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

 

 

 

 

Week 9 - spreading the Gospel

What? It`s been 2 MONTHS?? I`ll be home before you know it!

This week was a little more difficult. We are having a hard time finding more people to teach. And the people that we thought were doing really well and progressing, suddenly aren`t very interested anymore, and their baptism dates fell through ALL of them for the next two weeks! Uh that`s probably the hardest part. I know with all my heart that this gospel is true and I want everyone to know what I know! And it`s really hard for me to see people reject it. But the right people are being prepared and maybe everyone else just needs a little bit more time.

But being here on a different continent really has proved to me that this gospel is universal. I had a step-back moment where I really thought about how this gospel is exactly the same here as it is in the United States.. and Sweden and Bulgaria and Argentina and EVERYWHERE else! 

 

I love spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. My testimony is strengthened every single day!

 

I love you all!!!

P.s. there are some people out there, you know who you are! (Hannah, Ryan, Noelle, Brandon, Eric... and more) that need to write me!!!! I`ll be waiting.

P.S.S. the cable to my camera is not working so I can't get pictures uploaded yet, will get that worked out and then send pictures with these updates.

Week 8 - 12 Days in Ecuador

12 days already?? That´s almost 2 weeks!! WOW! 

 

By the way, Gangnam Style is HUGE here right now!!!

Okay so I love being North American here! I haven´t seen another white person.. people literally shout from rooftops and hang out of their car when I walk by. No one has colored eyes here so they are all amazed! It´s pretty fun:)

What´s not so fun is this food! Around 1:30 every day, I feel like I´m going to die! They feed us soo much and we have to eat it all! Oh man it´s a real struggle. Oh my word.. so it´s a rule for missionaries here that we can´t eat pig.. and we were eating at someone´s house and we had no idea what they were feeding us. But I was seriously trying not to throw up! Like seriously. I had to take deep breathes and shove it down. After forcing myself to eat the whole thing, we found out that it was PIG FEET AND INTESTINES! So so far I have eaten that, and FURRY cow intestines (please picture that I pray that I don´t die), and rice with ants in it. 

 

Oh I am being humbled every day here. The houses are either tree houses or houses that are lucky to have 4 walls and a roof. Most houses only have 3 walls and the rooms are divided by sheets. It really made me appreciate everything that I have back home. The people here are so humble.

Ah Satan has been working hard on me here. The first week I got really sick with an infection that spread throughout my body. I´m feeling a lot better now! They put me on SEVEN different medicines! Then once I started getting better, I got an allergic reaction to the bugs here! My eye was completely swollen shut and all my bug bites turned purple! I´m beter now from that too! Prayers really are answered! 

 

I love it here!!! Well this is all the time I have. I love you all!!

I plan on getting pictures on these blogs soon, but the cable for my phone isn't working so just waiting for my parents to send a new one.

Hermana Hunt!

Side note to my familia:

I just had to share this funny thing with you all really quick..

So the people here all ride around on motorcycles. Dirt bikes. With their whole family!! on ONE bike!!! Seriously just imagine our entire family hopping on dad´s motorcycle and riding around!!! I´m laughing so hard thinking about it!! And men ride together too! All the time! Now imagine dad and steve! AHAHAH! Oh my word.

Week 7 - Bienvenidos to the jungle!!

Hola!! 

 

Leaving the MTC in Peru. Here is a picture of my group, GRUPO 14

 

 

 

Well I made it to Ecuador!!! 

 

The first day was spent at the President's home with President and Sister Amaya. 

Here is what they wrote my parents:

After her experience in the Perú MTC we had the wonderful opportunity to receive Sister Hunt at the airport along with other missionaries in her group, we shared together a welcome lunch, and special moments starting her mission. She received instruction on the rules of the mission and the correct manner to work, she met her first companion, Sister Gomez from Guatemala and was trained in the "Plan of First Twelve Weeks, "according to the direction we received from the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. With great pleasure I am pleased to report that the development of the Plan of Twelve Weeks has been so far a great experience with excellent results.

 

Here is a picture with my trainer, companion: Sister Gomez and Sister Hunt.

 

 

 

And I am literally in a little civilized town in the middle of the jungle! Seriously part of my ward is tree houses!!

So this past Friday we had a baptism! A 19 year old girl named Daniela. She amazes me! She lives with her aunt and uncle and none of her family supports her decision to be baptized. On the night of her baptism, none of her family came! She is doing this all on her own! So I was asked to give the talk at her baptism!! On my SECOND DAY! Oh wait.. that´s not all! They asked me to sing too! I sang and gave a talk at my first baptism. Wow they don´t kid around here.

Sorry I don´t have any time this week to write much! But I love you all!

Hermana Hunt xoxox

Week 5 - Last week in Peru CCM

This week has been really great!

But, I am most definitely ready to leave the CCM and get to Ecuador!!

So I thought that you would appreciate this.. we took our group picture and we had to get in order from tallest to shortest and I am the VERY shortest person! ..in the entire CCM!!! I honestly didn´t know I was that short!!

Sorry for the short email this week. Computers are having problems here at the CCM.

Well until next time when I get to update everyone from Ecuador!

Con amor, Hermana Hunt!