Expect Life to be Full of the Unexpected!!!

This week has consisted of a lot of growing experiences! I have learned that God knows what we need even before we knew that we needed it. And I have learned that He NEVER lets us down. He will always provide as us a way to accomplish his will.
 Wednesday: Preparation day was really fun! We went to a dessert shop called Kasspa's. Dessert shops are really popular here. England loves their sweets. We all got gourmet waffles... of course mine had Oreo on it! They were really yummy. In the evening we went to the YSA activity because Tobeka really felt like she needed some support. It was good! The McDonalds made us all Thanksgiving dinner. It was yummy.
Thursday: District meeting...our last district meeting before moves! Ahhh, we were all making predictions on what we thought was going to happen. Haha it was really fun. And the McDonalds made Thanksgiving dinner for us all again! Haha I only ate a little bit because our bishop invited us for thanksgiving dinner with his family at the restaurant Toby Carvers. So our day consisted of a lot of turkey. Haha some English people celebrate thanksgiving here which was surprising to me, but I was grateful!
Friday: today was CRAZY!! We went to a lady in our ward (Sister Du) to help her make homemade Chinese spring rolls. They are actually way easy to make, and it was so nice of her to make the spring rolls, because she was making them for Maureen's husband (Johnpaul's) birthday this evening. After making them we went to go pick up Johnpauls cake in Welling, and we caught a bus that we thought was taking us to Abbeywood, but it took us back to Bexleyheath, and we got stuck in Black Friday traffic. But we eventually made it to our dinner appointment, and then after dinner we went to Johnpauls and Maureen's for the birthday party. It was great!
Saturday: a day full of miracles and unexpected calls! We started our day off by doing some banner contacting in Woolwich. And then we came back home for weekly planning. During weekly planning we got a call from President. Immediately both our stomachs sank, because we knew that President was calling us about moves. It turned out, he told us that Sister Montredon and I would be staying together, and that the Lord has called us to be Sister Training Leaders in the Maidstone stake. We are excited to be together for another transfer but also a little nervous, because for one, I just got finished being trained and two, neither of us have been STL'S before. But the lord ALWAYS provides a way (1 Nephi 3:7). We got a call from one of our friends this evening and she said that she was coming to church tomorrow... MIRACLE!!!
Sunday: our friend came to church!!! Miracle!!! Our lesson in Sunday school was focused on the second coming! I loved this lesson so much. Thank goodness we have the knowledge of the gospel that brings us comfort and peace in preparing for this great and dreadful day! Tonight was amazing as well! We had a lesson with Johnpaul, and we asked him to pray about being baptised and he said he would pray about it! This was the first time on my mission, where I could not only see that the gospel changes one person but it also changes families forever. I love this! We can be with our families forever as we follow Jesus Christ and His gospel.
Monday: we went to Presidents house in Oxshott for dinner. He invited one companionship with the highest number of baptisms from each zone to his house. They made thanksgiving dinner. The travel there was so fun. We saw the tower bridge, Big Ben, and the London eye, all from the train. We met some great people on the train. After we had dinner though, we had time to study Mosiah 15 with President Gubler. I loved it because this chapter can be confusing. It was a very spiritual meeting. On our way back home, we saw a woman in the train station, and sister Montredon and I both felt prompted that we should follow her... I know it sounds creepy but it wasn't. After about a minute she looked back at us and said hi. Turns out she is from Utah, and is here studying abroad. She is super interested in learning more. God truly does prepare his children! Ahh miracles after miracles.
Tuesday: we had a pretty normal day today! But we felt like we needed to go heart attack one of the sisters in our ward, she lives far away so we knew it would take up our whole night. But we did it anyway! When we got there, the door to her building was locked!! We were discouraged because we didn't know why we felt so strongly we needed to go and when we got there her door was locked, so we just stuck all the hearts on the outside door, and hoped that she would see them.
Wednesday morning: we got a call from the lady in the ward that we heart attacked. She called us in tears saying how grateful she was for the hearts. She said that she had been praying because she felt like God had abandoned her. But she knew that God sent us, and she couldn't even express to us how grateful she was. MIRACLE! Even small and simple things can bring great things to pass. Our Heavenly Father is so kind and amazing!
This week I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned that even when we don't feel like we are qualified to do something, or when we feel like we haven't done our best, that the Lord is always there. He always brings us comfort and he always helps us to succeed to do His work. I love you so much, and I'm so grateful for the support that you give me!! Make it a great week! We can do hard things!! We got this!
Love,
Sister Lund

 It's a Clark Griswold Christmas house

 On the train....bored

 My new Boots

 Big Ben

 The London Eye

 Meeting with President Gubler

 Having fun in the train station

 Making spring Rolls with Sister Du

 Last District Meeting before transfers

Dessert at Kasspa's...yummy Oreo waffle

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I'm Grateful for YOU!!!

