El tiempo vuela!

Mi familia!

I can't believe how fast this week flew by. I can't believe we're more than half-way through November! And transfer calls come on Sunday. It's seriously nuts.

I had such a good week. I feel like a switch has turned on in my brain. I don't know, I've just learned a lot of things. I just feel good and happy and excited to work! I went on an exchange with our STL Hermana Vankatwyk on Friday. She goes home the day before Thanksgiving and it was neat to spend the day with someone at that point in her mission. She's ready to go home and see her family, but she's soaking up the last few days on her mission. She kept me up late talking about her mission and the struggles she's had and the things she's learned. She's just so genuinely excited about missionary work. She was super bold with everyone and made sure they understood that this is the greatest thing they will ever hear ever. Haha, I loved it. Plus, the weather was GORGEOUS. Most beautiful weather so far this fall. Just an all-around good day.

Like I said, I feel like a light has just switched. I think I understand better what I'm doing out here. Heavenly Father is doing His own work...through me. Through every missionary, through every member. I feel much more like I'm in a partnership with Him. When I pray, I counsel with Him to know what we can do together to help His children. And when things don't go well or when other missionaries seem to be having so much more success than me, it's ok because we're all doing the same work and we're going to win anyway. 

Also, this week I realized something that I should have realized a long time ago...TSAM is the best mission in the world (sorry, Scott). I legitimately believe it. 

We've seen a little progression with our investigators. We finally met with Imelda again. She's been really worried about her sick dog that she loves like a child. Anyway, she's as solid as ever. She believes in our message but is a bit hesitant to ask. But we're working with her. She's such a sweet lady and I love her to pieces.

Rosie Vasquez has been really sick lately so we haven't met with the Vasquez's a lot, but last we heard they were both reading. Yes! We invited them to baptism again last week and they said they've been talking about it together, but they don't want to disgrace their parents. We asked them what they thought their parents would want for them if they were to find the truth and they agreed that they would want them to join but..we'll see.

We're also teaching a man named Juan Cardenas (Yay! Spanish investigator!). We were teaching his wife Patricia a while ago. She's still reading the Book of Mormon but won't make appointments with us anymore. Don't really know what's going on there. But we've been meeting with Juan and he's really interested. He works like a dog and is rarely home so we've only met with him once a week. Yesterday we went by with Presidente Mata and he met us outside to tell us that he had family over. My initial thought was, "Ok, well obviously he's not that interested and we probably shouldn't waste our time with him too much more." But we ended up having a lesson out there anyway. He had read the chapter we had assigned him and talked about how he feels something different when we're there and he wants it for his family. He recognized the peace we bring with us. Presidente Mata was awesome and really bold with him. He told him that we have something that will change his life and that he needs. He said that God has given us 24 hours in the day; how much are we willing to give to Him? That seemed to hit Juan hard. He really wants this. And he seems to be acting on it. We assigned him another chapter and set an appointment to see him next Sunday. Hopefully we'll be able to check up on him before that, too.

Oh! And today we're driving up to San Antonio for a conference with Elder Golden tomorrow! I'm so excited. AND, best part, we're going to go to the temple afterwards! We wouldn't get home in time for any appointments anyway, so we're going to stay an extra night up there and just come home early the next morning. SO excited. I've been so temple hungry lately.

Wow, that's a lot. Sorry you had to read all that. Well, I love you all! Have a fantastic week. Share the gospel!

Oraciones contestadas

Mi Familia,

This week was hard and good. I'm happy to be past nine months...the mission's great but it's also nice to know that I can for sure do nine more months because I've already done it before! If that makes any sense.

We FINALLY had an investigator at church yesterday!! It was another one of Hermana Trevino's friends, Carole. She's been really searching for a church for a while. She tried out a pentecostal church a while back and was super turned off/discouraged by the speaking-in-tongues stuff. I hope yesterday was a better experience.

Marilyn and Jerry are out of town. I sure hope they're reading. Rosie has been super sick and Eloy has something weird going on that required him to get and MRI. Everyone's still kind of dangling, but we're working hard to give them a chance to accept and act. And if they won't, we'll just have to have faith to let them go and let other missionaries pick them up someday. 

