Where to start today?

Well we´re teaching Gabriel, a security guard at a store called Bodega Aurrera who said he admired us and what we do , and he´s progressing rapidly. He´s reading the Book of Mormon, went to church, is searching for a job that lets him keep the sabbath day holy, and has accepted a baptismal date for the 13th of August. Fantastic! He´s a great guy. He´s living here alone because he was deported after living for 15 years or so in the states.

We also got to eat in a place called Karne Garibaldi, which is delicious "carne en su jugo" and has the guiness world record for fastest restaurant in the world. It´s actually just a couple blocks from the house, and we ate there with some members because our lunch appointment fell through. It was quite the experience. Tasty food, and fast. I mean REALLY fast.

We had interviews with the President and we also worked with him this week. He came with us to our area and participated as if he was any other missionary or junior companion. I actually rather enjoyed it, even though that was a particularly rough day where the appointments fell through and the people in the streets and whose doors we knocked wanted nothing to do with us. But we were still positive, and the next day is when we had out fantastic appointment with Gabriel.

The President´s son Mahonri, who recently returned home from his mission, also introduced us to a friend of his (supposedly not his girlfriend) and we taught her a few things and gave her a Book of Mormon. She lives kinda far away though so anything that comes out of it will be passed to the Elders who work where she lives.

We´re in the middle of planning a huge Plan of Salvation activity like the one they did back home in the stake. We´ll see how we can adapt it to the leadership and the membership here in Providencia. Just one week left until transfers, so I know I probably won´t see the fruits of these efforts, but that´s not what´s important. We´re also trying to get some materials put together to try a different way of street marketing. THere are a LOT of people in the streets in our area all the time, so it´s a great way to get the message out . More flyers and posters and things like that can help make things interesting. I´ve done similar things before.

And now we come to the big thing. I love you all very much and have come to appreciate you even more over the course of the mission. I´m excited to continue progressing in life and find new ways to serve the Lord with my time once I get home. I´ll love seeing how much David has grown, how much of an adult Holley is becoming, and what sort of schennanigans Ashley has been up to. However, I´ve been thinking very seriously about extending the mission a transfer. I know there is a lot of good I could do here in an extra six weeks.

As Holley explained it so clearly when I was set apart, this isn´t just MY mission. It´s the FAMILY´s mission, and the family should help make the decision. Thank you for your prayers, fasting, words of support, and missionary efforts up until this point. You´ve been a big part of my success and my mission.

I love you all very much and await your reply. Take care.

Love,
Elder Lund

It´s infectious

Haven´t worked with President yet, but perhaps it´ll happen tomorrow. We´re having interviews in 24 hours anyways.

So it´s been a rough week, but I´m still positive. Every single investigator we had (except Nadia) fell through this week. Some told us they wouldn`t like us to come back, others canceled the appointments and told us that they´d called us, etc., so by Wednesday there was nothing...and the people we meet in the streets and whose doors we knocked were not the most friendly either. Yikes. Some of these people had baptismal dates for this week or next week, and many had been coming to church. The only recent convert who came on Sunday was Iran.

So there was a little frustration precisely Wednesday, but we prayed and read some scriptures and found some motivational phrases and we´re good now. We´ve got a pretty positive outlook on things and everything will turn out okay. The trick is to always find solutions and not worry about problems. I´ve had worse experiences.

On a much brighter side, Iran´s family is doing fantastic, and there´s two other families who have started coming back. We´re seeing actual changes in their lives, attitudes, and family harmony. It´s amazing to see it happen. I´ll never stop feeling the "thrill of flying", as Elder Uchtdorf calls it.

So Elder Wilde goes home today. Sort of a mix of feelings there. He´s an awesome missionary and he´ll kick trash at home too. In his place arrives Elder Newman from my generation. He´s from Vegas and is pretty cool. It´s strange to know he probably just arrived in his last area.

Don`t worry about Elder Hernandez and I, we´ll be cheerily working hard, trying to find solutions and having a positive spirit about everything. It´s infectious. It´s hard to be frustrated when you think about all that God has given us, and it´s hard to complain about Friday when you know that Sunday will come...that Christ has gone through all of this and much more.

"It´s funny how you find you enjoy your life when you´re happy to be alive" - High of 75 - Relient K

Love,
Elder Lund

Go, Go Power Rangers!!

We were attacked by the Power Rangers this week!

There´s a district whose only responsibility is to go from zone to zone and spend a week with a companionship (each member of this special district) helping them out and measuring their progress. They´re all former zone leaders, and after some amount of time they will become zone leaders again. They showed up to the zone last monday, so that was interesting. I think it helped out a lot, but we´ll have to see. But I started calling them the Power Rangers when they were first created and the name has kinda stuck. They even have colors now. There was no Ranger with my companion and I, but we´ll work one day with the President, supposedly.

