Dear Family and Friends,
I kept my word and lived a much more adventurous life this week! So
many funny stories, maybe not to you, but to me! Where to
start...okay, this week while following up with an investigator in
Wood Dale we found these two people, a man and a woman, outside
smoking and drinking. Shocker. Anyway, they were super nice and from
Poland I think so they didn't speak Spanish (boo-yah!). We asked if we
could share a Mormon.org card with them and they accepted and started
to ask questions. Apparently there is a rumor going around that LDS
people live in secluded communities and are Amish. We politely
explained that we are not Amish nor do we live in secluded
communities...unless you're in Utah! Just kidding, but only kind of. I
thought that was pretty funny. They accepted our invitation to our
piano and English/Spanish classes every Wednesday night and the man
said he was going to stop by our sacrament meeting on Sunday in the
English Ward so you could say it was a pretty productive visit! I have
also been asked twice this week if I was still in high school...no! I
have my associates degree for goodness sake! I guess it's better than
them thinking I'm like 30 or something.
My companion has had a pretty rough week this week. We were knocking
doors, and there was this woman we met who's name is Monica. She was
asking questions about what we believed and every time Hermana Santos
replied she called her Jessica. At first I kind of looked at her,
thinking that I had misheard her name, but I was right from the
beginning! Monica interrupts Hermana Santos and says "my name is
Monica, not Jessica". She seemed pretty irritated, and Hermana Santos
turned like deep purple, so naturally I started to laugh at her. We
also went to an investigators house to have a lesson and she, Hermana
Santos, asked to used the bathroom. She did and we had our lesson.
After our member took us to lunch and we had dropped her off, Hermana
turns to me and tells me this epic tale of how going to the bathroom
was such a struggle because there was no light! She was using the
bathroom in pitch black and had to talk herself into doing it, she
thought she felt a spider on her leg, but in the end, all was well.
And once again I got a good laugh. Another time we were at an
investigators house having a drop by lesson. On our way out, we stand
up to say our goodbyes and we go to shake the husbands hand. To
preface the rest of this story, in the Hispanic culture, you say hello
and goodbye bye kissing each other on the cheek. Well, this man, I'm
assuming forgetting we were missionaries, pulled my companion in for a
kiss on the cheek and she freaked out! The man ended up kissing her
ear, she tried to dodge him, and she ran to and out the front door
making things about a bazillion times more awkward than they were. I
on the other hand kept my distance, gave a firm shake of the hand, and
joined my scarred companion.
My last story is from last night. We were walking to follow up on a
house, seeing if they were interested in hearing about our message
(they were not by the way) when we were almost sprayed by a skunk!!!!
I had just taken my flashlight out and turned it on when I got a nice
view of its butt! We turned and booked it, thankfully for us we are
super quick and agile so were able to get away before we met an
undesirable fate.
Believe it or not, this week we have been really productively and we
are beginning to see the fruits of our faith. As we are learning from
the scriptures, we must keep remaining faithful if we truly want to
see the full effect of our faith, so we are working diligently to do
that. One thing I am so grateful for that I experienced this week are
meetings. I had a new missionary training meeting, zone training
meeting, and women's conference this week! Talk about spiritually
uplifting! I loved the emphasis that our mission president is putting
on the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and I love the emphasis during
women's conference put on making and keeping covenants with God. Wow.
So powerful. I am so ready for conference this next weekend. It kind
of sucks up all of our day for Proselyting but it's okay because we
are working super hard to get every one of our investigators to watch
conference.
As I reflect on what I want to share with you this week, I am brought
back to obedience. I have been reading in Moses this week and it
talked about how the Lord commanded Adam to offer a sacrifice of the
firstlings of his flocks to Him. Without knowing the why, Adam did it.
When an angel came and asked him, he replied I know not, save the lord
commanded me. What an example that is! Adam gave us an example of not
blind obedience, but of such strong faith in the lord and in his
commandments and teachings. It didn't matter what the lord asked him
to do, all that mattered was that he was asked to do it by the lord.
How powerful is that! What are some things that we have been asked to
do? Have we been obeying with exactness? We obviously do not need to
be perfect, and neither was Adam, however, we do need to strive to do
our best and continually improve. No matter where you are at on the
road of obedience, make the decision now to improve, a little by
little. We will not be perfect in this life, accept that and strive
the live as the savior would. Accept the atonement in your life and
strive to be more obedient. Obedience is a demonstration of our
faith.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed these stories this week! I may or may not
be running low on stamps and I may or may not be asking for some...but
yeah. I love you all and I am so thankful for how each and everyone of
you have blessed my life. I love how you have supported me or my
family in everything we have gone through. Thank you! Have a good
week! Write me, send me pictures, whatever! Besos!
