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.

Add caption

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