Bipolar week!

Bipolar week! Both in weather and in events. Hot as heck, then rainy as heck, good days bad days.

First of all... I’M NOT GETTING TRANSFERED!!!! So that’ll be another good month and a half in Comalapa!

So everything was greaton Monday. We went over to Marvin and Eva’s house and ate with them again (he fried up some slabs of meat on a broken washing machine. I wanted to take a picture but felt weird asking). We’re working hard with them but Eva has been a bit reluctant on getting married. Marvin wants to it so bad, he wants "to be good with God".

Wednesday the WHOLE ZONE came over to Comalapa for our zone meeting and then we all went out to visit some families and investigators! 2 of those investigators were Luis and Nancy (Rosa’s kids) and they were both interviewed for baptism and they both have a date for the 21st of November!!!! We’re so excited for them.

We also visited some less actives this week named Margot and her husband Hector. After talking with them for a while they talked about how much they miss church and how Hector was almost going to get baptized about 3 years ago!!!! So we invited him again and he said YES! He has all the church attendances necessary, he just needs to start coming again and we need to go over the lessons again.

We also me with a man named Giermo and wow... he’s AWEOSME! He’s an old guy that’s been listening to the Jehovah's Witnesses so he was really confused! But we taught him the restoration and he cried as he said the closing prayer. It was such a spirit filled lesson! He sadly couldn’t come to church but we’re going to work hard with him this next week and have a member drop by for him!

The really sad part about this week was that we found out that Rosa hasn’t been as faithful as we thought. She’s been making some very poor decisions and it’s been affecting her and her kids. It really broke my heart and it’s been a really rough couple of days. But please keep her in your hearts and prayers. She really needs them.

Sunday ended with a fantastic fast and testimony meeting. Everyone was crying. Marvin bore a powerful testimony as well as Gil (the man whose daughter passed away). It was just a very powerful and great Sunday. Thinking it was going to be my last in Comalapa, I too bore my testimony and kind of told everyone goodbye... ha! oops! That’s what I get for trying to read the Lords mind! We ended our Sunday by visiting Gil, Lucy and their family. They’re doing great and staying faithful and strong in the gospel.

Well family, I love and miss you all very much. You mean the world to me. I know the Church is true and that our Savior really did die for us. I know the church has been restored and we have the privilege of being a part of it. The mission is hard.... but it’s totally worth it!

Love ya!!!!!

Elder Hunt

Comitan and San Cristobal Stakes

Ok so I don’t have a lot of time but it was a fun week!

Rosa is doing ok. We stopped by her house a couple times this week (we try to go every day but she’s not home sometimes, even when we set appointments) but she’s really trying to do what’s right. She is so sincere in her desires and her example has started to change her children too. One of her older sons, Luis (elder Cabrera and I were teaching him), told us on Saturday that he wants so get baptized!!!! So if I don’t get transferred next week, I’ll be able to tell you all about his baptism next month!

We also were able to visit an investigator named Mayer. He’s a 17 year old kid who’s looking for the truth. He loved the plan of salvation and the story of Joseph Smith. He’s showing a lot of sincere desires as well and when we invited him to baptism and set a date he didn’t even hesitate and said yes.

Sunday we had our stake conference and it was really great!! And there was big news . . . . they are going to split the San Cristobal stake into 2 districts, Comitan and San Cristobal. So now the members will have half the responsibility and stress and double the blessings and leadership. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me! Now all the little branches like Comalapa that are forever far away from San Cristobal won’t have to travel so long.

But the best of all the news is that Eva and Marvin came to stake conference and they loved it! We took pictures of them afterward so you can see them in Dropbox. Anyway it was awesome. Seriously, they’re trying so hard to do the right thing. Now the only thing that’s left is marriage and then BOOM!... baptism! then BOOM!... temple marriage! I love the gospel and I love being a missionary!

I love and miss you all so much family! I hope everything goes well for you and that you had a great Halloween! And a special shout out to Malcom and Amber for their birthdays this week!!! I wish I could be there with you all! I’ll bring back some presents for you guys I promise... just wait for like 9 months and you’ll be able to see ‘em! ha

Love,

Elder Hunt

 

 

Prieshood power

It was definitely a different week . . . but it was incredible!

