Best week yet!

So, this week has been the best week yet! (so far) So, let's start with last Thursday.  (Last Tuesday and Wednesday weren't as exciting).

We were driving to go somewhere and we were stopped at a stoplight.  There was this man, probably 22-ish, walking through the crosswalk, and he looked at us, and started waving and pointing over to the parking lot that was nearby.  So, we drove to the parking lot and started to talk to him.  His name is Christopher and he said he wanted to learn more about what we teach.  Being a greenie, I thought it was so cool that he would flag us down like that and ask us to learn more!  But... That wasn't the case.  Anyways, we told him we would meet him later that day, but that didn't happen because we had a previous appointment, which is another cool story.  We didn't meet him Friday either.  Here's a little tanget, but it will relate 100% to the story.  Last Friday, I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time ever!  It was so awesome.  I prayed to Heavenly Father to help me know that it was true, and he did give me an answer!  And so, back to Christopher.  We met with Christopher Saturday night and turns out he was a BIG basher.  He just wanted to say a whole bunch of stuff that wasn't true about the Church and that we didn't confess that Jesus Christ was the Savior and blah, blah, blah.  We wasted too much time talking to him (about a hour).  But, during the whole time we were talking to him, I kept on thinking how misguided and lost this kid was.  He had good intentions about teaching people about Christ, but he was going about it the totally wrong way.  I realized how lucky I was to have the TRUTH about the Gospel.  And then I realized that Heavenly Father was answering my prayer right then and there!  I never expected an answer to come through a basher!  So, we told him that he was wasting our time and we had to be other places.  He went out willingly, but kept on pressing that we didn't know who Jesus really was.  And, somewhere in the Bible he said that it was a sin to have graven images and pictures of Jesus or something, and since we were in a chapel, there were pictures of Jesus everywhere and he said it made him sick to see so many pictures of Jesus around.  WHAT?!  He was messed up.  But, he went on his way and we went on ours.  I think he thinks his church is causing more harm than good to the missionaries, but it's totally opposite.  What he did was made me think of how lucky I am to have the true Gospel in my life. 

But wait, Saturday was even better than that.  The Christopher thing happened at night, when we were going home.  Earlier in the day, we helped someone move!  The Torrez family was moving to Santa Ana to be closer to their family.  The wife is a very active member, while the husband is so-so.  When we told Christopher we would meet with him on Thursday, it was over the Torrez family.  So, we decided that the Torrez family was more important.  We went over there, and they were packing up things.  We talked to them for a bit and asked if they needed help moving on Saturday, and they said of course.  So, we came back on Saturday, and helped them move.  Hermano Torrez works for Oakley and he gets free Oakley stuff all the time.  He gave Elder Price and his previous companions some Oakley sunglasses for Christmas, which are pretty expensive, almost $200.  And so, when we were done helping them move, he took out four pairs of Oakley sunglasses and told me to pick a pair.  I was like, "OMJ!"  So, I picked a pair, gave him a LOT of thanks, and he was like, "I don't want to rest of these glasses."  So he gave another pair to me and Elder Price!  OMJ! 

So, to summarize Saturday, BEST DAY OF THE MISSION SO FAR.  I got some SWEET sunglasses and strengthened my testimony even more so!  How AWESOME is that?  Plus, we were able to wear regular clothes (P-Day clothes) for most of the day. 

Not many other days had anything super exciting.  Yesterday though, we met this lady, Laticia.  She was taught once or twice by missionaries before, but for some reason, they stopped.  So, we went to meet her yesterday to set up an appointment for later.  When we knocked, we expected her to say something like, "I'm a little busy right now, but you can come back this day."  But, nope!  She let us right in and we talked to her for a little bit.  She seems really prepared by the Lord and is so excited to learn more!  It was awesome. 

So, the members here have been feeding us TONS, but I keep on seem to be losing weight... It doesn't make sense!  We exercise in the morning, but other than that, we don't exercise much. And we are full time car!  It doesn't make any sense at all... But, I can't complain!

I love when you send news articles about stuff!  I really miss sports and it is always good to hear about things like that.  But, don't worry, it doesn't distract me :)

The Parkins are moving?!?! How sad :( or in Spanish, Que triste! :( Do you know when or where they are moving to?

I am glad you like your new job, Mom!  Are you doing the same thing?  Do any of the same people work with you?

My watch is fantastic!  I never realized how much I missed it until it was gone... I think it was just the battery, because I haven't had any problems. 

I think that this is all for this week.  Do you have my friend's emails to forward this to them too?  I think they would want to hear stuff like this too. 

Well, I hope you have a fantastic week!  I love you all!

Love, Elder Hunt :)

Week #2 in Cali!

Wow!  This past week has FLOWN by!  Where did it go?! 

