Eventful Week

Wow. Here's the breakdown of a busy and eventful week.

Last Monday was super great! There’s a youth member in the ward and his name is Jared and he loves the missionaries. He’s 17 years old and helps the missionaries out a ton. Monday he called us all and told us he had a surprise for us at the church. We all met at the church at around 4:00 and decorated Christmas trees!!! It was awesome! I miss the Christmas decorations at home. We found this man named Carlos Gonzalez and he loves talking about God with us. We had a great lesson with him and it took a little persistence, but he said he would read the Book of Mormon! He’s Pentecostal and said he wanted to ask his preacher first. We explained that he doesn’t have to, he can ask God first, any way it was a great lesson.

Tuesday, we met with Jafet and he’s getting great grades! A lot of As and just a couple Bs. We’re working hard with him and I think his mom’s heart is slowly but surely softening. That day we also met with Adan and his house was completely gone! All the stuff on the inside, like beds and the TV, were still there but his house was gone. He’s rebuilding. His house before was just wood and tin and now its cement. So this week we met with Adan a lot and are helping him rebuild his house. It’s super fun. I’ll send a picture next week!

Wednesday, we had Zone conference (sorry mom and dad, I thought it was next week! but I might get the package for the Christmas devotional) It was a great meeting and we said a lot of goodbyes because this week is cambios (transfers)! After Zone Conference and lunch, we had a guy named Mahonri accompany us! He’s in the other ward but he’s preparing for a mission too!! He’s got his papers in and everything. He’s a great guy. He helped us with Adan and we taught Erminio too. Erminio and his family are so great! Every time we go there, they always tell us "hey we were just talking about you!" or "Hey we were just reading the Book of Mormon" Great family. We taught them the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it has all the answers to life’s questions. They love it, I can’t wait till they start coming to church.

Thursday, we again helped Adan with his house and we met with Luis too! He’s doing great and still reading and still loves his scriptures! He had some doubts about tithing but we were able to clear it up really well! He didn’t come to church this week so we were kind of bummed but he’s reading and praying and loves it.

Friday, we saw these kids on the street playing guitar and so we took the chance to contact them! They were super cool and really good on the guitar. Their names are Marcos and Carlos. They told me they were surprised how well I speak for being in the Mexico for only 3 months. That was a confidence booster since it’s been really hard communicating. I can easily talk about the lessons but the second someone asks me a question I have no idea what they say. It’s hard but I know I’m getting a lot of help and learning more and more every day. After helping Jafet with homework, Adan with his house, and Erminio and his family with reading, we taught an awesome new family. Familia de Hilberto! Hilberto is the dad. He and his 2 sons, Sergio and Kevin, are super interested. We taught them about the life of Christ and how important he is for us and taught a little about the restoration and they’re super interested.

Saturday, we went to a city in our area called Paredon to contact a referral. It’s a little fishing town and to be honest it’s really ugly! It was just weird walking the streets because there was no one around. I’m so used to all the people in Tonala. Anyway we didn’t know where to go or what to do because the referral was impossible to find with the directions we had. We were just walking and we were next to the docks when we heard "ELDERS! HERMANOS!" So we talked to this guy and he tells us he and his wife are members but inactive, the church is so far away and they don’t have the money to go back and forth, so they don’t attend church. It was sad to hear that but they love missionaries. The guy was working and so were his 12 non-member colleagues... So we taught them all the restoration! It was awesome!!!!! They were all so involved in what we were discussing and asking questions and all, the spirit was so strong. At the first of the day, my companion and I had no idea why we were in the ugly city of Paredon, but the Lord knew, and it was great to be an instrument in proclaiming the gospel to this little group of fisherman from Paredon!

Sunday, was fantastic but I’m running out of time so I’ll just tell you how it started and ended. So we went out to get our investigators to church and investigator after investigator dropped. Finally we got to Sergio and Kevin. They were waiting for us all dressed up and ready for church!! It was great and they loved it. Our day went on normally, then at night before the Christmas devotional, we got a call from someone at the church saying we had an investigator waiting for us... Elder Reye Leyva and I just looked at each other and were like... uhhhh we didn’t set anything up. So we hopped in a taxi and went to the church. It was Hermano Leonel! We contacted him and his son on the street like a month ago and have never been able to get a lesson with them. We see him on the street every now and then and always invite him to church. We always tell him church is at 9:00 AM, but Hermano Leonel decided to show up at 6:30 at night. Better late than never I always say. Anyway we got to watch the Christmas devotional with him, and wow, you should have seen his face, his eyes were just glued to the screen, he loved it!!! He apologized for not being able to meet with us and said he’ll be coming to church and bringing his family. We will be meeting him next week!

