Another week in paradise

So, I don't think I will ever be able to live in Utah again.  The weather here is like heaven.  Actually, no.  Not like heaven, it IS heaven.  So, if I don't come home on a plane whenever I am supposed to come home, you now will know why :)

This week I had exchanges with Elder Gneiting and Elder Hansen.  They are both fantastic missionaries.  Since we don't have a lot of investigators (we got one this week!) we had a lot of finding time.  But, we saw some pretty cool miracles.  When I was with Elder Gneiting, we were teaching this one less active family, los Aragon.  They were baptized about 5 years ago, and were super strong and went to the temple and everything.  Then they kinda started to fall away... :( But, they are getting back into it now, super strong!  So, we had a lesson with them, and the son and his wife was there!  The son is a member, but the wife is not.  So, we started to teach the wife and had the rest of the family help us teach her.  It was a cool experience to see how much knowledge they really do have of the Gospel.  And it turns out that the son and wife live in the area of Elder Gneiting and Elder Hansen!  So, that was a cool miracle.  The wife has listened to missionaries before, but then they moved and lost contact and stuff.  So, now, they have another chance!  YAY! 

So, I don't remember if I told you this or not, but before I arrived here, Elder Gneiting and Elder Lewis were out knocking doors one day and they ran into a member.  Well, at first, they didn't know he was a member, but after talking to him for a little, they found out.  Well, he said he didn't want anything to do with the church because he didn't believe in it anymore.  Him and his wife were in the process of moving, and so the Elders asked if they needed help.  So, they started to help them out.  This was the week before I arrived in San Marcos.  So, when I arrived here, we all went over to help them.  They used to live in the other area, but then they moved into ours!  YAY!  So, we helped them move all their stuff, arrange it all (he's like 60s and can barely walk and she works like all day long).  So, when we were done moving them all in and stuff, he told us he wanted to learn everything over from the beginning again!  And so, we started to teach him, and his wife!  He is from Brazil, so he speaks Portuguese and Spanish and English.  She is from Peru and only speaks Spanish.  He was baptized here in the US, and moved to Peru for some business thing (he's really smart) and met his wife there and he took her to church.  She is Catholic (like every other Spanish speaker) but she told us she liked the way she felt in our church better.  So, can you say baptism?! 

Now, for the best part of this whole week.  if you have seen the Liahona this month (or whatever it is in English) there was an article about 21 people being baptized the same day in Brazil.  There is this hermano here, (his name is hermano Tippetts) that is super amazing with the missionaries.  We are pretty sure he is one of the three Nefitas.  But, he saw this article and last week, on our way to the temple, he said he wanted to do this in our ward.  So, as a prone, we started to plan things out for us to be able to do this.  We just finalized the plans yesterday, and we have planned to have 15 baptisms the 15th of septiembre!  How cool would that be?!  That would be such a memory maker for the ward, us as missionaries, the people who are baptized, everyone!  It would set the ward on fire with missionary work and catch the attention of all the investigators who are afraid to commit.  So, that's the goal we have right now.  I am not sure how many dates we have now, but we are totally going to do it and it's going to be AWESOME. MILAGRO!

So, bad news.  We were out going to an appointment on Sunday and... My camera dropped :( it's totally fine, the screen is not broken, I can do all the functions and stuff... But, the lens broke or something :( so, I cannot take pictures... But!  Good news!  There is a Fry's in our area! Fry's!  Woo!  So, today, we are going to check out some cameras to see if I can get a new one that will work good and is cheap-ish.  So, I don't have any pictures to send today :( sorry!

San Marcos is kind of like Rancho.  But, with a lot less apartments.  At least in our area.  It's a richy place.  The weather is basically the same as Vista.  Maybe a little bit hotter, but not too much.  Not as hot as Escondido.  OH MAN IT IS HOT.  We have full time car!  It's a Malibu and I hate it.  It has a bunch of cool little features, but overall, definitely not a good car...

I didn't notice any earthquake... What time was it at?

I think the best memories I have of Grandpa are all the trips we took with them.  It was such a good bonding time for us as cousins, and as grandchildren/grandparents.  Just hanging out, driving, stories... All of those trips were so much fun.

I want to see the hole in the house!  Send me a picture!

Poor Westlake :( Thanks for the update though!  I love hearing about what's going on!  Update me on BYU too, when they play! Por favor! :)

Well, that's all I have for this week.  This next week we have full of citas, so it's going to be an exciting week!

I hope you all have an exciting week too!

