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