12-10-2012

Well... here it goes. My last email home from my mission. I can´t believe it!! 5 more days and I will be seeing you all!! I have a huge mix of emotions, obviously, but I am pretty dang stoked! I´m sure when I get home I will be missing the mission big time... but I´ll worry about that when it comes, haha.

So this week! Unfortunately Jaqui and Daniel couldn´t get married yet due to problems with their documents, but either this week or the next week they will get married and baptized depending on how everything goes with their papers. I am so excited for them!! Obviously really sad that I won´t be there, but of course my presence isn´t important! They are so awesome and I am going to miss them a lot... but I am so so happy for them.

It was another lovely week in Argentina, with 100 degrees and 90% humidity (oh please let it snow in Utah before Saturday!! haha).  We had some great experiences... the familia Jaime made a goodbye dinner for me, where we ate ostrich egg. Hahaha.  Their neighbors found a bunch in the campo and brought them home, and they cooked it and put it in the empanadas.  Definitely wouldn´t recommend it to anyone. It tastes really..... well..... campo, hahah, and it made me really sick! I woke up that night with REALLY really bad stomach pains. So here comes the best part... I go into the bathroom, of course to find a giant cockroach.  Well, I was already... ya know, busy, and stuff... haha, so I couldn´t kill the cockroach.  It went and hid under the door and afterwards I went to find it and it disappeared!  I searched the whole apartment quietly to not wake up hermana ovando and couldn´t find him! So I went back to bed.  I wake up in the morning and go to the bathroom, being extra cautious (how do you spell that?? man spanish has ruined my english!) thinking that I was going to find the cockroach.... but he´s not there. So I go back to my room to make my bed, and what do I find?? The cockroach. In my bed. Omgomgomg. Hahahaha.  So evil!! It´s like he knew I was searching for him to kill him so he wanted revenge and climbed right into my bed! Luckily I found him there afterwards, instead of feeling him crawl up my leg while sleeping haha.

There was also a big lizard living behind the switch to turn on our A/C for a couple of days.  You can imagine how loud I screamed when I went to turn it on and he jumped out at me, hahah.

So this week is going to be short... today is p-day, tomorrow is district meeting, wednesday is transfers and then thursday I head to Resistencia! Unfortunately I won´t have my final interview with President Heyman.  We found out last week that he is now in the states with his Hermana Heyman so that she can recover there from her stroke. I am really worried about her.  So for now we have a re-emplacement.. Elder Di Giovanni and his wife from the area 70.  In about a month President Heyman should be back if all goes well.  We met the Di Giovanni´s this last week and they are really great, so it should still be good!  

Yesterday in church our bishop asked me to give my testimony and talk about service.  It was a sad goodbye, I even got a little bit teary eyed.  All of the members were so sweet and were all telling me goodbye and giving me gifts and stuff... even the ones from the ward that I don´t really know since our branch just combined with the ward.  I have been thinking a lot obviously about the last year and a half.  About everything that happened, all of the experiences and emotions and changes, everything.  A mission is a very interesting thing... different than any other experience.  At the end, one always wonders if they did everything they could.  If their mission was a success.  In the mission there is always a lot of pressure to be better, to work harder, to keep improving, so that we can have more success.  What is success?  To each missionary, that word means something different.  Some believe that it means baptisms, some believe that it means good numbers, obedience, being a preach my gospel missionary, following the spirit, converts, being diligent, improvement, etc.  In reality... all of those things can be different kinds of success.  President Heyman told us the way that we should measure our success as missionaries.  He said that we should ask ourselves ´am I a better disciple of Christ now than I was before?´.  We spend all of our missions giving every minute to others.  But when we leave the mission... we don´t take those people with us. I will always hope and pray for all of my converts and investigators and all of the members here, that they can continue in the truth.  But they have their agency, and really it is not up to me.  When I walk off that plane this Saturday to go home, the only thing I carry with me, is myself.  When we return home to our Heavenly Father, the only thing we carry with us, is ourselves.  The person that we have become after all of our experiences and choices in life.

