Happy Birthday Elder Lund
¡Buenas!
What a week. Well, first things first, I hit the "9 months to go" mark so I took a pic to commemorate.
CHEQUE LEQUE
-Elder Lund
Los Almendros, Zona Choloma 3/9/14 - 3/16/15
Feliz Cumpleanos--21
Los Almendros, Zona Choloma 3/9/14 - 3/16/15
Leadership Training
¡Buenas!
Well, another week here in Los Almendros! We had some problemitas this week with investigators, but overall pretty good.
We
taught the Restoration to a grandma and her granddaughter (the
granddaughter is 40) who were truly not ready to receive the message.
They were spewing apostasy left and right. "La Biblia dice que
cualquiera persona que tenga el deseo puede ser un
apostol....(Yo)...Hermana, donde dice esto?...Bueno, no sé, pero yo digo
que es así." She later went on to say that there are millones de
apostoles throughout the world. Que Apostasía!!! We read some machete
scriptures, but she harderned her heart. "Somos la iglesia!!! Jesús no
va a venir por 4 paredes y un techo!" Ok hermana...vamos a regresar más
adelante.
I had divisions with Elder Z, the ZL in
Puerto Cortes. His little brother just got into BYU by the way and we
talked about that. We had some good lessons and good contacts. They live
right next to the refinery so there are a bunch of big-rigs hauling
gasoline to all parts of the country. We didn´t have anything to do
around 6:30
so we street contacted someone resting in una hamaca. Turns out, they
live in Tegucigalpa and were waiting to fill up and leave in the morning
with 6000 gallons of gasoline. We gave them a Book of Mormon and talked
about the book and the church.
On Friday,
we woke up early and went to Chamelecón for a Leadership Training
Meeting. All the DLs and ZLs received capacitation from the Assistants
and President Dester. I learned a lot and it was a really good day. We
ate Pizza Hut in la terminal (bus station) on our way back.
When
I got back, I gave an interview to a baptism in Los Almendros 2, but
unfortunately she needs a little more time. I tried to be super loving
and charitable, but she may be a little desanimado. The Elders were a
little upset as well, but she has a chance to be baptized this Saturday or the next.
We had a pretty good Sunday.
4 investigators at church, better than I had expected. We did divisions
with members in our ward who are super pilas. I went with hermano
Carlos Marlet and we visited la familia L and a PF J y
A. J is an inactive member and is the same age as C.
They went to seminary together, but took different paths. J started a
family with A while C served a mission in Chile. Big
difference, but thanks to the atonement, J has the opportunity to
"come back to the fold" and potentially have an eternal family. We had a
good lesson with F. L as well.
Decent P-day. My comp
is a little sick right now. We played fútbol with los zipotes (guys from
the hood) in the morning. I went to retrieve the ball when it went out
of bounds and it was in the ditch where water goes off into the river.
It was filled with dirt and I thought it was secure but when I stepped
into it it turns out that it was just mud and my foot went all the way
down to the bottom. (Kind of like when Joseph Smith´s brother get´s
stuck at the beginning of "The Restoration" video..."José,
aydúdame!!!...Me caí" jaja) See the pic.
Anyways, that was this past week. We have a potential baptism this week, but still some problemitas. Cheque!
-Elder Lund
Los Almendros, Zona Choloma 2/23/14 - 3/2/15
A Visit From Elder Ochoa
 |
| Elder Lund and The Zona Choloma with Elder Ochoa and President and Sister Dester |
 |
| Selling donuts to help members earn money |
¡Buenas!!!
Well, another quick week here in Los Almendros.
On Wednesday,
we had a multi-zone conference with Elder Ochoa from the Presidencia de
Area. It was an awesome conference, and I learned a lot. President
Dester showed us the established baptismal goal for 2015...we plan to
double the baptisms. I truly believe that this is possible. We are going
to work a lot with the members as the primary sources of finding,
teaching, and baptizing. The members are encouraged to write down, by
name, their contacts. "Si no hay nombres, no hay metas ni planes" Elder
Ochoa was awesome. He really focused on faith, repentance, and of
course, BAPTISM! We as missionaries are here to find the people who are
ready to accept the restored gospel (the sheep who follow the voice of
the pastor), teach them and help them repent, and then when they are
prepared, baptize them. Simple. We shouldn´t be focusing on baptizing
every month, but every week. Always finding, teaching, and baptizing
those who have desires to change their lives and follow the good
shepherd. Great conference. A lot of ánimo right now (at least on my
part).