All in all a fantastic week, however this next week is going to be insane! This morning we got a call from the assistants regarding transfers and... I’m training. I don’t know how or why (other than we got a lot of new missionaries in) but I’m training! I don’t how I am going to do it, but if the Lord wants me to train, I guess he’ll provide a way. I leave for Tuxtla to pick up my new comp and the rest will be in next week's letter!

Love and miss everyone so much!!!

Elder Hunt

 

 

Permission to baptize Jafet!

Wow time is really starting to fly by. Let me start with the first big update of the church down here in Tonala... WE GOT A DRINKING FOUNTAIN!!! It’s awesome! It’s kind of funny too because we have to teach all the little kids how to drink out of one. They fill up cups instead of drinking just using your mouth, but were working with them! haha

On Tuesday me and my comp were way out in PDCH (just a little are of Tonala out in the middle of nowhere) and a truck pulled up to us and in English we heard " hey are you from Utah?" We looked in the truck and there was a WHITE woman! So we got talking and guess what... she’s from Tucson!! She used to live in Avra Valley where her husband worked on some houses! Now they live in PDCH in Tonala! It was so awesome. She knew we were Mormon so that’s why she asked if we were from Utah. She told us to come by anytime. We’re totally going to get her and her husband baptized!

Wednesday the Assistants were in town and so we were a trio with Elder Brass. Elder Brass is from northern Mexico and he’s awesome! He works so hard and really teaches with power and authority. We were with Jafet and Elder Brass talked with his mom. I don’t know what he said but basically we can now baptize Jafet so long as Jafet does better in school and tells his mom what he learned from us every day we teach him... It was amazing! We now have permission to baptize Jafet!!

Thursday we had interviews with President George! He’s such a great man! He shared with me a scripture in D&C 64 that basically said I am laying the foundation for the Kingdom of God. I have a ton of responsibility and the Lord will help me through it all. That night my comp and I celebrated thanksgiving by buying some super nasty pizza, but we’re missionaries so it was good enough for us! Anyway it was fun and we were so excited to find it.

Friday was super windy and there was a ton of power outages but it felt super great with all the wind. The people of Tonala thought it was freezing but it felt perfect to me!

Saturday we ate so much food. We went to Erminios’ house and helped him machete his yard! It was so fun! He gave us a ton of food afterward. We then taught Luis and his grandma gave us some beans and rice. We were stuffed. Then we went to lunch and ate MORE food! I thought I was going to die but I made it without dying or throwing up! That night we had a movie night with some non-members and a less active family. We set up shop out in the middle of the street basically and watched a movie on Christ. They loved it and we’re seeing them next week!

Sunday Luis came to church!!! it was so great! answers to so many prayers and Luis loved it!

Great times, crazy week, great week. Love you all and miss you a ton. Sorry it’s another short one but times up. Thank you for your prayers and letters.

Love,

Elder Hunt

 

With Jafet and friends

Using a meshetti

Too much food!

 

Week 10

Hola familia! i love and miss you all a ton!

So this past week has been pretty great! We found a bunch of new investigators and less actives! One guy is named Erminio. He was baptized 20 years ago. We are the first people to visit him from the church in 13 years! Super sad but we’re so glad we found him. He’s married and has kids and none of them are members but they love our message and are planning on baptism at the end of next month hopefully.

We also found a 17 year old named Carlos. When we found him, we helped him fill up buckets of water at a well and take them to his house because he didn’t have any water at his house. It was fun and we got to become great friends with him. We explained the restoration to him and he wants to know more! Hopefully he’ll come to church next Sunday, he’s a great guy.

We also found a family, though I can’t remember their last name, I’m absolutely awful with names here, but the mother’s name is Sandra. What I’ve noticed with all these families and with all our investigators in general is that every time we talk about the restoration, the spirit testifies. Every time I teach the words of Joseph Smith we feel the Spirit. It’s something very powerful. Anyway so those are some of the new investigators we found.

Tuesday and Wednesday we went on splits with the zone leaders! I went to Ariaga with elder Garcia. He’s such a cool guy. It was fun being with another missionary but I was glad to go back to Tonala. Ariaga is so windy and like dead. There’s no one in the streets at all and the people aren’t that nice. We contacted this lady and she said “I don’t like you Mormons! You and all your crazy beliefs! I believe in one God and one God only!"... I said “well... hermana, we believe in one God too"... she said “well I still don’t like you". It was super funny.

Sunday Jafet came to church and we were so happy. His mom is still being stubborn and won’t let him get baptized but were glad he came. We visited him later on that day and talked about missionary work and he said the closing prayer... What a prayer. I was so happy but also sad, he wants to be baptized but he needs his moms permission and at this point she is not likely to give it. The Lords will be done. He said he’ll be patient and when the time comes, he’ll follow Christ and be baptized. He then prayed for us, and our families. One of the most touching moments as a missionary is when your investigators pray for you and your families. It was such a great experience.

