Week 24 (Two Dogs or Guardian Angels?)

Dear family and friends,

Well, I feel like nothing has happened this week it passed by so fast! We'll see what stories I have for you.

Monday: We bought food, cleaned, washed clothes, and went to our district meeting. We met all the new people in our district which was fun! I met an Elder Ames from St. George. Brent, Amy, is he an acquaintance of yours?

Tuesday: We had another lesson with Blanca! I hope that she can really feel and recognize her answer and have the time to come to church and be baptized. We also taught a Menos Activa Hermana Bursiaga. A long story short we were not well received. She really wants nothing to do with the church now. As we listened, I began to realize that what she really doesn't want are commitments. She doesn't want the commitment to go to church, to partake of the sacrament, to have callings, baptism, etc. Something my dad told me last week is so true. If we are not willing to commit to anything, we will not gain anything. The church of "Nothing" is easy to join, but the problem is that you also gain "Nothing." In reality we should be excited to have commitments, to help us grow and change and experience life. They are not always easy but THEY ARE ALWAYS WORTH IT! If there is one thing I know, it is that the things of God are ALWAYS WORTH IT. I mean it does determine our eternity, so I would hope it would be worth it. My companera and I talked yesterday about the Kingdoms of Glory. We talked about how, yes, the Telestial kingdom is better than this world, but why settle for that when we can obtain the highest kingdom possible-Exaltation, the Celestial Kingdom. We can LITERALLY live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Can you imagine sitting down to dinner with them every night? The conversations you could have?! We have the capacity to obtain all the power, glory, blessings and happiness that our Heavenly Father has!! WE CAN ONE DAY CREATE OUR OWN WORLDS!  I promise you that this power and happiness will surpass any entertainment from an app, game, or other worldly things. And as for my eternity I want to spend it with my family, my future husband (whoever he may be), my Heavenly Father, my brother Jesus Christ, and do marvelous, creative things that only gods can do.

Wednesday: This was a fabulous day. We went to a different part of our area where we have never been and we gained 4 new investigators!! The test now is whether they will progress!! We also had this interesting experience. We were walking in this new area and these two dogs started to follow us. We thought they would leave when we taught. They didn't! They continued to follow us! They followed us for 3 hours!! They even went to other colonies with us!! We have no idea why, but maybe they were our guardian angels for awhile? I will have to ask when I get to heaven.

Thursday: We ate Little Caesar's pizza!! So fun! Hna. Santiesteban and I bought it, ate it, and enjoyed every moment of it! That night we had to come home early-seven o'clock. So we bought Chinese food which was also fabulous! (They have Chinese Mexican food! It exists! And Chinese Mexicans exist!)

Friday: We had intercambios, but instead we all went to the area of our Hermana leaders? I'm not sure why, but that is what happened. 

Saturday: Still in intercambios today and nothing really happened. In the evening Hermana Moronta and I went to my area and we taught Baltazar and we got him to commit to a Baptismal date!! I hope that he can keep it.  We are going to work really hard with him!

(P.S. So there are actually 3 Americanas here. Me, Hermana Moronta, y Hermana Sarabia. I am the only white, non latino of the three. It was so fun to be with Hermana Moronta from Miami all day!)

Sunday: There was a toy truck stuck in a tree, so we helped get it out, shared a lesson and got a new investigator!! Yes best day! Then as we continued to walk we went up to talk to a woman who was pushing her mom in a wheel chair. As we walked up she dropped everything and ran away from us with her kids!? Ugh...... I think you forgot your mom?! Poor lady. We talked to her quickly and gave her a tarjeta. and pushed her to her daughter so she wouldn't be abandoned! I was so astonished at what had just happen!! I was thinking, what did we do, is there something on my face? I have never had that effect on people! ;)  However, later that same day someone told us our feet were beautiful? What?.....Then he explained "beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of those who proclaim the gospel......ohhhhh! Here I am thinking of my dirty, dusty feet with strange tan lines! ;) And then to top the night off, we were walking by when this drunkard came up to us. He talked with us and we continued to walk and he followed. We came to a busy street to cross and and stopped and talked with him. He was crazy, happy, sad, crying, and cross-eyed all at the same time. Finally, he spoke to me the only English he knew. "I like to move it, move it, I like to move it move it!" from Madagascar! But he said it like this! "I like to move it move it move it move it move it!" Oh dear, this is probably why the Lord said "no" to alcohol. It takes away our dignity and our agency. It controls us. 