Love, Elder Hunt

TEMPLO

Hoy, fuimos al templo de San Diego!  It was AWESOME.  I have some pictures included of how awesome it really is.  P.S. The last picture is of the super tall Elder I told you about.  His name is Elder Hansen and he is 6'9"! OMJ!  Also, a picture of Elder Owens, since his picture with me was lost :( dang Post Office

So, since our area is kind of new-ish, we haven't had a super amount of work...  But, we had some pretty cool miracles this week!

Last Thursday, we were going to this house of an investigator.  We contacted a guy named Angel Reyes (he's famous; look him up).  He said he wasn't big into religion, because he knew he if he went into religion, he would know of all the bad things he has done in his life."  Then we started asking him and few questions about that and we told him how that baptism is for a remission of sins.  He is Catholic, so he has some messed up way of thinking what baptism really is.  But, when we told him about how through the Atonement of Christ and baptism, all the sins and things he has done wrong can be washed away, if he really had a sincere desire.  When we told him that, he like, lit up!  It was so cool to see.  He said he was super interested in learning more, so we took down his info, and are probably going to see him tonight!

Then, the next day, when we arrived home at night, someone came out and talked to us.  Turns out, she was a member, that just got baptized in Febrero, and she just moved here from Fresno (where Hermano Hardy (my MTC teacher) served! There is a return missionary in this ward that served with him! (kinda. They were zone leaders together.(not together together, but at the same time.))  So, she asked us for the number of the missionaries for her ward.  then, when we were getting ready to go home, she told us her cousin (who lives with her) was placing a lot of interest in learning about the Church too!  So, after she is done moving (or before, I don't know) we are going to set up an appointment with her cousin!  We don't have a lot of work right now, but Heavenly Father sure is blessing us with some for the future!

Yesterday, we had Zone Conference!  YAY!  I always love Zone Conference, because we always learn such cool things because President Cook is such a fantastic mission president. 

Sorry this email is so short this week.  We had lots of finding time, and not a whole lot of teaching...

Elder Lewis told me what ward he is from, but I don't even remember what is was... But, he said he was from the St. Louis

I cannot believe I didn't tell you about English classes!  They started them about 3 weeks before I arrived here. (They must have known I was coming ;) )  But, the turn out is really good.  It's mainly members that come, so we are trying to have the members invite their friends and stuff too.  But, we have seen some cool miracles already!  The first day when I arrived, one guy came (non-member) and said he was going to come to church on Sunday!  Guess what? He did!  He is on vacation right now, so we haven't seen him for about a week and a half, but he should be coming back soon, and coming to church again!  He said he liked it! 

Yep, I am the Senior companion in this companionship.

I did make it back to Vista for the bautismo of Jennifer!  And she asked me to baptize her too!  That was super cool.  Hopefully the first of many to come! (I included a picture) :)  And Manuel has still not been confirmed...  More problems with his transportation...  But, hopefully he was on Sunday!  Or this next Sunday...

So, you decided to replace me with a dog?  ;)  You should send me a different picture, because that one didn't work :(

Congrats on your new calling, Mom!  That's awesome!  You will be an awesome Block Captain!  Speaking of being prepared, the mission is really pushing 72 hour kits to be prepared in case anything happens.  I was wondering if you could find me some kind of bag to put all my stuff in.  I have most of the food, personal hygeine, clothes, garments and stuff ready, I just don't have a good enough bag to put it all in...  Do you think you could look around for a good bag that doesn't cost a whole lot?  That would be cool

Tell Maddy congrats on her soccer team!

That's all I have for this week!  I hope you like the pictures!  I finally have a way to send them now, so I will be sending them!  Have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Hunt

SAN MARCOS. ELDER LEWIS.

So, last week I made it safe and sound to my brand new area: San Marcos, California!  We have a little bit of Escondido too.  There used to be hermanas in this area, so Elder Lewis and I are the first Elders in a few years (like 3 or something).  The Spanish missionaries in Escondido are in a special sort of condition.  We are called a "prone (pre-zone)".  We don't have enough missionaries to be an entire zone yet, but we are too big to be incorporated into the English zone.  Three months ago, when the big group of missionaries left, Escondido had it's own zone.  But, then all the big group left and then the zone was downsized because we lost a lot of missionaries.  We still have some areas in the mission closed down because there aren't enough missionaries.  But, there should be coming in 3 or 4 the end of this transfer, so hopefully some more areas will be opened up.  Another cool thing is that because we are a "prone" we have two districts.  One district has 3 companionships, and the other has two!  That's the one I am in!  I am in a district with Elder Lewis, my companion, Elder Gneiting, who I served with in Vista for one transfer and Elder Hansen, Elder Gneiting's greenie.  It's pretty cool only having 4 Elderes in a district.  We had District Meeting yesterday, and it was awesome.  Hermana Farr is here in Escondido too! 

