Say Our Prayers ...and Live Them!!

Hi Fam Fam,                                                                                                                      092717

I hope you had a great week. I hope you are looking forward to conference. I am so excited!!!!!!!! Sorry this email is going to be really short, we are playing volleyball as a district today!

Thursday: we had a dinner appointment, and we did quite a bit of finding, not much to say haha.

Friday: We were supposed to have a lesson with Richard, but he went on a last minute trip for a couple of days to see his brother. We had correlation this evening as usual.

Saturday: we had futbol, but no one showed up, and it's been a bit hard to get people to come to futbol, and it was a little discouraging. And we wanted just to quit. But we received a challenge from our zone leaders to go out and to find in the park to invite people to play with us. MIRACLE! 6 people said that they would
come and play. It was fantastic! Best turn out to futbol. Amazing how when we want to quit and throw in the towel the Lord gives us the strength to continue.

Sunday: we had church which was great. I always love fast and testimony meeting. We were supposed to have an appointment but they cancelled, which is okay, Sundays always fly by! 

Monday: we did a lot of finding today! We stopped by this potential family In Woolston, and they let us in to teach them. Miracle! They have a very strong belief in the Bible, and they didn't want to listen, but we shared the restoration with them and as soon as we shared the first vision the room went quiet and the spirit was so
strong. We were able to leave a Book of Mormon with them which was definitely a miracle. We have no idea what will happen and if they will invite us back, but if anything can change their mind it'll be the Book of Mormon.

Tuesday: we had exchanges in Havant. I was with Sister Ripley. She is lovely. We did finding all day, and we found 4 new friends! Major miracle. Sister Walker goes home in four weeks! I can't believe it! My goodness!!!

Something I have learned this week is how important a positive attitude is in the hard times. We all have mountains and valleys, and they can be tiring, but if we have a positive attitude, which doesn't always mean to be laughing and smiling, but actually to just look forward with hope, then we will be able to find ourselves, we will be
able to gain so much more knowledge, and more fully reach our potential.

I love you so much. I hope you have a good week, and that you will look forward with faith and a positive attitude. We can do hard things. We got this.

Love,
Sister Lund

Patience is a Heavenly Virtue!!

