Still working hard.

Well, it has been a while since I have posted Kyle's emails.  We talked for an hour at Christmas.  He sent us some of his poetry.  I decided not to post that.  Then, his next few emails he asked me not to post.  So I didn't.  You should know he is doing well.  He is really growing.  His current companion is really making him stretch and he is having to learn things that are challenging.  So, here is his current letter.  He is learning a lot about himself.  We are seeing an adult emerge.  Way to go Kyle!!  We are proud of you and we love you and all of the work you are doing.  Hang in there!

So I made it a goal for this week to not think anything negative, so here goes my positive streak.
I'm thankful for President Monson's talk on gratitude to give me this wonderful idea, and for President Ezra Taft Benson's talk on pride to help me see any of my stumbling blocks and problems.  I'm thankful for Elder Childers who gave me the talk so that I could read it, and for mission friends whom I can call and speak with and receive the help I need.  I'm thankful for this beautiful land and opportunity that I have to learn another language and immerse myself in someone else's culture.  I'm thankful for friends and family back home who I know are waiting for me and supporting me while I'm here and mostly I'm thankful for a companion who is so much like me that I can learn what a Jerk I was to everyone back home.  I'm thankful for a companion who teaches me the importance of seeking other's aid and not doing it by yourself.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me just how big of a problem pride is in our lives.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me the importance of listening to people and hearing what they're saying.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me the downfalls of bible bashing and fighting.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me talking to others is important to others even if it isn't to you.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me the value of the spirit and the difference in your teaching when you don't have it.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me that one person can't do anything alone.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me the importance of others opinions and the damaging effects when you don't consider them.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me why it is important to not be dependent upon only one part of the gospel.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me what happens when you quit and don't keep going.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me how ugly destructive behavior is and just how offsetting it is to everyone else.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me that just because she's beautiful and might like you, doesn't mean she want's you to take her to church.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me that if you play with a snake it may not bite you, but it wastes the time you could have spent climbing the mountain.  I'm thankful for a companion who shows me that running everywhere isn't the most effective way to do anything because you're probably going to miss a whole lot on the run. And I'm thankful for rain! that doesn't burn my balding head! =) =P
That was a fun letter to write I feel much better.  I can thoroughly attest to what President Monson said that.  If we walk with gratitude in our hearts we will feel it lift us  higher than we ever thought possible, or something along that line =) I hope you all enjoyed my letter as much as I did! =) I hope everyone gets a chance to read it! Especially Sister Craig! =) and all my friends and everyone who has a knack for my beautiful sarcastic responses which are truly heartfelt gratitude for the things the Lord has blessed me with like a quick tongue! Tell Sister Ross I have her letter and ask her if she understands Portuguese and wants a card too or if she'd rather I just write a letter, because If I do say so myself Spanish is weird! Anyways I'm going to go Bye Bye now! =)
Elder Lund

Final email before Christmas :-)

Mother, I gave you all the information you need to handle it online.  Wasn't that what you asked for? yeah I probaly can get online, but idk what I'm doing.  I have to pay to use internet, and if I don't remember every piece of information I won't know what to do... I left all the info with you. I hadn't written yet because I'm in Ribeirão Preto. I'm singing for part of the Christmas conference and President wanted everyone participating to come early and practice.

 

Mother skype is simple.  First you log in, second you have a list of people on the left hand side of the window.  If you click on one of them it brings up all interactions you have with them front and center. At the bottom of the window you have a space to type words.  If  you type and then hit enter it acts as an Instant messenger program. At the top of the same screen, you should have three green buttons to the right of the contact list and below the personal information that should appear at the top of the window.  One of them should say video conference or video call and this button is free and you can converse with anyone who has skype and if they don't have a web cam it will appear as a phone call because it will be without video, but the video is not necessary to have the conversation and Christmas leave skype up all day. I'll try to call you before hand and tell you about what hour we will be calling, but your time it should be between 10 and 2 O'clock, because I know Brazilinas I will not give you a specific time because when you go to leave their houses they implore you to stay and eat more or whatever they're doing and it literally take about 40 minuets to leave a members house =P

 

My Christmas Present to you all will not be coming the way I had hoped due to money and shipping and time none of which I have.  But I have been given permision by the president whom I personally asked to go on facebook and post your present for you all and you will most likely receive it after the conference call =p lol

Mother, the Lord told you to send the package at a certain time to ensure that it would arrive here for my Christmas.  Were you obedient?  If you were, why doubt ye the Lord, and what He is capable of doing? In short, what does your heart tell you?

