1.11.13

Hey Fam!

 

Well this next week is changes again....my compaion is going home on wednesday and tuesday I will getting a new comp in my area. I wont lie I am a little nervous to orient to the area...but its all good, I've learned that you always learn something new from change. So that's something good to look forward to! We have been working hard in the office (the other nurse and I) to prepare for the new missionaries coming on Monday....27 to be exact! We have tons coming because of the age change...so lots of new areas opening and of course lots more people brought to the truth...its really exciting! And what a blessing! I am so happy that so many are answering the call to serve...the longer I am here the more I realize there's lots of work to do! So we need all the help we can get!

 

Thanks so much for all the constant love and support! It is felt here for sure. Thanks for your prayers too. I always pray for you all as well! What a blessing it is to be a part of this gospel! Always work to strengthen your testimony to be a better and more faithful member in the church okay?

Love,

Hermana Ahrendsen

12.31.2012

Fam!

Yes it was so good to talk to you all! So you all looked so great! ha Oh and of course you too Rust! When does Winter semester start again? Sorry about the bad roads! You could come vacation in El Salvador where its 90 degrees everyday :) I was talking to a member yesterday and she said in March and April here is when its the hottest...so I guess we will see!

 

Well we are teaching a man named Diego and he is awesome. He really wants to change and come to the Lord and knows that he needs to be baptised in the Church of the Lord by someone who holds the Preisthood but he can't stop smoking and drinking coffee. We are working with him but your prayers and ideas of how to help are welcomed.

 

Well I love you all and hope this your New Years Eve is going well! Drink a DP for me ha ha just kidding....but have a great new year and I will chat with you all soon!

 

Love,

Lynd

12.24.12

Pues si....estoy escribiendo otra vez...jiji El presidente les dijo....pues su p-day van a ser lunes porque el dia antes navidad es bien chafas para trabjar entonces....aqui estoy. ha anywizzays...I dont have much to say since I wrote 3 days ago...but I mean I am excited to be writing again! ha and guess what tomorrow we are all going to chat it up! hollah! I think it might be a tad later than 2ish- we are always late leaving the office on tues. But I will try and run. Anyways how is Christmas Eve going? Are you eating some pudding for me and opening the family game?? how about that waissel? you know I always just pretended to take sips of that each year and then would pour the rest down the drain.......ha ha jk waissel is the bomb. 

Well we had our zone gift exchange today...that was awesome...we had breakfast together and played basketball. Of course I watched and took pics but the elders played. So that was fun and today and tomorrow we have lots of dinner and lunch appointments- yesss! I was starting to get nervous because two days ago we had nothing: no dinner appointments for Christmas or Christmas Eve... so I was thinking of treating my companion to a little chicken wing from the corner store and soda. ha but thankfully the members want to feed us instead :)

Well I don't know if I explained very well our area but its really different from my other one the ward is a lot smaller and really i don't know the people are really different....great people of course but a little tough...ha anyway my comp and I were getting kind of down okay not kinda, really down...because you know you just worry a lot about your area, your investigators, your ward...we felt like no one was responding to what we were saying. So Saturday we started a fast and fasted until Sunday...and by a miracle of the Lord we had 2 investigators come to church with us...we know its not huge but we were sooo grateful. The Lord was really merciful and even though it was a small step...it was very necessary. I was reading in Alma 37 where is talks about how ¨by small things are great things brought to pass¨"....that is so true...I know little by little we will be able to see miracles if we are consistent in the work and work diligently. 

Yesterday I did our little tradition that we started last year...so I will explain a little...I decided to buy clothes for the kids of this family we are teaching. The little girl is 5 and is named Vernoica and the little boy is 4 and is named Andres. They are so cute but are very poor. Every time we go over they are in the same clothes and are dirty from head to toe but they are the cutest little things and we really love them. Anyway I bought them some new clothes and some candy for Christmas and last night my companion and I took over the presents. I said they were from Santa and they were sooooo excited! ( you can see in the pictures) but it wasn't only the kids.... the parents also lightened right up and kept saying gracias gracias.. muchas gracias...It really was amazing and so special. 

Alright so this is a little embarrasing but kinda funny...so yesterday my comp and I were walking to the bus station and I was looking down in my backpack for some money right when I went to look up I literally head planted my face into a street sign....it was horrific..my comp turned around to see me crouching and she thought I was ducking because I heard a gun shot (when she heard my head hit the sign it was loud enough for her to think it was a gun shot....) I instantly had a giant goose egg on my forehead....I told my companion after- well at least we will have a good starting point to contact people tonight!...ha ha pretty awesome.

