A COLD week!

It was cold in a lot of aspects. First of all, it was cold; like in the temperature. I ACTUALLY HAD TO SLEEP WITH THE COVERS ON! Second it was cold because Adolfo got really sick. He couldn’t come to church on Sunday so we’re going to have to change his baptismal date. We don’t know when we’re going to end up doing it because Adolfo wants Brother Sanchez to baptize him and the NEXT Saturday brother Sanchez is going to be in Tapachula for one of his Church callings. So it might be the next NEXT week. But Adolfo is amazing. Tuesday after verifying the law of chastity and the word of wisdom (10/10 in both) he said the closing prayer and it was the best prayer I’ve ever heard. He speaks as if he’s speaking to someone sitting next to him! He prays like an innocent child. In his prayer he even prayed for his enemies!!! He said in effect, "and God, please bless my enemies. I know you want me to pray for them so I’ll do it. I don’t know if I have any enemies, but if I do, it’s probably because I did something dumb. So please bless them". I love that man!

Tuesday we also had exchanges with the zone leaders again and I went with elder Crowley from Virginia. He’s such a great guy, always happy. We worked our buns off on Tuesday and were able to teach Carmen about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a good and simple lesson. They said yes to baptism again and we set a date, but they didn’t come to church so it fell through.

Wednesday we had a great worldwide missionary conference! Several apostles spoke and it was a great edifying meeting. They talked about many things but one that I really liked was about the Spirit. Elder Bednar said that we can’t jam the spirit into people. We have to teach in a way that they can feel it.

Thursday we had another conference with an Area Seventy and it was incredible! His name is Elder Toris and the man is a fireball! It was so great to see the revelation not only being received by him but also by us as he spoke. He taught us about focusing on the members and working with them, they’re the secret to baptizing every week!

Saturday was crazy. José and Maria were moving. It was a last minute thing and so we and the other Elders helped them out. They’re going to be moving to the other elder’s area; sad, but it’s all good because it’s still the same ward!

Sunday no one came to church and it was really frustrating to be honest, but I know this is going to be a much better week. We’re going to be looking for some new investigators and we have a new ward mission leader . . . . BROTHER SANCHEZ!!!!!!!!! The work is going to explode with a former temple and stake president, bishop, and Area Seventy as our ward mission leader!

So that’s how the cookie crumbles here in Tuxtla on cold weeks. Next week is going to be even colder, temperature wise, but were going to heat things up a bit.

Love and miss ya all a ton!

Elder Hunt

Another great week in Tuxtla!

Hey family! My toe is great! Thanks it actually looks like a toe now! This week was a pretty great week.

Adolfo got sick on Sunday so he couldn’t come to church. I still think he’ll be able to keep his baptismal date for a couple reasons, one, he’s got cancer and he’s old, two he is a BOSS! We went over to visit him Sunday to see how he’s doing and guess what . . . knowing he wasn’t going to be able to make it to church, he had read the corresponding chapters in the Gospel Principles and Teaching of the Presidents of the Church manuals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is so awesome!!!! He is having a hard time with coffee though, so please have that in your prayers, if he can’t overcome that he is not going to be able to be baptized!

Carmen and her kids Jorge and Angela are doing great too. Carmen really opened up to us and talked about her life story and wow, it is sad and super dramatic. It could be a movie, though it would have to be rated R. She cried as she opened up to us. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and the Doctrine of Christ and how baptism cleanses us of our past sins and how we can be comforted. We invited her and her 2 children to be baptized and they all said yes!!! We set a date for the 27th of February! Only Jorge could come to church but their date still stands.

José Luis and his wife Maria were hard to find this week but their kids came to our new English classes!!!!!! We’re going to be visiting them today and set a baptismal date with them too.

Saturday we had an 8 year old baptism! Her mom is a member so it’s not a convert baptism but it was still a great experience.

