tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52587825442314647042024-03-05T14:12:28.801-06:00Stuff I Love...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.comBlogger1234125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-10193650598461073282018-06-18T13:02:00.000-05:002018-06-19T13:33:40.527-05:00We're Not Tan, We're Just Permanently Covered In A Mix Of Mud And Bike Grease<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Wow! As always so much has happened the past couple weeks. We just got back from all the craziness of transfers, and I'm follow-up training!! I'm going to miss Hermana Hill so much, but I'm SO excited!! My new companion (and stepdaughter) is Hermana Jorgensen and she's so cute 😄</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>My last two weeks with Hermana Hill were awesome! After six weeks of dropping people over and over again, we finally have some solid truth seekers that we're teaching. It's like they all came out of hiding this past week. One woman, Stephanie, came up to us on the street. She told us we had met her a couple weeks ago and shared our card with her. A little while after that she had surgery and went into a coma. Immediately after getting out the coma she tried to call us but she couldn't find the card we gave her, so she just started praying that God would send us her way again. That day we caught her right as she was walking out to her car, and now we're teaching her! She loves the Book of Mormon even though she hasn't even read it yet and she has two kids that want to get baptized! And the only reason we were in her complex to begin with was to visit a member referral (who turned out not to live there anymore). Members are key!!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>So is following the Spirit. Hermana Hill is SO good at that, and a majority of the appointments we've had in the past two weeks have been a result of her following promptings. All she has to say is "I have a feeling we should..." and I'm ready to go. Every time we happen to get there right as the person is getting home.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>We finally figured out how to use Pick Up Sticks in lessons! We've used it twice with families in the ward for a Noche de Hogar (FHE) to teach the Restoration and they love it! It really helps people to visualize the apostasy, and it helps to keep younger kids entertained and focused. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for sending it! 😊</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Más que nada we've done SERVICE this week. Hermana Hill and I helped a member for a combined total of 12 hours in setting up for youth conference. It was SO awesome! (Pictures attached!) And the blessing of serving members: she calls us about every other hour now asking where we are, if we're okay, and if we need her to pick us up or bring us food. I love loving the members 😁</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I love this area. With all the rain lately it feels like we're off-roading on our bikes. I literally had two inches of mud caked on my tires at the end of the day yesterday. But I LOVE the rain!!! It cools everything off and makes people more sympathetic to letting us into their house. Sort of... 😂 but really this area has so much potential, I've just come to the realization that it takes WORK to bring that potential to light. Something I already know about Hermana Jorgensen is that she's a hard worker, so she'll help me be more diligent and I'll help her learn Spanish 🙂 I'm so excited for this upcoming transfer. President Hall leaves in a couple weeks, 7 areas just got closed, and almost all of my favorite missionaries just went home. LOTS of changes (every companionship in my district is training), but I'm excited to see how they play out and what happens with the mission and the work!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I love you all!</i></span></div>
<span style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Studying by the pool in our apartment complex!</span> </i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>REAL Root Beer!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Youth Conference Decorations (a member in our ward PAINTED that Liahona!)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Flowers that look like butter!</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These little guys are called charales and I ate about a hundred of them! </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You just roll them up in tortillas and eat them. Or you can eat them by themselves. They're all dried up so they're like little fish chips and </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;">they're so good!</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"> </span></span></i><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-54327564523520883122018-06-04T13:20:00.000-05:002018-06-19T13:20:38.746-05:00Jesus is My Chicken Nugget<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Just got back from the zoo! P-Days in this area are so great, there's so much to do!</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This week we saw SO many tender mercies. I also fell off my bike again. Apparently this is going to be a weekly thing 😂 luckily we have bus passes so when it gets really bad (and REALLY hot) we can take the bus to our appointments.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We found some AWESOME people to teach this week! One of them was a referral from a member (#memberworkisthebest). We stopped by one night to meet her and talk with her for a bit and when we left and thanked her for her time she said "No I should be thanking you. You're trying to help me change so I can be better!"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I think change is a good theme for this week. Hermana Hill and I have been working SO hard to change ourselves to become better missionaries. We've been working on obedience, positivity, and MEMBER WORK (clearly it's starting to pay off because we've gotten a few referrals this week).</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We also found this kid Marco just walking around on the street. He just moved here from Honduras and upon meeting him he told us he had lots of sins and really just wants to know how he can change and be clean. It's like Heavenly Father dropped a piece of gold right into our lap! Luckily for Marco, that's exactly what we do as missionaries 😊</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We also got pulled over for speeding on our bikes.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Okay not really (though apparently that's happened to President Hall twice). We pulled up into the church parking lot for a water/playing the piano break and this police officer pulled in behind us. He asked if we were okay, told us he was a member from another stake, and then offered to buy us dinner! We went to Chipotle which I haven't had in 6 months and it was SO GOOD 😋 he also gave us his phone number and said if we ever need anything or find ourselves in some sketchy situation to give him a call and he'd send the troops running 😎 so now we have the police on our side, which makes me feel a lot better because we get hit on by lots of creepy dudes.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Less-Active Member Experience this week:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Member: Hey did you hear they're getting rid of chicken nuggets in 2020?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Me: Who?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Member: Like the whole world</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Me: That doesn't sound right...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Member: No it's real. You're going to have to get chicken strips at Chick-Fil-A now</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Me: I don't even like chicken strips...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Member: It's the same thing, just in strip form</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Me: They taste different. I just want my chicken nuggets...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Member: That's right, you don't settle for chicken strips over nuggets, just like you don't settle for boys, only Jesus. Jesus is your chicken nugget.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>(Just to explain the title of my weekly.)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I think that's all the crazy stories I've got for this week. Thanks for bearing through my Chick-Fil-A obsession!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9pFszY66o6NmmrFisve6WVkBA3RniTU23fmtf3DE1m4E12cR6xrLHF13N7_Hg8Ew3yG_ECyior3ndblYbJOdmzuk3ExVbCOzyq4kakPDGuEogYl11-hPBnoTl8asYlBIXxhSEGERlRo7N/s1600/20180604_105942_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9pFszY66o6NmmrFisve6WVkBA3RniTU23fmtf3DE1m4E12cR6xrLHF13N7_Hg8Ew3yG_ECyior3ndblYbJOdmzuk3ExVbCOzyq4kakPDGuEogYl11-hPBnoTl8asYlBIXxhSEGERlRo7N/s640/20180604_105942_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-91778907462348821222018-05-28T13:25:00.000-05:002018-06-19T13:26:12.585-05:00Christianaries<span style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a; font-family: sans-serif;"><i>Whelp I jinxed it. I fell off my bike this week, right into the middle of the street! Thankfully I didn't get run over, but my watch got destroyed so there goes my tan line, I guess. It's okay, this week I'm working on getting a CTR shield tan line on my finger instead 🛡 it'll be so much cooler.</i></span><br />
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<i>So we pretty much dropped ALL of our investigators this week, but amazingly the work has actually picked up! Because we dropped everyone that's not really progressing, we had time to visit the 3 or so that are and we taught more lessons than we ever have this week!</i></div>
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<i>One of the investigators that we considered dropping was Janet, but we had a return appointment with her on Friday. We decided that if she didn't answer the door on Friday for our appointment then we would drop her. We went to her apartment on Friday and knocked the standard 3 times. We waited for a couple minutes and no one answered. We were about to leave the complex but because we had just biked a TON to get there we decided to sit on the stairs for a second to take a break and contact some people. We sent one text and all of a sudden Janet came walking up! She had just gotten back from picking her daughter up from school and invited us in even though she didn't have a ton of time. Our lesson with her was short but went SO well, and she gave us watermelon after!! 🍉</i></div>
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<i>Backtracking a little bit here but on Thursday WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!!! It was so amazing, I've missed it so much!! And the Houston temple is BEAUTIFUL. I'm so grateful to the member that drove us (even though we almost died multiple times), she even took all of our district out for tacos after!</i></div>
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<i>This week has been a really interesting one. Lots of ups and downs as always. Of course dropping people was a bummer, but our zone has had so many baptisms this week! I'm confident that Hna Hill and I are getting closer to contributing to that. </i></div>
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<i>My district leader seems to know exactly how to push me out of my comfort zone, because he keeps giving me assignments that I don't like: leading the music at a baptism, giving the closing prayer at said baptism, giving the discussion at district council (that's all in Spanish by the way), he even volunteered Hna Hill and I to speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday. Saturday night came around and neither of us had written our talks yet, so we tried calling a member of the bishopric to see if we could do a musical number instead of speaking. Well that backfired because then he asked us if we could do both 🤦♀️ it all worked out though. I did A LOT of praying, we wiggled our way out of the musical number, and Heavenly Father helped me pull my talk together just in time. As in I finished writing the last word literally 2 seconds before I got up to speak. </i></div>
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<i>Bonuses of being Spanish speaking missionaries: we came across this guy Faisal this past week, who seemed super cool and interested, but also seemed like he just wanted to bash us. In the middle of our first lesson with him he called his friend and asked him to come over to talk to "those christianaries". We skedaddled around that time-mostly because it was 8 at night and it takes us about an hour to bike home-and then we referred him to the English elders, who gladly taught him. Apparently it went well because Faisal texted us last night and thanked us for sending more missionaries his way. We come across a lot of creepy dudes around here, but I'm super grateful that the elders are always willing to take them off our hands.</i></div>
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<i>Weird experience of the week: a recent convert in the ward threw an acorn at me because I asked him to say the prayer at the end of our lesson. I get it though. Had I had an acorn at the time my district leader asked me to lead and say the prayer at their baptism, I would have thrown it at him 🌰</i></div>
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<i>I'm so grateful for the tender mercies and miracles we've seen this week. There have been SO many, and they all stem from us following promptings from the Holy Ghost (well mostly Hna Hill following promptings and me following her). I can't even explain how cool it is to look back on our week and realize that all the little decisions we made during the day were directed by the hand of God. I really do feel like I'm becoming a tool in His hands.</i></div>
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<i>I also LOVE biking 😄🚴♀️ just thought y'all should know. </i></div>
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<i>-Hermana Thunell</i></div>