Sister Montgomery shared something awesome with me in comp study the other day. She was reading Elder Bednar's conference talk and changed a few words to fit missionary work. I'll copy and paste it and add the changes so you can see:

"Often as we teach and testify about [missionary work] we emphasize the immediate, dramatic, and readily recognizable temporal blessings that we receive. And surely such blessings do occur. Yet some of the diverse blessings we obtain as we are obedient to this commandment are significant but subtle. Such blessings can be discerned only if we are both spiritually attentive and observant...

...We may need and pray for help to find [new investigators]. Eyes and ears of faith are needed, however, to recognize the spiritual gift of enhanced discernment that can empower us to identify [teaching] opportunities that many other people might overlook—or the blessing of greater personal determination to search harder and longer for [people to teach] than other people may be able or willing to do. We might want and expect a [family to teach], but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to act and change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else.

We may appropriately desire and work to [have high numbers]. Eyes and ears of faith are required, however, to notice in us an increased spiritual and temporal capacity to do more with less, a keener ability to prioritize and simplify [and plan], and an enhanced ability to take proper care of the [investigators and members] we already have acquired. We might want and expect a [teaching pool], but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else."

I've been able to see this first-hand. We've been working so hard and seeing virtually no results. But we have become SO much better at planning, working with members, and taking time to serve the one. Our work isn't great in quantity, but it is great in quality. We depend more on Christ and have more faith that His help will come. Pretty awesome.

And we are seeing results, maybe just different ones than we imagined. Like the members of the branches--especially the English branch--and really getting on board with the whole "member missionary" thing. Which is awesome, because it's clear that that's how Heavenly Father wants His work to be done. 

Anyway, missionary work is good. Really hard, often tedious, and far from perfect, but good. 

Love you all. Keep on keepin' on and share the gospel!

Hermana Lund

La Mitad

Mi Familia!

Thank you for all the birthday packages and wishes! They all made me really happy. I had a great birthday week. Sister Montgomery's birthday was Tuesday and Sister Isham was down here for an exchange while Sister Hearne was doing an exchange with the STL in Eagle Pass. It was so fun to have her with us! I adore her. We made Hermana Mo a birthday breakfast of doughnuts and eggs and fruit salad while she was in the shower, which was really fun.  And we had a great birthday dinner with the Judds where we celebrated both of our birthdays. We had tacos and strawberry shortcake. Yum! We had such a fun time talking and laughing. I seriously love that family so much. Definitely keeping touch after the mission. 

Halloween was fun...I dressed up as Hermana Clark. Not very many people noticed. To one lady on the street I introduced myself as Sister Lund and she said, "Sister what?" looking at my name tag, and I said, "Sister Clark. My name is Sister Clark," and she said "Oh!" Wow, that story probably wasn't worth typing up. Oh well, hecho. That night we couldn't be out past 6 so we did our weekly planning at the end of the day. It was SO hard to focus. 

For my birthday we had another exchange. Sister Hopkins was with us from Eagle Pass while her companion, Sister Vankatwyk, was at the leadership meeting in San Antonio. It was fun. Marilyn taught us how to make pecan pie! It turned out really good! We also had a couple really good lessons with less actives. And we gave out treats to more people who don't like us. Oh! And that morning while I was in the shower, everyone decorated around my bed with those light-up balloons you sent me, Mom, and little notes. And we made carrot cake, my FAVORITE. Soooooo many treats this week...

So I think I have pink-eye. This time it has made me feel pretty sick. Yesterday I was just so tired and my nose was a faucet. Hna. Mo was sick too, but with something totally different. We ended up getting a ride to our lesson and then we went home early to conk. We went to bed at about 8:45. My eye's still really bugging me and, according to Hna. Mo, I look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but other than that I'm feeling ok. I'm going to get eye drops today at the store. 

But BEFORE all that, we decided to take carrot cake to some less actives who have turned pretty anti. We've just had such great success with treats lately! We took it to their door and the husband opened, and when we offered them to him he said, "No thank you, we're fine," and closed the door. Ok...So we decided to just give it to the next person we saw because of something that happened to us on Thursday that I just remembered and will write about after this. Well, the next person we saw was a guy getting ready for a run. I offered it to him and he kept trying to ignore us until he finally couldn't anymore (we don't go away THAT easily) and said no thank you. Seriously? It's cake. Anyway, I felt prompted to take it to Mr. Moravitz, the old man we used to teach who lives at a rest home and whose lady friend said she would stop helping him with paper work if he went to our church. We took it in and she was there! She is one of the most anti-Mormon people I have ever met. Like usual, she wouldn't look at us or respond to our hellos. But as we just stayed and chatted with Mr. Moravitz a little, you know, just being friendly and not devil-worshippy, and she noticeably warmed up to us. She talked to us for a second, and even laughed a bit! I thought that was impossible. Anyway, it was a miracle. Maybe a whole lot isn't going to come from it right away, but it was a huge step.  