Hi Fam Fam!                                                                                                                      092017
This past week was moves week.... any guesses?! Stay tuned 😉
Thursday: Today we had district meeting, last one as a district before move calls. We are the only sisters in our district so our meetings get pretty interesting... and a bit loud haha. But it's so fun. We were supposed to go district finding, but it started pouring! It was Sister Gaston's half-way mark today! This evening we stopped by Patrycja, because she just had surgery, so we brought her some get well treats. She wasn't feeling too well so we didn't stay long.
Friday: haha it is always funny on Fridays before moves, because usually this is the day that President calls to tell you if you've been called to leadership or called to be a trainer.. but he and Sister Gubler were in Portugal for a training. But none of the missionaries knew he wasn't going to call until Saturday so everyone was on edge. I actually was at peace, and not too anxious about it because I had a feeling I am going to stay in Hamble... we will see though! Sister Gaston really wants to train! We did quite a bit of finding before we went to correlation this evening. Oh my days... so it is starting to get cold here in little ole' Hamble River, and sister Handley served us frozen fruit and ice cream for pudding (English term for dessert). All of us were freezing, I could not feel my tongue, it was numb. I looked over at Elder Dasalla (from the Phillipines) and he was shivering... bless. 😂 haha it was really funny though!
Saturday: Today we had futbol! Which was great, we met a man who let me play with his puppies, which fun fact, one of them was named Abbie, spelled the same way.... all the other missionaries got a kick out of that haha! Sister Gaston and I tried doing an activity at the chapel... we wanted to show the movie "Meet the Mormons". And the whole week we had been inviting everyone... so only one person came... and it was Alcina, but we felt the spirit that we need to do it, so we did! We are going to try it again this Saturday and see if it works! So we got a call from President at about 7:30pm... my stomach sank! When sister Gaston answered the phone President asked if he could talk to me, so she handed me the phone, and President and I chatted for a little, and then he asked me "So, Sister Lund, how would you feel about staying in a Hamble River another transfer? I know you have been there since April, I went quiet and thought oh boy... and I though about it for a bit, and a bit hesitantly said "Yes President, I can stay if this is what the Lord want me to do"... He replied and said "Sister Lund, I know this hasn't been the easiest for you, but the Lord has made it very clear to me that you need to stay with Sister Gaston, in Hamble River", when he said that to me, I remembered that I didn't want my mission to be easy, so whatever my Heavenly Father needed me to do, I was going to do it. So I said "President I will do what Heavenly Father wants me to do, I feel the spirit confirming to me this is where I need to be". I was just so grateful for President that he took the time to call me just to make sure that I would be okay with this.
Sunday: 13 Months! I don't think it's hit me... I don't quite feel it yet. I feel like I've been here forever, yet only a few months. Emilia came to church today on her own which was a miracle, because Pat wasn't feeling well. She struggled the third hour... she wouldn't go to Primary. But we had a lesson with her this evening, she seemed a bit better.
Monday: we had accounting this morning with Elder Rhee, he found out the he is moving to Paignton, Plymouth to finish training a new missionary. So it was our last accounting. We had a lesson with Richard today. Which went really well, it was a very spiritual experience. We met with him on the sea shore, in Weston, with Heather. Richard really is struggling in his life. He was very emotional today, and he opened up a lot to us. He has a lot of things he needs to work through. This will be a long journey, but he will make it! This evening we went to the Bakers family, and had a FHE with them, we haven't done that in a while, so that was nice.
Tuesday: today went pretty quick, we had quite a few lessons. This morning we decided to stop by a potential, Susan. And she let us in! MIRACLE!! We were able to get to know her better today so that was great, and she said we can come back on Friday. After Susan, we went by Linda Holden, in the ward, since they live a few houses apart. She was busy sewing, so we didn't stay for long, but she is so sweet. I don't know how we got to this topic, but we were talking about Wisdom teeth, and she said she wants to see one of my videos... oh boy... so if you have one of them still, and can send it to me that would be great. But no worries if you can't! This afternoon, we saw Richard again, and taught him the Restoration. This evening we taught our friend Alex... I don't know if you remember the Alex I taught back with Sister Velez in April, but we are starting to teach him again. Oh my goodness, this lesson was a tough one... amazing and the spirit was so strong, but it was tough. Alex has a very strong belief in the Bible. And so we are trying to teach him very simply 😅 but he is great, such a nice guy.
So this week has been really long, yet really short. But man have I learned! I have been studying what it means to be a Christlike leader, and I was reading a talk from President Utchdorf, called Continue in Patience. He was talking about his experience in training to be a pilot and he said " I'm still not sure why endless running was considered such an endless preparatory part of becoming a pilot... Nevertheless, we ran and we ran and we ran some more". I love this because it made me think about how a lot of the times as humans we don't see or understand the importance of something, but if we truly want to follow God, we do it anyways. Patience is a purifying process... without patience we CANNOT please God. If we are ever going to grow and reach our potential we have to learn to wait for things.
I like this because growing up when we hear from our parents or grown-ups tell us "Patience is a Heavenly virtue" we cringe... or at least I did 😅😂 but it's true. And not only is it a Heavenly Virtue, it is a rare virtue... one that I want to one day perfectly acquire. I am so grateful that to come closer to my Savior, Heavenly Father will give me opportunities to put my desires or wants on hold so that I can gain this precious and rare virtue.
But as Elder Holland says "Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead--a lot of it--. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come."
I hope you have a great week. I love you so much. You are all in my heart and prayers. We can do hard things. We got this! I'm smiling! I hope you are too!!
Love, Sister Lund
P.s. I love a quote from a talk that says " Who is the greatest leader of all time? Jesus. Who is the greatest follower of all time? Jesus".

He is the Physician!!!

