WEEK #91 Baleadas y Cuevas

Fun day at the cave!

Sooo wanna start off today by saying that this PDay in other words today was way tooo fun!  Well the only food category Ive eaten today is baleadas so thats a good start to the day with breakfast and lunch and the thing that made today even more amazing was the caves we just got back from!  Seriously like a once in a lifetime experience today that Im never gonna forget going out to some caves by Lake Yojoa and having a blast!  It was the coolest cave tour Ive ever taken!  Seriously wish you guys could come and see and do it!  The best part about it is that it was Honduras rules (as usual) meaning that you could just roam everywhere and explore everything and touch all of it.  We probably went 2 miles in and traveled around like 5 miles of cave terrain.  We held our flashlights in our mouth as we were climbing, scaling, crawling, sliding, moving and manuevering over and under big, slimy, wet, slippery rocks and cave features in the pitch dark.  Funnest thing ever!  Fotos dont do justice to everything we did and saw today but ya ill try to send some anyway!  And another cool thing is that my comp got hit in the head by a bat.  Legit.

Well lets see what else happened this week.  On Tuesday we did divisions out in a 2 places called Paraiso y Pimienta. (Paradise and Pepper.)  Pretty cool divisions and we were able to get these missionaries even more inspired to work hard and find new people to teach!  Then we got a call that night saying that I had to go to Migration the next day to renew my residency card cause ive been here so long.  Pretty cool cause remembering the last time I did that I had less than a year in the mission and when we went to renew my companions residency card I was able to see my buddy back then Elder Austin Measles.  Crazy to think that was sooo long ago and now im the one heading home.  Wow.  Time flies.  After renewing the card we went out and got some Johnny Rockets with my boys Wood and Fackrell.  I seriously dont know if all shakes are that heavenly in the states but seriously the best shake ive had in literally years.  Johnny Rockets is dope a little taste of america in a 3rd world country.  That night we were also able to get some investigators to go to the open house at the church cause it was the week of the family and they had a bunch of little events like that going on!  They absolutely soaked it all in and loved what they saw and more imporantly felt at the church.  Going by the sacrament table they could really just feel peace is what they said.  How lucky are we to be able to feel that every Sunday.  On Friday night we had a talent show and it was super funny.  Elder Call and I sang some Hello by Adele but that missionary version and killed it!  Also did the classical dance of Honduras and bailamos punta.  Super hilarious.  Saturday was sport day and we seriously played voleibol and fútbol from 4 til like 9.  It was dope.  Fun day.  Fun week.

Well that was about it for my week.  Definitely a fun memorable one and hoping to get more good solid work in this week!  Ive only got 7 weeks left and gotta make every day count!  I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Haden

WEEK #90 Feliz Dia de la Madre :)

Hey guys!!  Soo this week was such a great one!!  Loved talking with my family yesterday and laughing with them and spending some quality time talking and such!  I seriously have the best family in the whole world from my Mom to my Dad to my grandparents to my brothers and sisters  uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends.  I seriously feel soo blessed to have ALL of you in my life!  So great talking with you all yesterday!  And well.. Ill see you all in Utah very soon!

This week we moved houses.  Are new house is sooo legit!  We also did divisions in Potrerillos with some cool elders from Arizona and had some fun!  The rest of the week was kind of a blur.  But we were able to find Tyrone again and well he found us in the street and told us some good news that he finally decided to stop listening to all the bashing about the church from other churches cause everyone bashes the good ones and especially the best one and he said I wanna be baptized.  Why Not?  Soo that was super cool to find him and that hes solved a lot of his own problems in this time!  

Something funny that happened this week was that I was trying to teach my comp how to do a handstand and to practice by putting his feet up on the door and holding himself there and lowering himself down slowly after.  Well it didnt quite work like that cause he put his hands super far out from the door and then banged his feet on the door and forgot about the come down slow part and dropped straight on his head and sprawled out on the floor.  It was hilarious!  Soo ya were working with that!  

Then Sunday we had a sweet Mothers Day baptism and were able to baptize a mother!  Actually who we baptized is the mother of Dunya who we baptized like 2 months ago!  Such a cool baptism and her faith and courage was inspiring in this whole process.  Soo cool to be able to help a family come together!  Were gonna work with the brothers now and see what we can do!  Please continue to pray for us!  And thanks sooo much for all the support, prayers, encouragement and love youve all sent my way my whole mission!  I wouldnt have been able to do it without you!!  Have a great week!!

Love Elder Hunt :)

WEEK #89 Agua

A big heart from my boy!

This week was a very good one!  We were able to get a lot of things done and have tons of fun as well!  We've just been very busy lately and time is flying by soo fast!  Im having such a great time here though in Santa Cruz with my buddy Elder Wood.  Just feels like Im preaching the gospel with one of my bros.  Nothing better!  Today we went to the lake and it was cool cause the last time I went there was like 14 months ago. Feels like Ive been here awhile haha but still the same beautiful lake.  I love it there and the fish we ate after was just as good as ever!!

This week I realized just how much I love water.   I mean its just soo good for soo many things.  Just want to mention a few.  Its great for drinking after a long hot day, its good for showering, its good for wakeboarding, tubing, and skiing.  Its great for swimming, its great for fishing, its great for rafting and surfing.   It keeps everything fresh and clean.  I think for that alone is why we use it for baptizing people.  To make us fresh and clean.  When we get baptized our sins are washed away and then after baptism we partake of the sacrament every sunday to stay fresh.  If it werent for water we would dry up spiritually and never be clean enough to return to Heavenly Father.  Without water we would die and without the living water that Jesus Christ offers us we would also die spiritually and forever.  Anyway I think water is one of my most favorite things there is.  Im thankful for it.

Two Zones!

Soo we had some sweet divisions this week in Rio Lindo.  It was super pretty there and super fun with the missionaries there!  Loved it!  On Friday the Familia Rosales had their interviews and all passed with flying colors!  Seriously seeing the faith of this young mom Jessica who has been going through soo many problems lately with her work, money, and getting robbed twice since shes been here.  Its incredible to me the faith that she has and how much trust she puts in God and knows that Satan is the one who was trying to stop her from being baptized and her family as well.  I think if any normal person would have gone through everything she has in this past month they would have quit a long time ago.  Shes seriously one of a kind!  Her kids are the cutest little things too.  I wish you guys could see them.  They say the funniest things as well like what happened on Thursday night right in front of there house is that 2 moto taxis crashed and the drivers got injured. and got out of their vehicles and sat there on the road next to their motos and Jessica had been right behind these 2 motos that crashed in a different moto and anyway her 2 little kids came out and one of them went to one of the guys and held his head in his arms and said pobrecito like poor little guy and then Joselynn the littlest one was like tiene que ir mas despacito you need to go alot slower!  Soo funny hearing this stuff!  Such cute kids.