Monday Marvin and Eva invited us over to eat with them. We ate this really good shrimp soup. We talked about baptism and Eva is really opening up more to us. She still doesn’t have a definite answer but she feels like she should go through with baptism.

We went over with Rosa and there was a man in the house with her and her kids. I hate Satan. We asked her about it on Sunday and she told us he was someone from her past and he’s trying to get back with her. Luckily she knows the right thing to do and she’s been trying to get him to leave but he won’t and her kids are too nice to tell him to go away. So please pray for her. Sunday she really opened up to us and explained how hard the enemy is working on her. We’re going to be dropping by a lot this week to help her.

Tuesday is our meeting day in Comitan. We went there and got to hear from the new ward mission leader in Comitan. He presented us a plan he used when he was a missionary and it gave him a TON of success . . . something our zone hasn’t been having a lot of, so we decided to apply it.

Basically it is the subject of the letter: Using the Priesthood to its Potential, which encourages missionaries to give blessings to ALL the members and their families, and all the Investigators that are progressing the most, and to dedicate the zone and our individual areas.

To be honest when he first told us I was a little skeptical, because it’s something VERY different than what I’m used to, but we did it and wow, the spirit was so strong! The whole day we were asking members and investigators if they wanted blessings and invited people to baptism. That evening we met with the 2 ward mission leaders and the bishops from Comitan and went to a mountain and had a prayer together. After we all said amen and I opened my eyes and everything looked brighter. It was awesome!!!

Wednesday we got back to our area and immediately we started seeing blessings from Tuesday. We got like 3 referrals and had a ton of lessons that day. One of the families that we gave a blessing to was Brother Gilberto and his wife and it made a big difference. Their house wasn’t so gloomy after we left, but was brighter and happier. We also visited a bunch of less actives and some who have been members for years but never had had a blessing.

By Sunday Comalapa was not so much like Sodom and Gomorrah! It seriously feels different now. We had a ton of less actives come to church this past week, one of them being Nahin and his non-member wife! It was awesome seeing them there and they really enjoyed it. After church, we hiked a little hill and had a prayer together as the Comalapa branch priesthood holders. It was so great and now were ready to start seeing some more progress!

It’s been such a great week and such a spirit filled one too. Our investigators are starting to really complete their commitments and Comalapa really is a better place now. I know the priesthood is real power and authority from God. If we use it righteously, we will be able to bless the lives of others.

One important point about this exercise is when you offer to give a blessing it is an invitation and not an obligation.

I know the church is true. Life is hard, but if we do our part, we’ll be able to succeed.

Love ya all and miss ya tons!

Elder Hunt

Rainbow after the storm

It was a sad week over here.

Karina passed away. It was depressing and very surprising news. Everyone was sure things would have turned out well, but I guess the Lord knows best. She passed away on Friday morning but we didn’t know until that afternoon. But before I get into those details I’ll let you guys know what happened earlier on in the week.

Tuesday we went to Comitan and had interviews with President and it went really well. I always love talking with him. He’s the best! After the interviews, we headed back to Comalapa and like 10 minutes before we arrived, we got a call from president’s secretary, Elder Florez, he told us we had to go to Tuxtla that day for fingerprints for my Green Card. So we went home real quick, packed some clothes and headed back to Comitan to sleep with the Zone leaders. But on our way to Comitan, there was a blockade. Sometimes they do this in Mexico when they protest the government. They’ll put like a million heavy loader trucks in the middle of the road and hope the government caves into their demands. Luckily Chiapas is pretty chill and things don’t get to violent, if I was more north, things would be more dangerous. So don’t worry mom no one does anything too crazy in Chiapas. Anyway so the combi took us to the blockade and then let us out and we walked through it to the other side where there were other combis waiting for us to take us to Comitan. We spent the night with the zone leaders and then took a bus to Tuxtla. It was a long 2 days of traveling just for finger prints but it had to be done.

Friday was when we heard the news about Karina, so we went to the church to help our branch president set everything up for the funeral. It took a while but we had a ton of help from everyone, members and non-members. Karina’s body got there at about 10 pm. We had to be in our house at 9:00. so we helped them as much as we could and went home.

