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!