This baptism on Saturday was seriously one of the coolest ones Ive ever had!  We had me, Elder Wood, and our buddy Elder Chub all dressed up in white with the Familia Rosales to be baptized and it was 1 baptism after another after another.  It felt soo cool to see 3 baptisms go in one day.  The spirit was soo strong.  Seriously one of the coolest experiences Ive ever had on my mission.  Jessica gave an amazing testimony after the baptism as well to finish it off.  Really an unforgettable day for everyone and we topped it off by going out and getting icecream after!  Anyway it was a very cool week and Im excited to tackle this next one as well!  I love you all and hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love Elder Haden

WEEK #88 Hello Wood!

Hey whats up guys?!!  Hope you all had a great week!!  This week was sooo legit for us here in Honduras!  Well soo my old comp said his goodbyes on Monday and everything and we had a sweet party to get him off and such with some members who made him a legit going home video and such!  And then on TUESDAY I got my new companion who is ELDER WOOD!  Man I am soo stoked to have him!  Weve never been together in the mission or anything but weve always known who the other was and this is a legit buddy from my mission that I have now with me!  He is seriously just like a straight bro from Cali and legit reminds me of my buddies from home!  This guy is like my duplicate!  We love all the same stuff!  Soo you could say that things are going muy bien!

Volleyball was super fun this week!  Theres this member here whos nick name is el colocho who is just the funniest guy youd ever meet!  I love him soo much!  Hes getting activated right now and seriously not a better way to do that than going fishing together, playing volleyball, and going  to church!  Love this guy!  On Thursday we had the funniest lesson with the Rosales Family!  We talked about Law of Chastity and asked the little kid David at the end how he was doing with it and he didnt speak and I was like whats wrong dude do you have a girlfriend?  and he nodded his head and was sad!  hahahaha this kids only like 10 years old and then his mom gave him the what for and it was soo funny!  We were just like you guys can discuss this when we leave!  LOL

This week we put some more baptismal dates with people!!  Pretty legit stuff!  We now have 6 with fecha and in church we had 9 people!!  Thats the most Ive ever had in 1 sacrament meeting!  Pretty awesome!  and we found some very exciting new people to teach this week!  More families!!  :)  One of the houses that we contacted this week was super legit cause we went the first time and then came back the second time and asked the Dad what his plans were for him and his family for this year and he said well I want to get married and get baptized.  It was soo dope so we were just like well in fact we are helping lots of people to do just that right now and well wed love to help you as well!  He was like alright sweet!  Soo awesome!

Soo 2 more cool experiences this week were that a guy came to church with Meidis mom which is one of the people were gonna baptize soon.  She just brought him cause he had heard that we had given her daughter a blessing and her baby and how they had gotten better and so he came to church specifically to get a blessing from us.  It was soo humbling to see his faith and give him a preisthood blessing.  We should be visiting him this week!  And the last experience to finish is that we went to the Rosales Family this week to teach them and when we got there the littlest youngster Joselynn was outside and she came up and gave me the biggest hug and was sooo excited that we had come and couldnt stop talking to me about how she had a new bed and well A bed to sleep on!  Shes only 3 and she just couldnt stop talking about how much she loved having a bed.  Really humbling to see that as well cause like I dont think ever 3 year old is that extactic to get a new bed.  Shes probably been sleeping on the ground for like a couple of months now.  Wow.  

Cool.  Well I love you all and am excited to be out here serving the Lord and giving these last couple of weeks here to him.  The work is true.  I feel soo blessed to have such a great life, family, mission, ward, area, and companion.  God and Jesus Christ live and they love us.  Talk to you all soon!

Love Elder Haden

                                                                                                                                         

WEEK #87 Goodbye Lorenzana

My Zone!

Lorenzana on his way out!

Well this was my last week together with my good buddy and companion Elder Lorenzana!  He finished his mission strong and weve had and made some great memories and experiences working together that Ill never forget!  Ive sure learned a ton from him!  Such a stud muffin!  Gonna miss him!  Hes already to go home though and hes prepared!  His new mission has begun!    But ya this week was a little bit slower with the work with him leaving and saying goodbye to everyone and Im pumped up to see who my next companion is gonna be and ready to get started with him!  Vamos a echar some fuego!

The whole family is baptized- beautiful!

Umm honestly my brain is a bit fried today.. I dont know if its cause Im super tired or been thinking too much so im gonna keep this one short and simple!  We were able to complete a family this week by baptizing Edwins Mom and little brother Ana and Ariel!  It was a great baptism and now there all baptized!  Its been soo amazing to see how much theyve progressed and grown over these last few months.  It definitely hasnt been easy, there were definitely a lot of bumps, twists, bends, and spins we had to pass through teaching them but we did our best and God did the rest.  Such a miracle to see that family baptized and now we just got to make sure to strengthen them always so that they can endure to the end!  But the ward loves them and has taken them in and they fit right in with everybody!  Im so happy for them!

My golden family:)

Also I think I told you guys a little about this golden family that came out of nowhere last week.  Well we went to their house a lot this week and got to know them a lot better and teach them alot and they are seriously golden!  The Mom has already been to church 4 times and the kids twice now and they all want to be baptize and the kids are seriously the cutest and most grateful Honduras kids Ive ever seen!  I love this family soo much!  So we are preparing them for their baptism thats gonna be on the 30th and seriously God blessed us big time with this amazing family!  We gave David a Book of Mormon on his Birthday and seriously his eyes just lit up and he was so happy and grateful.  He was just happy to have gotten 1 gift on his birthday.  We made sure to give him lots of candy as well that night.  Such a humble family. 

Anyway thats about all I can remember from this week!  It was a good one!  Im excited about changes and we will see whats next!  Love you all and miss you!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Haden

WEEK #86 Waters of Mormon

A beautiful week- 2 baptisms:)

Hey hows it going?!!  Hope you all had a great week!!  It was a most excellent one for us here in Santa Cruz!!  We can really just see Gods hand in the work more now than ever helping us and blessing us in abundance!  Its wonderful!  Today we were able to go out to Cajon again The Dam and instead of fishing we went inside and took the Dam Tour!  Lots of fun and it was nice and colder misty inside and felt great!!  Got lots of pretty photos!  Ill make sure to attach a few!!

Alright soo this week was a good one!  We had lots of nice things happen!  Ill just touch the main points!  Umm well we contacted a TON!!  The Family Recarte that we were gonna baptize did get baptized but just 1 out of the 3 cause the Mom and the little brother drank coffee.  Dumb Coffee!  haha 2nd time recently that thats happen but no worries cause there gonna get baptized this weekend!!  We pulled a prank on Elder Call and got to the house before they did and pretended like we werent there and spooked their pants off!  It was sooo hilarious!  

Edwin's baptism!

Carlos' baptism!

On Friday both Carlos and Edwin got interviewed and passed!  And on Saturday we held a private, secret baptism of Edwin which was pretty dope!  Reminded me of Alma when he had to baptize people secretly in the Waters of Mormon so that the king wouldnt find out!  Thats basically what we did with Edwin cause we dont want the Catholic School that he goes to drop him as a student or take away his scholarship just cause he joined the TRUE CHURCH!   But he and his family were able to take a step of faith this weekend and they could sure feel the assurety and truthfulness of what they were doing!  It was a very special day indeed!  And just a little to explain how we found that family was that before Valentines Day like a week before me and my companion had 3 fallen appointments so we were contacting and we passed by a house walking down a hill towards the park and something whispered to me that I had to knock on that house.  Soo I stopped and looked at my companion and said hey man we got to go back and contact that house!  So we did and out came Edwin and Ariel.  I honestly thought it wasnt gonna work out at all in the beginning just 2 kids coming out and saying ya you can come back in a week.. just the regular like whatever contact and well there all getting baptized 2 months later.  The Holy Ghost really is real and works with us in a divine way!

