Incredible Opportunity - Week 75

This week we had another lesson with Maria. She still had not prayed about a specific study topic for the book of Mormon, so we decided to just read the first chapter with her. We finished the chapter and she just looked up at us so happily. We talked a little bit about it and then I asked her if she had noticed anything that might be a topic she wanted to study. She smiled really big and said "I want to study the visions that the prophets and servants of God have." Whoa! It was such a simple thing, but both Hermana Garcia and I got so excited! So she pulled out a colored pencil and a sticky note and made her first marking in her Book of Mormon. I just love moments like that. Last week we had promised her that is she prayed and studied even just the first chapter, she would receive revelation about a theme she wanted to study, and we saw it happen!

So this week we had a zone breakout. There is this tradition where at the last zone meeting a missionary has, they do something called  a "dying testimony". Basically they just bear their testimony one more time with the whole zone. So Elder Harper and I both gave our "dying testimonies" it was really weird because it is something you see happening throughout all your mission. As missionaries finish up, they share their testimony and you always think "whoa, I will never get to that point. They are so old and wise." yada yada. So when the moment came where it was my turn, I was actually really shocked. I kind of seemed not real. But it was actually a really cool moment. As I tried to sum up everything that I have learned on my mission in a total of about 5 minutes, I had another moment where I realized how much of a blessing it has been, how much I have loved it, and how much I really have changed. Even though I am a "dying missionary", I am excited to continue on as a living member missionary and apply the things I have learned(:

This week I had the really incredible opportunity to go to a meeting where two trainers from Salt Lake City came and talked with the mission leaders about how to plan and set goals more effectively. By the end of the training, my brain felt like it was about to explode with new information and ideas. I wished for a second that I had heard all of this a year and a half ago, but then I realized how much of a blessing it was to hear it now and realize that I can continue to use this information as I go on and plan and set goals for the rest of my life. I learned how truly important it is to make plans and set goals for everything. EVERYTHING! From weight loss, to marriage, to school, to studying the gospel, it makes a big difference if we can prayerfully set goals, make plans, and then carry them out. I was so thankful to be in that meeting!

On Saturday we spent 6 hours helping a member make tamales! Whoa! My hands hurt by the end of it, but it was such a blast. Just to be with some of the members of the branch, to be able to get to know them in a non-church setting, it was awesome! We talked about so many different things, we laughed, we almost cried, it was a really great day! But for the rest of the day we were pretty much exhausted. You would be surprised how much energy it takes to make a tamale.

This Sunday we had a pretty cool miracle! There is a woman we were trying to work with who has not really been coming to church for a while. Last week, Hermano Rhem (one of the men in the bishopric) was talking with her and he told us that she had mentioned that she wants her son to get baptized. But she left before we were able to talk to her. This Sunday we were able to talk a bit with her and found out that she and her husband are working on coming back to church and her husband is working on becoming worthy to receive the priesthood so he can baptize his son (who is about 8 or 9 years old). She told us that she would like us to come over every Friday to teach a small lesson to help him learn more about the church before he gets baptized! Woohoo! We have been trying to work with this sister for a while and it was really cool to see her starting to warm up and come back to church. I know that this is going to bless her family so much, especially because her two younger sons will be able to see the example of their older brother and one day be baptized as well!

Well it was a great week! I love you all so much. I am having such a blast, but I was thinking maybe I should try to have less fun so that these next two weeks go a little slower haha. 

Keep on keeping on y'all!

Love,

Hermana Lundquist