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-4435198419096805192018-05-21T13:32:00.000-05:002018-06-19T13:32:48.407-05:00Walk a Mile in My Shoes...or 6<span style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hi everyone! </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sorry there was no weekly last week. We went to the museum! It was SUPER fun but it literally took up our entire P-day. On the bright side, now I have two weeks worth of stories to share!</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I'm LOVING the bike area so far! I haven't fallen yet (🚪✊), but somehow I had six bruises on my leg after the first day here. Like GNARLY bruises, but they've all healed by now. Out here in bike-land it's trendy to have a watch tan line and I'd say mine is coming in nicely 🤣</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The young women had a garage sale/pupusa sale on Saturday as a fundraiser for girl's camp and we (the missionaries) took shifts as companionships running a Book of Mormon stand where we offered free copies and gave church tours. The elders didn't have much luck with it, but Hna. Hill and I passed out 5 Books of Mormon and gave 1 church tour! We also got to eat free pupusas, connect with the members, and do lots of service. After our shift was over we had a lunch appointment with a less-active member, but we didn't have our bikes with us so we ended up walking a mile to get there. When we finally showed up he told us his wife wasn't home. After about 10 minutes of trying to tell him that it really wouldn't be okay if we broke the rules "just this one time", he finally brought some chairs outside and we ate and talked just outside of his apartment. Definitely one of the weirdest appointments I've had. When we were done we walked the mile back to the church where we helped clean everything up from the garage sale. Thankfully we were able to get a ride from a member to our next appointment. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>After that, we still didn't have our bikes and our bus passes are out of money. We managed to sneak onto one bus that took us most of the way home, but the other one was going to take a half hour to pick us up and Hermana Hill was dying of heat stroke so we walked the rest of the way and made it home at the same time the bus did. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Yesterday I taught relief society for the first time! And in Spanish too! Thankfully members in Spanish wards have LOTS of stories to share, so they pretty much taught the lesson themselves 😊</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Favorite Finding Adventure of the Week:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hna Hill: *knocks door*</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>No answer. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Me: *knocks door again a minute later*</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>20-Something Dude opens the door: *chewing on something* "Hey could y'all stop knocking, thanks." *slams door*</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Five minutes later when we're already down the hall</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dude: *opens door again* "And I don't care that my mouth is full!" *slams door again*</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I guess I can't blame him though. I'd be grumpy if someone interrupted me while I was eating Chick-fil-a (we have 3 of those in our area so basically I'm in heaven).</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I'm learning so much from this area:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>- the gift of tongues is SO REAL</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Jimmy John's can make deliveries to the church</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-ALWAYS wear good walking shoes, even if you aren't planning to do much walking that day.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And lots more. I've got a great spiritual thought brewing so stay tuned for it in an upcoming email!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I've only been in this area for 2 weeks but I already feel like it's helped me grow so much. I'm so excited to see where else the Lord takes me!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG8hXs4mdRizPTwZCZWr-YM6oabRZQMPwIux9hf6IFrZb7Nq20x4rd3xe1T8V1EToaLlLw9daKZSjzleqjyiIe-pwmt8-DBYh1bIf-V5uac9RMCqv1Ndxxlx6vPYvy16vy1jW_fUvxHgNV/s1600/20180519_125116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG8hXs4mdRizPTwZCZWr-YM6oabRZQMPwIux9hf6IFrZb7Nq20x4rd3xe1T8V1EToaLlLw9daKZSjzleqjyiIe-pwmt8-DBYh1bIf-V5uac9RMCqv1Ndxxlx6vPYvy16vy1jW_fUvxHgNV/s640/20180519_125116.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-23829192781809289792018-05-07T13:37:00.000-05:002018-06-19T13:37:59.373-05:00Saying Goodbye to My Birthplace...and My Car<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>That's right, I've been transferred to a biking area 🚴 Texas summer, here I come! I'm just grateful that I have a little bit of an idea of what I'm headed into, so maybe I won't melt completely into a puddle. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The last week of the transfer (and with Hermana Jensen) has been pretty great. We found lots of cool people, spontaneously invited someone to be baptized on June 2nd (he said yes) and drove ALL OVER the boonies of our area, thankfully with a full tank of gas this time. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Yesterday we had stake conference with Quentin L. Cook and it was super weird to go to church in English, but it was awesome. Everyone that spoke was so powerful and really invited us to act on the messages being shared. I've decided to take the invitation to have more compassion, because my sarcasm this transfer has been getting unruly. I feel like I'm being refined from this really craggy rough rock, to a super smooth shiny rock, and sometimes it's not super fun and it involves lots of sweaty helmet hair or holding back super funny witty comments, but I'm glad to know that the Lord has something better for me in mind. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This past transfer has been really hard, but one day President pulled me into his office for an interview to talk about why I'm not happy. I told him all that I felt was going on and when I was finished he just looked at me and said "Hermanita, get off the dumb struggle-bus. You know what you need to do, so do it." At first that made me even more sad, but after I left his office I realized that he was right. I don't know everything, but I've been out here for almost six months and instead of being daunted by all that I need to do, I just need to do it the best I can. I've been happier ever since. And of course as soon as I really started to LOVE my area and throw myself into it, I got transferred. Oh well, now I have a new area and a new companion to love. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Wish me luck in biking all day every day...in a dress! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-9822054920298318172018-04-30T13:44:00.000-05:002018-06-19T13:44:49.426-05:00Oh! Susanna! Oh Don't You Cry For Me, I've Come From Alabama With My Banjo On My Knee<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><i>I love how my allergies turn on and off. Yesterday I ate peanut butter and had no reaction, but on Tuesday, after I FINALLY got to hold a kitten, I spent the rest of the day sick and sneezing. I hope one of these days Heavenly Father will realize I'm not going to stop holding animals and he'll take my allergies away...Until then, I just have to limit the number of strays I cuddle in one day. </i></span><br />
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<i>Something I'm grateful for this week: so many people gave us food during the week (soup, pasta, pupusas) that it didn't matter that our dinner appointment fell through yesterday. We broke our fast with a feast of leftovers :)</i></div>
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<i>We've had a lot of miracles this week. Our investigator Katy has been coming to church finally! She doesn't like driving (I can totally relate) but she's been driving herself anyway. I'm just so proud of her for coming this week and last week, because when I think about it I know that feeling of getting into the car and thinking "Wow, I REALLY don't want to do this," But she's been doing it anyway! And the members are SO great at fellowshipping her, I'm super proud of them, too. </i></div>
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<i>Yesterday after church we had to go out to the far reaches of our area to check out a referral, and in leaving church we realized we only had about 50 miles of gas left. We prayed that we would have enough at least to get there (because we had to go out of our area to get there and it would be really bad to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere outside our area). When we did get there we saw that we had a little less than 30 miles of gas left, and it would take about that much to get home, so we decided we'd have to work that area (a trailer park) for the rest of the night. Turns out everyone who lives there is from Mexico, so not only did we find some awesome news and potentials, but we also found like 6 pregnant dogs, 3 racing horses, and a PYGMY GOAT (you bet I took a picture). </i></div>
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<i>We ended up leaving later than we thought we would and the GPS said it would take 45 minutes to get home so we were afraid we would be late and/or stranded. BUT the power of prayer is REAL. We made it home exactly on time and somehow still had 16 miles of gas left!</i></div>
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<i>Favorite investigator find of the week: This lady Susana who's from Guatemala. We met her and her husband taking care of their trees outside their house and she was super nice and funny. She really likes her trees, though. When we asked how long she and her husband had been married she said "Oh we're not married, we're just together. I don't like marriage because I'd really just rather marry one of my trees. My only problem is that I can't decide which one to marry, because I'm in love with all of them!" She'll be an interesting one to go back and visit. Honestly, I get the plant obsession though. My sunflowers are finally growing again! They're so cute so I decided to name all of them. Pictures included, but I know my handwriting is hard to read, especially in chalk. Their names are Faro, Abish, Russel, and Menta 😊 thanks go to my mom for brightening up my life and our apartment.</i></div>
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<i>A really REALLY great video that we watched this week with a less active family is "The Hope of a Mother" (I hope that's what it's actually called in English. It's "La Esperanza De Un Madre" in Spanish) on the Mormon Channel. It's amazing, and you should all take a minute to watch it this week. </i></div>
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<i>Sometimes it feels like everything is spinning out of my control out here, or like I'm completely lost and I don't really know what I'm doing, but I know that I can always pray to my Heavenly Father and that He will and WANTS to give me direction.</i></div>
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<i>Just a few of my miracles this week. </i></div>
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<i>Thanks to everyone!</i></div>
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<i>-Hermana Thunell ❤</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-260006517121874942018-04-23T13:49:00.000-05:002018-06-19T13:49:52.407-05:00The Week of Dogs<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hi everyone! </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>As always, this week was a mix of ups and downs. We had some miracles, some grumpy people, and some days that we just wanted to sleep (I have never enjoyed taking naps so much in my life). But you know, welcome to mission life. Hermana Jensen and I had great success as far as finding people to teach this week. We found 8 new investigators: Elizabeth, Jennifer, Jonathan, Juan, Juana, Julian, Rob, and Tania. I think I've finally learned the secret to finding: talk to everyone whose name starts with a J! </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This week was also the week of dogs. I swear all the animals in Houston know I'm allergic to them and so all the dogs flock to me. But of course when I want to pet the cats they run away 🐱😒</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Speaking of dogs, we met this guy Juan the other week who's a German Shepherd breeder, so he has EIGHT German Shepherds. We met him at his mom's house, so we didn't get to see them the first time we met him, but for our return appointment we went to his actual house and walked up to the gate to meet 8 German Shepherds barking in our faces. </i></span></div>