So, my new companion is Elder Craig Lewis.  Guess where he is from?  Not Utah!  St. Louis, Missouri!  Elder Lewis from St. Louis... Ha.  He has been out less than I have (3 months) but he is a super good missionary too.  He has VERY good Spanish!  He's really cool and we get along pretty well. 

The ward in this area is HUGE. 600+ members!  It used to be 2 different branches, but then they combined it about a year and a half ago because one of the branches had no priesthood at all.  It wasn't a very good idea though, from what I have been told because a lot of people went inactive because of the change in leaders or because the church building was too far.  But, we are trying to get 80 baptisms this year, so that the ward can split again into two different branches.  There used to be 12 missionaries in ths ward!  That's how big it is!  There are 10 now. 

So, not much has happened in my first week here.  Because some missionaries left, the areas were made bigger here.  Elder Gneiting and Elder Lewis were companions before and they covered the area of Elders Gneiting/Hansen and our area.  So, when Elder Hansen and I came, the areas were split.  Elder Gneiting and Elder Lewis worked mainly in the other area, and so there wasn't a whole lot of investigators here.  But, we did have one!  But, they turned out to be sooooooo set on their Bible and did not want anything else.  Elder Gneiting and Elder Lewis had taught them once before about 2 weeks ago, and from what they had told me from that lesson, the family was solid.  But, when we went over last Saturday, that was not the case...  They just kept on reading scriptures from the Bible and interpreting them the wrong way.  They believed that God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are all the same being, even though we showed them many scriptures in the Bible that says otherwise.  Their minds were just so closed and hearts so hardened.  It's really sad to see people like that, because you just want to help them so much!  But, you can't shove the Gospel down their throat, because they have to figure it out for themselves.  Maybe one day they will get baptized, but definitely not now...

So, guess who is the new companion of Elder Simmons?  Elder Nealy!  Lucky!

I still have no idea if Manuel was ever confirmed... His wife was super sick the last week I was there, and so he wasn't able to come...  But, I should be returning back to Vista for Jennifer's baptism, so hopefully they tell me he was finally confirmed!  Speaking of tall
companions, I will send you a picture soon of how tall Elder Gneiting's companion is :)

So... I am really sad about my SD card :( I thought about waiting until I was able to mail my pants, but I thought you would want to see the pictures more quickly... I guess the good thing is that I was only in Vista for three months... But all those pictures are gone :( there were some good ones too!  Like of the SWEET new board we received in Vista my last week there!  :( :( :(  and that was my 16gig SD card too :( Maybe a miracle will happen! 

Thanks for the package!  I really like the shirt!  I haven't had a chance to wear it yet, but hopefully soon! 

So, that's about it this week!  We are working hard to get more investigators to teach them about the one and only true Gospel!  This really is the one and only true Church upon the face of the Earth.  I have run into SO many different people interpreting the Bible in so many different ways; it's not even funny.  I am so glad to have el Libro de Mormon so that we can know the TRUTH of the Gospel!  People we run in to get mad at us all the time because we don't carry around the Bible.  We tell them, "Why we would carry around a book that isn't even complete?"  The Bible is a wonderful book, and it is necessary for our knowledge of Christ, but we have the Book of Mormon today to help us understand the correct doctrine of Christ even more!

Have a super wonderful week!  I love you!  I will be praying for a miracle so that somehow, someway someone will find the SD card!

Love, Elder Hunt

P.S.  You are the best

Me voy!

So.  This is pretty shocking, but I am leaving Vista!  When we got calls on Saturday, I was told I was leaving!  Elder Owens and I were both VERY shocked, because we both thought for sure that I was staying.  But, the Lord has another purpose for me somewhere else in this mission, so I am ready to go.  I think I might be going to San Clemente to serve with Elder Chavez, or down to Del Mar to serve with Elder Simmons. 

Ever since I received the call that I was leaving, we have had so many miracles!  On Sunday night, we had our ward mission leader and the bishop go over to Jennifer's house to talk to her parents (mainly her dad) about her baptism.  We were not able to make it there, because we had an appointment with Antonio, but something happened with the dad and he set the baptism date himself!  The 18 of agosto at 6 PM!  He said he was really happy with what Jennifer has been doing and that she has a desire to be baptized.  So, that was awesome! 