Something I have been thinking about a lot lately are the mountains in our lives. Sometimes we ask, "Lord, why is this happening? Help me!"And sometimes we may feel like he does not help us. But what I am starting to understand is that one, there is always the opposition trying to tear us down and two he gives us mountains so we can learn, grow, and be diligent in all things - in the good and the bad. We may have mountains, but with the Lord we can take the ski lift up and then ski down the other side. With the Lord our trials are the same, but our capacity to overcome them increases significantly! Here in the mission, there are a lot of rough days of rejection and times with no success. We pray and pray and sometimes it is hard to see how the Lord is helping. But I feel right now that he is waiting to see how I react. If I continue to work diligently and be patient, I will grow closer to the Lord and use His help. I can grow despite my circumstances because even seeds can grow in the desert. I'm still learning about this and will have to tell you more once I have learned more! But I want to be strong, so give me mountains to climb, rivers to cross, something that's going to make me better than I was!

Love you all!

Hermana Lutze

Hermana Lutze and Moronta with Herbie

Hermana Lutze and Moronta with Familia Ibarra (Herbie's owners)

Week 24

Querida Hermana Lutze,

Como anda todo? Espero que podias escuchar a la conferencia de las mujeres ayer. Estaba pensando de ti! Before I forget I will be sending your new debit card shortly. The bank will automatically deactivate your other debit card 15 days after they send the new one to me. So you will not have access to a debit card for awhile with how long it takes me to get things to you. 

Another busy week here... Hannah had her bone scan on Tuesday. We knew from reviewing it with the tech that she had stress fractures. I called the office on Wednesday and after many questions and three phone calls she's now in an air cast boot and on crutches. She's non weight bearing for 6 weeks! I don't think I'm going to be completely successful in the non weight bearing part especially with her work schedule. She's really bummed about track. She signs up tomorrow for housing at BYU. (We found out today that Heritage is already full.) We attended the Women's Conference Saturday evening and then the three of us went to JCWs afterwards. We split a grilled cheese sandwich, onion rings, and a milkshake. Jakob took a math placement test on Friday and said it was pretty easy. We'll see how he did shortly. 

Dad and I went to Logan on Thursday to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed at the Old Rock Church one night and the Anniversary Inn in the African Safari room the second night. We saw the new Batman vs. Superman movie in 3D and in chairs that move. It was cool to try once but definitely not worth the money. Our favorite restaurant while we were there was Angie's. :) We did sealings in the Brigham City Temple on our way up. 

My thoughts this week are around the Stripling Warriors since that is where I am in the Book of Mormon. I pray that my children will be Stripling Warriors during their time on this earth. I hope they each know that I know the truth. I have a testimony and because I know it they also know it and have their own testimony. I pray they will also be courageous in defending the truth like the Stripling Warriors. We talked about this a little bit in Relief Society today. Sister Lambert shared a story about her two daughters in high school. The choir was singing a song that had words in it that they didn't agree with. They went to the teacher and asked not to sing it and she said they would fail the class if they did not sing it. They went to the Vice Principal and ended with a compromise that the choir would sing the one song first and then they would join the choir to sing the other songs. She said that her girls had many come to them afterwards and tell them they should have stood with them because they didn't agree with the words in the song either. We discussed how often others watch us and we are a strength to them without knowing it. How many agree with us but don't speak up? Sometimes we do have to stand alone as you are finding out on your mission. Just because those around you cannot see the truth it does not mean that it is not truth. You are also discovering that this opposition increases your own personal conviction of the truth. 

I love you!

Love,

Mom

Week 23 (Charity Never Faileth)

Dear family and friends,

I can't believe that it is already Monday again! I feel like I just emailed you all yesterday! Well the dogs still howl at night and when the ambulances pass. It is kind of creepy. You don't see them, just hear them. And our entire house shakes when the cars with their subwoofers pass by. THE WHOLE ENTIRE HOUSE! I honestly don't know how their ear drums haven't burst?