Last week we had some awesome experiences.  In our mission, we have three Assistants to the President: two English and one Spanish.  The Spanish Assistant goes around the mission every so often and helps out the Spanish missionaries achieve their goals.  Elder Toronto is his name.  Elder Toronto came out with us last Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Wednesday, we had so many cool miracles with him!  He is such a stud.  We found this one complex on Wednesday, and the first door we knock on is a lady named Perla.  After we (mostly my companion and Elder Toronto haha) started talking to her, she really opened up and told us that her son had died the past year and was wondering why God would ever do that to someone.  It was so cool she shared that experience with us!  We then told her she could be with her son again one day!  And she said she needed some time to think about it and we set up an appointment for the next week!  It was so cool! And later we met another lady that was playing with her kids on the playground and we started to talk to her too, and she really opened up too!  I couldn't understand a whole lot of what she was saying, but I know it was good because we set up an appointment with her too!  Last Friday, we had another training for all the greenies and their trainers.  I got to see my old district (the ones that came to Carlsbad ;) )!  It was really weird because in the MTC, I saw them all everyday, almost all day, for ten weeks!  Then, when we arrived in Carlsbad, I never saw them anymore!  It was really good to see them all though. 

There is this family that are "eternagators" which is basically investigators that just like the missionaries to keep on coming.  This family is super nice, but the parents aren't married, which is really weird, but Elder Price told me it happens a lot in Hispanic culture.  Some people are going through a divorce with some other spouse and they just decide, instead of going through all the way with the divorce, that they just get a new "spouse" and live with them and start a family with that "spouse".  It's super weird.  Anyways, they can't really progress because of that, and so that's one of the reasons why they are "eternagators". I hope I didn't confuse you haha.  But, their kids seem really interested in the message we have!  We taught them on Saturday and it was really cool.  Since missionaries have been coming over to their house a lot, they said the missionaries have all become really good friends with them and have been people they could trust in their lives.  It was really cool to hear that. 

So, Sunday was really cool too.  We had stake conference, but stake conference was being broadcasted from Salt Lake!  It was broadcast to 88 different stakes in Southern California.  We had Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy (who also came to the MTC!); the second counselor of the Relief Society (I don't remember her name :( ); Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy and Elder L. Tom Perry!  It was pretty awesome.  And Sunday night, I ate something really not very good... Have you ever heard of menudo?  It's a soup with those Corn Nut things that we always eat at Cafe El Lago with the special ingredient of... Cow stomach!  YAY!  I knew what it was before I ate it, but I still had to try it!  Now, I can say I ate cow stomach and never will again! 

And that brings us to today!  Today, we went to the Newport Beach Temple!  It is a smaller temple, and I got so used to renting clothes at the Provo temple, and I didn't remember to bring mine... Luckily, they have some to rent out.  It was a really pretty temple.  The grounds were awesome and so was inside!  And then the rest of the day has been a lot of relaxing.  We went shopping, wrote letters, watched a movie about Joseph Smith and washed the car!  It's been a lot of fun.

Thanks so much for the package!  Another good thing about being stateside is that I actually receive my package and all the contents inside it haha. I love the calendar and it feels so good to be wearing my watch again!  I didn't realize how much I missed it until it was gone :( And I knew Jimmer was going to a bad team, but he's going to do a lot better, I know it! 

Yesterday and Sunday, we had TONS of rain.  It rained all day yesterday, so we didn't get any contacting done :( And Elder Price drives everywhere because he is the "Designated Driver".  And you never sent my papers in to the mission!  During our meeting on Friday, the guy who is in charge of the cars told me that I didn't have any of my paperwork in order to drive :( Did you send it in?  Because if you did, you will have to send another one, because they don't have it.  And if they don't have it, I can't drive :( :( :(

Our area is pretty dang big.  Since we only work with Spanish speakers, we have to drive around a lot in order to get to their homes. 

We are fed by the members every night!  We go shopping for food that we eat for lunch and breakfast, but we usually have dinner with a member.  They always make such good food too!  It's a good thing we exercise every morning, or I would get FAT, FAT, FAT!

Thanks for sharing what Grandpa said.  I received a letter from them today, so I will have to tell him thanks too. 

I don't think I need anything!  Only that I need to understand Spanish more quickly so I can teach more people!  I don't have anything else to say.  I brought my journal this time, so I am not forgetting anything :) I hope you have a wonderful upcoming week! 

Love, Elder Hunt

Letter from the Mission President

First week in the beautiful state of California!

