General Conference is coming

This transfer is almost over!  Sorry I am so late with today's email.  We had district activity this morning at the time when we usually do emails.  That went to about one and since then, we have been busy!  But, thankfully we had some time left to email! 

I hope you had a good birthday, Mom!  I am glad my card got there!

So, I have some news.  The Post Office isn't forwarding our mail anymore.  What usually happens is that the mail gets sent to the Mission Home, and then forwarded to us from there.  But, the Post Office just passed a law that forwarding mail is a no-no.  So, what that means, is that we will only be getting mail a few times a transfer.  It's a bummer, but that's life!  So yeah.  Now, you don't have to send a package a certain way!  Just send mail whatever way is easiest :)

I forgot my journal today, so I will try my best to remember what has happened this past week.  Really, not much has happened.  I don't know if I told you this or not, but we have this investigator named Nico.  He hasn't progressed very much.  But, we started reading the Book Of Mormon with him again.  Only this time, we are having him do what we are doing while reading.  (If I haven't told you what we are doing, we are marking all the names of Christ in red, his words in blue, and his doctrine in green. It's a lot of fun!)  Anyways, we had him start marking all of the names of Christ, and he really seems to like it.  He told us that it helps him focus in what he is reading even more.  So, hopefully he will start progressing soon!  Also, I think I told you about la familia Cortes (the eternagators).  We started teaching them again, and had them do the same thing as Nico with the Book Of Mormon.  They really seemed to like it too, and are progressing!  They are always really excited when we come over and I think that they might get baptized soon!  And that's about it.  Being a missionary, all the days mesh together and it's really hard to remember things sometimes! :(

I am SO excited for Conferencia General!  Elder Price and I downloaded some older talks and they are so cool!  The first session starts at 9 (really weird! I have never watched Conference earlier than 10!)  and then it's just normal.  We are going to our stake center to watch it (in English, thank goodness!)  That will be really weird too.  Going to church to watch it instead of home...  But, I am so excited!  I can't wait to hear what Elder Holland has this time!  (most of the talks we downloaded were by him; he is such a FANTASTIC speaker!) 

So, since this is the last week of the transfer, Elder Price (because he is District Leader) will get a call on Sunday telling him what missionaries are leaving.  He is pretty sure (90%) that he is leaving, because President Cook likes to separate greenies and their trainers after the first three months.  But, there is still a chance that he could stay!  Or I could leave!  We don't know!  But, that's what happens during transfers.  I hope none of our district gets transferred.  This district is so awesome.  Next week I will send you a picture of them.  :)

So, you think I would have gained a lot of weight from eating a lot of food, and riding in the car all the time, right?  Well, nope!  I have actually lost some weight.  My first belt stopped fitting, so I had to switch over to my stretchy belt!  The food here is sooooooooo good.  And authentic!  Hispanics eat a lot of things that I never thought of.  Like, shrimp.  There have actually been a lot of dishes with shrimp.  None of them were any good, but I ate them!  Haven't had anything super rare yet, like menudo.  And we have actually had lasanga twice!  (with the same family haha).  The food is really good!

I hope everything goes well with Dad's surgery!  That does not sound like any fun.  Neither with Jaxon!  I really hope he gets feeling better!  Do none of the doctors know what is going on?

Oh man!  I have seen magazines with Hunger Games pictures in them and wanted to see them so bad!  I hope it was a good movie! 

Spanish is coming along good still.  I really need to talk more in Spanish, otherwise I won't learn!  Listening is still the hardest part.  But, it's coming little by little!  One day!

That's it from me!  I hope you have a super fantastic week!

Love, Elder Hunt :)

P.S.  I am excited for the package :)

I was an English missionary!

I don't know if I am doing my math right, but has it really been four months?!  WOW!  Where does the time go?  Sometimes, it feels like this is my life and I have been doing nothing BUT missionary work.  But, other times it feels like just a few days ago that I was at home, doing nothing. 

So, I got a haircut!  It looks so good.  Guess who did it?  Me!  Haircuts here are so expensive...  Elder Price has some clippers.  I put the longest one on and cut my hair!  I am having such a hard time keeping the ladies away,  Wow. 

This week has been full of exchanges.  Wednesday-Thursday, Elder Chavez came to my area and Elder Price went to Elder Gibbons' area.  It was so much fun!  I finally got to drive again!  Elder Chavez did so much contacting.  Being a new missionary, he is really good at it!  And, being the older missionary, I couldn't let him stand me up!  So, I uped my game too :)  that really helped me in my contacting too.  Greenie exchanges were a lot of fun.  Friday-Saturday, since Elder Price is District Leader, we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders!  I went to their area.  It was really different being in English work.  The funny thing is that I think I contacted more people in Spanish than I did English!  haha.  That really helped boost my confidence in speaking Spanish because I didn't have a Spanish companion to lean on.  Sadly, we didn't teach any lessons...  I haven't ever taught in English before!  Since day one in the MTC, it's been 100% teaching in Spanish!  Maybe next time.  Being on English exchanges helped me realize even more so how lucky I am to be in Spanish work.  Learning Spanish opens up a whole new set of people that I can share the Gospel with.  It's so crazy how a bunch of different words and pronounciations can make up an entirely different language.  And they still understand!  It's mind blowing. 