We had some challenges and problems this
week, but overall really good. The "familia de o" is looking more and more golden each time we visit them. We found out
last week that they are actually married!!! However, there are still
some challenges, the biggest being that the husband drinks. The oldest
daughter went to church with a member-neighbor and the parents were
going to come in their motorcycle later. BUT, the husband went out to
drink with his buddies instead of coming straight home from work (the
night shift) and didn´t come back until 2 in the afternoon. I went to
visit them with the ward mission leader and found out about all this.
The husband was asleep drunk. The 3 year old son even knew about his
dad´s problems..."mi papá anda bolo"...speaking of that...the 3 year old
son, J, has a genetical problem with two of his smallest toes on
his right foot and is going to have surgery this Wednesday.
They grew larger than the other ones. The pinky toe and the ring toe
are much larger than the big toe. I tried explaining to them the "this
little piggy went to market" but the joke didn´t translate well.
Anyways, they needed to buy a special soap to wash the foot in
preparation for the operation, but the father "lost it" when he went
drinking with his buddies. The wife was really upset and started crying
after telling us. They had said a prayer as a couple before going to bed
Friday
night, but she recognizes that the adversary is making his attacks. We
had a good lesson with her and gave her ánimo. Yes, their is a
challenge, but I know that the Lord can touch and change his heart. This
just means that this family has even more to gain from the gospel.
We
are working a lot to get other people married. We worked with the
Bishop to sell donuts from Pricemart (or Price Smart? I´m not sure...but
it´s the equivalent to Costco or Sam´s Club) to members and
missionaries. The family also sold 4 boxes door to door. See the
pic...We sold 18 boxes with a ganancia of 720 Lempiras. Not bad. My
companion and I bought 3 boxes...plenty of breakfast for this week.
Well, I hit the 14th month mark this past Friday...this
is going by way too fast. By the end of this change I will have 15
months in the mission with about 8 1/2 months to go. Still not too
baggy...just focused on working hard. #dedicated #loseyourself (in the
work)
Los Almendros, Zona Choloma 2/23/14 - 3/2/15
I´ll end with a story from the ward mission leader´s testimony yesterday:
Hay
la historia de una conversación entre un padre y su hijo. El hijo le
preguntó "Papá, ¿crees que puedo vivir todos los mandamientos durante el
transcurso de este año?" El padre, riéndose un poquito, le respondió
"No hijo, no creo que puedas." El hijo, le preguntó otra vez "Papá,
¿crees que puedo vivir todos los mandamientos este mes?" Otra vez, le
respondió que no. "¿Una semana?" "No" respondió el padre. "¿Un día?"
Tampoco. "¿Una hora?" "Bueno," respondió el padre esta vez, "tal vez,
pero todavía creo que no puedas" El hijo preguntó a su padre una ultima
vez, "Papá, crees que puedo vivir perfectamente los mandamientos durante
el transcurso de un minuto?" Por fin, el padre le contestó "Sí. Creo
que puedes." Entonces, el hijo le dijo a su padre "Bueno, este significa
que debemos vivir los mandamientos minuto trás minuto, y luego hora
tras hora, hasta que podamos vivir los mandamientos perfectamente y
lleguemos a ser como Nuestro Padre Celestial. Claro, no somos perfectos
en esta vida, pero podemos tratar de vivir los mandamientos
perfectamente en cada momento."
Well, have a great week!
-Elder Lund
Los Almendros, Zona Choloma 2/23/14 - 3/2/15
Los Almendros is Beautiful to Elder Lund
¡Buenas!