I had an interesting little experience this week that to me was an assurance from my Father in Heaven that my mission, to me, was a success.  We were teaching Hector, the deaf investigator.  He made a few signs, pointing towards me, towards his face, and something about Christ.  I didn´t understand what he said and I turned to my companion and asked if she understood.  She said to me ´he said that your face makes him think of Christ´.  Now... I don´t know if that´s just because I have light skin and blue eyes, haha, but to me it meant a lot.  I am not perfect. I have not been a perfect missionary.  Often times I felt that I just couldn´t compare to the rest.. that I just wasn´t good enough.  I still have a long ways to go.  But I am so proud of the work I have done here in Argentina, and especially, the person I have become by devoting myself to others.  When I look at myself in the mirror, I see more of Christ´s face in my own than I did before.  I have changed.  That change may not be visible to others, but to me it is, and to me it means the world.  Life is difficult. The mission is difficult.  But when we focus on Christ and learn to love as He loves, when we learn to see people as He sees them, when we are constantly striving to improve... even if there are ups and downs, even if we more forward and backward again, as long as we are looking towards Him, and trying, we are a success.

I love my Savior so much, and am so grateful for this opportunity that He has given me to change myself and become more like Him over this past year and a half.  Really, there´s a lot more that I could say.  But I will just leave you with a scripture...

2 John 1:12

¨Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.¨

Les quiero mucho a todos.  Gracias por todo.  Nos vemos MUY, muy pronto. :)

