Dear Family and Friends,
Oh boy, oh boy, have I learned a lot this week! I feel like I have just written...I sure hope the rest of my life doesn't fly by like my mission is flying by! Holy wow! Pretty soon I will have less time until I go home than the time have since I left home. That's an interesting thought. Well, let's start off with some info about our area. Right now we only have one solid investigator. His name is Miguel Bueno. He is a part member family and his wife is a less active who is returning to church. Miguel loves the church, especially the hymns. He is on date for baptism THIS SATURDAY! We are so excited for him and for his desires to be baptized. Their dog died this week and he is overcoming a smoking problem and so we were a little worried, but the Lord heard our prayers and blessed him with the strength to refrain! So we are super pumped for him.
Then we realized without Miguel we won't have anyone to go and teach...so we have been going through out Potential New Investigators and our Former Investigators to see if anyone is now prepared for the gospel and we found one! His name is Antonio. He is a single man, but he accepted an invitation to be baptized and he promised to read the Book of Mormon and to pray specifically to know if it is true or not. We brought a less active member with us to teach him, her name is Ashely, and she basically straight up told him that he needed to make time for God. She said God makes time for us, so we need to make time for him. She is super bold and reminds me a lot of my mom and so I love her to say the least!
This past week we also had exchanges, which is when we change companions for a day with our leaders, and I happened to be with Hermana Montanares who was companions with Hermana Lewis! It was so much fun and she told me that I reminded her a lot of Hermana Lewis and I laughed because most people tell me I reminded them of my mission mom, Hermana Santos (as missionaries, the person(s) who trained you are called your mission mom or dad). Hermana Montanares is an awesome missionary and I felt the spirit so strongly as we visited the people we had planned.
This week as I read in Proverbs 14:29 I realized that I have an anger problem...yeah, I know shocker right? But as I have been praying this week to know what to improve on, that's what the spirit told me and so I am making plans to over come it. I started with scripture study, and if anyone feels like they are having the same problem, I would highly recommend these scriptures: Luke 21:19, Romans 5:3-4, 15:4, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, Hebrews 10:36, 12:1-2, James 1:3,19-21, 2 Peter 1:5-7, & Alma 38:4-5. My favorite scripture out of these talks about how patience and the scriptures bring hope. As I pondered this, I realized that hope was faith believing that I, Hermana Kunz, could change and become the daughter of God that He wants me to be. We had a devotional by our mission president on Sunday night when he told us "the Book of Mormon teaches us that all men can change". I know that is true. I am in no way, shape, or form the same person I was when I left on my mission and I plan on changing even more from now until I go home. It won't be easy, but with the infinite power of the atoning sacrifice of our Lord, we can access His power and not rely alone on our own will power.
This gospel is true. If you don't believe that, put it to the test and realize that the promises of the gospel (Moroni 10:3-5) do not fail. Sometimes, we as humans fail, but the beautiful thing about that is that we have the atonement to start again. Jesus Christ is our savior. He loves us and is waiting for us to reach out and use the gift he gave us. So if you drink a case of beer and a bottle of tequila a day, reach out and use the atonement because it's for you, if you have been falling short on living the law of chastity, reach out and use the atonement because it is for you, if you haven't been readings your scriptures, reach out and use the atonement because it is for you, or if you're a full time missionary feeling like there is too much to change and not enough time, reach out. Use the atonement. It is for you. It is for everyone.
The atonement is infinite and covers everything we could ever do. We do all that we can to repent and live in the correct way in this life to show our love for Jesus Christ but to also prepare ourselves to be comfortable in the sight of God at judgement day. The more we try to be Christlike in this life, the better off we will be in the life to come. Share the gospel with those who don't have it. Offer them the cleansing and enabling powers of the atonement and all the blessings we have through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. As you do so, blessings will flow into your lives without ceasing, and miracles will be seen. And all we need to have is the attitude, desire, and faith to help someone change their lives for the better. I love you all, and I pray that you will all have a week full of blessings and miracles! Thank you for all of the support and for helping me out with all of the prayers! They are much needed and greatly appreciated.