Hey Fam Fam!                                                                                     091317
This week flew by. I feel like I was just writing an email to you like it was yesterday... scratch that.. like it was this morning 😂 time is crazy.
Thursday: we went to Kleins for dinner. But not much else happened, we just did a lot of finding! 😊
Friday: we had district meeting which was good! We had a surprise... our mission got smart phones... crazy! I actually really liked our little dinosaur phone. But I guess in a couple of transfers the church is going to start sending missionaries to our mission with phones rather than iPads or Samsung tablets...which will be really weird. But I have no idea if that is worldwide or just my mission! We had a lesson with our new friend Richard, the one we met in Woolston. He is really struggling. He isn't sure what he wants right now, but he know he needs to change. We hope he will let us help him, but he has his Agency.
Saturday: what an eventful day! We played futbol this morning, one family showed up but they had to leave early. It was Des's baptism!! And I am really sad we weren't able to get a picture with him... anyway, we were able to help the elders fill up the font... haha kind of. So the Elders called us in a panic saying "Sisters, we can't get the boiler to work, so the font is filling with freezing cold water, we need your help!" So when we got to the chapel, they were boiling water on the stove, for us to dump into the font. It actually worked... well a little bit. 😂 We only had one accident! Sister Gaston burned her finger, and got a pretty bad blister, but thankfully it is going away! This evening we had a dinner appointment with the Bishop and his family. They are so funny. It was a mad house, and there were a few tears 🙈but it was great to be with them! 😊
Sunday: church was good, Although no one came. All of bishop's family and sister Gaston and I wore JoJo bows. Haha it was funny. I felt prompted during sacrament meeting that we needed to go outside to find someone to come to church... sadly no one wanted to come, but it was a testimony to me that God has consecrated our efforts. Maybe not at the time we want him to, but he will consecrate them! This evening we went to the Sheppards for FHE, and Patrycja came! It was really good. We studied Luke 15, about the prodigal son.
Monday: this morning we were supposed to have a lesson with Nadine. About a week ago she sent me a message, saying that she wanted to meet with us, so we set an appointment for today, and she didn't show up... which is really sad, but hopefully one day she will make the step. This evening we went to Naomi's and helped her make dinner for her family. Naomi is so sweet, she really just needs friends and people to talk to. We were able to show her the Mormon message "Fragile" which she absolutely loved. If you get a chance, go watch it! It's amazing.
Tuesday: this afternoon we had a lesson with Ron. Haha oh Ron... thankfully the elders in his area were able to come on the teach with us, so they were able to create a friendship, so we can transfer him over to them. But it will probably take some time because he is really close to us. But he has a lot of questions of Christ visiting the Americas, so we gave him some chapters to read in the Book of Mormon. He loves the Book of Mormon... I'm telling ya, there is POWER in the Book.  This evening we had dinner with Sister Hollis, and talked about why prayer is so important, and having faith to receive an answer. And having faith in Christ, not outcomes. So important. Then we had ward council, which is always an interesting event that happens in Hamble River 😂 but it was good.
This week went by so quickly. It seemed like my week was focused a lot on healing. I love the quote " In the same way a physician might lead us to physical wholeness, the Savior, who is the perfect physician, can take away the burden of shame, worry, guilt, and even feelings of frustration and anxiety and show us the way to be spiritually whole again. That's his job, and he performs it perfectly". It just made me think of how every person in this world is looking for healing in one way or another. Not only healing but relief... but the fact is, is that relief from the challenges we have may come slowly or quickly, but sometimes full relief doesn't come at all until after this life. But the fact is is that Christ is the only one we can receive healing from, whether on this earth or in the life to come. I think this is amazing. That yes we all have to go through hard things, but we ALL will receive healing, and be made whole.
I hope that you will have a great week! I love you so much! We can do hard things. We got this!
Love, Sister Lund

 Out with the old....

 In with the new!!!

 Wearing our JOJO bows!!

 This is what happens when the boiler goes out and you need hot water in the font

The colors are a changin'...

Jesus is My Shield!!