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<i style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we waited for Juan to come out (because there's no doorbell or anything), we heard some very loud, very Hispanic music blasting from a fenced-in field behind us. We turned around to check it out and saw a horse DANCING TO THE MUSIC. The man that was training it saw us staring and yelled to us "Come! Come touch my horse!" (but in Spanish). So naturally we hopped the fence and ran on over. He wasn't very interested in our message, but he did tell us we could come over and ride his horse whenever we wanted to 😂</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We went back to Juan's house later and his daughter came out and threatened to let all 8 of the dogs out on us if we came back, so I guess that's that. But meeting Huracan the dancing horse was definitely worth getting yelled at.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I love having the protection of the Lord on our side. He always protects us from people who try to let their dogs out on us and turns them into cuddly puppies instead 😊</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Well, I've run out of focus to write anything else in this weekly. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thanks everyone for dealing with my crazy stories!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-88573534181488230502018-04-02T07:15:00.000-05:002018-04-07T07:15:24.821-05:00Houston, We Have a Problem...<div style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(I've been waiting 4 months to use that as a subject title...)</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I hope everyone loved General Conference as much as I did. From the emails I've gotten this week it seems like the answer is ye! But let me just say that this has definitely been the best General Conference experience I've ever had. Maybe that's because I'm a missionary and Conference is a chance to just sit and relax for a minute and soak in the Spirit. Regardless, it was amazing! The whole time I was watching it I was just thinking of how proud I am to be part of this Church. I love the push to LOVE everyone and to be unified as members in loving others and serving them. I'm so excited to work on loving people even more than I do now!! </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know that Russell M. Nelson is a true prophet of God!</span></i><div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In others news...I still hate driving, especially because I popped our tire this week. We were running way late to one of our appointments and as we pulled up I accidentally rammed into a corner of the curb. I parked and when we got out we could hear the tire letting out all its air. But because we were so late to the appointment we decided to go in and deal with the tire after. Well the appointment ended up lasting until 9 and by the time we came out the tire was completely flat, of course. We called the vehicle coordinator who was on his way to the airport to pick up his wife, so we then had to call the elders who live close by. They came and changed our tire for us so we could get home and then to Firestone the next day. It took about an hour and it had just rained so the elders were pretty much rolling around in mud and puddles trying to change the tire. Their white shirts were so dirty afterward and I felt so bad. But, I'm so grateful that the Church is organized and that we didn't have to worry about all of that ourselves and there are always missionaries nearby that can rescue us.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My new companion, Hermana Jensen, is a super hero! Thanks to her we found 8 new investigators this week, and really connected better with some others that Hermana Bent and I haven't seen in a while. She's got this crazy ability to make total strangers completely open up about the deepest parts of their lives, and then she'll just weave gospel principles into the conversation and suddenly we're being invited inside their house and giving them a Book of Mormon and being invited back.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My absolute favorite investigator is Katy. She's the sister-in-law of a recent convert and she and her family are so cute and she's so funny and sweet. I love them so much. Yesterday we went to visit her because we haven't been able to see her in a while, and as Hermana Jensen started talking Katy started crying and telling us about all the trials in her life and how she wants to go to church so bad but her husband doesn't want to drive her and she doesn't drive (I can relate). She, and people like her, is one of the biggest reasons I'm out here. Because every time we go over I can see how much she wants to be happy and I can see clearly that the gospel can bring her that happiness and that peace that she's looking for. </span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZfhNpYi4GpE9UMHdoq-ajcUXw53tCECn6NgzhRPx5VNjo0NkEjRfmOTUG1HwwL5FdiEH3rqozlNZipWeb3FtGbUO6-Vt43hhOEmM1HqgVAJ2In8qc1JbWhtGWyAmmvMoKkwv3qF9pYQF_/s1600/20180402_093124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZfhNpYi4GpE9UMHdoq-ajcUXw53tCECn6NgzhRPx5VNjo0NkEjRfmOTUG1HwwL5FdiEH3rqozlNZipWeb3FtGbUO6-Vt43hhOEmM1HqgVAJ2In8qc1JbWhtGWyAmmvMoKkwv3qF9pYQF_/s640/20180402_093124.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel that I have and that I can be out here sharing it. I loved the invitation that Brian K. Taylor mentioned in Conference yesterday: "Every time you feel hopeless, lost, or sad open the Book of Mormon." I've definitely seen that the Book of Mormon is the quickest way to make myself happier or more grateful or better directed. I'm so grateful that I have such easy access to revelation from God, and I know that I'm out here because I want people like Katy to realize that they have that same access.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love you all and invite you to accept that invitation as well: When you feel sad, hopeless, or lost READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. That's what it's there for.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks for all the great emails this week!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hermana Thunell</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-77623079623406130512018-03-26T07:17:00.000-05:002018-04-07T07:42:55.776-05:00Two Heart Attacks in One Night<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Hi everyone! </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The weekly's coming a little late today because of transfers! My training is officially over and now I get to take over the area because Hermana Bent got transferred! 😭 It's super sad, I already miss her so much. I don't know if I'm ready to take over the area and it's super hard to think about getting used to the habits of a new companion all over again, but so far that companion, Hermana Jensen, is super nice and seems to be a really hard worker. She's a native Spanish speaker so I'm either one step closer to fluency, or I'm about to be left behind in the dust. Wish me luck!</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>My last week with Hermana Bent was pretty great, mostly bittersweet. We saw our highway horse friend again yesterday with a second horse, but I wasn't able to get a picture 😑</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>This week was also the week of heart attacks! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>We've been asked to make 10 member connections a day, because honestly "out of sight out of mind", and we want the members to always be thinking of how they can do missionary work. But I also like being creative and texting members every day is great, but it gets boring. So we've starting heart attacking people!! It's super fun because usually by the time we get to the end of the night all of our plans have fallen through, so whenever we have time, we look up what members are in the area and heart attack a few of them! It makes people super happy and it's something fun we can end our night with.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I'm super pumped for General Conference, and I hope you all are too. The reason we have prophets is for them to receive revelation from God, and General Conference is the opportunity to listen to those revelations and apply them to our own lives.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>We're challenging all of our members to start thinking of the questions they want to bring to General Conference, and I challenge all of you to do the same! </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heavenly Father wants to give us direction, we just have to bring Him the questions and challenges we need help with. I know that when we do that and prepare to act on the answer, He will give it to us.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-65454863422772638512018-03-19T07:22:00.000-05:002018-04-07T07:42:11.994-05:00Happy Pi/Cheesecake Day!<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I can't believe it's P-Day again! This week has been a real rollercoaster, but I've really seen God sending me tender mercies right when I need them most.</i></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Pretty much this has been the most stressful week of my mission so far. Transfers are coming up on the 26th and we all have a feeling Hermana Bent is getting transferred. So I'll be out of training and taking over the area with a new companion. With that I know I'll have to start driving again, because it's a hassle to have someone driving when they have no idea where they're going. That sort of hit me last Monday as we prepared to have exchanges with the sister training leaders and I got ready to practice taking over the area. In addition, we had a mission-wide call with President Hall that night where he pretty much shwacked all of us and said we needed to be talking to more people and working harder. From then on we've been counting the number of people we talk to and invite to do something every day. We're supposed to invite 20 people to act every day (140 a week that we report at the end of the week), which is reasonable for our area, but still stressful because we have to keep track of it. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Tuesday morning was rough. I didn't feel like a good missionary and I was super stressed out about taking over the area for the day and also the thought of driving. We got to our meet-up place and Hermana Bent went with Hermana Montoya while Hermana Tucker came with me. Hermana Bent handed me the keys and I just looked at them, realized how much I DID NOT want to drive, and started crying. </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hermana Tucker decided to drive instead.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Taking over the area turned out a lot better than I thought it would be and Hermana Tucker and I got along super well. She assured me at the end of the day that I was a good missionary and that I'll be able to do this without Hermana Bent, but I was still REALLY happy to be back with her by the end of the night. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Wednesday was rough. I was nauseous and dizzy and super tired because I didn't sleep well- all from stress- and I pretty much just wanted to lay on the floor all day and throw up and cry. We went out anyway and worked super hard on this one street for 2 hours, trying to get all of our contacts, but just as I was starting to feel better because of our effort, our district leader called us and told us that the way we were counting our contacts didn't count. So we went from having 10 contacts from the morning to having only 3. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thursday morning was a floor morning, until Hermana Bent told me to get up or she would pour water on me (in a loving way). We had an appointment with a member from one of the English wards (the reason why we had the appointment is a long story), and that turned out to be super weird but super fun. Somehow we ended up at McDonald's where Hermana Bent and I sang and played the ukulele. I think the member was hoping we'd become famous or something, but no one really paid attention to us 😂 but it was fun anyway and she bought us lunch. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Friday was our service day. Since the mission office is in our area Hermana Bent and I clean it every Friday, which is so fun. This past week President Hall needed our help erasing all the phones from missionaries who have gone home, so we did that as our service instead of cleaning. It was only supposed to last two hours but it ended up taking 4 and a half hours and we missed an appointment with one of our investigators. So that was kind of a bummer, but we did find some really really awesome music on one of the phones and Bluetooth-ed them over to ourselves so now we have 5 songs that we've been listening to on repeat every waking hour for the past 4 days 😊 </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>President pulled me out for a quick interview during the service project to talk about how stressed out I am and he told me 1. That I should see the counselor and 2. That I should start driving. </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So after leaving the mission office I drove to our next appointment! It was awful and I really didn't like it but I'm one step closer to taking over the area. 👍</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Saturday and Sunday we had baptisms in the zone, but none of our investigators showed up to either so we couldn't go. It's been really hard this week because I feel like we're giving our best effort and I come home exhausted every night, but we're not seeing the numbers as evidence of it. But this week we're going to keep working even harder because we want people at church! And we want people on date! And we want to baptize someone!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We also have Savior of the World coming up! I've never heard of it before so I don't know if they do it in other places, but it's a musical all about the life of Jesus Christ put on by the stake. They're doing shows in English and in Spanish and all the members are a part of it so they're all really excited to perform it. There's a lot of hype building up for it and I'm super excited to go, but we can't watch it unless we have an investigator with us, so we're handing out invitations like crazy.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We're not really teaching anyone consistently right now, but we're excited to change that this week, and hopefully get someone we can bring to Savior of the World. I hope I get to see at least one showing of it. And hopefully in Spanish because our ward is basically completely in charge of the Spanish showings. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>That's really all I've got this week. Thanks for all the emails, I'm sorry I can't respond to all of them.