The other baptism Carlos was also a random contact that we did that ended up leading us to know that his Mom was a member just very inactive and well we started teaching him and his Mom and she started reactivating and he started going to the church and loves it!  Soo we baptized him this Saturday and hes now an official member of the church and his Mom is now active!!  Really cool!  and again the spirit lead us to both of these guys!  Edwin who is 14 and Carlos who is 12!  They both have goals of being missionaries in the future!  How great is this work?

This confirmations went great on Sunday and also we were very suprised about what happened on Sunday as well.  A new family showed up from La Esperanza, Honduras and its a family of 5 a single mom with kids that are 12, 10, 7, 4 or something like that and they have already been taught by missionaries and assisted the church multiple times in Esperanza and have a baptismal date that the Elders from there put for them!  They had to move here for some reason and well now we are going to be working with them but like a serious golden family!  The Lord sure is blessing us!  

Anyway hoping to have more baptism this weekend!  The Familia Recarte the Mom Ana and the little guy Ariel!  We might even have some more!  Gonna be a great way for my companion to finish his mish here!  The work is true!  I love all of you!  

Love Elder Haden :)

WEEK #85 Abril

Hey everybody!  We are officially in Abril!  Soo exciting!  How great was this General Conference that we heard this weekend!  Outstanding!  I loved it soo much and honestly didnt want it to end!  I hope your all having an awesome SPRING BREAK!  Soo much fun!  Today we went fishing at Cajon again and I guess I got the unlucky pole cause we caught like 25 fish and I caught like 2 of them haha.  But it was lots of fun!  The members here are such funny guys!

Soo my week in a blur was good!  On Monday we baked a cake and shared it with a member family who was moving in the neighborhood to our street which weve named Restoration Avenue cause 7 out of the 10 houses are Mormons!  It was cool being there as they dedicated their new house that we helped paint!

On Tuesday we had interviews with President Dester which were soo good as always!  I know hes gonna be up there in General Conference one day!  and we also put 4 baptismal dates later that night for the 9th of April.. or this next weekend!  so if everything goes as it should we should be having 4 baptisms next week!  We actually had the craziest lesson last night cause on Tuesday the Mom of the Familia Recarte was like I wanna be baptized and the kids were saying no way were catholics!  and then after them hearing the General Conference yesterday and walking around the church with them and getting to know it better and for them to see the baptismal font and we actually walked downed into it thats how curious Edwin was (hes a funny guy) but it helped him to want to do it even more!  And when we went last night to their house we explained Lesson 5 about temples and everything and the whole lesson Edwin was telling us like ya well now Id say Im about like at 50 percent on wanting to baptize me and then it went to 60 and then 75 and then 80 when we said wed get him a LDS bible and then 95 and then he said Thats It ive Decided!  I want to be baptized!  I want to be Mormon!  I know that the Mormon Church is true!  I will be a Mormon!  I am Mormon!  It was soo shocking to see all of this coming from Edwin!  And after that he was like man I feel soo inspired and wanted to do the closing prayer and everything!  Hes also reading soo much in the BOM and is in Mosiah and I forgot to tell you guys last week but he had a dream for an answer last week after asking God if the BOM was true and he dreamt with the Golden Plates and declared that he knew that they were true and then they fell out of his hands and shattered.  But we told him that that was his answer from God and that the reason why they fell is because he wasnt taking Gods word seriously like he should and wasnt appreciating it like he ought to!  But ya soo Edwin and Ariel are both stoked about baptism for this next Saturday and there Mom was being a little reluctant last night just cause everyones been saying lots of stuff to her but she knows its the right decision as well!  Anyway sorry that was kind of jumbled up!  But super cool!  Lets pray it all works out!  But Edwin is sooo pilas and says that he cant wait to be Elder Hernandez as well!  Hes such a funny kid!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week and a most excellent spring break!  I love you all soo much!  And just a thought from conference is that May we all take the Harder right instead of the easier left!

Love Elder Haden

P.S.  this week we also went to Mochito again to do another baptismal interview and man I love it there.  It soo nice and fresh and beautiful.  Such a great place and beautiful scenery.  Wish you all could see it!

WEEK #84 Happy Easter

Hey whats up guys!!  Happy Easter to you!!  They dont really celebrate Easter here but they have whats called La Semana Santa which is The Holy Week in English.  Its usually the hottest week of the year cause its like mid summer but I think the heats gonna hit us this week.  It rained like the whole first part of La Semana Santa and was pretty nice weather up til Sunday when it got nice and Hot!  But ya during La Semana Santa they eat dried fish soup which attracts a ton of flies and also things covered in Honey like pumpkin and mangos.  We ate dried fish soup like every day.  Its pretty good stuff.  The Catholic Church really sticks out during this week with all their activities and stuff.  And instead of Easter its first off Crucifixtion Friday, Saturday of Glory, and Resurrection Sunday.  Soo ya little different world over here as usual.  On Sunday I had kind of forgotten that it was even Easter until our California Investigator Tyron met us on the street as we were going to church and said Happy Easter Guys!  Then it struck us like ooh ya its Easter!  haha but ya no Easter Bunnies or Easter Hunts or Candy and Eggs.  I tried explaining all that stuff to some families here and they all thought that we were crazy.  Cool stuff.

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Its funny sometimes here cause people are just soo shut out from the real world granted it is a 3rd world country.. but for instance we were with an old lady who is a member and she had her friends with her who are also old and they were looking at Avon Magazines.  In one of the Avon magazines some Star Wars clothing popped up.  And they all started freaking out saying how messed up the world was for wearing Satanic clothing like that.  They went on to explain how people who wear that clothing worship the Devil.  And that the green little dude (YODA) is a little devil and the robots, etc.  Gotta love Honduras.

Soo honestly this week I forgot my agenda and my mind is going blank on what we did and such.  But it was a pretty descent week and we received a legit referral of a couple whos married and interested!  Were very excited about them and also about this kid named Carlos whos Mom is a member and we contacted them and found that out out of the Blue and she wants him to get baptized!!  hes 12 and he loved the church this week and is stoked to be baptized!  Miracles of Contacting right there.  Also we were able to progress with a lot of our investigators!  We have a date with Tyron for the 9th of April so please pray for him that he can leave the bad stuff behind.  Hes trying soo hard and doing soo good!  Just needs a little more love.  

My tired boy got caught sleeping!