 

The Lord always blesses us when we do our part, and if Elders are teaching and not baptizing, then they aren't teaching well and if they aren't teaching well it is because the Spirit cannot adequately work with them for what ever fault they have yet to take care of.  If they will humbly go to the Lord and earnestly seek His will they will have success, and if they will not--culpa deles. My companion and I have had limited success because we have been working to clean the inside of the cup first as I touched upon last week, but we are doing much better this week and my hopes are high that we will yet have more success here in this transfer. Do your best to do everyting you can, go as far up the field as you can and after you've gone 90 yards and given it your all, the Lord will see the other ten.

 

The only other thing that has really happened, is that into my hands has fallen one of the most enriched talks I have ever seen delievered. It was not suprisng to me that everything the talk tried to address I had already been thouroughly taught in my own home, but the little sentences have sent my mind flying in all diferent philisophical directions has been almost completely uncomprehendable. I will be sending dad a copy of the talk as soon as I can get a copy of it. It is my belief that he already knows and understands the contents, for the most part if not in it's entirety, but I thought that he might like a copy as well so have to go now so I hope you all have a good day, you all take it easy enjoy Christmas and I'll see you - family - on Christmas day.

 

Peace Out

Elder Lund

Kyle,

How has your week gone?  Is the work progressing?  What are your plans for Christmas?  For my first Christmas, the entire district was invited to a member's home and we had dinner and played games all day.
How do you like having Christmas in the heat of the summer?

I hope things are going well.

Love you,

Dad

It's awful! Fortunately the lord know the desires of our hearts even before we do and he has put me in one of the coldest cities on the mission and we regularly get rain here and when it's raining it's kinda cold sometimes really cold so in a small way it's like home. I like it. So Christmas eve we are all going to a members house for dinner on the other side of the city, then our LZs want us to all sleep at their house, but none of my district wants to so after dinner we're all going to come home, and then Christmas day, we have lunch at a members house and then we will go to another members house and make cobbler with them, and we received permission from president to watch a charlie brown Christmas too so we will watch that with their family and then for Christmas dinner we will be at another members house...lol and we be skyping from leandros house also ...so those are our Christmas day plans lol right now I'm in Ribierão Preto because we have the Christmas conference tomorrow and we'll have the whole mission together...=) also mom's package got here, it's in the office so I'll be taking it home tomorrow and opening it in the privacy of my house  lol without the entire world wondering what I got. and i have very thankful and very sad....you sent everything we need to make fudge, but  have come to the point where even the least amount of milk drives me crazy, so we may be taking the fudge and making it for leandro and his family also since I will be unable to eat it, but other will enjoy the present. and if you sent toffee I don't know if it has milk or not so I will be eating that and if it does it will be a transgression not a sin and there is no time for you to tell me cause  will have eaten it before you can return my letter1 wuahhahaha lol I WIN!

Love ya dad

bye bye

Kyle

This week was.......

CRAP!  President has had a new fabulous idea and has offered a reward for the zone that can do the best work this month. Everything is given points and whoever has the most points at the end of the transfer will get to win an opportunity to have an all you can eat pizza buffet  and watch Toy Story 3 with the President and his wife. Why is this bad? Well, I have been with two comps-both Brazilians-who lied about their numbers to make the goal and have their picture put up online for everyone to see. And so now with an added bonus at the end it is only going to make that worse. My Birthday was quite pleasant and I will leave it at that for now =) However, I was sick for two and a half days this week and am still not back to one hundred percent because I had the pleasure of working thorugh it anyways which was utterly miserable!  None of our investigators were at church and the ones who were at church last week wouldn't see us this week. 