Hi Fam Fam!                                                                                                                         090617
This week went super quick, my goodness.
Thursday: We did a few drop-bys in Hedge End today. We were able to stop by the Kadungure family in our ward. They are really nice, they are from Africa. They haven't been to church in while, so we are trying to help them come back. Haha we missed our bus on the way to the Klein family for dinner, so we had a nice long walk through the country side... but hey I loved it. It was beautiful! We have become really close with the Klein family... especially Mathilde. She wants me to come back and visit her. She is the cutest.
Friday: our schedule changed 1,000 times today. Haha not really but the day was crazy. We ended up having all of these appointments, and then they all cancelled, and then we had lol of these other things pop up. But it was great. We had correlation as always. And MeAlissa, Brother Handley's daughter talked with me about the Beatles. Haha I actually know a lot about the Beatles.. I surprised myself...thanks dad 😉
Saturday: we played futbol this morning! The activity is actually taking off. We are having people coming which is great. Our goal is really to strengthen the ward, and make it more of a tighter unit. And this activity is helping! We had a dinner appointment with Sister Baker. I love her so much. She has taught me so much. She is the cutest too. She created a fairy garden in her yard. This was the first time Sister Gaston went to her house and when we walked in she saw her house... haha pink and purple and fairies everywhere. She was like "oh wow". 😂 I actually like it... it's unique! Sister Bakers friend Angie was there. She is lovely. But she is not interested. She has really really bad back problems, and we invited her to think about receiving a priesthood blessing, and she was surprised that the church did things like that, and she was genuinely interested and said she would think about it. I love how Heavenly Father works.
Sunday: we had a lesson with Emilia today. She is struggling. She says she's not interested in being baptized unless her mom gets baptized. We think she is just tired of getting the answer "no" when she asks if she can get baptized. So it's really hard for her. This evening we had dinner with Kim and Iris Smith. And we got to play some "tunes" as Iris would say on the piano. They all played these beautiful pieces, and then they turned to me and said "your turn".... so I played Yankee Doodle... 😂 but it was a good laugh.
Monday: we did a lot of finding today! We have been praying a lot that we can find one person that is prepared and ready to receive the Gospel. We were in Woolston, and I saw this man across the street pushing this other man in a Wheelchair, and I remember seeing him a few times  in the Bitterne area. The spirit practically threw me across the road. We went over and talked to them (Richard and Mellie). Richard, is an ex-armyman. He told us that he suffers with PTSD. We asked him if there was a way he could learn to deal with this pain would he give us 30 minutes of his time, and in desperation he said "I'd give you a year!" I could just see the pain in this man's eyes. We are meeting with him on Friday!
Tuesday: haha so... today was really rainy. And we had to grab lunch at Tesco, because we were really far from home, but we had no where to find shelter from the rain... so we walked for a bit and found a bridge/tunnel... ya know we looked a bit like we had no home but that's fine. 😂today we had a lesson with Vinh, Sophia, and Leo. We talked about Jesus Christ. I love the answers Children come up with. So amazing. We asked them to say who they thought Jesus Christ was and they said "Jesus Christ is my shield, he is my shield because he loves me". I loved this. This evening we had an activity with the relief society. We made non cook strawberry jam. Did you know how much sugar is in jam!? Oh my goodness, sister Gaston, and Sister Anna Bryant and I looked at each other as we were making it and my jaw dropped and I was like "that is so much sugar!" One of the sisters was like "well it is an American recipe". I just laughed and was like "hey, I didn't create it!"
This week was a good hard week. I feel like I always say that. But hey, not much comes from things that are super easy. So I am glad, because I am learning so much.
Something I just have loved was what Sophia said..."Jesus is my shield". I think this is so powerful. The amount of times Christ has saved or protected me are endless and eternal. I was reminded of a scripture his week in 3 Nephi 11: 11, where it talks about how Christ drinks the bitter cup and gives his will to God. Christ suffers the will in ALL things so I wouldn't have to... He drank ALL of the bitter cup so that I wouldn't have to. I only have to go through a portion. I will never understand exactly what Christ had to go through for me, but because he loves me, he was my "shield" and did all he did so that I would only have to go through a tiny tiny tiny amount, WITH him. To me when we are asked to endure, it doesn't mean to just hold on and go through a whole bunch of trials. To me enduring means to have patience. And patience is defined as: the capacity to ACCEPT (choose) or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious... so yeah, I'm not the best at patience 😂. But I have come to love getting the answer "Sister Lund, be patient, I have a plan for you". It brings so much peace to my soul. Patience truly is a Heavenly virtue, and I am so grateful Heavenly Father is giving me the opportunity to learn how to have patience. It truly is a gift.
I love you. I hope you have a great week. We can do hard things. We got this!
Love,
Sister Lund

 It's starting to get a little chilly!

