Another great week in Tucson Arizona.
Hermana Smyth and I did weekly planning on Saturday and we had a small freak out moment where we realized we were planning for the 5th week of the transfer. Absolutely insane.
Remember Lili? The woman Hermana Hale and I met on exchanges. Well... Monday night Hermana Smyth and I were trying to find the house of a less active family, and we were just having no luck. We had driven up and down the street at least 3 times. We finally pulled over to say a prayer to know what Heavenly Father wanted us to do, and the minute Hermana Smyth started praying, Lili popped into my head (a little bit of back story, last transfer Hermana Hardy and I stoped visiting Lili because we could NEVER find her. We had really only had one lesson with her before she disappeared. Never at home, never answering her phone, I was sad). Well her name popped into my head so we headed right over. There was a car out front and the front door was open so we parked and said a prayer and right as we got out of the car, Lili walked out the front door. Oh man it was like a family reunion! She was so excited to see us and we were so excited to see her! She kept saying how excited she was that we were there. We talked for a bit about what had happened and she has been having a lot going on with her family, so she has been back and forth between California and Mexico, and Nogales Arizona for a while. But she told us that the day before on Sunday, she had tried to find the church! It is kind of hidden from the main street so if you don't really have good directions it is hard to find, so she wasn't able to come. But she told us right there that she wanted to go to church next Sunday and that she would read whatever we told her to from the Book of Mormon. Man alive, we just kept hugging and saying "mucho gusto a verla!" over and over again. She is such a fun woman!
Well we visited her one time that week and taught her an awesome lesson about faith and changing in life. She had read Alma 32 when Hermana Hardy and I gave it to her so we talked a lot about that and she was totally focused and everything it was great! Funny story: she got a new puppy and when we walked in he ran up to us. We asked what his name is and she said that he doesn't have one and told us to name him. WHAAAT? So we got to name her puppy. His name is Charlie and he is adorable! So we taught Lili Tuesday night, and then after that, for the next couple days, nothing. She wasn't at home when we went and she didn't really answer her phone. DANG! We were so bummed!
Well Sunday rolled around and we called her in the morning to see if she was going to come to church and she answered and told us yes! The best part... Sunday was testimony meeting. Well she was sitting there next to us and everyone was going up to bear their testimonies and then she leaned over to us and told us she wanted to go up there. So she marches up to the podium and shared the story of how we found her and how thankful she is for us and how every time we go over to her house she can feel the difference. It. was. AWESOME! After sacrament meeting ended seriously almost every member of the branch came up and introduced themselves and thanked her for her testimony. Some of the women even asked for her number so that they could communicate with her. It was incredible. I was on the verge of tears from all the love I felt! And Lili loved it too! She stayed for all three hours, and at the end was just going on and on about what she learned and how much she loved it! We were so exhausted by the end of those three hours, but it was the best exhaustion ever. Honestly, having that help from the members to go up and introduce themselves and just love the investigators is such a help. It totally changes the experience for them and for us too! Lili told us that she is so excited to come next week! The best part... it will be general conference! Oh man it is totally her time. We are so excited for the changes she is ready to make and how excited she is to learn and grow. We love Lili(:
This week was also women's conference. Hermana Smyth and I decided to listen in Spanish with the women from our branch and the Lord was blessing me so much. I was able to understand so much more than I thought I was going to, and to really feel the spirit! Seeing how much the Lord blesses us when we are humble and ready to learn has been incredible. At the beginning of last transfer, I will admit, I was probably a little too proud of my Spanish abilities, because it really started getting hard for me to understand and especially to speak. But this transfer, I have really been humbled and as I have had more faith and trust in the Lord, I have seen my abilities increase. There are so many learning opportunities as a missionary. Hermana Smyth and I were talking and about how much we have changed and even though I have only had about 5 months of change, I love it. I feel like such a confident daughter of God and I love the person I am becoming.
Speaking of being a confident daughter of God, we had dinner at the Montoya's house this Friday. Hermana Montoya asked her daughter Camilia (who is about 3 years old) where she wants to get married and she said "en el templo", and then Hermana Smyth asked why. Her response was probably the cutest thing ever. She said "por que soy una princesa" which translates to "because I'm a princess". Hermana Smyth and I just died. We both dove for our planners to write it down so we could remember. "Out of the mouth of babes" though right? We should all set our sights to getting married and sealed in the temple because we are all sons and daughters of God. We are literally princes and princesses.
I am so excited for general conference this week. Something we have been talking about with our members is to prepare for conference by praying about a specific question you need an answer to or some part of your life that you need help in. If we prepare and pray about this specific thing and then go into conference searching for that answer, with the intent to apply it to our lives after, we will be in shock with what the Lord will do for us. I hope you all have a great experience at conference and an awesome week!
Love,
Hermana Lundquist