Monday: I taught my attribute lesson in our Reunion de Distrito on humility.It was awesome! I had to give it in English, and let me just say that was a struggle! It went well and I think they actually learned something from it which is also good. ;)

Tuesday: To start the day off right, I ran into one of my admirers again. We're going to have to avoid that street. Just what every girl wants in the morning to wake up and be alert. 

We had another lesson with Blanca (Grandma with the grandson Benito who is disabled). We brought a member with us. We taught the restoration through Joseph Smith! It was a wonderful lesson. However she continues to say that she likes the Cristianos! We can tell she feels the truth! Why is she denying it?! We think it is because she wants a miracle for Benito and thinks the Cristianos can give it to her. Then our member Hermana Medina talked with her and told her straight up that she needs to pray without bias because if she only thinks of the Cristianos then she is not going to listen to the answer from God because she has already decided. She needs to pray to know His will and it is THEN, that she will receive the true answer. It is then that she will feel the peace in her choice.

Wednesday: We taught Mercedes and invited her to baptism. She accepted to be baptized! .......but refused the date, saying it was too soon. We will see with her. It all depends on if she attends church. That night we went to Hermana Sandi´s house to practice our song with her husband (who is a non-member). Wow this Hermano has so much musical talent! He just listened to the song on YouTube and was able to play it on the piano!! (Next step for you Natalie ;) ).

Thursday: We had our Conferencia con Presidente. We talked more about how this is the true church and learned about the Catholic church and how we can help teach and explain to help them so they will realize that they don't have the truth and that so many things are changed and incorrect in their church. Many times if we can calmly explain why, they start to understand and accept. We talked about this because over 80% of the population here are Catholic and the other 19% are "Catholic" and the remaining 1% are Testigos or Cristianos. It was really interesting to learn about what they believe. The more I learn about our church and other religions, the more I am convinced of the truth of our church. We really do have the PLENTITUD (fullness). The other religions lack so much and for that they can't receive a fullness of the blessings that God has for them. Some people want these blessings and we are trying to find them. However many feel fine where they are and reject the FULLNESS of happiness that they could have because they aren't willing to listen or change in any way. It is heartbreaking at times, but like Elder Holland has said, "Eternal life is not a gift that is just handed out to everyone. Only the very few and elect will receive it." It was a wonderful conference.

We also went to visit Blanca again. We sang our song  for her. She loved it! We talked with her and gave a lesson on the Book of Mormon. This lesson was so different. We could literally feel and see that something was different in her. She didn't have her pamphlets from the Cristianos and Testigos. She didn't talk constantly of the Cristianos. She just had her Bible and the Book of Mormon and has been reading them both. The change was so astonishing! We had a very spiritual experience with her. When we left, all I could think and say was that she knows it is true and that she is going to be baptized. There was no doubt in my mind. Now we just need her to go to church! Next time we are going to talk to her  and ask if she has received her answer and see what she says.

Friday: Today we met a woman named Martina. She is amazing! We taught her in the street and she accepted everything so readily. The Book of Mormon, covenants, everything! I am so excited to start teaching her!!

We met another "escogido" as well named Elizabeth. We talked with her and read from the Book of Mormon and the first thing she said was "Yes, yes, that is the truth!" I was given the impression to give her a Book of Mormon and in that moment she almost started to cry at the gift that we had given her. I was filled with such great joy that I almost started to cry with her. Sadly she doesn't live in our area. So the Elders better do a good job of teaching her over there! ;)

We taught Nora tonight as well. We are working to help her gain a testimony of this church because she was really young when they became "menos activos."

Saturday:  One thing that constantly happens here is that I am reminded of how truly blessed I am in my life. How my life has been relatively easy and how I need to do more with my life to help others. I have  a lot to change when I go home. I have a lot to learn here. 18 months is sooooo not enough time to do all these things! I understand why the missions of the sons of Mosiah were 14 years!

That evening we had our Tarde de Talentos of the ward!! It was awesome! There was singing and dancing and we ate some amazing food!! What a great night! Mi compañera y yo sang a song "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" in Spanish! It went really well and was a very fun night!

Sunday: Well, honestly nothing happened today.

Monday:  I have already eaten a gordita.

