I´m still here in Arquitectura

I´m still here in Arquitectura, but now I´m training Elder Flores as a zone leader. I saw him start the mission in Colima. He´s a fantastic artist, actually, and we are composing a few songs together as well. We´re both super excited for this transfer, and so is the whole zone. There were three baptisms in the zone on Saturday and everybody is excited and ready to work hard. Things feel like they´re changing here.

We had a good meeting with our new ward mission leader and worked out some detailed plans and now he´s getting to work on his part. The Elder´s quorum president worked with us all day yesterday as well, which was pretty cool. We´ve been having some trouble getting people to come to church, but we´re putting even more into assuring that they´ll be comfortable there and that they have transportation and everything else we can think of. We´re also trying to find new, good investigators every day.

I plan on keeping in touch with a good number of the friends I´ve made here, and it won´t be that hard either. Many are going to (or planning on going to) BYU, and everyone in the world seems to have a facebook now. It won´t be awfully difficult. I have indeed changed a lot as well, and a word that comes to mind is "temperance". Everything has a balance and must be put in its proper place and at its proper time, with what God asks of us leading the parade. That extends even to my future, as I learn to sort talents and interests into the little slots where they all belong in order to become and do what I want, and what God wants. It´s all about perspectives and priorities.

So here I am, doing my best to preach the gospel, help my new companion, and take care of the zone. I´m feeling pretty good. I´ll let you know how things are going with the investigators as things develop. For now I´ll recommend that you look up the artist Phil Wickham. He has some good stuff, from what I´ve heard. You´ll have to let me know what you think.

Love,
Elder Lund

So let's see...

Happy Valentines Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It´s so crazy to think that I´m on the downhill slope and will be seeing you all before too long. Thanks so much for teaching me all that I know and helping me become who I am.

So let´s see...transfers are tomorrow. They´ll tell us what´s going on tonight at 6PM, but right now I still don`t have a clue if I`m staying or going. The good news is that the ward finally has a ward mission leader and the sacrament attendance is going up. Things are starting to stabilize. We´ve also found a lot of people to teach and who want to listen to us...but the trick is getting them to church. So far nobody has kept their promise to come. We plan on reexplaining the importance of the sabbath day, making it as easy as possible for them to go (getting rides, passing by for them in the morning, etc.) and seeing if they change. If not, we´ll have to keep looking for more people and let them go. There has been a big focus on searching for the elect, as in those who hear the voice of the Lord and do not reject it (which means keeping their commitments). I´m sure we can find many, we just need to have faith and do our best to find them.

So remember Elder Talbot? He´s Assistant right now, and we did divisions on Friday. I went with him to his area, and Elder Gutierrez (his companion who is from Ecuador) stayed in Arquitectura with Elder Cruz. It was a difficult day because almost all the appointments fell through, but the two lessons that didn´t fall through were good ones and it was a good experience to work with Elder Talbot again. We´ve changed so much since we were greenies living in the same house in Colima.

Britany´s dad is back in the hospital. He´s not doing so well, but at least he´s stable. The baptism has been put off by the family until he´s well enough to at least be present and see it happen...I don`t know when that will be, but for now we´ll have to help them out in what we can and focus more time on other investigators.

Today we´ve organized a carne asada with the zone (including the missionary couple that arrived not too long ago) in a park overlooking the barranca (the same place as last time) which will serve as a good way to destress the missionaries who are working hard but having a hard time, and say goodbye to two really good elders (Elder Sorensen and Elder Thomas) who are going home tomorrow. After that we´ll have district class and get to work.

I haven´t gotten any mail yet, but it only comes every once in a while anyways. It all gets sent to the offices, and then when the secretaries or the president have a special reason to see the zone leaders, they give them the mail for their zone. We still haven´t seen anything yet, but they are probably waiting for transfers before sending everything out, so as to not send letters to the wrong places. I did get a letter from Uncle Shaun not too long ago though (well, about a month ago), as well as the Bragonjes and Brother Lindsay. I haven`t been able to thank them for their cards, but it´s always good for a missionary to get mail.

Well, at least the missionaries who have no fear of getting a "Dear John", right?

Well, it´s time to run. Take care, behave yourself, and thank you so much for the scriptures and talk. I´ll look into them as soon as possible. Love the pictures too. Take care.

Love,
Elder Lund

Lehi's Dream

Hey, gotta write really quick.

So I spent some time in divisions this week with two newer Elders and helped them out a lot, since they were having some troubles with adjusting to the mission. It was great, and they´re full of hope and the spirit. I have really high hopes for them, and what they can do for the mission in the future.

