WEEK #29 Que Tal

This week was an okay week.  Not a lot happened!  On Tuesday we had a zone conference and its always nice to be able to talk with the guys from my MTC district there!!  Gotta love good old Elder Fackrell and Bergstrom!!  Then afterwards we had some killer pollo con tajadas!! Chicken with like these fried banana fries and salsa over it!! Its sooooo good!!  We had to help the sisters move out of their apartment because their area is shutting down because our mission is getting reduced in numbers and they dont have enough sisters for them to be out here I guess.  So no more sisters in the district or in the zone for that matter.  Gonna have a different feel without the sisters here in the District!

Teaching my boys how to stunt!

Today was a pretty fun PDAY!!  We played some sick frisbee and Elder Purcell did this unbelievable catch.  He said throw it low and I did and he threw his arms up and did a cartwheel and took one of his hands off the ground while upside down and snagged the frisbee out of the air lands the cartwheel and it was crazy.  One of those how did that just happen moments!  Love my companion though hes crazy!!  I didn't know that Poleys could even do cartwheels haha.  I also taught the elders in my district how to do some stunts today which was pretty fun and sketchy haha!  Ill add some photos!

But this week was just one of those weeks where a lot of people canceled on us and not a lot of people wanted to hear us but thats okay!  I guess it just makes you happy for the good weeks that you have here in the mission!!  Keylin didn't get baptized on Sunday because she was feeling sick but we are going to have her baptism with her cousin who is a member Jeremy this Saturday so we are really stoked for that!!  We are going to work hard this next week and get a lot done I just know it!!

I hope you all have a great week and am sorry this letter is kind of short and didn't explain too much!!  I'll do better next week for sure!!  I love you all and miss you tons!

Love Elder Hunt

WEEK #28 Valentines on a Mission

I hope you all had a Feliz Día de Amor o Dia de San Valentin!!  Purcell and I kind of forgot that it was Valentines on Saturday so we went into our favorite chicken strips and french fries restaurante and sat down and ordered our food.  We thought everyone was there for the soccer game that was on, but then we looked around and saw that everyone was sitting at their tables on dates as couples for Valentines Day.  Purcell and I were like shoot this probably looks weird with just 2 dudes at a table.. anyway thats the mission life!  This week was pretty good for work!  We got 33 lessons in!  Not too shabby!  Our investigators are progressing pretty good and were looking to be having around 4 baptims next month and 1 this coming Sunday!  I might not stay to see it though, being as there is changes on this Wednesday and everyone has a feeling Im leaving.  Hopefully we get that news soon and Ill tell you at the end of this letter!  Crazy to think I already have 12 weeks here in Santa Barbara the same amount of time that I had in Puerto Cortez!  Time is flying!

Loving the sunset!

Not really much to really report on this week!  Just a lot of hard work and learning every day!  Purcell and I have finally figured out the perfect first appointment visiting lesson.  We usually go in an teach about who God is and how the gospel can bless families and then jump into the restoration with them, but then thats kind of why everyone thinks we just talk about Joseph Smith.  So we tried just this week just starting the first lesson just talking solely on Jesus Christ and God and how the gospel can bless families.  It went really well and we noticed that people would just open up to us and tell us their whole life story which was amazing.  Then we could find their needs and it was perfect.  So then they know that we are there solely just to help them and then we show them the Restoration after and then they have our trust and are gonna be more submissive to the things we ask them to do cause they know that were not trying to sale them something but trying to help them come unto Christ by making these small covenants with God.  

Something else funny,well kind of weird happened on Valentines day!  We were trying to teach our little investigator Kalyin whos gonna get baptized next Sunday and her grandma kept on interupting and wouldn't let us talk with her.  The grandma was sad because her son in the states hadn't called her to say hi and she was telling us her whole life story about how she raised those kids and how they are so ungrateful and so on.  Anyway I finally told Purcell hey you go teach Kaylin and Ill stay here and talk with the Grandma.  Anyway Purcell said okay and him and Kaylin went into the kitchen.  Im just sitting there on the couch and as soon as Purcell went into the kitchen, the old granny got up and came and sat down right next to me, put her arm around me and starts brushing my arm with her hand.  I was like oh no.. what the heck is happening?  Thank goodness Purcell forgot the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and came in looked at us like what the heck?  and said Hunt come sit over here so I can see you.  I was so relieved.  Anyway that was a scary moment.

Making smores!

Last night was pretty cool!  We went to President Lopez new house our Branch President and we had a little campfire devotional and smore roasting time!  It was awesome!!  I don't think I've ever ate so much chocolate and marshmellows in my life!  It was too good!  It was really cool though too to hear all of the testimonies and share mine and I was talking with everyone super easily.  The spanish is doing so much better!  Had kind of a moment yesterday where I was like dang I can speak spanish pretty good!  So thanks for all of your prayers!  