A less active also planned an ambush for us. She called us and asked us if we could go over to her house "right now", and supposedly it was something really important. Her phone credit was running out so I couldn`t ask any questions and had to make a split second decision. We headed over there and apparently the 18-24 year old friends of this lady´s daughter (who we have been teaching because she isn`t member) were going to come over to pick her up and go hang out. The mom decided it would be a fantastic idea to force them to listen to the missionaries before they could go anywhere...and the girls didn`t know until they showed up. Kinda awkward from her daughter´s point of view, I´m sure.

However, they reacted very well and seemed fairly interested. We´ll have another appointment with the whole group on Tuesday, and we´ll be sure to prepare well beforehand and see what happens. A number of other members have introduced us to their friends, and we´ll be visiting them this next week, including a lady named Corina from Chile. Saturday, a lady talked to us on the bus and asked us where our church was. We quickly gave her the address, exchanged phone numbers, and left her a pamphlet before she got off (there was standing room only). She said she was looking for a church. She came with us Sunday and seemed to enjoy it and learn a lot. The name is Berenice and she´s a very nice lady in a sincere search for a way to follow God.

We´ve been able to feel the spirit very strongly in a number of the lessons, and I must give credit to my companion´s faith. Yesterday we were teaching a man who was very stubborn in not wanting to leave behind his traditions nor his iniquity, and who was sure he wouldn`t know where the truth was until he died. I don´t remember what exactly we said, but at some point he completely changed his attitude. Later he expressed that he had felt something special that caused him to pay more attention and open up more. We recognize that none of that would have happened without the spirit. Our actual words can do absolutely NOTHING by themselves. We rely on a greater force to do our work.

So I´m getting ready to mail some stuff home, and I dunno when it will get there honestly, but we´ll see how it goes. Aside from some souvenirs for the family I need to lighten the load of things I´d like to keep but that I don`t need to use here in the mission. Also, on an interesting note, our ward mission leader (who just got back from the states) was an MTC teacher. His name is Rob Davis. Cool guy, actually, and works hard. He highly recommends teaching at the MTC since I´ll be back in BYU. Speaking of which, how is that going for J Tyler?

Finishing D&C this week and starting up the New Testament, while reading the BoM as always.

Love you!
Elder Lund

Woo! 4th of July!

Woo! 4th of July! Elder Black and I have been singing patriotic songs on the top of our lungs all morning. Our companions think its funny. The plan to celebrate this fantastic day is to eat a whole lot of food...the American way. That´s all we´ll have time for anyways since we need to go to the offices. We had to stop by the hospital as well so my companion could get the results from an exam. It seems he will need an operation in his throat to take out a gland that has died. Please pray for him...he´s fantastic, and he´s facing all this with a lot of optimism. There was a scare of possibly having to send him home, but it doesn´t seem like it´ll be that extreme.

So Iran Rojas was baptized on Saturday. It was a great service, and Nadia was there as well. The family is doing great and they´re all coming together and trying to do things right. Nadia is just waiting for some paperwork in order to get married and then baptized. SHe´s loving the Book of Mormon and she and Sinuhe have changed a lot. There´s a number of others who are coming along as well. Seven investigators in church, and about ten less actives as well. Honestly, I´m having a great time. I´m always exhausted and there´s never enough time for all that needs to be done. That´s part of what makes it the best time of my mission. I´m working harder than ever at a time when most missionaries start to slow down, and every moment is worth it.

Putting first things first, you say?

Honestly, you´ll never get anywhere if you don`t have your priorities straight, and it comes from a basic principle: God can make far more out of our lives and talents than we can. Living righteously and living to serve allow God to open the windows of heaven and bless us in all that we do. He´s more than willing to bless us with the talents and abilities we need if we´re willing to dedicate all we are to Him and His work. The scriptures are full of those promises. I know I will have success in whatever I decide to do, because I´ve decided to use my time and talents to serve The Lord. I don´t doubt it at all.

"Whoever shall lose his life for my sake..." fill in the blanks. It really is that simple. And if anyone doubts it, I dare them to try it. Iran Rojas was baptized because we sacrificed p-day and sleeping time in order to visit his uncle one day. We were tired and had things to do (we had no food for the week), but we agreed to visit Brother Rojas as he had asked us. That caused a chain reaction which led to two families coming back to the church, Iran´s baptism, and soon Nadia´s baptism as well. There´s lots of tiny examples like that which, while they seem insignificant at first, lead to great things.

Also, being here in the mission is completely changing my life. That´s a little miracle in and of itself. God always gives us back 100x what we invest in Him or thanking Him.

Well, gotta run. Love you!