Saturday we had the funeral. The branch president asked me to talk so I shared my testimony about the gospel and how it ties families together even if families are separated by death and that this is all made possible by the atonement. After the funeral we took the body to the graveyard. It was really interesting because here they have a tradition (pretty sure it’s a catholic thing), they put the casket in the back of a pickup and then slowly walk behind it to the graveyard. So we all walked the body to the graveyard while one of the brothers slowly drove and we followed behind the truck.

I felt so bad for the family, new converts, their daughter was investigating but hadn’t been baptized. We prayed and fasted, but the Lord had different plans. Prayers and fasting cannot change the will of the Lord. It was a very hard thing for the family to go through, but they are humble and seem to accept the will of the Lord. They never blamed God for anything, but as Gilberto, their father said, "When the doctors told me she passed away, I couldn’t believe them. Once it hit me what had happened, the only thing I could do was offer a prayer and say thank you Lord for giving me 23 amazing years with my beautiful daughter".

They all came to church on Sunday and there was a very special spirit present in the meeting. There were a lot of people there too. 40! That’s a record! We haven’t hit that number for about a year!

Family, I know the church is true. I’m so thankful that I was born into it and blessed with the kind of family I have. I know I have a year left in the field and I think of you often and am so happy that we get to spend all of eternity together. I know that even though we have to pass many storms here in life, that there is always a rainbow afterward. We have the assurance that the gospel unites families forever.

Love you all and miss you very much!

Elder Hunt

PS: Happy late birthday to the best twin brother and sister ever!!!

Surprise baptism

Family,

What an amazing week. Our Heavenly Father is one absolutely incredible being. I don’t understand at ALL how he does what He does.... but he does it. Based on time I’d like to focus on the baptism that we experienced and not talk about all the other things that happened this week. I’ll just say that Isis, Eva, and Lorena came to church!!! it was aweosme!!!!!

Ok, so we had exchanges with the zone leaders and I was with Elder Martinez (he was in my district when I was in Tapachula). So everything was awesome. We were working hard and working good, and then on Saturday morning we got a call from Elder Spence he said they just got a call from a brother in our ward and he just told us that Mayra wants to get baptized. . .

Ok, rewind a bit, I’ll tell you Myra and her family's story. Lucy, the mother of this family was super catholic, but because the church is true, got baptized and then was closely followed by her husband, though he fought with beer and cigarettes for months before he finally got baptized. Anyway they’ve been faithful members ever since he was baptized in November. Their son got baptized too, but went inactive shortly after. Gil (the father) and Lucy have 2 daughters, Karina and Mayra, who go to church, read their scriptures (when I say read I mean study, and highlight and cross reference), say their prayers, and attend all other activities in the church, but they have never been baptized. We as missionaries and the ward leaders have talked to them several times but they always refuse.

Last Sunday Karina got really, really sick and they had to take her to the hospital in Comitan. Then the doctor gave her some medicine and her body rejected it, which caused her skin to start burning and dying. She was put in a medically induced coma and has been in one since Thursday. We talked to the Z.L.s who live in Comitan, and they worked out a schedule with the members in the ward to bring breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the family and to visit the family and encourage them while they were in the hospital there. Sunday was Fast Sunday and both our branch and the ward in Comitan were fasting and praying for the family. The Lord works in mysterious ways and after waiting and waiting for these 2 girls to accept baptism, He sped up the process. Karina and Mayra both promised each other they were going to get baptized after Karina got out of the hospital, but after Karina was put into a coma, Mayra felt she needed to get baptized that Saturday.

. . . . now were back to the phone call with Elder Spence . . . . so we were ALL very surprised and so Elder Martinez and I dropped our stuff and took off to Comitan. It was a crazy day making programs and making phone calls but the baptism turned out great. There was a lot of member support from Comitan and Mayra was very happy once she left the water. Even though she was worried about her sister, she was at peace.

I know the Lord works in mysterious ways and it was incredible to see his hand in this. Even though it’s been hard on the family, they’re closer to each other and closer to their Father in Heaven because of it.

Love you all so much!! The church is true!!!

Love,

Elder Hunt

Rosa's baptism...BEST WEEK EVER!

My dearest family,

 

This was the best week EVER! I just want to skip right to the baptism but I’ll save that for the end.