Sunday we had ward choir practice because were having ward conference on the 31st and guess who the pianist is . . . . yeah, me! And I just want to make it official that I totally regret not continuing with lessons and not practicing hymns on Sundays, because I am finding out I really cannot play well at all. I’m sorry mom for not practicing! YOU WERE RIGHT! So, Lincoln, practice your hymns because when you get your call to Argentina, those people are going to be counting on us greengos to play the piano for them!

It was a good week and a really fast one at that. I’m ready to keep working hard, these last 6 months are my chance to shine! I love the gospel and love the church!

Elder Hunt

 

Temple work and Pedicures

The awesomeness and the weirdness of the week matches the title . . . .

We found a family of 6! They’re really awesome and LOVE listening to us! We kicked it off really well with them when we contacted them in the park the week before. Within a couple minutes we were already laughing, and they easily gave us their address and we went over on Monday. The mom and dad are Maria and José Luis. They have 5 kids and 4 of them are baptism age! Were super excited to teach them. We’ve only been able to talk to them a bit about the restoration but haven’t finished it. They’re so great though.

Wednesday we saw Galaor and taught him about obedience and the word of wisdom. He’s a great kid and so willing to follow! But he can’t find time for church. We’re going to start including some of the priests in the ward to help us teach him. We finished the plan of salvation with Adolfo! He’s such a great guy! He tells us "thank you" like 400 times in every lesson! He even went to visit the temple with brother Sanchez (there’s a little room that’s inside the temple but a part of the temple that nonmembers can enter. There they can read scriptures and watch church movies and stuff. It’s pretty great)! Adolfo loved it and already wants to go to the temple and do family history work! I love the guy! He came to church with us on Sunday and like usual, loved it.

Friday, I got my ingrown toenail taken out. The doctor who did it in Comitan didn’t do a great job and so I’ve been suffering for about 4 months now, and now that I’m in civilization, I can have a foot doctor do it. So we went to the mall Friday afternoon to a place called "todo para sus pies" or translated, "all for your feet." You can probably imagine the look on everyone’s faces when two Mormon missionaries went inside and some American asks for a pedicure.

Anyway, I sat in the chair and took off my sock and when the lady saw how nasty my toe was, she was like, “do you want me to work on just the toe, or do you want me to do the whole foot?" I said just the ingrown toenail, but then she’s said "I’m going to charge you full price either way" so I was like, "ok, then all my toes please." So I got a pedicure! It was so weird and so awesome! I feel so much better!

Due to the fact that my infected toe was healing, we couldn’t go out and work but we did however get permission to go to the temple! It was incredible! I hadn’t gone for about a year and it felt so good to go through all over again!

I’m loving the mission! It’s hard and fun.There are disappointments and excitements. It really is the best 2 years.

 

Love, Elder Hunt

Feliz ano nuevo!!!

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!!!!!

It was a fun week! Adolfo is doing fantastic! He came to church and he keeps inviting people to his baptism! I love it.

We found a new family this week. Amauri and his wife Samantha. They have 3 kids, 11, 6 and 5 years old. They’ve recently moved from Mexico City and are trying to find a church to join. I think I told you a little bit about them in the last letter. He came up to us in the street and set up an appointment with us. Now we're actually teaching them. They’re both great, but Amauri has a TON of doubts, especially about the Book of Mormon, no matter what we say about it or how we explain it, he won’t accept it. Thankfully his wife has a softer heart and is a lot more willing to read. But yeah, it’s a little disappointing.

Yesterday we were walking by and stopped to visit them and they ended up making us dinner! They’re an awesome family, but its sad cause Amauri has such a hard heart. We have another lesson with them today at 7:00.

Galaor is great . . . but didn’t come to church again. He said he wants to be baptized but isn’t doing a lot on his part. Hopefully he comes next week.

I’m really sorry that this is such a lame letter and a short one at that. It’s hard to write everyone and tell about everything in such little time!

Sure do love and miss you all tons! Thanks for your letters and prayers!

 

Love,

Elder Hunt

Christmas in Tuxtla

What a fantastic week!

It all started with Domino’s Pizza and Walmart on my first p-day in Tuxtla!

