Another Great Week In Waldoboro!!

Hey Family, 

1st I would like to say, that I am extremely grateful to even be writing you right now.  Today all the libraries are closed, and we were not going to be able to write e-mails home, but then we came to Topsham for district p-day and now we can write e-mails. So tender mercy from the Lord.

This week was amazing.  We picked up an amazing investigator.  Her name is Arnez, and she is soooo excited.  She is so awesome.  She wants to be part of the gospel, and ever since we taught her the first lesson she said she feels like she has had a heavy load lifted off her.  We are so excited to keep teaching her.  She already understands the importance of church. We just need to get her to come.  She committed to coming this week, then for some reason she didn't and we are concerned, so we will be seeing her tonight to see what happened.  

We also met with another family, they are the Seversons and they are really nice and sweet.  I know that as we teach them the gospel they will want to come to church and grow.  They are already really awesome, they just need this little extra push.

We are starting to see more and more success.  It has taken a while, but as we have been diligent, we have been able to find more people.  And it is a blessing to be able to see the work starting to pick up.  

Also transfer call are this week again.  I feel like we just got here.  How can transfer call already be here?  We think we will be staying, but there is always that dread that somehow we will be moved.  And I love the area so much that I don't want to leave.  But I guess that just means that you are going to leave.  I sincerely hope not. 

Yesterday, another tender mercy from the Lord.  A member had their family visiting, and the mother sings in the Mormon tabernacle Choir.  So I went and asked her if she knew Tracy Warby and Valerie Jensen, she did.  Apparently, Tracy has adopted a little baby!!! I had no idea. That is so exciting!! So as were talking she pulled out a cd, and said, "Would you like a cd?"  of course I said, "missionaries could always use a cd."  And when I saw the cd, for some strange reason I just burst into tears.  It was so embarrassing.  here I was crying, and then she started to cry.  And it was just a huge mess.  The cd she gave me was "Consider the Lilies." And what did that remind me of?  Grandma Lundahl's funeral, and for some reason it just hit me right then and I started weeping.  But it was such a tender mercy, because I knew that Heavenly Father is watching out for me, and so are our ancestors.  Including Grandma & Grandpa Lundahl.  It was such a tender experience, and I am so grateful that Sister Barker was willing to share and give the cd.  

So now that you all know that I am just a silly person who cries.  But i want everyone to e-mail or write me their favorite song/hymn so that everytime I hear/ sing it I can remember you all.  That sound a little cheesy, but it is those little things that can help a person in those times of need. :)  So for future reference, if you feel so inclined, and if you want you can also tell me why.  if not that's cool too.

Well I love you all!!

Love Always and Forever,

Sister Lundahl

Week 4 in Waldoboro!!

Hey everyone!

 

This week has been extremely crazy!  1st Sister Huefner had MLC so I was in Topsham for the day (pronounced top-sum).  Then the next day we went on exchanges.  So sister Smedley came here and we did stuff and S. Huefner left to be with S. Jensen.  Then we had to drive back to topsham the next day and get a new phone number and the next day was conference and we had to go pig hunting, and oh boy has it been crazy.  That looks like a jumbled mess let me explain.

 

Tuesday: Topsham was lots of fun. We went and served at a soup kitchen and then we walked everywhere since they are in a car share and did not have the car that part of the week.  My feet have not had to do that much walking in a long while.  A really long while.  So by the end I was tired and sore, but it was great.  We tracted into some really cool people and placed a couple copies of the Book of Mormon.  Sister Huefner came home that night and we had to drive all the way back to Waldoboro at like 8:30.  That doesn't seem late, but for missionaries who have to be in at the absolute latest 9:30 and the trip is about 1 hour anyway.  It is kindof crazy.  Especially when we are not supposed to speed.  (Don't worry, we didn't.)

 

Wednesday:  We had to drive back to Topsham for District meeting.  It was a good district meeting, plus I got a rubix cube.  I had forgotten a lot of things but now I am back on top of it and I can do rubix cubes again. :)  We then came back after lunch and both of our appointments fell through so we figured out some other things to do.  And then we had to drive 1 hr and 15 min so we could exchange with the oxford sisters.  There I picked up sis. Smedley and drove all the way back home.  It was a wee bit crazy, since it gets dark at like 6 here, so that was a fun drive. 