This week I have been thinking a lot about love and charity. We've learned how the love of our Heavenly Father really has the power to change the lives of others and how knowing of His great love for us gives us power to change and become what we never thought possible. His love helps us view ourselves as what we can be and how He sees us. I never thought of love as a power but it is. It has the power to change people's lives. In the scriptures it always says that Charity endureth all things. I believe it can be understood in two ways. 1. Charity endureth past all things.  It lasts longer. It will be the last thing that survives. 2. Charity can stand against all things. It can withstand any trial or temptation. Charity is eternal and should be that attribute that when all else fails we can still have charity towards others. We can still have charity even when they refuse us left and right. We can still love them and be kind to them. Charity really does withstand all trials and temptations. With charity it is easier to look past the faults of others, to be patient, loving and understanding. Charity has helped me to be patient with the people here-to not judge, to be more understanding, and to try and see things from their point of view. When we have charity we can withstand and do all things. Charity can motivate and guide us in the correct pathways in our lives. We should be motivated by love-Love of our Heavenly Father, love of Jesus Christ, love of our family, love of our friends, love of all those around us because they are literally our brothers and sisters!!

Well have a Love-ly day!!

Love you all!

Hermana Lutze

Week 23

Querida Hermana Lutze,

I hope this finds you well and busy serving the Lord. Work continues to be crazy with learning our new charting system. I'm finally starting to feel comfortable with a good portion of it. We go live in about 6 weeks. Our presidency met with the Stake Primary and YW presidencies this week to plan the General Women's meeting in a few weeks. We hope to meet semi-annually to create more unity among our leadership for all the women in our stake. Hannah attended the RS birthday celebration with me on Wednesday. It was really fun to learn about the different sisters in our ward and to see them welcome and love Hannah. (She, of course, felt a little out of place.) I was so glad they invited her. I helped serve lunch to the men serving our stake today at the Stake center for the Provo City Temple dedication. Elder Oaks presided and pronounced the dedicatory prayer. The most moving talk to me was by Elder Robbins. He talked of the importance of always having a current temple recommend or CTR :) and relating it to the The Parable of the Ten Virgins. I've always thought of that parable in terms of a temple recommend and he confirmed my thoughts and feelings. He also spoke of a woman he knows that knew she was dying and her last request was to have her Bishop and Stake President come to her hospital room so she would have a current temple recommend before she passed away. What better way to ensure your worthiness to meet the Lord on the other side? I've always tried hard to never let mine lapse and I feel very blessed for it. (I let it lapse once for a few days and I truly felt Satan's power.) 

Hannah is having a bone scan on Tuesday to check for any stress fractures. She has really bad shin splints this year and they could be stress fractures. She's, of course, bummed that she's having to wait to run track. It always seems to be something with her health. Natalie is becoming quite the piano player and cook. She played a 10 minute piano solo on Saturday at the recital and made Dad's cake in cupcake form. They were delicious!!! I know Jakob e-mailed you regarding his incident with his braces stuck to his lip. He's really lucky it didn't tear all the way through. After some Orajel application, we were able to get his lip unstuck from his braces. I'll take him tomorrow to see Dr. Swenson. 

So I've been thinking about Proverbs this week since that was the institute class on Tuesday. I love Proverbs 31. This is truly what a queen would do and sets a very high standard for each of us. It is the ideal and a standard by which we as women will be molded.

·  It is awesome for our husbands to always know their name is safe with us.

·  What a beautiful gift to give our children… our tongues only speak kindness. 

·  She is a hard worker… very industrious

·  She has diversity in what she brings to her family

·  She is following the Word of Wisdom… she takes care of herself

·  She gives a portion of what she has to others

·  She is good with business… she has education and learning

·  Wool and flax…  can see the end from the beginning. She takes the wool and works it into what she knows it can become. She is able to create. She creates goodness in the things she touches.

·  Her children love her for her service to them.

·  She spiritually strengthens herself

·  Her strength/virtue comes from the Savior… she clothes herself in the enabling power of grace

·  Righteousness is what brings honor from the Lord

·  What is inside the person is what matters… be genuine, be righteous

·  These things describe a woman making temple covenants

·  Snow references the storms of life… Scarlet references the Atonement… she is not afraid of the storms because her household knows to turn to the Atonement in times of trouble

·  She worketh willingly… even the hard things. There is joy in the work. There is hope.