Ok, so on Thursday I was feeling really down. Our area is suffering big time, we didn't have any appointments for the day, and we had taken longer than we should have to leave the house. I was frustrated, tired, and feeling a little bit guilty. We were biking down the street when Sister Reese, the Relief Society president, pulled over and flagged us down to give us a list of people she'd like us to go see. Then, she ran back to her car and grabbed a mini loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread to give to us. She said Sister Pomeroy had made it and given it to her to give to someone. Now, pumpkin chocolate chip bread is my favorite ever...even more than carrot cake. I immediately recognized it as a miracle from Heavenly Father, right at the exact moment that I needed it. It was a gentle reminder to me that He loved me, knew me, was mindful of me, and wasn't upset with me for making mistakes. We ate some right then and there; we didn't have a knife so we just took big bites out of it. Haha. It was a miracle and turned my day around. 

It was a testament to me of being in tune with the Spirit. I can almost guarantee that neither Sister Reese nor Sister Pomeroy knew they were being guided by the Spirit. But I know they were, and it blessed me a lot. That's something I've learned while being out here: The Spirit usually works through us in ways that we don't even recognize. But when we're living right, He guides us. 

Love you all! Have a fantastic week.

Hermana Lund

Disfruta los momentos pequenos

Mi Familia!

This week has been good. Which is weird because I had an all-time record low of lessons. It was kind of rough sometimes, and we've dropped a few people/haven't seen them in a long time. But there were some great moments, too. Like with Marilyn and Jerry. I LOVE Marilyn and Jerry. Every once in a while an investigator will become my favorite person in the world. I remember it happened with Robert, and now it's happened with Marilyn and Jerry. We had a lesson with them where we discussed more of the Book of Mormon. Jerry has been reading 4 or 5 pages every day and Marilyn has been trying to read when she can. Jerry even read a little to Marilyn. They talk about us and our message when we're not there, too. It's so nice to teach someone who doesn't forget about you the minute you walk out the door. They still have serious doubts--they flat out told us they could never believe the Mormon church is the only one with authority--but they are open, receptive, and hungry to learn. They're reading the Book of Mormon truly seeking to find out whether or not it's true. They just don't know what happens to people who find out the book is true. ;) I hope they get baptized while I'm here. But even if they don't, I'm positive I'll see them in the Celestial Kingdom, which makes me smile.

I really wish y'all could meet them. They are SO awesome and they crack me up. I can't even explain it. Jerry is such a hillbilly and Marilyn is the sweetest little southern lady you'll ever meet. And their house is so cute and quaint, and it always smells like yummy candles. She's going to teach us how to make pecan pie with us on my birthday! I can't wait! And Jerry told us we're like family and we're welcome any time. They call us "the girls," which I don't know why I love so much.

My other favorite people in the world are Eloy and Rosie Vasquez. They're Seth's grandparents. They're kind of in the same boat. They're Methodist, not Baptist, but like Marilyn and Jerry they're very active in their church and feel comfortable. But they're also humble and ready to learn. They're been reading the Book of Mormon too, though not nearly as much as Marilyn and Jerry. We watched the first half of The Testaments with them in an attempt to help them connect the Bible, which they're already thoroughly familiar with, to the Book of Mormon. You should have seen them watching it. They were completely enthralled. When I paused it, they gasped and said, "Was that part 1?" They eagerly set another appointment (for tonight) to see the rest. Rosie said in awe that she never knew anything about the Mormon church before and in her prayer thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to open their eyes and help them learn. YES. They're another couple that I'm not sure if I'll personally see baptized, but I'll definitely see them in the Celestial Kingdom. And how great shall be your joy! :)

Also, we gave Rosie a copy of the Friend earlier that day when we just dropped by. By the time we came by that evening, she had already looked through it all and chosen something to use to teacher her kids at church the next day. She says that she often uses the things we teach them to teach her kids. So without even knowing it, those kids are being taught, too!