YAY! Tuesdays are my new P-Day, so I will be emailing then!  California is the best!  It's so pretty here!  And so much more warm than Utah!  I never want to come back!... Just kidding.  But, Cali is awesome.  I have been here for a week now, and it really doesn't feel like it.  My trainer's name is Elder Price, from Denver, Colorado, and he is super awesome.  He has been out about a year and a half and he knows a lot of things about the mission, Spanish and Gospel terms.  I am very excited to have him as my trainer.  He has already taught me a lot.  My mission president, President Cook, is super awesome too.  He's not super strict, but he's not super laid back either.  I think he will be a good president for the time I am here.  And six months before I leave, he leaves and we will get a new mission president. 

I am in the Mission Viejo Zone, and am living in Rancho Santa Margarita.  It's in Orange County, and really nice here.  We are full time car in this area, so I haven't had a chance to ride my bike.  Our area is gigantic, because there aren't that many Spanish speakers here, so that's why we have a car and don't ride bikes.  We have a super nice apartment, with its own washer and dryer!  OMJ!  Not many apartments have that, so I got super lucky. 

Spanish here is NOT the same as in the MTC!  The people here speak A LOT FASTER than in the MTC.  And the people here speak with an accent that was NOT in the MTC.  The first few days here, my brain was so overloaded from trying to translate everything.  But, even though it has only been a week, my listening skills have gotten SO much better.  I can understand most of what people say now.  Speaking still needs a lot of work.  In the MTC, they teach you how to speak Gospel Spanish, not regular Spanish.  I don't know very many vocab words for anything else, besides Gospel terms.  And, we haven't had much luck finding people to teach in our area.  So, when we do speak Spanish, it's usually with the members we go an visit.  I can understand a lot of what they are saying, based on context and what I do know, but I have a hard time speaking with my limited vocab.  But, that's one of the things I am working on.  I want to actually be able to speak with the people here and teach them and it's really difficult sometimes.  But, it's possible!

The people here are AMAZING.  They are all so kind and humble.  As a missionary, the Lord softens your heart so that you can love the people more, and the people here are so loving already, that you just love them even more!  They are all super awesome.  And they aren't all from Mexico either.  That's another good thing about going state side.  There are Spanish speakers from lots of different countries.  I have met people from Mexico, Bolivia, Spain and a lot of different countries.  And another cool thing about that is they all have different types of food!  The food I have had here so far is soooooooo good!  Since we have lived in Utah for forever, I never realized how big of an impact members have in the missionary work.  The members do a lot of things for missionaries and it's really awesome. 

We have taught a few lessons so far.  Not many though.  It feels so awesome to be a part of that learning that takes place (even though I don't usually understand it haha).  I hope we get more people to teach soon.  We are trying really hard to find people, but there is just nobody interested... Yet!  I know we will find someone eventually!

Tell Mark and Kristi congrats for me!  That's so exciting they had their baby!  I wonder about the Bauer part too, but that's really cool!  How is their house coming along? 

I hope Glen will be okay!  And Dennis too! Jaxon too! (tell him to shave or I will beat him up) I will remember to have them in my prayers. 

We get to go to Newport Beach temple sometime this month!  I saw the San Diego temple driving to the mission home and it was HUGE.  I can't wait to go there too!

I have been meaning to ask you about the plaque.  That's awesome it's getting done.  Luke 1:37 will definitely work!  You will have to send me a picture when it's done. 

If you haven't sent my watch yet, make sure you send it through USPS.  If you send it another way, I won't be able to get it until the next transfer meeting.  If you already sent it, that's okay.  Just so you know. 

How is Jimmer doing in basketball?!  And how is basketball?!

I can't think of anything else to say or ask.  I forgot my journal today, but I think I got mostly everything down.  I get a hour of email now, so I will be able to write down a lot more things from now on. :) I hope everything is going well at home!  I love you all!

Love, Elder Hunt

TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't you just love days where you can find out you can email that isn't on a P Day? Me too!  Not much has happened from last Thursday and today.  Two of our Hermanas left this morning to Tennessee (the same mission as Colin!). 

Something happened to my watch last week.  It just stopped.  I don't know if it was because it died or something else, but I am sending it to you tonight, and I hope you can take it to where you bought it and get it fixed.  Good thing I brought a back up watch!  I am also sending my SD card, with pictures from the first two months of my mission, so be on the look out for that too.  And I used my SWEET new stationary! 

Last night we had an AWESOME Devotional by Richard I. Heaton, the Administrative Director of the Provo MTC.  It's funny because he was our first Devotional speaker when we arrived in the MTC and now he will be our last.  He talked about being a prayerful missionary and that how we need to be praying all the time for the Spirit and giving thanks to God for what he has blessed us with.  Recently, I don't know why, but I have been feeling that we pray a whole lot on a mission.  We pray during class, before we go teach, before each study we do, etc.  After I heard that talk from Brother Heaton, I realized how absurd my thinking was.  I am really glad I heard that talk before I got into the field.  It will definitely change how I do things in the mission. 