Also super cool thing we found out this week!  Neil L. Anderson of the Quorom of the 12 Apostoles is coming to Honduras to speak to us and its such a big event that the San Pedro Sula East mission and the West mission are combining together.. which means that I'm going to get to see my best buds Elder Derik Beeston and Austin Measles!!!  Ahh man I am so stoked!  Its gonna be so cool to listen to an apostle and get spiritually pumped while being able to sit with my buds from Lehi!  I cant wait!!  Anyways just found out that I don't have changes so it will be another 6 weeks here in Santa Barbara for me.  Got more work to do here!  Gonna be sweet!  Glad that I have Elder Purcell as my companion!!  Gonna be here til beginning of April haha!!  Love you guys and have a great week!!

Love, 

Elder Hunt

WEEK #27 Peelas

Beautiful Honduras

So the weather here is kind of funny.  It reminds me of Utah sometimes!  It started off super sunny and hot this week and then got super ugly and rainy and cold for the other half of the week and now its pretty sunny again!  It is definitely getting hotter here in Honduras though.  Its nice though cause Ive missed the sun!  But this week was super legit and even though we didn't have a ton of lessons we found some really good investigators which I am stoked about!

We were contacting this week because some of our citas (appointments) had fallen through and we came across this lady chopping wood with a machete.  We asked her if she needed any help and she said she was good.  So we insisted some more and she still wouldn't let us help. Anyway we started talking about our purpose as missionaries and how we would like to share a message about the Gospel of Jesus Christ that would bless her life.  She wasn't that receptive but told us that she had a neighbor that was mormon and pointed up the hill.  So we went up the hill to the house she said and we didn't even know that a member lived there, but we said (Buenas!!) cause you don't knock on doors hear you just yell (Buenas) at the house and they come out.  Anyway she came out and let us in and she was a member that hadn't been to church in like 5 years and she has 2 kids that haven't been baptized that are old enought to be baptized and said she would like to start coming back and get her kids baptized!! So it was cool that we could find her through a non member contact!

District short tie meeting!

Last Sunday we got introduced to a man at church whos not a member but, he lives in our area and had been wanting us to go teach him.  Hes a reference from the Branch President who he works with.  So we set up a cita with him and went to his house and talked to him for a little getting to know him and stuff.  We always ask the question to our new investigators if they have any questions for us before we begin, or doubts or something that they want to know about our church so we can kind of know what to teach or help them.  Anyway we asked this question to him (Tiene algunas preguntas para nosotros antes de empezar?)  and he said well the only question I have is about baptism.  When is the soonest date that I can be baptized?  Me and Purcell were stunned at this question and looked at each other and smiled like wow is he serious and then answered him.  Well let us look at the calendar real fast and we figured out he can be baptized on the 22nd cause hes already been to church 3 times and just needs the lessons.  So that was super cool and we were gonna start off with the restoration, but he was like no i already know about that I just want to talk about baptism.  So we did lesson 3 and it was amazing.  The spirit was there and it was such a cool experience!  After the lesson me and Purcell decided to just offer a prayer of thanks for what had just happened!  Seriously so cool.  His name is Jose Luis!

Saturday the Elders that live with us had a baptism!  Elder Cerros from Australia and Elder Estrada who has one month in the mission from El Salvador!  They baptized their investigator Uranya and it was so good!  She is so peelas and people were asking her in the ward before she was even baptized if she was sure that she wasnt a member!  She bared her testimony at the end and it was so good.  The spirit was so strong and she started crying while giving it.  So cool to see an investigator in the waters of baptism here in Santa Barbara because it's a bit of a harder area than the rest in Honduras.

We also got introduced this week on Sunday to a little girl whose name is Kalen! She is 9 years old.  Her grandma is a member in the ward, but Kalen has had the other missionaries visiting her before and never wanted to get baptized with them.  But we taught her once and she wants to get baptized with us!  Super cool and shes the nicest, cutest little girl!  Also another interesting thing happened on Sunday.  I forgot to mention to you all maybe because I was a little bit freaked out or what not from the experience that I had but one day as we were taking the bus to La Trinidad i sat down next to this guy who had lots of paintings of Jesus and cross necklaces and so forth.  He tried to sale me some and I told him I was good.  Anyway he started talking to me during the bus ride and we talked about religion and I basically taught him the third lesson which was cool but half way through I could just tell that this guy was gay.  He was talking about the United States with me and was telling me how he really wanted to go to the United States and stuff and then he was talking me somemore and asked me how I like Santa Barbara and I said oh its good and what not.  He was like it sure is pretty huh?  I was like ya its pretty pretty here.  Then he said Spain is also a very  beautiful country.  I was like oh so you've been there before and he replied "no, but I would like to go there with you."  I didn't even reply.  I was just waiting to get off this bus.     Anyway from that story back to church, he somehow found the church and traveled all the way from Confradia and left at 6 in the morning so he could come to the church in Santa Barbara.  Super weird.  I told him to call the missionaries our ZLs in Confradia and they can start teaching you.  Anyway pretty weird story.  Hopefully the ZL's can help him out!