Speaking of Love.  This week I was able to study the Atonement of Jesus Christ literally the whole week and I was able to really start to comprehend just a little bit of how much God and Jesus love us.  Its honestly hard to describe there love with words but I was able to feel it this week and start to understand it more.  They love us beyond what we are capable of comprehending.  And all they ask of us after all is said and done is that we will Love them by being obedient to their commandments, and loving others.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and will be our Advocate before our Heavenly Father.  and if we are not afraid to testify of him and remember him in this life..He will not be afraid to testify of us and remember us in the day to come when we shall all be judged.  The atonement really can help us to become clean of our sins, to erase them completely, to not only repair the damages but turn us something into something much better and increase our capacities to do more and be better people.  It gives us power to overcome trials, challenges, and temptations.  And its there to use, the price has already been payed.  Soo I hope we can all try to study and understand Christs atonement even more and use it in our lives more every day.

Sorry that this letter is a little scattered with thoughts.  Kinda tired and forgot my agenda that has all my thoughts and such  but I hope you all have a great week and have a fun Spring Break!!  I love you all!  Jesus loves you!

Love Elder Hunt

WEEK #83 The Gospel is a Spiritual Gym

Hello again.  Soo things are starting to heat up here in Santa Cruz.  I think the cold fronts are done for now and here comes Semana Santa upon us once more.  Last one here in Honduras.  I wish you all could feel the heat.  But it shouldnt be too unbearable cause its not as humid here up in the mountains.  Just high 90s this week haha.  So there were changes this week but no one here got changed however in our zone we got 4 brand new greenies that came in and plus the 1 that is still in training which is a total of 5.  Thats the most Ive ever seen in any of my zones.  Should be fun.

So this Tuesday we put a baptismal date with a family of 3 the Familia Ricarte for the 26th they went to church this week again and loved it!  Things are going really good with them she just has a little problem with Coffee and they just need to pray a little more, but they like the church a lot so please pray for them that they can make the sacrifices necessary to be baptized in the only living and true church.  On Wednesday we went to changes and got the Newbies and also said goodbye to my good buddy and comp Elder Purcell hes the last of my old comps that I have here in the mission and now its me.  Feels weird.  Also said goodbye to Colindres and Alfaro and some other good buddies.  Everyones heading home.  Crazy stuff.

We were getting Meidi ready for her baptism on Saturday and went to go over the baptismal interview questions with her on Thursday and got to the Word of Wisdom and asked if she had taken any coffee and she said no but something did happen and its that my neighbor offered me a cup of coffee and I didnt want to be rude to her so I took it and just dipped bread in it and ate the bread cause I didnt want to offend her but that doesnt count right?  and we were like ughh dang well ya it does count cause you still had a little bit of coffee and we cant take any.  So it was a good learning experience for her and her family to know that 0 coffee is allowed and we just pushed it back 1 week so it will be this Saturday and she came to church this Sunday and was happy so everything should be just fine!  So please pray for her as well as shes going through these changes in her life and setting a great example for her whole family!  Thursday night the lights went out so we slept without fans.  It was hott.

Friday morning we went to the ZL meeting and it was soo fun.  Now theres 2 more ZLs from my group that came from the MTC now we just need the other 2 to come up and will be complete!  It would be soo cool!  Im hoping that my buddy will come up here to Santa Cruz this next change being as my comp is finishing this change!  It would be Legendary!  Ate some Joes Pizza after the meeting and the chef dude there is from New York and is soo dope.  His food was soo good.  Got to sing a little bit of Karoake Friday night with the Familia Guzman!  There legit.

Started going to the gym this week as well and its actually a pretty nice place.  Makes me feel at home again.  Found out that one of our couples that were trying to get married and baptized (Adanai) are gonna get married in May!  So thats gonna be good!  Ill still be here which will be awesome!  Bummer for my comp as hes leaving but good thing is that theyre gonna get married!  Just gotta wait a little!  

Definitely one of the coolest things this week was on Sunday during the 3rd hour when all the priesthood were together cause our Convert David who got baptized a month ago was able to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be ordained to the office of Priest!  So this next week he should be blessing the sacrament as well!  Its soo cool to see this stuff and he was ordained by a Priest and the Preist during the little blessing he gave after conferring the priesthood blessed him that he would be able to serve a mission in the future and David has told us multiple times that hes going!  Really such a great guy.

Just a little thought to finish.  I love the scripture that is in 3 Ne 13:33.  It basically says Search first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all these things will be added upon you.  I know this to be true.  When we put God first in our lives above all other things, we will be number 1 for him.  He will bless us and give us everything we need in this life to be happy.  Ive seen this time and time again in my life and the life of my family.  The gospel really is happiness.  Its so simple and beautiful.  If we compare it to the gym its like God has given us all the machines and weights and workouts and diet that we need to do to get ripped.  And if we use and apply these things in our lives and follow the plan.. we will always be happy and have peace and joy and be spiritually buff like Nephi.  I love you all!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Hunt  

P.S.  please pray for our investigator Tyron as well this week that he will be able to put his trust in God and be able to make the sacrifices necessary to join the church.  Hes almost there.. just needs a little extra love.  :)

WEEK #82 Fishing

Hey guys!  Great to hear from you alot of you this week!  Things are going pretty swell up here in Santa Cruz.  Had some good weather this week lots of rain and sun!  Not to hot not to cold!  Today we woke up a little earlier and headed out Cajon which is like a dam and we went to the lake above it and went fishing!  It was legit!  We went with some sweet members from here and my first cast out off my block of wood fishing line and hook with some ghetto home made powerbait was legit.  5 seconds in the water and then I had a fish hooked!  Then I casted out again and got another!  Not the biggest fish but fun doing it!  Only got 1 more after that but everyone was like wow this Gringo is a pro!  Got a little burnt out in the sun but had a great time and we cooked up the fish once we got home and ate them for lunch with some grilled corn on the cob!  It was really good!

We had some really good progress this week and some legit lessons.  We found a family a couple weeks ago called the Familia Ricarte and its a single mom with 2 kids Edwin and Ariel.  There catholics well the kids at least but the Mom never has really liked the Catholic church and well shes loving everything that weve taught and loving the Book of Mormon and this was the first week that they all came to church and they loved it!  We had a special broadcast just for Central America from the General Authorities in Utah and Elder Anderson.  It was super good but it was a bummer cause the power went out as soon as Elder Anderson started to talk.  But all the investigators loved the church!  We had 7 there in total!  Great turn out!

We put a Baptismal date this week for Tyron for the 19th of March!  and we also have a baptism lined up for this Saturday so lets pray for him and Meidi that everything will be able to work out and that the dates will be able to stick!  :)  Also saw this week that a lot of investigators took more interest into the church after having gone last week!  They saw for themselves how it was and loved it!  And Wednesday night we played soccer with the mutual people and it was legit like my best Soccer on the ciment court by any church that I have ever played!  Im legit Ronaldo status.   and we play volleyball here like every week its soo fun.  We dominate!  and we dominated some basketball as well.

But ya that was about my week.  Nice and simple and some good progress!  I always find it super interesting when we have to give counsel and teach people about marriage and lasting relationships not even knowing what marriage is like but the spirit always helps us to know what to say and cool thing about missions is that you kind of learn how to be a good companion and such.  But anyway hope you all have a great week!  Love you guys!