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<span style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>P.S. It was Pi Day on Wednesday but all we could find was cheesecake 😂😂</i></span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-61092976184649768932018-03-12T07:50:00.000-05:002018-04-07T07:51:25.923-05:001/2 a Baptism, Full Tray of Cookies<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of cookies, I'm pretty sure I cured myself of my peanut allergy, because I've been eating Reese's Pieces and peanut butter cookies all week (much to the dismay of my companion. Don't worry she knows where my Epi-pen is at all times). So pretty much I'm living the life I've always wished I could live 😂 now if I could just cure myself of my animal allergies...unfortunately no matter how many stray cats I cuddle I keep coming home sneezing ☹ </span></i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other than pushing the boundaries of my allergies, I've discovered this week that I also love biking as a missionary! We biked about 12 miles on Tuesday and I've decided that the trick to it is to be prepared to be embarrassed. Not only is it a process to figure out how to ride in a skirt (mine got stuck in my tire and ripped), but it's also super fun to be riding, see a person on the street, yell good morning to them, and then hit the brakes and do a nice little awkward backup to ask if you can share something with them. 👌 Biking is seriously so fun. As President Hall says: the happiest missionaries bike. And it's so true. We didn't bike all day, but we biked all morning and found that we were pumped for the rest of the day. I honestly couldn't stop smiling.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sundays are miracle days! We seriously have at least one miracle every Sunday. This past week we've been trying to set up an FHE with one of Hermana Bent's recent converts and her daughter who we're teaching but we haven't been able to get in contact with them. We wanted to have it with another family in the ward but Saturday night our plans for that fell apart, so we went to church on Sunday knowing that if we wanted to have the noche de hogar (FHE) we had to find a family that day at church who could do it last minute and is also friends with Sandra, the recent convert/has kids the same age as Annie, her daughter. We went to church with one family in mind and planned to talk to them, but they didn't end up coming to church. And Sandra didn't come to church either so we forgot about the whole thing. Until the end of church when one of the members came up to us as everyone was leaving and said "Hey my family is having a noche de hogar with some of our friends tomorrow and we were wondering if you had any families you're teaching that you want to invite." I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE FOLLOW SPIRITUAL PROMPTINGS. He has no idea how much he blessed our lives.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also had a baptism yesterday. We've been teaching a little boy named Eugenio whose parents are members but they asked us to teach him the missionary lessons because they wanted him to understand the importance of his decision to be baptized. So it only counts as a half baptism, but it's still way rewarding to see someone you've taught get baptized! It was actually SUPER stressful because I had to give the talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost in Spanish and I was freaking out, but when it was all over the family gave us all their leftover cookies so we have even more cookies to eat, besides the peanut butter ones we made, and most of them won't kill me 👍</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We get a surprising amount of food, and not even just from members. There's a lady that lives in the apartment across from us and one day we asked her if we could borrow a cup of milk. She came back out with a GIANT glass of milk. So naturally we had to repay her, so we made her some cookies and left them on her doorstep a few days later. Well, last week she knocked on our door at about 9:45 at night (side note: it's actually super creepy when people knock on our door at night) and gave us a bowl of this delicious ice cream creation on the plate that we gave her the cookies on. And then the next night she knocked on our door at about the same time and gave us a GIANT plate of rice and meat and homemade cucumber ranch stuff. She told us that she just recently quit her job so she just cooks all the time and she thought we might want some lunch for the next day because she knows we're out all day. She's like our mom, it's so sweet. We now have three of her dishes so if anyone has any ideas of what we can make her to step it up, please let me know (I'm thinking empanadas and quiche). I love nice people.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still trying to figure out how to send videos, because we've got some really funny ones. But for now here are some pictures of fun things we find on people's doorsteps, the stickers one of the kids we're teaching put all over my arm during the lesson, and Hermana Bent's favorite daily planning outfit 😂</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Hermana Thunell</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-25387996446932797782018-02-26T16:00:00.000-06:002018-02-27T07:32:29.304-06:00Holding Birds and Accepting Challenges<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Well, I finished reading the Book of Mormon. </i></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I love the chance I've had to take on Moroni's challenge again:</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4 Y cuando recibáis estas cosas, quisiera exhortaros a que preguntéis a Dios el Eterno Padre, en el nombre de Cristo, si no son verdaderas estas cosas; y si pedís con un corazón sincero, con verdadera intención, teniendo fe en Cristo, él os manifestará la verdad de ellas por el poder del Espíritu Santo;</span></i> </blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5 Y por el poder del Espíritu Santo podréis conocer la verdad de todas las cosas. </span></i></blockquote>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next go round of reading will be in Spanish!</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Speaking of Spanish, here are some things that have been fun to explain to one of our sister training leaders who is from Venezuela:</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-The meaning of the word "edgy"</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-Bop-It</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-Scavenger Hunts</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-What roadkill is</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm sure there will be more to come. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In return here are a few of the words that I've learned this week:</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Merendar- to have an afternoon snack (I'll be using this a lot)</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ardilla- squirrel</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cazar- to hunt (not to be confused with casar, which is pronounced the same but means "to marry")</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">We were challenged to lead with an invitation to baptism this week in every contact, which I found wayyy intimidating at first. We can't even get our investigators to commit to baptism, how are we supposed to walk up to strangers and do it?? But, I know that if we take on the challenges we've been given, we will see results. We got 2 new investigators out of inviting everyone we saw to be baptized. Mauricio and Jennifer both said yes even though we had just met them! So that's super cool. This week has been a good one to see results. We aren't teaching a ton of people and our most recent progressing investigator literally disappeared this week, but on Sunday almost all of the less-actives we've been working with came to church! They told us that our visits with them really helped them remember that the Lord loves them and that church is the place they need to be on Sunday. We also got a call from the Vietnamese elders that a referral we had sent them had become a new investigator for them so that was awesome! Most of the time we send referrals and never hear about how it goes, and just hope that they actually contact and teach them, so it was really nice to hear from the elders and know that the short conversation we had with a man who didn't really speak much English, the seed we planted, was starting to sprout. </span> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also supposedly drank cashew juice yesterday? But I didn't have an allergic reaction so it's highly likely that I misunderstood.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thanks for the support as always! Please enjoy this picture of me with a bird on my arm 😊 (on that same night I also held a bunny!)</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Love, Hermana Thunell</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-17476515370861628402018-02-19T16:59:00.002-06:002018-02-19T16:59:27.510-06:00"What's that hairstyle called? I want to do it on my sister so she'll look ugly?"<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I could probably just pick a kid-quote every week for the title of my emails. It's a good thing I have high self esteem considering how many kids we're working with and how often they don't have a filter on what they say. The above quote is from 11 year old Celso, who made up for it by telling me sincerely that it slipped out of his mouth and that he really does love us. He just doesn't like my hair apparently 😂</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Well, I officially don't know how to pray in English anymore. Hopefully that means I'm getting better at Spanish. I feel like I've turned a corner this week in my Spanish. Last Sunday I could understand all the talks and lessons so much more clearly, and all of this week I've found myself able to express myself in Spanish better and slipping into it much easier than I could before. A lady answered the door the other day saying "Hola" and before I knew what I was doing I was introducing ourselves in Spanish. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This week has been on the rougher side. We've dropped more people than ever, and been dropped just as much. We probably lost about half of our investigators, BUT it's okay because now we get to fill that space with real truth-seekers. We're making a push to work with members and get referrals, so it'll be exciting to see how that turns out. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This has been the week of crazy dinner appointments. For some reason the ward went crazy last week in filling up our meal calendar and the calendar of who can come out with us and when. We had some young women come up to us yesterday and offer their help if we ever needed anyone to come out teaching with us, which is awesome because when I was their age I needed a major kick in the butt to go out with the sister missionaries</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> (#mydadwasthebestwardmissionleaderever).</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We got double-booked for dinner appointments yesterday and today, so that was a fun challenge to work out. We had to reschedule the remaining two dinner appointments to during the week, which we can only go to if they bring a non member to dinner. Fingers crossed that happens, because I LOVE dinner with members. The last time we had dinner with Obispo (the time we ate cow stomach) he invited another family from the ward to eat with us too, the familia Diaz, who made this AMAZING dessert with plátanos, queso, and guayaba. We brought it up with Hermana Diaz in our last video call with her, asking her to make it again for our upcoming dinner appointment. We asked her what they were called and she cheerfully answered "Plátanos".</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"No, hermana, like what is the dessert as a whole called?"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>*thinks for a second* "Plátanos con queso".</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"But is there like a name?"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>*thinks again* "Plátanos con queso y guayaba".</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Not as cool as I was hoping it would be called, but they're so good so I guess they don't need a cool name.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>So I was reading about the 3 Nephites this week, which a super super cool topic. And then it got me thinking if maybe I've met one of the 3 Nephites before, and if I had, who would I guess it would be? So that's my question to everyone this week, just something fun and hypothetical: if you were to guess that someone you know was one of the 3 Nephites, who would that someone be and why?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This is fun to ask to random ward members or missionaries, because essentially the question is: who's the most interesting and simultaneously righteous person you know? It brings up lots of interesting stories. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thanks everyone for all the support! Three months down, 15 more to go. Not that I'm counting 😂</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Pictures:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>There are lots of really pretty flowers and super cool plants. If people turn down salvation, I just ask if I can take a picture of their plants.</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlwORiPHqnNcELxvSeoD8MCqm5YaZi1rWaoJc-Bkz32aPQ8ljQQ4KLid_xxMBuMaecowdTs388t4DygTrKij-uQ-X2r98MySu68XgutYN_Cm1OKM6vv8u3DMFwBMv8M82MrLH7sHHq8z-/s1600/20180213_105847.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlwORiPHqnNcELxvSeoD8MCqm5YaZi1rWaoJc-Bkz32aPQ8ljQQ4KLid_xxMBuMaecowdTs388t4DygTrKij-uQ-X2r98MySu68XgutYN_Cm1OKM6vv8u3DMFwBMv8M82MrLH7sHHq8z-/s640/20180213_105847.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbhTERalNcT_Vb0eKK-7rbL26uGa1pj8OJ522PrRY4i484TCLfXUAjZ-_lHC2B9pkxeXz8_hZTY0nqLuWy3t5sflzjaGqEZsd79el0DjduPEflIKjdZiJd51ZruDXW_BCNjBrirFnnBAK/s1600/20180216_113803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbhTERalNcT_Vb0eKK-7rbL26uGa1pj8OJ522PrRY4i484TCLfXUAjZ-_lHC2B9pkxeXz8_hZTY0nqLuWy3t5sflzjaGqEZsd79el0DjduPEflIKjdZiJd51ZruDXW_BCNjBrirFnnBAK/s640/20180216_113803.