Good week. Hard week. Sorry I’m out of time again. I’ll be sure to write more next week. But basically we went to the beach this morning, from there we got haircuts and came straight her to write our letters, so I don’t have my notes for the week to look off of.

I love and miss you all a ton! Thanks for your letters and prayers!

Love

Elder Hunt

 

Strick obedience

Buenas tardes!

So this week my comp and I got kind of sick! It was a great experience and I’ll tell you why. I and Elder Reyes Leyva try really hard to be obedient, because obedience brings blessings and STRICT obedience brings miracles. We need blessings and right now we definitely need some miracles, but on Monday we weren’t super obedient. We were being a little lazy, we didn’t really study the full time we needed to….anyway we let our guard down a little bit. Then we both started to get a fever and sore stomachs and achiness, all the same symptoms at exactly the same time.Tuesday we felt like garbage. So we talked about it, trying to figure out why this is happening and what we can do to fix it. So Tuesday we worked as hard as we could and prayed super hard too. We were punctual and put in a full effort. Wednesdaywe woke up and felt absolutely perfect. I am learning that we will receive blessings if we are obedient. I am happy to say that my companion and I have been working very hard to be obedient this week because we saw what happens when you’re not!

This week was pretty great and went by fast too. We had a house check and got a 10 out of 10. They said that besides the sisters, our house is one of the cleanest of all the missionaries!! It was awesome. We also taught a family home evening to 6 different families. It was a great lesson. We taught about the plan of salvation and how short but important our life here on earth is. The lesson ended kind of late and we were out in the middle of nowhere so we had to run. We needed a taxi in order to be home on time and keep up our obedience steak. So out in the middle of nowhere, while running, we prayed for a taxi and sure enough…… BOOM…..taxi. It was amazing. Sad to say though, that in the rush to get home on time, the phone fell out of my pocket, so we had to buy and new one with our own money…..so that was fun.

Luis is doing great. Last week he was in Tuxtla but he’s home now and like usual, he’s reading and loves the gospel... he just needs to come to church!!! Why is that such a problem here?! Stake Conference was on Sunday and everything went pretty great with the piano and the choir. It was a great conference and it was nice to talk with president and his new assistants. We met with Adan again that day after conference. He told us the he hasn’t drank alcohol since we first met with him. I love that guy. He always says "Somos hermanos en Christo" We’re brothers in Christ. We taught him about the word of wisdom and without a single problem said he would live the commandments. Such a great guy! I just hope he will come to church. It was a great week, it was a hard week, and it was a week where I learned a lot of important principles.

Thanks for all your prayers and letters. I love every single one of them. I love and miss you all so much.

Love

Elder hunt

Zone Conference Week

MONDAY- So last P day, we went to the center of town with a member named Max. Max is a recent convert and loves coming out with us. He’s preparing for a mission! Super cool guy. He introduced us to a "frap pesol". Pesol is basically corn and chocolate and water... I‘m not a fan, but frap pesol is like a frapachino but pesol instead of coffee.... IT WAS AMAZING!! So good! I gave a sister missionary a blessing at a members house that night. It was another great experience. Every time I give a blessing I get to exercise the priesthood. It is a wonderful privilege.

TUSEDAY- I made French toast for breakfast! It was incredible! But I do miss your incredible breakfasts mom! Tuesday was a hard day. We had a lot of our appointments fall through and didn’t get to teach much. The only thing that happened was when we were waiting for lunch a little girl was watching Frozen and singing along with it in Spanish, it was the "Love is an Open Door” song... so in memory of Madeline I just had to join in. We had this little Spanglish duet going on for a little while. It was fun!

WEDNESDAY- we taught a family who has some member friends and love family home evening and are impressed with the morals of the Church. They have a nice house and spoiled us a lot! My comp said the opening prayer before the lesson and when he said “amen”the mom said " you want some quesadillas?" we told her that were ok and to not worry about it, but she insisted and went down the street and bought us some AMAZING quesadillas. This was one of our first times meeting with them yet they just went out and bought us food. The people here are incredible; so loving. We had a great lesson about the Doctrine of Christ and it was a good ending to an otherwise hard day.

