Wisconsin got rain last week - And so did Paddad no surprise there. : )

Hello!

That’s funny about the rain. We are just the same. Most days it’s like clockwork. The rain comes in around 4pm and stays the night through. Right now, there are some bagyo's coming through the Philippines, so that means it’s pretty dark out and there has been a pretty light sprinkle all day long. That’s fine with me though. I got to go play football this morning in Angadanan. It was Elder Ardon's first time, he's pretty good.

Right now, I am in Cauayan, emailing from the mission home again. Elder Ardon is having another go at fixing all the computers. I have a feeling that we will be back at least one more time though before he is finished.

Wilbert and Nathan are my buds. They are pretty cool. I love going to see them. Right now I am trying to teach their parents. Their whole family lives in one house. That includes their grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, and their 5 kids, their uncle on the weekends, and maybe a few others… My point was that everyone except Wilbert and Nathan’s parents are members of the church. We finally got a lesson with their dad, and now we have a FHE scheduled with them tonight. Well, in about an hour and a half from now. Elder and Sister Gottfredson are coming to the FHE as well to try and show nay an tay what we are trying to do with their family. Hopefully they will have an effect on them.

I have given away some of the ties you sent to me. I haven’t given them all away yet though. One by one, as I see the right situation…otherwise everyone will just go crazy asking for ties then I’m the bad guy when I don’t give them one.

I was able to give Elder Biating his tie and other stuff I made for him before I left. I didn’t get to give it to him exactly, but I snuck it in his luggage since I saw it at the mission home before the fireside.  He’ll have a surprise when he gets home.

About the rest of the general authorities coming in august…wala na! :P they aren’t coming anymore because of the weather. Not only are they not coming, it is only our mission that they are not coming too! :P :P :P We are all rather ticked off about that.

BUT… our mission did receive good news this week. This is part of President Carlos’ Weekly letter to us missionaries.

“This cycle has gone very fast for me.   We have had a busy cycle.  Hopefully, while being busy, we were also productive.....  And yes, we have been!  Thanks to all of your hard work, the Philippines Cauayan Mission leads the Area AND the Region (all of 17 missions in the Philippines, plus Pacific, New Zealand, Hong Kong, etc.) in the following KEY indicators:  (This is average for the last 6 months)

In the area of BAPTISMS:-- we lead in:

(1)  Weekly Average Baptisms; (2) per companionship monthly average; (3) Mission monthly totals
In TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS- we lead in:
(1) % of investigators attending Sacrament Meeting with Baptismal date
(2) % of New Investigators baptized

It is clear from these reports that YOU are being very effective AND productive.  Congratulations!”

We were pretty excited when we read that. Even if our own areas aren’t seeing that kind of growth, there are always people that the Lord is preparing. There is always that “one person” that you need to keep looking for.

Well, here in Paddad we have had a week. We had all sorts of stuff going on. A surprise baptismal interview, investigators fed us to avoid being taught, punted from appointments all day every day, we didn’t reach most of our goals this week, we had investigators that were drunk so we couldn’t teach them. Yup, it’s been a week. Keep on keepin’ on.

That’s all for this week.

I love you! : *

-Elder Lundy

Hi,

An excerpt from Mom’s letter to Elder Lundy (Tuesday morning at around 4 am I was woken up. That would be around 5 pm your Tuesday night. Any way I am not sure what was happening with you, but I felt concerned enough that I never went back to sleep. I prayed for you…)

Well, you're good. What else can I say? On Tuesday at approximately 5 pm, I was squatting in a truck bed with about 7 other people while it was flying down the road with a ferocious rainstorm going on. We were blocking the rain and wind with umbrellas. We were on the way to Elder Teh's devotional in Cauayan when all of the sudden, this rainstorm just came out of nowhere. By the end of the trip there, I was thoroughly soaked. The umbrella only stopped the initial impact. Nothing more. We were safe. Just wet. The hardest part was that I had to squat while this was going on. I didn't have space to sit, nor did I want to because of how wet it was. It was a mga 30 minute trip in this rain. My legs were sore at the end...