 

Good news, we are still alive! Christmas is almost ready to be mailed to you all and I have been invited by a member in the branch here, along with the other missionaries, to skype for my Christmas call which would mean that if Johnathan has skype and father and mother get skype on the computer than I can talk to everyone and see you all on Christmas day, which to say the least would be pretty sweet! I think that's about it for this week.  Being sick is really aweful and things have to go up some time. um... I hope all my brothers are doing well and having fun preparing for Christmas--my sister as well.

 

Fun experience...kinda, Irma Renata is a wonderful blessed daughter of God who always feeds us and refuses to let us leave until she has to roll us out of her house. One day she will be a member of the church but she isn't yet for a few personal reasons, but she has recieved answers many times that the church is true she just hasn't recognized them has her answers in full. But she was talking and she has a northern accent so I don't understand a thing she says, but I was trying desperately to pay attention to her and help her in some way, both Elder Davis and I were. However it was increasingly difficult because my comp was continuously flirting with one of her two very beautiful twin daughters.  I was growing increasingly frustrated with him and then with Elder Davis' comp as well who eventually  joined with the daughter and my comp. And through my frustration, lack of understanding her northern accent I just could not think of any way to help her. As I said in my heart, "how do we help her?  She is trying to reach out to us but I just don't know what to do.." the words, -Elder Davis has a scripture came clearly to my mind and I turned to find him with an open Book of Mormon and I said, "Elder Davis do you have a scripture for us?"

 

He later told me that  he didn't want to share the scripture but when he heard me ask, he heard -Elder Davis you have a scripture for us -- rather than what I actually said and we shared the scripture and it was very helpful to her and then we went home a danced in the rain =) This has been a condensed version because I'm running out of time to I will talk to you all later and hope you all have a good week and a better one than I had last week..lol  But that really isn't hard to do, so you should have all succeeded lol

Peace Out!

Elder lund

Two Peas in a Pod.

Today you get my letter first and then Kyle's response:

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost, 1923

I thought you might want to read the original.  President Monson LOVES good literature and has memorized many, many poems and quotes, and scriptures.  Robert Frost actually wrote the words you attributed to President Monson.  Robert Frost is my favorite poet.  Here is my very, very favorite poem and the one I chose to include in our family scrap-booking pages this year.  It is called the Road Less Traveled.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

That is my all-time favorite and the one that helps me to remember that when I travel roads less taken, within the gospel parameters, by the world particularly, it will make all the difference.

So.....I loved the quote that came to your mind from the President of SVU.  Yes, you are right!!  The experiences we have are what make us into who we are and who we need to be.  Without the pain and loneliness, we cannot truly appreciate the joy and love of friendship and companionship.  And then, because we have experienced the opposite, we revel and bask in the warmth of those who really complete us and help us to reach for the divine potential within us and push us to be better than who we are.  I know that is why I love your father so much.  He will not allow me to be less than I am and his perception of where I am or where he thinks I should be drives me to improve.  It is still a painful process sometimes, because it is growth and challenge, but I am more than 100 times better a person today than I was when we were married.  And I can pretty much handle others disappointment in me, but if I receive it from your father....oooh ouch!!  That hurts!!  Then I try to fix it.

I hope you are enjoying your new companion.  I'm sure you have sat up nights laughing and laughing (hopefully not, you've been working too hard instead.)  Also, I was wrong, Sam comes home in FEBRUARY!!!!  No joke!!

What cool holidays does Brazil celebrate??  KK, love you buddy!!

And here is my birthday song for you!!---Happy, happy birthday Kylee dear, happy days will come to you all year.  If I had one wish than it would be, That we could be together for your 20th birthday!!  We hope you have a fabulous day!!  happy 20th Kyle!! 

