemed to weave it's way into everything. God's way never changes. There's the right and the wrong to every question, and the right always leads to happiness. How many times did we hear the 3rd Article of Faith? "We believe that, through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel." And like Elder Bednar said, as we yoke ourselves to Christ through sacred covenants, we are enabled to obey, to press forward, to repent, to change, and to return to our Father in Heaven to live in eternal families. 

Sorry, I don't have a whole lot else to say today. I know the priesthood and church of Jesus Christ have been restored to the earth. I know that He paid the price for our sins so we can be forgiven and receive eternal life. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was his chosen prophet to restore His gospel. 

Love you all! Have a good week!