-- Con mucho amor y agradecimiento, por la ultima vez, Hermana Hunt

12-03-2012

Buenas! Ok, first of all I have to warn you that this email is going to be LONG. If you get bored, just stop reading! haha. But I figure next week I am not really gonna want to write much, so you`re going to get it all this week! It was another great week in the mission, with lots of ups and downs. Unfortunately Viviana and Federico won`t be getting married this week. She is unsure about getting married, but sure about getting baptized. So we are going to work with them and see what happens! I have no doubt that she will be baptized, but they are having troubles with their relationship.. so I hope we can help them work everything out! Please keep them in your prayers!! Jaqui and Daniel are doing so great!! If everything goes well today, they will get married this friday and Jaqui will get baptized. Daniel can`t be baptized yet because he needs to go to church and also quit smoking, but I have no doubt that within the next month he will also be baptized. They are such an awesome couple!! They were pretty shocked and sad to hear that I am leaving soon, but are happy that I will be there for the wedding. I am so happy too!! Obviously, my presence isn`t that important haha I am just happy with their decisions but it will be great to be able to be there if all goes well!! It`s so nice to finally see some fruits of our work here in Centenario! This week we had another quiet miracle.... literally, a quiet one! Hermana Ovando and I both felt impressed to go to a certain house on a corner that we always pass by. There we met Hector... he is sordo-mudo (deaf). Somehow (I`m still not really sure how) we communicated enough to set an appointment, and then on Saturday we halfway taught him the first lesson! Haha. We have to use lots of pictures and write lots of words, because he reads but doesn`t understand complete sentences. He is so awesome though. He came to church on Sunday! I`m not sure if he liked it or not because he couldn`t understand anything in Sacrament Meeting obviously, haha but I helped him in Sunday school and it was really awesome! We will be learning a bit of spanish sign language this next week! Also this week our apartment flooded. What?? It rained REALLY hard, and I woke up stepping into a lake, hahah. The good thing is that nothing really got ruined. The REALLY sad thing is that one very very important thing happened to be on the floor.... my journal!!! Ahhh! I almost had a heart attack when I lifted it out of the water to find it COMPLETELY soaked! Luckily we had it drying in front of our heaters and fans all week and although the papers are all crinkled and messed up now, it is all still legible an the ink didn`t bleed too much, haha. What a blessing!! So I have been thinking a lot lately. This is my last real week as a missionary. Next week will be filled with only a little bit of missionary work, lots of packing, goodbyes, and traveling. I can`t believe the time has come. It is the weirdest feeling! I have been writing a lot of my thoughts in my journal, and everyday have realized more and more things that I am going to miss about this incredible year and a half. I am going to miss this country and the culture here. Walking down the dirt roads with dirty and dying dogs everywhere, haha. The sound of birds chirping and roosters crowing. Homemade heladitos that every other house sells... they save us everyday in the heat! All of the street vendors and the silly phrases they use to sell their products such as ¨chip chip chipaaaaaa¨, ¨diaaaaarioooooooo¨, ¨manzana naranja banana mandarinaaaaaa¨. I will miss hearing music blasting from every house.. especially the silly music that is so popular here such as all the cumbia, and groups such as Nene Malo, Wachiturros, and Colisueltos, haha. I will miss the incredible sky and sunsets, especially here in Formosa, and the beautiful fields... the campos, sceneries, and jungles. I will miss all of the kids playing soccer in the streets with whatever ball and goal posts they can find, and all of the annoying little boys that play video games in the cyber, haha. I will miss having kioscos on every corner, and walking by greeting all of the friendly people on the streets and those who sit outside all day drinking máte or tereré. I will miss seeing people carry every imaginable thing on a motorcycle, such as pets, woman breastfeeding their babies, mattresses and furniture, and entire families of five. I will miss all of the silly shrines and saints that the catholics worship and their obsessions with Maria. I will miss the clothes and styles here... babuchas, strappy sandles, jelly shoes, reaaaaally long hair and buns on top of the head, legit side pony tails, fanny packs, mullets, belly shirts, and army boots. I will miss walking around in the siesta when everyone and their dog is sleeping and the city is so quiet. All of the fiest and cumples, and the biggest 1-year old birthday parties you have ever seen. I will in all seriousness miss the HEAT, and even the humidity. All of the little mini pools that everyone owns. Greeting with besitos. Popular argentine phrases... che, chamigo, pues, si te digo te miento, gracias a Dios, si Dios quiere, and the guarani words that everyone uses such as ayjue, mitai, and áca. I will miss all of the horses roaming around loose, and all the cute baby animals that we find everywhere including kittens, puppies, baby horses, chicks, ducklings, and bunnies. I will miss seeing the people ride around in their carts with horses like in the olden days. All of the toads and the noises they make at night. The random things that are popular here such as the simpsons, snow white, chucky, and soap operas. The kids playing with marbles or wooden tops in the streets. All of the FOOD! Milanesa, guiso, chipa, helado, tallerín, torta frita, tortillas, pasta frola, alfajores de maizena, sopaparaguaya, banana licuados, banana con dulce de leche, empanadas, tarta, enselada con aceite, pastelitos, pan de leche, tortilla, asados, enselada de fruta, arroz con queso, bonbon, chorizo, choripan, hamburguesa con huevo, and gridos. The rainstorms, and the mud when it rains. The obsessions with cleaning shoes, how people freak out when someone`s sick, and how everyone floods