Elder Ochoa and Elder Nelson contacted someone in their area that lives in our area, and so they set up an appointment for us and we went yesterday.  Yesterday was most likely the most productive day in my whole time in Vista.  Anyways, we went over for this appointment, and it turns out this lady's brother was the one that wanted to talk to us.  He told us that he was on the point of dying in the hospital a few days ago, and it really changed his perspective in what things are necessary in life. (He is 17).  So, we taught him about the Restoration!  It was really good, and he really seemed to like it.  We set a baptismal date with him the 1 de septiembre and I think he is a pretty solid investigator! 

We also taught Antonio on Sunday.  He had a few questions about profetas and stuff, but we got it all answered :) It was a good lesson and we set another baptismal date with him for the 1 de septiembre tambien.  He seems to have a desire to actually do the things necessary, but sometimes he is just lazy... 

This transfer was transfer of the bashers.  We ran into one last Saturday and yesterday.  We were contacting a group of teenagers on Saturday, and this one guy drives up in his truck and basically says, "You guys are preaching about another Jesus Christ, and I am going to go and warn those kids so that they don't listen to you." But, he didn't.  We talked to him for about a half hour.  He didn't talk as much as the other bashers in the past have, so we were able to get a lot more in.  But, even though you can show them concrete evidence that their church is basically wrong, and that info is found in the Bible which they claim so heavily to be the ONLY word of God, they just DO NOT listen.  So, you just have to attack them with testimony!  As I have told you many times before, I LOVE BASHERS.  They are such a good tool to help build your testimony!  The stuff they say goes in one ear and out the other because WE ALREADY HAVE THE TRUTH.  Yay! :)  So, that was on Saturday.  Yesterday, there is this old Hispanic couple that live right across from us in our apartment complex.  We see them like, every other day, but they just barely asked us to come over last Saturday.  So, we set an appointment up for Monday (yesterday).  We got in there, and they just started to say that there is only 1 God, not 3 (like we believe in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.)  They believe that they are all one, without a body.  We tried showing them proof too, in their very own Bible, but their hearts and minds are just so closed and so hardened, that they didn't even listen.  So, when we asked to have a prayer to leave, we knelt down and they started yelling, basically, and saying some sort of prayer.  It was pretty interesting.  Missions are so cool to have experiences like this so that you can see how much the truth is the truth.  There are so many misguided people out there, and they just don't understand :( 

Yesterday was a super good day to end on.  We taught la familia Lozano in the morning, and Jennifer is being baptized; we taught Bernardo (the 17 year old kid) and set up a baptismal date; we taught Manuel and he is going through a lot of problems now... His wife is so sick that she can't even walk...  And he is becoming sick too (not anything super bad, just like a cold).  Then we had a lesson with the bashers, which was another testimony builder; and another lesson with a super good family here.  I took a lot more pictures this transfer, so you should be receiving them soon! 

At the beginning of this transfer, we asked the housing coordinator to give us a new whiteboard, and a few days ago, she brought it over.  IT IS HUGE.  Elder Owens and I organized and stuff so it is SUPER DUPER AWESOME now.  But I am leaving :( He came up with a brilliant idea how to organize it, and you will be able to see how when you receive my SD card.  Also, included I have some pictures!  My pants that were ripped at the beginning of the transfer (there is a HUGE hole in the side and impossible to wear) and a collection of Pokemon toys that Elder Nealy gave me!  I love Elder Nealy. 

So, that's my week!  It was a really good one to end on!  Lots of miracles!

I didn't receive the package from the cabin yet.  Probably not until tomorrow because since it is transfer week, they hold back all the mail until transfer meeting tonight.  So, I will receive it tonight!

Peter hasn't mailed me or anything... It would be a nice reminder if you could tell him :)

English classes were a no go my whole time here :( But, I am still trying to start them until I leave!

I haven't heard anything about watching the dedication of the temple.. So probably not :(

I have a question!  Can you tell me who is on the USA basketball team for the Olympics this year?  And thanks for the news articles and candy and especially the SD card thing!  I hope it works and you can see the pictures!

That's all I have for today.  Tonight, I will be in a different area and you won't find out until next week!  Haha!  ;) 

Have a fantastic week!

Love, Elder Hunt

Missionary work- ripped pants