The devotional, leadership training, and zone conference with Elder Teh was awesome. He seemed really familiar to me. It was weird. I never felt the whole "General Authority"....feeling, for lack of better term. I felt comfortable with him, kinda like I already knew him. I learned a lot and it was the start of fixing all that stuff I told you about last week. I realized why all that happened to me. It’s because I slipped. I let little things get me. By that I mean I allowed myself to slip in obedience to little things. The little things just added up to one really big thing with many little parts. My point is, LITTLE THINGS MATTER! Now that I am taking care of those things, I am a better missionary than I have ever before been. I am a better person as well.

I haven't gotten your letter with the talks yet. : \ soon...

Pictures:

1. A spider that crawled across my arm a few seconds ago as I was emailing. Yes, with legs that is about the size of 3.5 quarters across.

2. Pam Sun's Parents!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went on splits in Echague 2 with one of my ZL's, Elder Needs. (He is super awesome! and I knew him back at the MTC. he is the batch ahead of me) I got him to cross areas with me on our way home and I got to meet Pam's parents! It was cool! :)

Parents of some very dear friend of our Family!

3. Left to right- Wilbert and Nathan Gallarde. Our baptisms from Paddad.

4. Our Zone Baptism. Alicia 3-Sister Ramos (left), Sister George (beside me)

5. 2 future missionaries later this year, also the fellowshippers I split with on Sunday, Kim Estanoctoc (right) and Johnathan Mortera (left).

So I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but Elder Ardon, my anak, is from Elder Teh's ward. They know each other pretty well. So we got to talk for a few minutes...

Paddad is doing well right now. We just had 2 baptisms, and more are to follow. We should be challenging maybe 4 or 5 more people in the next 2 weeks depending on if they are at the set appointments. Most of those should be completing families in the church. (Part member families’ po sila) It’s amazing on how the Lord blesses you with success when you show Him that you are serious and focused and that He can trust you with His special children.... Elder Ardon is doing great. Oh, FYI, he is practically American in his food likes. Anything I like, he'll like. ;) Kuwawa si Elder Ardon talaga, nay. Kawawa is one of the hardest words for me to describe and good luck with an internet translation, I'm not sure I spelled it right... to the best of my abilities, it simply means "poor Elder Ardon" he is getting a different kind of training because of all my duties. But I think it’s good for him. It’s all application based. We get new ideas from the training program then we try and apply them. That’s about all we have time for...we rarely have time to do all we are supposed to do. : /

Fun fact: you know how you talked to me about an Elder Golightly a while ago that came into the mission with Elder Daniels back in Solano, NV...well, he's sitting right next to me while emailing. We’re in Cauayan right now. He’s a pretty sick kid.

Well, I got a family home evening to get to, so, I LOVE YOU!!!! : *

-Elder Lundy

Stand tall, Walk true and Smile - Cause I Love You!

Elder Lundy's temporary tooth fell out...It's OK the Dentist reattached it!

Well Mom,

You're right. This has been a different week. I learned more than normal this week...

One thing I wish to share that I learned is how to teach with power and authority about the authority of God on this earth, and teach it in a way that whenever I talk about it everyone understands it no matter their education level. With this understanding, new doors are being opened. The Lord taught me how to teach it simply yet extremely boldly, and as I do it people gain understanding and start to investigate the church.

I also gained a much deeper desire to follow spiritual promptings. If I realize that I didn't follow them, it bugs my conscience and makes me feel sick. The Lord even saw fit to give me a second chance this past week at someone I was supposed to share our message with, so I talked to her, but because it was a "her" I only halfhearted it and I’m furious with myself. I even had fellow shippers so it was a pwede!

About your letters you have been trying to write to me, I understand why that is. I don't question why you know I have been all over the place emotionally. YOU ARE MOM! You have super powers that no man can comprehend. I accepted that fact a long time ago. :) It’s just I have been all over the place spiritually and emotionally.

My desire has fluxed from one end of the spectrum to the other along with who I am as a missionary. I understand better than ever what I need to do right now, but I can't seem to get it right more than one day in a row, and its ticking me off and throwing me all out of whack. One day it’s the language, the next day it’s my desire, the next my studies are cut short, then my teaching skills go out the window...then in between I have amazing experiences where I can't doubt the reality of my Savior.