·  She has an eternal perspective

·  She stretches her hands to the poor and needy

·  She is honest in all her relationships and dealings with her fellow men

·  She is a planner… she greets every morning with a plan

·  She is busy… all these responsibilities of womanhood… we should be grateful for the

·  This list should give us hope and guidance… we shouldn’t feel overwhelmed and inadequate…

·  We need to just keep trying

If you haven't read Russell M. Nelson's "A Plea to My Sisters" from last October recently, read it in conjunction with this Proverb! Wow!

I love you! I'm praying for you! 

Love,

Mom

P. S. Did you get the drive that was in the package? Does it work for your card in your camera to upload pictures?

Week 22 (BLESSINGS WILL COME. They will ALWAYS COME!!!)

Dear family and friends,

This week passed in a blur! Happy 5th "mes" to me today! Yay!

Monday: Tonight we went to visit Kimberly who is a "recente converso." It was her birthday on Tuesday and Hermana Santiesteban´s birthday on Saturday so we celebrated them both! We bought a giant tub of Neapolitano Ice cream! (Apparently that is the Mexican favorite ice cream here because that is basically all they sell! ;)). We also ate Gorditas Haciento which actually is gorditas (tortillas that are like a pocket for food) with pig skin. Then you add lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, lemon juice, salsa and cream. They were actually really good! I'm just glad they told me what they were AFTER I had eaten it! I don´t know if I would have eaten it if I had known before!

Tuesday: Today was Zone Conference which was really good as always! However, the weather was terrible. It was windy and dusty-worse than Utah. Then it started to pour down rain like none other. So it was a cold wet day. However, I did finally get my  package! Yay! Thanks mother! The zone enjoyed all the cookies. You are their new favorite missionary Mother! ;)

Wednesday: So the miracle of all miracles happened today. As we were walking the street, it was still wet, rainy and cold. Then suddenly the rain changed and became white. It was literally snowing in MEXICO! This is something I never thought I would see here in Mexico! But it happened! It snowed in Mexico! It snowed for a good hour and they were big fluffy flakes! Unfortunately it didn't stick, but it sure made it really cold here! Needless to say, we have been dressed like penguins these last few days. Another miracle, we contacted a woman and it turns out she has been looking for us! Okay.....what? Her sister in law is a member and told her to look for the missionaries (una morenita y una guerrita) so when she saw us she knew that we were the missionaries. Apparently the church is famous for always having a morenito y guerrito together. ;) Hopefully, we can start to teach her and she will progress.

Thursday: We went to visit a "menos activo" family. Their house is......interesting. I call it "La Tierra de los Perros!" They literally have 30 dogs living there and at least 10 cats! Their house is full of animals! When you come to the gate they all run the fence and bark at you and then you enter and are surrounded by all of them as they jump up on you and bark! It's like entering the war zone! But you can't show any fear just look ahead and stay calm or they will react and never leave you alone! The dogs go everywhere in their house-in their rooms, bathroom, kitchen, on the furniture, on the counters where they eat. It is actually terrible and probably why she has so many health problems because it is so unsanitary. But she will never get rid of them. It always makes it an adventure to go visit her in her house!! 

Friday: Today was kind of hard and disheartening. Practically all our "citas" cancelled on us and were not there. Who knows what happened, but it was really hard to find people in their homes today.

Saturday: Well I think we had the strangest lesson ever today. We went to see Mercedes. Her two daughters and her mother were also there. They all have a different religion. So needless to say it was like a religious battle front! Everyone was talking and asking questions and arguing! It was hilarious because they would argue and then laugh at themselves especially the Grandma! It was like a movie! She was so old and had these giant glasses that made her eyes HUGE! She would say things like they were possessed of the devil and that their words were of the devil!! They fired question after question at us, trying to find fault in our doctrine or in us. It was Jesus and the Pharisees. This was a long conversation that spanned the plan of salvation, temples, abuse and rape, and even reached the supernatural level of ghosts, phantoms, and apparitions. Apparently people visit  one of the daughters. Pretty creepy stuff. I honestly don't have answers for the supernatural but it was really cool to think of how that works! I know the spirit world is here on earth and I know Satan has his demons. Hopefully we helped answer some of their questions and planted some seeds! It was fun to have such an interesting gospel discussion. It is really amazing how much knowledge we have in the church! Then we went to visit Blanca. She is so receptive but she is listening to the Christians as well. We are trying to help her receive her answer but we think she likes the Christians because she has seen the miracles on TV and wants a miracle for her grandson Benito. He is debilitated and can't move or speak. I think it has something to do with CSF. I'm not sure. But I think that is influencing her. Hopefully we can help her understand that this is the true church upon the earth.