Well,
this past week I had changes. I knew I had a 75% chance of leaving, but
as always, it was a little tough to leave the area, especially with a
baptism this past Saturday
that I missed and an upcoming family who will get married and baptized
in March. It was tough saying goodbye, but I was able to despiderme de
casi todos.La estaca choloma (the choloma stake) has a plan for member missionary work. It starts with members writing down 20 names, choosing names based on prayer, PLANTING THE INITIAL SEEDS by doing one action each week such as sharing a book of mormon, watching a church movie, FHE, etc, all this while praying and fasting for their friend. When the initial seeds are planted, the full-time missionaries will come in, teach the doctrine, and baptize. Accelerating the work of salvation. We worked with families this past week as well. The ward is supportive (and there is a chapel!!!) with this initiative. They also recognized the need for a perpetual marriage fund so that the missionaries don´t have to worry about marrying people. They just focus on teaching, helping investigators repent, and then the members help with the marriage. As always, the investigators will have to do their part such as selling tamales or something like that.
Funny
experience last night. First of all, dinner fell because it was far
away and getting late so we went home and made baleadas. Our tortillas
were a little ugly, so we decided to just eat tortillas, eggs, frijoles,
and mantequilla (cream). It was a lot of fun. As we were about to go to
bed, I noticed something inside the covers of my bed. I touched it and
it felt like a squishy toy...I thought my comp was messing with me or I
had a bag of bleach there but as I lifted up the covers, we discovered a
garrobol (male iguana) was in my bed!!! (Sound familiar mom? jajajaja)
After some time, I caught it (2 for 2) and we took pics, videos, etc. To
make the story even better, this morning, we showed it to the hermana
who lives with us (we live in a room seperated from the house...I guess
you could say it´s a guest house...but much more chasta). As I was
showing the hermana this morning, the garrobol shook a lot and the tail
broke off...it hid under some tools as the dog started hunting it down.
Long story short, we captured it again, taped the tail to the body again
with duct tape, took pics, and then set it free near the river.
Well, I don´t have anything else. Pray for us so we can keep up the good work. #dedicated #loseyourself (in the work)
CHEQUE!!!
-Elder Lund
Los Almendros, Zona Choloma 2/16/14 - 2/23/15
Fe (Faith) -- A Short Word, But Brings Miracles
Well, another week here in the mission. We had set the goal to have
3 baptisms, but each one fell. However, we have a baptism this Saturday
for A from San Francisco. His wife was going to be baptized as
well, but told us last week that she doesn´t want to stop going to her
evangelical church because she "met (came to know) Jesus" there...but
after she told us that she is still going to go with her husband and
learn more from us. I think she will follow her husband´s example when
she recognizes the blessings and understands the doctrine of eternal
marriage. Gotta have patience.
We had some ups
and we had some downs with some investigators, but overall things are
progressing. K is starting to open back up again. Her faith
is building and she actually came to church yesterday! We also had
R (11) and N come. R´s mom and sister didn´t come to
church, but she is super animada and can help set the example for the
family.
We had a lesson with J (N´s mom) this past Wednesday
with one of the counselors of the Branch Presidency. We taught about
the principle of Faith. Despite being such a short word (just "fe" in
Spanish) it literally brings about miracles in our lives. Despite a good
lesson, she still needs time to think about baptism. Thank you for
being willing to donate for the operation, but we have been told not to
give money (even for weddings) in order for the people to build their
faith and remain active in the church after baptism.
I
just found out from an email that investigators in Ocotillo - A y
J and their son J - are making pizza with members so they can
get married and baptized. Sweet!!!! The importance of planting seeds.
Well,
yesterday we watched some videos from the Presidencia de Área about the
Plan de Área 2015. It gave me a lot of ánimo to work harder in this
part of the Lord´s vineyard. If you haven´t sent the birthday package, can you download these videos as well? Here´s the link:
After
church, we went to San Francisco and had a neat experience. SF is kind
of far and costs us 60 Lempiras in mototaxi (in total for both of us).
When we got there, all of our citas had fallen within 5 minutes. I was a
little bummed. I was thinking about taking a break for 15-20 minutes to
think about some things (problems with chismes and chambres that some
investigators had received from members of the ward earlier that day)
but then remembered the experience in Ocotillo when the exact same thing
happened. I had sat down and then remembered from Elder Holland´s BYU
talk about Thomas Edison and said how after a devestating fire, Edison
said "we´re rebuilding". We later found a referal and she and her two
kids (R) went on to get baptized. Entonces, in San Francisco, I
remembered that when I was discouraged and decided to "rebuild" and
start contacting. To make a long story short, we found 2 great families.
