Persistencia

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.

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. 

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.

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).

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!

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!

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. 

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!👍😄  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. 

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. 

Thanks everyone for all the emails! I love you all!

- Hermana Thunell

Gatos y milagros

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

Church and Rescue

Well. I am officially back in Texas! 📣 

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 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. 

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. 

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'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.

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.

Can't wait to see what next week's adventures are!

-Hermana Thunell

Hello from the Texas Houston South Mission!

Dear Missionary Family and Friends,

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.  

We appreciate all you have done and we are grateful for the sacrifice you are making as a family.  You can follow us on www.facebook.com/thethsm, 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 www.texashoustonsouthmission.com (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.    

We love this work and we know you and your family will be blessed through their faithful service.  

All the best, 

President & Sister Hall

Texas Houston South Mission

MTC Week 6: Next Stop, Houston!

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 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 in two weeks 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'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.

In our interview, my Branch Pres 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 in one week, I'm still doing the Lord's work.

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. 

Thank you everyone for your love, prayers, and support. My next email will be from warmer weather! ❤

-Hermana Thunell

MTC Week 5: Sometimes God Has To Burn Your House Down To Bring You Back To Him

"Sometimes God has to burn your house down to bring you back to Him..."

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. 

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.

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.

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:

"Sometimes God has to burn your house down to bring you back to Him."

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'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.

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.

Just for a happy/interesting thought to end with:

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.

-Hermana Thunell

MTC Week 4: The Plague

Hola!

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.

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. 😢

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.

Funny story of the week:

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. 😂

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.  '

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. 

That's my spiritual thought for the week, guys. Read Ether, it's great.

- Hermana Thunell

MTC Week 3: Got The Broken Heart Down, Just Need The Contrite Spirit

​​​​​​Hola!

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!" 

GOD IS SO GOOD. 

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! 

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 😂

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!

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!

That's all I've got 😂 hasta luego!

Hermana Thunell

MTC Week 2: The Hallway Hermanas

Hola! 

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.

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. 

Missionaries at Provo MTC prepare 350,000 meals

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. 

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! 👍🏻

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’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. 

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. 

Life. Changing. 

- Hermana Thunell

MTC Week 1: Accomplished

Hola! 

It feels like it’s been so much longer than a week.

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.

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 ❤️😭😂

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 coming Sunday 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 Sunday night 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’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. 😂😂

My fingers are getting tired of typing... 😂 

So today is P Day, of course, and the Temple will be closed after 10am. 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 at 5:30 in the morning and that a lot of the other districts had decided to do that, too. So we set our alarm for 4:30, 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. 

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. 😂

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. 👍🏻😂😊 

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. 

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. 

❤️ Hermana Thunell