Another week has disappeared! And another month! Today marks two months on the mission. Just 16 left! But, who's counting, right?
This week was...interesting.
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.
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'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!
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.
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 don't even know what else to say about that except that it was the best feeling ever!
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.
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.
Sorry this is a long email, but thank you everyone for all the support!
I love you all!
Hermana Thunell
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