Hermana Montgomery's doing much better on the bikes. We still go slowly but not nearly as slowly, and we don't walk nearly as much. I'm so proud of her.

I'm excited for this week. 2 birthdays, Halloween (I'm going to "dress up" as Hna. Clark and wear her name tag), and sleep-in day (daylight savings) on Sunday! It's going to be good.

Love you all! Have a tremendous week!

Hermana Lund

Nueva Companera!

Mi Familia,

Transfers were this week. Hermana Ludeman went up to Austin and my new companion is Hermana Montgomery! I adore her. We came into the field together, actually, but we were in different zones and didn't meet until the day we left the MTC. We've talked a little before at zone conferences, but we didn't know each other more than that. And Hermana Pond is Hermana Clark's companion. She came in with us, too, so in a couple weeks we'll all be celebrating the 9-month mark together! Also, Hermana Montgomery's birthday is 3 days before mine. So we've got some exciting celebrations planned for the next couple weeks! :) Sorry, I haven't taken any pictures, but I'll try to send some home next week.

This week has been stressful for me just because change stresses me out (like just about everything else in missionary life) and it's always hard to adjust to a new companion, even if you love her. It's also hard for me to be the only one who knows anything about the area. But I really love Hermana Montgomery and I'm excited to work with her. She has only served in English areas before this and is excited to be on the border, even if our area is predominately English. She has SO much to bring to the area, especially when it comes to working with members. I'm excited to see the changes in the area that I know she'll bring. She's super driven and passionate about the work and she already loves everyone here. Haha, I don't mean for this to sound prideful, but I feel like Heavenly Father has put 2 of his hardest-working, most determined missionaries in the same area. Serious work is going to get done! :)

Hermana Montgomery and I are alike in so many ways. We think and feel the same way about a lot of things, and we struggle with the same kind of things. (We're both stressers, which I hope will be a good thing rather than a bad thing since we can support and understand each other.) We really get along and we stay up talking every night. ;) The only struggle we've had is that Hermana Mo gets anxiety and motion-sickness from riding bikes. Which is a pretty big problem here. She tries her best, but we've been walking quite a bit. It has turned out ok though; on Friday when we walked a ton we still ended up having 4 lessons. Heavenly Father is making it possible for us to do His work. He always provides a way. Anyway, I'm praying a lot for her and trying to be patient and understanding with it all. She got a blessing on Saturday so I hope she starts feeling better. 

There was a baptism on Saturday for 2 of the Elders' investigators. Only, one of them didn't show up. His name is Noel. He recently moved here from the Philippines where he had already taking the lessons. He's super solid but his wife is super anti. We're guessing that's were the problem was. But the baptism still happened for the other man. I accompanied one of the other Elders for a musical number. It went ok, especially considering I only got the music 2 days before and didn't get very much time to practice. Also, since Hna. Isham is gone, I'm not the only missionary who can/will play in church. The English branch is ok without me but the Spanish branch expects me to be in Sunday School, Relief Society, and Sacrament to play. Kind of annoying, but I'm still grateful for the opportunity. 

I've been happy. But I'm still struggling with the same things I've been struggling with for 4 months. I still feel homesick (not terribly, don't freak out) and I often feel stressed and overwhelmed. That is the thing I dislike about myself the most: how hard it is for me to stay calm and keep my stress in check. It's so miserable. I just get so anxious and worried and can't seem to control it. It's something I'm trying so hard to change. It's just not Christlike. It's not who I want to be and I know it's not who Heavenly Father wants me to be. It stems from great attributes that I love about myself like determination, obedience, and self-motivation, but I need to learn how to stay calm and have patience & faith. It's just discouraging because I've been struggling with it for so long. I hate that I often long to go home where there's not so much pressure. I've looked forward to my mission for as long as I can remember, and it bothers me that I struggle with desire out here. 

But I have seen progress in myself. I know I'm better at handling stress, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes. I love people more, I love my Savior more, and I have more hope and faith that I have tremendous joy to look forward to on my mission. I'm at least a little bit better at seeing the beauty in the moment, in slowing down and taking it a day at a time. And I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father is proud of me, the work I've done, and who I'm becoming. I just miss you all a lot sometimes.