With Thanksgiving coming up, I want you to know that I am thankful for all of you and your support. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to share the gospel with the people here. This week has been a good week. I have learned a lot about myself, and have learned of ways that I can become closer to my Savior. I have really learned that I need to trust in Him. To trust in the love that he has for me, and trust that he has the power to heal, comfort, provide peace, give us strength. He is capable of ALL things. We need to just trust and have faith in Him who is mighty to save.
Thursday: My 3 month mark! Wow time has flown. I can't believe that I have been out for three months! Sister Montredon is so nice! She made me a cinnamon roll for my "birthday" breakfast! Today was a great day! We went to our friend Sophia's house! She is so incredibly nice. She calls us her daughters. She wanted us to come over and help her clean her house. I loved it! It was fun to help her, and to get to know her a little bit more! Later today we went by Maureen's house! She is the sweetest! She made a goal to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover and she is already almost finished with 2 Nephi! Ahhhhh!!! She is loving it too.
Friday: Today we went to Angela's house! One of our less actives in the ward. She wanted us to bake with her! So we made pumpkin pie!!! Mmmmm my favorite! It didn't look the prettiest but it was really tasty! She really opened up to us! We shared the story of Samuel the Lamanite with her. I love this story so much! Because Samuel was commanded to go and teach and prophesy of Christ to the wicked Nephites, but they rejected him and cast him out! As he was about to return to his city, the Lord told him to go back and to prophecy and teach the people again. The people would not let him in, but he knew that God commanded him to testify, so he CLIMBED up a wall!! Ahh this amazes me, I'm sure that this wall was really high, and very dangerous,  but that didn't stop him! He wanted to do everything he could possibly do to fullfill what he was commanded to do. I love this story because it helps me remember that we all can have "walls" that we need to climb. Whether they be spiritual, physical, or emotional. The story continues where the people try to cast stones and arrows at him, but he is not harmed because the Lord is protecting him. The same goes for us! The Lord will always provide a way for us to accomplish the things that he has commanded us to do! He will always guide us and bring us comfort, just as He did for Samuel. All He asks us to do is to try to climb those walls.
Saturday:we had dinner with Sophia tonight! And we gave her a Book of Mormon. I have never seen anyone so happy to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon. When we shared with her that the Book of Mormon provides us with a plan of happiness, and that it tells us how we can go back home, she got emotional! Power truly does come from the Book of Mormon. It changes lives. Later tonight we had stake conference in Maidstone! Ugh it was so great!!! We got to listen to some great talks. Something I loved that was shared and that struck me, was that "we need to TAKE THE TIME to receive divine guidance, and that we can't let anything stand in the way of receiving it". I love this!! If we are looking for guidance... take the time to receive it. Work for it!
Sunday: we had stake conference. And one of my favorite things that was shared was " we have been taught that we need to endure to the end, but WILL we enjoy to the end? " this is so powerful. It was a great reminder to hear that life is meant to be enjoyable, and it's only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we can FIND that eternal joy.
Monday: we were on exchanges in our area! It was so busy, but miracles happened. I was with Sister Bove! She is so funny and nice. We were knocking a street in Welling, and we decided that we wanted to try a different approach. We wanted to go around people's houses and ask them what made them happy! People were really receptive to this... well most 😂 we had one lady open her door, and we said " hi, we are just going around your street asking people what makes them happy!" And she said "when people leave me alone so that I can make dinner" and she shut the door. Sister Bove and I looked at each other and started to laugh... and Sister Bove goes " well... that happiness won't last you long". Haha it's so true though! True happiness comes through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we come to realize that it's only through Christ where we can find this happiness, we won't have to look for those "worldly things" to make us temporarily happy. I loved doing this knocking approach because it helped people open up! I loved it!
Tuesday: we finished our exchange and we ate at the real China again haha. I guess it is an "exchange tradition". But I always learn so much from exchanges, they really make you want to set goals, and to try to push yourself even more. Sister Bove is so great!
I love being a missionary! I love how each Wednesday as I write emails I get to look back at my week and see all the miracles that God has given us. God can always take a crooked stick and draw a straight line. That even though I am not a perfect person, and I'm not alway the easiest tool to work with, Heavenly Father can always work miracles. I know that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you can find solace and peace. That if any of you are looking for answers or comfort, He is WAITING to receive you. Ask and it shall be given to you. I love you all so much. Make it a great week. We got this! 👍
Love,
Sister Lund

 Chinese food tradition after exchanges

 Baking pumpkin pie with Angela

 Exchanges with Sister Bove

 Visiting with Sophia

 My 3 Month Birthday Breakfast

 Sisters for Life

 Christmas tree by our flat

Kisses to my mom!!!