One family, the son was in San Pedro for 1-2 months during vacation and
went to church with her older sister is a recent convert. We didn´t
meet the family (only the son was there) but there are 4 in total that
can be baptized. With a little more ánimo, we went contacting and I felt
prompted to contact a house. The man said "come in come in"...joking
around, I asked him if we knew each other and he said no, but we can
right now. We went on to teach the Restoration and his wife came back at
the end of "the great apostasy"...we finished the lesson and asked us
about baptism. The "wife" (unión libre) told us "I want to get baptized,
but I know I need to get married. A lot of churches say ´get baptized
first and then married´ but I know from the bible that no fornicator can
enter into the kingdom of God"...We challenged them to baptism and they
accepted. They also know A so we invited them to his baptism. A
lot of work to go, but my testimony has increased dramatically. When
everything seems to have fallen, just say "we´re rebuilding" and then
get to work.
Well, still don´t know if I have changes yet. We´ll find out tonight. If not, let´s have a good 4th change here in Río Lindo and if so, well, on to the next one.
CHEQUE!!!
-Elder Lund
Río Lindo, Zona Yojoa 2/9/14 - 2/16/15
Tender Mercies
¡Buenas!
Another pretty good week here in Río Lindo, except for the lack of baptisms, but those will come.
We
started out the week with divisions with the APs. Elder Amezcua from DF
Mexico came with us and Elder Merlos, my old comp from Texas, went with
Río Lindo 2. We had some good lessons and I learned a lot. It was good
talking with Merlos again about our converts we have from Ocotillo. I
found out that E and D are pregnant. He is prepping to
receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and their son turns 8 in March or
April and will be baptized. They are both preparing to hopefully be
sealed this year in the temple.
We had a lot of
progress from a golden contact from December...Aníbal and his wife
(already legally married) R. We visited them in San Francisco de
Yojoa twice this past week...once with Hermano R (Elder´s Quorum
President) and once with Hermana S (Soc Soc President). We were
working with them to be baptized the 14th, but he works every other sunday
so he wouldn´t be able to be confirmed on the 15th. We moved it to the
21st for this reason and also to give a little more time for R to
stop drinking café. A is so pilas he already had stopped when he
heard about it his first Sunday in church and he also asked us to visit his friend this upcoming week. Future QE President or Branch President.
We
had a little more success with N and her mom this week. We were
able to get on good terms again with her, but still no permission. Basically what happened is
at the end of the lesson, I invited her to be baptized and she accepted
"when I´m ready". I then told her that her daughter was ready to go and
invited her to give permission. She said no. I felt prompted to ask her
again and then she finally told us why. Her brothers are against the church and have been against it from the
beginning, but have never talked to us (miedo?) One lives in the states
and sends money to her, specifically for an upcoming operation that she
needs. N gets baptized = no money. She accepted to have a lesson in
the church this Wednesday with a member.
A lot of other tender mercies and milagritos, but not enough time to write.
We worked in San Antonio de Cortés this Thursday.
It is super far away from Río Lindo (30-45 minutes in moto taxi and
about 90 Lempiras per person) but we have some references and
investigators that already have 2 asistencia at church. M and her 2
daughters. We taught her on her patio and challenged her to baptism.
Afterwards, we were about to leave but felt impressed to contact a house
that seemed to "stand out"...the woman let us in...again on the front
patio... and had a Como Comenzar Enseñar with her. Turns out, 9 people
live in her house - her 2 parents, her "husband", and her 5 siblings
ages 21, 20, 18, 16, and 13. They don´t attend a church. She is very
interested in the message. She accepted an invitation to be baptized.
She gave us a phone number to call the next time we are in San Antonio.
Super awesome experience, but a lot of challenges since they live super
far away and it will be very difficult to go to church...planting seeds
for the future branch/ward in San Antonio 5-15 years from now. Neat experience and super beautiful the ride back to Río Lindo.
Well,
I´ve got a little cold right now, but we played fútbol (just us 4
missionaries from Río Lindo) and prepped for the week today. This could
be my last week in Río Lindo as I have 3 changes, but as always, a dónde
me mandes iré (o si no me mandes, me quedaré).
--Elder Lund
Río Lindo, Zona Yojoa 2/2/14 - 2/9/15
"Just Another Day in Paradise!"