Sunday: Our "asistencia" was 59 today. That is terrible for this ward. The ward is dying here. We are going to have to start putting more emphasis on reactivating the members again. This ward has no retention. There is a lot of work ahead of us.

This week has been hard. We haven't made much progress with our investigators and some have hid from us and some have also been out of town. We have been asking ourselves, what more could we do? Why is this happening? Why are we not having success? Sometimes, it is easy to feel alone and to think that God is not here helping us and our investigators. I feel like the gauntlet has been thrown down by Satan. Well, I have taken the gauntlet and will win this battle and the glory be to the Kingdom of God! I refuse to believe that God has left us here alone because I know He loves us. We are his children. He wants our success. I love the scripture in Joshua 1:5, 9 He tells us "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee".."have not I commanded thee? be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." We may feel alone, but He promises us that He will never forsake us! He will never leave us! He will never ever fail us!! And since this is the case we should never give up on Him!! Simply confide and have patience and do all that is in our power to be successful. He COMMANDS us to be STRONG and of GOOD COURAGE. He asks us to not be afraid and to not become discouraged. Keep working, keep striving, and He will be with us always. He will be with us and when God is with us we always win. We always triumph. However, we need to understand that we triumph in His way. Our triumph is not always the same as His triumph. We need to accept His will. We should be satisfied if He is satisfied. I love Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's quote:

I testify that this is true. BLESSINGS WILL COME. They will ALWAYS COME!!! I have to believe they will come. If I don't believe, then there is no hope in this world. All we have is hope and to walk by our faith. Someone asked me if being here has opened my eyes to the world. They thought that my experience here would change me and weaken me. They are wrong. This experience has opened my eyes and has changed me but it has only strengthened me. It has helped me love the gospel even more and increased my desire to share it, love it, and live it!! I am more determined than ever to live it and receive these blessings in my life! I am more convinced than ever that this is the truth. If my investigators won't believe it, I will still believe it and will not fail my God.

Have a wonderful week!!! Love you all!!

Love, 

~Hermana Lutze~

Week 22

Querida Hermana Lutze,

Que tal? Como estas? Life here is crazy busy as usual. I was gone most of this weekend. We will be home this coming weekend and need to get most of the yard work done because we will be away the next three weekends. Dad and I are celebrating our anniversary in two weeks and then we will be helping Brent and Amy with their new home over conference weekend. Can you believe it? They finally bought a home. It's the one down the street with the pool. :) The following weekend we hope to go to Goblin Valley with the Millers. We've tried to take that trip so many times. I hope we're successful this time.

I spent 3 days in San Francisco. We ate some delicious seafood-clam chowder, salmon, shrimp, and swordfish. We stopped at Boudin's for sourdough bread and Ghirardelli's for a delicious sundae. We then took the Trolley back to catch BART to the airport and then our hotel. We spent three days eating lots of delicious food and being educated!

Dad played Mr. Mom and was kept extremely busy with the ever changing schedules! 

Hannah's decided on BYU and went to a jump start night on Thursday with her friend Cherie. Pray that she gets into Heritage.

Natalie has been exercising, working on  school work, etc.

Jakob has also been busy with school, soccer, and basketball. They were finally defeated in their semi-final game this week. They went much further than I thought they would in their basketball games. Jakob is a good defender. He needs to work on his shots.

I taught my lesson today on the Sabbath day. It went well. Of course there's always something you think that could have gone better. Sister Sampson said something profound today. She said the Lord cares more about our sacrifice than our perfect performance. That's so true!!!!!

We talked about Job during our Old Testament time this week. Emily did a great job. Remember Job's friends... at first they talk to Job and tell him that he should fix himself and then they say that they will fix him. Finally, his smartest friend said that God should fix you. God is more powerful than what we are going through. Job realizes in Job 13:2-4 that his friends are all lying to him and so he decides to talk to God. Job 19:19-27 This is a middle moment and Job is bearing testimony of the Lord in a middle moment. Are we able to do this? Are we able to still bear testimony of Him in our middle moments? The Lord does not speak to Job until Chapter 37. Job was alone for quite some time. Then in Chapter 42 Job bears testimony again of the Lord. The story of Job actually typifies our journey and what occurred before this life, this life and what will occur afterwards if we endure to the end especially see  Job 42:10-12.