 

Thursday:  Sis. Smedley and I came to the library to do chat since I got permission from the Mission President to go and do it, and we are both Visitor Center Sisters. But for some reason it wouldn't lets us log in and we had some other problems, so basically it was a bust.  We decided to go help a member.  Also I found out that Sis Smedley lives in Nibley, Utah.  She said she thinks she knows Taya.  She graduated a year before me.  We tried to go and teach some other people but they were all busy are recovering from gall bladder removal or something like that. So we started tracting.  And we found a lady who wants us to come back.  She is a major talker, so we are not sure how we are going to get information in, and help her, but we have hope and she is willing to listen a little bit too. :)  So we wrapped up with her ( She talked to us for 45 min.)  And drove back to unechange.

 

Friday: So this is the day we do weekly planning.  It is basically where we try to plan all our activities for the next week so we can be most effective.  As we were planning we got a call from Elder Pettingale in the office and he told us we had to drive somewhere that had sprint coverage so we could change our phone number to a maine number.  The nearest place was Topsham. 1 hour away.  So we drove, and we got coverage in Bath.  It was a little closer.  But then our phone was having problems and wouldn't get the new number and we couldn't make calls.  So we were stuck in Bath with no way of calling anybody, and having no idea where any of the other missionaries were. So we prayed and hoped to find the Topsham sisters at their apt.  Hoping that weekly planning had taken a long time.  Nobody was there.  So we went to the library and tried their community phone.  Their cell phone was not a local number.  So the libraries were really nice and let us use their library phone on the condition that it was short.  We found out that the sisters were at the church.  Definitely a tender mercy and booked it over there.  We then proceeded to use the church phone to call the office, and then call sprint and get our phone fixed.  We then drove back to Waldoboro, needing to finish weekly planning.  We got back around 5.  So the rest of our day was weekly planning.

 

Saturday:  We still hadn't finished weekly planning so we were hoping to finish it that morning, when we got a text during personal study (8:30) from the Branch mission leader asking for help cuz 2 of his pigs were missing.  So we changed and went to go pig hunting.  We got to the high school and then found out a little more about the situation.  They had been missing since the night before and they had gone over to the neighbor's house and they were drunk and were threatening to kill the pigs.  They all came home except the 2.  We searched and search.  And then we were dropped off at different parts to go searching in the woods.  Well we started Bushwacking through the forest.  And We got a wee bit lost.  Not like majorly lost, we could still hear the highway, but just enough to get nervous.  To be honest I was pretty sure on the direction we needed to go but s. Huefner disagreed and that was how we ended up not going to the place we were supposed to.  So we prayed and I still felt good about the direction I had initially said, saying that was where the high school was, and she thought differently.  So we started my way and found a nice little Boggy area.  We then got a call from the Branch mission leader wondering where we were.  We yelled a little bit, he yelled back, and low and behold it was through the bog we needed to go.  by this point the Elders had found us, and they led us through the bog.  Well we get out of the Bog, and guess who lost the phone... Yep, I did.  Anybody surprised.  Didn't think so.  So we went back into the bog and I found the phone.  Another tender mercy from the Lord.  We then had to book it to our cars so we could go open the church to watch conference in the chapel.  The elders still had to return to their apt to get their suits so we got it all set up, but we had no projector.  But there was a tiny 4 inch black and white tv in the corner with the sound system that we started to watch it on.  The elders when they finally got there called the member with the library key and got the projector out.  We then proceeded to watch a super awesome session of general conference.  It was so good.  I'm glad we were able to watch it, cuz it was a little crazy getting to that point. 

 

Sunday: Much less eventful.  We watched conference, taught an investigator, and I met someone who lived in Grandma and Grandpa's stake.  Their names are Ray and Kleah Nelson.  Apparently, he was in the stake presidency or something. They said they would call Grandma and Grandpa. and let them know.  So that's all.

 

I have 2 minutes left, so I want you all to know that I love you!  And can't wait to hear more from you!!

 

Love Always and Forever,

 

Sister Lundahl

Another Interesting Week

Hey all!