Through the Lord's guidance I have an overflowing teaching schedule working only a third of my area, I have 2 investigators that passed their interviews that are being baptized this week, I was guided through a special case baptismal interview and handled it perfectly without damaging the nanay's hope of being baptized or her faith. We have 7 baptisms in my zone this week with 6 of them being in my district. I see miracles left and right. The Lord is blessing me so much its blowing my mind... yet at times my desire drops. I lose hope for a second. I don't feel the spirit in a lesson. I don't follow the Lord's guidance.

I'm kinda realizing the same thing happened to Elder Schmidt when he trained me and was made district leader. He wanted to be perfect. He knew what he needed to do, was determined to do it, but kept messing up. It killed him. It absolutely drove him nuts. I feel the exact same way. I don't know how to fix it mom...

I love you all so much. I am thankful for this time I have to serve the Lord. I will continue to do my best and I know the Lord will guide me to the blessing of all those I teach. Thank you for all the emails. I really enjoy reading them even if I don't have time to always respond. It helps me feel close to you.

I love you guys!

-Elder Lundy

Elder Lundy got the pictures to download!

Don't ask he didn't put any information with them.
But atleast we got some pictures!



A Crazy Week

Hey!

This week has been a flippin crazy week.

By day,

This is a borrowed picture from the internet.

Monday I went to Magat Dam in Santiago,

Tuesday, I had district meeting in Alicia,

Wednesday I was in Cauayan for training,

Thursday was kinda a normal day,

Friday I went to Echague to get my fake tooth put back in then went to Cauayan for my companion to help the AP's with computer prob's to get ready for Elder Teh's visit to the mission then spoke at a funeral,

Saturday we went to Alicia again for a music workshop because some misguided sister said that Sister Carlos said it was required so the whole zone rushed there to find it wasn't really required....

Elder Hamblin is in Santiago, but we have seen each other a lot more recently.

We are having some success. One less active family came back to church this past Sunday, and we have 2 baptisms planned for the 21st part member family they are, ages 9 & 10. Work went down this week because of all the traveling... our training schedule isn't harming our schedule too much which is nice.

I got your letter, "I found my friend" and thought it was really cool. I loved it.

For protein powder, I’ll trust John on flavor. Chocolate seems to usually taste better. Can you also send some skittles and gummies and as much bacon you have space for? Oh, FYI the packages of bacon you have sent me the past couple times are delicious, but half of them have opened in the mail. Can you also put them in a plastic bag so if they open it doesn't make a mess and has a better chance of not going bad?

I did get burned and I took some gnarly pictures of it. I’m good now though. It only lasted for 2 days then I started peeling. No further damage though.

That’s really sad about Ryan Mortimer. Oh, fun fact, I ran into an American here a while back that knew Ryan from and EFY a while ago. It was interesting...

Please pray for Elder Ardon and I to have a good effective week as missionaries. We barely got to work this past week, so we are hoping this week will be different.

I love you all so very much!!! :*

-Elder Lundy

My Anak Me and My Tatay

Hey!

Elder Ardon Elder Lundy and Elder Schmidt

 I’m doing good. I just got the crap burned out of my skin at a zone activity though. Yup, I’m still in Paddad. I have the guarantee that I’ll be there until the end of September unless something happens and the Lord decides he doesn't want me to finish training Elder Ardon...oh yah!!! Elder Ardon is the name of my new companion! He is from Angono, Rizal, Quezon City Mission if I remember right. He is flippin great. He wants to do things the right way. He wants to be a good missionary, and he is bringing my style of teaching back to the way they do it at the MTC, which is great!

...I know that this is coming from nowhere, but this realization almost brought me to tears just now. I'm becoming the person I want to become. And even greater is the realization that the fact that the person I want to become is exactly who the Lord wants me to be.

There is no greater opportunity than to serve a mission. It has saved my life. I have gained more than I could ever give back. I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and my Heavenly Father, and I am ever thankful for the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide me in all I do. It’s a gift of never ending worth that I heavily rely on.

That pretty much sums up the past 6 weeks of my life. I have drawn ever closer to my savior. I have been trying to think for the past 5 minutes of what else to say but nothing else seems important as the statement that I know Jesus Christ lives and he is my savior...through that knowledge I have gained new confidence in myself and the Lord. This work is real. This is the work of salvation (every bit as much as genealogy work is).

Well, until next week, I love you!