Let me just start off with how much I LOVE my new area. It is seriously incredible and I am so stoked to be here.
So as I said last week, it is a huge area. We have so much work to do and we are definitely always busy, but being this busy just makes you feel so much more fulfilled! So the members here are incredible! Its almost like a mini Utah. There is members everywhere we go, stopping us and talking to us and offering us things haha. They are so helpful though. We get quite a few referrals from members which as all missionaries know, is awesome! The members are just so involved in the work and willing to help in any way. It is just a really successful area and I am so grateful to be here. It also helps that the temple is 5 minutes away from our house, so we get to see it quite often. We get to go in two weeks and I am way stoked! Goodness I could just go on and on(:
Hermana Blackford is so much fun! We have a blast together. It is so fun being from the same area. We found out this past week that we went to girls camp at the same places so we very well could have been there at the same time! Since we both live in the Tacoma Washington mission, we know a lot of the same missionaries that have in our wards. She is hilarious and really good at Spanish too. She studied abroad in Spain and has taken a lot of Spanish in school, so she went to the MTC in the native class. We are always laughing about something! I love this girl!
We are working with quite a few people (obviously... we cover 4 main cities haha) but we have to visit some of them and see how serious they are about learning. We don't have anyone set for a baptismal date yet, but this week we are going to visit some people that are very close.
So... Easter was an interesting day for us. We woke up and were just going about our usual morning. I was in the bathroom doing my makeup and Hermana Blackford was making a smoothie (we try to eat healthy with fruit smoothies for breakfast... but lets be real, we eat so much, fruit smoothies aren't going to make a difference). All of the sudden she screamed bloody murder! I was terrified and for some unknown reason thought she had managed to get her hand in the blender or something (don't ask why, that was just my first response). So I go running out there and it turns out she had seen a mouse run under our stove. Well then I start screaming and we jump on the couch and I just keep saying "call the elders call the elders!" I mean... they are boys, they are supposed to know what to do in these situations haha. So it just happened the night before we had been going through our closet and found they glue mouse trap things. So we set some of them up in the kitchen right next to the crack by the oven and just kind of bang on the stove hoping the mouse will come out. No luck. so we are standing there trying to figure out what to do next, and all of the sudden the mouse comes running out, sees us, and tries to run back in. But its leg and tail got stuck on the mouse trap so it wasn't going anywhere. Meanwhile Hermana Blackford and I are screaming again (it is a miracle that we still have our voices haha). So now we are stuck with this trapped mouse and have no idea how to get it out. We wanted to set it free, but there was no way we were going to touch it, and we weren't sure if we could actually get it off the glue. So we take a bucket and spatula and flip the mouse trap into the bucket, then put it in the dumpster. Poor little mousey, but hey! Don't mess with sister missionaries on Easter morning.
So aside from that adventure, Easter Sunday was awesome! We sang "beautiful savior" in church and then ended up going to the elders singles ward to sing "because I have been given much". Thank goodness we still had voices to sing after all the screaming. In the singles ward, an elder from a senior couple gave a talk about the atonement and it was incredible! It was kind of like deep doctrine, but it really got us thinking. As we continued on through the day, we visited a lot of active and less active members and shared a video called "he is risen". It is taken from the bible videos. It is incredible and the spirit is so strong every time we watch it. We talked with everyone about how other holidays like Christmas and Halloween and valentines day are a bigger deal and that Easter just kind of gets passed by. But in reality, Easter is the single most important day of the year. It is the day Christ was resurrected and completed the atonement. Even though we are not really able to comprehend the atonement, I felt as though I was able to come closer to Christ this week by sharing this message. It was incredible. You should go check that video out.
Well family and friends, I love you so much! I am so excited to be in this area, working so hard with this awesome companion of mine, ready to do the Lord's work!
Love you all! Have a good week, and remember the sacrifice he made for you.
Love,
Hermana Lundquist