Happy New Year!!
This week was amazing! So many experiences that have not only strengthened me as a missionary, but also my testimony of so many things. Hermana Hale and I both feel like something is coming. Its like we are going to the top of a roller coaster and cant see the other side, but know we are about to take the drop. Its an awesome feeling. I cannot wait to see what this week holds.
So new years eve... It was basically just a normal day. We visited a lot of less actives and recent converts. For dinner we went to a members house and had this soup called Menudo... don't.ever.eat.menudo... ever. I had heard horror stories from other missionaries about it and when we found out it was what we were having for dinner... I about died. I have been working really hard on being better about eating meat and I have been doing really good... but this was over the line. So menudo is this soup that has salty broth, some onions and peppers, some hominy, oh also it has tripe... aka animal intestines. Yeah... it tastes just like sounds... So bad. Thank goodness they only make it on special occasions. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I am in an English area next holiday season. Anyway... after dinner we had a few more lessons then had to be home and hour earlier. As we walked to our apartment we ran into some people that had been sitting outside drinking all day. Literally from the time we left our apartment to the time we got home, they were in the same spot, still drinking. They were hilarious though, they kept trying to invite us to BBQ with them. I will say one thing though, slurred Spanish is really hard to understand haha.
There is an English woman named Sister Bower who is not in our area but holds the missionaries super close. She always calls us "the kids". We have been able to visit her a couple times for dinner and such. Anyway, Wednesday night we didn't have a dinner appointment and usually if none of us have an appointment, we will bring together what food we have and make dinner together. Well, Wednesday night, none of us had any food... I think spinach, some crackers, oatmeal and milk was all anyone really had. We were pretty worried to say the least. But out of no where Sister Bower texted us saying "Hey were you guys able to find dinner tonight?" Seriously... an angel. She is such an angel. So willing to help us out whenever and was there when we needed her. She has got such a strong testimony and follows anything she feels Heavenly Father asks her to do. I think everyone could be a little more like that, so willing to be a servant of the Lord. I know I want to be more like that, because exactly when we needed someone, Heavenly Father was able to use her to serve us.
We got so many referrals this week. That is one thing we had made a goal to work on was asking everyone we teach if they know someone that we could talk with. We tried it, and it worked. We met so many people this week that are so ready for the gospel. Specifically this woman named Yolanda. She has gone through quite a few trials in her life, but a couple years back when she was having a really hard time, she met a woman who was a member of the church and I know for a fact that the experience she had with that woman, set her up to learn from the missionaries now. We taught her a lesson yesterday (well... tried haha) She told us a lot about her life and experience she has had and she is just so ready for the gospel. It is so exciting. At the end of the lessons, I felt impressed to ask her if we could leave her with a hymn and she said yes. We sang How great thou art ( Grande eres Tu ) and the spirit was so strong. Music is such an amazing way to bring the spirit. I am so thankful for our wonderful hymn books.
So this week we hard our first bible bashing experience. It was weird! Nothing I expected at all. The guy we met stopped us while we were walking through an apartment development. He spoke English and is a missionary for another Christian church. He spent a lot of time asking us about the trinity and how we describe a god and the book of Mormon, etc etc. We were able to give him very solid answers for about every question he asked, but obviously nothing was sufficient. He basically needed to have the gold plates right there in his hands, but even then I am not sure if that would have been enough. He was polite though, he never said anything mean or rude to us... but he just wouldn't accept our answers. It was sad to see someone so unwilling to change or accept anything different. But I am sure one day he will be ready.
Six more days until we go see Elder Holland. We are all pretty much freaking out! President Killpack sent us an email this week giving us some advice as to how to prepare, and one of them was to follow exact obedience and do every single little thing we can to have the Holy Ghost with us. I am excited to see just how obedient I can be haha. I honestly don't think I can put into words how ecstatic I am about being in the same room with Elder Holland... listening to him speak the words of God to us! Baaaah! So exciting.
The Spanish has been coming along so well! This week I was really able to start understanding quite a bit of what people were saying! We had testimony meeting yesterday in church and I understood every single testimony that was said. I didn't understand every word... but hey I have only been learning for two months! That's pretty good if I do say so myself! Sometimes I feel frustrated because I can understand, but not speak back. I know that the Holy Ghost is with me... and if there is something I really need to say, I can say it. Not in perfect Spanish that is for sure. But I am so proud to be speaking this language to help and teach.
I haven't got much time left... but one last thing, I am giving a talk in church this coming Sunday so... if you could keep me in your prayers that would be awesome. One thing we have been trying to do with our ward is get them more active in missionary work, to have them talk to their friends, invite people to church, go out teaching with the missionaries etc. So Elder Smith and I have been asked to talk about anything we can that will get the members more excited for the work. I've been trying to think of what I can talk about, and I thought about my farewell talk, where I said something along the lines of we are all missionaries for our entire lives. We don't have to have a name tag or be set apart to share the gospel, the joy of bring people to the gospel, blessings, etc. Something along that lines. This would be all find and dandy... if it didn't have to be in Spanish. So I will be working my butt off this week preparing a 10 minute talk in all Spanish... Please please keep me in your prayers!
Well I love you all! I always say thank you for your support... but I really do mean it. It means so much to me to have friends and family all over the world who care about me and support me in my mission. You are all strong children of our Heavenly Father, don't forget that! He loves you all so much and wants to bless you! He is just waiting for you to take the first step towards him.
The Gospel is true. I know it. I live it. I love it.
Love,
Hermana Lundquist