9/30/13

The family from Aculpulco are a miracle family. They are really excited to get married and baptized. They understand everything, and we´re really really excited. But I won't say anything so we don't jinx anything.

This morning there were changes, but nothing changed. We're still here in Castillo. This will be my third transfer in this area, and I'm really happy that I don't have to leave. I love the ward here, and all the members. I'm super excited that you guys will have to opportunity to meet them, even though you probably won't understand anything they say!

  General conference will be great! We're bring our investigators, and I'll be able to understand everything!

  Can you tell Pablo to write me? I really wanna talk to him and see how things are going.

Here everything's going great! It's not really that hot anymore, so it's a little funner to walk all day in the street!

Love you guys! Have a great week!

Eleder Lund

9/23/13

Don't worry, the hurricane didn't hit us! Well it did but it didn't do anything. I don't know how to explain it, because I've never seen clouds so dark, or so mean looking, And the wind and rain during the first like 10 minutes was ridiculous. I've never ever seen anything like it. But then it just stopped. And the stars came out. Nobody here knows what happened. The schools had already canceled class for the next day, because it was for sure that the storm would hit extremely hard. But it just randomly left.

  There's a family that we taught on Saturday, from Aculpulco. And during the first lesson we committed them to baptism. The whole family. The dad told us that he had a feeling that something bad was about to happen about 15 days ago, and decided to come and live with a family friend here. And what do you know, a storm hit his city and leveled everything. The Lord protected this family, and prepared them to fall into our hands as missionaries. They are so excited about the gospel, and when I invited him to baptism, he literally jumped and said yes. I am so grateful to see the hand of the Lord in their life. He saved their lives literally, and gave them a life with their family forever.

  After an extremely hard week where we didn't find anybody, and had to drop a family that we had, and we just about got super depressed. But we decided that the Lord was trying us, and turns out he was. And the next day he gave us a family, and a lady that want to be baptized and they all look really potential.

  I can't believe that it's already almost October. I have more than 7 months in the mission, and it's just flown by.

  I cant wait until Camille and I get home and we can all go to the temple together. Even Kevin will be old enough!

Love you guys, have a good week!

Elder Lund

9/16/13

Dear Family,

This week went pretty well. Our investigators seem to always be progressing, but they never seem to go anywhere. It's getting a little frustrating but honestly we haven't gotten too down. This week I read in the bible about Peter´s conversion, and I realized something. It wasn't when he saw Jesus feed the thousands that he got converted, it wasn't when he saw Jesus heal the mans ear, it wasn't even a miracle, but it was when the cock crowed for the second time in the morning and he realized that he had denied Christ 3 times. Thats when he decided to be the disciple that Christ deserved, and when for the third time Christ asked him if he loved him, and for the third time he said yes, and Christ said "Feed my sheep", in that moment in the last chapter of John is when Peter became "The Great Apostle". The same thing happened with Joseph Smith. It wasn't when he saw The Father and the Son, And it wasn't when he saw the angel, or even when he started translating the Book of Mormon, but when the Lord came and took the plates from him, and when he let the pages get lost, thats when he truly truly became converted. Its like it says in Ether 12:6 We don't receive any testimony until after the trial of our faith. And it really doesn't matter that much if we fall down, But what makes a disciple a stand above the rest, is when they fall, they decided not only to move forward and keep trying, but to truly resolve to be better, and the rise above and beyond what's expected, and give everything to the Lord. 

    That's given me a lot of comfort this last couple weeks, when we haven't had a lot of success. It's like Ammon said, in the moment when we are about to turn and go back, but we decide to press forward, that's when the Lord gives us success. That's when we truly become converted.

    I've realized in my 6 months here, I have never once heard an inactive member tell me that they don't believe that the church is true, or that the book of mormon is true. The knowledge is still there, and they can never deny it. But when the trial of their faith came, they fell down, and never had the strength to get back up. They never made the resolve to become the true disciple that Christ expects of them.

    We put a lot of baptismal dates this week with new references that we found, and after we had the lesson with them, and put the date, we asked them where they lived, and every single one of them lived outside of our area. Which shouldn't be super frustrating because they're going to get baptized but honestly it's hard, because you get so excited that you are going to be able to help them, but then you have to pass them off to other elders. I guess that's just the selfish part of me coming out, and maybe that's what the Lord's teaching me, how to be more humble, but it's pretty hard. But my companion and i haven't let it get us down. Thats one of the good things about training, I have to always be in a good mood! And it's helping a ton.

   This week I think we are going to try and put a date with a girl named Melissa for the 28th. She's gone to church like a million times, so she really could get baptized whenever she wanted. She just has to decide when the time is right for her, or in better words, realize that the right time is now.

  Well have a good week! Go BYU!

Love you guys,

Elder Lund

9/9/13

Geez, I can't believe Grandma and Grandpa are already home! They can finally relax and take it easy up at the cabin for a while! Tell them I love them! I was thinking yesterday about how I've been here for a while, and how in 2 changes its already going to be christmas, I couldn't believe how fast time has gone by.

