I'm not what I once was, But I'm not yet who Heavenly Father wants me to be.

Hey All!

 

So if you just skipped over the subject, it is I'm not what I once was, But I'm not yet who Heavenly Father wants me to be.  That was shared yesterday in a youth fireside for our branch that a member shared about his conversion.  And I think that is so true for me right now as well.  I am not the same person I was when I came our on my mission.  In fact I'[m not the same person I was at the beginning of this transfer.  And I am still not yet the person that Heavenly Father wants me to be.  I have made progress, but I am nowhere near what he wants me to be.  I guess that is why we have a whole lifetime to figure that out.  But in regards to the mission and this last week I have definitely been able to make some progress.  

 

Monday:  Was great, we drove to Auburn for our exchange with oxford.  I went to their apt.  And it was lots of fun.  They have a really nice apt, but for some reason there is a bunch of copper in the water there, so it turns all their stuff blue.  But they have a really good area, and the ward over there is really supportive of them and way nice!  I loved everyone I met over there.  I was with Sister Smedley, another Visitor Center missionary.  

 

Tuesday:  We went out to teach this really nice lady name Andrea.  She is so sweet and it great!  We took a member with us named Sister Lilly and she is such an example of being a member missionary.  SHe is constantly sharing the gospel.  No matter what it is she is sharing.  She shares on facebook and the phone when she teaches yoga, in everything she does.  It is soo cool to see how she does it.  All while facing major medical problems.  :)  She is awesome. 

We then went and taught this couple named Josaphine and Tony.  Tony is a classic 70-80 punk.  He is now 60 and he still makes his music and puts it on the web.  They are so sweet and are great! We then had to drive to Auburn to exchange back.  It was a great day!  

 

Wednesday:  was another great day!  We had apointments the whole day and none of them fell through.  They were with a few less active members they are so sweet!  We love each of them to pieces and want them to come back to church so badly!  They are amazing!  I wish we could do more for them, but we do our best.  And they are just so amazing! One day they will come back.  I'm sure of it.  And have that lasting conversion.  

 

Thursday: I love member meals!  They are the best.  Especially when the member is a good cook!  We went and ate at the Hovances.  They are a young couple who were sealed this past weekend, and while we couldn't be there, be heard that it was amazing and so sweet.  They have 3 little girls and they are just so adorable.   We love them! And we also helped a potential investigator make some candy wreathes.  I now have a fantastic skill that will help in the holiday season. :)  We also taught the Golden trio as Sister Huefner has now dubbed them.  That would be Arnez, Linda, and Tom.  We had a member, sister Duffy with us and it was so good.  We were able to follow up with them on the Proclamation to the family and also shared with them about the Articles of faith.  We have basically taught them all the lessons, but we are waiting for them to have the all clear for baptism so hopefully that is soon. 

 

Friday:  Weekly planning.  We were also hoping to get our licence plates today since our car is about oh 20 days with out a licensing.  Somehow we hove not been pulled over yet.  And hopefully won't because we didn't get them.  The vehicle coordinator for some reason hasn't been able to get the car licensed.  It is odd.  But it has all worked out so far.  But we stopped by Arnez and Linda's to give  Linda a Bible with all the footnotes and the bible dictionary, and found out that Arnez fell off  the bandwagon for smoking :( So we went and bought a calender for her to mark off everyday that she doesn't smoke.  She wasn't there when we dropped by so we left a bunch of sticky notes of encouragement and then went to a dinner apt. with the Dyers.  It was great.  They had a friend of theirs there who is not a member and we shared a scripture, and it was really great!  She is an amazing person! 

 

Saturday: We went and gave Arnez the calender and the stickers to linda so they could mark off everyday that she doesn't smoke.  Arnez was so funny, she kept telling us that the Lord had tattled on her and that is why we came and found out about her smoking.  It was really funny.  Arnez also had her granddaughter there and she had some very serious questions for us.  like how does the Holy ghost speak to us and what was her middle name. Because Arnez told her that we know everything.  So with panic in our eyes Arnez tried to mouth her name to us and we tried to figure it out and guess all at the same time.  Her middle name is Lee in case you are wondering.  It was funny.  Then she gave us a christmas present.  A picture that she had drawn.  And Linda and Arnez gave us homemade snowflake stainglass ornaments that they had made.  It was so sweet.  I loved them!  They are probably my favorite thing I have received on my mission so far.  

 

Sunday:  They came to church! Of course and we also had a great fireside at the church where converts and born members shared how they became converted.  It was really cool.  And thinking about how I became converted, just shows how important conversion really is.  So how we're converted officially?  Not your baptism, but your conversion?