Tuesday was awesome! The zone leaders called us and asked us to go on exchanges with them from 11:00-5:00. Wow. Those guys know how to work. I went with Elder Garcia and we were contacting and teaching like crazy! It was so much fun!

After we ended our exchanges, we went back to our area and some old guy told us he wanted to talk to us. When we sat down with him in front of his house he introduced himself to us. I don’t know how to say it in English but he is really famous in the Catholic Church who travels the world to do catholic things. From the way he explained it, I think his assignment in the Catholic Church is like a member of the Seventy in ours. Anyway he told us "I just want to talk to you guys because I love what you do". . . . ha! Lol! All the guy really wanted to do was to bash with us. We kept our cool; one thing I’ve learned as a missionary is to not contend with people, however if they need to be corrected it’s my duty to do it. So I corrected him. I told him we believe that we have priesthood authority, and that they don’t, and we are able to do sacred ordinances like baptisms and giving the gift of the Holy Ghost because that priesthood authority was restored, and we haven’t changed any priesthood ordinances like baptism and confirmation, like the Catholic Church has, and then he rebuked us. Ha! but it was funny because he doesn’t have any authority. So when he’s said “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ" I just smiled and bore my testimony of the truthfulness of the Church. It was kind of sad really to see someone so important in one of the largest religions in the world, yet so powerless.

So that was fun!

Wednesday we met with Adulfo and wow that guy is incredible. He told us that he said goodbye to all his virgins and saints and idols because he found the true church. He’s blazing through the Book of Mormon. I’m pretty sure he’s in 2 Nephi already!

Thursday (Christmas Eve) was a bit hard. No one was home! But it gave me a lot of time to think about the savior and his birth and some similarities to his situation and ours. When Christ was born the only ones who were invited were a couple of lowly shepherds. No one else in and around Bethlehem knew the babe who would be their savior had been born. They were too busy just going about paying their taxes and doing their things. They didn’t even care. As my companion and I walked and walked and walked, I got thinking about that. We were going around trying to share the most important message ever and really no one cared. I got to feel a bit of what maybe Joseph and Mary were feeling, they went through a lot to bring the most important person into this world, but no one paid a lot of attention . . . . It was a great Christmas Eve, we ate some dinner with a family and then we broke a piñata!

Christmas Day was great because I got to talk to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss you all tons. I’m happy that you all had a great Christmas!

Sunday was great too! Adolfo came to church and absolutely loved it. He told the elders quorum president to announce his baptismal date (30th of January) we took some pictures with him after church too! (He’s the one closest to my companion. the one without the suit)

It was a great week. I love being a missionary and love and miss you all tons!

Love,

Elder Hunt

 

 

Tuxtla Grijalva Aguilas 2 !!!!!

That’s my zone and area and it’s AWESOME!

Wow! So much to say and so little time but basically this is what happened this week . . . .

Mon. and Tues. I said goodbye to everyone in Comalapa. It was a bit hard (but I didn’t cry). I’m going to miss it so much. It was a bit hard to adjust the first couple of days but I’m all good now. Tuesday we left Comalapa and got to Tuxtla about two ish. My companion is ELDER PEREZZ! He’s from the Distrito Federal (it’s like D.C. for Mexico) and he’s awesome. He was actually elder Ramos’ companion in the MTC.

One Wednesday we ate at the house of the past temple president of the Tuxtla Temple. WOW! What and awesome man. His name is Enrique Sanchez. Seriously, he has met basically every apostle and has had dinner with them. He speaks perfect English and his son is in an “I’m a Mormon” video! Afterward one of his life-long friends came over to hear the restoration. His name is Adulfo and he has cancer. He doesn’t have much time to live but when we gave him the Book of Mormon, he held it close to his heart and said thank you like 1000 times! We invited him to baptism and not only did he say yes, but he said "I want my friend Enrique Sanchez to Baptize me". IT WAS AWEOSME!

Thursday there was a pretty big earthquake. My companion was on the pot and the house started to jump up and down. I honestly didn’t know what to do, but he shot out of the bathroom and flew out the front door! There wasn’t too much damage, just some broken windows here and there in Tuxtla.