 Do you know how much sugar is in jam?

 Lund Lane

 Sister Baker's Fairy Garden

 Futbol with the missionaries

 Had to eat lunch under a bridge

 Rain is not hair friendly

Making jam with the relief society

Wisdom to know the Difference!!!

Hi Fam Fam!!                                                                                                  083017
Thursday: We head our Quad-Zone Conference today. It was so good. We practiced giving invitations through the Book of Mormon, which was amazing. It really helped me get yet another witness that the Book of Mormon is true, and that there is so much power that comes through it. It helped me see that just like it says in 2 Nephi 32:3, that we need to feast upon the words of Christ, because they tell us ALL things we should do. How amazing is that!! The Book of Mormon tells us all things we should do. We got home in the evening and we got a call from Ron. He told us that his family called him and came to his house today, telling him that he needed to drop all contact with the Mormons... they were sharing all the Anti- Mormon material that they have seen. So he dropped us, and the missionaries in our area, we were SO sad. But it was a bittersweet experience because I got ANOTHER witness that the Book of Mormon is true. I was able to see that there is anti material everywhere around us, but if people will seriously read the Book of Mormon with real intent, nothing else matters, because if you know the Book of Mormon is true, you know everything else is as well... everything rests on the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
Friday: crazy day. We helped with the Elders friend today... Des. He stopped contact with the Elders for a couple of days and his baptism is supposed to be this Saturday, so Sister Gaston and I planned to go and stop by his house. Des is really busy, so we were hoping and praying that we would see a miracle and that he would be home. As we were walking down this road, we were like I hope he is home! Right as we said that Des comes riding his bike right by us. We yelled for his attention, and he stopped! MIRACLE! We looked at eachother and we were like "God loves us!" We were able to have a lesson with him, and discover what he needs help with, sadly he has to work through some things so he won't be able to make his baptism this Saturday, but we are praying he will make it for September 9th!
Saturday: we had the futbol activity today! It was really good, we had a good number of people show up! It was really hot! But it was fun! We were able to go see Alcina today, this was the first time we saw her since she got back from Mozambique. She is doing pretty good. She loved her trip! We had a DA with an older couple in our ward the Hammonds. Oh my goodness their house was boiling haha. And Sister Hammond poured us our drinks, and went into the other room to grab something, and we took a sip, and Sister Gaston goes "I think this is syrup" haha turns out the drink she gave us you are supposed to mix with water but she didn't know haha. We kept taking drinks and dumping water into our glasses haha! Oh my goodness.
Sunday: we had a miracle..we had two friends at church. Emilia, and our friend Alex we taught back in April. He showed up!! Yay. We don't know how interested he is, but he came to church!
Monday: We had the Hamble River War BBQ at Royal Victoria Countryside Park. 60 members came!! We played games, and ate lots of food. It was great! And it is such a beautiful location... right by the ocean! So cool.
Tuesday: We got an out of the blue call from Ron. He called and told us he wanted to meet up for lunch. He tooK us to the west end to a place called Haskins. He told us that he knows the message we share is true, and that he for sure felt something... but that he doesn't want to go against his family. The spirit is working in him! Amazing huh?! He cracks me up. He reminds me so much of Grandpa Ashton. Even down to the fact that he sent us home with Scones, and he told us that we needed to put A LOT of butter on them haha. It just reminded me of him. We were in Florida, when Grandpa put butter all over his banana nut muffins. Ron and Grandpa would get along really well. ❤️ this evening we had a DA with sister Hollis. She gave us two of her friends to go see. This was a huge miracle!! We are really trying to find through members.
This week was good. It was really hard, but good.
" God grants me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can change and the wisdom to know the difference."
This quote has really stuck out to me this week. I can't change people's Agency, but I can change the way I choose to act based on others decisions. I have seen that if I choose to have courage God can help me change the things in my life that are holding me back.
My mission has been one of the hardest experiences of my life, but I wouldn't change one piece that has happened so far. It has shaped me into a better and stronger person. I also love the scripture in Alma 34:32, where it says this life is the time to prepare to meet God. It is so true this life is the time to prepare to meet God, not to receive ALL of our blessings. We are spiritual beings with eternal potential and an eternal destiny.
I love you so much and I am so grateful for you. Have a great week. We can do hard things. We got this!
Love, Sister Lund