Don't worry about me too much, though. I'm figuring it out. Heavenly Father always gives me my daily bread. I have no doubt that good things are to come on my mission.  I'm so grateful for my mission, for the chance I have to learn and be so involved in God's work. And I LOVE this area. Just in the last couple days I've had several moments where I was filled with love for the people here, members and non-members. I love them! I love learning about them and serving them. There are several people I plan to come visit after the mission. What a blessing!

Phew! Long e-mail. I'll let you go now. I love you all and hope you have an incredible week!

Mucho carino,

Hermana Lund

P.S. President told me my Spanish is phenomenal! Yay!! :)

El octubre de las hojas verdes

Mi Familia,

Another good, fast week...and transfer! I'm staying and Hermana Ludeman is leaving. Kind of what we figured. I have no idea who my next companion will be or if she'll be senior or junior. It doesn't really matter though because I'm not training so it's all the same. 

We actually figured out transfer changes a day earlier than everyone else. On Saturday President Slaughter was here on the border and gave our district our own 2-hour Spanish training! It was awesome and so helpful. During a break transfers came up and he kind of just told us what was happening. Haha. So that took the nerves off for Sunday. Something cool though: Sister Isham, our Sister Training Leader who lives with me, is going to be a Traveling Sister. This is new for our mission. She's going to travel all over the mission to do exchanges with the other STL's. Sister Hearne, my trainer, is the other Traveling Sister. Cool! They will both be great. 

Seth didn't get baptized. We haven't seen him for at least a week and a half. He only texts us back when it doesn't involve any commitments. Like yesterday, we texted him to say that Hermana Ludeman was leaving and we needed to meet with him to say goodbye (I do not feel guilty). He said, "Oh no! When is she leaving?" We told him Wednesday and asked if we could meet that night or on Tuesday. He said he was in New Braunfels, so we asked him if we could meet with him on Tuesday. No response. Agh! Seth! I think he just figures he can get baptized whenever. So he's just putting it off until it's easy. And it never will be. So yeah. Keep praying for him. 

So, as I've already ranted, the whole time Hermana Ludeman and I have been together we've had a ridiculously hard time getting member-present lessons. It's not that the members aren't willing, it just never works out for some reason or another. But looking back, we've both been able to see that the incredibly hard time we had allowed us to develop some serious skills. We're SO much better at working with the members now. Like having them invite investigators to conference, having lessons at a member's home, finding members who would actually be a good friend for our investigator...these are things I didn't think a whole lot about in Riverside. It was all just too complicated. And it still doesn't always work out the way we want, but we're both much more confident with our ability to work with members. So that's good!

Like yesterday, we had a lesson with Rudy at the Pomeroy's home. I don't remember how much I've told you about the situation, but Rudy's been taught before and we found him by going through the potentials in the area book. We met him on September 11, the one-year anniversary of his wife's death. He knew that wasn't a coincidence. Anyway, we found out that he already had a Book of Mormon, given to him by his neighbor, Brother Pomeroy. 

The Pomeroy's have been praying as a family for a while to have someone to give to the missionaries by October 5th. Technically, we had already found Rudy, but they had him over for Conference and have been an incredible fellowship for Rudy, so I definitely believe this is the answer to their prayer. So cool! And soooo vital. Automatically his odds of getting baptized go up like a million percent. Anyway, yesterday we played this awesome Plan of Salvation game I made (an idea that's been passed down from sister missionary to sister missionary) after teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so fun for everyone (the Pomeroy's have 6 kids) and Rudy seemed to learn a lot. But when we invited him to baptism, he said that he's just here to learn and if he were to choose one religion over the other he wouldn't be able to learn anymore. We couldn't ever quite get the logic behind that, but it's clear that he likes our message and he loves being included in the Pomeroy family, but he doesn't want to make any commitments. Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Something I came to understand better this week is that Heavenly Father doesn't waste any effort. Every contact, every lesson taught to someone who's not interested, every smile...He's going to use that. He's hastening His work and He's not wasting time. Everything we do as an effort to bring about His work, no matter how small, will be put to use. 

I hope you're all feeling the sense of urgency I am. How is your missionary work going? 80,000 missionaries isn't enough. We need the 15 million members! Talk to your friends and neighbors. Open your mouth. I still get nervous to talk to strangers about the gospel, but I can testify that Christ will give you the courage you need to do what He has asked. Time and time again I've felt his gentle gift of courage, even though it still takes me putting in everything I've got. Don't get discouraged when you miss an opportunity; He is patient! Just try again! And pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. He will give you what you need to do what He has asked you to do. Yo les prometo!