I love you! Keep up the hard work! I hope you are feeling better! Did you finally receive your package? 

Love,

Mom

Week 21 (Does Satan Dread It When You Wake Up in the Morning?)

Dear family and friends,

Well another week has passed and I can't believe that it is already March! Crazy right?! I'm almost to the 6 month mark! Only one year to go! That is really weird to say, only 365 days? 12 months? 52 weeks? Take your pick! I've got more. (Points to you if you know which movie that is from.)

Monday: Today I ate a dessert called Ojo de Buey (Ox Eye) and it was fabulous!!!!! Oh my goodness I am going to learn how to make these!! So delicious! It was like a cake within a cookie! That was the excitement for the day.

Tuesday: Today was an amazing day!! We spent the morning in one house and so we knew we were going to have to work hard to make up for lost time. So in the afternoon, I don't know, something just clicked and we were on fire! We were contacting everyone within sight. I felt really good. I felt like I was teaching with the spirit, power and authority, and with clarity. I felt like Jesus or His Apostles just walking the streets and teaching to all who would listen whether they accepted or not! It was a neat experience and gave me a small taste  (I think) of what type of missionary the Lord really wants me to be-who He knows I can become with his help. It made me really excited for the potential I have to be His instrument and for the changes that will happen.

Wednesday: We went to visit an investigator, Olga. It turns out she has been listening to the Jehovah Witnesses for the past year so she can be baptized with them. But the fact that she is listening to us, tells me she has doubts. It tells me she still wants something more. I only pray that we can listen to the spirit and help her find that before she goes down another path and is lost from us again for a while. So interesting how God puts us in the path of these people in the exact moment that they need the truth and the light. We do our part and then it is up to them to use their agency and accept or reject these things. We are praying she accepts! Then, in the evening, we went to visit an old investigator, Mercedes. It turns out she had been thinking about us today and about the church! It's a sign! Oh I hope we can work with her and she can finally progress and be baptized!

Thursday: Everyone wanted to speak in English with me! We left the house and were walking when we saw a young man walking the opposite direction than us. I had a feeling he was going to talk to me so we kept walking. He pulled out his headphones from his ears.......kept walking........just about to pass him........wait for it........"Hey are you American?"......boom, told ya........."Yes I am American"......."What are you doing here?"......."I'm a missionary...." We invited him to church, but I'm sure he only talked with me to practice English, or to show off because he thought I was pretty! Later in the day we were waiting to enter a house when this man crossed the street to talk to us. He asked if I spoke Spanish, I said "Sí" and then he proceeded to talk to me in English? I thought I said I spoke Spanish? Oh well. He then told me how he was selling real cheese and real milk and real cream and real yogurt, a lot of REAL stuff. ;) I couldn't buy anything but invited him to church. It was weird because he only talked to me and not to my companera. He either talked to me because he thinks I have lots of money or because I'm pretty. What a strange world I live in. Oh and his name was FRAULINE!? Like the word in German! And he spoke in Spanish and English with a German accent! Now I have met a true German-Mexican! Family, they do exist! ;)

Friday: I felt sick so we returned home early so I could sleep. 

Saturday: We left in the morning to visit people.  A man passed us and then came back so that he could greet me and tried to kiss me on the cheek. I have to say I panicked and backed away!! Then he talked about how Satan owned his soul......aw isn't that nice, just what every girl wants to hear from someone who tried to kiss you. After kissing me on the cheek, he kissed my compañera as well and left. What is it with these people!? So strange!! I am gaining more fans and followers every day!! If only I could use my powers for good and get them to be baptized!! ;) Then we visited Mercedes and her daughter was there and trash-talked the Book of Mormon. Oh that made me so angry inside. I almost pulled out my ninja moves on her, but then I would have blown my cover ;). We talked with her nicely and tried to explain but some people I've learned are just too hard-hearted to accept anything other than what they want to believe. I'm sad for them and all the blessings and knowledge they will be missing out on.