Anyway....I'm out but....I will chizzat with you all manana! Les quiero mucho!

Con Amor, Hermana Ahrendsen 

This is a pic of me and my old comp in our other area...  and the other is of me and my comp that I have right now at our mission Christmas party! Feliz Navidad!

12.21.12

Hey fam...

I dont have a ton of time this week sorry this is going to be short but thanks so much for all the emails! You guys are awesome! We had our Christmas Devo with the mission yesterday- it was sweet. We ate tons and had a talent show and I was in the mission choir for the spiritual part and the pres and his wife spoke. We got mission shirts and played games...it was a ton of fun. Also I should give my thanks for the pictures that showed up in the mission slide show of me....pippy longstocking really??? ha ha I was dying...i was like, no they didnt...I wanted to say..."you sneaky mom"!! Missionaries made comments about it for the rest of the day. ha but yesterday was basically our Christmas because Christmas we work as normal except for when we call our fams. 

Well we contacted into a fam this week that was super positive and invited us to eat dinner with them that night! ha and after dinner they invited us over for Christmas dinner! It was awesome- I was like...dang our members don't even invite us over for Christmas. Anyway they are super duper Catholic but the husband had lots of questions about the mission work which was good so we are gonna keep working with them.

Hope all is well and you are all ready for Christmas! It doesnt even feel like Christmas here because it is 100 degrees everyday...I miss the snow a little. But love ya and cant wait to skype with ya in 4 days! yay!! Have a great day! Oh and thanks for all your prayers :)

Love 
Hermana Lynd Ahrendsen

12.14.12

Hey fam!

 

Sounds like everything is going well! I am so excited for Ash! YAY! When I saw her email I got sooo excited....praying she will join me in Central America!! I told her hopefully she will have it by Christmas so she can open it over Skype! Because we got word that yes we can skype!! :) So set that baby up....I talked with the member who I am going over with and I think around 1 or 2 in the afternoon (my time) I will be calling/skyping....I really hope we have success with the computer..because you never know here in El Salvador....ha so everyone is getting ready for Christmas! People here are too except its a little different...they basically light off bombs (fireworks) in the street constantly.....ha its awesome last night I laid in bed and listened to a firework show out my window...fireworks for Christmas are the thing here.

 

The weather in my area is crazy! It is pretty hot in the day and FREEZING at night. I am starting to bring a jacket with me because if I don't I shiver to death as we knock doors....and usually I wake up around 3am in morning and am frozen to death. Its weird but I wasn't prepared for it....ha ha It hasnt rained much and I really only used my rain coat in the CCM in Guatemala. Did I tell you my comp is 30 years old? she is awesome...and has a schedule for everything for everything..which I love because I am a little OCD when it comes to schedules. I started training for the nurse this week.....yikes....the nurse right now in the mission does sooo much!! She keeps saying don't worry I will train you but we are always so busy that she hardly has time to explain things..but I got every Tues for about 5 hours to the mission office to train with her.

 

I found out this week that an investgaotr (Carlos the pastor from my other area) is going to be baptised! He had an interview with the Pres and got approved...my old comp called me and was like...WERE GOING TO BAPTISE A PASTOR!! ha she was super excited and so was I. I will be real I was a little surprised he got approved by the pres but also very stoked...our history with him is crazy and goes to show...God works his miracles! We are working with a lady named Roxanna and her hubb Julio. I don't know if I mentioned them in my last letter but they are awesome...we are hoping to bring them to church with us on Sunday and bring them closer to being baptised this next week. She has two little kids- a little boy and girl. They hardly have anything but Roxanna always has something to smile about....blows my mind every time we visit them but what an awesome example she is to me.

 

So a funny story (my heck this letter is HUGE...sorry fam :/) So I was going through my food and throwing stuff away and I came to my bread and went to throw the bread bag away and then decided to save the little twisty tie thing. In my head I was like awesome I can use this for so many things...and I should probably wash the bread bad and save that too because that will be useful to store things in....then I just went about doingmy thing..then suddenly it registered in my mind....What am I doing????saving twisy ties and bread bags...?? I am living in the Great Depression!!!! I had a good laugh......

 

Well I will let you all go....thanks for always writing and thinking of and praying for me it is felt down here for sure. I am excited to skype you all....!!

 

Love,

Hermana Lyndee Ahrendsen

12.7.12

Hey famamily!

