This week I was able to finish reading the Book of Mormon. It broke my heart, but also lifted me at the same time. If you know me very well, you know that I hate ending things. I just don't like endings. So it made me sad to finish it, but at the same time I am ready to start reading it all over again. As I read it this past time, I studied the characteristics and desires of the kind of person that God wants me to be. This was the first time I have ever read the Book of Mormon with a specific theme and let me tell you, it was life changing. The things I learned, the things I was able to recognize, the spirit I felt, was so beautiful. I can't believe I have never done this before! I learned so much about attributes like joy, faith, humility, patience, etc. I feel like I have a better understanding of how to develop these attributes in my life. I would invite all of you, if you haven't done this before, to pray about a specific topic that you would like to learn more. And then, as you study the Book of Mormon, to prayerfully seek out things related to that topic. Make it exciting; use a fun color to highlight, use sticky notes, draw pictures in the margins, etc. Whatever it is that gets you excited. And then just do it!
So Sunday morning, we were all pumped up for general conference. As we were driving to the stake center, weSaturday and Sunday and can hardly wait for October to hear them again!started talking about how incredible it is that this is the day that Christ was resurrected. How great of a blessing it is to know that He lives again. As we said that, the speedometer got a little funky. I thought it was weird, but we just kept on going. Then all of a sudden the car started beeping and a few different lights lit up on the control panel. We pulled over and looked at the car guide to try to figure it out and they all meant totally different things. We called the elders and they said they were close to where we were so they would come take a look at it. We turned the car off and back on and it was fine again so we drove a little more but then all the same things started happening. We called our vehicle coordinator for the mission and after looking at a few things, she said it would be okay to drive the car to the stake center. The Elders drove right behind us and we got there with no problems, although the car kept beeping and lighting up. We finally made it to the stake center and were able to enjoy the wonderful talks from general conference. As we were talking about it later, Hermana Garcia told me that things like that make her happy. I looked at her like she was crazy, and then she went on to explain that they make her happy because she knows that she is doing the right. Whenever Satan tries to get in the way or stop us, it is because we are doing the right. So this experience was just a testimony to me of how important it is to listen to our living day Prophet and Apostles. I felt so spiritually full after
This past Monday, we had dinner with some of the elders from an English ward, and their members. There is a boy in their ward named Abraham who was baptized about a year ago and his mom was interested in a learning a little bit more about the church. She speaks mainly Spanish. The elders has told us about her a while ago and we had met her at a stake party, but she lost her interest for a little while and we were not able to get a hold of her. This Monday we were finally able to meet all together. After the dinner, we taught a family home evening lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We explained in detail how baptisms cleanses us and receiving the gift of the holy ghost helps to protect us from the things of the world. She seemed to be touched but didn't say much. Last night we got a text from the member who's house we had visited and she gave us the phone number of the woman who wants to learn more and said "you should probably get in contact with her. She told us that she would like to get baptized by May or June." MIRACLE!!! The minute we read that text, we just started screaming! We are finally seeing the fruits of our labor!
Well, it is such a blessing to be a missionary. We have been having such an incredible time. There have been ups and there have been downs. There have been times of a lot of joy and there have been times of a lot of trial and heartache. But it all has been so incredibly worth it! The blessings that I have seen come from it, take away any sadness I have felt. I love it. I love it. I LOVE it. It has been the hardest, but easiest thing I have ever done! Teaching others, having the desire to share what I know will bless them, comes so easily. The sacrifices have been totally worth it. I love you all. I hope that you had an incredible Easter and that you were able to remember what the Savior has done for you.
Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Lundquist