We Find HIM in the Furnace

This week has been fantastic! So many miracles. So many conversion experiences. I always love to be able to share these experiences with you. Let me take you on my journey through this week!
Wednesday: America shocked the world. Haha don't you worry! I know who the President is! England was very interested in the election. Haha when I start talking and people can hear my accent, they always ask me about the election... I just tell them I'm not sure how I feel about the election, but I know who is really in charge... Our loving Heavenly Father.
Thursday: Today we had our correlation meeting at a noodle house in Welling. I like American Chinese food better. It's not bad here! But I still like Golden Jade better! 😊 oh boy tonight was a night of trying new things. We had a dinner appointment at Maureen's house. She wanted to make us an authentic African meal... I was worried hahaha. She made us Okra soup. I don't know if you know what Okra is, and I don't know that you know I am a texture person when it comes to my food! Okra is very very very slimy! And then she made poundeyiam (I think that's how you spell it) it is very thick thick thick "potatoes/dough" I don't even know what it is. And you eat all of it with your hands. She wouldn't let us have spoons. Haha I don't even eat ribs without a fork haha so you can imagine how I was dealing with this 😂 Good things she wasn't in the dining room with us. It was just Sister Montredon and I eating. We both were having a hard time haha! But yay for new experiences!
Friday: today was Poppy Day, or Veterans Day as we call it in the states. And here in England they are very passionate about Poppy Day. Everyone wears Poppy flowers. Sister Montredon and I even got Poppy bracelets. But it was interesting to see how they celebrate this day. They celebrate it more on the 13th of November. We had district meeting. It was a really spiritual district meeting! We really focused on how can we do "just one more". How can we push ourselves "just one more". I loved district meeting today!! We had a VERY interesting experience on our way home from Orpington. We were on the bus sitting in front of a Mother and her 9 year old son. And we handed them a pass a long card because she was on the phone. Sister Montredon and I were just talking when we heard this splashing sound behind us.... I just kind of sat there like "huh, what was that" and I turned around and saw that this little boy had puked all over his mom and all over the seats and floor. At first I was like oh no... did he puke in my hair! But then we just started pulling out tissues and hand sanitizer and giving it to the mom! She looked like she was going to be sick too! Poor thing. But it turns out that her name was Abbi! She was sooooo grateful and amazed at the way we handled the situation. It's  amazing that we can find different ways to serve. Haha this was a night I won't forget!
Saturday: MIRACLES MIRACLES MIRACLES HAPPEN!! Christian got baptized today! His baptismal service was amazing. He was radiating. It was amazing to see how happy he was and how happy his family was. And Johnpaul his dad who is not a member even gave the closing prayer. I felt so humbled today to see Christian make this step and come closer to his Savior. I love being a missionary and seeing not only changes in individuals but in families. The gospel is amazing. After he was baptized he didn't want to get out of the font. He wanted to get baptized again! Being able to teach him has been a blessing, and I feel so grateful that Heavenly Father has brought him into my life, because their family has taught me so much.
Sunday: Christian got confirmed! He said that he felt like his Heart was going to explode. He felt like Heavenly Father was giving him a really big hug. Ugh today was so great!! We were able to go sit in young women's today. They were talking about conversion. It really made me think about how much I have grown so far on my mission. Being on a mission really opens your eyes, and it helps you to see who you really are, and what your purpose here in life is.
Monday: today was a pretty normal day! We have this cafe by our flat called Cafe Thorntons. And one of our less active members Angela works there. This really was a little miracle that we were able to see her. She invited us to come over to her house this Friday to make a cake with her! We are so excited!!
Tuesday: today was fantastic!! We had specialized zone training! So President and Sister Gubler were able to be there! I always love to see them. This zone training was phenomenal. Like  amazing! The topic today was really focused on our "true identity". He shared so many powerful insights with us. I'll only share a little bit of what he said. Something he said really struck me. He said that "We find HIM in the furnace". He was referring to the story in the the Old Testament in Daniel chapter 3 where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego are thrown into the furnace of fire. I loved this insight that he shared with us. Sometimes the only way we can truly find our Savior is by stepping into the furnace. This isn't easy. But as we trust in Him, and as we remember our identity, which is that we are Sons and Daughters of the most high God, then we can remember that through him we can do all things. The furnace can be really intimidating, it can be really scary, this is really similar to life. Life can be scary at time, choices we have to make can seem scary. But it says in Daniel 3 that they trusted in God, that they feared not because they knew that He would deliver them. I love this! We can't go through our life living in fear. We can have fears, we just need to remember not to let them control us!
I loved this week! I love the peace I feel that comes from the gospel. I am so grateful for conversion experiences that I am having here on my mission. I know that I wouldn't be able to have these experiences anywhere else! I wouldn't trade this experience for anything! I love you all so much! I hope you are well! And that you are HAPPY!! Make it a great week! WE can do this!
Love, Sister Lund