Anyway things are good here in Honduras and I might be having changes on the 18th so will see how that all works!  Me and Purcell have been having a blast and doing good work so I hope we don't have changes but will see where the Lord needs me!  I love you all and I would all like you to think about the New Years Goals that you set and ask yourself if your acheiving them the way you would like and if not readjust them and try and do it!!  Thats would we always need to be doing in our lives is looking at our lives and asking ourselves how we can improve to be where we want to be and making little adjustments here and there.  One of the most perfect, prime opportunities to do that is during sacrament.  We need to ask ourselves how we can become like the Savior and how we can make our selves in our lives closer to him.  We are never going to be perfect but this life is a preparing us to meet God.  Everything is fine tuning.  Constantly seek to improve yourselves in little aspects.  If your not reading the scriptures right now, read them!  Alma 37: 6,7   If we do the small little things every day like reading the scriptures and praying and going to church every sunday we will always stay on the straight and narrow path that leads to Eternal Life!!   I testify of this!  Love you all and have a great week!

Love Elder Hunt

WEEK #26 CHILL

Beautiful sunset on the evening my parents were in Honduras

So this week was pretty chilly.  We had some nice cloud coverage the whole week and had to wear our long sleeves a couple of days!  Even woke up in the night a couple times cause it was a little brisk!  But today is definitely a lot hotter and it looks like the hot season is about to begin!  So will see how that goes!!  I learned the Haka from my Samoan Comp so that was pretty sweet.  Im learning a lot from that guy!   My family was in Honduras this week too!  Didn't get to see them or anything but it was cool to know that they were in the same country as me!!  They even got to try some authentic Baleadas and Pastelitos that are so delicious its unreal!  

My poor toe!

I had to get a little surgery on my toe this week because Ive had an ingrown toenail for the past 6 weeks that Ive kinda of just neglected and its just gotten worse so I had to get it cut.  One of the doctors in our ward was so nice though and just told us to come to his clinic and so we went and he did it all for free and I was kind of freaking out cause they were saying that they needed to take out the whole nail and I didn't want them to do that but they ended up just cutting it.  They had to numb it up a little which felt weird like numbing your mouth at a dentist but in your toe!  But everything went well and my toes feeling better now!  

Then Wednesday was the day that my family was in Trujillo, Honduras!  Felt really cool to know that my family was in the same country as me that we were looking at the same sky!  We did a super contact this days for the sisters and we found some interesting people for them to go teach.  We found a man that we were talking to and he said that he didn't like how there were so many churches on the earth today and he doesnt think its right.  So we were talking to him about how we wanted to share why there are so many churches on the earth today and how he could know which church was true.  He rejected us though saying that well if I have you guys come over your just gonna want me to come to your church and then I just dont think thats good if I go to two churches.  Kinda stinks that we couldnt get another lesson with him to share the message of how God has restored his church again on the earth and that we belong to the true church today.  Satan has hardened the hearts of many and blinded them so its hard for them to see the truth.  Hopefully we can find the people that are ready though to hear our message.

Thursday we found 6 news that have had the missionaries before and accepted us.  They all seemed pretty cool and I'm looking forward to getting to teach them more this next week.  We found them on this obscure trail that led up the mountain and it was pretty cool to find them in such a random spot!  We also taught a lesson this night with one of our news Eva, but the TV was just too loud and too many children running around to feel the spirit.  Lots of distractions and so were gonna have to go teach her again, hopefully this next time without the distractions!

Friday we helped the President in our branch move from Barrio Abajo to our area.  It was fun helping someone move, even though it was a lot ghettoer than the states haha we didnt have a nice fancy U Hual but a little toyota truck with rusted metal gates.  It took a while to get everything there but it was nice being able to serve the President of our branch cause hes such a nice guy.  We found a really, super peelas investigator this night.  She has a boyfriend out on a mission and was so happy to see us and she was a reference from this family in the ward.  The spirit was so strong during this lesson as we were just talking about the good that her boyfriends doing in Guetamala and how the message we share really does change peoples lifes!  She had such a strong testimony of Jesus Christ in her life and it went so well!! So excited to visit with her again and see her progress!  

Saturday we also helped another on of the people in our ward move.  The doctor that helped me with my toe Hermano Cierras.  Hes such a nice guy and Im gonna miss him in the Branch.  We had a nice singing sesh in one of the rooms in his house that echoed good with me, my poly comp, Elder Cerros from Australia and Woods from Arizona.  It was legit.  Then the rest of the day kinda blew cause all of our citas fell.  Every single one.  But thats the mission life I guess you win some and you lose some. 