Also, Saturday we had a "Lehi´s Dream" activity. We had a tree spray painted gold with fruit and a string people had to follow blindfolded, and my job was to essentially lead people astray...the opposite of what I do every other day of the week here. I had a packet of cookies and got a LOT of people to come after the cookies...it was really easy. I also was able to lead a number of people away by simply telling them that I would help them get there and leading them by the hand into darkness. It was actually a fantastic lesson about how Satan works and how careful we have to be to hold on to the word of God in order to not be led astray...because it is easy to get lost.

Church was nice. The assistance in church is going up...even though nobody from the bishopric was there this week. Not sure what happened just yet, but I`m looking into it. Everything ran smoothly though.

My biggest concern right now is that the father of Britany (our baptismal date) is sick...or more correctly dying. He may not make it many days more, and it´s been really hard on this family that is trying to become active in the church and do set things right. Yesterday they asked us to come over and talk to the father (Jaime) about Britany and the baptism, and we ended up talking to him for a decent amount of time. He´s in really bad shape. Please pray for him and for that family. It´s about all we can do for them right now.

Well gotta run. Love you mcuh! I`m sure you`re doing great in institute, and I`m glad you got to have some fun in DC as well. Discovering new cultures is great.

Love,
Elder Lund

life is crazy

Hey, a favor.

There is a sister missionary in the zone who doesn´t get very much if any contact from home. I was wondering if the family or the relief society could put something together for her. Anything is fine, just so that she can get some mail. I really think it would cheer her up. You can send it to the same mission address, just under the name Diana Hernandez. She´s from Hidalgo.

So I spent two days of this week in divisions in the ward of Auditorio (there are two companionships there). All of the elders have very little time there. Two are greenies and the other two are going home in February. It was great to work with them and help them out. They are teaching some good families and trying hard, even though they have no other investigators and are spending a lot of time contacting and trying to get references. I got to do a baptismal interview for one of the companionships which baptized this weekend, which was great.

There`s something special about being able to work one on one with missionaries and see their faith and hard work. God really appreciates what they are doing and will bless them greatly, even though they won´t always remember that when they`re frustrated. It`s always worth it. Every smiling face, every changed family, every healed marriage, and every prodigal son is worth the sun and the hunger and the ruder people and everything else.

This Sunday was also regional conference, which we saw by satellite. There were general authorities there like members of the primary and young men`s presidency, but the highlight was Elder Holland. He started his talk in Spanish and although he switched to English with an interpreter, he finished with a testimony in Spanish. You can always feel his love and testimony in his voice. It was good to actually hear him, instead of a translation. Wednesday will be 2 conferences with the area president as a zone leader and as a conference of all Guadalajara missionaries. I`m excited.

Our planned baptism for this weekend fell through because the girl´s (Britany) dad was hospitalized. He has insuficiencia renal, the same as a former investigator I mentioned. He should be released today, but he was doing pretty bad. We went to visit him and gave him a blessing, and the plan is for the baptism to happen this Saturday.

We met another lady who is very frustrated with life and has had a hard time. She also doesn`t trust churches for the bad example the Catholics and Jehovah´s Witnesses have given her (so she says) but she was really interested in the lesson and got a little emotional at the end. Her name is Margarita and she wants her kids to listen too. We´re going back tomorrow.

Well, life is crazy and I gotta run. Glad you´re being pushed in institute, that´s how it´s supposed to be. I´m sure you´re doing awesome and improving a lot. You´ve always been a good teacher. Also let me know whatever other details BYU needs. I suppose they´re restrictive because I´m over 18 (oh snap I´m 20...). Love you lots, keep it up! I`m pushing along trying to make the most of the 9 months I have left.

Love,
Elder Lund

the zone looks good

Well this week has been a lot of trying to figure out in who and what to focus in order to strengthen the ward and to baptize at the same time, ensuring that they have fellowshipping and are truly converted. We´re working with a less active named Mauro who honestly seems like leadership material. He knows his stuff, has a strong testimony, and acts like a leader. His family will also be taking the lessons soon as he has been inactive since long before his 3 daughters could get baptized.

Also, Britany, another member of an incomplete family, is planned to be baptized on Saturday. We just have to make sure her dad gets an interview with someone from the bishopric so he can be approved to baptize her. This week we´ll also be going back to the old folks home to do something small. The idea is to keep the members involved and to develop service into a habit and tradition, instead of a one time thing. We`re teaching a couple other families as well that are new...we´ve found them contacting or from references, and they seem really interested. The only downside is that one of them is moving to Mexico City at the beginning of February.

We´re preparing for a conference with a general authority that will be the 26th. There`s a special meeting for zone leaders and then there`s a conference with all the missinoaries in Guadalajara. He`ll also be in stake conference, which I think is this coming Sunday. Should be exciting...I`ll let you know how that goes.