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Whenever we make videos we always get distracted and just end up taking random videos and pictures of ourselves. I can't send videos, so there's just an example picture. </i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicr7xwhoQEm-O-cEXnvbMuP9VIWxHQ2rF7GrDnNQNeCxFV10BsSdzeE3jgainZtomayXFgeROYy8ouLr-3WRvk3Cyb6dA2wIw1HJjBuZU7cmmo6Mj4pJezziEK7wCWu_OwISLI_dDlwia9/s1600/20180214_204536.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicr7xwhoQEm-O-cEXnvbMuP9VIWxHQ2rF7GrDnNQNeCxFV10BsSdzeE3jgainZtomayXFgeROYy8ouLr-3WRvk3Cyb6dA2wIw1HJjBuZU7cmmo6Mj4pJezziEK7wCWu_OwISLI_dDlwia9/s640/20180214_204536.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>A part of my picture collage on the wall at my desk. I have 80 pictures, so I had to do SOMETHING creative with them. </i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcRyrN9srLahMrtcMAurWV8wMx6LlTvwiG1aSTRDvRtwiN_BeHfNNKVe5AjYMg1J0jT3GFZEXH2sXekHjcCF1YSaa_zJMy8wK-sx8g3QKb7nyBxSHOhxhJpkq_x5VgBIz5crGuA9-Cr6S/s1600/20180219_073758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcRyrN9srLahMrtcMAurWV8wMx6LlTvwiG1aSTRDvRtwiN_BeHfNNKVe5AjYMg1J0jT3GFZEXH2sXekHjcCF1YSaa_zJMy8wK-sx8g3QKb7nyBxSHOhxhJpkq_x5VgBIz5crGuA9-Cr6S/s640/20180219_073758.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The last one is a picture one of our kiddos took of us while we were teaching her how to post on Snapchat. </i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkM7RaSw8E75KutPdGOf7a4vrrWAQpdxrtrIM6JLqUL3W3-41aq80Jd97_XBfKbAwjgb5FFXSTBA4isFudPY6UjBxVsgta5bNExjxSODwAZeQGlvlFThtnfx1oUzs6XX9BxJRYHlwVEoLM/s1600/Snapchat-12378253791.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="720" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkM7RaSw8E75KutPdGOf7a4vrrWAQpdxrtrIM6JLqUL3W3-41aq80Jd97_XBfKbAwjgb5FFXSTBA4isFudPY6UjBxVsgta5bNExjxSODwAZeQGlvlFThtnfx1oUzs6XX9BxJRYHlwVEoLM/s640/Snapchat-12378253791.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-23841424159295257322018-02-05T17:48:00.000-06:002018-02-05T18:10:47.325-06:00The Spider Whisperer<i style="color: #26282a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hola todos!</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This week I have learned the importance of journal writing. I didn't write in my journal at all, so I don't really remember what happened or know what to write about. SO, I'm just going to share this really cool part of the Book of Mormon:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Alma 46:12-13</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"And it came to pass that [Moroni] rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof and wrote upon it-In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children-and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And he fastened on his headplate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land-"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Moroni was riled up, ready to fight the enemies of his faith and to defend the truth. I imagine him running home, rifling through things until he finds a coat, something to write with. He tears it and scratches out quickly the thoughts of his heart. I doubt he took the time to find the best material, or write in cute bubble lettering. He was inspired to defense and ready to show it. He puts on his armor, grabs his makeshift banner-and prays. Of all the weapons of war, he chooses the humblest, the smartest, the strongest. And then, armed fully with God's power, he shares his light and rallies others to his righteous cause. I love the intensity of these verses, like action scenes in a movie with this mighty, but probably quiet prayer tucked in between lines.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Prayer is our best weapon. USE IT!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Mornings are really hard for me out here. When most people are tired they're grumpy, but when I'm tired I feel sad. But on mornings that are the hardest, I always have to take the time to stop and realize that I haven't prayed. Prayer makes everything better, and we should never be going out to face the world without its protection.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We've met some really awesome people this week, and because of the power of the Book of Mormon we've been able to teach them and get to know them a little better.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>One of those people we met just lost his wife on New Year's Day, the day I came into the mission. We shared Alma 40 with him, and later taught the Plan of Salvation. He shared with us the grief he feels over the loss of his wife, the guilt he feels for not being a better husband, and that he knows she's accepted the gospel and he asked us how he could live in paradise with her.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Lord prepares people. It's crazy to think about where I was on January 1st, tired and nervous and missing my family, versus where he was: in a hospital, holding his wife's hand as she died, thinking it was the last time he would see her. I miss my family so much, but I'm grateful to know that this sacrifice is only temporary, and that I can live with my family eternally. That's why we're out here as missionaries: to share that message with people like Eddie and help them know that they don't have to hold onto that grief and guilt.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>In less spiritual news, there has been a spider in our apartment for the past couple days that I affectionately named Reggie. I don't mind having him crawl around on my desk, but Hermana Bent HATES spiders, so this morning when he was crawling on the wall she told me if I didn't get him out of the apartment, she would kill him. Twenty minutes and lots of screaming later, we released Reggie onto the balcony to be free. I'll miss him, but it's probably better this way.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you everyone for all the love and support! I'll be better at keeping my journal this coming week.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-53160662420743458892018-01-29T19:07:00.000-06:002018-02-05T19:09:28.769-06:00Whoever Sent Me Root Beer, Thank You<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hola everyone!</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This week has been a rollercoaster of events. So many that I wasn't sure what to title this email. I felt like my own series of Harry Potter books:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Thunell and the Fake Phone Numbers</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Thunell and the Dreaded Sacrament Talk</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Thunell and the Cow Stomach</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Yep. We ate cow stomach. We also got chased by dogs, taught a dental health class, laughed until we cried, and got put on bed rest. Well. I got put on bed rest. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Thunell and the Attack of the Chihuahas</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Thunell and "Agua De La Llave Es Mejor"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Thunell and the Jokes That Really Weren't That Funny</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Thunell and the Mysterious Illness</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The whole collection will hit a bookstore near you in May of 2019. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>BUT this week has also been really really great. We got to eat cactus (which made up for the cow stomach), played Language Study Pick-up Sticks (thank you Grandma and Grandpa), and made a video about the Book of Mormon. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>For those of you who saw the video (it's on Facebook) I know we were kind of flat and not very excited. But the great thing about taking on a challenge like that is that now I know what I want to do better next time. The next video will be better, I promise. But for now: I LOVE the Book of Mormon. Seriously the best part of my day is in the morning when I get to spend an hour reading and taking notes and dissecting the word of God. It's like that TV Show with the Great Big Book of Everything. The Book of Mormon is the Decently Sized Book of Everything. IT CAN ANSWER ANY QUESTION. I carry around this life-changing book in my bag cada día. We have 4 in the backseat of our car and about 10 more Spanish ones in our trunk. I have the word of God, access to personal revelation, in an app on my phone that can fit in my pocket. How cool is that??? (Answer: very)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This book is meant to be read, it's meant to be marked up, it's meant to be understood. So read it! Mark it up! Understand it! It has changed my life and continues to be my source for daily course correction. Not to mention it's like reading a high-action novel, or the sickest history textbook ever. The Book of Mormon: It's interesting. It's real. It's ready to give YOU personal guidance. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Read it guys. Hands down my favorite book. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Seriously, Sabrina, Emily, Lauren and Liz, get your hands on one of these. I can send it to you if you want, but please just take a glance through it, read a few pages, just hold it and revel in its glory. I love this book and I get to pour out my love for it to strangers every day. I want to share this thing that has made me so happy with all the people I love too. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you everyone for all the letters and emails this week...and for the care package of root beer! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-70716410777324418512018-01-22T17:22:00.002-06:002018-01-22T17:22:38.144-06:00Persistencia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmglYH6GYsqXYbb7c2hCEyk-7Z0vCYZGB4KtxdWIkGYoegqSiRvXtDZbK4jNJNhQRCtsIVxTLpirHa2oEjSyCJat1QtPw7jivr6YlsikAc7O5oa6q4fxRvCG_gF7TgiPqTFx7YGSXAPh5t/s1600/20180111_160719.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmglYH6GYsqXYbb7c2hCEyk-7Z0vCYZGB4KtxdWIkGYoegqSiRvXtDZbK4jNJNhQRCtsIVxTLpirHa2oEjSyCJat1QtPw7jivr6YlsikAc7O5oa6q4fxRvCG_gF7TgiPqTFx7YGSXAPh5t/s640/20180111_160719.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As missionaries, our job is pretty much to annoy people until they finally give in and listen to us. Just kidding, but that's what it felt like this week as we got to see some of our persistence finally pay off.</span></i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not really big on second chances, and when people ignore us for three weeks straight my first instinct is definitely to stop trying, but last week while we were knocking we accidentally knocked on a member from the English ward's house. They let us in and gave us cookies and hot chocolate, and told us their conversion stories. Essentially, the wife was converted by persistence, because her home teachers would NOT leave her alone (her words). As she told us her story I immediately thought of all the people we've been trying to get a hold of but couldn't, and I decided that this week I wanted to make more of an effort to knock on their doors, rather than just call or send a text. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So on a whim one night we stopped by the house of one of our referrals. The one that's been ignoring us for 3 weeks. She pulled into her driveway about 30 seconds after we parked in front of her house and we made some calls to give her a chance to get inside before we spiritually assaulted her.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we finished our calls we got out of the car and she was walking out her door. She told us that she had been avoiding us but when she pulled into her driveway and saw us sitting across the street she knew we were there for her, even though she's never met us before. She told us she admired our persistence and that she was ready to hear our message because it must be important (it is).</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We taught her the Restoration and she promised us she'd pray about it because she believes God sent us to her for a reason. The next day we called her to check how her prayer went and she didn't answer. We continued to call her every hour after that, afraid she was avoiding us again. Finally she answered at the end of the day and said she hadn't received an answer to her prayer yet so she started reading the Book of Mormon to help her figure things out!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Sunday we invited her to come to church but when we called her she didn't answer so we figured she wouldn't come. Five minutes before sacrament ended she showed up with one of her friends! She told us she couldn't find the address of the church and she tried calling us three times but we didn't answer. So she looked up the address online and came for the last two hours anyway!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Persistence, everyone. When you put effort into people, they put effort into listening to your message and acting on the word. And that was just one example. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week has been crazy. On Tuesday we got snowed in, but Hermana Bent and I got picked up by a member of the English ward and we did service for them all day. I now know the ins and outs of putting on doorknobs. We also watched President Nelson's broadcast and that was awesome! My favorite part was when he said "We're going to begin with the end in mind", because that's the THSM motto! So pretty much it's been confirmed by the prophet that our mission is the best!👍😄 </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm glad to be serving in the best mission in the world! Sorry to all my other missionary friends who don't have the same opportunity. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But persistence! I may not be one to give second chances, but God is. He gives second chances and third chances and two thousandth chances, because He wants us all to have the opportunity to hear His word and return to live with him again. So while I'm out here I just need to forget myself and the amount of chances I think people deserve. My job as a missionary is to be that second or third or two thousandth chance. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks everyone for all the emails! I love you all!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Hermana Thunell</span></i></div>
