What? 2015?

I hope everyone had a great CHRISTMAS! It's crazy how that week just flew by! And to everyone that has missionaries out.. I hope you enjoyed talking to them!

On Christmas Eve our zone had an "Elf" day! We did a bunch of things that an "Elf" would do! We all made a TON of paper snow flakes, then we ate spaghetti and syrup, (Well.. not me. I WISH) Then we all made Christmas Grams! Yes.. ours was a Christmas rap. Why wouldn't everyone make me rap? That's become a thing now that probably needs to stop. It's becoming known around the MISSION. J Hizz is retiring. 

This week was really great here for us! Christmas was here and gone.. now we get to focus on New Years! I can't believe that it's going to be 2015!! WHAT? I haven't been home since 2013! I think this was probably been the fastest year of my life. Probably because I have loved it SO much! I can't help but reflect back on this past year and count all of the blessings I received. I have had the amazing opportunity to be here in Texas as a missionary spreading the gospel. What year could be better than that? 

 

Last year I came to this mission not knowing why I had to serve in 2 missions. I've grown a lot here and in my mission president's words that he told me in my last interview, "it may have been crazy, but you made it to YOUR mission." I made it! The journey was NUTS! But hey. It was an adventure right? Sorry this one won't be too long! But I love you all! Enjoy 2015! Make some really great goals, then make some PLANS, then do them!! 

My family knows me too well:) My Christmas PJ's....

 

 

Our little Christmas tree!

This is how they celebrate Christmas in Laredo, pinata baby.

I am so excited, we get to go see Frozen on New Years Eve. So we had to get into the Disney spirit and have some fun!!!!

This is how we roll!

 

I love you all. Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year.. talk to you again in 2015!!!!

con amor, 

Hermana Hunt

Feliz Navidad!

Well first off.. MERRY CHRISTMAS! y Feliz Navidad! y espero que tengan un prospero ano!

Hello all! 

 

This week was a really great one here in the TMM. The Corpus trip went well! We drove there and back all in one piece. So that's a plus. The Christmas Conference was AMAZING! Well.. mostly funny. There was a little devotional about Christmas, then we did the skits, (I remembered the rap) then we did a musical number. We have NEVER run through the whole thing until the actual performance. Let's just say that we are never going to speak of that again and now we have a lot of work to do to build back up the Laredo South Zone's name.. For real. Then we did gift exchanges and ate a TON of chocolate and popcorn.. then we had a health training about not gaining wait. Perfect timing. I still have a lot of chocolate sitting on my desk. It's tempting! 

Also. THE REYES FAMILY GOT BAPTIZED! 

 

It was a lot of work and a lot of prayers, but the Lord provided! They are going to be so happy as members:) They are one amazing family. I was looking through my pictures the other day and I found one from the first day we met them! When they went to a branch activity 2 hours after we talked to them in the street. The Lord prepares people to hear and accept this gospel.

So some of the elders had a brilliant idea that we reenact the Nativity scene for the primary on Sunday. So what did they bring? Towels and ties to put on our heads. The members looked at us like we were CRAZY, but those little kids enjoyed it! I really don't think this zone is normal.

Well MERRY CHRISTMAS! I really love you all! I hope you all enjoy it. Take a little time to think about the true meaning of CHRISTmas. We have been given such an amazing gift. We should love an appreciate it every day, not only in this time of the year; but especially now. We have a Father in Heaven that loves us so much. Every single one of us. And an older brother that loved us so much that he suffered for us. For anyone that might be alone this season just remember that you are never truly alone. We will always have a someone with us. That's something that I've learned a lot here on the mission. We will always have a support. When things get hard, there is one person that we can always rely on. And He always knows how we feel. 

I love you all! Have a great Christmas!! 

con amor, 

Hermana Hunt

You can all call me translator Hunt now :)

Oh come all ye faithful! Hello! 

Everything is going pretty well here in Laredo! Just to start.. remember how I said that my area was the border? Well.. all these lights are Mexico, and I was standing in the middle of our area. 

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Okay I love it here. I've always loved Laredo but.. I really love it! I definitely hope this is my last area and I just stay here for the next few months! 