So last Monday, we went to Rosa’s house to teach her and to ask the big question . . . Who do you want to baptize you? So after the lesson we asked her and she asked me to do it. I really thought she might ask Elder Ramos because my companion is so awesome and it honestly didn’t matter a whole lot to me. Of course I was honored that she asked me but my focus wasn’t on who was going to baptize her, it was just getting her baptized so she could make that wonderful covenant with our Heavenly Father.

We went to visit Jose and Isis this week and talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon. We taught that the ONLY way they can know if our message is true it by reading and praying about the book of Mormon. Isis was pretty excited for it, but Jose was a little reluctant. We think he’s just kind of going with the flow to make his wife happy, but we’re working on him.

Thursday we went to visit Lorena and read with her from the Book of Mormon. She loves reading it and loves talking with us, but doesn’t understand everything. So were helping her with that by reading with her.

Friday we finally contacted a less active member named Margot. We dropped by several times recently, but she’s never been home... FINALLY we got to talk with her and her non-member husband. It was great! They were so excited to see us. They were showing us all their trees and fruit and telling us about all their problems... they really want help and my companion and I were thankful that they trusted us enough to tell us about their life.

Finally Saturday came. At8:00 in the morning we went across the street to the church to fill up the baptismal font. It was the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard. After we got everything set up for General Conference and the baptism, we called and texted everyone we could think of to come and attend conference. We went over to one part member and less active family named Marvin and Eva (I think I told you guys about them a while back) we invited them to conference and they were so excited!

Conference was a great success, not only were there amazing talks given and not only was it incredible to see 3 new apostles called, but we were able to have 6 investigators come to church and 3 less active families! For our little branch that was exciting! Then came the baptism. The Spirit was so strong. We didn’t have a ton of members attend, but everyone was so happy. After pictures and the opening program, we had the baptismal ordinance. I entered the water first and then Rosa followed after me. She couldn’t hold back the tears. When she came out you could just feel the cleanliness. She just stood there in the water crying and saying "thank you God, thank you." After we changed clothes and ended the baptismal service I asked her "Rosa, how do you feel?" she said "Magnifica!!!! Siento Magnifica y limpia" (magnificent and clean). And you could see it on her face. She was smiling ear to ear! And so was elder Ramos and I.

Family, the church is true. There is no other way to salvation but by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s how it’s always been and how it will always be. I know God answers prayers . . . even though it took a year of praying and fasting, I know that a year’s wait was the best timing that God had planned for me. I love you and miss you all tons! Thanks for the letters and prayers!

Love,

 

Elder Hunt

Pre baptism week #2

OK... Rosa is going to get baptized THISWeekend! President came down on Thursday and interviewed her and told us October 3rd! We’re very excited and she is very ready for her baptism! After the interview, President George took us out for tacos. So let’s just say Thursday was a great day. We’ve been working a lot with Rosa and she’s really moving along great! We have just about all the lessons completed and now it’s just words of encouragement to keep her motivated for her baptism. It’s incredible to see the blessings of the gospel coming into the lives of others. Just to know that her past life will be not just forgotten but exchanged for another perfect NEW one is so great to see. Please pray for her so that she can make this covenant with our Father in Heaven this weekend. Satan is going to be working hard on her, but our prayers and faith are stronger than him.

Lorena is loving the Book of Mormon and reading it every day. It’s hard for her to come to church because she lives so far away. We talk to her at her work, but we're praying that this weekend will be easier for her since it is general conference.

We found a new family this week; Jose and Isis from Honduras. They’re awesome! When we taught the Restoration to them the spirit was so strong! It was incredible. They understand the Restoration really well and are willing to pray to know if it’s true. We know the Lord will answer their prayers.

We taught some English classes this week too. It was ok I guess. I have no idea how to teach English but we tried it out. We’re thinking about maybe doing an advanced group and a beginners group because there were people who came who know no English at all and others who already know a bit and want to get better. My comp is real good at English so that’s probably what we’re going to try this next week.

Well family, I’m out of time, but I love and miss you all so, so, so much and I’m loving the letters and pictures I’m getting, keep ‘em coming! Sorry this was a short letter. I know next week will be a LOT more eventful! you’re the best!

Love,

Elder Hunt

Pre baptism week

WE'RE SO PUMPED!

