"I Promise I'm Safe..."

Mom, I promise I´m safe hitch hiking! Ha, its so much nicer than riding bikes! Yesterday we had conferencia de Rama. So because the rama is a mission thing since its not a ward yet, President Cantu had to speak. He told us there that we can bring a few investigators to the meeting with Elder Holland! I'm so excited! Didn't Dad know his son in high school?

I see people, and specifically kids, that I feel so bad for. They all live the saddest life. No money, basically no house.. and no toys. And they all live with their grandparents, since their parents are on drugs or in jail and stuff. That's the story with almost all kids here. It's so sad. But they always are so happy. I just want to make things better for them. Almost all of the houses here have one main room made of cement, then they cut out doors to make other parts of their house with cardboard and stuff. There aren't a whole lot of houses just out of cardboard but there are some, they're called invasions. We had to do tithing yesterday, and the highest tithing was 150 pesos. That means they only earned 150 US dollars that whole month.. And that was the highest. I don't know how they live. We are always busy here which is awesome! We have 4 more investigators committed to baptism this week, but the biggest problem is they can't drink coffee or break any commandment for a whole month before they get baptized, so the dates keep getting pushed back. It's so frustrating.

This week we got chased by a member's puppy for about 2 miles on the way from Alhuey back to Amgostura. It was sprinting the whole time! I don't know how it kept up! We decided to bring it back to the house and decided that God didn't just let the puppy follow us for no reason to distract us and make us waste time. So we prayed to know why he kept us in the city. Right when we got done praying we saw Rosario. About 30 minutes later he accepted baptism. I know the Lord needed us in Alhuey. So he sent that crazy little dog to chase us and bring us back.

We also met a mom and a son named Sulema and Abel. They are the daughter and grandson of a reference we had. The Grandpa hates the church, but the mom and son love it. Also they have a friend Fernando who is super investigating the church. Anyway we meet in the house of the grandpa all the time to talk about the church with them, and they attended church on Sunday. They were both crying during the mission president's talk. They know it's true and accepted a fecha (Baptismal date) for the 11 of May. We also have this lady named Evelia, who accepted baptism for the 4th of May. But we haven't taught her in almost two weeks cause she's never home! so I don't know how that will work out..

This morning I realized I can read the scriptures in Spanish and it actually makes sense! It was pretty cool! I still can't speak hardly at all, but I can understand way better now!

Love you guys!

Elder Lund

The MTC district- 5 elders headed to Culiacan, 3 elders to Oaxaca Mexico, 3 sisters to Costa Rica

Scott and Camille with companions just before Camille left

Scott, Camille, and Hannah from our ward -Hannah left for Milan, Italy, at the same time Camille left for San Antonio

In Mexico with President and Sister Cantu (and Jesus)

 The new North American arrivals -5 from the MTC and 4 from Visa-waiting in other missions

 The apartment -looks about like his room at home. 

The 4!

When my mom heard the stats of the church read in General Conference last week her ears perked up. She sent Camille, Scott, and me this message:

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

Letter from Mexico

I´m in Angostura, which is on the north part of the mission, about 30 miles from the coast. My area has about 10 tiny cities around Angostura, which is about the size of Manti. Its a HUGE area with not very many people. We hitch-hike everywhere in the back of cars when we have to go over 15 kilometers, and ride our bikes that don't have breaks the rest of the time. Its Awesome! The people have houses smaller than our front room for like 8 people, and a bunch of animals. They have tons of dogs cause they don't fix them. So there are dogs EVERYWHERE. and they're all puppies cause the old dogs have all been hit by cars. It's so fun to play with them. We have a city called La Playa Colorada which is right on the coast, and another about 30 kilometers away from our city, so about 60 kilometers apart. Our apartment is smaller than our kitchen. It has no hot water, no clean water, and only 1 desk with 2 broken chairs. Everybody just has 5 gallon tanks of clean water that they refill all the time. The people are so sweet. They have nothing but they treat us like royalty especially when we go and eat with them. They gave me tuna fish and I actually liked it! ha I think that's because I know how much that cost them, so it tasted good. Kind of like dad's experience with Apple Pie! Also i´m in a super safe area of Mexico. So not super dangerous. But we still have to be inside at 8 because the bad people get out on the streets then. My Spanish is good for talking, but understanding has been rough. But I´m able to get the gist of what they're saying now, and respond, so it's been super nice.

The heat isn't too bad actually! I don't even notice it. Apparently its going to get about 15 degrees hotter in the summer but that's when it rains. I sweat like nobodies business, but I really am not bothered by the heat. Not even when I sleep, because I work so hard in the day, I'm so tired, so right when my head hits the pillow I'm out.

My mission president is so cool! and I absolutely love the food! The tortillas here are beyond amazing! We get fed lunch every day at 2:30 till 3:30 by a member. That's the big meal of the day here. Biggest adjustment has been waking up at 5, or yesterday at 4, because we go to bed earlier, or have assignments early. But It really hasn't been tough for me at all. The people are amazing, the food is amazing, but heat hasn't bugged me yet, the puppies everywhere are cool, and my companion has made Spanish easy for me.