Here's a little story from church yesterday. There is a family here in the English branch that was asked to speak in church, but they only speak Spanish! So the mom asked me if I would be able to translate her talk for her. I thought she meant for me to write it down in English then she can try to say it up there.. nope. She definitely wanted me to stand at the pulpit with her and repeat after her in English. My Spanish skills were put to the test! But yes I was actually able to do it. I stood in front of everyone for about 25 minutes repeating a paragraph after the sister said it. It was pretty cool. I definitely had to be on my toes and make sure I was actually listening to what she said so that I didn't forget anything. I found that I have a problem with getting distracted REALLY easily. It's a challenge, but I concentrated really hard and I actually never got distracted. Even with missionaries making faces at me. Yes. 

 

Other things of the week..hmm. The family of five came to church AGAIN! They are progressing really well! I'm so excited for them! Keep them in your prayers:) 

 

This is a side note.. I definitely rapped for my entire zone. Peer pressure. That's all I have to say. 

Da da da daaa! We get to go to Corpus Christi again this week for the Christmas conference! Here's the thing though.. it's a 3 hour drive and it starts at 8. Yes. We have to wake up at like 3:30. But guess who's the lucky driver?? Yes that would be me. We better have some loud music and cold air or something. It's going to be an adventure! 

Okay well I'll leave the really exciting stuff for next time!

You can't see me, but it's starting to look like Christmas!! 

Now you can see me, with our Christmas sweaters!

Zone activity during our zone meeting.. I still don't know why this happened! 

con mucho amor, 

Hermana Hunt​
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We've got some catchin' up to do!

Hey world.

So Thanksgiving week was a good one. We barely worked in our area AT ALL. We did a bunch of difference exchanges and blitzes for the elders and sisters here. Well.. exchanges with sisters and blitzes for elders. Let's get that one straight. 

 

Ok. first. Thanksgiving! Food and a lot of it! We just went from one member's house to another and to another. But the second house that we went to was a member that is a professional chef. Yes. For real. The food looked really pretty.. best looking food I've ever seen. 

Next. TRANSFERS! Sister Petersen goes back to good ol' Utah this week :( so.. boys? She's a really great person. And FUNNY! If you want to laugh.. ask her on a date. She'll be at Utah State. Ready. Go.

 

Really though, I'm going to miss a lot of these people. Our zone is changing a lot! There has been a lot of missionaries here that have touched my life. It's official.. this mission has the best missionaries. Shout out to the TMM. Best Zone ever!

Oh! Side note. You all probably know this already, but I didn't write about it before. I talked to President Maluenda and I get to EXTEND! I'll be home on April 8th now. (Happy 80th BDay to my grandma) 

Okay quick story.. This past Friday, Sister Pete and I only had a few hours to work in our area, but we set really high goals that day. When we left the house I said, "Are you ready for this Sister Pete? We are going to have the BEST DAY EVER!" Yes I probably looked and sounded like a 5 year old, but we went out and worked as hard as we could. Laughing along the entire way:) We ended up surpassing all of our goals! We really gained a testimony about the importance of having a good attitude and working super hard. It was a really good way to end the transfer. And now I have abs because of how much we LAUGH! I'm sure going to miss my ginger. We have so many times like this.... yes we did that!!

 

 

Okay another quick story about this ginger called Sister Petersen. We were teaching a lesson in spanish and there was a picture about prophets, so she tried asking what the person thinks that these old men are doing (viejitos) but instead she asked what the person thinks these little sheep are doing (ovejitas).. close. Prophets=sheep? hahaha. I probably laughed for about 10 minutes. Okay well.. that's it for Thanksgiving week...

Onto this week:

This has been one CRAZY week! Sister Petersen left:( That was a sad moment at 5 in the MORNING! I might have shed a tear or two..or twenty. 

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Now I'm with Sister Vazquez! And guess what!.. This is her last transfer. So yes, I'm sending another one home! I just chill here in the background. That also means that I get to stay here in Laredo for another one after that! YES. Life is good. 

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So the day after transfers we left back down to McAllen for our meeting with President. It was really fun! And guess who got to work on bikes AGAIN. Yes. I was put with another sister that's pretty new to the mission that has been having a lot of health problems. They wanted me to work with her and basically tell my "story" you could say. Just to give her a little bit of hope. I had a great time working with her! I definitely learned a lot about attitude this week. President focused on it a lot! Especially during the STL meeting. I've always made it a goal to always have a great attitude. I used to think of it as a weakness, but after a lot of work, I've seen the Lord change it into a strength. Mom and Dad, you'll be excited to see the change! President told me the other day that my strength was always being HAPPY. When I was working in McAllen on bikes, the only bike that was there was from a REALLY tall sister. Okay you all know me. I'm the opposite of tall. And the seat wouldn't move! So I definitely had to ride the whole time standing up! My legs are a lot stronger than they were a few days ago:) 

The Hunt hair cut place is now open! I cut all the sister's hair up here:) 

I think that's about it for now! 