THURSDAY-Zone conference!!! It was great to see some new missionaries from the changes over the last week or two. Afterward we met with Adam and his family. They’re doing great and praying and reading the Book of Mormon, but Adam has some idols in his house. The idols are of the Grim Reaper and he thinks they protect him from bad luck. We talked to him about it and discussed the blessings that come from following the 10 commandments but he said he’s not taking them out. We tried to explain but he’s being really stubborn. We’ll keep praying and working with him

FRIDAY- A lot of our appointments fell through again and we didn’t know what to do so we sat down and prayed and when we started walking again we saw this guy that we had contacted a while ago while he was drunk. He was sober now so we went up to him and had a great lesson with him and his 2 friends. They look like they’re some rough guys to be around, with bandanas and tatoos everywhere, but they all listened intently. We talked about the atonement of Christ! It was awesome and we're meeting with them next week

SATURDAY and SUNDAY- We had a lesson planned for this 16 year old named Daniel, we went to his house and he let us in, but then his 839 year old grandma went off on us! I didn’t know exactly what she said but I caught a little bit of it, it was basically "DONT YOU DARE COME IN AND TAKE MY GRANDSON! IVE BEEN A JEHOVA WHITNESS ALL MY LIFE AND MY FAMILY IS GOING TO BE ONE ALL OF THEIR LIVES TOO" Daniel just said "elders, mi abuela es LOCO" his dad and sister said the same thing. The grandma still wouldn’t let us in so we had to give him a lesson in his doorway, but it was really good. He understood the restoration and can’t wait to meet with us again.

That night I got a phone call from a sister in the ward. Next week is stake conference and she wants me to play for the choir. I don’t know why I said yes because I don’t know any of the hymns they’re singing!!! Mom... again I’m sorry I didn’t learn to play all the hymns before my mission! Sunday I practiced with the choir and it turned out ok because they can’t sing, and I can’t play the songs, so it kind of balances out in the end! I’m borrowing a member’s keyboard so I can practice at home.

That night after again having lessons fall through, we contacted a drunk guy. He kept saying "I love you, you have such a light glowing about you, I love you". It was hilarious. As we said goodbye, he grabbed my companion and kissed him on the forehead!!! I pushed him off of my companion and gave him a card with a picture of Christ on it and we left as fast as we could! It was great! My companion didn’t think it was as funny as I did, but yeah, it was a good ending to another hard day

This morning we did our morning run to this place that looks out over Tonala, it was sure beautiful. Picture should be in Dropbox dad.

Let me tell you about the Spanish. I’m progressing pretty well. It’s really hard but the Lord is helping me. The members have complimented me a bunch on the progress I’m making, it’s a good confidence booster. But then I talk to people on the street and they make fun of me and have NO IDEA what I say to them. So I don’t know who to believe. Perhaps it means I have come a long way but have a very long way to go!

As I have mentioned this week was hard, but really for one main reason... none of our investigators are progressing. They’re all so great and love the scriptures and our message, but they don’t come to church. If they don’t come, they really aren’t progressing. It’s hard because they’re all so great. It’s gotten to the point where I and my comp have had to talk about dropping some. It’s hard to have those conversations. I keep praying and keep working and know that the Lord knows what he’s doing.

Thanks for your prayers and letters. Love you all so much!

Elder Hunt

drinking 'Frap pesol" with Max

Looking out over Tonola

Morning run

Awesome week

The weeks are staring to go by super fast. I feel like last Monday was just yesterday!

Well last week was awesome. We went into this one house to teach and the people tried to bible bash with us. You could tell from the moment we stepped into the house that these people didn’t want to hear our message. They were crazy! We were in there for way longer than I wanted to be in there for though. We didn’t bash back, we just sat there and that made me even madder. What made things worse is in the middle of this 2 Jehovah’s Witnesses came in and added their 2 cents. I had had enough so I bore my testimony and basically said that contention is of the devil and our message is of God so we can’t be in there any longer. So we got up and left. It was quite a different experience and I’m glad I can’t speak Spanish very well because if I could I might have just flipped out on them.

Anyway on a happy note….. we met and AWESOME new investigator this week. His name is Luis and he's 19 and is golden! When we came over he was so excited that he invited 4 of his friends to hear the message! It was a great lesson and the spirit was felt by everyone. When we asked him who he’d like to give the closing prayer he volunteered….. and what a prayer! So sincere and heartfelt. We asked him how he felt after that prayer and he said peace, joy... incredible! It was so great. I can’t wait to tell you more about him.

We also met with Adan and his family and he loves talking with us. That family really wants to change, you can see it in their eyes, they couldn’t come to church this week but next week they’ll be there.

We went to Carlos' family to teach them but they were all sick from Dengue (that’s a disease people get from some of the mosquitos here). We were able to give them all a blessing though and they were really grateful for it.