Sunday: I still felt sick so we went to church and la comida and then went home. Oh man I do not like being sick in the mission field. Not fun. 1 it is awful to be sick 2 there is nothing to do after you have already watched all the videos you own. However, I did read about 35 chapters of the Book of Mormon in the last three days.

In those 35 chapters, I was reading about all the wars at the end of Alma and the beginning of Helaman. I actually love these chapters and reading about the stratagem and tactics that they use! I really liked reading about Captain Moroni! What an amazing man, especially when Mormon talks about how the very powers of hell would shake if every man were like him. Wow, I think we should all be a little more like that so that every morning Satan is dreading when we wake up because he knows that we are only going to destroy his kingdom more and more every day! Be actively engaged in the destruction of his kingdom, por favor. Also, what I really loved about Moroni was how he prepared his people. It says in the scriptures that he made their cities into grand fortresses, so great that they were impenetrable and the Lamanites were ASTOUNDED! He prepared these cities BEFORE the Lamanites attacked. We need to do the same. We need to prepare BEFORE Satan attacks us so that there is no downfall. Also, Moroni prepared his people spiritually while the Lamanites prepared for battle. He knew that without the Lord, the battles were futile. He knew that success only comes with the Lord. It's the same in our lives. Success comes with the Lord. Rely on Him and be close to him. Don't think that you can or have to do it alone. God gave us this life but did not abandon us. He WANTS us to rely on Him. He wants to give us success. He is waiting to go to battle with us with the whole armor of God. So please accept his help, accept his wisdom and you will always win all your battles! 100%! Can you imagine having a 100% success rate in battle!? You would be the best paid general in the world! ;) Good luck in your battles, return with honor and with the glory of God upon your shoulders and the brilliant armor of God strapped securely on your body and with  a great smile on your face because of your success!

Well I love you all! Take care!!

Hermana Lutze

Week 21

Querida Hermana Lutze,

I'm personally so grateful for your service as a missionary. Jakob bore testimony today in Sacrament meeting of the blessings that have come to our family through your service. It is so true! Did the mission office bring your package to you this week for Zone Conference?

I enjoyed reading about your Nephi/Laban experience. What was cool about that was reading it and then attending Emily's class on Tuesday where we talked about Esther-being in the right time and the right place. I also loved your thoughts on our own personal tree of life. It is so true and goes along with the Parable of the Ten Virgins. We are the only ones that can put oil in our personal lamps or grow our own tree of life. We must do the individual work. 

Life has been crazy busy as usual. We've started i-Centra training and I spent two days cramming my brain with a new computer program. I also took an ACLS instructor class and helped in Simulation. I will be out of town this next week for work. We fly to Oakland on Thursday and come back Saturday evening. I teach in the 26th ward this coming Sunday for their Ward Conference. I'm so excited to discuss Sabbath day observance with the sisters. 

The kids have been busy with school, work, and other activities. We've been working hard in the yard. I spent two days in the front and still have at least 4 days for the rest. Pruning trees takes along time especially as they grow and you actually have to get up in the tree. As I was pruning this weekend I thought, do we allow the Lord to prune us? It really is in our best interest to be pruned but we usually resist.

I wanted to share with you my thoughts on Nehemiah. This is one of my favorite books of scripture in the Old Testament. Nehemiah knew he was doing a great and dangerous work in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and would not come down. He would not be distracted.

Read Nehemiah 4: 2, 6, 9, 11, 15, 17 I especially like in verse 17 this phrase, "...every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon." Think about this... While we are doing the Lord's work/other work are we doing work with one hand and holding our spiritual weapons with our other hand? This life is so dangerous that we must be working with one hand and holding our spiritual weapons (faith, hope, charity, scripture study, prayer, church/temple attendance, Sacrament) with the other hand. Do we lay down our weapons of rebellion (Alma 23:7)? Then read Nehemiah 6: 1-5 and contrast this with the story of Lehonti in Alma 47. Nehemiah never let his guard down and he survived while Lehonti did let his guard down through Satan's deception... he cheateth our souls away (2 Nephi 28:21-22) ... little by little until we are bound with chains. It is so subtle we don't even realize what is happening. Lehonti resisted three times and came down on the fourth (even then he probably felt safe) and yet was eventually 'poisoned by degrees' until he died.

I love you and pray for your success!

Love,

Mom