Saturday was great. We taught a teenager named Galaor (sounds like a Lord of the Rings name) about the plan of salvation and HE CAME TO CHURCH WITH US ON SUNDAY! He is such a great kid and loved the church. We had a Christmas activity that night as well. We watched some videos about Christ and then had some dinner. Oh yeah, there are also two other missionaries in our ward, Elder Rosas and Elder Russell. So our ward is doing great.

Sunday we left a bit early for church so we could pick up our investigators and saw a woman on the street. We talked to her because she looked super sad. She expressed her hatred toward God, though it was in a somewhat respectful way toward us. She has passed through some really hard times and has put the blame on God. We were able to share some scriptures and it helped a bit but she really didn’t calm down until we shared out testimonies then she thanked us for our time and said she would like to talk to us another day. She didn’t give us her direccion but she did tell us to talk to one of her friends who is a member in order to contact her.

Once we got to church I just about died . . . . it was so big! And guess what . . . THERE WAS CARPET!!!!!!!!!! Like actual carpet! It was just in the sacrament room but it was great. We have about 140 people in the ward who are active.

Sorry for my very not-so-detailed letter but, yeah, I love my area and love the members!

Love ya all and can’t wait to see you on Skype at Christmas!

Love,

Elder Hunt

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week in Comalapa

Yes... I’m getting transferred!!!!!! I’m so excited, sad, nervous!!!! But I’m more excited because I’ll be in a ward and close to a Walmart!!!!

This was a good last week in Comalapa!

We had many great lessons with our investigators and less actives. We talked a lot about marriage and the Law of Chastity because no one is married. Hopefully they’ll get married soon! We need worthy male priesthood holders! After one of the lessons we had with some less actives, the wife of the couple told us, “something we noticed with you two is that you’re different from some of the other missionaries, you really try to help us", I don’t think that my companion and I are much different from other missionaries, but it made me really grateful for the progress I’ve made as a missionary. I know that the Lord loves these people and my only job is to help them recognize it and live it and take advantage of it.

We had a great Christmas activity too. There were 44 people squeezed into our little casa de oracion (house of prayer). We sang some Mexican songs and my companion and I sang Oh Holy Night, the “Spanglish” version, and everyone freaked out! Even though our singing wasn’t that great, when you have a guitar, people think we're like Michael Bublay and Josh Groban doing a duet! I it was a really fun activity.

I’m going to miss Comalapa so much. I will miss these people. I have gained a great love for them. This area has so much potential. Sadly Satan has a lot of power here... thankfully we know his power won’t last.

Sorry this was such a lame letter. My mind is going like a mile an hour (a Michael quote) ha! Love and miss you all so much!!!! I can’t wait for Christmas! Dad I’ll give you all the details about the phone call next p-day. I don’t know when my new companion wants to write so it might be in the morning or maybe the afternoon. I’ll text ya.

Love,

Elder hunt

PS.... THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!! It was the best thing ever and totally made my day!

Typical week in Comalapa

Boring Title... but it means another great week!

It all started out with a drunk guy crying and slobbering on me so you know that things are going to go good!

Ever (or Eber . . . it sounds the same in Spanish and I don’t know how to spell it) and Mari are awesome! We taught them Wednesday and Friday and they have a desire to know the truth. Wednesday we got to see how God prepares his children. Eber explained to us why one morning he went looking for a church. It’s as follows:

So Eber and his Girlfriend (they’re not yet married) work in a little super market. One day a girl came in crying and she was really bawling her eyes out. So Eber knelt down and comforted her and asked her what was wrong. She told him that her step dad abuses her and she can’t take it anymore. He comforted her and she left and everything was fine for a couple weeks. Then he got a call from his boss saying that he might lose his job for abusing a child! So Eber was super confused, went to work and asked his boss what had happened. So the stepdad found out that his daughter had told Eber that she was being abused and that he had comforted her so he made up something to try to get back at Eber. Long story short, Eber ended up solving things by going over to the house of the step dad to talk things out and almost got shot for doing it. Coming home and seeing how quickly his life could have been ended, he said he was going to focus his life on God. He woke up Sunday morning and said to himself "I’m going to find a church" and that’s exactly what he did.