 I had a "Notebook Movie" moment when I looked out my window!!

 Come play futbol with the missionaries each Saturday

My mama!!

I Hope You Dance!!!

Hi Fam Fam!                                                                                                    082317
I hope you have had a good week. Our week was pretty good!
Thursday: today was pretty cool! Sister Gaston and I were able to participate in the Portsmouth Stake beehive camp. We were asked to help them with their service project. And they asked us to talk about the Book of Mormon, and tie it in with this years theme "Ask of God". Wow this was such a powerful experience. We were able to bear our testimonies of the Book of Mormon, and how if we go in with a specific question written down, and search the Book of Mormon, that we can receive answers... I have a sure testimony that the Book of Mormon truly answers questions of the souls, and that it brings us closer to God. So this was amazing... the Young women wrote their testimonies in the Books of Mormon, and gave them to us to hand out to investigators. We were also asked to help in their faith walk, so I was able to talk about Emma Smith and the value: Divine Nature. I shared the scripture in D&C, where Emma is called an Elect Lady. That was really fun for me to talk about Emma. She truly was an elect lady.
Friday: haha so we bought a monthly bus pass, that we thought covered our whole area... yeah we were wrong. It only covers the Southampton part, not the Hampshire part... and we had a lesson in Fareham today, but it was a miracle because the bus driver was very kind and gave us our tickets half price! So so nice. We had a lesson with our friend Debbie. We are really really trying to help Debbie. She is very unique, and is hard to teach at times, but we really are trying to do all we can to help her. We had correlation with Brother Handley this evening. He lives out in Gosport, which is the very edge of our area, but it is beautiful there. They have the D-day beaches there. We know that fall is coming, because it is starting to get darker in the mornings and night!
Saturday: We had interviews with President in Portsmouth today. We also had our zone training. We focused on faith, obedience, and works. As a mission we are really trying to be exactly obedient, because we know that obedience brings blessing, but exact obedience brings MIRACLES.
Sunday: Emilia came to church today! Yay! I love her. The Wrzeszcz family have changed my life. I will really miss them when I leave. We had a meeting with Brother Sheppard at his house, since he is in the bishopric. He really wants to help us move the work forward in the Hamble River Ward. We are really trying to move the work forward.
Monday: We did A LOT of finding today. This area needs a lot of finding!! But that's okay. We also were able to do some service for Alcina, so that was fun!
Tuesday: Today we had a lesson with one of our friends Ron. Oh my days, he is the sweetest little man. He is 83 years old. Sister Gaston and Sister Ripley found him while we were on exchanges last week, and they gave him a Book of Mormon, and he said that he would call if he was convinced... and guess what today we got a call. He told us he wasn't convinced, but that he wanted to meet up. So we taught him in a pub.... we had no where else to go. 😂 but hey the lesson was amazing. All three of us were in tears. He shared how he wants to know how he can be with his sweet wife Antonia again, since she passed away, and he misses her dearly. When we started the lesson he said that he didn't believe there was a God, and he thought the Book of Mormon was a good "story". By the end of the lesson he was in tears, and told us that there is power in this book, and that he believes there is a God, and that he wants to be baptized in two weeks! WHAT??? We are so happy for him. We found out that he is just outside of our area, so we had to refer him to the Elders in the city centre. But it's okay, we want to do Gods will, and be obedient. Ron told us that every night before he goes to bed he says " goodnight Jesus, goodnight Antonia, I hope I see you in the morning". Awwwh. Oh my goodness I hope when I am 83, my husband will love me as much as Ron loves his wife. So cute.
This week has been really good. It has been hard, because literally every solid investigator we found isn't in our area so we have had to refer quite a few people. But we know that Heavenly Father has a plan.  I read a conference talk called "Summer with Great Aunt Rose". And there was a part that really stuck out to me... " I decided I had a choice - I could hang my head and drag my feet on the dusty road of self-pity, or I could have a little faith, put on a bright dress, slip on my dancing shoes, and skip down the path of life, singing as I went". It made me think of the song "I hope you dance". I think one of my biggest desires in life is that I want to live my life to the fullest and be happy in the NOW, and do this on God's path. I don't want to be caught in the trap of "I wish I did this, or if only I did this, or when I have this or when I do this I will be happy" because I am here to tell you, if we don't CHOOSE to be happy now, we are robbing ourselves from so many amazing experiences and blessings.
I hope you will have a great week. I love you so much. We got this!
Love,
Sister Lund