We watched half of Sunday morning, and all of Sunday afternoon conference. It was about 45 miles outside of our area, so we had to hitch a ride. And we also had to bring investigators with us or we couldn't go. On Sunday morning we realized one of our investigators that was supposed to go didn't show up, so we left to find some investigators, and be exactly obedient. We walked to the corner of the block, and decided to go stand in front of the church to tell people to just step inside and listen. When we got back to the church we had 2 different investigators that had just arrived from our area. It's amazing how exact obedience works like that! Also I understood 0, so I prayed that I could understand. I expected to just understand more of the Spanish, but about 30 seconds later someone told me they had a computer where I could watch in English! Not what i expected but super awesome! If you could send me some notes of the talks that would be great!

0 goals!? (He means the OHS soccer team has 0 goals scored on them) Thats awesome! Tell them good job for me!

I´m so glad i don't have to work on the yard this year! i´m working harder now then i ever did on the yard, but Its easier to work hard here! Because I love the people here, and i didn't really care about our yard! haha

Here is awesome! you don't have to worry about me! I´m safe, and I´m having a great time!

Love Elder Lund

The Visa is Here!

Scott's email this week:

Bueno!

Tell everybody happy Easter for me! 

Tell Kevin good job and to keep grinding! Tell Matt also that his letter is on the way! I forgot to send one back!

GOOD NEWS! I went into the Mexican Consulate yesterday, and got my visa! I leave on Monday just as planned. The lady said that It was the craziest thing she ever saw that we all got ours on time! I'm so excited! Just realizing Camille is out there already gets me so happy and excited.

The craziest story of the week however belongs to Elder Whitehead's girlfriend. She is the one who the doctors said had cancer. She wrote him an email that Sunday, and said I don't know why but I feel so much better. The next day she went into the doctor and found out there was no cancer or anything, Once she got home she had a letter from Elder Whitehead. It told her that we had all fasted for her. The doctor told her that he must have messed up and diagnosed something that wasn't there. But She, Elder Whitehead, and the rest of my zone know what really happened. I heard that to those that believe, nothing is miraculous, only marvelous. But if that's not a Miracle, I don't know what is. I know the Lord is watching out for us. He answers our prayers. I'm so glad that I got to see that story first-hand.

I cant wait to leave on monday. I feel like I don't know the language, the doctrine well enough, or have what it takes. But that doesn't scare me one bit. I know the lord will bless me and make my weaknesses strengths. I have no fear, or even any nerves about going to Mexico. Just anticipation.

Le amo Familia! Adios, Elder Scott Lund

Pictures from Elder Lund

 This week we finally got some pictures from Scott. However they weren't labeled, so I'm just making assumptions about who they are.

 This must be Scott's MTC district. His companion is on the left.

 I'm thinking this is his zone. Scott and his companion are zone leaders.

 This is Scott's friend from home who is in Korea by now. Their farewells were on the same day.

Another picture of Camille and Scott. Apparently Scott and his companion were able to give Camille and her companion blessings the night before the girls left for San Antonio.

I have no idea who or what...

Some of Scott's last letter...Fewer exclamation marks, a little more serious, but still positive:

Geez that month seems like a lifetime, and also seems like a day. Its so crazy here. When I try and remember what I did at night when writing in my journal I can't remember if I did it that morning, or the day before. It all totally blurs together. And the Spanish is coming really fast. We did a day where we didn't say a word of English, and it was easily the most frustrating day here. Lately everyday seems like the best day ever. No joke. Tell Kevin good job in soccer and to keep grinding! This week as district leaders we've had to rip into a couple kids to get their act together, which is always scary. But its weird, I can definitely notice that it's not me thats talking to them. The Lord is just using me as a conduit. And they have all had responses to our chastisement that they would not have gotten if i had just talked to them by myself. 

My companion is great. I learn from him everyday. Together we work hard to integrate the new districts into our zone and get everybody comfortable with each other. Today we get our third new district to orientate.

The District that didn't get their Visas on time just barely got them yesterday. And they leave tomorrow morning. Only 5 days late. As frustrating as it would be to be delayed, I think id be alright with it. 

Scott and Camille Together

Scott and Camille with their companions in the MTC

News from the MTC

A couple of paragraphs from Scott's emails home:

2/27/13

Me and my companion could not be more different! he listens to Mozart in his car back home! im not even kidding. But its perfect for me to have someone like that!

Any way my district is great! I already have a bunch of super close friends!

Yesterday M. Russell Ballard spoke at our devotional, that was amazing! The spirit is so strong here all the time!

The language is coming along SO much faster than i expected, even though i am way behind the rest of my class, I've probably improved more than they have! they all took spanish for years in high school and college!

3/6/13

This week has gone by SO fast! We Started teaching our second investigator, Fabiola, yesterday and its gone really well. Its Amazing how much of the language i can already speak. There is no way I could have learned even half of this on my own. We taught a TRC also. They are just members, acting as themselves, and we go and teach them a lesson. Its all in spanish, and apparently most of them are struggling in their own personal lives. Its pretty cool how they trust us to talk to people, in spanish, for 40 minutes, when we've only been here for 2 weeks.

Me and my companion (Sorry Mommer!) have been doing great! Every lesson it seems we prepare super hard for a lesson and end up teaching something completely different, but we always seem to be on the same page! We got called as Zone leaders starting this sunday which was quite a surprise!

Any way love you guys!