Love Elder Haden

WEEK #81 Calles de Chocolate

Hey guys!  So another week gone and Im sitting here writing you all again!  Its funny cause I just get lost in the weeks and then suddenly its Monday again and Im here.  Definitely feels like time is going fast.  Well this week was a bit slow.  It rained a ton, I got sick for half of the week with just a little cold so I was fine working but not feeling 100, and it was super muddy!  The roads here at night seriously looked like chocolate or the Rocky Road chocolate ice cream i think is what its called.  made me want some for sure.  The good thing though is that despite the slower week we had a great turn out on Sunday!  A lot of the main investigators that we wanted there showed up!  So that was happy for sure!

So Tuesday we had a multi zone conference.  Super fun seeing my buddies, especially some that I havent seen for about a year!  But nice to know that theyre doing good and still wondering around preaching the gospel here in Honduras!  We got to here some great, inspiring messages from President about the culture of our mission and a cool Message he gave about Jose Smith!  Loved it!  

This week with Tyron was kind of like hide and seek cause he doesnt have a cell phone and his burger joint as I said last week he had to shut it down and we couldnt make it to the cita on Tuesday and he doesnt have a phone so we had to find his house and then he wasnt home and so we had to leave a note and finally found him on Saturday!  But we had a great lesson with him and the spirit was so strong!  He really honestly didnt have any faith when we started but now that weve planted the seed weve seen it grow and its so miraculous to see the changes going on in his life.  He is recognizing it a lot too and told us that he knows he actually has faith now.  Hard to describe it all but seeing a mighty change in him.  Hes not the same Tyron we started with thats for sure.

I find it funny that people here sometime are so attached to their religion that after you get done with a killer first lesson about the Restoration and ask them to pray to know if its true they just will tell you no Im comfortable where Im at, I like my church.  But what if theres more?  We all know theres more!  People just get so caught up in their traditions and customs.  If they had faith they would pray.  

Friday was about as good as the weather.  Just like everything failed basically and the only lesson and thing that we thought was soo good was quickly shut down as the member after told us that the guy was just lying to us and wasnt actually reading the Book of Mormon and is never gonna go to church, cause thats what he said to all the Elders before us.  But theres always hope!  

Well sorry that this letter wasnt that great, dont have any more time here but Im looking forward to this next week and honestly know that its gonna be a great one!  Feeling good about it!  Remember that your future is as bright as your faith!   Hope you all have a great week!  

Love Elder Hunt

WEEK #80 Blur

Well this week went by in a blur and its honestly hard to remember exactly what happened!  We are working super hard though and I seriously get home at night and we plan real fast and I hit the hay cause Im just wasted at the end of every day. Getting warmer here but not unbearable!  Today we played soccer and it was soo dope!  Ill send a photo!  People call me Ronaldo cause Im soo good.  No its a joke I always just wear my Ronaldo jersey.  Found out today though that Im not as in good of shape as I thought.  Gotta work on that. haha

This week was pretty fun.  The Guzmans family came in to town and they are all from different places in the world.  Like Italy and The States and Tegusigalpa.  We got to go over for a fun little party and family night with all of them and eat some good barbecue and cake to celebrate someones BDAY!

Tyron is making some good progress.  This week he asked us about some concerns hes been having about the commandments cause we still hadnt taught him them yet but he told us that he felt a need to change some of his habit and wanted to know if smoking and drinking were bad cause hes really been trying to clean up everything in his life!  There really is just a spark in him and we taught him the Word of Wisdom soo were working with him in that but hes progressing real well!  Just having some difficulties with his Restaurant situation and ended up quitting it this week cause his work partner was just too much and he didnt want to have to deal with her anymore.  So please pray for him as he is trying to make this big change in his life.  

We went to a Bilengual School this week to teach one of the teachers there.  It was fun to be in a little school again and brought me back to my childhood at Eaglecrest Elementary but like out in the trailers haha Pretty Cool guy though but not that interested.  But we found a gold mine of references this week!  we went with some members and they just dished us out like 10 references and their real good ones as well!  Im stoked about that cause honestly with contacting ya you can get a bunch of news and stuff but they usually dont progress but with references the percentages are always soo much better that the people progress and get baptized! and stay active in the church so were focusing in on that!

I challenge all of you this week to think about a friend that you can share the gospel with and do it!  Invite them over for a Family Home Evening!  Test it out!  If you never try youll never know!  Every Member is a Missionary!  Ive thought about this sometimes in my mission that if every member could try and help one of his non member friends just one a year to become a member and accept the gospel in their lives the Church would double in size.

There was a fun little Valentines Activity this Friday and I put on a funny tie that I found in the house out in the shed for the occasion!  And after the dance I saved a little girl toddler at dinner who went falling down the stairs but I jumped up from my seat fast and caught her before she had gone far!  

Saturday we taught all day starting at 8 in the morning!  One of the members had to fumigate his bosses house (something im very well acquainted with) and invited us to teach his boss and his wife while he was fumigating!  Went very well!  Hopefully they accept us when we come back for the cita we put!  Also had this dope guy named Rene who drives Moto Taxis and is a member make me an all out American Lunch!  Steak, potatoes, corn and barbecue chicken.  I ate til I couldnt.  It was soo good!  Hes legit.  Had to do some street magic with my pen and tie to get a lesson in with a little girl who we want to baptize but she is to shy.  It worked alright.  Shes just afraid of water mainly but if we can get past that shell be baptized in no time!  

Anyway that was my week!  Hope you all have a great next week as well!  Love and miss you guys!

Elder Hunt

WEEK #79 He Lives!

What is in that bowl?

Can't be roaches?!

Hey guys so it was another great week for us here in Santa Cruz!!  Seriously love it here and seeing miracles every day.  This week was a little bit chilly and had to wear my jacket every day which I love.  Starting to get a little bit hotter but hopefully it can stay cool for a little while longer.

They ran out of food... just kidding!

My testimony was definitely strengthened this week to know that God guides us to where we need to go as missionaries.  So I dont think I mentioned it last week but we met this dude in the street named Tyron.  It was completely random how we met him.  We took a totally different route than we usually do to go to the Park and then we got stopped by some random old investigator of my comp and we crossed this river thing and my comp was going super slow crossing and such and we finally were walking on a solid road up hill and my comp was talking on the phone with someone else in English.  Anyway this dude comes up behind us walking with a bucket and paint brushes and says Hey Man thats some nice English.  He kept on walking.  So I was like Yo you speak English man and he was like ya dude!  He had like a happy accent from the 70s or 80s and I was like what the heck where are you from man?  and he said Califooornia maan!  So we started talking about why hes out here and whats he doing and stuff and ended up going to his restaurant that hes putting up called the Gringo Cali Tex Mex.  Pretty legit place.  We set a date to come back with him and its all started from there.  This dude legit looks like Snoop Dog.  Hes half white and half black.  He was an international DJ who traveled all over the world mixing sets and his legit DJ name is DJ 2 Tone Tyron cause hes half white and half black.  super cool.  anyway we went with him this Tuesday and were able to really find his needs and get to know him and such.  When we went back the following day we shared the message of the Restoration.  Now my whole mission Ive always just wanted to feel something super special while saying the First Vision cause its the most spiritual part and dont get me wrong ive definitely felt the spirit super strong while reciting the First Vision and Joseph Smiths story before but this time was just different as we were explaining it in English.. the spirit seriously just swooped in and touched us all and by the time I got to the First Vision I had the biggest chills and it was just like a spiritual bomb had gone off and you just couldnt deny the abundance of spirit that filled the little room.  he understood it soo clearly and when we asked him to pray to know if it was true and be baptized if he receives an answer he said well of course I will without a doubt!  Sooo wow.  And thats just the beginning cause we went back the next day and explained the Book of Mormon and he just has soo many good questions and hes super sincere with everything and really just wants to know the truth for himself.  so he started reading on Wednesday.  When we got back on Friday..we saw a completely different Tyron waiting for us.  He was shaven and had his hair back all nice and combed and wearing nice clothes as well.  He also told us that he had cleaned his apartment and washed all of his clothes..that he felt just a spark inside of him to start cleaning up his life and again wow.  The spirit is working on him soo much right now and seriously its amazing the miracles we are seeing right now.  