1 Year!!!!

Hi Fam Fam!                                                                                                          
Oh my goodness. This week was pretty good. We saw a lot of miracles! I apologize ahead for this short email... 😜
Thursday: we had two dinner appointments today, one with the Batus, and one with the Kleins. The Batus are such a funny and cute old couple. They remind me a bit like Ray Barone's parents from Everyone Loves Raymond... only a little bit though haha. They have the biggest English house I have seen so far on my mission. English homes are quite small. I think it will be weird for me to come home and see big yards and houses. The Kleins are such a cute young family. Mathilde is hilarious, she definitely has English humour. 😂
Friday: we did a lot of planning and we did a lot of finding! I think that is where we have seen a lot of miracles this week is finding... granted a lot of our appointments flogged us... but hey we are able to find, and we are doing our part, now all we can do is leave it up to God.
Saturday: today was really fun. This morning we started a new activity! Football on Saturdays! I actually did pretty well... all us missionaries were so out of shape haha, but I can still do rainbows!
Sunday: we had a miracle! One of our investigators came to church! We had been trying all week to get someone to come, and we were really worried no one would come, but cute little Symphony came with her mama!
Monday: we went to the edge of our area: Portchester, and spent the day there. We were able to see a less active family: the Lowrys. They are the funniest. They are very unique, the wife has bright red hair, and she wears 50s clothing and the husband has a mustache that makes him look a bit like Captain Hook. But oh man they are so fun.
Tuesday: we were on exchanges with sister Walker and Sister Ripley. I was with Sister Walker, and we went to hedge end all day. We were able to see Heather, which is always good. I love Heather, we haven't seen her in a while, and she needed the visit. As soon as we got there and I asked if we could pray, she just looked at me and pulled me into a hug and started crying. She has had a really hard life, but it was such an amazing moment for me to be there with her and feel the spirit telling me "if your only role here was to help Heather, that would be fine for me". I think that was a lesson I learned today was that I am helping everyone I can, and Heavenly Father recognizes my efforts.
Wow. I cannot believe I hit my year mark... I know I always say time is weird, but it really is. It's crazy, now when people ask me how long I've been on my mission they are like "you are starting to get old"... haha but I have been able to reflect a bit on my mission, and ya know it hasn't been the easiest. I have had some growing pains. But I have learned that I really can do hard things, I was set apart by the Lord to do the things He needs me to do here on my mission. I have been able to learn more about myself... especially the fact that I am a spiritual being having a mortal experience, and he doesn't expect me to be perfect in this life. But mostly I have learned that this Gospel truly does bring eternal joy into my life... that the joy I have had in my life hasn't come from the world or anything the world "gives" me. The joy I have, came and comes ONLY from my Loving Heavenly Father. What a gift... men are that they might have joy. So yes, we will have hard times and we will face trials, but we can choose to find joy in these experiences.
I love you. I hope you have a great week. We got this! We really CAN do hard things! I love you so much.
Love, Sister Lund