 

And that brings us to today.  I love you all And hope you are all doing well. 

 

Love always and Forever,

 

Sister Lundahl

Hello!!!!!

Hey everyone!!

 

Another great week in the Waldoboro area!  We have been busy.  So last week we had our zone conference and stuff and it was fantastic!  We then had p-day on Tuesday.  So I will start about Tuesday night.

 

Tuesday:  We were chauffering the Elders around because their car is in the shop.  So they needed rides everywhere.  We then went to August for exchanges.  I picked up Sister Wray and brought her down to Waldoboro with me.  Sister Wray and I went to high school together actually.  So it was lots of fun! 

  

Wednesday:  We then got about doing some great things.  I basically taught all the lessons because sister Wray was very shy, so I taught the 10 commandments to Linda, and Arnez.  It was very difficult, but it turned out great!  I totally felt the spirit with be helping me teach them, because I had no idea what I was doing. 

We then went and saw Sister Russel.  She is the less active we read the book of mormon with.  She is soo sweet.  Everytime we go there she has something for us.  Either a baked good or a drink or something.  And she is sharp.  She understands the Book of Mormon really well and she gets around doing stuff too.  She is 81 and lives alone and is amazing! 

We then went and taught the restoration to another less active.  She is very nice, and we were able to teach in some unity.  we asked Sister Gove to evaluate how we did teaching and she said that we did a very good job, and that we are great teachers.  She also said some other crazy things like, I'm a confident person or something... lol.  She is super nice. 

We then had coordination with the Elders and Bro. Duffy.

It was a good day and then we exchanged back.  It was so much fun. :) 

 

Thurday:  We taught Linda and Arnez again.  Arnez has officially stopped smoking.  It is awesome (as of now it has been like 6 days. :D)  She is still going through some withdrawals which is to be expected, but it is so cool to see how the gospel influences people's lives.  She is doing great, and is making tons of progress!!

We then went to go try and find out what happened to a member.  She just disappeared.  And nobody knows what happened.  Her house was all padlocked and everything.  So we went and talked to her neighbors and found out she moved.  So that was good, and sad, but she is going through chemo and is now closer to her family.

We talked with some her neighbors and there is some good potential there. :)

 

Friday. We had another lesson with Arnez and Linda.  We were only going to see them 3x this week, but then scheduling stuff happened and people got confused so we saw them 4x last week. :)  Oh well.

We then went to go see a really cute and sweet old couple and they weren't feeling good.  So we tried some other people.  And of course we had weekly planning. So that took up the rest of the day.

 

Saturday: A family got sealed!!!! A couple in the branch got sealed on Saturday.  It was awesome.  We couldn't go, but we heard it was amazing. We heart attacked them.

On the way there we passed a car that had steam billowing out of it, so we pulled over to see if we could help.  It was all beyond our understanding, but we tried.

We then went a saw some other people who have been struggling and they were really happy today, so that was great!

Also there is  amember here who is an art major who is really interested in drawing my hand. :)  So we stopped by so he could take some pictures.  He and his wife are so cute and sweet.  And he was so excited to be able to have all these pictures. :)  It was funny.

 

Sunday:  Church is always great when you have investigators there  And of course linda, Arnez, and Tom were there.  They even brought food for the linger longer, and they basically fit right in.  They just get to work and help.  They are so fantastic.  We then went and taught S. Gove again.  She is so sweet and nice, and was great.  We still hadn't finished weekly planning so we went to finish that as well.  Unfortunately we still are not done, but we are getting close.  Also another cool thing that happened was one of our less actives passed the sacrament in church!  :D

 

So that was basically our week.  Lots of good things and funny times.  Meeting people is definitely interesting! :)

 

Love always and Forever,

Sister Lundahl

Another Amazing week in Waldoboro, ME

Hello all!!!

Boy has this been one crazy good week. I love having people who want to come closer to Christ and are willing to make the changes to do that.  And that is what has happened this week.  Starting with lots of other craziness.

 

So Monday we drove to Augusta so we could meet the Wintrop Elders and drve down to Portland where sister Huefner and I stayed the night.  It was a super fun drive with the Elders and the I met Sister Griffin and Sister Beus.  They are so nice and great missionaries. 