Love you, love you!
Mom

I don't know if you knew this or not, but Robert Frost is My favorite poet and the road less traveled has been my favorite poem since I read it sophomore year of high school in English class! =) I LOVE THAT POEM!!!! =) Yeas my new companion is awesome! we have been having a lot of fun this week and I have worked harder this week than I have any other week, because I've been the one planning since I know the area and where we need to go. and He's technically senior, but this is his first transfer as senior so he's still a little bit slow on somethings and I've done more than he has in some areas so I'm enjoying it because we work as equals, but I've been more the senior because I know the people and area, which I have really enjoyed setting my own pace and working and not following. I know it's important to know how to follow, but it's awful following =P

 

I have two main questions to ask. When I was little there were two movies that I watched a lot. One was about an otter and a little girl and it was really sad...=( but really funny too. Then the other was a Christmas movie about a little stuffed bear it was a cartoon and the only scene I can remember is a delivery truck driving away and the narrator saying, "One stop away from where lost socks end up," or something like that =P What two movies are these? Do you know? So far the only holidays that I know are Christmas and carnival....lol um...We had two more baptisms this week and it's my birthday and I really don't know what else to say. lol I sunburned my head when I cut my hair too short and now it's disgustingly flaky and my comp and I saw one of the most deadly snakes in the world this week for which there is no cure. But it looked like a worm, but its a good thing we didn't pick it up like we wanted to. lol It's called the blind snake or something like that.  Idk in English but I have to go before my time runs out take it easy and have a good one!

love you all bye =)

Elder Lund

More Growth and Development

This week has been good, it went by kinda slow. I have many time found myself is situations where I feel all alone, where my comps don't talk to me all day where no one on the streets want to talk to us, where none of my friends are near by and I walk through the day waiting for the hour I can go home and have someone to talk to in my dreams where I'm back with friends and family and constatnly have someone by my side. I never went anywhere without friends, and everywhere I've gone I've always looked for new ones and so I have really struggled when I feel left on my own without anyone who wants to be standing by my side. I know the Lord is always by my side, but walking alone by faith isn't the same as laughing with a friend or a brother. I was praying one night very sad and upset at how alone I had been. And the words of a letter I had recieved from the president of SVU came to mind.  He had quoted President Hinkley when he said, "the road of a leader is a long and lonely road to travel, it is hard and difficult. But if the leader doesn't travel it he will never become the leader he needs to be, the imovable rock that his follwers will need and look to." Everything has a point and a purpose and everything is set in preparation for what is yet to come. I don't usually like to talk about what is happening because it is hard and difficult and walking it is hard enough without talking about it too. I'd rather smile and laugh--find jokes to tell and songs to sing.  You do that the best you can and work with all your might, but if you don't laugh when the road hits it's end all you're going to have is a miserable memory.  If you can find something to laugh about then in the end you'll have a story to tell. So I tell my stories and keep the rock to myself. No one want to hear about those anyways. lol

I forgot to tell you last week to thank Sister Ross for me, and tell Sister Craig that her christmas and seminary class will most likely be comming later than hoped for. I wasn't transfered this week but my comp was and now I'm with Elder Anderson, who is an American and I was with him a lot of divisions back in Rio Preto.  So I'm excited!  I really like the kid. I really don't have anything eles to say today.  This week wasn't full of many stories. lol Take it easy everyone  have a good one and enjoy the road you're on. You'll all hopefully be hearing from me around Christmas time, and I'll see you all before you know it. =) Just keep moving forward it's all you can do. I have miles to go Before I sleep and Promises to keep ~ President Monson

Peace Out EVryone

Elder Lund

ps I'll be sending you the number for the Christmas call soon. I can't call you guys so you'll have to figure out some way to handle that =)

Bibiddy Bobbidy Booped..

Then we got Bibiddy Bobbidy Booped by the magic man. ssssssssssssssssssssoooooooo yeah.....um...I can't tell you much about this week because I can't.  One day you'll all find out, but not today =) We didn't have a baptism this week. I didn't even know the training was world wide and came from Salt Lake, and no we probably can't watch it, there's just no time...=P

Please tell Sister Craig that I just got her letter that she sent at the begining of October, with your letter and Jacob's letter too. I just got those this week and Please tell Sister Craig that I'm working of something really speciall for her class.

