I´ll let you know how it goes!

Hey! So there were transfers. That´s why I´m writing a day late.

First of all it was a better week. Elder Escamilla and I worked hard and tried to help people come unto Christ, which should be obvious. Some weren´t receptive, some were, and it turned out pretty well. Efraín, who we met last Sunday night in the FHE, went to church and enjoyed himself. We´ll see him soon.

Sunday night we were coming home from our last appointment of the day and found the ZLs waiting in front of our house with a truck and a member. Elder Escamilla had to pack all of his things because he was being transfered. I had to pack things to spend the night at the ZLs house and travel to Guadalajara on Monday and pick up...a recently unpacked missionary! I´m training again! :D I get to go out in style. I´ll spend three months training Elder Vergara and then I´ll be coming home.

I arrived at President´s house early on Monday (I had hardly slept) and it was nice to be back in Providencia, if only for a day. We trainers were given some specific instructions from President and then there was a brief orientation with the new missionaries. President interviewed each new missionary and assigned them to us...and then they shipped us back to our areas. Oh, and they fed us lunch!

The missionary training program is very different from before. It´s very comprehensive and at the end of 12 weeks he will have learned more than in all his time in the Mexico MTC (CCM). Our companionship study is now 2 hours long, they gave me a DVD player and the Preach My Gospel DVDs, and a booklet with instructions on what should be taught and reviewed each week. Lots to do, but I´m super excited. This is what I was hoping for.

Elder Vergara is from Tampico, Tamaulipas. He´s really cool. Very humble and very spiritual, but with a hunger to learn. That´s just the way it should be. We are going to tear it up here. It´s also strange to know that the last Elder I trained (Elder Ramirez) has been in the mission for more than a year now!

So all is well as I start the final chapter of this mission. Please take care of yourselves and work hard to build up the Kingdom and the family. I´ll be seeing you soon enough.

Love,
Elder Lund


So life is great down here in the middle of nowhere way far away from the rest of the city. No, seriously. We´re having a great time. Elder Vergara is very willing to learn and to work hard, and we´ve been contacting with boldness and we´ve been inviting people to baptism in the first visit. The most incredible is that they´ve accepted. The lessons have been powerful and spiritual, but I know that things don´t end here. There is much that must be done to help these people and there´s a lot of searching, studying, and praying that must be done. The very good part is that they understand our purpose and what they´re searching for and WHY they´re doing it right from the start.

We met a lady called Petra the other day in front of her house, contacted her, and went back to visit a few days later. She had been praying to find the truth last week. Also, she´s seen us in the streets many times when she´s been on the bus. She said she knew that we would find her house. It was a little surprising, but it´s an example of how the Lord prepares people and is working here with us.

Manuel Antonio and José Maria are the two who went to church for the first time and really enjoyed it. José Maria has been saying his prayers and studying, and Manuel Antonio is determined to continue on. They´re both great guys. There´s more people, but I haven´t the time to write about them all. We´re not doing perfect nor has it been a perfect cakewalk, but we are certainly being blessed in the work. Also, we may be opening up the house of prayer that we want over here soon!

The biggest news is that Kenia and Leslie Araiza were baptized on Sunday after church, and both Manuel Antonio and José Maria were present to see it. It was a good service and I´m very happy for the girls. This is a big and important step for Sister Araiza, who is doing all she can to choose the right. Pictures forthcoming. I´m going to miss that family.

So those are the main details. You can really feel the power of the work when two missionaries work diligently and obediently with all their hearts centered in the work. We´re not superheros in any aspect. What´s happening is that the Lord is blessing us and is able to bless us more freely. Without His help, we can do nothing, but with Him all things are possible. Never forget that, and never forget the authority and power and right to blessings and revelation you have over yourself and the people whom you are responsible for.

Anything is fantastic in a package, as long as it won´t add much weight to my luggage coming back home. I´ve got to get on that because I´ve got a lot of stuff. Still haven´t been able to send the package and we can´t today because we´re in the middle of a house-change (contracts, deposits, photos and approval from the mission, finding out when to do the move, etc.) but the mostly likely is next week. Haven´t found a guitar yet either, but I¨m still on the lookout.

We´ll be doing divisions with our district leader tonight and tomorrow. Should be interesting and fun. I´ll let you know how it goes!

Love,
Elder Lund

I´ve seen much worse.

Last monday the mission leaders talked a lot about the importance of having lots and lots of contacts (people we´ve invited to hear the gospel in the streets, on the bus, on their doorstep, etc.) So we decided that since we´ve been having a mediocre time with what we´re doing, we were going to give it a try. We almost tripled our number of contacts and we´ve been running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to visit them all. Some other Elders also ended up contacting a lot of people that live in our area, so we´ve been trying to find them too.

One of these new people is Oscar, who had a rough life but decided to leave it all behind and try to find God. He´s been confused though because he´s searching for a true church and he always finds things he doesn´t agree with in the churches he visits. We talked to him a lot about the Book of Mormon and he´s very interested. There was also a small miracle that helped us see him in our second appointment. He had completely forgotten about the appointment and was driving around with his family on the other side of the city, and before going to visit his mother-in-law (who lives way over there) he decided he needed to stop by the house. When he got out of the car, his wife asked him "why are we here?" and he responded "umm...I don´t know. Let me just drink some water and we´ll head out again." In the next five seconds we arrived. It turned out to be a great lesson, by the way.

Another girl we met is Monica, who went to church for the first time in LA, but then moved down here to Tepic six years ago. Her sister was baptized in that time, but she wasn´t. She wants to visit again. She has special light and excitement in her eyes when she talks about the church. We´ll see what happens.

It was a little rough though because at the end of the week nobody ended up going to church, for one reason or another. We tried to visit people and make phone calls but nothing turned out. That´s always rough as a missionary, but we decided to keep moving. After sacrament we took off early to go look for the people who didn´t come to church.

One of those families are the Araiza, who are trying to be reactivated. Their two daughters have not been baptized but have expressed that they want to. We talked with them and said a prayer and the whole family agrees that they should be baptized on the 18th of September. SO that´s a good sign. We´ve got lots more to do, but that´s a start. We have to find a new house and move because our house is falling apart, btw, but that´s a minor detail. I´ve seen much worse.

ALso, there was a family home evening we planned with our ward mission leader. He invited his neighbors and we watched the D&C movies about WIlford Woodruff and Parley P. Pratt. The neighbor couple (Efraín and Patricia) were very interested and were asking us why there are so many churches and how they can find the truth. It was a very good lesson and we´ll be seeing them again soon. They want to investigate and believe that God can answer their prayers and guide them to the truth.

So lots of good things are happening around here. Gotta run, but take care. Say hi to everyone. I want to do lots of cool stuff with the family when I get home. One other thing I´ve learned is that I really need a good agenda system to help keep myself organized. I´m a billion times more productive when I plan my goals like that. Plus I don´t forget stuff as easily.

I think of you often and pray for you always.

Love you,
Elder Lund