 Specialized Zone Training

 Super Moon

 Christian's Baptism!!!!!!!

 Christmas Decorations are already up

 Okra Soup

Loving These New Experiences!!!!

Man oh man! I can't believe I am emailing again. My week flew! But I loved this week it was filled with lots of miracles, and laughs , and experiencing new things! So I'm so excited to share! People here seem to love my accent... apparently I don't talk like an "normal American" I have my own special flare! It's funny because when you get on a bus here in England, no one talks to one another. And so when sister Montredon (my French companion, with a strong/loud accent) and I (American accent) get on the bus and start talking to people, EVERYONE turns and looks at us! It's so great! Haha 😂
Thursday: It was a day full of meetings today! We had district meeting as usual. And we had Correlation meeting with our ward mission leader. It was so fun though, because his family made us dinner, and we got to know them a little bit better! He just got back from Israel, because he works for MormonNews Room.... I think. The video they made was amazing! I encourage everyone to go into Mormon News room, I don't remember the title but it's something like the anniversary of the dedication of Israel, and it's from the end of October 2016. It was really powerful!
Friday: We had Exchanges today In Orpington. I love Orpington!! It's so cute! I was with Sister Chuah. I love her she is from Malaysia, she goes home in February and she has been in the Orpington area for 10 months!!! We had a lesson in a little village called Downe, and we met at a restaurant called the Queen's Head. Hahah I loved it! I got a taste of the "older England" because Bexleyheath is not like Downe! Bexleyheath is much more modern! I always love exchanges because you get stretched just a little bit more, and you get to have a different perspective.
Saturday: Today we had our ward Talent Show. It was a "holiday" here in England. They were celebrating Guy Fox, the man that tried to blow up parliament. And so they do A TON of fireworks, like ALL night long 😂. But the talent show was so fun! The missionaries got to sing, and it was great to get to know the ward more! And MIRACLE: non member came, and they were able to see that members of the church really are normal people, and we like to have fun too! 😊
Sunday: oh boy it's starting to get chilly here :) but this evening we went to a members house for dinner! Her name is Katherine she is originally from Nigeria, but lived in Italy for a really long time. She is so funny! Haha and of course she made us African food: fried rice. Which this fried rice is not anything like the Chinese fried rice! It was so so spicy. Haha my lips went numb! And I think I said this in the last email, but when we go to members for dinner, they always put our food on our plates haha and so she started scooping my plate and so I ran right next to her and i was like whoa that is good thank you so much! Haha Sister Montredon wasn't so lucky, she got a mountain of rice! It was great though, I love getting to know the members!
Monday: For dinner today we decided we would go and try a place called Creams it's a dessert shop. They make crepes and waffles and sundaes,etc. We ate crepes. They weren't bad, but my French companion wasn't too pleased with them hahah. But the people here love their sweets!!
Tuesday: MIRACLES!! Today was fabulous. We got to do some service for a sister in our ward. We reorganised her garage! It was really fun! Tonight we went to Maureen's because Christian had his interview with the district leader for his baptism! It was so good, he is getting baptized this Saturday and he is so excited! We are so excited for him, and you can really see that since Christian made the choice to be baptized it has started to affect their whole family. God works in miraculous ways.
 I love serving a mission. It really opens your eyes. I love to see the change in people's hearts as they come closer to heir Savior and their Heavenly Father. I love the Gospel, and I am so grateful that I have the knowledge that I can be with my family forever, and that I get to go back home to my loving Heavenly Father after this life. I know that God loves each and everyone of us, and that his merciful arm is stretched out to each of us. Even though England doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, this week I am going to really look for things that I am grateful for! Have a great week! As daddy would say "We got this". 😊
Love, Sister Lund

 After Our Service Project

 We Sleep Under the Same Moon

 Dinner with Katherine....SPICY!!

 Poppies to Commemorate November 11

Exchanges

Because I'm Happy!!!