So I got transfered like I said. I am in a new area called Trebol. I have a new companion her name is Hermana Guilboth from Panama. Leaving my other area was hard I wont lie....I cried ha ha I'm such a baby...but my I went to visit a family that we baptised a night before i left the area to tell them I was being transferred and one of my converts started crying and then I started crying...it was way sad. This is also the family that has the friend living with them (Carlos) that wants to be baptised this month. My comp was is so excited for him to be baptised because he is an ex-pastor from Guatemala. Anyway hes all "well i will only get baptised if you get permission to come to my baptism and I'm planning it for the 24th of this month so when you come you can eat with us and spend Christmas with us"..ha they are such an awesome family! anyway..... My new PDAY is FRIDAY...just fyi :) Our house is pretty sweet its two stories and really quite huge for two people. We have three bathrooms and 5 other rooms we basically don't use anything. The downside to this house is it has next to nothing in it because its new...for example one mirror in the whole house....ha ha but its okay we love it anyways. The area is new too. The church is in a house and we only have about 60 to 70 members who come...but that's just an invitacion to work more!!

Speaking of invitations....The president is inviting us to be more obedient and ONLY write him and our family for email so...I am going to accept this challenge and work harder to be more obedient. Friends can still write me emails but I can only write back by letter...:( but I love hearing from you so dont hesitate to writer me okay?? ha 

So thanksgiving sounded fun! I am glad you got my card! my comp wants to come and study at BYU so maybe you will get to meet her some day. Also Kyle I told her that she could marry you after her mission....actually I think you are promised to quite a few Latinas here but thats okay you'll have lots of options after the mission. ha ha :) Last Christmas they were able to Skype so I think that we will be able to this year so set that baby up. I am not 100 percent sure yet though..so I will let you know. We are having a huge Christmas devotional bash for the mission on the 20th of this month. I got sucked into dancing with some of the Latinas for the talent show....yes I am the only gringa....It might be a little rough but awe well it'll be fun!!

Well family I sure love ya and pray for you always. I am learning so much out here and I am grateful for this opportunity to be more devoted to the gospel and to help others obtain eternal life through my efforts. We are teaching the family Linares...they are awesome. It was weird the first time I visited their house I felt like I knew them before or had been there before. Anyways they have 3 little kids and even though they don't have a lot money or material wise...they are happy and really love each other. Family relationships are everything and I mean I wouldn't trade my family for the world! :) ha curr bout ya!

Well I hope to hear from you all next Friday...! Keep choosing the right and you will be blessed!

Much love,

Hermana Ahrendsen

12.3.2012

Well hey there fam....sounds like all the parties were bomb this week!

 

I found out today I am being transfered....I have mixed feelings because I have grown to love my area the people and my companion but new experiences and areas are good too! I had an interview with the Pres today regarding nursing information and he said this next change every Tues I will be coming to the office to start training with the nurse. He said after this change that I start taking part of the mission calls...and then from there start taking more and more of the mission health issues. I don't know if he has a plan to send the other nurse to Belize but from what she said I think that's the plan so we will see. I find out Wednesday my new area and new companion..crazy but good!

 

Anyway this week went well. We are working in a different pàrt of our area where the people are a lot poorer but they are very loving and willing to recieve us. We are really growing to love them. We placed a baptismal date with a man yesterday who came to church with us named Gergorio. He is awesome.

 

Anyway Thanks for all the love....I am going to try and send a letter and some pictures in the mail today for christmas but ya just never know with the mail here if you guys will get it or not. ha i hope so!

 

Love ya!

Hermana Ahrendsen

11.26.12

Hey fam...

Whats going on....well I didnt hear from you this week so I figured you were all super busy with the holiday festivites...its okay I only shed a couple tears or so....ha ha just kidding! You guys are awesome..love ya! So how was thanksgiving with the fam and all..? I hope it went well! Did you get my thanksgiving letter? The pres and his wife scanned our letters to our families for all of us! I hope you got it. 

Well this week went well. We are working with a man named Carlos who is living with some recent converts in our ward. It has been really cool to see his progress. He was very cold and not wanting anything to do with us in the beginning...he used to be a pastor and so he had TONS of things to more or less bash us on...primarily Joseph Smith. But every week he went with his friend to church even though he didn't want to listen to us. This last week we decided to set up a lesson just with him and to be real I want super excited because not only does he have something to say about everything we teach but he makes fun of my spanish on the daily....ha but we prayed really hard and the lesson went really well! And he told us he wants to be baptised! We were shocked really. He does have some pretty major problems he needs to work out with the Pres so the baptismal process might be a little longer but really it is an example that if you take the first few steps (he came to church each week) the Lord can and will change your heart! Because really he is a different man....anyway pretty awesome.