 

I saw the COAST!! I have yet to touch the ocean since we were driving, but I have officially seen the great Atlantic ocean.  I have gone from sea to shining sea!  I'm just a little bit happy about it.  I have pictures, but I forgot the connector, so you will just have to wait until next week.  Also all the leaves are changing and it is beautiful, the mornings are lovely and the scenery is splendid!  There are so many colors and it is just beyond beautiful.  I can't wait to send you pictures!

 

Since Sister Huefner is the Sister Training Leader we have been going on exchanges every week, and this coming week is going to be the craziest, since we are exchanging with oxford sister who are ~2.5 hours away and she have Mission Leadership council this week in Manchester.  So I will be in a trio for a day and then we will go on exchanges the next day, and i will be in charge of the area.  It had definitely been a learning experience being a STL companion because now there is a lot more pressure on me than before, but it is a good kind of pressure, the kind where you need to rise up and face the challenge.

 

I realized that while at home, I was involved with the missionaries very little.  Like we heard of them, we saw people go and and come home different people, but I never really did much to help the missionary effort.  And I wish that someone would have told me to get more involved. And said, that Less actives are just as important if not more important than investigators.  These people have already made covenants and are not following them, and it is the active members that can love them back into activity.  Missionaries can't be everywhere all the time, and the members can help in so many ways.  They don't have to teach, but they can love, and help those people come back just by knowing that people care about them.  That is the biggest thing, let them know.  Like bring a plate of cookies over or something.  I don't know, but helping those around you always is a great way of being a missionary.

 

Did you go to the Relief Society General broadcast?

We watched it at the Church with some other sisters, and I love how the focus was on covenants and commandments.  I love the scripture that was shared that said, when thou are converted, strengthen thy brethren.( Luke 22- I think-) I loved that thought, I also loved how Sister Burton said that making covenants is binding ourselves to God.  Those were 2 of my favorite thoughts.  Any that you noticed?

 

So sometimes even as missionaries we get down on ourselves so this week we have been writing down 5 good things we have noticed in addition to any miracles we have seen.  And it had been good to notice even more the positive things that are happening in the work.  Some are a little silly like "oh nellie took on a whole new meaning." Because of some things that nellie our investigator said.  They aren't exactly appropriate comments.  But some are really cool like "Set up a return apt. with investigators the Smiths."  All the little things are those things that help you get through the day. :)

 

So our apartment situation is still in the works.  We have a tub and a vanity, and a toilet, but the plumbing is in the works and so we might be in friday, or maybe not.  We'll see.  We are being very hopeful, but it is a little crazy.  And there are not as many people working on it anymore, but it is moving forward, slowly but surely.  We honestly are just hoping to get in by the end of the transfer, which is in 3 weeks.  Yeah, we are definitely praying for it to get completed.

 

Well, I'm not sure of anything else you want to know, but I love it here, and we are so glad to be serving here.  the members who we are staying with are fantastic and treat us like daughters.  We love them so much!

 

Well, Love you all!

 

Love Always and Forever,

 

Sister Lundahl

 

A New Area!!

Hello!

 

I love Waldoboro!  It is a fantastic place and the people here are so incredibly friendly. While we still do not technically have an apt. we are living with some members.  They are the Duffy's and they are so incredibly nice.  They are so sweet and have been very good to us while we have been here.

 

Also, my comp. father apparently found my blog, so here is a shout out to him, Hi Bro. Huefner! :)

 

We are working hard, we have been painting out apt, and finding investigators and less actives, and all those in between.  It has been really good! 

 

I also went on my first exchange of five for the transfer.  We exchanged with the Augusta sisters and I was with Sister Wray, another former Caveman.  It was so much fun to work with her.  We went and tracked all day, but we had some really great experiences while we went out.  Also here is a shout out for planning.  Make sure you plan where you will go and who you will see at night, because here it gets dark early, so if you don't have anybody to go see, try to use your car to go visit others, and not just walk around in the dark.  It was very... eventful. :)  But the lord protects us, when we are doing what he wants us to do.