We taught them the restoration and the Book of Mormon and they love everything. “It just all makes sense" is what they say.

We also had a great experience from one of the members we’ve recently re-activated named Nahin (I’ve already told you about him and his wife Rosario I think) they’re not married. He asked us a question about the plan of salvation that was a bit weird. I’m not going to tell you the question cause it’s hard to explain. but basically with the Spirit and past scripture study, we were able to answer his question. He told us at the end of the lesson, "I’ve asked that question to many different people, in and out of the church, but only you guys were able to answer it for me in a way to where I understand . . . thank you." It was a humbling moment for me to recognize the importance of the Spirit and GOOD scripture study, though I can always improve my knowledge of the scriptures.

Those were the biggest accomplishments this week. I’m loving the mission and missing the heck out of you all. The Church is true. Simple as that!

Love,

Elder Hunt

 

 

Actividad Navidena and progress

Hola familia!

It was a great week. Tuesday was our Christmas activity and it was a blast. We got notified super late that we had to do a talent. So that Monday we all met at the church and wrote a little skit! I wrote the words to a song with my comp and one of the sisters (it was a Book of Mormon type spoof to the tune of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer). It turned out really funny the only problem is that it’s in Spanish and it’s only funny for the missionaries in this mission because there are a ton of stereotypes. I’ll have to show you the video when I get home!

We watched A MICKEY MOUSE´S CHRITMAS CAROL!!!!! It was the best thing ever! It was the first Disney thing I’ve seen in like 1.25 years! The whole conference was a great and spiritually uplifting time! Wednesday before we got back I did some baptismal interviews for the zone leaders and by Thursday we actually got to get in some good work.

We had a little thanksgiving celebration and ate some pork (I’m sick of chicken) with some pasta and mashed potatoes! It was DELISH! Can’t wait till next Thanksgiving with mama’s strawberry jelly!

The investigators are doing well. We have so many that are so close to baptism! Luis, Rosa´s son, was so close to getting baptized next week, but he didn’t come to church. Rosario and Eva are doing pretty good, but don’t want to get married. Satan really bugs me, but were praying a lot for each one of them.

Misael is AWESOME! He’s Gold! Seriously, we had several lessons with him this week and he really wants to know the truth. He’s praying and reading the Book of Mormon. Sadly he didn’t come to church this Sunday, he was with family, but the guy is great.

Sunday was awesome, remember those 2 random people that come to church the last week? THEY CAME AGAIN! Their names are Eber and Mari, they’re so great. They said that they can only come to church every other week or so but that they’re inviting their friends from work to come next week! We had a great talk with them after church and we’re going to be visiting them this Wednesday.

Sorry this was a short letter. I feel like I slack in writing you guys, but it’s just because there is so much that happens as a missionary! I love being a missionary. It’s so hard yet fun. The church is true family!

Love,

Elder Hunt

Future chapel

My Heavenly father really loves me and my companion. I don’t know why he’s blessing us so much but He does, and I’m so grateful for it.

After the announcement of the possible future chapel everyone’s excitement level skyrocketed and we got a bunch of referrals (they were all super lame but were thankful for them anyway). We also visited a lot of members this week, active and inactive, doing our part to work together for the new chapel. Sunday we had 44 people come to church! And there was still a bunch that didn’t show up that were going to! Next week should be good.

Well I don’t have a lot of time today cause were in Comitan. Tomorrow were going to San Cristobal for the multi-zone Christmas conference (I have no idea why they’re doing it a month before Christmas nor did I have any idea or I would have told you to send me my box earlier).

We finally found Rosa this week and had a nice long talk with her. She knows that what she is doing is wrong but doesn’t want to change . . . it breaks my heart. Hopefully she comes to church next week!