Rosa is going to be baptized this Saturday! We and she are so excited . . . . and nervous. We had a lesson with her this week and she revealed to us some information that will require her to have an interview with President George. He’s 75% sure he can come down this week but not completely sure, so we're praying a lot and we fasted this week. We know that if it’s the Lord’s will, it will be done. She is doing fantastic. She’s coming to church and really progressing well. She’s so ready for her baptism.

This week it also rained A LOT! and it’s still raining, which totally stinks because all the clothes that I washed today are still going to be soaked for like 4 days! but I’m thankful for the cool!

This week we found a less active member named Marvin. He’s about 30 and has a little boy. He loves the church but hasn’t attended for like 15 years. He wants to go back so bad but the“natural man” inside won’t let him. We had a great lesson with him and at the end sang, Abide With Me Tis Eventide. He was crying and kept saying "thank you, thank you". It felt good to find him and help him and show his wife that the Mormons aren’t all that crazy (she’s Baptist and has a lot of ideas about us).

We met with Josue and it went pretty good. He loves listening to us, but I don’t think he really understands what we do as missionaries. I think he’s looking more for an inspirational message, not a life change. We’ll still work with him and pray that he’ll be able to see the importance of what we do.

This week we’ve also been working with a new lady named Lora. She sells furniture and is about 40 years old. She’s a little round lady with a big smile. She loves the message of the Restoration and loves reading, so the Book of Mormon is a pretty nice thing for her! We’ll be stopping by to see her tomorrow to see how she’s doing on the reading, I’m sure she’ll be great.

So that was this week and next week is shaping up to be awesome! We’re so excited and can’t wait to see the hand of the Lord in this work.

Love and miss you all tons! Can’t wait to hear about your lives every week!

Love ya!

 

Elder Hunt

Good week and random week

It was a good week and very random. So, remember my toenail . . . . it got ingrown again so we went to the doctor and he numbed the sucker and took out the ingrown piece. It was quite painful but I’m ok!!! So after that experience on Tuesday we were in the house for a couple of days on doctor’s orders and couldn’t work at all. It was a bummer but now I’m totally ok. So mom don’t worry! My toe is totally enjoying being in a shoe comfortably now. I repeat. I’m OK!!!!!

So here is what happened this week . . . .

We worked with Rosa to get her ready for her baptism in two weeks. She accepted the word of wisdom easily and basically is already livings it, so that was great.

We met a guy names Josue. HES AWESOME! We contacted him yesterday and he told us "yeah, you guys can definitely stop by my house. I don’t know why, but you guys seem different. I feel peace when you guys talk to me." So we’re totally visiting him this week!

We helped a less active member get excited to come back to church. Her name is Blanca. She’s gone through some rough things recently but is ready to come back into the gospel.

Sunday was the best day this week. We went to San Cristobal for the temple dedication of the Mexico City temple. It was an incredible experience! So amazing! Pres. Eyring and Elder Holland spoke. Their words and testimonies were inspiring, especially when Elder Holland bore his testimony in Spanish. I’m pretty sure everyone there was crying. It was so awesome! It made me really excited to go to the temple. I’m hoping after I finish here in Comalapa, that I’ll be able to serve some time in Tuxtla so I can go to the temple there.

Sorry, that’s all the time I have for today because we went to some lakes called Los Lagos de Colon. And no, it has nothing to do with the body part! Ha! Anyway it was very beautiful and so fun. We went with the zone leaders and some members from Comitan. There was a pyramid there too and I’ll be sure to send all the pictures next week.

Love and miss you all tons. Thanks for the letters!

Love ya.

Elder Hunt

More adventures

It was an adventurous week . . . ish

So Wednesday we had ANOTHER meeting with President George but this time in Comitan (not complaining. I love it when President comes). It lasted from 10:00AM until around 3:00PM and it was fantastic. He said so many things and shared so many experiences, it was so great. He really focused on keeping the Sabbath day holy. Recently the church has really pushed for having the members better keep the Sabbath day holy, it is especially a problem here in the mission, so we talked about how important it is to sanctify the Sabbath day. As I look back on the years before my mission I think I could have done a better job at keeping the Sabbath day! Anyway it was a great conference and we’ll be applying what we learned in our area here!