I do have to testify though that God and Satan are both equally real.  They both exist.  After having such a awesome lesson with him on Friday we again left his little under construction restaurant with big smiles like always and went to our next cita.  In the next cita we were just visiting a less active girl whos mom whos not a member was supposed to meeting with us too.  Her Mom said she was sick though and couldnt meet with us so we decided just to quickly invite the girl to Seminary and read a scripture about the importance of reading and praying.  As we were talking with her, her Step Dad (well the boyfriend of her Mom came out) and didnt even look at us but told her (yelled at her)  Did I not tell you that your Mom was sick.  Get rid of these Mormons right now, tell them to get out of this house right now!  He didnt even ask us if we could leave he just told her in front of us to tell us to get out.  Sooo honestly felt like that was Satan trying to discourage us after having such amazing lessons with Tyron.  But definitely recognized that and said well why should I get discouraged? theres no point thats what the adversary wants so im not going to.  so motivated us to work even more!

My testimony was also strengthened this week of the living Jesus Christ by hearing the testimonies of the General Authorities that came to our Stake Conference.  Now I dont ever recall hearing this in Utah or a testimony this direct or clear about Jesus Christ, but his testimony was unforgettable.  He said "I bear my special witness that Jesus Christ Lives.  I know that he is real.  He is a loving, friendly, and kind person who likes to smile."  I too testify that we as a church are led by Jesus Christ himself and as such are the only true church of him on the earth today.  

Wanted to finish this letter today with something I saw this morning that got to me.  Its something I saw a lot here actually and its a very sad sight to see.  Something that you all probably havent seen alot if ever.  and what I saw was just a women that had disfunctional legs, basically propelling herself forward on the ground with her hands, carrying her bag of food on top of her head.  basically dragging herself forward over the dirty roads with her hands towards her destination to who knows where or how far.  and Ill I could think was wow and how Jesus would have healed her and how she will have her legs one day in the resurrection.  people here even if they have those types of problems lots of times still wont listen to a message of the gospel..but one day she will have the chance to hear it and be healed.  But honestly how wonderful are our lives in which we live.  We truly do have a lot to be grateful for.  Never forget it.

I love you all have a great week!

Love Elder Hunt

WEEK #78 Pants Burnt

Hey everyone!!  Well its been a most excellent week with everything and Im loving Santa Cruz!  Its such an awesome place!!  Were doing really good here and getting some good stuff done!  Weather has been super whack this week being really cold one day and rainy and I have to wear a jacket the whole day to a super hot day where Im sweating buckets and have to use a fan!  Reminds me of Utahs weather a little haha!  Got some pretty legit Aerobie time in on Saturday morning cause we have this huge field right by our house and man was that fun!!  Trying to teach my comp how to throw a frisbee good, and also thinking about practicing some field goal and football stuff being as there are big goals on both sides!  Gonna be fun!!  Today we went to the Joya Grande Zoo and it was super legit!  I went there like 8 months ago and it was good to see it again this time with new people and crazy to think about the old people one of them being Elder Wing who is now married.  Pretty crazy stuff.  Rode a dinosour today and the funniest thing that happened was seeing Elder Harris getting his backpack bit by a camel hahaha I was trying to touch it and then it looked at him and went to bite him!  Funny stuff!

So I dont know if I mentioned it in my last letter but my new comp is named Elder Lorenzana!  Hes awesome!  He speaks English soo American its hilarious!  So this week we gave a capacitation to our zone and it was awesome!  Just got them super pumped to contact and it worked!!  We had 125 more contacts this week than the previous!  So were gonna keep at it!!  Also one of our investigators named Jose got an answer to his question through prayer and could feel through a dream and the spirit that the Book of Mormon is true!! The other Elders here baptized his daughter this Saturday and I was able to interview her and she was super awesome and hopefully her father and the rest of her family that lives apart can follow that example and be baptized as well!!

We had dinner with the Stake President this Tuesday as well and he told us something very important about choosing wives.  He was asking us why almost all missionaries are afraid to marry a return missionary and stuff like that but then told us that we just need to look for a wife that 1)  Loves God above all other things 2)  A wife thats a better person than you to help you be better always    Soo pretty good tips from Presidente Flores in my opinion!  But thats a ways out still haha

We had a super dope lesson and week with our investigator named David!!  Hes 17 and just the biggest stud!  We have his baptism planned for this Saturday and am so stoked for him!!  Our lesson on Thursday for him was the determining factor cause he told us he still wasnt ready but through sincere testimony he was able to feel the spirit and make the decision to be baptized this Saturday!!  I seriously feel like Ive met this kid before, maybe even before this life, hes so cool and gonna be a good buddy of mine always!!  Lets pray everything goes well this week!  But seriously such a good kid and gonna be such a fine missionary one day!!  His family is super legit as well!  His mom is a member but was less active for a while and her husband is gonna get baptized too but they just gotta get married but there already in the process so Im excited for them as well!  Such a cool family!!

Burning of the pants- 18 months out!

Not gonna lie this house was a wreck when I got here!  Probably the most messy and gross apartment Ive ever moved into but we gotta it ship shape clean this week.  So Im super happy about that as well.  Hard to feel the spirit if your surroundings are a mess!  This week it was just amazing though to be able to feel the spirit so strongly guiding my comp and I and our words!!  Love it!!

Read what he wrote on his pants!  Funny!!!

Cool so that was my week in a nutshell!  Im excited for this next one that comes as well and were gonna echar some fuego!!  The church is true!!  Jesus Christ guides us!!  I invite all of you to share our message of the Restoration with one of your friends or acquaintance this week.  Pray for more opportunities to share the gospel and God will open little doors and opportunities every day!!  and also as a stake we our doing a stake fast for the missionary work here!!  maybe you guys could help and join in and fast for all of the missionaries here and all over the world!!  Alma 6:6  Love you guys!!

Love Elder Hunt

P.S. I was gonna write in OFF on the brick wall behind my pants a big 18 and light it up but figured out that would be bad if the neighbors or anyone saw cause thats a big gang number here.. hahaha close call

WEEK #77 Santa Cruz De Yojoa!!