 

I love you all! 

Eat some peanut m&ms for me:)) 

Con amor, 

Hermana Hunt

p.s. watch the His is the Gift video!! Share it with your friends:) 

 

p.s.s. don't forget to mark your calendar, I come home APRIL 8TH... See you all at the airport!!

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Going to put on a few pounds this week.... And write me!!!!

Mis queridos amigos.. oh and family!:) 

This week was a super awesome week here in Laredo, Texas! Okay something super special was that Elder Foster from the Seventy came and spoke to us! So yes, we got to drive all the way to Corpus Christi to meet with the other zones to hear him speak. Him combined with President Maluenda was the BEST. I don't even know how my mind was able to receive so much revelation. He is such a powerful speaker. A couple things he said hit me really hard. He said that we have a really short time to serve our missions, just 18 months or 2 years, but we'll have an ETERNITY to think about it. Are we going to look back and think, "Man. I wish I could have done more, or done something different."? Or are we going to think, "I am so grateful for my mission. I worked really hard." What are we going to say in our very last prayer as a full time missionary? How are we going to end it? Are we going to be grateful that it's over? Or are we going to be grateful for all of the experiences that we had that changed us as people? 

 He spoke all about our purpose here as missionaries. If you ever want to feel special or like you have purpose, read Alma 13! I have that thing marked up so much it's nuts! We shared it with all the sisters here in Laredo this week. We had a little meeting with them so that Sister Petersen and I could train them on a few things from President. One of those things was appearance.. I was DREADING this training! How am I supposed to tell sisters to wear make up? That's a bit awkward. It went exactly how we thought.. awkward. It's alright though! What's life without a little bit of awkwardness? We also talked a lot about obedience. I thought giving these trainings because I always learn SO much while we're preparing for them. Obedience is something that I talk about a lot. It's SO important. Especially for missionaries right now because we have a lot of rules! I've really gained a testimony of how we receive a lot of blessings when we're obedient. It also applies to us in our every day lives. When we do the things that God wants us to do, we're blessed. It really is as simple as that. We say that a million times a day to our investigators and members. After saying it SO MUCH, I better have a testimony of it:) So.. do good things. That's the point of all of this. 

Okay story time.. Sister Petersen and I were walking in this CITY of apartments the other day, and we saw some little kids outside. We don't usually just go up to little kids.. creeps.. but we did! We asked to talk to their mom and BOOM. We found the most legit family of 6 ever! They had been taught by the missionaries before, but they moved around and lost contact with them. They had been waiting for more missionaries to find them. Found. Yes. I can't wait to see them progress. God is good my friends. 

Okay well I'll let you all go now. Oh! Eat a lot of food this week! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Hunt 

p.s. letters are always fun! If you haven't written one in awhile.. here you go. You're welcome:) 

Texas McAllen Mission 

200 W. La Vista Ave. 

McAllen Texas, 78501

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!

Dear world!

Okay  these past few weeks have been nuts! We had MLC again, so we drove all the way down to McAllen for 3 days, then drove back up, then 2 days later we drove back down for the entire week. Now we're back! 12 hours in the car with the elders here.. It's been an adventure. But I can't even explain how spiritually drained I am right now. This past week was a training for all of the STLs, zone leaders, and district leaders. Basically what happens is we listen to President Maluenda speak and blow our minds.. It's the best. I always come back wanting to change and make myself better. It's a really humbling experience. Something that our mission President talked A LOT about was prayer. Prayer is soo powerful. If we have the faith, we can know for a SURETY that we will receive what we ask for. If our hearts are lined up exactly with His will, we will always be able to call down those miracles. Especially as missionaries, that is so key! When working with investigators and members, we always need the help of the Lord. This work would never progress without Him, so why not include Him in EVERYTHING? President Maluenda invited all of us to really ponder, study, and pray about three gifts that we need (Like patience, humility, love, all that stuff) and include it in every single one of our personal prayers. He chose his 3 things while serving his mission and he has never said a personal prayer without asking for his three gifts. My dream is to become as spiritually strong as him, so I'm taking that challenge to heart. You all should try it too! Use the scriptures, prayer, your patriarchal blessing, all the tools we have here and find those three gifts that you want to always have with you. One of mine is the gift of understanding. I know that if we prayer for these things and try really hard, these gifts will become a part of who we are. We will be one step closer to being like our Savior Jesus Christ. 