The only other thing I really have to say is that I certainly hope that you're not baptizing a lot of people.  If you are, you might need to go ans speak with Bishop Edmonds....and I'm really surprised Dad didn't say anything...lol

Quesions, how much time do James and Sam have on their missions? I don't remember when they left....My comp really wants a hat, and wanted me to ask you if you could buy him one and send it down here, he said he'd pay me back, but after I thought about it, That doesn't really get the money back to you at all and the postage is probably a lot too, but I told him I'd ask. um....

Pretty much I haven't laughed this hard since I was with Elder Bernards, And you will all love me, and this week was really up and down but it'll all be good and once again I have a short letter. sorry everyone, but you'll all understand soon. =)

Peace Out and Take it easy

Elder Lund

Still strugglin'...

This week was.....yeah I don't want to talk about it. My comp isn't talking to me cause he's mad at me, and he's mad at me because I didn't understand a rule and then I had broken it before and he didn't say anything so I thought I understood the rule, but then when I broke it again, he got mad at me and now he isn't talking to me. We had three baptisms this week. I can't even tell you who they are...well I kinda can, but I've only visited them twice, but apparently my comp and his previous companion taught them a lot, but I dont think one of them wanted to be baptized so it was difficult for me.  And pretty much life is just a whole lot of....nothing dad wants me writing to everyone....so...yeah...I really don't have anything else to say about our work.

 

We get to go buy food today! That will be nice.  I have a sweet idea for Christmas that I'm going to try and pull off. My Birthday is in a month. Happy thoughts. lol

 

Johnathan really isn't comming home for Christmas?  Well that's a whole lot of nothing dad wants me to write everyone....

 

So I really miss everyone too! =P And your pictures are in Ribeirão Preito right now so I'll get those when someone brings them to Franca. I have been writing a lot of cool things like poems and stories. And Elder Nelson and I have been debating a lot about comics. Pretty much we're at the conclusion that they need to redo the X-men series keeping Origins.  Batman was Epically amazzing, Ironman kicked trash, but we disagree about Spiderman.  We both liked the first one, but he thought that the third one had too many villans and I hated the emo crap they had in it. The second one I don't remember too well but he liked it and I remember not liking all of it, but I don't remember why....We talked mostly about X-men. Pretty much they needed to do character development better.  They need to remake the first one and make Sabertooth look like Wolverine and how he does in Origins, and as far as the others go they need to include the main characters that they excluded in the movies, namely Gambit, The Beast, Rouge needs a bigger part and they can't kill Sabertooth in the first movie, and only Wolverine has to be the one to kill Sabertooth, not Cyclopse.

 

You know what I really like---Mountains. And serving a mission is a lot like climbing a mountain. There are a lot of times when you just want to quit and go home. And life is hard and miserable.  But you keep climibing up because you know that once you get to the top, the sight and sense of accomplishment will make every cut and scratch, every fall and sharp rock worth every mile of it. So you drudge on one step at a time trying not to fall and trying to hold on.  Doing your best and climbing to hopefully accomplish something and the whole way up trying to sing a song or find something to laugh at to make the climb more enjoyable. But once you reach the top, you'll understand why you did it and you'll know it was all worth it and you'd do it all again, all just to get to the top.

I didn't tell you all my epiphany last week on elders! I must tell you all this! So I was thinking as I was sitting on the toilet, why is it that Elders go strait home and get married so quickly and the answer came.  Kyle, have you ever know a time in your life when you were happier being as miserable as you are now? No I don't believe I do. When you go home are you going to be misserable? No life will be good. In otherwords, when Elders come home, life is too perfect!  And over the course of the last two years they have come to associate misery with happiness. When they are miserably serving their missions they're happily passing the time away. So in thier minds they need problems to be happy. So they come home and when everything is just too perfect they turn to women so they can have problems again and when they find someone who creates a lot of problems then they marry her so that their problems can last and they can be miserably happy for the rest of their lives! =) Well that's the story of my life for this week and now I'm going to go fishing! Take it easy everyone.  Enjoy life and remember to have a good time!  Love you all! =) Peace out!
Elder Lund