We’ve started teaching a woman named Estela. She’s a friend of a member and we teach her in Sis. Vicky`s Herbalife store! She’s a great lady and wants to know more about the church. Her husband passed away about 15 months ago. She didn’t come to church this week, but she’s a great lady and for sure is going to come the next week.

Because of time I’m just going to finish with Sunday! It was awesome!!!!! 44 people there. It was our branch conference, so the new district presidency and other leaders were there to get us excited and ready to work towards qualifying for our new chapel.

One cool experience that happened during conference was that one of the brothers there was hno Nahin (the guy we were trying to reactivate like 2 months ago) during the second hour he had a feeling to go outside. So he did and saw some guy listening in from the apartments above the church. The guy’s name is Misael and had just moved to Comalapa. He’s 26...ish, single, and has listened to the missionaries before (along with like 4 other churches, but hey, he’s been to church at least!) anyway he says he is ready to find the true church! So I was talking to him and invited him to come in, so he threw on a shirt and joined us. He was really participative. It was awesome!!!

It was a great way to end the week and I was really grateful for it. The Lord puts people in the path of his faithful servants and that’s how people lives are changed. It’s not me or my companion, it’s the Lord.

The Church is true. Always has been and always will be!

Elder Hunt,

ps. Take a ton of pictures in Utah for me!!!!!!

 

 

He doth immediately bless you

Mosiah2:24

...”he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you..."

It was an awesome week. It was interesting to experience this scripture and see the mercies of the Lord this week.

The beginning of the week started off pretty iffy. Elder Ramos was sick Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Friday we had to go to Comitan for some baptismal interviews and exchanges with the zone leaders. So we only worked 2 full days this week in our area but the Lord blesses us according to our needs, diligence and obedience. Even though we hardly worked this week in Comalapa he blessed us so much.

Giermo is awesome! He’s so faithful and wants so bad to know the truth. We talked about the book of Mormon with him a lot this week. He can’t read but that doesn’t prevent someone from feeling the spirit. Every time we ask him to offer the prayer, he cries. We ended up giving him a blessing this week cause he’s got some problems with his spinal discs. After the blessing, with tears in his eyes, he promised us he was coming to church and he fulfilled that promise and absolutely loved it. He promised us to go next week and I know he will.

I don’t know if I told you about this man named Adrian. We contacted him last week. We weren’t able to meet with him this week but we saw him on the street on Thursday night and invited him to church... HE CAME! And loved it too! Turns out he’s the neighbor of Giermo.

After picking up Giermo and Adrian Sunday we walked in the church and there were two people sitting in the back that I didn’t recognize. Elder Ramos and I introduced ourselves and they told us that they decided in the morning that they were going to go find a church to attend. So they got up Sunday morning, got dressed and went looking for a church to go to. They asked a woman on the street for a church to go to and it was our relief society president! At the end of church we took down their information and are going to visit them this week!

Sunday was a very special day too because our branch president, President Hernandez announced to the branch that we are very close to getting a chapel. He’s been talking with the district president and it looks like were actually really close to qualifying for one. Basically all we need is 60 people at church for one month straight and 7 Melchizedek priesthood holders that are active and pay their tithing. In December we’ll have 5 active tithing paying priesthood holders, and out of the 90 members and handful of investigators that we have, we’re definitely going to get to 60 in attendance!

We’re all so excited. The ward gave us a bunch of referrals after the announcement. We’re going to have to work really hard, but we can definitely do it. If everything turns out as planned by March we’ll have our 7th Melchizedek priesthood holder and definitely our 60 members attending regularly. We’re so excited and I’m very grateful to be a part of this truly pioneering experience in Comalapa. After my mission when I return to Comalapa again I’ll know I’ll be able to walk into the Comalapa branch’s newly built chapel.

From what I’ve seen this week, it’s that the Lord blesses us ALWAYS as long as we do our part and if we lack, he makes up the rest. The church is true. It’s beautiful and it is the only way we can be happy. Even though in the last letter I expressed some sadness, the mission is incredible, it’s truly the best time and happiest I’ve had in my life. I Love you all greatly. See you all in a month!

Love,

Elder Hunt