That was basically our week with investigators. This week was also Halloween and day of the dead. It’s so different here everyone trick or treats on the 1st of November and instead of saying trick or treat, they sings funny songs. It’s really cool. I’m so sorry that this letter is so short! I’m out of time! Please forgive me! I promise next week will be a longer letter. I love and miss you all so much! Thanks for the prayers! They help more than you can imagine!

Love,

Elder Hunt

Loving Tonola

Hola!

La Semana (The week)

Monday - It rained all day. Like literally all day! Sunday and Monday was nonstop! It was awesome! I’ve never seen so much rain in my life. I was completely soaked by the end of the day but it was totally worth it. We got a referral to visit a family who live out aways. Familia Bosa... it’s like 30 minutes to walk there. So we went and it was worth it.

The family was so nice and so willing to listen. As a missionary you CANNOT teach a lesson unless the Spirit is present and unless you follow the promptings. We were planning on teaching them about the Restoration but it didn’t feel right, so we bumped to the Plan of Salvation. As we were teaching the Plan of Salvation it still didn’t feel right so we started to talk about another topic. We did this for a little while and it was choppy, unorganized, and we didn’t know what to do. I said a prayer in my heart to get help to find out what to teach. I know my companion did too. Right after that, the mom of the family asked a question about baptism. BOOM! It came to us, Gospel of Jesus Christ focusing on baptism! Just like that. It was a great lesson. The spirit was there. They want to get baptized. I love it

Tuesday - All our appointments fell through in the morning and we couldn’t figure out what to do. We saw this girl we contacted a while ago on the street but wasn’t interested. I had this feeling that we should go talk to her. She was far away but I told my comp and we went to go talk to her. She turned a corner and we lost her. I thought " what was the point of that" but then we saw a friend of Jafet, one of our investigators, and we had a great lesson with him and his super catholic grandma and his 2 siblings. Bottom line... Listen to the Spirit. He knows what he’s doing!!!

Wednesday - District meeting. It was awesome! I love the missionaries in my district. We did service for Hermana Flor, another one of our investigators. She told me she didn’t want me to help her rake her yard because she said I’m white and probably have never worked a day in my life... holy smoke did I show her how a white guy rakes leaves (thanks dad for the years of labor in the yard) She was impressed and we had a great lesson.

Thursday - Really hard day. Not much success at all and me and my companion were fasting for Jafet. It’s hard to fast and be constantly walking and trying to find people to teach, but it was totally worth it.

Friday - We went to a sick member’s house and sang him some hymns. He loved it and said that I’ve really improved on my Spanish since I first got to Tonala. It helped comfort me from the previous day of not a lot of success. We went to see Japhet again and played him in game of soccer for who gets to say the opening prayer... we won! Against him and 3 other little kids! It was so cool. There was a bunch of them cheering me and my companion on and after the victory we taught them all about prayer. We got a picture with them and they flipped out! They love the missionaries!

Sat and Sun - We taught Carlos' mom and dad again. They’re so awesome. I wish Carlos didn’t work so much so we could teach them all at the same time. But that family is amazing. After the lesson they fed us dinner. Let me rephrase that... they fed us their dinner. These people are so loving and humble. They gave me and my companion like 3 fish each while they shared 1 fish. We tried to tell them that we don’t need a lot of food and that they should have the majority but they insisted. Such a humbling experience. These people have nothing, but give us everything. I love these people.

I gave a talk in church the next day. I really wasn’t that nervous until I got up there. But it was on prayer so it was easy to bear testimony and share scripture. After church we met this man named Adam and his wife and kids. He was really drunk. We got talking and they wanted to hear more about our message. We talked to them about repentance; that through the help of God we can change and then be cleansed through baptism. They all said yes to baptism and it was a great experience. I hope Adams is sober next time because I don’t know how much he got out of it. But his family loved it. When we got home my companion Elder Reyes Leyva got a call and he’s now the new district leader... of a new district! They’re splitting the district. So we are now Tonala 2!

Great week with great experiences!

Now for the random awesome stuff that happened

The most important is... I LOVE CHURROS! There’s all these people with carts that sell a bag of 5 churros for 10 pesos... that’s like 75 cents! I also saw an ant eater and I met an AZ guy that worked at the Marriot resort in Tucson! It was nice to talk to someone from home!

Love you all and miss you all! Can’t wait for another great week!!!!

Elder Hunt

With Japhet and our soccer friends

I love Curros!

Chillaxin'

 

Normal week?

I don’t think any week during this mission could ever be described as normal or that a "normal" week even exists.

Before I start let me tell you some general and random things. Spanish is HARD! I’m learning so much but there’s so much more I need to learn. It’s hard to understand the people and sometimes for them to understand me. Some of the other missionaries have said that I am learning the language faster than most but I don’t think so, I think they are just trying to encourage me. My trainer makes sure to speak to me in as much Spanish as possible and it helps me a ton.