Hey everyone!  Its honestly been a crazy week.  Full of new places, people, and adventures.  Probably one of the craziest weeks of my mission.  Just lots of new stuff going on with the changes we had and everything!  This new area that I'm in is awesome!  I went from a hot, dry, flat, dusty place to the beautiful mountains of Yojoa.  Its so awesome here.  Its nice and cold!  The scenery and new views here are amazing.  It kind of reminds me a little bit of Santa Barbara but a nicer more civilized version.  My new companion is dope as well!  Hes a nice, positive, outgoing guy!  He was born here in Tegusigalpa, Honduras but moved to Guatemala when he was 14.  He speaks like perfect English as well and its super fun being comps with him!!  Were both assigned here as the Zone Leaders of the Yojoa Zone.  Its my first change as Zone Leader so hes showing me the ins and outs.  Super crazy.  Our zone is pretty big and we get to travel around alot to do divisions with other Elders and interview the District Leaders baptisms.  Ive been loving being able to travel around tons and see all the pretty sights around, and meet new people!  But ya its been a crazy week getting situated in the new house and trying to figure tons of stuff out.  The members here are super cool though.  This is probably one of the best wards Ive been in with members actually giving us tons of refferals and helping us out tons!  Good stuff.

We traveled a lot this week having to go to Villanueva like 3 times for different conferences and such.  We had the opportunity on Wednesday to hear from Missionary Executive Deparment of the Church and it was really inspiring everything that they said!  I loved it all and learned a ton!  On Friday me and my comp went to Mochito which is clear out in the middle of no where to do baptismal interviews for the DL there.  Ive always wanted to go to Mochito cause Ive heard that its super beautiful and nice and cold.  So it was fun being able to finally go there and see it!  We had to take a Taxi to get out of Santa Cruz then we took a Bus down to Joyoa from there we took a moto taxi to Rio Lindo and we waited for a bus to take us to Las Vegas and then we had to take another moto taxi up in the mountains to a little rural spot in Mochito.  and we had to take the same route out on the way back!  so that was a super fun experience.  soo pretty.  honestly an adventure!  on the way back we found some white people on the bus a dude and 2 girls and so we started talking with them and found out they were from the Netherlands!  they spoke pretty good English and it was funny cause I approached them saying hola como estan? and the girl was like no hablo espanol.  super funny hearing that.  but they were super interested in what young people like us were doing and so we were able to have a great conversation with them about the church and the Restoration and they said that they are going to go attend church when they get back to see how it is and find out more in the Netherlands!!  Hopefully it goes well with them!

Sunday was pretty crazy as well cause we had to give a capacitation to the whole Stake of Villanueva and all their leaders.  There was about 150 people listening to us as we introduced the new mission plan and vision that we had for the Stake.  Kind of nerve wracking to be honest but cool.  If you all recall I was in Villanueva like 7 months ago in the Ward El Plan.  So it was super cool cause i was able to see a bunch of my good friends and the members from my old ward and it was a great experience seeing them all!  Its funny cause after 7 months of not seeing them a lot of them had changed.  Like they looked different.  Which makes me wonder after 2 years of not seeing all of you guys hows it gonna be?  hahaha well we will see I guess.  So anyway cant really remember all the other stuff that happened this week.  Just lots of big and new exciting things going on!  Also it changes it was super cool to be able to see all my buddies from the mish!  weird cause lots of my buddies went home.  time is flying by way too fast.  

Anyway I love you all and hope you all have a great week!!  Enjoy the snow!!  Ill try to write more details next week and send pics.  Just got to get a grip on things this week!

Love Elder Hunt        

WEEK #76 Adios Trincheras

Hey, how are ya??  Hope you all had a great week and that your all enjoying the cold and falling snow!!  I dream about that stuff haha!  But still blazing hot over here!!  Soo got some news last night that I have transfers and am heading out of Trincheras!  Im excited and happy about it for the most part cause ive been here for quite a long time (6 months) and Im ready to see new sights, meet new people, and have new experiences.  Changes are always fresh and exciting!  But Its been really cool getting to know such amazing people and being a part of their family and being able to see the changes in soo many people over this period of time and feeling their love for me as Ive been here in Trincheras!  Ive definitely made some great memories and friends that are gonna be with me forever!  Kinda sad having to leave everyone but Im just stoked and excited to be starting a new chapter of my mission!  Just time to hit it harder than ever with everything Ive learned over my mission!!  Bring it all to the table and not hold anything back!!  But ya next week Ill be writing all of you from a new location and with a new comp and hope its all the best!!

This week was a good one to end of Trincheras!!  I was super happy with the turnout we had on Sunday!!  Lots of less actives that weve been working with and investigators as well were able to come and we had our church assistance higher than ever!  Highest Ive seen it in my 6 months here!  So that was really rewarding to see my last week here!  I hope it just continues to go up!  Also just feel good leaving some investigators here that I know are going to be ready for baptism this next change and the change after.  Hope the new guys will be pilas and excited to get at it with all the investigators we have!!  Leave it better than you found it!!

Something else that was really cool this week is that I was able to baptismal interview 2 people on Friday to see if they were ready for baptism!  They both passed good and it was amazing to me to be able to feel the spiritual promptings that came from the Holy Ghost to let me know what to say and more than anything at the end to tell me Yes with both of them.  The 1st one was a 13 year old boy and he was just soo excited about being baptized and the 2nd one that night was an 28 year old man who just had a killer testimony of the Gospel and was sooo ready and excited for his baptism and already looking forward to going to the temple in the future!!  It was so awesome to just see his testimony burning and it was a great experience for us both.

Well we'll see where these changes take me!!  Cant wait to tell you all where Im at next week!!  Lots of my good buddies are ending the mish right now like my comp Elder Ririe and its pretty crazy stuff.  Just gotta live it up while your out here cause time is flying by so fast!!   Love you all!!  Have a great week!! 

Love Elder Hunt    

WEEK #75 Sica

Well looks like there's a new Virus out that comes from Mosquitos..  Gotta love it haha first it was Dengue (which I got) and then it was Chickenguya, and now its the SICA.  The Sica has been pegging everyone down here and it got my comp this week.  Kinda blows cause with Sica you get a high fever and your bones ache and then you get a mad rash all over your body and it makes you super itchy.  Soo lets pray I don't get that but ya poor comp.  We had to take a break this week during the final days of the week so that he could rest and try to get better.

Umm so ya this week was chill.  Not much to report other than the comp being sick.  So pray for him that he can continue to get better please.  Had interviews with President and such and it went really good!  He just makes you feel like the best person ever.  I love President!  Umm our investigator Jose Luis is progressing really good!  He has friends in the church and we were able to brotherhood him even more this week.  His little daughter loved church sooo much last week that she was bothering him every day asking if it was Sunday already.  and he kept on saying no and finally asked her why and she said cause I wanna go to church again!!  so that's was really cool!  hes likes the church as well!!  but bummer cause he cant go for 3 weeks straight cause of his work schedule!!