This week was super frustrating because we couldn't find anybody, they just were never home, and we walked and walked and walked, then knocked on a door (that nobody answered) then walked and walked again. And it felt like we hadn't taught  any lessons all week, but by the end we look at our numbers, and at all the good lessons that we actually had, and It was a great week! I've learned so much by training. Ive learned how to take charge and do what I know is right, and it feels real good. My companion is such a great missionary, and sometimes I feel bad about how hard I work him.. But you know how I am, When someone is giving 100%, I demand 110%. And he's rising to the challenge and I love it because it inspires me to be better too. He has almost come completely out of his shell and were having a lot of fun while we're working insanely hard!

The baptisms aren't coming this transfer as easily as they did last transfer, but we're starting to see positive signs. One problem is members. They love when missionaries go to their house and stay there for hours and eat with them and basically are just lazy with them, because they don't realize that if they're with the members, they're not teaching people. And I'm not lazy so we basically only go with members for the food, and if we are going to ask for references. So this transfer they think we're being lazy because we don't really go to their houses a lot. So they refuse to give us references or come with us to lessons. And they always say, why would I go with you to a lesson if you never come talk to me. And we always explain, we aren't called to go spend all day with the members. We're called to bring souls to Christ. And we don't do that when we sit in their house. So it's been super hard to find people and teach them without the members. But we, just his week, found 2 families that are super excited about the church, and I think are going to get baptized. But I just don't know when. One has to divorce his wife and marry his girlfriend, and that can take months. And the others have to work on Sundays until October. But I really don't care if I baptize them, I just want them to get baptized some day. And I feel like someday they will.

O I almost forgot to tell you! Some guy tried to rob us with a hammer. He came up to us while we were eating at a members hot dog stand and said Give me 10 pesos and acted like he was going to hit me. So I said I don't have ten pesos, and he told me to give him the money again. So I changed to subject to the Mexico soccer game that they played that night, but he wouldn't stop telling me to give him money. But he was super drunk and I knew he wouldn't hit me with his hammer so I just kept telling him to leave, but he kept yelling at me to give him his money. So I told him, hey man is that a police man? And he turned and looked, and ran away. haha I thought it was the funniest thing ever! But what was super funny is that like 2 months ago when he was just as drunk, he robbed 2 tiny little Mexican missionaries of all the money and their cell phone, and we didn't give him anything and got him to run away! It really scared my companion because he's not used to the Mexico yet, so I always tease him about it. 

Have a good week! and tell Kevin to smile a little!

Love Elder Lund

9/2/13

I had forgotten all about RSL! That's awesome that they're doing well! Here everyone is freaking out because Mexico is doing awful in soccer! I swear the whole country shuts down when they play! 

But this week was super rainy. I'll send you a photo later, but all the streets had like knee high water, so my little companion was almost waist deep! It was nice to get a break from the heat! But it's back up to full temperature now, so unfortunately it didn't last!

My companion is getting better and better every day. We're doing really well. We dropped more than half of our investigators this week, and are trying to find new ones. But I still think were going to baptize a couple this transfer.

This week we had 2 complete families that we we're teaching, but we just dropped one. That was a super bummer, but they just never came to the church.. We are teaching Carlos' dad, and I think him and his little brother will accept a baptismal date, but I don't know about the mom yet. She doesn't really want to listen to us, but with time I think she will settle down.

We also have a 16 year old girl that is getting excited about the church. The problem with her is her brother got baptized then went on a mission. But when he was on the mission he didn't change much, so when he got home he was still an immature kid. So she decided if he didn't change with 2 years, then she didn't want to spend her time in the church either. Also the missionaries before would just go hang out with her family, and do nothing in their house all day. But now that she has us working really hard, and really interested in helping her progress, I think she'll get baptized. She went to church for the first time in like 1 year on Sunday, and we're teaching her with the bishop's daughter.

I haven't talked to anyone from my last area. I loved the people and everything, and I'd love to go back, if I end up Zone Leader in the same zone, but really we didn't have a lot of progression in that area. and almost none of them have phones or computers, so it would be really hard, And since they have all basically decided that its not for them, I don't see a huge reason to write them. But they still haven't gotten baptized. Nobody.

Thats so crazy how Grandma and Grandpa are coming home already! And Camille has less than a year left! My companion counted my days, and I have exactly 12 less than 200, so camille already has 200 days! I literally had forgotten about time till my companion came. I knew I had 6 months, but I didn't think about like what month it was, or really register the weeks or days. And I've noticed that since he's always thinking about time, its slowed down the time for me a little bit. Hopefully I can get him off that subject, and help him get lost in the work, so I can re-lose my self!

Its been really fun to train, aside of the fact I can talk a little more in the lessons, it's fun to see someone so young in the mission so ready and willing to serve, even though he hasn't seen any big miracles yet!

