Do I have anything important to say?

What to say??

I don't really know what to talk about this week..... it was all a blur. I remember it was a good week though!  Here are some pictures, because pictures make my Mom and family happy!(okay and I'll totally admit when she sends me pictures it's like the best thing ever!)

This is the best thing I've ever done.  I'm so stinkin' blessed.  If I feel down or discouraged, all I have to do is walk outside. 

We teach a guy who is working 2 jobs and only sleeps 2 hours every night so that He can work to get his family here from Guatemala.  Yet he still tries to find time to read the Book of Mormon because he knows that it is the word of God and will help him to become the father he wants to be.

A member of our church is raising 3 children all on her own, working as hard as she can.  Her husband passed away in 2012, and she wishes she just has a Sunday free every now and then to come to church, but she doesn't even have that.  She has scars on her arms from being badly burned at work, and every other reason to cry, but every time we come over she only talks about how great Heavenly Father is.  

I'm not worthy to teach these people.  I wear a badge that says "Jesus Christ",but they are more of a disciple of Christ than I am.

I love Elder Bednar's invitation from this past General Conference:

"I invite you to study, pray, ponder, and strive to learn more about the Savior’s Atonement as you assess your individual load. Many things about the Atonement we simply cannot comprehend with our mortal minds. But many aspects of the Atonement we can and need to understand. "

 We each have a burden, a load.  Christ's atonement, can and will lighten that load.  Atonement is a word we might be unfamiliar with, and something we may not completely understand, but in a very simplify way you could explain it as his sacrifice and suffering, so that we could overcome death and suffering in this life, and return to our Heavenly Father.  It is the most important thing I teach as a missionary.  As we evaluate our individual loads,often, we will find we are much more blessed than not, we have many reasons so smile, even in some of the darkest times.  We find that through gratitude, and seeing the Tender Mercies in our every day.

I'm not very good at putting my words together, but I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior.  I know He lives, and has his arms reaching out towards each of us.

I feel so blessed to work with these people.

Love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week!

The Road to Emmaus

 Hi Friends and family! 

I feel like my mission has gotten progressively harder. But I know I need to be here.  One thing that my Mission President is really big on is "Emmaus Experiences".  In Luke 24 we read:

13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.14. And they talked together of all these things which had had happened.15. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.16. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

President Hanks encouraged us, in our very first interview with him, to recognize the times in our lives when were being led by Christ, without knowing it.  These moments are often the little tender mercies, when we feel very alone, and then look and see that he was there all along. 

28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.  32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

 

There have been many experiences on my mission when I have felt that, and recognized the times when my heart truly did "burn within" me.  As of lately, I've been having an Emmaus experience that has lasted for 9+ weeks

There is an apartment complex here called "Edgcrest" that has several buildings going up a very large hill. One of our Less Actives lives in the very bottom building. My first transfer here, I felt impressed to knock on the upstairs neighbor's door. When Sister Pickett got here, we started teaching them. We had a lot of hope for them at first, but they weren't progressing, and we stopped seeing them. When we were in the area though, we started knocking more doors there. We have knocked every door in that apartment complex. We slowly built our way up the hill, teaching and trying to find the people that wanted to act on our message. It was hard! At one point, we literally got dropped by two investigators within four minutes of each other; that stung a bit, but we kept pushing! We were climbing up the hill, and at the very top apartment, we met a gal named Katrina,and started teaching her. Then while we were stopping by an appointment with her the other day, we met her family the Gonzalez family. 

Golden. Hispanic, 3 kids and they seemed genuinely interested in our message! We have prayed so much for this family. We kept trying to teach them the Restoration, but for one reason or another, our appointments with them kept getting pushed off. Then Sunday, we finally taught the Restoration, the lesson we had been dying to teach. And, it was...horrible...possibly the worst lesson I have ever taught. They rejected everything we represented. I cried a lot in my prayer that night, not because they rejected me, but because they rejected our Heavenly Father's message, and I felt that. Then Sister Pickett and I cried together. 

I just ached for our Heavenly Father feels.  These are his children! At one point in time, they made the decision to follow him, why can't they remember? It breaks my heart.  These past weeks we have been finding and finding and doing everything within our power, and I kept wondering why I felt so prompted to knock that door, when none of the people it led us to have progressed! 

Yesterday, of course, just when it seemed hopeless, Heavenly Father showed us just how powerful and merciful He is. Last week, on our way bouncing between different apartments, we met Susan and her husband Daniel. We helped them carry their groceries in, and explained who we were and our purpose. They expressed many of their beliefs, which are exactly what we believe. Yesterday, we went to their house--only a stone's throw away from the Gonzalez family--and to teach the the restoration. I'll admit, I really wasn't looking forward to it (I was scared to teach again). When we arrived, Susan was waiting at the door. The lesson flowed so easily, and she really understood. At the end, we all knelt to pray, and the spirit was so strong. We invited her to be baptized, and she fully accepted. She is preparing for June 22. 

In the moments I have felt so alone, Christ has always been there to strengthen me.  The more and more I am on my mission, the more I realize just how unworthy I am.  I am not worthy to teach this message, and bear the name of Christ...at least not on my own. I am so weak without him.  He paid that price for me though.  He knows how to strengthen me.  And no words will ever be able to express my grattitude for that.

I only hope that I can show it through my actions, and give the Lord all I've got these final 6 months.  I want to run through the finish-line, and then keep running.  Many of Heavenly Father's children are out there who don't know their Father in Heaven.  It is my prayer that I can bring them closer to Him.

This really is his work

I love you all! I'm sorry for the longer e-mail, but really these experience really meant a lot to me.

Love,

Hermana McClune

Listen to the Spirit!

