Hermana Lucy Nunn

 God was with her until we met again.

She followed his counsel and it did uphold her.

His sheep did securely keep her in His fold.

Life's perils did thick confound her.

God's arms were unfailing around her.

She did keep God's love as a banner floating over her.

God was with her until we met again.

Lucy was at BYU and went to an Institute class where the teacher invited them to write down a couple questions and then listen for the answer at General Conference. She wrote down, should I go on a mission and what she should study in school.

Then as she listened to General Conference, her answer came. Over and over. So she called us Sunday night and said I think I am going to go on a mission. Okay. Let's do it.

She started her papers and debated putting her availability date right after her 19th birthday in January or at the end of the next semester. She felt an urgency to go now.

She submitted her papers, received her call on December 19 and started home MTC on February 12. Then a week later she flew to the Mexico City MTC for 5 more weeks to learn how to be a missionary and how to speak Spanish.

Each companion and area taught her something different. Some were really hard and some were easier. 

At her one year mark, she summed it - This has been the bestest worstest year of my life. There were many times when she told us she didn't really want to do it anymore. But she did one more day. There were many p-day calls when she was really happy and told us about amazing experiences and lessons. 

Lucy learned to love the people she taught. She was sad when she knew they had felt the Spirit and even had the start of a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ was true, but then they decided to stop the lessons or stop progressing or stop answering their messages.

She had taught Rene for weeks and he was a believer. He studied on his own, and He knew it was true. He is in a wheelchair because he is paralyzed, so it was a struggle for him to get to church because he had to have a nurse be able to come to get him ready for church, and he had to get a ride with a shuttle service that didn't always run on Sunday. He did drive his electric wheelchair all the way to church and back one Sunday. The date of his baptism finally came. Lucy and her companion were filling the font at the church, and Rene messaged them and said he wasn't ready. They tried to contact him, cried, went to his house, etc.  Right before the transfer, they did go and see him again. A few months later he was ready to be baptized, and by a small miracle, Lucy's mission president let her and another sister in her area that had also taught him, to go back to Ponce to be there for his baptism. It was definitely a highlight of her mission. 

When Lucy was in Levitttown, the acne on her face was really bad. People commented in church all of the time. (she says that Puerto Rican's don't have a filter). She also felt that she had gained weight, and she was struggling. Jesus knows. So He put her in a walking area for 2 transfers. Her face cleared up and she walked and walked and walked so she felt like she was in much better shape.

Lucy had a really hard companion at Christmas time. She was 26 years old and from Guatemala and was a convert to the Church. She told Lucy that she shouldn't lead as much because she was the junior companion. Lucy cried herself to sleep on Christmas night. Four weeks into the transfer, Lucy had a change of heart and tried to make the most of it. It got better but she was thankful  that she was only with her for one transfer.

Lucy worked hard on her Spanish and it became easier over time. Her second companion was from Guatemala and spoke very little English. Lucy said that she could understand 80% of what her companion spoke but only 40% of the Spanish that Puerto Ricans spoke. They talk fast and truncate words and use slang, so they are harder to understand.  After a few months she became more comfortable with understanding and speaking Spanish, especially talking about the gospel. Every day words took longer. Her and her companion got rear ended in their car and there were a few cars in the pile up. She didn't know the Spanish words to talk to the police, but luckily another guy whose car had also been hit could speak English and Spanish so he translated for them.

Lucy was strictly obedient, especially about time rules. We never went one minute over our P-day calls. We ended exactly on time. For most of her mission we would talk for 2 to 3 hours on P-day (one day when her companion was really hard, I think we talked for 6 hours). Near the end of her mission, her mission president encouraged the missionaries to only talk to their families for 30 to 60 minutes. That was hard for Lucy, but after a couple weeks she did just call us the last hour of her P-day.  Also, she was not supposed to message or even reply with emojis to any messages during the week. We could send messages during the week, and she could read them, but she couldn't reply. And she didn't. I think she did a heart one message one time...the entire 18 months.

Lucy grew to love the people, speak Spanish and came closer to Jesus Christ.