Pues, I love you all! Have a semana muy fantastica. 

Hermana Lund

Dios Manda a Profetas

Mi Familia,

SUCH a good weekend. Conference is suddenly better than Christmas when you're on a mission. I learned so much and I can't wait to read a bunch of it over again. We did have a few investigators there, or listen to it in their own homes! Last week was good and busy as we invited everyone we knew and tons we didn't to conference. Seth went to priesthood session with a member he's close to. That was a surprise because we had invited Brother Hatch to invite him but we thought he had work. Also, the Pomeroy family invited one of our newer investigators, Rudy, over to listen to the Sunday morning session with them. He loved it and told us he was surprised that they talked about God the whole time rather than Joseph Smith. and Marilyn and Jerry, a hilariously southern couple we've taught only a couple times, watched at least one session at home. They're super Baptist but have read a little from the Book of Mormon, mostly out of curiosity. Actually, only out of curiosity. I think that's what Conference was, too. But Marilyn said that she liked it and agreed with everything they said. 

I loved Conference. Probably the greatest thing I learned, or came to understand better, is Heavenly Father and Christ's pure, good love for us. Elder Ochoa said something about us not being able to do anything without the Holy Ghost. I thought about that, and thought about how the commandments are only there to help us have the Holy Ghost with us, so we can one day inherit all of God's blessings. It became clear to me. Heavenly Father isn't the God so many people in the world imagine: a old man sitting on his throne demanding to be worshiped and obeyed and smiting people left and right. He is so good. He isn't mad when we neglect Him, He's sad that our decisions are distancing us from Him and the influence of the Holy Ghost that is so vital for us to get anywhere. When we slip, He is patient. He is quick to help us back up. He is purely good. How important it is for everyone to understand this!!

Yesterday morning the Crapo family invited us over for breakfast before Conference. It was a COLD morning (we got a beautiful cold front this weekend! We were wearing cardigans and scarves and tights and everything! I think it's about over, though) and we sat cozily at the table with their sweet family, talking and laughing and eating waffles with homemade whipped cream and syrup, cinnamon rolls that were to die for, bacon, eggs, and orange juice. And Sister Crapo gave us a warm loaf of homemade bread for us to take home, because she knows how much we love her bread (it is SOOO good! I will use her recipe forever!). We felt so loved. I don't think I'll ever forget how beautiful that morning was, and how I felt. And Sister Crapo gives the greatest hugs. 

We dropped Christina yesterday. She didn't come to Conference and hasn't been reading, and we basically told her that we will teach her as long as she shows an interest, but if she's not going to act we can't waste God's time. She got kind of defensive and said that she's just really busy and can't go to school and tell her teacher that she didn't do her homework but at least she read the Book of Mormon and stuff like that. But she needs to make it a priority. We've invited her hundreds of times to just read one minute a day. She won't even do that. She said she hopes things will be easier next week, and we asked her to call us when things slow down and she wants us to come back over. She said she will. My heart kind of sunk in that lesson but it had to be done. We'll keep praying for her and see what happens. 

Seth's being difficult still. The branch president wants him to meet with President Garza, the mission presidency counselor who's over the district down here, before he gets baptized. But he's completely avoiding it. We saw him one time this week and had a good lesson, but he was questioning getting baptized on the 12th. We haven't seen him or heard much from him since. We think the main thing is that he's scared of the interview. We don't know why. We've talked about it several times and told him that President Garza just wants to get to know him and there's nothing to worry about. We don't know what's going on. He's just so, so busy (isn't that always the story?) and needs to make the gospel a priority. It's completely his decision. We'll see what happens.

So to change gears, this whole government shut-down thing is really hitting Del Rio hard. The majority of people here work government jobs like border control. Many people have been sent home or working without pay. Many don't know if they'll get retropaid or not. It's nuts and it's effecting everyone. I hope it ends soon.

I think that's all I've got to say. Next week I'll tell you what happens with transfer calls. I'm trying not to think about it and to live in the now. Hermana Ludeman and I made a pact that whenever we start talking about transfers, we have to start talking about ducks. It's been pretty effective since there's not a lot to say about them.

Love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Hermana Lund