This week I ate sea turtle eggs, a nasty shrimp and squid soup that looked really good but tasted nasty, and a giant hamburger at a member’s house. It wasn’t really a hamburger but it was really good. Some have asked how big Tonala is. It’s small and only has a branch of the Church here of about 70 or 80members.

Last p-day was great. We played futbol and it rained a lot. It’s rainy season right now and is starting to cool off and you know what comes after rainy season…. MANGO SEASON! Gosh I can’t wait. Apparently there’s like 40 different kinds of mangos and every single one is bien rico! Can’t wait for January. But then come March and April and Tonala will again live up to its full name and glory and will once again be the Land of the Sun. So I’m going to enjoy these cool and extremely wet days.

I had the opportunity to go to Tuxtla this week to get my green card. It was so nice! We got to president’s house and there was 15 boxes of Domino’s Pizza! I had 7 pieces. I’ve never eaten so much in my life! But the best thing was seeing all the elders from the MTC! We were all talking about the crazy things we’ve seen, eaten, and done and what our areas are like, and how the language is coming. It was just fantastic. Before we went home we went to the mall and definitely hit up that food court. Big Macs, Whoppers and soft serve ice cream. I missed it so much!

So all in all Tuxtla was amazing, but once I got home we got straight to work, we gave a less-active member a blessing and he had some specific things he wanted to be mentioned in the prayer, things I didn’t know how to address or even say, so before I gave him the blessing I said a little prayer, simply asking Heavenly Father that I could be led by spirit and know what to say and how to say it. It is quite an incredible experience to give a blessing and know exactly what to say but not know what you’re saying. The Spirit was strong during that blessing and was leading me with every word. It was an amazing experience. He came to church that Sunday with his son ( who’s an investigator) and they stayed the whole time.

Thursday morning we got a call that we're doing exchanges. I was to be with elder Gil for a day. Elder Gil is from Mexico and goes home in 2 transfers. He’s an awesome missionary! He’s so funny and reminds me a lot of Kelby. He and I got along super well for the 30 hours we worked together. It was nice to see another side of town and to visit some other members and people. Me and Elder Gil taught a great restoration lesson to a kid about 17 years old and found a bunch of people to teach. Too bad it was in Elder Gil’s area and not ours. Anyway we went back to our own areas and did the usual, then Sunday came. Gosh yesterday was so awesome! Before lunch we were trying to find a referral and asked this guy for directions. Five minutes later we were in his house and taught him a great lesson on the restoration. He was a little hesitant about things but he accepted our invitation to get baptized and read the Bok of Mormon. He’s kind of old and his name is Jose. I can’t wait to teach him again. After lunch we had an appointment with a young adult named Carlos. Carlos is a really big and jolly guy, give him 40 years and he’ll be the perfect Mexican Santa. He was so excited to talk with us and is very religious. When we taught him about the restoration everything made sense to him. He’s golden! We committed him to baptism and when we asked him he just said “well if what you’re telling me is really true then of course I’ll get baptized, why wouldn’t I" it was so perfect! I can’t wait to teach him again. The Lord prepares people, I know he does, and I know that Elder Reyes Leyva and I contacted some of those people this week. The Church is true, simple as that.

I love and miss you all so much! Thank you for the prayers I receive strength from them every day.

Elder Hunt

Tonola is Hot!!!

Tonala is really hot!

I’m going to stray from writing chronologically this time and just tell you what happened this week. Tonala literally means land of the sun! Let me put it this way; I’m constantly wet. Not from rain or anything like that( it did rain this week really hard though, it was really nice and every road turned into a river) but I’m wet from SWEAT. It’s so hot that I sweat when I shower!

One thing about a mission, there is always something to write in your journal. Like the other day we made a contact on the street and we showed this man a picture of the temple and then he started going off about how true the Mormon Church is. Here’s this random guy basically bearing his testimony of the church. Come to find out he visited the Salt Lake City visitor center and loves the temples, so we asked him if he wanted to meet with us and learn more and talk more about it and he said no, he doesn’t have time. Then another guy we talked to was really drunk and said everyone on earth are aliens from other planets and that God is just a giant alien. He then started talking about how we can draw closer to god by eating fréjoles (beans), the guy was real weird.

I FINALLY PLAYED GUITAR!!!! We had to go to the church for a meeting and while we were waiting one of the youth had his guitar. It was amazing. I was so happy. I played I See Fire by Ed Sheeran, Hotel California, Haleluja, and some Led Zeplin. Gosh it was great, it felt so good.

