April 6, 2013:
President Monson announced the number of missionaries currently serving-
65,634
and the 4 are
Äldste och Syster Oscarson
Hermana Lund
Elder Lund
I love having 4 missionaries serving from my family! She forwarded Scott's email this week, which I appreciate, because between the two we can get a fuller picture of his frame of mind. Here is his email to fellow missionaries, Grandma and Grandpa. (punctuation and cap-corrected for your reading ease :))
Dear Grandma and Grandpa
My new area is a huge area called Angostura, It has a bunch of pueblos, little towns, that are super spread apart. We have to hitch-hike in the back of trucks or ride bikes everywhere. The close cities take about 25 minutes to bike to, and the far ones take about 30 minutes in the back of a truck. The people here have nothing, but because of that they are able to have everything. I love the people here. Reality either hasn't hit yet, or I'm just in love with the reality that's here. It's been great so far. Food's good, people are good, and my companion's good.
I only got to see a little of the Sunday morning, from The Primary president on, and we got to see all of the Sunday afternoon. even though I understood about 0 of it! So if you want to send me some more notes that would be awesome!
Thank you so much for explaining the Holland talk! I heard the last 2 minutes in English where he talked about Joseph Smith, and that's all I understood. He is so powerful!
It's so hard to see the people here struggling with drugs, or other very real trials. Especially ones that are involved with the drug trade that we can't teach because if they are at church they put everybody else there at risk. They have to move far away in order to become a member. No matter how willing. But I know if they really desire to follow God's commandments, He will provide a way for them. And if we work hard 100% of the time we will will have the words to comfort them and help them.
I can't believe you're that close to the end of your mission! It seems you just barely left!
It's nice to be the 4! That effort of missionaries just shows to me how important this work is in the last days. We are out here to gather the last of the fold, so we have to look under the cracks where other missionaries have swept over to find those elect.
The thing that hit me during conference was the song Come Come Ye Saints. It says "Todo Bien" which in Spanish is, Everything Good, or all is well. Hearing that come out of the mouths of people that have almost nothing hit me super hard. No matter how hard this work is to complete, if we can give just one person that feeling of Todo Bien, then it's all worth it. The ice cold showers, the 115 degrees with 90% humidity, the scorpions, the tiny apartment, all of it. It's all worth it.
One thing that also hit me is how Jesus wasn't too excited about doing the atonement. He asked God if there was any other way. But He knew it wasn't his will but God's will that mattered. And he never complained once. Never. We thrust in our sickle. We decided to come out here. We signed up for the hard work, because it was God's will. Jesus didn't complain when he was bleeding from every pore, he didn't complain when he was being whipped and spat on, and he didn't even complain when he was being nailed to the cross. He didn't say it was to hard, he said "Not my will but thine be done" then did something no man could have endured. He entered a tunnel of darkness and came out on the other side with "Brightness and Glory that defy all description" No matter how long, dark or hard our tunnel is, God's promise if we endure it well, we will be blessed beyond recognition. And God's promise is more than enough for me!
I love you guys! Have a great week!
Elder Lund
No comments:
Post a Comment