​Another amazing thing that happened two Sundays ago, the Barrientos/ Herrera family got baptized! All 4 of them:) It was one of the best moments on the mission so far. I can already see them getting sealed in a year from now. 

 

 

Sidenote: It's getting COLD here! Like super. Okay people from Utah.. we're wimps here. It's like 45! When we went down to McAllen for MLC, I was working with a greenie and we were on bikes.. What in the heck? It was really fun though! I may have lost the feeling in my toes.. but it's ok! We went around and everyone told us to go home because it was too cold.. well how about you let us in your house? Nope. Haha okay quick story. I was working with the new sister and we needed to get on the other side of the fence, so she went first and CRAWLED under it. Mad and all. I just stood there for a second looked around, then just walked around the fence! Literally 3 feet to her left the fence ended! I probably should have said something earlier, but it was so funny! We definitely laughed for a good 5 minutes. 

​Okay I think that's all for this week! 

Shout out to all of my friends that are getting home!!! :) 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Hunt:)

Two Weeks in One... What a Mess and Baptizing Russel from "UP"

We're a mess of a duo - week of October 27th

Hello! Okay so I can't figure out how to send pictures on this computer.. so we'll see how that goes. 

This week was great! Highlight of the week.. Sister Pete and I killed a cockroach. We saw it in the bathroom cupboard, but we got scared so we just left it! Then later when we went back it was still there!! So we decided to man up a little bit and just kill it.. so. I got some windex and went in for the kill. It took up like an HOUR because we kept LOSING it! We got it though:) Don't even worry about it. Oh! And we have videos. But can't seem to figure out how to get them onto the computer :(

The other crazy part of the week is that we found out that we are addicted to chocolate.. like for real. We were talking to one of our recent converts the other day who's been having a little trouble with the word of wisdom lately. She told us that she's completely quit coffee if we quit chocolate. Freak. That probably lasted like a day. Shout out to Timmy for the package! Full of CHOCOLATE! :) I hid in the closet and ate one. Whoops. Really though, it's hard! Not to mention Halloween this week! I think I'm just going to have to face the fact that I'm an addict. Yeah I'm not doing this challenge.. 

 

 

Besides that this week was pretty normal. Early shout out to my dad! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Everyone go give him candy and chips! Te quiero mucho papi! I'm giving you a baptism for your birthday this year! Yay for Thursday baptisms!

Alright, her are a couple of pictures..

Stay cool. Stay humble. (I'm trying to work on that one) 

The scriptures are true! Read those things! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Jennifer Hunt 

 Hello world! - week of November 2nd

This week was a great one! Jr. (aka Russel) got baptized! He told us that it was his "dream week." No week could have been any better for him. Since he's only 11.. yes I gave him a little hug after. Everyone laughed at me.. Oh well. 

Isn't he a cute fellow? 

Okay so I realized that I haven't really talked about missionary work too much lately. Yes I'm really a missionary. So let me tell you a little bit about the people we're working with. 

 

We're working with a family of 7 right now. I LOVE them! Who wouldn't love five little kids running around? Originally it was just the mom and the kids, we had no idea where the dad was.. then randomly one day the dad came back from somewhere in the country. We were a little worried because we knew that he drove missionaries away in the past. We were a little hesitant to talk to him at first, but hey. Fear does not equal faith. So we just did it and invited him to sit in on a lesson with the family. Surprise. He loved it! He has been coming to church for the past couple of weeks! He even came with the kids by himself this last week because the mom got called into work. After church we asked him how he liked it.. and his answer was. "I loved it! I'm really excited to get baptized next week!" WHAT? Yes. The family is getting baptized next week! It's crazy how God blesses us. He can touch anyone's heart, it doesn't matter who it is. I have absolutely fallen in love with the people here in Texas. These relationships will last forever. 

Okay now let me tell you a little bit about our Halloween. We had to be back at our apartment by 6:00, but we had a lot of fun! We went to a branch party for a little while, then we went home, made cookies (gluten free) ate popcorn, and watched Doctrine and Covenants movies. MY FAVORITE! We even dressed up. I was Snow White and Sister Pete was Ana from Frozen.. neither of us have seen that movie, but she's a ginger.. 

Everyone have a great week! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Hunt