Elder Lund Interviewing for a Baptism
P-Day at the Zoo--Reminded him of Put Put Goes to the Zoo from his younger days.
Well, we had a really great week...until Saturday night...but I´ll get into that later.
I finished 13 months in the mission this Tuesday
by fasting with and for our investigator N to receive permission
from her mother, J, to get baptized. We spent most of that day in
San Francisco putting in some good quality work. We have 4 really good
investigators that we are working with that are preparing for baptism
starting the 14th of February
and into March. J, M, A and R. A and R are
super pilas, but I worry that they may not feel prepared to be baptized
on the 14th. They have 2 church assistance and should be coming this
upcoming Sunday.
We are planning to have two lessons with member this week - one with
Sociedad Socorro (Soc Soc) and one with Qúorum de Élderes.
We had a neat little experience on Thursday.
We were planning on having a lesson with R and her two
daughters (old contacts) but the other Elders planned to watch "Joseph
Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" so we invited them. We stopped by for
the invitation, but the mom didn´t want to leave the house alone so we
walked with the 11 year old daughter with a neighbor (less active
member) to the chapel at 2 in the afternoon. We watched the film with
other investigators in the church and they both enjoyed it. About an
hour after we had dropped them both off, they rode their bikes to find
us and she asked us for a Book of Mormon to read. We were kind of
surprised but gave it to her. She came to church with that
neighbor on Sunday and brought a friend. We´ll see what we can do in these upcoming weeks to help their families get reactivated and baptized.
Interesting
experience with M and C with a member...but not enough time
to explain. Hopefully just mentioning this now will help me remember in
the future.
I did divisions with an Elder W from Oregon in Santa Cruz on Friday
primarily to give the baptismal interview. It was my first interview
and I was a little nervous before, but I settled down when I got to SC.
His name is O and he lived in the states for several years so he
knows Spanish and English. We had the interview in both languages
switching back and forth. Good experience...felt the spirit...he´s
pilas...great day. One of our investigators from Río Lindo, J, had
moved to SC recently to study with his grandma. While on divisions,
Elder W and I contacted the house and found him. "Coincidence, I
think not!" Hopefully he can now more readily accept the gospel and go
to church since he doesn´t work on Sundays.
When
I got back to Río Lindo after divisions, we stopped by N because
she texted us the night before saying that she had big news. We stopped
by after lunch and she told us she had received permission from her mom
to get baptized. We talked with the mom and she told us there were
conditions but that it was true. We told them we would drop by later in
the evening. We all felt super happy because of the answered prayers and
fast we had had earlier that week.
Now for the
bad news. That night, we went back with the Registro Bautismal to get
her signature, but to be short, things had changed. She told us she
would not sign until her daughter passed a test on Monday that she hadn´t been studying for this entire month. Basically, the mom
was giving unrealistic expectations and not very forgiving with her
"conditions for baptism"...we tried to reason with her and explain to
her about Christ and how he gives us new conditions of repentance.
N had promised to study more this school year, but to only give
permission by passing a test with just 1 day preparation was illogical
and unjust. After trying to express these concerns, she told us "thank
you, but I don´t want you coming back to talk to me or my daughter ever
again. Good night"...N left the room frustrated,
angry, and crying. We tried to be humble about it and gave a handshake
to leave. We walked back to the house (we didn´t have dinner) in
silence.
We had been given a miracle but it
had been taken away again. We feel stuck right now. We have literally
done everything we could do - service, fasting, lessons with member in
the church about the Joseph Smith movie, constant prayers day and night,
etc etc. Our faith is a principle of action, but it has not become a
principle of power. N came to church on her own yesterday without
her mother´s permission. The grandpa, O, is a little more tranquilo
and had called us that night saying "don´t listen to my daughter, she
is sick in the head...o sea, loca"...we aren´t sure what we are going to
do or if we´ll have the baptism this week or ever, but segun y sea la
voluntad del Padre.
In other news, we went to
the Zoo today as a zone. I´ll send pics. This zoo also had go-karts,
paintball, swimming pools, and a rifle shooting range. we just watched animals sleep and be lazy
(and those things are against the manual misional of course)
Well, that´s all I´ve got this week. Cuídense...
--Elder Lund
Río Lindo, Zona Yojoa 1/27/14 - 2/2/15
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