Lately I've been dreaming in pure Spanish, but this week I had a dream where I was called by the prophet and he said that I didn't do every thing I

was supposed to do in my mission and I had to go home and go to school, and when I woke up I was so mad. I was still in like sleep mode, so I thought I was really going home! And I think it was right then when I realized exactly how much I love the mission. I knew before that I liked it, and I wanted to be here more than home, but I didn't realize to what extent. And I'm super stoked for my 500+ more days here!

Love Elder Lund

8/26/13

Buenas tardes! Como estan! This week was super fast. I feel like we worked harder than I ever have in my mission. It's super cool to be training, because you can start a missionary off right. There's a lot of bad trainers, and they start their sons off super bad. And then later they just get worse. But it's really fun. My companion's Elder Serrano. He speaks fluent Spanish and English because he's from Mesa Arizona. My compa started out super serious. But not in the good, serious about the work, kind of way. But as in the so serious he never smiled.. ever. So that was super hard to deal with because I like to laugh and have fun. But he's starting to come out of his shell. I think he just needs more confidence. But I feel like with more time he's going to learn how to be more happy and show emotion better! 

This week after we worked so hard it was a super bummer that we didn't have any investigators at church. We have 3 families and 3 different individuals that were super excited to come to church, but they just didn't come! Right now were about to head over with them and see what's up. But either way I still feel like were going to have a lot of success here.

It's crazy that we're already almost in September! The time just flies! But it still isn't even close to time to wish us home! haha I've barely even started!

This week I've been thinking a lot about the MTC and my first transfer in the field, and It feels like just yesterday, but when I think about all the stuff I've done and all the people and especially all the appointments and lessons, it seems like it's been forever. Last week I had a dream that I finished my mission and I was so bummed. I remember I was telling you that time went by so fast that I didn't remember anything from my last 8 areas. I remembered everything up to this transfer and everything else was too fast to remember!

This week we were teaching a family, and the dad is super strong Catholic. So naturally when he'd say something wrong I had the urge to tell him he was stupid and prove him wrong with a scripture. But I've learned that that never works. So I just listened to him and shared about the Book of Mormon, and he kind of just shut up and listened. Then we went back on Friday and he said he'd been reading it and thought it was true, but that he still doesn't want to change religions, because the church isn't important, only Christ is important. So I shared in Galatians 1 or 2:6-9 that talks about how if theres more than one gospel then it can't be from God, and he started listening, and comparing our bible to his. And he committed to read the whole Book of Mormon. Thats a commitment I'd never extended before! But it's what I felt like I needed to leave with him. And I really feel like he's going to read it and see if it's true. And what's cool is I know if he gets baptized than his whole family is going to follow him.

Well thats the end of my letter, Hope you had a fun time reading! haha

Love Elder Lund

8/19/13

Wow 6 months.. so fast! I can't believe it! It feels like forever, and at the same time like the blink of an eye. I'm super excited for this next 18 months! Now that i can talk almost completely fluent and all, its so much better. Also tomorrow i have to burn my 6 month tie! don't worry I bought a tie for 10 pesos in the flea market!

When I had my interview with the president he told me I would find a complete family with mom dad and kids to baptize during this transfer. And I kind of forgot, but I worked hard everyday the whole transfer. But during Carlos´s baptism his parents and brother came, and they all cried the whole time. And they said they want to get baptized too. It was the last day of the transfer and I found the family! Its so crazy how the Lord works like that, when we have his promise, we have it guaranteed if we do out part. We just don't know when it will be fulfilled. Thats one thing I've learned out here. You always find the golden investigators in the last 5 minutes of the day. Its the reward for working hard all day.

O also this week was transfers and Elder Perez left and I'm going to be training. I'm super excited. He arrives at the airport at 6 but I'm not going to pick him up till 8 in the morning tomorrow. So I'm super excited about that. It'll be nice to be with a kid thats super excited. After like a year or more it feels like the missionaries start to lose their excitement, so all of mine have been a little "dead" but I hope this new guy will be ready to work! We are going to have a lot of success I think! Were not going to baptize these next 2 weeks, but we have 2 families ready for 3 weeks, and a few individual investigators. Its so nice to always have people to go with. In Angostura, there were times that we had nobody for like 2 days, and we just had to contact, and that's super frustrating. But here was always have people.

These last days it was insanely hot. I felt like I was used to the hot, but holy cow.. It was ridiculous. They say from the 15 of August till the 15 of September is the hottest part of the year. Like they all say in the 16 of every year it starts to cool off, so I'm pretty excited for the 16! haha one month!

Right now I'm just super content. I'm always worn out, and tired, and hot, But I'm always happy. I don't know why, but I love it all. And there's not anywhere else in the world that I'd rather be than here in Obregon.

O also a member of the church went to Disneyland and brought me back a Mountian Dew! haha I'm going to drink it with my son tomorrow! I'm super excited for that! haha

Love you guys!

Elder Lund