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<i>Another week has disappeared! And another month! Today marks two months on the mission. Just 16 left! But, who's counting, right?</i><br />
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<i>This week was...interesting. </i></div>
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<i>Hermana Bent describes me as "sweet but cynical," and out here I definitely agree with that. I wish I weren't so cynical and I'm working on it, but it's just so common for people to cancel, or ignore us, or drop us. Our plans fall through every day, people leave us at the door more often than not, and we're not really teaching any of the lessons we plan for. </i></div>
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<i>It all sounds negative, and it is hard, but I'm not feeling as negative as it sounds. I love talking to people who make us laugh, and knocking on cute blue doors, and doing service, even if it means cleaning out a hoarder's bathroom closet (thank you to my mother for making me watch Hoarders so I could be a little bit prepared to deal with that.) </i></div>
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<i>I'm not discouraged, though it's hard to get to 6:30 every night and be stuck in the same situation of not knowing what to do because everyone has canceled. I'm just trying really hard to magnify my calling and find my purpose in everything we do. I'm trying to be Alma and find the back way into Ammonihah. That's a great chapter in the Book of Mormon, by the way. Alma and Amulek were some bomb missionaries and I've been trying to emulate their examples this week! </i></div>
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<i>Also. Cats. Welcome to Houston, the land of stray cats. There are four we see pretty regularly around our apartment complex-just found four more as I'm looking out the window right now-and four others in a neighborhood that we visit and knock in a lot. The funny part is that all the stray cats of the world seem to be drawn to us. Whenever we come back to our car there are cats all over it or under it or leaving cute little pawprints on our windshield 😊 it makes me so happy to be driving and see little kitty tracks across the windshield. Tender mercies, everyone. </i></div>
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<i>We've had some bigger miracles, too. Yesterday we left the apartment early to go do some major Church and Rescue with two of our investigators that are on date but haven't come to church yet. They're 8 and 10 years old and their mom is a recent convert. We stopped by and pounded on the door three times, called them once, and then pounded on the door four more times. We were not going to let them sleep in. Finally their mom answered, but she said that the kids were sleeping and she didn't want to wake them up. She told us they'd all had a late night and so she wouldn't be going to church either. We left feeling pretty discouraged. When church started our spirits sank even lower when we saw that our other two kids that are on date weren't there either. Sacrament meeting started and it was good. Then a little while into the meeting I saw some people walking in out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and saw the niños walking in! Then someone sitting behind me tapped my shoulder and I turned around to see the recent convert with her two kids!</i></div>
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<i>I don't even know what else to say about that except that it was the best feeling ever! </i></div>
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<i>When I woke up yesterday morning, I didn't feel like being a missionary. I buried my head in my pillow and just wanted to cry. But the day turned out so much better than I thought it would. The mission is dang hard, but I'm so grateful for the little things like watching kittens play in the grass outside our window, and the big things like seeing our investigators in church. The mission is hard, but it's SO great. </i></div>
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<i>And also everyone should read the story of Alma the Younger this week. Pre-conversion AND post-conversion. His example is an amazing reminder of what it really means to repent, and how we can replace our sins with good works. </i></div>
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<i>Sorry this is a long email, but thank you everyone for all the support!</i></div>
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<i>I love you all!</i></div>
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<i>Hermana Thunell</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-34791634622272862412018-01-08T15:36:00.000-06:002018-01-16T15:36:28.231-06:00Church and Rescue<div data-test-id="message-view-body" style="color: #26282a;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Well. I am officially back in Texas! 📣 </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This week has FLOWN by, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I also don't even know where to start!</i></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I LOVE Houston! It feels like being home, except I also have a little piece of Provo with me still since it's been so cold this week. It's finally starting to warm up, thank goodness. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>As for actual missionary life, it's hard, but so SO rewarding. The people here really have been prepared by the Lord to hear our message. And I love my trainer! She's only been out here for four months so she's pretty recently gotten out of being trained herself but she's amazing and such a hard worker! I was feeling REALLY nervous about my Spanish, but in one appointment the person we were talking to said a word Hermana Bent had never heard before and I told her what it meant. Afterwards, in the car Hermana Bent asked me how much I could understand of what was going on and I said ALL of it, but I felt bad that I couldn't respond or input anything very well, if at all. She told me that understanding is the first part and if I could understand that much already then it won't take long for me to be fluent. So that was a nice confidence booster 😂 but for now I'm still letting her do all the talking, at least in our Spanish lessons. We teach lots of English investigators as well, so that's really nice, too. We've met some awesome people this week and it just testifies to me that none of this happens by coincidence. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Saturdays are called "Church and Rescue" days, which I LOVE. It basically means we invite the whole world to come to church the next day, and we definitely did that. Hermana Bent was having a rough day on Saturday and every single one of our plans fell through for one reason or another so that night we just started knocking doors and we came across Lupe. She said she's religious but has never felt complete at any of the churches she's gone to, and hasn't been sure of where to go next. She invited us in and we talked for an hour and a half with her, answering all of her questions and testifying that there is a living prophet on the earth today. I've never felt the Spirit so strong in a lesson and as we were getting ready to leave Lupe told us that she knew God had sent us to her. She said that she doesn't usually let missionaries in and that she's seen the elders around and would never have let them in her house, but something about us spoke to her. She said that God told her to "sit down and listen for a second." </i></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've spent a lot of time studying my patriarchal blessing this week, looking at what blessings it promises me in relation to my mission. One thing that stood out to me the other day was that it says 'sister missionaries have something different about them than elders.' As I read, the Spirit testified to me that if I work hard as a missionary, I will be able to get into houses that elders sometimes can't get into. Lupe was one of two houses like that this week.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This week has been so hard. I never thought I'd be so homesick or miss the MTC this much, but I know that God wants me to be out here, and that there's nowhere better that I could be. I'm right where I need to be, right with the people I need to be with, and at the time the Lord needs me to be here. I have so much love for the people we've come across. It's amazing that it only takes one meeting to feel so much love for strangers, but every time I talk to someone, I can see them bearing their testimony on Fast Sunday or leading the music in Relief Society, or getting to go to the temple with their family. I'm so blessed to be given these little sneak peeks of God's plan for people, and so blessed to be the vessel that helps them achieve that.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Can't wait to see what next week's adventures are!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="border: 0px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-75364613727956015082018-01-01T15:52:00.000-06:002018-01-16T15:52:23.301-06:00Hello from the Texas Houston South Mission!<div class="yiv1334147901MsoNormal" style="color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>Dear Missionary Family and Friends,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>Hello from the Texas Houston South Mission, the best mission in the world! We were blessed to have your missionary arrive safe and sound to Houston today. After we welcomed her at the airport, we had the blessing of getting to know her better and hosted her for an early dinner at the mission home. Your missionary has been assigned to her new companion and is on her way to her new area this evening. First thing tomorrow morning she’ll be out the door serving and blessing someone with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We love them and we know they will do excellent work. They are well prepared to serve the Lord and we expect great things from them. We also know you will support and encourage them to become the best missionary they can be. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>We appreciate all you have done and we are grateful for the sacrifice you are making as a family. You can follow us on <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.facebook.com_thethsm&d=CwMFaQ&c=z0adcvxXWKG6LAMN6dVEqQ&r=FbBg-LV6mtGy6RDHPw-A-vVacG9wNNqJEI2ee0UVMcE&m=W50puq7NnZPMF2yded1K7N_btRPMAz748W0iwDGV6JA&s=mpNqwkJHfbnAPqpR_PdsJ8ZmtM2UILcFmM7D-LKUU2s&e=" rel="nofollow" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank">www.facebook.com/thethsm</a>, we try to post regularly (individual pictures of your missionaries are posted there now). You can also view the weekly email I send to the missionaries at <a href="http://www.texashoustonsouthmission.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank">www.texashoustonsouthmission.com</a> (President's Pen). Sister Hall and I feel so blessed to serve with your missionary. We will love them, support them, and help them become powerful missionaries that are committed find, teach, invite and help bring others unto Christ. </i></span></div>
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<i style="font-size: 11pt;">We love this work and we know you and your family will be blessed through their faithful service. </i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>All the best, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>President & Sister Hall</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCx4Tj-qj_1EEBI_fziW6TsMdzODqmsnTmSR-8H5p0dRTOUTI74v6GZvZAd9ihf2cnDRIgxF7x0PK0uMQzPUQMvI6iw4CyQAkjcL-ANXAmRAxaEFJ8c_H1Jd8tXX7rAlCnXtQitHzASSfd/s1600/January+Arrival+Group+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCx4Tj-qj_1EEBI_fziW6TsMdzODqmsnTmSR-8H5p0dRTOUTI74v6GZvZAd9ihf2cnDRIgxF7x0PK0uMQzPUQMvI6iw4CyQAkjcL-ANXAmRAxaEFJ8c_H1Jd8tXX7rAlCnXtQitHzASSfd/s640/January+Arrival+Group+2018.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-9839313428440575552017-12-27T15:44:00.000-06:002018-01-16T16:31:37.278-06:00MTC Week 6: Next Stop, Houston!<span style="color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>It's been a rough week and a rough time at the MTC so this email is going to be short, but I'm glad for the experience it's been and for the things I've learned. I fly out on Monday to go to Houston with six elders (I'm the only sister coming in that day) and I'm so excited to learn even more as I teach God's message to His Spanish-speaking children. My Spanish isn't stellar yet, I still have a hard time waking up in the morning, and I'm scared about driving again. But I know that this work is of God, and I know that as I exercise my faith in Him by taking one step forward at a time, He will bless me with words in my mouth and happiness in my heart despite all the trials I face. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br />I got a blessing of comfort this week. I've been stressed out with everything that's been going on with Hermana Lund, and thinking about having to drive again, and feeling inadequate in my calling. I asked Elder Jensen to give the blessing, and he and I didn't even talk about what was stressing me and what I needed help with before hand, but as he opened his mouth, the Spirit gave him the words to say. Earlier this week I wrote in my journal that I was scared "that <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow">in two weeks</a> I'll be driving again in an unfamiliar area" because the last time I drove around an unfamiliar area I had a panic attack and had to pull into a parking lot to calm myself down. In the blessing, Elder Jensen said "Megan, the Lord knows that you are about to be in unfamiliar territory and He wants you to know that in those foreign places, He will be there to be familiar to you." I'm so grateful to be surrounded by such worthy priesthood holders who can exercise their priesthood power and their faith to speak the words of the Spirit, and I'm grateful that I can always have God's guiding hand with me, even in things that might seem trivial, like being afraid of driving.