On Sunday, we had two super good contacts.  We met a Buddhist guy.  First Buddhist I have ever met!  He was really calm and mellow.  He said he converted to Buddhism from Christianity.  The Buddhists believe in reincarnation, and so he had the philosophy that he should treat every living thing like his mother, because it's very possible that anything could be his mother.  It's kind of a weird thing to think about, but it's a good method of thinking!  He has a brother that is Mormon too, so he knows a lot about the Church.  Then, like a minute later, we ran into another cool guy (Patrick)!  He is 37 and a construction worker around this area, and he used to live in Vegas.  When he was 20, he was living in Vegas and had a Mormon friend.  His Mormon friend was so kind to him and did all he could, that whenever Patrick saw some Mormons, he would always talk to them, because of how much he liked the way they lived.  He also told us a story, that when he was behind on his rent and car payment and things like that, his Mormon friend lent him money and never wanted it back.  Even though that was 17 years ago, Patrick had tears in his eyes because of what his friend did for him.  It's so cool to hear stories like that; about how much of an influence had on one person.  And, even though they don't stay in touch anymore. Patrick will always have that memory of his Mormon friend, Jake.  It was a pretty good night Sunday.  And now here we are at today!

By the way, I always forget to tell you this, but I remembered now!  Elder Daniel is in my zone here!   And also, a new Elder that came in three weeks ago that went on Heritage Tours with me!  And also, there is another Elder that went on Heritage Tours with me too!  But, he has been out a while.  And they are both English speaking :(  but, how crazy is that?!  Out of all the missions in the world, three people from my Heritage Tours group came here to Carlsbad!

Sounds like you had a crazy week!  You were right.  Everyone else was feeling sick, and I felt left out! haha.  Hearing about things at home doesn't worry me at all.  I don't mean to sound mean, but I usually forget!  I read my emails, and then most of the time, I forget what I read until the next week!  Maybe it's a blessing haha. 

Zack still hasn't emailed me :( tell him to do it!  :)

I still send out letters to a few people, when I have time.  I have TONS of envelopes and paper, and a pretty good amount of stamps too.  I usually write letters to whomever sends them to me.  I have been staying in contact with everyone in my MTC district too.  But, P-Days are usually so busy!  It's supposed to be a "day of rest" of sorts.  Yeah right! haha. 

Sounds like Kelsey has a pretty sweet job!  I am jealous!

When I get home, I am going to build a four square square somewhere.  I miss four square so much!  The top 3 things I miss about the MTC are: 1. Tuesday and Wednesday Devotionals, 2. Four Square 3. Something else.  Four square was so much fun!  Where is Kristi's sister going?

Thanks for trying to get Elder Brown's address :) I really want to send him a letter :)

I love you all!  Hope you have a super fantastic week!

Love, Elder Hunt

P.S. I will send some pictures next week :)

Hola!

Hola!

So, this weekend was pretty exciting!  But, in a not so good way :(  On Saturday, we had two baptisms (yay!).  On Friday, we asked one of the members to invite Olga and her daughter to the baptism.  So, she did so and on Saturday, she told us that Olga did not want anything to do with the Church or the missionaries or anything.  We were really bummed out :( she was such a good investigator!  But, we also talked to Hermana Valdivia (Olga's friend) and she told us that it was because of her daughter, Michelle.  In their house, it's only Olga and Michelle and they have a really tight bond.  And Olga does just about everything for Michelle, because she doesn't want to lose her to drinking and partying and all that bad stuff.  And so, Hermana Valdivia told us that Michelle is pretty controlling.  She said that Michelle didn't like all the rules and standards that the Church has and told her mom that she didn't want to learn from the missionaries anymore.  So, Olga said okay and that she would just learn and go to church.  But, their big "bonding day" is Sunday (because neither of them work that day), and Michelle said that if her mom would go to church, then she would just leave and hang out with friends.  So, Olga dropped us in order to spend more time with her daughter.  She still wants to learn, but right now just isn't her time, I guess.  But, I can still see her getting baptized.  Just not now, sadly :(

On Sunday, I got sick :(  We think it might have been some food I ate on Saturday night, or maybe the HUGE change in the weather (Monday was 40 degrees and the rest of the week was 70+ and Saturday and Sunday was 90).  So, Sunday, I threw up a few times, but now I am all better (almost).  I still feel a little sick, but not enough to stop me from working! 

And, Elder Toronto came out with us again.. He is so cool!

And, while with Elder Toronto, we contacted this family that was taught by the missionaries about five years ago.  When Elder Price and I went to go visit them, we had such a good talk with them!  They even had all their children come and talk with us!  Not even all member families do that with us!  It was so cool!  While we were talking about the Gospel and families, the dad even started to cry and told us he really felt the Spirit!  It was so awesome.  (that he felt the Spirit, not crying)  We have another appointment with them tomorrow night, and we are going to extend baptism dates!  Elder Price is going on exchanges with Elder Gibbons, in the other area, tomorrow, so it will Elder Chavez and I teaching them!  Two greenies!  Wish us luck!  Haha

I am glad to hear Jaxon is doing okay now!  I still pray for him all the time.  Hopefully he can catch up in school!

Sounds like C.E.R.T, classes are super fun!  How come you started to take them?

Maddy is getting ready for 7th grade?!?!  OMJ.  She is so old! 

What did UVU call for?

I hope you all have a wonderful week!  I love you!

Love, Elder Hunt

P.S.  Included is proof that it snowed here last week.  In case you didn't believe me.