My companion and I gave a man who was really sick a blessing this week too. My companion had a feeling we should visit him because he wasn’t at church on Sunday so we did. When he saw us he looked at us and said, "just what I need". It was a great experience. Sunday at Church was funny. No one plays the piano so we sing accapella and, not meaning to be rude, no one here can sing…. at all! You were right mom I wish I learned more hymns before I came out. You were right and I was wrong. But I would have you know that whenever me and my companion start a lesson we always start with a prayer AND a hymn. I like it a lot. So there’s something you can be proud of.

We’re teaching this kid named Japhet. I think I may have already told you about him. Anyway he knows so much and wants to get baptized but his mom says no. She said that he’s getting confirmed in the Catholic Church and there’s nothing he or we can do about it. When she said that I just wanted to go off on her... but I didn’t, partially because I couldn’t speak Spanish and partially because that would obviously not be a way to handle things, so me and Elder Reyes Leyva are praying hard for Japhet.

The food is getting better and better. I’m starting to really like it. Yesterday was fast Sunday a family we visited made a ton of food, we had fried ham, fish, corn tamale, deep fried cheese and a ton of beans. I ate it all and thought I was going to explode! We ate it all with tortillas. The way they eat here is with a fork in one hand and a tortilla in the other. I love it.

Here’s a parting thought….one of my favorite talks from conference was from President Uchtdorf in the Preisthood session. He talked about the example the 12 apostles set when they said " Lord is it I?" not "oh it’s probably him". Another talk I loved was the one from Elder Tad R. Callister. I can’t say it better than him... "I could never express enough gratitude for my main gospel teachers: my parents". Thanks for trying hard to raise me the right way mom and dad. You’re the best!

Well, that’s my week. I feel so rushed. I love you and miss you all a ton!

Elder Hunt

Emergency Transfer

Yep... you read it right. Emergency transfer. This has been one of the craziest weeks of my life! Let me just start from the beginning.

MONDAY was p-day and we again went to Walmart. I had to stop at BK before we went back home. I got a whopper and it was amazing! We went straight to the church and played futbol rapido. It’s soccer but with a smaller ball and smaller court. Really fun.

TUESDAY was zone conference. We woke up at 5:00 and got to the bus station to go to San Cristobol! It was such a beautiful drive. San Cris is total jungle and absolutely beautiful. It was a tad chilly but it was so nice to be there. Zone conference was so great, Presidente George is an amazing man. He told us his rules for the mission are simple and at times a little laid back because he has a lot of trust in us. We better not disappoint him. I didn’t really understand a whole lot more than that because it was all in Spanish! We got back around 5:00 and met president at the church at 7:00 to interview one of our investigators. His name is Marcos. Marcos is a great kid but has had a rough life so president had to interview him. After the successful interview, president pulled me aside with Elder Shelley and asked if I wanted to go to the coast. I and my comp laughed but it was not a joke. An elder named Elder Ruiz has had some eye problems, so president needed me to switch with him. I didn’t know what to think. Elder Shelley and I were doing great and I was really liking the people and weather of Comitan, but I guess the Lord needs me in Tonala. So I told Pres. George “I’ll go if you need me". It was a really crazy day.

WEDNESDAY was a regular day. President George called us and gave us the schedule for the transfer, other than that it was a regular day of teaching and contacting.

THURSDAY we picked up elder Ruiz, and we were a trio that day, Elder Shelley, Elder Ruiz and I. Marcos got baptized that day and it was awesome, the spirit was so strong! Before he was baptized he asked me to play the piano for him so I did. I played the only song I know, Sweet Hour of Prayer, and the elders and sister missionaries sang it. It was awesome. It was a last minute thing but ran pretty smooth! We took pictures and said goodbye and that night at the apartment we ordered tacos for a little going away party for me! It was awesome and fun, just us 3 missionaries eating tacos and drinking soda but it was a party to me!

FRIDAY I woke up at 5:00for the transfer and left the bus station around 7:00. The big travel buses are really nice and they play movies, but here in Mexico they don’t have a movie rating system so a lot of the times they play rated R movies. Let’s just say I do a LOT of reading on the bus rides! My first stop was Tuxtla. From there I went straight to Tonala. It was another amazing and beautiful ride. It was about 2.5 hrs. from Tuxtla to Tonala. When I stepped off the bus the heat and humidity was like a slap in the face! My new trainer is Elder Reyes Leyva. He’s an American but is Hispanic which helps a lot with translation! He is really cool and has only been out for 9 months.

When I got off the bus he took me to our apartment. It’s 2 stories and has like 3 bathrooms and is hot as heck! But it is so nice!!!!!!! My comp informed me that this area hasn’t had missionaries for a long time and we’re opening it up again! So were doing a lot of contacting and a lot of trust building with the members. They must like him because it was his birthday Friday and he got 3 cakes and a pizza! We ate a lot that day.