I talked with someone from the Travel Office the other day, and he said, depending on when all the missionaries for the flight gets there, we will leave sometime between 5 and 5:30.  I am hoping for earlier.  He also said the drive from here to SLC is about an hour.  So, what I am hoping is that we will get there around 6:30 to 7 and go through Security and all that fun stuff and then I will be able to call!  YAY!  I am so excited!  I don't know how much time I will have to talk, but I am still super excited! 

I talked with the girl from the Bookstore again, because she went back home for Christmas Break, and she said it was 80 degrees there! OMJ!  And the Elder in my zone from Mission Viejo said his parents told him, last week, that it was 80-90 every day! OMJ! OMJ! OMJ!  This is going to be my last snow for quite some time :)  I am so excited to get to Cali! 

I am super excited to finally start teaching real people the Gospel.  Being in the MTC has been a lot of fun; I have gained so many good experiences that I could have never gained from not going on a mission.  I can speak so much more Spanish than I if I would have just taken it for school.  But, the reason I can do that is because I am doing it for other people, so I can teach them.  Spanish is going to be such a blessing in my life, after my mission, but right now, if I focus on the people, I can learn so much more.  I am here to serve the Lord in whatever way he needs, and I will do it for the next two years, without hesitation.  The Gospel has blessed me so much in life, and I want to share that happiness the people in Carlsbad. 

I can't wait to hear from you tomorrow!  I love and miss you! 

Love, Elder Hunt

Last week in the MTC! YAY!!!!!!

Today is my last P-Day in the MTC! YAY!  I really like the MTC, but this past week is like having Senioritis.  Everyone in my district is all so excited to just arrive in the field. Only a few more days!  I have to be at the Travel Office here at 5 AM :(  and my flight leaves at 8:40 AM.  I don't know when we will be arriving at the airport on Tuesday, but we will have enough time to call home.  Do you want me to call home or someone's cell phone or what?  I am super excited to call home!  I am super excited to ride on an airplane too!  First airplane ride ever!

During my time here, I have met a few people from the Carlsbad area.  There is this girl in the Bookstore here that lives in Temecula, and she said the weather is perfect all the time and the people are really nice too.  I have also met a few others Elders from that area (including one in my zone!) and they said the weather is perfect, it rains like, once or twice a year and the people are super nice!  I am so excited to get to Carlsbad!  Another person told me, after telling him I was going to Carlsbad, that Carlsbad wasn't a mission; it was a vacation!  It was really funny and just got me even more excited to get there.  I am super excited to speak in Spanish too!  These past few weeks, during the Progressing Investigator, while I was teaching and listening, I realized how much fun it is to be speaking and learning Spanish!  I am super excited!

I don't remember what I have told you in previous emails, so hopefully this isn't a repeat of stuff you already know.  Hermilo got baptized! YAY!  And Hermano McKinney (Hermilo) left to go to school at BYU-Idaho :( So, there's one less teacher we have :( and Hermano Hardy got a new district and he left too :( so, yesterday we got two new teachers.  Hermano Harris and Hermano Bailey.  Hermano Harris served in New York where James is right now! 

On New Year's Day, for the Devotional, Kelly Mills of the Missionary Department came and spoke.  Him and his family are all singers, so they sung a couple songs and him and his wife gave really good talks.  He quoted something from Henry Eyring that I really liked. "The call to serve is the call to change."  With our missions calls, we are called to serve to change other people's lives.  While changing other people's lives, our lives are also changed in the process. 

The Devotional on Tuesday night was Elder O. Vincent Haleck of the Seventy.  It was our last Tuesday Devotional :( :( :(  His talk was really good.  He talked about the Christlike attributes and how to apply them in life and in missionary work. 

And that's really all that happened this week!  I have really enjoyed the MTC these past two months, but I am just so excited and ready to get out into the field.  I am glad there are some in my district going to Carlsbad with me.  I have made a lot of good relationships here in the MTC, and it's sad to leave them all.  But, we all know that we are here to serve missions and to learn about how to teach.  Getting really good friendships is just one of the benefits.  I have learned more in the MTC about Spanish and the Gospel than I have my whole life.  I wish I would have learned more about the Gospel before my mission.  There is just so much that the Gospel has to offer and if we don't look for it, we will never find it.  Heavenly Father wants us to learn for ourselves.  He will never give us any knowledge if we don't work for it.  That works for Gospel related subjects and other subjects too, like Spanish.  He won't give us fluent Spanish, unless we work for it.  I am going to work my hardest to serve God for the next two years, because two years isn't a whole lot of time.  I have been here for two months.  Some days it feels like a lot longer and others it feels like a lot shorter.  I am running out of time now, but I just want to say that I love and miss you all.  I cannot wait to talk to you in a few days!  Have a wonderful day!

Love, Elder Hunt