 

Tuesday Sister Huefner and Sister Griffin got picked up and went to MLC and I stayed in Portland with Sister Beus and got to work.  It was fun.  We tracted a little bit and did mormon.org time, and then we went and helped  a member in their ward.  She was sick and didn't really want us to come over, but sister beus forgot the phone so we came over and helped anyway.  Her daughter was there too, and usually she doesn't do very much, will come out then go back to her room, but she stayed and helped us clean.  She was super funny and sweet. I wish I could be with her more, because she is less active and doesn't come to church, but she did promise me tat she would read her scriptures everyday.  So I hope and pray that she will be follow through.  The only problem is I won't be there. :/  but the other I know the Sisters there are great and will help her. We then met up with the other Sisters and Sister Huefner and I went back to Augusta to pick up the car.  It was a very interesting ride.  Some of the Elders were very tired, and one asked me where I was from twice in 5 minutes.  Of course he was the one driving, so that was interesting....  But we made it and it was great and then we drove home and didn't gt home till super late...late missionary terms. 

 

Wednesday was really good again.  We had been studying the question of polygamy in the early church so we could answer the concern of a woman in the branch who is a little bit less active.  I was kind of concerned that it would become confrontational, but it didn't and somehow we were able to pull in a bunch of other information and doctrine.  It was so cool to be able to see those how that all worked out.  And then we had a meal appointment with a family called the Hovances.  They are so great!  Sis. Hovance is pretty young, like 24 and she is so funny ad we love to talk with her.  They have 3 kids.  And are so delightful.  Sister Huefner shared the message with them, and did a fantastic job of making it fun for them. :)

 

Thursday we went and say Arnez, and Linda.  We are teaching them the word of wisdom.  And we knew that Arnez smokes and drink coffee.  Well we started it by using the pamphlets and Linda jumped ahead.  Arnez was so excited, because she wants to quit smoking but when she heard no coffee, she was not happy.  But she decided that she wants to come closer to Christ and will do it.  And to far she has not ad another cup of coffee since.  And she has gone down from 1/2 pack of cigarettes to 4 and maybe even less now.  We are so proud of her and are constantly praying for Linda and Arnez to continue to come closer to Christ.  Also they were watching TV and they saw a show called Mormons in America and it talked about Polygamy.  We were so prepared to answer that question!  It was so cool how the Lord was able to prepare us not only to answer S. Gove's question but also Arnez and Linda's! 

 

Friday was a lot of planning again.  Weekly planning of course.  We then went and Painted 2 walls and a ceiling for a member who is moving to Utah.  In fact, she might be interested in going and visiting you, so if you get a call or a drop by by Bev. Thompson, don't be surprised. :)  It was a lot of work.  In addition to more planning etc.

 

Saturday we taught Linda and Arnez again, and this time Tom was there.  It was great!  He too decided that he is not going to drink coffee anymore.  :D  We went and helped Bev again, since she need all the help she can get. 

 

Sunday they came to church and really liked it.  We forgot to get Arnez a blessing for quitting everything, but we will get her one soon.  She really thinks and knows that it will help. Our other appointments fell through unfortunately.  So that was fun.  But we got to go to a meeting in Topsham where Elder Gifford Nielson spoke to us.  Or the guy at conference who talked about exclamation points.  :)  It was sooo good and he gave some really good advice. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that he talked about daily testimony building.  I think that is sooo important to try and do that all the time.  That is what we have promise our savior to do.  And it is when we actually do that, that we feel the spirit that much more. :)  Loved it!

 

Monday was Zone conference in Augusta so we got up at 5:45 so we could both be ready.  Elder Nielson was the presiding authority and he talked a bunch to us.  It was really incredible.  Everything was so inspiring and helpful as missionaries.  I feel so lucky to be here at this time.  I wish I could tell you all the wonderful things that I learned, but the one thing that really stood out to me the most was when he talked about how we are still fighting the same war that we were fighting in Heaven, and we need to decide today where we will stand.  And he asked and committed us to NEVER leave the Lords side.  Because while the Lord knows us so well so does Satan, and he will do everything in his power to keep us from being happy.  For some reason that just stood out more yesterday than ever before.  I think of all the times I've let Satan get me down and I know that as we stand firm and true God can help us even more.  It truly waay great day. :) 

 

And that is why I'm e-mailing today, because today became our p-day.  Well that was basically the week.  It was great and fun and I'm so excited to keep working.  Random tid bit, I've almost been out on my mission for 6 months!!!!!!  Where did the time go?

 

Love you all and I'm so grateful for all the love and support you give!

 

Love Always and Forever,

 

Sister Lundahl

Halloween On A Mission

Hey All!

 

So This week has been crazy good and way busy!!!  1st I have a question, do you prefer my letters to be separated into the separate days or not. I recieved no reply on this subject, so if you have an opinion please let me know. :)

 

Monday:  P-day was great!  It was a wee bit crazy though because we had to do an exchange with the Oxford Sisters who basically life on the other side of the state.  We determined a halfway point for our meetings which was super helpful. We drove I picked up Sister Jensen, then drove back.  Luckily we were able to get a ride this time.  The Duffy's gave a a ride.  They are so sweet!