 Sunday we had interviews with President Dester and he is just the most loving guy that you could ever meet.  He sure did cheer me up and cheer me on.  Im so glad to have him as my president.  Hes helped me out so much.  He is one of the most patient, loving, Christ like men I know.  Glad to have him as my President.  We also got a brand new investigator in church that weve never even met and he just came cause he was interested.  Super peelas too and am excited to meet with him this week.  The Lord is Hastening his work.  This week try to think of someone you can share the gospel with and then go out and do it.  We have the Pearl of Great Price that everyone is looking for and everyone needs.  Dont be afraid to share it with others.  They need it!  Ask God in your prayers to help you think of someone that could benefit from this gospel and for him to put oppurtunities in your life to share it with others!  He will answer your prayers!

Love you all!

Elder Hunt  

 

WEEK #25 Flame Thrower

Burning of my tie- 6 month mark!

My dad's friend Dennis and me!

So this was a pretty legit week all and all!  Lots of ups and a couple downs but a great week over all!  But that's the mission life.  It breaks you down and builds you up.  I just wanna start off this week by saying that I have the best family in the world.  They may be on a cruise right now without me and having a blast, but they are always thinking about me and so kind and loving to me.  On last Monday my Dad said that his friend was coming to Honduras to visit his family down here and that he was gonna bring a package to me from my family and that I was gonna meet him.  So we made the plans and on Tuesday I got to meet my Dads friend from work at our church and he delivered me a package from home and it was too good.  I was talking to him in Spanish and he also had a friend with him and some of his family that weren't members and we set up an appointment with them and they actually live in our area in La Trinidad!  It was so cool.  My parents spoiled me with candy and jerky!  Its hard to find that good stuff down here in Honduras so if any of you ever wanna send me a package of candy and jerky or goodies I would love that too!!  Or if you wanna write a hand written letter that would be awesome!  Tuesday we also found 6 other new investigators and had 7 lessons!  It was a real good day!

SIX MONTHS- LETS GO

Wednesday was also good and we found 2 new investigators, and Thursday we got 2 more news as well!  On Thursday we got to go and teach the family of my Dads friend in La Trinidad and it was such a great lesson.  She made us a sandwich and gave us a drink before and then we got to teach them!  It clicked with her really well and her daughter too and they like knew every answer to the questions that we were asking.  We were gonna stop at the Great Apostasy, but then she said wait so we needed a restoration right?  And we were like ya we did and now were going to continue.  So we taught them all the whole first lesson and challegend them to be baptize and they all said yes!  So hopefully we can continue to work with them and have success! Super peelas!  Oh and also on Wednesday Omar still hadn't given us his desicion and said he would tell us Friday the day before the baptism.  

Friday we worked hard again and found 2 more news, and we tried to have our lesson with Omar, but he wasnt home and wouldnt answer his phone so that was that.  We didn't have the baptism like we were planning which kind of stunk.  But we were walking by his house yesterday and he called us over.  I really didnt even want to talk with him, but he said that he would be baptized but that he didnt want to be baptized just him by himself.  But he wants to be baptized on a day when another person is being baptized too.  Kind of weird but as long as he gets baptized I will be happy.  So we set the 7th with him to be baptized with the other missionaries investigator.  Praying that this time works.  Also on Friday I completed my 6 month mark in the mission.  Its cool to finally not be a baby in the mission but to actually have a little bit of time.  It feels good.  But this time has gone by super fast.  Looking back at the whole thing like a lot happened and ya its been long but yet its hard to believe Im already a quarter of the way through.  I gotta step up my game and work harder with this little time that I have!

A beautiful sunset in Honduras!

So Saturday we got 2 more news and found a really good peela investigator who had missionaries 15 years ago and the only reason she didnt get baptized was because her husband was a raging alcoholic and they couldnt get baptized, but now shes divorced from him and we taught her kids too and they are super ready to hear the gospel!   Sunday came and at church we had 6 investigators there, but it was kind of funny.  Elder Purcell turned to me and said hey we have 6 investigators here but you wanna know the funny part, we didnt teach any of them this week.. and the ones we taught werent here.  So we decided that maybe will just stop teaching our investigators and they might come to church.  No just kidding but funny that thats what happened.  Hopefully will have more there next week!!  Picked up another 3 on Sunday as well!

So ya it was a good week full of hard work, a sweet package from my family, and 17 new investigators that we have to teach this next week!  Hopefully we can get some good progress with all the new people we have and work even harder this week!  Also because it was my 6 month mark, I burnt a tie as tradition for missionaries!  Heres some pics!  Love you all and have a great week!  (P.S. had to improvise because my tie wasn't burning that good)