Hermana Kunz
Oh boy, oh boy, have I learned a lot this week! I feel like I have just written...I sure hope the rest of my life doesn't fly by like my mission is flying by! Holy wow! Pretty soon I will have less time until I go home than the time have since I left home. That's an interesting thought. Well, let's start off with some info about our area. Right now we only have one solid investigator. His name is Miguel Bueno. He is a part member family and his wife is a less active who is returning to church. Miguel loves the church, especially the hymns. He is on date for baptism THIS SATURDAY! We are so excited for him and for his desires to be baptized. Their dog died this week and he is overcoming a smoking problem and so we were a little worried, but the Lord heard our prayers and blessed him with the strength to refrain! So we are super pumped for him.
Then we realized without Miguel we won't have anyone to go and teach...so we have been going through out Potential New Investigators and our Former Investigators to see if anyone is now prepared for the gospel and we found one! His name is Antonio. He is a single man, but he accepted an invitation to be baptized and he promised to read the Book of Mormon and to pray specifically to know if it is true or not. We brought a less active member with us to teach him, her name is Ashely, and she basically straight up told him that he needed to make time for God. She said God makes time for us, so we need to make time for him. She is super bold and reminds me a lot of my mom and so I love her to say the least!
This past week we also had exchanges, which is when we change companions for a day with our leaders, and I happened to be with Hermana Montanares who was companions with Hermana Lewis! It was so much fun and she told me that I reminded her a lot of Hermana Lewis and I laughed because most people tell me I reminded them of my mission mom, Hermana Santos (as missionaries, the person(s) who trained you are called your mission mom or dad). Hermana Montanares is an awesome missionary and I felt the spirit so strongly as we visited the people we had planned.
This week as I read in Proverbs 14:29 I realized that I have an anger problem...yeah, I know shocker right? But as I have been praying this week to know what to improve on, that's what the spirit told me and so I am making plans to over come it. I started with scripture study, and if anyone feels like they are having the same problem, I would highly recommend these scriptures: Luke 21:19, Romans 5:3-4, 15:4, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, Hebrews 10:36, 12:1-2, James 1:3,19-21, 2 Peter 1:5-7, & Alma 38:4-5. My favorite scripture out of these talks about how patience and the scriptures bring hope. As I pondered this, I realized that hope was faith believing that I, Hermana Kunz, could change and become the daughter of God that He wants me to be. We had a devotional by our mission president on Sunday night when he told us "the Book of Mormon teaches us that all men can change". I know that is true. I am in no way, shape, or form the same person I was when I left on my mission and I plan on changing even more from now until I go home. It won't be easy, but with the infinite power of the atoning sacrifice of our Lord, we can access His power and not rely alone on our own will power.
This gospel is true. If you don't believe that, put it to the test and realize that the promises of the gospel (Moroni 10:3-5) do not fail. Sometimes, we as humans fail, but the beautiful thing about that is that we have the atonement to start again. Jesus Christ is our savior. He loves us and is waiting for us to reach out and use the gift he gave us. So if you drink a case of beer and a bottle of tequila a day, reach out and use the atonement because it's for you, if you have been falling short on living the law of chastity, reach out and use the atonement because it is for you, if you haven't been readings your scriptures, reach out and use the atonement because it is for you, or if you're a full time missionary feeling like there is too much to change and not enough time, reach out. Use the atonement. It is for you. It is for everyone.
The atonement is infinite and covers everything we could ever do. We do all that we can to repent and live in the correct way in this life to show our love for Jesus Christ but to also prepare ourselves to be comfortable in the sight of God at judgement day. The more we try to be Christlike in this life, the better off we will be in the life to come. Share the gospel with those who don't have it. Offer them the cleansing and enabling powers of the atonement and all the blessings we have through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. As you do so, blessings will flow into your lives without ceasing, and miracles will be seen. And all we need to have is the attitude, desire, and faith to help someone change their lives for the better. I love you all, and I pray that you will all have a week full of blessings and miracles! Thank you for all of the support and for helping me out with all of the prayers! They are much needed and greatly appreciated.
Hermana Kunz