The power of a simple fast

Hello everyone!

This past week definitely tried my faith a little bit. We were supposed to have a baptism yesterday, but everything fell apart in these last few days. Everything was perfect. We had everything set up, but on the day of our investigator's interview, we couldn't find him. We tried for hours. Which then turned into days. Our faith was tested every time we went to his house and no one answered the door. We didn't even know what to do. We were walking around outside on Saturday and we decided to start a fast. Right there. We just stopped what we were doing and begged for help from the Lord. I'm not going to lie, that was the hardest fast I have ever done. It was 100 degrees and I was sick, but it was worth it. The next day at church we had a bunch of less actives and an entire investigator FAMILY come to church! We had a lot of people there! We also saw other miracles falling from the sky. Of course it was difficult, but I now have a very strong testimony about fasting. If we do it right and with a sincere heart, we will receive answers from heaven. We didn't get it in the way we expected; we still can't find that investigator that was supposed to be baptized, but we received what we really needed. 

I love the gospel! I love being a missionary! It is really tough, but every second is worth it. 

I love you all! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Hunt 

p.s. I have become a pro rapper out here. ..and I'm getting tan. WADDUP!

Las chinchas...

So.. this week was pretty interesting. I'll start off with the weird part. So a couple weeks ago, I started getting these really weird bug bites. I always get bit by bugs, so I didn't really think anything of it, but they kept getting worse and worse. Then I mentioned it to another sister that we live with and she had the same thing! We thought that they were just mosquito bites. But then we were talking to another sister that just moved from our apartment to another one and she had the same thing! Well.. we found out a few days ago that we have BED BUGS! It started in one apartment and because we've done exchanges, it's now in like 6 sister apartments! And we just found out that somehow, ALL the Elders in our zone have them too! Eventually this is going to be an entire mission thing. We've been trying to talk to members to see how we can quickly get rid of them. We basically baptized our entire apartment yesterday with baking soda and salt. So.. if anyone has anymore suggestions. That would be great!

Okay on to the missionary stuff. 

We had a great week! We were able to find a lot of new people and they are progressing really well. We have this one investigator named Roberto. He is absolutely ready for baptism, all he needs to do is get married. So we are trying to plan a wedding for this week so that he can be baptized as soon as possible. He is so great! 

 

Even though we had a lot of highs this week, we also had a lot of lows. Some of our incredibly amazing investigators dropped us this week. We have no idea why, but we can't ever go back to them again. In a situation like that, it's hard to keep the faith. We might say, we did everything that we could do for those people, where did we go wrong? The only way to get through this is to keep our focus and keep the faith. We need to focus on the people that we actually have and use the gift of discernment to find the people that are being prepared. We are really excited to keep our investigators progressing. All we need is love. I love the people here, and I want the best for them. So I am going to work as hard as I can to help them be as happy as I am with the true gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. 

I love you all! Btdubs.. I love letters:)) 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Hunt 

All you need is a little bit of faith..

Hello!

This week was a little crazy. It was a bit rough. My health, our investigators, companions, just the normal mission life; but something happened yesterday that gave my all the faith and motivation that I needed...

We have been teaching an investigator named Lazaro. He is an older man that is paralyzed from a stroke. He was able to get a little movement in his left leg, but that's it. He has been going through some health trials lately and couldn't make it to church yesterday. We went over to his house to see what was going on, and we decided to have some Elders come with us to give him a priesthood blessing. Lazaro did not doubt his faith for a minute. He knew that he would start to feel better once he received the blessing; but no one expected what would happen next.. He was sitting down in his wheelchair, and out of no where he just decided to stand up!! Then he started shouting, "I DID IT!" And after a little bit, he took a few steps!!! I was just sitting there in amazement! His wife started crying. (I might have shed a few tears also) He knew with all of his heart that he was helped through the power of the priesthood. I know that it is real. Through that experience, there is no way I could ever deny it. I love this gospel! I love what I am able to teach everyday. 