 

The members here are so excited for sister missionaries.  The last time they had sisters was about 2-3 years ago and all the members here are just so pumped for them to be back.  When we pulled in on Monday last week they all came out and gave us hugs or shook our hands and were so sweet and excited.  That night we painted our room.

 

Here is a suggestion for all: learn all sorts of random skills now, cuz you never know when they will benefit you later.  Like electrical, and canning, and mudding dry wall, because those are all things that have been done on our apt this week and we have helped with all of it in some way or another. 

 

The members are so helpful too.  They have given up time and money and goods all for them to put us sisters in this apt that they are building.  It has a pioneer type feel about it with all the work everybody is doing.  :)

 

S. Huefner is a great companion and we have been doing a bunch of impromptu lessons with people and they have been going well.  Everybody has been so nice thus far and it has been such a blessing to get to know the members here.  And hopefully I will get to help a member shear a sheep soon. :D 

 

Well that is all, sorry if it is a bit jumbled I have a bit of a cold right now and I'm not sure how straight I am thinking. Haha

 

Love always and Forever,

Sister Lundahl

Where is Sister Lundahl?????

I know you all are wondering where I am going to be serving for the next 6 weeks. I'm pretty curious also, cuz I haven't been there yet.  We have been in New Hampshire for the past week serving in Manchester because our apt isn't ready.  They are remodeling our apt.   hmmm that sounds like the place where our furniture went.  Correct.  I am following my furniture to Waldoboro, Maine.  You might want to google that cuz it is not a common town.  We are going back to the middle of Nowhere.  But it is on the coast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm going to the coast with a super awesome companion!!!!!!

we are so excited!

My companion's name is Sister Huefner and she is awesome!  She served in Manchester for a while like 4-5 months so thanks to her we had people to see and things to do.  It was so awesome!  In fact we went and saw a less active this week named Megan, and the first time she wasn't there, then we saw her again, and seriously the Lord definitely led us to her the second time because we came at the perfect time.  She told us that her father passed away a couple of months ago and she decided that when she saw missionaries again she would talk with them.  So we invited her to come to church the next day and she came!!! I've never had anybody we invited to come to church come to church before, so I was like crazy happy! and S. Huefner was crazy happy so we were 2 extra smiley sister missionaries. :D

Also sister Huefner is the new sister training leader.  Which is kind of a combination between a district leader and a Zone leader for girls.  She has to go on exchanges with all of the sisters in our zone so we are going to be busy opening a new area and going on exchanges. 

Something to note about Manchester is it has a nickname in the mission as being called Manch-Vegas.  And for good reason.  It really is kind of crazy here, and while it was interesting to serve in a crazy busy city, I think I'm excited to go back to the country side. 

Well my new address is now 

447 Goshen Rd

Waldoboro, Maine

(I have no idea what the zip code is yet, since we haven't even been there.)  Basically this week has been really weird serving in an area that we are not assigned to and trying to do work, but not having very much.  It has been interesting.

This is Sister H.'s third time opening an area.  So she is pro, and I'm so excited to learn from her and all the sisters in our zone as we get to go on exchanges with them :)

We are only e-mailing for an hour today cuz we still haven't driven to Waldoboro yet.  And technically our apt is not completely ready yet, but we want to get there so we can get to work. I mean who need a tub or a toilet, as long a we have a hole in the ground were set right?...

We're just going to help them finish it all hopefully, like painting and stuff like that. :)  Also the ward is super excited.  They are remodeling a part of a member's home so we can be there and serve.  We live right across from a lake and the member has horses. :D

We'' we need to get on the road!  Love you all!!!

Love always and Forever,

Sister Lundahl

How To Be an New Englander

Hey family,

I'm sure you all are wondering what has happened to me in transfers... Well I don't know yet, because I won't find out until tomorrow.  This is how it works, Saturday night you get a call telling you if you are leaving the area and if you will be a junior or senior companion, then Sunday the zone leaders call and tell you how to get there, whether it be a member driving you or you driving yourself.  Then Tuesday you go to transfer meeting and find out who your new companion is and where you will be going. Fun right?  No it was the slowest, most nerve racking 12 hours and the last 31 mins until they called was the worst.  They call after 9:00 and we had to wait and wait and wait! Oh man, it was hard.  But when we finally got the call it all worked out well.  All I know is that I will be a junior companion and opening a new area!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!  I'm so glad.  I am so grateful to be able to learn more about how to be a missionary. Not just a visitor center sister.  I love it here, but i know that I am ready for this change.