Well I hope you are all having a great week! Keep working hard and read the book of Mormon! Did you hear about the challenge from the profet?....of course you did who am I kidding ha anyway make that a goal for sure because what an amazing oppurtunity! Love you all!

Love,
Hermana Ahrendsen

11.19.2012

Hey fam! 

Well all sounds good and....whoa I will miss you on thanksgiving but from what I understand we have a pretty bomb dinner in the office. I will let you know how that goes. Well we had the baptism of Hermano Jorge this week and Presidente Cordon and his family came...it was awesome! He is an awesome guy. 

We had a activity this week at the church that we took our investgators to they had a dance and dinner and they played lady in red and one more try...dad i thought about you...ha ha good times!

Well I hope all is well...we are preparing for the christmas concert and my comp and i got asked to sing in the choir....were excited!...I love your emails thanks for always writing and thinking about me! 

I love you all!

Love love,

Hermana Lynd Ahrendsen

11.12.2012

Fam! Howdy! 

So yes I experienced my first earthquake this week. We were sitting in zone mtg and everything started moving up and down..i felt a little sea sick. It went on for like 30 seconds. I guess Mexico and Guatemala got the brunt of it and some people died :( Super sad...send some prayers our way in Central A if you can.....So we are having the baptism of Hermano Jorge this week...we are so excited! He is awesome and so positive! We came over to teach him Tithes and Fast Offerings and he had already read the pamphlet and did the questions in the back...I almost started crying ha ha he is the sweetest man. He greets more people at church than some of the members do and is always holding newborn babys and singing to them. He also frequently has a man with one leg over to his house for dinner...The pres and his whole family are coming to his baptism...he really is super special! 

Things are good here....lots of fireworks everyday for Navidad..kinda weird ha ha and they don't celebrate Thanksgiving but in the mission they do! We're excited for that! How is your book of mormon reading going? I hope all is well..send my regards to Rust and let him know that he is SOOO lucky to have a family in the US that loves him. There are sooo many stray dogs here that wander around for food and drink from the gutter its gross and most of them have like one leg and half an eye...so Rust you sure are blessed! 

Thanks for all the love and support! Love you all! Have a good week!

Hermana Ahrendsen

Oh PS we did service on Saturday at the hospital. This is a pic with the nurses...pretty different huh? and this is me doing the ingrown toenail procedure! Yikes! 

11.5.2012

Hi fam!...

Well this week was good....we got to take our investigators to the temple! It was such a cool experience! We are teaching this man I think i have mentioned him before...Hermano Jorge...he is sooo cool! Everyone that meets him loves him! We had stake conference on my birthday and the President came with his whole family...and he met Hermano Jorge and at the end of them chatting the pres said when you decide to accept a baptism date please invite me...I was freaking out!! I was like ahhh...ha ha and then that night he committed to the 15th! We are super excited! He always tells everyone they need to watch out and be careful with me..and then he dies laughing after he says that! He also said he wants me to get married in El Salvador so he can come to my wedding I said....hmmm I dont know. ha ha but I will send pics after his baptism. He is seriously one of a kind.

Uhm yes I got the packages! A little late but yes got them...THANK YOU!! The candy...ahh so good and the music and everything was just what I needed! I shed a little tear reading the letters! Also Thank Lacy for the sweet picture-drawing of me. It is now on my wall! For Christmas no se....I will think about it and let you know but yes you probably need to send it soon...yikes it take forever! Seriously i think all the time....man I am sooo blessed to have the family i do and to be born into a family that loves and supports me and has the gospel! Its really amazing...

Well I hope all is well! I cant wait to hear from all of you each week! Love you so much!

Work with the missionarys in the ward okay?! ha they need help! oh and how is the scripture reading goin? I am trying to finish before dec 5...that is one amazing book! Keep reading and working hard! Love you so much!

Hermana Ahrendsen

This is a little girl names Jessi....we made the treats that you sent mom! She loved them! They are an investigators family...that always feeds us! Literally we feel bad a lot but really....i love it. ha ha anyway she is so cute! Look up the mormon message- be strong...she loves that one! 

 

10.29.12

Hey fam!

Thanks for all the bday wishes! I love getting your emails each week! So yes yesterday was my b-day and really I had the best b-day present ever of 2 baptisms....awe man it was awesome. I always feel the spirit so strong at baptisms, it was just really special that it happened to be on my birthday! :) I was pretty lucky. Mom the packages are MIA still....but no worries they will get here for sure!

Thanks for all the support and love! Love you all and keep writing! :) Sorry my personal emails to everyone are so short...I would way rather read than write so I spend my time reading suppeerr slow because I love it! Sorry its short this week..never enough time! 