I love you all! Have a great Easter! <3

Hermana Hunt 

Birthday and Hello World

Well as most of you should know, March 30h was my birthday, I can't believe I am no longer a teenager and now 20 years old. Wow!

My Zone leaders threw me a birthday party, they tricked us by saying there was going to be a Zone meeting at the church and it became a birthday party. They even baked me a cake. Yes I blew all the candles out with one breath.

CONFERENCE! General Conference has been on my mind for the last few days. It was AMAZING! Honestly, General Conference on the mission is the best! It was better than my birthday! Oh my word I can't even explain how much I loved it! I have pages and pages of notes. Sadly, I forgot them all at home, so.. I'm just going to wing it. 

One of my favorite talks was the one on Sunday by President Uchtdorf. He was talking about gratitude. I loved when he said that we don't have to be grateful FOR things, but be grateful IN our circumstances. Sometimes we feel like we don't have anything to be grateful for; especially in times of trouble. I know I've felt that before. After listening to this talk, I know that it is our choice. We can choose whether or not to have an attitude of gratitude. We all have trials (I know I've talked a TON about trials) but if we just stay grateful and continually keep that attitude, everything will be okay.

I don't have a ton of time. But I love you all! If you didn't get a chance to watch all sessions of general conference, I suggest that you go online and watch them! They were all amazing!! 

Everyone should send me letters:) I love letters:) 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Hunt

A day in the life of Hermana Hunt

So I would just like to tell you all about my Saturday last week. This is actually pretty normal in my life.

Okay so it was Saturday and I LOVE Saturdays! Saturday are game days. The day to get everything done. So we went out teaching and we decided to walk all day so that we could talk to as many people on the street as possible. We only had a few hours because we had to go to an activity at our ward mission leader's house. We ended up walking 7 miles in total for those couple hours. Our last house to go to was a lady named Rosa. Rosa and I are like best friends! We basically just laugh together when we have lessons. The only problem is that she works on Sunday, so she can never go to church. We went into this lesson actually planning on dropping her as an investigator. Towards the end of the lesson, I had a super strong feeling to invite her to be baptized again and she said yes! My companion didn't really know what I was doing at first, but it worked out! She has been searching for a new job and she really wants this in her life.

Okay now after all that goodness, we went out to our car to go to the activity because we were already late. We get out there and realize that the keys were inside the car.. and we were outside the car.. and the car was locked. Great. We called some members and eventually got the number for someone to help us out. While we were waiting for one guy, another guy showed up because one of our members called him and sent him to where we were! Perfect. Meanwhile, all the other missionaries were at the activity together, so they all knew what was going on. Our district leader was like freaking out. He's great! He worries about us. :) But then our phone died!! We had no way to call the other missionaries or the first lock guy that was on his way! We ended up going to a gas station and I used the payphone to call Elder Miller. Then we tried calling the lock place, but we ran out of time, so we decided to just go to the activity. 

 

Next problem, we didn't know how to get to our ward mission leader's house! So.. we guessed. We made it!! Then.. the gate was locked. We didn't have a phone to call the missionaries to unlock it and it's a farm so the house was super far from the gate. So what do we decide to do? Jump the gate. We are brilliant. We're missionaries in skirts. Why wouldn't that work? And I can't hop fences! Somehow I always get stuck! So yes I was standing at the top and I was too scared to jump down, so my companion had to help me.

Let's just say the other missionaries had a big laugh when we made it back to the house.

There you go. A day in the life of Hermana Hunt

Hello World!!

Hello world!

This week went by pretty quickly! It's the last week of the transfer and it seems like everything is getting a bit crazy. My companion and I are kind of at the point in our area where we have a fresh start. 

Yesterday I was able to speak in church! I was so excited because it was all about missionary work! I talked about how I decided to go on a mission, the trials that I went through, and the blessings that I have received. Oh man, I could have written an entire book about that! Everyone's face was in shock when I said that I was originally called to a different mission in Ecuador. I definitely woke some people up. It was super great! I love talking in church and being able to bear my testimony to everyone there. 