WEEKEND was General Conference and I watched it in ENGLISH! I was so happy. We sat in a room at the church with AC and a flat screen TV and watched conference in English! I’m so glad I was able to understand it! There were so many great talks. I’ve never loved and been so excited for general conference!

Sunday after conference we went to lunch and I experienced a little miracle. Actually it might seem little to you but to me it was a mighty miracle. You remember that mole sauce I told you about and how gross it is. Not one missionary that I know of likes it because it really is pretty terrible. Well guess what was for lunch. You guessed it, Mole, and not just a little, they served up a whole lot of mole. Now I don’t want to offend these people because we are just opening up this area, so I know I need to eat it all. So I start praying….hard. And then the miracle happened. When I took my first bite I tasted....nothing. That’s right, I didn’t taste a thing. I took a drink of the horchata to make sure my tongue was still working and the horchata tasted like it usually does, sweet and full of flavor with a little cinnamon, but I couldn’t taste the mole at all. It was amazing, I finished the plate with ease! After that lunch appointment I asked my comp if the mole tasted any different to him. He said "nope, same ol’ mole." I said another prayer after that, thankful for the help I had received.

This week was so crazy and so much happened but it was one of my favorites. The Church is true. God loves us and if we need his help, he WILL give it to us. I love and miss you all so much. Thanks you for the letters and your prayers, they help me every day.

Love

Elder Hunt

 

Marcos' baptism

 

A BetterWeek

 

HOLA!! This was a much better week! Still incredibly hard but much better! So I’ll go chronologically.

Monday was p-day. We went to WALMART!!!! It was awesome! I miss America, but love Mexico. I got a sweater and a bunch of food. For breakfast I mostly just have eggs and toast or cereal. I’ve had French toast a couple times too. After Walmart we came back to the apartment and washed our clothes….by hand. I miss washing machines (not that I ever used one). But it was a fun experience. We went to FHE at the casa de familia lulu. We had a lesson on the Holy Ghost and ate rice milk and pan (bread). I LOVE the pan here!! It’s so good and cheap. Me and my comp go there a lot but are trying to lessen the amount of time we go!

Tuesday we had brown water... so for an hour and a half we went on the roof and cleaned out the water tank with a broom, it was supper dirty, there was mud at the bottom of the tank but we got it clean. Now we have like a green-brown water problem. It’s barely noticeable but it’s definitely there. A member in the ward told us it’s a dead animal... we have checked but that will be project after we go to Walmart again.

Wednesday was hard. The language was killing me. Luckily I have a really awesome trainer (he kind of reminds me of Ty Brown because he’s just so chill and really funny (be sure to tell the Brown family that). He told me that I need to enjoy being bad at the language and enjoy the beginning of the mission because I only serve this kind of mission once. So I focused my thoughts along those lines this week and it was much better. Throughout the week I’ve seen how I’ve received blessings though obedience and hard work. It’s a true principle!! I could go on and on with a list of ways the Lord has blessed me and watched over me just this week! I’m so grateful, and have been able to recognize his hand in these things.

Thursday we went to a city called Comalapa because my trainer is the district leader and needed to interview some people for baptism. We made the 2 hr. drive in a 15 seater van.... it was uncomfortable! Comalapa is literally 10 min from the Guatemala boarder and super hot but very beautiful! Like a really hot comitan.

OK, now I want to tell you some crazy awesome things about this week. I saw 2 dead dogs in the road. I had this drink from one of our investigators that is basically fermented corn with the texture of vomit... it tastes the way it sounds. Max warned me about it. It was bad! I saw a crazy drunk guy without pants do summersaults across the road while singing a song in Spanish. I ate more pan (bread) because it’s awesome! I ate vulture. I had this tea called tea limon. It’s an herbal tea that all the members drink and it’s the bomb! It tastes like fruit loops!!! I gave a blessing of health to a sick member in the ward. It was hard because I don’t speak Spanish but it was a fantastic experience. And finally.... were baptizing this young man named Marcos this coming week! He’s really funny and really wants to be baptized! I’ll be sure to send you all pictures of him and his family next week. He has a nephew that reminds me so much of Malcom! He’s super cute and hilarious. He tries to talk to me but his vocab is more advanced than mine so our conversations are mostly si and no!

I can’t wait for conference! There’s a lot of gringos in this area so they might play it in English in one of the rooms. I’m praying they do. I am so dang excited for general conference. Think about it, a prophet of God is talking to us along with the apostles! You all better take notes! ha

I love you all so much! Thanks for the letters and stories. I pray for you all every day! I miss you a ton!

Love ya

Elder Hunt