I always love when I get to email you and tell you how my week went! This week has for sure been the busiest week of my entire mission. It has also been a growing and humbling experience!!
Wednesday: I loved getting all of your emails! When I get emails from home it brightens my day! I love to know how everyone is doing and hearing about all of your great experiences. Something that I felt was a theme for today was that I need to ENJOY my mission. Haha sometimes I can easily forget that my mission should be enjoyable! But it's the same thing with life sometimes we can forget that we are meant to enjoy... we are meant to have JOY!
Thursday: District meeting was so fun! Our cute senior couple did like a Halloween themed party for district meeting! Everything we ate was orange and black or fall themed! It reminded me of home... granted our senior couple is from Utah haha! 😂 We spent some time after district meeting to put together Muda's baptism program! We had a lesson with Muda tonight, we had to cram in a lot of information, but the spirit was definitely still there, and Muda seemed really interested.
Friday: We finished up all of the things we needed to do for Mudas baptism. We had a lunch appointment at one of members house. She made us African food.... luckily she gave us to-go boxes because for some reason here they don't let the missionaries serve themselves. They give us our plates with food already on them haha so it's really hard for me to eat especially when it's food that I don't really like! But it was really nice to be with her! We were supposed to have Muda's baptism interview tonight... but he wasn't able to make it. It was a pretty stressful night because we were trying to do everything we could to meet with him. We were really worried because his baptism is scheduled for tomorrow, and we weren't sure if he was able to even come!
Saturday: we spent the whole morning from about 7-10 calling and texting Muda, and he never responded, so Sister Montredon and I decided that we needed to cancel the baptism, and let everyone know it was cancelled. So to let you know, Muda didn't end up getting baptized. But you know what, I know one day that he will. He is such a great person! At first when we decided to cancel the baptism I was upset because we felt the spirit so strongly last week bearing witness to us that he would be baptized. But after I said a prayer I felt this overwhelming feeling of joy and comfort in knowing that sister Montredon and I did everything we could have done! That just because he didn't get baptized today doesn't mean that he won't ever get baptized. Because the baptism was cancelled our whole day was rescheduled, so we were able to go see Maureen and her family! 😊 I just love them so so much. And her husband Johnpaul was there so we were able to talk to him for a little bit. Today really was still a happy day! We are the ones that choose how we react to certain situations. I chose to be happy!
Sunday: haha day light savings time... WHAT??? We were so confused when we woke up today. We totally forgot it was daylight savings, good thing our alarm is on our iPad so it automatically changed the time... the other sisters in our ward woke up at 5:30am though haha so we felt bad for them, but it was funny! Our Sunday meetings were really focused on family history!! When I go home I really want to do more family history! We had dinner with the Ogbeide family! A  middle aged couple in our ward! They are so so funny!! We had such a fun time with them!
Monday: Halloween is celebrated differently over here. It is definitely bigger in America. We went to see Maureen, and MIRACLE: she has been reading from the Book of Mormon and she is Loving it!! Later in the evening we went and heart attacked one of our members! We wanted to do something Halloween themed but we just didn't have much time!! It was a really fun day though!!
Tuesday: We went and visited one of our members and her son today, and she made us fried plantains.... haha they aren't bad... I'm just not sure yet how I feel about them! 😂 but tonight was my favorite! We heart-attacked bishops house. And we decided we would hide and see their reaction! It was so great to see how happy they were! I love love love doing things like this!!!
Wednesday: we went to a really pretty park called Danson Park by our flat this morning and jumped in leaves and took lots of photos! It was way way way fun!!
Even though the week didn't turn out the way WE planned, it was a great week. I felt like Saturday when Muda was supposed to get baptised that it was a conversion moment for me. This past week I have never felt the spirit so strong in my entire life. I was actually SEEING miracles happen. And I know that even though everything didn't go "perfectly", that it went the way that it was supposed to! Life doesn't always go the way we want it to or the way we plan. But I testify and know that this doesn't mean that God doesn't love us. There is something that Elder Holland said that I absolutely love. He says " He wants to get us on the right road as quickly as possible, but sometimes He lets us go down the wrong one so that we can have experiences and learn and grow and truly see when we are on the right road". I know that He will always lead us to the right road! I am so grateful for the love that He has for each and everyone of us! I was so so so happy this week. This week I really had the scripture in mind D&C 123:17 "Therefore,  dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." I love this scripture because it really shows us that we are MEANT to have joy. That this is Gods plan for us. I hope that you all have a great and happy week. I love you so much and I pray for you everyday. Look for the Joys in life.
Love, Sister Lund ❤️

 Danson Park

 Look at the Big Screen

 Our Halloween Themed Party

 Jumping in the Leaves

Foggy Walk to Church