Another cool thing that happened yesterday; we went to visit the grandparents of a recent convert and they are seriously some of the happiest people I know. I love going over to visit them because they just have amazing spirits. As we were talking with them last night, we found out that the grandma had cancer! She told us that she just does what she needs to do to try and treat it, but besides that she just lives her life. She said that it all depends on your attitude. She doesn't have an attitude of sadness, so she said that she feels fine. Then they both started laughing and we look at the grandpa and he sais is, "You know what's funny?.. I have cancer too!" 

I never would have guessed! They are so upbeat and happy! Then the next thing he said was, "..and we LOVE LIFE!" They said that even when we have trials, we should face them with a good attitude. They are so amazing. I'm not going through anything as tough as them and they have better attitudes than I do. They are such an example. So let's have great attitudes and just LOVE LIFE no matter what happens:) 

I love you all! LETTERS!:) 

Hermana Hunt

My Long Journey from Ecuador to Texas!!!

I guess it times I get everyone caught up on what has transpired so far on my mission. As most of you are aware I was called to the Ecuador Guayaquil North Mission. While there my health started to get really bad and I was going to doctor's more than I was teaching lessons. It got to the point that the Mission doctor thought it would be best if I went home and got the medical attention I needed. So on September 3rd I came home to recover and get well so I could go back out. 

My original intentions was to be out before my dad's birthday on October 30th, but thing too a little longer that I had hoped. But slowly the Lord worked his miracles and I started getting better and I was cleared to re-submit my papers to go back out into the mission field. 

My new call is for the Texas, McAllen Mission, Spanish speaking. I reported directly to the mission on Decmeber 30th. So it might have been 2 months longer than I wanted, but I am so excited to be back out doing the Lord's work. Maybe one day I will update the blog with my thoughts and struggles from this time. The time between my missions, but until that time, you can enjoy of my mission updates from time here in the Texas, McAllen Mission.

JANUARY 6TH:

I'm back baby!! (Swoosh baby!)

I am officially a missionary again! And I absolutely LOVE it! I am in the Texas, McAllen mission speaking Spanish. I am in the wonderful zone of.. wait for it.. BROWNSVILLE! Please go look that up on a map and see how awesome that is! My area actually has an island in it! It is the coolest thing ever! I honestly hope that I am able to stay in this area for a long time. So we actually teach in English and in Spanish. Almost every person that lives here only speaks Spanish though. The people here are absolutely amazing! I don't have too much time today, but I'll just tell you all a quick story. 

My companions ( I have TWO) and I were going to meet someone at the park to teach them a lesson. So we went at 3 to meet him there, but he wasn't there! So we waiting for a little while longer, but he still didn't come, so we started talking to a lady that was there with her daughter. She absolutely loved what we were saying and she invited us to go back and teach her another day! Perfect! We got in our car and started driving away, then we realized that we weren't supposed to meet that guy until 4!! So we went back to see if he was there this time.. he still wasn't. But then we ended up meeting 3 teenagers and they were talking about how they wanted to join a religion! That's exactly what a missionary wants to hear. So we taught them and I even asked them to be baptized! They said that they would, but they didn't know when they would be ready. We set a return appointment with them for tomorrow! I'm super excited! So even though we weren't able to meet up that one guy, we were able to meet and teach FOUR people! What seemed discouraging at first, actually turned into an amazing blessing! 

Okay that's it for the week! I would LOVE to get letters from you all!! My address is 

Sister Jennifer Hunt

Texas McAllen Mission

200 W. La Vista Ave.

McAllen, TX 78501 

I love you all!! 

Hermana Hunt

 

 

JANUARY 13TH:

 

Hello world! 