But ya that was about it!  Kind of boring week.  Sorry that there wasn't much to report!  This is my last week here though in Trincheras so I'm gonna be saying goodbye to everyone and we will see what happens next week!  I'm excited though!!  been here for 6 months now and ready for a change of scenery and new experiences and challenges!!  loved it here though no complaints!

Alright well have a very good week all of you!! Love you guys ton!!  Hope your all accomplishing your goals!!

Love Elder Haden

p.s. I'll try to send loads of photos next week! but here's one of the beach!!  enjoy!  haha flippy

2 p.s. i can eat Jalapenos now and it doesn't bother me hahaha #mexicano

WEEK #74 Vision

Hey everybody!  Happy New Years!!  I hope you were all able to pass it well and have a good time welcoming the New Years in.  I honestly love New Years cause its a good time to take a good look at your life and see your weak points and try to figure out how to improve them.  Its a great time to leave bad habits in the past and replace them with good ones.  A good time to leave all the bad behind and look forward to the future and have a vision of what you want to become.  I hope you all were able to come up with some goals for this new year on what you can improve to be the best you that you can be.  To achieve your full potential wherever you are at in life.  These goals can be for in the church, in your work, in your personal life, or in your family.  But whatever you have come up with make sure to write it down and put some specifics on it about how your gonna accomplish it, when, and then start doing it!  There's a 20-80 rule which means that the first 20 percent that you put into a goal getting it started and planning it out well will usually have a great determining factor on how the rest or the other 80 percent goes.  That wants to say that if you start off super strong and make plans and get your goal going chances are that you will be able to do really well with that goal in the long run!  So get started!!  Also make sure to put down the most important goals first and ask yourself if I could only do 1 thing before leaving on a trip for 3 months what 1 thing what I get done or what 1 goal would I try to accomplish before leaving.  Whatever it is jump on that goal first and tackle it!!  Get it done!!  I hope we can all write down our goals and have a great new year!  Lets all make the changes and be the people that we've said we've wanted to be for the past couple of years!!  Lets Go!!!

Sweet.  So for New Years we ate sooo many good things.  I think it may have won Christmas.  We started off the 31st eating a Pork Leg that was cooked in a huge oven and it was sooo juicy and delicious.  Probably my favorite meal of the month!!  Then we went to another house and had some Carne Asada that was also delish.  Then we finished off the night going to another members house that gave us Lasagna.  Pretty descent.  But it was like a Thanksgiving day.  Love getting fed by members!!  Then we stayed at the members house and were able to watch the neighbors and everyone in the street light off the MONO its also called the MUNECA.  What it is is they stuff up a dummy and it looks kinda like a scare crow accept for it stuffed up with bombs and fireworks and firecrackers.   Then at 12 o clock they light it off and get far away from it and then it started burning and ka boomed.  Tons of explosions and fireworks flying everywhere.  It was awesome!!  Made sure to have some sparkling cider as well!

With investigators we were able to have some pretty good results and turn outs this week!  Lots showed up for church including our new guy Jose Luis and his family!!  Hes super pilas and loved the church and everything!!  Super legit!   Also found about this little kid named Jorge from the Primary that is the little brother of a 14 year old kid named Jose short story is that Jose is the only member of his family but he loves the church and goes every week and has brought his little brother for the last couple of years and his little brother Jorge just turned 8 and wants to get  baptized so they talked with us this Sunday!!  so were gonna start going with the little guy and make sure hes solid for his baptism!  cute little guy!!  fun stuff!!

Anyways that's about it for this week.  We went to the beach today and it was cool.  Full of garbage and trash and rubbish and stuff from all the parties of Christmas and New Years but we had some fun throwing the Pig Skin and me flipping.  Still got it.  but I've lost form for sure!!  got burnt which is sweet!  anyway gotta head out now but I love all of you guys and hope you all kill it with your goals this year!!  Oh ya i got like 6 months left hahaha.. CRAZY.  See you in July!!

Love Elder Hunt

WEEK #73 Feliz Ano Nuevo

Hey hows it going everybody??  Hope you all had a Merry White Christmas and that you all enjoyed the heaps of snow!  It looked sooo good!!  Your all soo lucky!  While you all had your heaters going for Christmas we all had our fans running full blast and were trying not to sweat, cause it was super hot this week!!  But it definitely was a Christmas for the books!  One that Ill never forget!  We had a ton of fun and enjoyed sharing with others!

We had a Ward Christmas Dinner this week that was super delish!  Olaf even came!!  We saw lots of acts and dances and singing!  We even got to sing ourselves!  Threw on the Santa Hats and sang some Silent Night mixed with some Noche de Luz!  It sounded pretty legit for being kinda last minute!  Food was great though and we had a fun time hanging with the members and enjoying the Christmas spirit!!  Had some investigators there which was cool as well!

Thursday night was super cool!  Throughout the whole day we just went to the members houses and they gave us lots of Ticucos and Tamales and Sandwiches!!  Also Wednesday night another threw my comp a birthday party with cake and sandwiches it was dope!  It was fun being able to eat soo much food and go from one appointment to the other getting stuffed, it was basically Thanksgiving!  After about 4 Ticucos (basically are tamales) and 2 Tamales and 1 sandwich we went to our final appointment of the night and it was super cool.  I had (with the help of my parents) got some gifts for this poor family that doesn't have much and their 2 twin daughters and 8 year old daughter who just got out of the Hospital some little toys and gifts!  We went over there in the night and I dressed up kinda like Santa Clause and brought all the gifts wrapped into their house saying HOHOHO Feliz Navidad and jingling my keys!  They were so excited and I put all the gifts under the tree and just seeing the looks on their faces was priceless!!  Then the member gave us a nice turkey dinner cause he wanted to do something super nice for us as well.  It was sooo delicious and somehow we were able to get all that food down without problems!  

Then the 24th in the night was pretty crazy again!  As soon as 12 o clock rolled around the whole night sky lit up with fireworks and firecrackers and booms and bangs and colors and chinese lanterns!  It was super legit!  Alot cooler than Santa Barbara last year cause there were definitely more fireworks going off and commotion!  Cant wait for New Years as well!!  I'd imagine that being in a war zone would kinda feel like the 24th or 31st just lots of lights and booms and bangs everywhere!  Pretty cool stuff!

Christmas day was soo goood as well!  We all had a zone activity in the morning to play some games, exchange some gifts and watch some videos together and focus in on the true meaning of Christmas even more!!  It was pretty cool and then my favorite part of the day was being able to talk with my family!!  It was soo fun!  I enjoyed every second!  Its different here in Honduras cause basically no one is a Christmas fanatic and so it was great being able to share the same enthusiasm for Christmas with my family!  Love those guys!!

Anyway really cool week and had some great experiences!  Wish I could tell you everything with all the details but this letter is getting too long haha!  Hope you all had a Holly Jolly Christmas and that you have a Happy New Years as well!!  Make some goals, set your priorities, tackle the most important goals first and just stick with it!!  Hope you all enjoy the fresh new start of the year and that you can all set some great goals for your lives!!  I'm stoked about mine!!  Love you all and have a great week!!  Have fun in the snow!!  2016!!!  Lets Go!!

Love Elder Hunt