Thursday was interesting. We went to Ana’s and as we were teaching her, her dad came . . . . wow! The first thing he said was "Who invited you here?!" We were like "uhhh we were just giving your daughter a message." then he was like "DONT YOU RESPECT THIS CROSS!!! (pointing to a cross painted on their house). “In Mathew . . . . blah, blah, blah, . . . it says . . . .blah, blah, blah!" We were kind of stunned and so was Ana Isabel. We told Ana we’d stop by on another day and then left. It was an experience that was really annoying and it kind of ticks me off that Satan can be such a pain in the behind sometimes. She’s going to get baptized anyway, even if it takes a couple months to do it.

Then on Friday we got a call from the Finance Secretary and he told us we had to go to Tuxtla, that day, to renew my green card. The problem was there is some strike going on with the workers between here and Comitan. So we had to take the highway down to Motozintla, then to Huixtla, then to Tapachula, and then on to Tuxlta. You can map it out if you want to but let’s just say that because of the strike going on our trip was 12 hours instead of 5! We had an adventure day on Friday and got into Tuxtla at 1:00 in the morning!

Saturday after we got everything worked out with my green card we got home around 6:00, just in time to have a family home evening with Rosa and her kids and a family in the branch. It went pretty well. Rosa and her sons came to church on Sunday and sacrament meeting went really great.

Overall it was a little harder week and we didn’t have much time to work with our investigators, but this week we are definitely ready to put in some good time, find some new investigators and get these investigators that we have progressing.

I love you all very much and miss you tons. Thanks so much for the support and the letters and prayers.

Love

Elder Hunt

PS: a drunk guy kissed my companion on the neck yesterday! It was funny!!! Ha ha ha!

Another miracle week!

Holy smokes!!!! this week was AWESOME!!!!!!

Ok, so .... so many prayers and fasting was answered this week and were so excited!!!

I’ll start off with our meeting in Tuxtla... IT WAS GREAT!!! I got to see so many friends from the MTC and it was just terrific to be with them all and the other elders I’ve got to know! We ate pizza, told our weird mission stories to each other, it was the best! The meeting with president was awesome! He and the assistants talked about so many things! Basically this was the gist of it all:

1. If they’re not ready or don’t want to be baptized, DONT BAPTISE THEM! (ya don’t say)

2. Why pray if you don’t have faith.

3. Inspired questions invite the spirit.

4. If you ever have problems with your companion, just remember he has a loving family too, and he’s making a sacrifice too.

The meeting was a lot better than the way I just described it, but there was so much that happened it’s difficult to explain.

When we got back, the miracles started to happen ….

Wednesday night we went to visit Milton’s mom, Rosa. She’s the one who was in the hospital last week and we gave her a blessing. We went to her sister’s home to see how she was doing and as we got talking she said, "elders, while I was in the hospital I had a lot of down time, I was able to read the pamphlets you gave my kids and I also read some of the Book of Mormon. I was able to also do what it says, pray and ask God. when I prayed, I had a very strong peaceful feeling wash over me and it was almost like I heard God say, this is the correct path... elders I know this is the path I should take." We were almost speechless! We committed her to baptism and we have a date for the 26th of September, but were going to try to get her baptized sooner, she’s already been to church 3 times! so we COULD do it in 2 weeks, but we’ll see what happens, she came to church this Sunday and was as happy as could be!

The other miracle was Ana Isabel. Remember her? Elder Cabrera and I found her a month ago or so. We had a great lesson with her but every time we stopped by we could never seem to find her in her house. And every time we called her she never answered. Well, one day we were planning on who to visit and she came to mind, so we put her down and went to visit her. When she saw us she was like "where have you guys been?!?!?!" so we apologized and told her we could never find her at home but we taught her the first lesson and it went REALLY well. She said yes to baptism and also came to church this week!!!! When she left church, she said "I absolutely loved it, I’ll see you guys next week! She has a baptismal date for the 3rd of October.

Lastly Augusto. he’s been kind of a pain lately and has been really hard-hearted about the Book of Mormon. We share scriptures from the bible and the Book of Mormon and he still doesn’t accept it. But this week we brought a member to his house, his name is Hugo, he is a counselor in the branch presidency, and he really seemed to soften him up with his testimony about the Book of Mormon, it was a great lesson. Augusto didn’t come to church, he wants to do more "studying" first, but it was still great.