Love from Addison, Illinois,
Hermana Kunz
I kept my word and lived a much more adventurous life this week! So
many funny stories, maybe not to you, but to me! Where to
start...okay, this week while following up with an investigator in
Wood Dale we found these two people, a man and a woman, outside
smoking and drinking. Shocker. Anyway, they were super nice and from
Poland I think so they didn't speak Spanish (boo-yah!). We asked if we
could share a Mormon.org card with them and they accepted and started
to ask questions. Apparently there is a rumor going around that LDS
people live in secluded communities and are Amish. We politely
explained that we are not Amish nor do we live in secluded
communities...unless you're in Utah! Just kidding, but only kind of. I
thought that was pretty funny. They accepted our invitation to our
piano and English/Spanish classes every Wednesday night and the man
said he was going to stop by our sacrament meeting on Sunday in the
English Ward so you could say it was a pretty productive visit! I have
also been asked twice this week if I was still in high school...no! I
have my associates degree for goodness sake! I guess it's better than
them thinking I'm like 30 or something.
My companion has had a pretty rough week this week. We were knocking
doors, and there was this woman we met who's name is Monica. She was
asking questions about what we believed and every time Hermana Santos
replied she called her Jessica. At first I kind of looked at her,
thinking that I had misheard her name, but I was right from the
beginning! Monica interrupts Hermana Santos and says "my name is
Monica, not Jessica". She seemed pretty irritated, and Hermana Santos
turned like deep purple, so naturally I started to laugh at her. We
also went to an investigators house to have a lesson and she, Hermana
Santos, asked to used the bathroom. She did and we had our lesson.
After our member took us to lunch and we had dropped her off, Hermana
turns to me and tells me this epic tale of how going to the bathroom
was such a struggle because there was no light! She was using the
bathroom in pitch black and had to talk herself into doing it, she
thought she felt a spider on her leg, but in the end, all was well.
And once again I got a good laugh. Another time we were at an
investigators house having a drop by lesson. On our way out, we stand
up to say our goodbyes and we go to shake the husbands hand. To
preface the rest of this story, in the Hispanic culture, you say hello
and goodbye bye kissing each other on the cheek. Well, this man, I'm
assuming forgetting we were missionaries, pulled my companion in for a
kiss on the cheek and she freaked out! The man ended up kissing her
ear, she tried to dodge him, and she ran to and out the front door
making things about a bazillion times more awkward than they were. I
on the other hand kept my distance, gave a firm shake of the hand, and
joined my scarred companion.
My last story is from last night. We were walking to follow up on a
house, seeing if they were interested in hearing about our message
(they were not by the way) when we were almost sprayed by a skunk!!!!
I had just taken my flashlight out and turned it on when I got a nice
view of its butt! We turned and booked it, thankfully for us we are
super quick and agile so were able to get away before we met an
undesirable fate.
Believe it or not, this week we have been really productively and we
are beginning to see the fruits of our faith. As we are learning from
the scriptures, we must keep remaining faithful if we truly want to
see the full effect of our faith, so we are working diligently to do
that. One thing I am so grateful for that I experienced this week are
meetings. I had a new missionary training meeting, zone training
meeting, and women's conference this week! Talk about spiritually
uplifting! I loved the emphasis that our mission president is putting
on the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and I love the emphasis during
women's conference put on making and keeping covenants with God. Wow.
So powerful. I am so ready for conference this next weekend. It kind
of sucks up all of our day for Proselyting but it's okay because we
are working super hard to get every one of our investigators to watch
conference.
As I reflect on what I want to share with you this week, I am brought
back to obedience. I have been reading in Moses this week and it
talked about how the Lord commanded Adam to offer a sacrifice of the
firstlings of his flocks to Him. Without knowing the why, Adam did it.
When an angel came and asked him, he replied I know not, save the lord
commanded me. What an example that is! Adam gave us an example of not
blind obedience, but of such strong faith in the lord and in his
commandments and teachings. It didn't matter what the lord asked him
to do, all that mattered was that he was asked to do it by the lord.
How powerful is that! What are some things that we have been asked to
do? Have we been obeying with exactness? We obviously do not need to
be perfect, and neither was Adam, however, we do need to strive to do
our best and continually improve. No matter where you are at on the
road of obedience, make the decision now to improve, a little by
little. We will not be perfect in this life, accept that and strive
the live as the savior would. Accept the atonement in your life and
strive to be more obedient. Obedience is a demonstration of our
faith.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed these stories this week! I may or may not
be running low on stamps and I may or may not be asking for some...but
yeah. I love you all and I am so thankful for how each and everyone of
you have blessed my life. I love how you have supported me or my
family in everything we have gone through. Thank you! Have a good
week! Write me, send me pictures, whatever! Besos!
Love from Addison, Illinois,
Hermana Kunz