Honestly, the zone looks good, and we`re enjoying the work. Everyone gets along and everyone is working and they`re happy about it. Now we can focus on being more efficient and exercizing our faith in order to keep upping our success, but they`re putting in a good effort. We even got together to play a board game today, and we ate some really spicy tortas ahogadas. Remember the soaked sandwich I told you about? This time the sandwiches were drenched in 100% chile. Yum. Going home, I`ll have to have a spice-off with the relatives.

So that`s basically all there is to mention. We spent all day tuesday in the interviews in the houses, helping them clean their bathrooms and whatnot, but it was a good experience. The sister missionary house was absolutely spotless...I have no idea how they find the time to do that and all the arty posters and pictures and paper maché stuff that they have all over the house.

Well time to run. Love you all!

say that 5x fast

Well in this week a lot of things happened and yet very little happened at the same time. Tuesday was transfers, E. Juarez went to Colima to train a greenie, and my new companion is E. Cruz, who is coming from Colima. He`s from Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo (say that 5x fast), is 26 years old, is a lawyer, and has a great sense of humor. We have lots of plans to get the zone excited about the transfer and working hard while enjoying what they do at the same time.

Wednesday and Thursday were leadership conference and ZL council, from which I learned a lot as usual. I enjoy these conferences because they refresh things I learned before but may have forgotten about in the day-to-day work, and I make new connections as well. It also means every two months I see Elder Christiansen on TV. I`m used to that now.

Friday we finally got started in the area. We met an inactive family (the father`s name is Daniel) with plans to return to church in the area, and we visited them. They`re really nice people, but for their economic position they often spent a lot of time selling seasonal items and are out of the city on Sundays. Hopefully we can help strengthen them and unite their family and, of course, help complete the family baptisms so they can start working towards a sealing in the temple. There are now 3 families like that with 6 possible baptisms we are working with. Church attendance has gone up though, which is good.

We also met another family through service. A lady was trying to cut down a tree and cut it into pieces to throw it away because it was scraping up her wall, and we offered to help her out. After taking a hacksaw to it for a while we finished the job and she invited us inside, where we met her daughter Michele. Michele and Angelica (the mom) were very interested in learning more about us, since they have seen missionaries pass by before and wanted to know why we do what we do. They have also felt the hand of God in their lives a number of times. Michele was in an accident a while ago and was severely injured, but now can walk around just fine but still is lacking a little strength. They asked a lot of questions and seemed very interested. Hopefully we can help them overcome their challenges and find the true gospel. They believe in personal revelation, and are very good people. Please pray for them.

That`s essentialy all we`ve had time for. The 6th was King´s Day though (I think that`s the name in English), when supposedly the 3 kings came to visit Christ. Part of the tradition involves a special cake-like thing called the rosca de reyes. It`s circular in form (like an O) and has 4 little plastic babies inside of it. Everyone at the party that night cuts their own piece of rosca, and if there´s a plastic baby inside of their piece, they have to buy or prepare the tamales for another party on the 2nd of February.

I did not find a plastic baby in my cake this year.

I wonder if there is you can find rosca like that in the states. Supposedly, this day is another day for presents and whatnot. They really love their holidays here.

Well time to run, but we`re kick starting things here. Interviews with President are in our houses this time around, and they`re tomorrow. Gotta make sure everything is squeaky clean for when he gets here!

Love,
Elder Lund

P.S. What are your goals for this year?

lots to do

This week was a hard one but a good one. There was lots to do and lots of people were busy or out of town, but we did what we could. For New Year Eve we gathered the Elders together again and once again ordered pizza. Early New Year Day we left to go give service to a sister who needed help fixing a leaky hose.

Other than that, Thursday we organized a family home evening for the whole ward. About 50 people came...that`s about two times the assistance on Sunday last week. There was a message and games and refreshment (we all put in a little to make it work) and it was a great success. Also, sacrament attendence shot up to 70 this week with 5 investigators and a couple inactive families that we brought. We`re seeing some good fruits. Pray that we`re able to see them all the way through to activation and baptism.

A new Elder showed up as well, who just got his visa. He has 5 months in the mission already, but he was in Santa Rosa, California waiting to be able to come here. He seems like a cool guy, and his name is Elder Johnson. He`s from Mesa, Arizona. Apparently, he knows my BYU roommate Nathan Larson. We`ll see how that turns out too. Transfers are tomorrow (they`ve been moved to Tuesday), so in a couple hours I find out what happens. Odds are I`m staying though, because E. Juarez goes home in February and they won`t leave him here as a ZL for his last transfer.

Well gotta run to a lunch with the zone before we have class and send them off to their new areas. We (E. Juarez and I) will be giving the class. It should be pretty cool, and really spiritual. We want them to give testimonies of the things they`ve learned and experienced in this transfer.

Well, gotta run, not time to comment on much else today. I love you, and hope you had a fantastic New Years. Be safe and happy as well.

Love
Elder Lund