My companion is going to be in a trio, she will be a junior companion and will be "helping with something".  She is freaking out, cuz they didn't give her a direct answer, and we had to pry out of them that she was even going to be in a trio.  The assistant tried to get her to accept a call without even know what it was, it was weird.  So now she is going crazy and freaking out.  Which is understandable. 

Today we cleaned out car, and my comp has never really waxed a car well, so I waxed the entire thing, and boy does it shine!  I just want it to sit and nobody touch it.  I just hope it doesn't rain... 

So now, how to talk like a new Englander.  There are many things that let you know if a person is from the northeastern area fist they say 'wicked."  Not just like the kid in the Incredible's where but like The wicked fair, or the wicked time.  I guess they use it like awesome or something. 

Another thing is "all set".  Initially that doesn't seem weird, but it is.  All set is an odd saying.  And everybody here says it, " You all set?"  Is a common phrase around here. 

Sideboard.  No that is not a board on the side of your cabinet or anything, but it is a counter.  Yep, they place where you put your food glasses, pot pans, etc.  That is a sideboard.  In context, "Put this on the sideboard there."

Dooryard.  Nobody uses their front door here.  I've gone all they way into people's backyards to know on their door, because they have all sorts of things covering their front door.  Front doors are basically for decoration.  They really aren't there to be used.  At least that's how it is here in new england.  And I guess it makes sense cause they don't have garages and they just use the nearest door.  So if you go to any other door it is really odd.

Farsee.  I know I found this one before hand, but this really is used out here.  A farsee is however far you can see and is a form of distance.  It is never the same and never exact.  But hey, when you are driving and all you see are hills, I just it works... kindof. Not really.

Directions are impossible.  We always joke about it as missionaries, but it is true.  We get directions like, go over this hill and when you get to the top and it starts to go down then right before it levels out and goes up there is a house.  It is blue and has a deck.  that is an example of good directions.  No joke.  And you'd think you could tell when a hill has leveled out.  Nope not one bit all you know is that you are going up again and not sure where it ever leveled out and went down. 

So that is the scoop on how to talk like a new Englander.  I hope you're all set now with a wicked new vocabulary to put on your sideboard near the dooryard.  Which should be a farsee away, over the bridge and down the road.  :)

Love you all and i hope to hear more from you soon!

Love always and forever,

Sister Lundahl

Last Week of My Second Transfer... :O

Hey family and friends!

Crazy thing are happening here in Vermont.  This week after comp inventory and weekly planning, we went to get the mail.  In the mailbox was a letter, no surprise.  The contents were a surprise... We are closing down our apt and we will be moving.  Basically there is going to be only one set of missionaries in this area, instead of 2.  While that may not sound like a big deal,  it is.  They almost never close apartments, like ever.  This is huge!  So we are getting all of our furniture taken out on Friday, so we are going to be sleeping on air mattresses for a couple of days.  It was a complete and utter shock. We started to freak out in front of the post office and I think that people were probably looking at us oddly. 

This is kinda strange because we don't get call about transfers until this Saturday so the fact that we know a week early is really strange and they don't really want everybody to know yet, but it is all good cuz we have only told our district, our sister training leader, the senior missionaries, and our bishop.  SO not too many people right.  They are going to help us figure it all out. 

So if you want to send me letters you should probably send it to me to the mission office because otherwise I probably won't get it for a while.

The letter was a bit of a miracle because we have been having so many problems in our area, which has made it hard to do work and stuff, so we are grateful for this letter.

In personal study I have been reading scriptures about the Holy Ghost and then trying to think of experiences that I've have had.  It has been really cool to self reflect and notice how much the spirit really has influenced my life.  Whether we realize it or not, God is directing us to where we need to be,  everything happens for a reason.  Coincidences... think about that.

We will  miss our investigators, but we know that this is the best thing for our area.  We are excited and nervous. 

But we have to head out right now, so talk to you later. :)

Love always and forever,

Sister Lundahl