Last Thursday as we were running out the door I had the distinct thought:

"Wear your black shoes today" 

"Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, theyspeak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast uponthe words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell youall things what ye should do."

2 Nephi 32:3

"Naw" I thought, "My grey ones are right here and are quicker to put on"

  "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" Hebrews 10:26

And so we left. This is what happens when you ignore a prompting:

​Had I been wearing my black shoes, the strap would have made it much easier to pull my foot out, instead of losing my shoes :)

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I stepped in, and couldn't pull back out. In an effort to pull my foot out, I put my weight on my other leg, further pushing it in.  Sister Pickett tried her best to pull me out, but ultimately, we lost the battle.  

I think Heavenly Father knew I needed a good laugh :) It was so funny!

We had a great week this week. Taught some amazing families.  I'll keep y'all posted! I love this work!

Thanks for bearing with my missionary humor.

Love y'alls guts! Have a great week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana McClune

Tornadoes and bathtubs...

Howdy, this week, we were stuck inside due to two days of Tornado warnings.  Our area wasn't hit, but a lot of others were.  Please keep them in your prayers.  I am very grateful that we were safe!

Bathtubs are not very comfortable!

After that, we got out to work, that about it!

Love y'all tons! Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Hermana McClune

Shout out to little man Landon-happy birthday teenager!

And Happy Mother's Day to the Best Mom ever!!!!!!

Eyebrow sweat!

Not much to say this week! Sister Pickett and I walked most of B-Ham this week.  Met lots of interesting people, knocked lots of doors, and shared the blessings of the gospel! We are looking for the people who are ready to hear our message. I know this message will bless them, and I just want to share it with everyone!

Funny story:

Did you know your eyebrows could sweat? I didn't either! That is until we popped in on an investigator this week, and she happened to be cooking dinner.  "Sientanse" she said, and then after we sat put down food in front of us.  I should not have poured her salsa all over my Cane Asada. I should have known better! At least everyone got a good laugh as I was crying from the heat :D

I know that Christ is my Savior.  He is there for each of us.  When we teach people, we aren't telling them anything new.  They already knew all of this when we lived with our Heavenly Father before this life.  And when we help them learn about Christ, it's not as though He suddenly starts blessing them--He has been there all along walking right next to them.  It's more like we help them to recognize that He is there, and that they want to follow him.  Our message helps direct them closer to him.  I know it has done that for me, and I am so grateful.

Everyone needs a mustache! especially when making invitations for a baptism! Montse is doing very well.  Thank you for keeping her in your prayers! She is a strong member!

Well, that's it! love your guts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks y'all!

Words don't come easy...

Everytime I sit down at the computer at the end of the week I think two things:

1) What. It's already been a week? What the????

2) I have no idea what to say.

If nothing else is apparent from my e-mails and mismatched thoughts, crazy pictures, please know that I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve in the Lord's work.  I am so grateful for how I have been blessed  with family and friends who support me in this.  I have learned so much, and have seem the hand of the Lord in so many lives, especially mine. I know our Father in Heaven loves us so much, he sent his son for us. No one else could have done what Christ did.  No one else could have made that sacrifice that he did.  And what amazes me even more, is that he didn't have too. He chose too, because he loves us. Sometimes I get homesick, sometimes I get discouraged, but I am doing this because I love the Lord.

And honestly, this is much more of a blessing than a sacrifice. This week Montse was baptized, and it was so special.  

Pre- story:so it takes an hour and a half to fill the font.  We got done with exchanges, booked it to walmart to buy some refreshments because long story short we were having a really difficult time communicating cause our phone was dumb so we didn't know who was bringing what (Thanks Mom and Dad!), then booked it to the church.

We had an hour and 40 minutes :) perfect.  

Negative-there are black gates covering the entrance of the font so we can't close the drain to fill up the water.  And we don't have the key to those padlocks. 

I tend to be a very task-oriented person, which sometimes can be irrational.   My initial response is to grab a chair, and I'm about to hop over the glass and into the font to close the drain, so Sister Pickett could start filling it up. I guess my plan was just to hang out there until somebody rescued us, because I probably couldn't have climbed out without breaking something.  Luckily, as I'm mid step to jump over, my darling Sister Pickett has the bright idea of asking someone in the Family History Center for help. Much smarter. 

Anyhow, the service started, and everything worked out. Montse was glowing, she was ready. She has been through a lot this year.  A member gave a wonderful talk, and then we had the service.  We came back and I sang "Mas cerca Dios de ti" as the musical number (Nearer my God to Thee).   My favorite part of all of it though, was when Montse gave her testimony at the end. I don't remember exactly what she said, but I remember what I felt.  It was the Holy Ghost, telling everyone in that room that what she said was true, and that he choice to be baptized was what Heavenly Father wanted for her. She quoted the Book of Mormon, and expressed her desire for a better life for her and her daughter.  I know that the promise she made to follow Christ at baptism, and the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost she received the next day will bless her.

It was a beautiful way to start of Easter, and remember the sacrifice of our Savior, so that we could be clean through him.

Easter day, we tracted (hence the 'Jesus Loves You' pic), and had an Easter dinner of whatever we could find in the cupboards  (rice from dinner with the sisters, cream of chicken from someone who moved out of the apartments here, and a can of tuna complete with Tony's creole seasoning and a bag of frozen veggies i found in the freezer....not too bad!).  Definitely not the Easter I've had before, but one of the best.  

I love my Savior, and so grateful for the change he has made in my life.

I love you all!

Hermana McClune

April 9 - Happy Birthday Mexican Style

 The Members in our branch are so kind and loving. They decided to show me the real way to eat cake.  I was blowing purple and green out my nose for a good 3 days.  Love it!