Have a great week! Love ya! 

Con amor,
Hermana Ahrendsen

10.15.2012

Hi fam!

I love getting all your emails and hearing how everything is going! So you didn't like the platanos?? (fried bananas)..They have those ALL the time here...for sure an acquired taste. So Dad asked what a typical day is like here....and yes dad your right, every day is different but I will explain kinda what goes on. So right now I am training with my comp until Dec 5th and after that I will start training to be the mission nurse with Hna Bryce. I did do one ingrown toenail removal but that has been it so far....anyway My comp and I usually wake up to roosters (everyone here has roosters and chickens...they are all over in the streets) or we wake up to someone honking this horn on their bikes selling pan francise..(bread) so many people here sell bread out of these baskets on their bikes that they ride around all day..its crazy. We study in the morning and then visit during the day until about 9. We work hard but its good. 

So we have quite a few investgators that we visit. We have this man names Jorge Tucio that is so sweet. He is always asking us what he can do for us. We are like, no what can we do for you! The first night we visited with him I was a little sick and it was raining when we were leaving so he gave us coats and gave me a hat to wear and when I tried to return it he told me it was mine....good man. We are hoping he will be baptised by the 27th...(almost my b-day, how cool of a present would that be!!) We have two baptisms this Saturday...I will tell more next week about the investigators and more about El Salvador and the area because right now I don't have very much time! 

We are going to the temple in San Salvador tomorrow! I am excited it will be awesome! I will send pics one of these days too....I lost my camera cord so it is a bit difficult right now but we will get it done. ha I love you all! Have a great week.

Con Amor Hermana Ahrendsen

10.22.12

Hey fam! 

Always thanks so much for thinking of me and writing me! You guys are all the best! Everything sounds so fun and exciting. Sometimes I forget that there is life outside of this country and then P-day rolls around and I remember that there really is! ha ha, So the new furniture sounds awesome! and all the halloween festivities....you know that is my fav holiday (secretly I hope you sent a candy corn or two) ha I don't know if they celebrate that here because they have like the day of the dead holiday on the 1st of Nov I think...but we will see.

So Mom yes we have two baptisms on my birthday...pretty awesome huh? We had two on Saturday too which was very special because we weren't sure if the man was going to be able to be baptized because he has been in the hospital for a week and is just very sick but the Lord really blessed us. Victor Sanchez and his wife Maria were baptised on Saturday. His wife told us while he was in the hospital he San Salvador he kept telling the doctor..."I need to leave doctor...I have to get baptised"...so we are really happy they were healthy enough to be baptised. Then on the 28 we have Lionel and Lucina Siefontes getting baptised. They are awesome...two sundays ago we came to visit them and Lionel had a hymn book that he had taken home with him from Sacrament meeting and was searching in the back of it to find a definition to a word he didn't understand in church. ha ha we showed him the scripture guide in the scriptures are a better resource. We also this week tracted into a man named James from California. He called out to us when we were walking and said "hey what religion are you guys?" He speaks a little spanish but mostly english..so I mostly talk...but our first lesson he told us he needs help because he has lots of problems and he had been praying to God to help him find direction in his life. He said he wants to find the right way and thinks maybe thats why he felt like he needed to call out to us. Its really a cool story...I will keep you updated on our lessons with him. Then we have a sweet man names Jorge Tucio. I think I talked a little about him in my last email but awe man...I wish you all could meet him...you would love him! Always looking for ways to serve and help and he is soo nice to everyone. These are just a few...its good because people are very religious here so are willing to listen and meet with us most of the time. 

So you asked a little more about what its like here...a lot of people have stores out of their houses..like food or little convenience stores. The busses are....crazy! ha Literally every time I get on I feel like I break the law of chastity...ha one time the bus was so packed I was stuffed at the front and the driver could barely shift the bus in gear because i was right up against it...dangerous much?? nahh....ha our apartment has all sorts of creatures..and this week we found a scorpion by our beds...gross! It was pretty big and my only issue was..well where's the rest of the family.. in my bed or shoes? yikes! 

We also went to the temple in San Salvador on Tueday...SO beautiful! And Dad get this...remember that CTR ring you got from the lost and found sale at byui that I wear everyday...the flower on it is El salvadors national flower and that is the flower that is designed into everything at the temple!..its like the temples theme I guess its so beautiful. Look at the OCT Liahona the first pic on the inside cover is a huge picture you see when you first walk into the temple. I love it and loved the temple!

Well Always remember to pray and got to church and read your scripts! This church is true! I love you all so much thanks for all your amazing support! 

Love, Hermana Ahrendsen