Anyway, it was a fantastic week. All in all, we have 2 sure people getting baptized this transfer and we doubled the attendance in church this week so were pretty happy... it has been a week full of seeing the prayers and fasting answered. I love being a missionary. The church is true, God loves and prepares his children! Love and miss ya all a ton!

Elder Hunt

ps. SHOUT OUT to my nephew Sam!....I know it’s a little rough right now but can’t wait to meet you in a year!

Elder Ramos

OK, right now I’m in a crappy cyber cafe writing on a computer that still has Windows 2000, and about to leave to Tuxtla for a meeting with all the DLs and ZLs in the mission. We’re leaving in a little bit so sadly I’ll have to make this email quick.

First of all my companion is AWESOME!!!!! his name is Elder Ramos and he’s from Tijuana and speaks 50 or 60 percent English. He’s a super funny guy and we’ve been getting along great! And for a greenie he teaches with the spirit so well. For example, one of the first things that happened when we got back from picking him up in Tuxtla was to contact a family that Marina told us that we should visit! They are the Perez family. The member of the family who’s most interested in our message is the dad, his name is Agusto. The lesson we taught was one of the worst organized lessons I’ve participated in yet it was one of the strongest where the Spirit was there. The rain slamming on their tin roof couldn’t drive away the peace that was felt during the lesson. It was awesome! And a lot of it was due to my greenie companion. Also, 3 times this week people have told us that we look like angels . . . awesome random thought.

We helped a lady in the ward move her house . . . literally . . . . we tore the roof off and took the kitchen apart and took the pieces of her house to another piece of land they had. We really enjoyed helping them.

Finally, I want to tell you about Carlos. We found him yesterday and he loves to talk! He’s a carpenter and talked so much that we couldn’t get too much in. While we were teaching him about the restoration, his wife peeked her head around the corner and said something to the fact of "this is interesting; can I listen in on you guys?" HECK YES YOU CAN! We’ll be seeing them again this next week.

Anyway it was so nice to work with my new companion and to be able to teach him what I have learned. He is a very teachable elder, I know were going to do great things this transfer!

Thanks for the letters. Love and miss you all so much!!!

Elder Hunt

Chiflon and Teaching with the Spirit

This week was great and hard and I learned a few of lessons.

I’ll just talk about the two main points in the subject line.

Chiflón

We went to a waterfall called Chiflón this week and it was so awesome!!!! It was a multi-zone activity and wow. . . . absolutely beautiful! We started at the bottom of the river and walked about 1.25 kilometers to the top where we saw the waterfall. It was so cool and we had a blast. It was so fun to see some old friends and companions too! After the waterfall we ate some delicious pizza and then went back to Comalapa!

Teaching with the Spirit.

I learned a very important lesson this week, in a hard and humbling way. I’ve been praying a lot for the Spirit this week and to recognize how to teach with the Spirit. I don’t know why, but sometimes, I feel like we don’t have it so much. Elder Cabrera is a great guy but sometimes we have disagreements and that effects everything we do. So Friday we had a disagreement and it turned into a little argument. It ended quickly but with 2 angry elders . . . . and thus we see that the Prophet Joseph Smith really was a prophet because he said " if a man has not the spirit he shall not teach". . . . and we didn’t. All of our lessons fell through and no one would listen to us. As we ended our day, we both apologized and repented.On Sunday after we took the sacrament I felt a lot better. We went with Marina and had a fantastic lesson with her. She opened up to us much more than usual, and talked about how hard it is with her husband because he’s never home but that she wants to get baptized. We testified that God would help her and then it hit me . . . . I remembered what I had prayed for and I had received my answer. We didn’t have the Spirit for a day and it was a disaster but now we had it again and I was able to really recognize the difference like never before and it just felt great! I know that the Spirit is a guide for us and that he’s always there, we just have to prepare ourselves and listen for it!

One other thing . . . . transfers came this week and I’M TRAINING AGAIN!!!! I’m super excited and ready for another opportunity to have a "hijo" (son) ha.

Love and miss you all tons and I’m so thankful for your letters. Keep being an incredible family!!

Love,

Elder Hunt

 

Little Miracles

Hey family it was a pretty great week down here.

We were in Comitan for Monday and Tuesday with the zone leaders. It was pretty nice, super fun, but it was nice to get back to our area and start working again.