This week was a great week! It flew by soo quickly! It's finally getting a little bit hotter and it's starting to feel like Texas!! I am absolutely in love with this mission! I don't understand how I could possibly love it this much, BUT I DO! My companions are great, my area is amazing, and the food is to DIE FOR! 

 

 

 

Teaching wise, this week went pretty well. We found a lot of people that are really interested! There is something here called OYM (open your mouth) that all the missionaries talk about. We are supposed to strive to talk to everyone that we see! It's really hard, but my companions and I made a goal to ALWAYS open our mouths. We never know where the prepared people will be. It was a little scary at first, but I decided to let love be the reason. 

Let love be  the reason why I talk to everyone on the streets. 

Let love be the reason why I get over my fear. 

Let love be the reason why we teach all of our investigators. 

Let love be the reason why I follow all the rules. 

Let love be the reason why I ride my bike when I'm supposed to. 

Let love be the reason why we try to serve. 

Just let love be the reason:) 

I love you all! Don't forget to send me letters!:) 

P.S. we got a new Jeep this week! All the other missionaries are super jealous. We have the nicest car in the mission now:) We named him Jianie. It's a combo of all our names:)

 JANUARY 20TH:

So this week was super interesting! Last P Day, but trainer got the brilliant idea to DYE our hair with kool aid! Yes I've done it before and I might have suggested it.. but she was the one who made the final decision. HA! So she did her ENTIRE head and I just did the bottom part. Yes.. we are missionaries. But it's ok! We showed our district leader and he loved it! So I'm pretty sure we're okay.. I hope. 

Okay so weird story of the week. We were walking around Laguna Heights and we decided to know on this door. A guy answered and he started yelling, "ANGELS! There are ANGELS on my doorstep!" And he kept saying it over and over and over! Awk. Then he invited us inside, but we were super hesitant. But he kept insisting; and since there are 3 of us, we're allowed to go into all houses. But we get in there and there are 3 drunk guys! It was honestly the funniest thing of my life! But also the weirdest thing. So we taught a quick lesson and got out. Gee whiz.

So we met this lady this week named Elizabeth. She was part of the catholic church, but she knew that she needed to look at other churches because she didn't think that the way they prayed was correct. Perfect. So we taught her all about prayer. She loved the lesson, so we asked her to say the last prayer before we left. She was pretty nervous at first, but eventually she did it. It was the most beautiful prayer I've ever heard. It was just like a child. She told Him all the things that she liked to do, and just everything about herself. It was truly like a child talking to their dad. And isn't that the point? We're talking to our Heavenly Father. She really helped me understand that true purpose of prayer. 

Okayyyyy so I found some of your twins! A-ron! There is a guy named George here and you two are like the SAME person! Haha it's awesome! And also AJ and President Sheranian! Haha I found your twins in Port Isabel! Anyway, have a great week!! 

 

 

Oh.. story behind one of these pictures, I was trying to hop the border and the guard goat tried to bite me! 

I LOVE YOU ALL! 

Hermana Hunt :))

FEBRUARY 10TH:

Hello world! Sorry I haven't sent an email in awhile. About two weeks ago, I got super sick. Like Ecuador kind of sick! My life has been full of doctors appointments and pharmacy visits. It got to a point where my mission President said that if none of the doctors can help me in 2 weeks, then I'll be sent home. There was no way in heck I was going to let that happen again! I prayed harder than I ever have before. I definitely felt the prayers of you all from back home. It was a long journey but finally I got some answers! And I've been feeling a lot better! I'm still recovering, but it's been a HUGE change within the last couple of days. Thank you all so much for your support and love! 

If there was one thing I've learned through this trial is how much I LOVE the mission. Being sent home once is hard, but hearing that you might get sent home again is tragic. This has given me the determination to make every single day I'm here count. I don't want to waste another minute. I'm in this for the long run. :) I love you all!! 

My zone leaders got me a teddy bear to make me feel better:) 

 

 

con mucho amor, 

Hermana Jennifer Hunt