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I've had a lot of eye-opening spiritual experiences this week, but one of the most important things I've learned was through Hermana Lund and all that she's been going through. Her parents came and got her last night and so I have a new companion and Co-STL. On Sunday, I asked for an interview with my Branch President to talk about how I could feel less stressed and frustrated with this situation. I've been feeling like I'm failing in my job as a missionary because Hermana Lund and I were missing classes and studies for doctor's appointments and breakdowns. I love her and all I've wanted to do was support her and help her through this, but I'm also here to serve the Lord in all that He asks me to do, and I haven't been sure how to do both, or how to do one and still feel fulfilled in the other.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="color: #26282a;">In our interview, my </i><span style="color: #26282a;"><i>Branch Pres</i></span><i style="color: #26282a;"> told me that my purpose as a missionary isn't to learn Spanish or to read 4 chapters of the Book of Mormon every day. It's not to attend every class and plan every exact minute of my day. It's not even to teach people. My purpose as a missionary is to love, help, and support the children of God. And whether that means answering the questions of an investigator, or sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office for the third time </i><a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow" style="color: #26282a; font-style: italic;">in one week</a><i style="color: #26282a;">, I'm still doing the Lord's work.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>One of my favorite things about being able to serve a mission so far is learning how to change my perspective on things. I've always thought I was pretty good at trusting in the Lord and trying to see things from His point of view, but I'm learning every day how to be better and I'm noticing that every time I think I've mastered something, Heavenly Father throws it into my life in a way I've never seen before. I love having this opportunity to mold and shape myself to become what He wants me to. The beauty of conversion is that it's an ongoing process. You're never really done, whether you're newly baptized or the Prophet of the church. I thought I knew that before I came here, but it's different to live it. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve and for the support I get from all of you. I know this gospel is true and restored. I know the power of the Book of Mormon because I can see it and God's guiding hand in my life every day, especially now. To all my friends on this list that don't have a knowledge of that, I encourage you to read the Book of Mormon, even if it's just a little bit. It has changed my life and continues to change it every time I open it up. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Thank you everyone for your love, prayers, and support. My next email will be from warmer weather! ❤</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-59545853753116533122017-12-20T15:59:00.000-06:002018-01-16T15:59:53.483-06:00MTC Week 5: Sometimes God Has To Burn Your House Down To Bring You Back To Him<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Sometimes God has to burn your house down to bring you back to Him..."</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>That's a saying I write in a lot of my notebooks and it's definitely something I've needed this past week, but didn't remember until the devotional last night. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Lund's heart problems have been getting worse. We went to the cardiologist last week and they gave her another heart monitor to wear for a week and she's getting an ultrasound on her heart tomorrow to see if there's something structurally wrong. On Monday she was having heart palpitations during our in-field orientation class which left her feeling exhausted and kind of out of it. I decided we should go back to the room and let her lay down for a bit, but I had to get my stuff from the classroom first, so we walked all the way to the classroom and then back to our room. By the time we got back, I was feeling kind of irritated with her because she wouldn't tell me what she needed and she would shoot down my ideas when all I wanted to do was help her. I flopped on my bed when we got back, ready to pull out my scriptures and ignore her for a bit until she was feeling better, when all of a sudden I heard a thud! I looked down and she was laying on the ground. I called her name once, thinking she was just messing around, but when she didn't respond I jumped down and called her name again. She didn't respond again. Thankfully all of our other hermanas were in the room with us, and thankfully I remembered Hermana Lund had the STL phone in her pocket, so while one of us held her as she came to and started crying, I grabbed the phone from her pocket and called for help.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Only two of us were allowed to go with her as security wheeled her across campus to the clinic and I was shaking as we waited while they took her back to check up on her. I didn't start crying though until about 20 minutes later when the door to the clinic flew open and our elders rushed in, out of breath from sprinting from the complete opposite side of the campus as soon as they heard what had happened. We all gathered together and knelt in the corner of the clinic to say a prayer for Hermana Lund.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We still don't know what's wrong, but she was fine and hasn't had any bad episodes since then. The MTC doctors are sure it's anxiety and are sending her home this weekend after her doctor's appointment for her heart. We've both been sad and frustrated about it, and of course we don't understand why this is happening, but that's where my little saying comes in:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Sometimes God has to burn your house down to bring you back to Him."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We watched a video in our devotional last night about the Provo Tabernacle burning down, and then being rebuilt as the Provo City Center Temple. It made me remember this saying that I adopted in Alabama after seeing some of the crazy ways God encourages us to reevaluate our lives and come back to Him. I've been thinking about that in relation to Hermana Lund's situation since then. Maybe what we see as God burning her down while she's at her finest is actually His way of realigning her plan to match His, preparing her to be rebuilt as something better than she was before. It makes me feel better to think about it that way. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I've been praying this week, not to understand what's going on with her heart, but to have a change of my own heart and perspective, to be able to come a little closer to God's point of view of the situation. Whatever is going on, whatever the reason, I know that God has a plan for all of His children. I know He has my needs in mind and my companion's needs in mind and that He knows what He's doing. I just have to keep holding onto that as we go through this.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This probably seems like a depressing email, but it's not. It is sad that my companion has to go home, but we're both hopeful and trusting in God.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Just for a happy/interesting thought to end with:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>As of this week we had about 800-900 missionaries in the MTC, one of the lowest numbers of the year for obvious reasons. The week that I came in I was in a group of over 400 incoming missionaries which was one of their biggest incoming groups of the year, making the total number of missionaries in the MTC about 1700. It's cool to be part of one of the biggest groups and one of the smallest groups in my six weeks at the MTC. Today we're getting 530 new missionaries so our numbers are about to be up again 📣 It's definitely been one of the most interesting times to be at the MTC.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-36927829481289428162017-12-13T16:28:00.000-06:002018-01-16T16:33:38.374-06:00MTC Week 4: The Plague<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hola!</span></i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm finally feeling better! But as you can probably guess, illness in the MTC spreads like butter on toast (which I eat everyday for breakfast because it's the only thing that's edible in the mornings) Elder Smith was the first to be infected, karma for making me stay here for my companion's first outside world doctor's appointment. Next was Hermana Miller, then Hermana Gratton and Elder Jensen. By Thursday, half of our district was out of class. The Plague is still making its way around, but at least I'm finally feeling better.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No word on Hermana Lund's heart yet. We're going to a cardiologist on Thursday who will determine if she can stay or if she needs to go home for two months of heart tests. 😢</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As of Sunday we're officially Sister Training Leaders, just in time to greet the newbies today! Also, thankfully I was released from my one-week-long calling as Branch Music Coordinator 🙏 so my stress level has significantly decreased this week.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Funny story of the week:</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hermana Lund and I have a goal this week to commit all three of our investigators to baptism. We had the chance to put this goal into action yesterday with our investigator Marcella (Side note: because of Marcella, I've adopted the catchphrase "Es muy wow!" 😂). Hermana Lund and I had another Hermana, Hermana Mugleston with us for the day who is much better at Spanish than we are so we were excited to have her help. I put Hermana Lund in charge of the baptismal invitation and she did so well. Her Spanish es muy wow! We set the date for January 20th and Marcella said that was a perfect amount of time and that she loved having us teach her! We finished up and left the lesson feeling elated! Until Hermana Mugleston informed us that we had actually invited her to THINK ABOUT being baptized, and that the date we set was for her to decide if she really wanted to be baptized. Oops. Pero esta bien, porque we have time to clarify with her in our next lesson. Hopefully this one goes as well as we thought our last one did. 😂</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It seems like our spiritual theme of the week has been "Endure to the End", which is really applicable as a missionary. Sometimes it's intimidating and exhausting to think about enduring all the way to The End, but we don't always have to look at it that way. Sometimes enduring to the end just means enduring until the pain goes away, enduring for the day until you can sleep, enduring through the week when you have a cold, enduring the food until you get Chick-Fil-A on Mondays, enduring whatever dark cloud you're under until you get through it. And the challenge isn't just to endure, but to endure faithfully. If your faith only comes in chunks at first, that's fine. Build it one strand of twine at a time until it's a rope, then an iron rod and a lifeline back to God. '</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One thing that's really impacted me this week is the story of the Jaredites traveling in barges to the Promised Land in Ether 6. Verse 7 says "And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish...therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters." The Jaredites were probably really scared when their barges were submerged, which is why they cried unto the Lord, asking Him to bring them back to the surface, but I really like that it says that when they were submerged "there was no water that could hurt them." Sometimes we think we are enduring well because we are praying and crying unto God, but also, sometimes we can't see that our challenges and trials are actually taking us through safer ground. The Lord knows what He's doing; He is the wind. Our job as we endure is to trust in Him as He guides us. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's my spiritual thought for the week, guys. Read Ether, it's great.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- Hermana Thunell</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgkROjlCYrnrYUckagKXPFY7_9f4-LGj0M-RdBnZtkIY7yOWAaxah3HTihUu5Vu2mTnxRz6a5UddOgotGpi8ehU10kZHRZUPtDpcyTBdjvyWKl9UsimqhFRUC8NddwYNaTk-1NFPGou_Ma/s1600/IMG_0174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgkROjlCYrnrYUckagKXPFY7_9f4-LGj0M-RdBnZtkIY7yOWAaxah3HTihUu5Vu2mTnxRz6a5UddOgotGpi8ehU10kZHRZUPtDpcyTBdjvyWKl9UsimqhFRUC8NddwYNaTk-1NFPGou_Ma/s640/IMG_0174.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-74674501293563825242017-12-06T16:42:00.000-06:002018-01-16T16:43:18.375-06:00MTC Week 3: Got The Broken Heart Down, Just Need The Contrite Spirit<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hola!</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This week in mission life my companion and I got to experience the outside world. She's been having some heart problems since coming here and so we had to go to the hospital on Monday to get her a heart monitor, and then go back the next day to return it. Monday I was sick, and by orders of the district leader was on bed rest, so I missed the first trip, but I did get to hear about this miracle: Hermana Lund and I had been preparing for our trip to the outside all weekend, plotting to bribe our driver to take us to Chick-Fil-A while we were out. Monday came around and I was too sick to go to morning class, and so our district leader appointed Hermanas Gratton and Bronder to babysit me, while Hermanas Lund and Miller went out to Hermana Lund's appointment. The bribe didn't work. BUT while they were waiting for the shuttle to come back after the appointment, they saw that Chick-Fil-A was right across the street. So close. They both considered walking over, grabbing a nugget or two, and walking back just in time to re-board the shuttle. But something told them not to. Once in the shuttle, Hermana Lund told Hermana Miller she had had the feeling that walking across the street was a bad idea because they might get hit by a car, and Hermana Miller said that she had felt the same thing. The two got back to the MTC just in time for dinner. We all walked to the cafeteria together, talking about our obvious lack of quality chicken, and lo and behold, the menu on the cafeteria door said: "Chick-Fil-A!" </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>GOD IS SO GOOD. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It's the little things, guys, like the fact that the new vending machine on our floor was fixed last night and can finally accept cards. Or that Hermana Bronder's MTC card hasn't been charged for anything for the past week and a half. Or that our matching MTC sweats came with a missionary discount. Tender mercies are real! The Lord is on our side! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>In other news, on Sunday I was called as the new Branch Music Coordinator! And just last night our branch president told Hermana Lund and I that next week we'll be the new Sister Training Leaders as well! Our district is basically running the show. And the Four Square Court 😂</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Well, I think those are my highlights for the week. It's finally snowing here which makes me even more anxious for Houston weather. The cold is probably why I'm still sick 🤒 pero esta bien, I'm getting better every day, and better at Spanish little by little. It's crazy to think that we're halfway done here! All of our English speaking friends left today. Alabama, you have a good crop of Elders headed your way so keep an eye out for them!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>One last note, I hope everyone is doing the Light The World challenge! It's a great way to lift your day, and lift someone else's!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>That's all I've got 😂 hasta luego!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NfUocNoolBFYfnr3CWukY3TGjkE-xIKODfJSAhPOMCYs_fKO44mU8e_3-lR62WHrf-ewNoGUbasl2a7-bl2XgpHXDCZsoQLmAfASMCyCqTa9BgWb9xfKZSAUCddI_iK4YR2v2_zxBYhA/s1600/20171203_151431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NfUocNoolBFYfnr3CWukY3TGjkE-xIKODfJSAhPOMCYs_fKO44mU8e_3-lR62WHrf-ewNoGUbasl2a7-bl2XgpHXDCZsoQLmAfASMCyCqTa9BgWb9xfKZSAUCddI_iK4YR2v2_zxBYhA/s640/20171203_151431.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-4537152289052698342017-11-29T16:55:00.000-06:002018-01-16T16:55:42.348-06:00MTC Week 2: The Hallway Hermanas<div style="color: #26282a;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hola! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Another P Day! This week went by MUCH faster than last week. Spanish is starting to come along really well. My companion has learned so much which is great because we have a new investigator to teach! This teaching experience is going much better than the first. We’ve figured out how to better invite the Spirit to our lessons. It’s not by having every possible Spanish word and question and answer written down on a cheat sheet in our laps, it’s by being sincere and trusting in ourselves and in God to help us say what He wants us to.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thanksgiving was amazing. Elder Bednar came and spoke to us in the morning and he may be my new favorite apostle. I just love how direct and straightforward he is. We watched a movie called Love, Kennedy in the afternoon. It’s a little cheesy but has SUCH a good message so I suggest everyone watch it. All of our elders were weeping by the end. Then we had a devotional with Sharon Eubank and the CEO of Feeding Children Everywhere and he has the most amazing conversion story I’ve ever heard!! Always listen to the Spirit, guys. You never know what kind of impact you’ll have. After the devotional we had a service project and we made over 350,000 meals! It wasn’t Thanksgiving dinner at home, but it was definitely an amazing experience. </i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865693271/Missionaries-at-Provo-MTC-assemble-350000-meals-in-Thanksgiving-Day-service-project.html">Missionaries at Provo MTC prepare 350,000 meals</a></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In other news, Hermana Lund and I have matching sweats now 🎉🎉🎉 best purchase EVER. The sisters in our residence have started to call us “The Hallway Hermanas” because every night when we get home we chill on the couches in the hallway in front of the vending machines and eat food and talk to everyone. It’s so fun to meet people from all over the world and hear about where they’re serving. Our particular favorites are a group of Polynesian sisters that like to do group singing. It’s like our own mini concert because they’re AMAZING. It’s funny to see people’s faces when I tell them I’m a Poly, too. </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Today we went to the temple and that was SO GREAT. I feel pumped up for the rest of the week now. But that’s also partially because all the new missionaries are coming in today. There weren’t any newbies last week because of Thanksgiving so my group has been the newbies until today. My roommates decorated the room next door for the new sisters coming in and we can’t wait to meet them! 👍🏻</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Overall, this week has been one of progress. I was sitting in our lesson with our investigator yesterday thinking about how crazy it is that Hermana Lund and I can have an actual conversation in Spanish now, and not only that, but we can teach the Restoration! Granted, it’s rough and still marred with a bit of Spanglish, but I’m amazed at the progress we’ve made together and individually. The gift of tongues is real!! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I’m learning that exact obedience and humility are ESSENTIAL in the MTC, and while I’m struggling with things I never thought I’d struggle with, I know that God is on my side. One thing my teacher told us on the first day here was that God called us to speak Spanish because He knows that we can do it. But it’s not through ourselves or our intelligence or our willpower that will help us to learn, it’s through Him and His divine help. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Speaking of which, if anyone’s up for a spiritual challenge, read three of President Monson’s most recent general conference talks...A Sacred Trust, Principles and Promises, and The Power of the Book of Mormon...and look for the common theme between all of them. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Life. Changing. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>- Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258782544231464704.post-7135556609068891442017-11-22T17:08:00.000-06:002018-01-16T17:08:23.248-06:00MTC Week 1: Accomplished<span style="color: #26282a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hola! </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It feels like it’s been so much longer than a week.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I guess first things first: my companion is great. Her name is Hermana Lund, she’s from Bountiful, and she’s 6’1” 😂😂 I really didn’t think I was that short, but it seems to be unanimously agreed on that I am the smallest one in the district. Hermana Lund and I are seriously best friends. She’s loud and crazy and so fun! We are the fun ones in the district and everyone says they appreciate our energy. She and I are really close with the elders (there are 5 sisters and 5 elders total in our district) especially the district leader Elder Jensen and his companion Elder Stites. We share a room with the other sisters and we all get along for the most part.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>So much has happened that I definitely can’t go day by day. The language is so much harder than I thought it’d be and most of us are really struggling with it. But the gift of tongues is real! Yesterday we had our fourth lesson with our first investigator (who doesn’t speak ANY English) and Hermana Lund and I were able to commit him to be baptized! Hermana Lund has never taken ANY Spanish in school or anything, or any other language so it’s AMAZING how quickly she’s picking up on everything. She’s also received six packages since we’ve been here since her family lives so close 😂 they send her contraband Dr. Pepper and ramen and Mac and cheese. They’re also sending root beer for me in their next package ❤️😭😂</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sunday was really different. We’re in a small Spanish branch that includes all of our floor and we split up into several classrooms to meet for Priesthood and Relief Society and then all come together in a chapel style classroom for sacrament meeting. We are all asked to prepare a three minute talk every week in Spanish because we don’t know who will be called on to speak until after the sacrament has been passed. After Sacrament meeting we split for teacher training, leadership training, or study time. Hermana Lund and I are teaching Relief Society this <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow">coming Sunday</a> so we had to go to teacher training. After that we have lunch, then study time, and then a Match the Message meeting which apparently used to be called Dress and Grooming. They just talk about modesty in that meeting. More study time after that, then dinner, and then a <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow">Sunday night</a> devotional. The devotional was good, but after it we stayed and watched a “movie”, which was really just a recording of an Elder Bednar devotional from the past, and it CHANGED MY LIFE. In it, Elder Bednar suggested getting a copy of the scriptures, writing a question in the front of it, and then marking every scripture that answers that question as you read. He said the goal is to have shelves of copies of scriptures by the time you’re his age so you can look back on all the spiritual journeys you’ve taken. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I’ve been having a little trouble feeling the Spirit here. Everyone always says this is the most spiritual place, but I’ve sort of just felt numb mostly and so I’ve been trying to find ways to invite the Spirit more. A member of my branch presidency challenged me to re-read the Book of Mormon, 4 chapters a day and I had just started that on Friday so I decided to use Elder Bednar’s idea and start from the beginning with the question of “How can I invite the Spirit into my life more?” My studies have been so much more meaningful and I love looking back on the pages I’ve read and seeing them all marked up. I’ve been feeling the spirit all the time since then, especially yesterday in our Tuesday devotional. Gifford Nielson came to speak and brought Janice Kapp Perry because we sang the EFY Medley and the choir sang a new song that she just wrote and it was her first time hearing anyone sing it. After we all sang the EFY Medley (which was the coolest thing ever, by the way) Elder Nielson invited her to comment on it. She walked up to the microphone and said “I’d like you all to sing that at my funeral.” She then proceeded to talk about how much she loved Elder Nielson when he was a football player for BYU. She even pulled a football that he had signed out of her bag and tossed it to him as proof. We were all cracking up and Elder Nielson turned to the MTC President and essentially said “She’s going rogue! What should we do?” And the MTC President just shrugged and let her keep talking. 😂😂</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>My fingers are getting tired of typing... 😂 </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>So today is P Day, of course, and the Temple will be closed after <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow">10am</a>. So as a district we decided to go before then. Well, some of the other missionaries and I have appointments about our immunization records at 9am, so to make sure we would make it, we all decided to go to the earliest Temple session. Our branch presidency told us that was a great idea and that the first session started <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow">at 5:30</a> in the morning and that a lot of the other districts had decided to do that, too. So we set our alarm for <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow">4:30</a>, woke up, bundled up, walked our cold, groggy group up to the temple in the dark, made it there by 5...and were told the first session didn’t start until 7. Some of us did not find as much humor in that as others 😂 my fingers are still trying to thaw, but it’s all good. Those of us with appointments headed back to the MTC while those without stayed behind to ponder in the temple for a while and then head in for the session. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The food is hit or miss here. Hermana Lund hates it but she has Mac and cheese and ramen in our room so we still manage to feed her. 😂</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We always take the stairs to our classroom so that we don’t gain the MTC weight everyone talks about. We’re on the top floor. And we are currently in the process of getting matching MTC sweats so everyone knows who I belong to while I watch her kill it at basketball during exercise time. 👍🏻😂😊 </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>That’s pretty much the highlights. I’ve seen a few people I know from home and from Allen, so that’s fun and it’s so easy to make friends here. Some days are hard but I’m having a great time. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Yo sé que Dios es conmigo y que Él me ama. Estoy agradecida por mi compañera y por esta opportunidad yo tengo compartir el Evangelio y yo sé que es verdadero. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>❤️ Hermana Thunell</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54491/48/371A6B877A874C768CCBB94CB2BA510B.png" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px;" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09787528604251936976noreply@blogger.com0