We went over to 3 Maravillas again to see if we could find Francisco but he wasn’t there. Luckily his wife was, so we got talking with her and it sounds like they’re all in the same boat, trying to find God but not knowing exactly how to do it. We talked about what we do as missionaries and that the message we share is exactly what she and her husband are looking for. She didn’t have a ton of time to listen to us so we couldn’t teach the restoration.

Milton’s mom, Rosa, was never at home whenever we stopped by so we couldn’t ever teach her this week. We’re going over there today so pray that she’s there!!

Our Miracle Day was Friday. We went to the bank to deposit our rent and while we were there a guy kept looking at us. He finally came up to us and talked to us. He said he’s from a city about an hour away. His whole family is baptized except his daughter and he wants us to visit them so we can baptized his daughter!!!!! It was awesome, not coincidence. We were in the right place at the right time. We then went to 3 Maravillas, Francisco wasn’t there AGAIN, but we decided to share a message with the family. They told us that Francisco had just left and wasn’t going to be home for another hour, 5 min later Francisco shows up. Why he came back I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure that the Lord had something to do with it. As we ended the lesson, he told us " thanks for being so concerned for us and trying to help us accept God in our lives" it was a great experience. Sadly, my companion was not feeling well afterward so after lunch we went home. The next morning . . . . BOOM! My companion had chingunkuya. I felt so bad for him, he was dying and there were several times I could tell the poor guy just wanted to cry. He had a super bad fever, head ache. muscle and joint pain and was throwing up. So that’s how was spent Saturday and some of the day Sunday. But he’s doing much better now so were going to see if we can work today.

Sorry for the short letter but that’s a quick summary of our week. If you guys can help us please pray that Rosa and Francisco and our other investigators can accept a baptismal date and go to church. You guys are the best and I love ya all tons!!!

Love,

Elder Hunt

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA!!!! LOVE AND MISS YOU TONS!

3 Maravillas

First of all, HUGE shout out to the best dad ever for his birthday and also, LaRea and Lincoln . . . . have fun at school!

Week 4 in Comalapa was awesome and crazy! Right now I’m in Comitan because I have a doctor’s appointment for an ingrown toenail (I’ve been walking around in flip flops for 3 days with no socks . . . . doctors’ orders) but we enjoyed our P day by walking around and buying stuff from Chiapas and taking pictures. Anyway . . . .

This week we went to a little community called 3 Maravillas. It’s about 10 min outside of Comalapa and it was great to talk to the people over there. None of them have ever seen missionaries (let alone a 6 foot gringo) and so they were interested to hear us. Our biggest success over there was a man named Fransisco. He’s about 30 years old, hasn’t gone to church in forever and wanted to know how to come closer to God. So we talked about the restoration and taught that partaking of covenants like baptism by someone who has authority from God is how we can come closer to God. It went well. The Spirit was strong and he said yes to baptism and we set up another appointment with him. Unfortunately, we were unable to see him again this week because we had exchanges with the Zone leaders, but Wednesday well be sure to go over there again and probably be visiting 3 Maravillas more often.

We also found another new investigator. Rosa, the mother of the recent convert named Milton. I thought she had probably listened to the missionaries who had taught Milton, but one day she sat in on the lesson with Milton and Nancy and she wanted to know more. She said yes to baptism and we’ll be working a lot with her over these next couple weeks.

I went to Comitan this week for the exchanges and guess what . . . . It’s the same ward that I started my mission in!!!!!!!!!!! It was so awesome to talk to some of the members and I was surprised to find out that many still know me! I was with Elder Reyes and wow he’s a hard worker! It was so fun! We were talking with everyone and teaching everyone we could! One investigator we stopped by has been listening to the missionaries for 3 years and for some reason hasn’t ever accepted baptism. So we got talking with her and we had a great Spirit filled lesson and I don’t know how nor do I have the time to explain, but she said yes to baptism!!!!!! Shows just what the Spirit can do! It was so great to work with Elder Reyes and to work with the spirit even though it wasn’t my area. We celebrated our successful day with tacos.

So those were the highlights of the week. Sadly, none of our other investigators came to church, other than Milton’s mom (WOOHOO) but it was a good and busy week and fun to work! I love being a missionary even though it’s hard as heck. Love and miss you all tons!

Love,

Elder Hunt