 

Tuesday:  So Sister Jensen and I went and taught Tom, Linda, and Arnez.  We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was so good.  I loved teaching with her.  She is so nice and has lots of missionary experience.  She is one of the few sisters who have been on her mission for over a year.  All three of them committed to coming to church and we really want to baptize them all.  Unfortunately Arnez and Linda cannot be baptized for a while, but hopefully we will be able to behere when Tom gets baptized.  We then went and did service for a member in the Branch.  She is super sweet and we gave her an idea on how to prevent JW's from trying to teach her.  :)  Basically give her a Restoration Pamphlet.  I can't wait to hear the results.  We then did our Mormon.org time.  and of course I showed Sister Jesen my favorite videos.  I suggest everybody goes and watches Lindsey Stirlings mormon.og video.  It is sooo good!!!  Then we drove to exchange back. 

 

Wednesday: It was such a good day!  We had district meeting and we Sister Tait a sister in our district gave sound advice which is very true, Learning Patience take patience.  Yeah, I still am working on that one. But it was such a great district meeting.  We then went and read the Book of Mormon with a Less Active. She is such a sweet old lady, but she goes to the church she grew up in which is sad, and we are trying to help her cuz she still has a testimony.  But she was telling us a story about how she waas driving to home from Boston and it was late and she got lost and she said some very inspiring words, "I didn't panic, I prayed."  I just thought how many times do I just start panicing?  I definitely need to work on that.  We then went to the Branch Truck-or-treat.  Which was good, the Sister in charge asked for our help, and it was so funny.  We picked up the elders and set up our trunk with candy and pamphlets and passalong cards.  Well the Elders decided to get in the truck and they turned into major goofballs trying to get people to take the stuff. It was super funny.  Everybody loved it, and it turned into the happening truck of the trunk or treat. :)

 

Thursday:  We taught Linda, And Tom today.  Arnez had to go and take care of her grandkids.  But it was good to see how they were understanding the gospel.  We taught them pray often, obedience, and study the scriptures.  It was really good.  We set up to come and see them again tomorrow. We then went and saw a few other Less actives and taught them.  And them we came in @ 5:00.  Basically they think that it is a good idea that missionaries aren't out tracting while kids are trick-or-treating.  I guess that would be a good idea....  So we deep cleaned our apt.  Which turned into organizing everything.  I'm not going to lie it looks really great.  And that was the excitement of our Halloween.

 

Friday:  We taught Linda and Arnez about prophets.  They really liked it.  They totally thought it was great.  Especially when we watched some of the clips of the special witnesses DVD.  It was really cool.  They said they will for sure be coming to church and we can't wait to see them there.  We hope they will be there.  We then did our weekly planning that day.  We actually got most of it finished.  It was such a miracle!  And then we went and contacted a media referral!!  So Sweet.  We went to her house and she said that her friend was telling her about how great the church was and answered a buch of her questions and she said she would try to come to chruch!  We reallu hope so.  She was super sweet!

 

Saturday:  It was very interesting.  We went tracting and basically we were tracting the same road some Jehovah Witnesses had tracted earlier that day. :/  so we were a little dicouraged, and then a lady let us help her with her garden.  She was super nice.  Her name is Afila, she changed it from Barbara in the 70's. :)  She was really cool.  It was really nice that we were able to help her. 

 

Sunday!!!!! I love Sundays!  and this Sunday was the very best!!  It was Sister Huefner's birthday and it was like heavenly father was sending his love in tender mercies and random miracles.  1st Linda, Tom, and Arnez came to church.  Then Arnez bore her testimony!!!! Crazy!!  And another nonmember bore her testimony.  And then we found out that ever since we went to a members house for dinner they have been reading their scriptures together every night!  A random girl walked into the church building as we were doing comp study and she wanted a book of mormon to take with her on an airplane ride somewhere.  It was just really crazy! And it all ended up being just a really good day.  Which I'm glad cuz it was a nice present for Sister Huefner from Heavenly Father. :)

 

Well that's all that happened this last week.  This coming week is going tobe crazy cuz we  are driving down to portland tonight because sister Huefner needs to be at Missionary Leadership Council in the morning in Manchester, NH so tuesday I will be serving there, and then more craziness will happen as always.  But I hope everybody is having a great day and week!!

 

Love Always and Forever,

 

Sister Lundahl