their house to clean the floors and throws water on the road to stop the dust from entering in the house. I will miss the absolutely crazy bus and taxi drivers. I will always admire their absolute FAITH in God. And their strength in all of the sad situations. How simply they live. Their sincerity and boldness, or their flat out lies that are hilarious, haha. The trees and the leaves and plants. Eating mayo with everything. And the Argentina pride. I will miss being a missionary. I will miss having one purpose... helping others come unto Christ. Being a literal representative of Him, and proudly wearing His name on my nametag. I will miss living a disciplined life, wearing a skirt everyday, living on an exact schedule. Studying for 3 hours a day. Standing out from everyone. Meeting different people everyday. I will miss preaching with power in the name of Jesus Christ and being able to promise blessings in His name. Praying at least 15-20 times a day and being in constant connection with my Father in Heaven. Constantly seeking out and following the spirit. Being on a spiritual high and receiving so much revelation, inspiration, and understand from the spirit. I will miss helping people open their hearts and accept Christ in their lives. Helping people learn the truth for themselves from God. Helping people feel and recognize the spirit. Living for others and not for myself. Being obligated to talk to people, and not being scared to do so. Living on a higher plan than the world... living SO in the world but so NOT of the world. Being respected for what I do. Learning to sincerely love. I will miss being a defender of the truth, and part of God`s army. Receiving extra help and strength and energy to do things that I otherwise couldn`t. Having a special protection. I will miss communicating by letters, and not being able to use facebook or distract myself with things that are of little importance. I will miss constantly sharing my testimony and declaring what I know to be true. Seeing people CHANGE. Watching them grow, and being with them in those moments so special as they are connected to god and receive their testimonies. I will miss dedicating every minute to God. Tracting. Finding a new world behind every door. Finding people by the spirit and seeing what person Heavenly Father wants me to talk to next. Hearing about how the people received their answers... seeing it all click inside of them. That special moment when they share their feelings with us, and we as companions look at each other with a deep satisfaction and joy, knowing that great miracle is taking place. Being 100% focused on the things that are most important. Learning to understand how people work and how God`s plan works by observing. Only listening to church music. I will miss feeling the pressure of pushing myself a little further, and being a leader and example to other members. Not being sheltered in my own life... seeing the worst of the worst and the best of the best. Judging people 100% for how they are inside instead of outside. Seeing miracles everyday. Having one of the greatest responsibilites on earth, and knowing that God trusts ME to do His work. I will miss all of the everyday details that made my mission special. Hearing all of the little kids, with all of their different voices excitedly call out ´hermannnaaaaaaaa!´. Fernanda, Yeni, Agus, Keira, Benja, Lucas Abi and Edu, Juan Axel Mili and Yeni, Sofi and Florencia. Their voices and words will be forever marked in my memory. All of the nicknames people called me... ´la gringa´ ´la rubia´ ´la rubia con ojos celestes´, and even ´la gordita´ :) hahaha. I will miss the good Sundays when a lot of people came to church, especially inactive members. Sewing and re-sewing everything... shirts, shoes, and backpacks. Not worrying about eating dinner. Being friends with and getting to know all of the hermanas. Living with raid glued to hand, ready to attack whatever critter sneaks into the pension... including (but not limited to) cockroaches, spiders, crickets, fats, ants, mosquitos, flies, lizards, worms, frogs, etc. Walking EVERYWHERE, and being used to not walking anywhere barefoot. Living in the world of a different language. The delicious meals from the members. Banana licuados everyday. Hanging my clothes to dry, and even hand-washing! Feeling a constant pressure to keep up with my journal. Always having the desire to study study study, and learing SO much about my past as I learn by the spirit. The sigh of writing the goal each night of baptismal fechas.. knowing that planning is over and it´s finally time to fall into bed! Falling asleep on the floor all the time during the closing prayer after planning each night, haha. Weekly appointments with grido. Water fights and pranks. Trips to the centro and mercaditos. Playing the piano each week surrounded by a million little kids and trying to concentrate on playing and also stop them from playing at the same time haha. Also playing the piano in zone conferences. Having to tough it out with food... whether it`s the dirty plates/silverware, or the weird food itself! Having to be careful with bridges and sewers.. and sometimes falling in! (ok, that only happened once haha). The workers in all of the kioscos, stores, and cybers that know us. Deep chats with companions... talking about anything and everything while walking or studying. SINGING... especially with my companions that sang. Having an extra protection/side kick/sister. Hearing the Argentines ´sing´ hymns :). Hearing investigators read James 1:5 for the first time, or telling the first vision. Talking with people who literally and honestly think we`re spies, hahaha! Teaching people who come from the craziest backgrounds... drugaddicts, gang members, those who have been abused and/or raped, alcoholics, murderers, orphans, homeless, club dancers, thieves, ex-convicts, etc. Living more simply... no microwave, no tv, no dishwasher, no high-tech electronics. Hugs from all the little kids. Ridiculous tan lines from shirts, skirts, shoes, my watch, and even my pony tails haha. Toughing it out everyday with health...the heat, sun, and humidity, walking all day everywhere, the scary bathrooms, the famous dirty water of Formosa, garbage and animal poop everywhere and the zanja, and being surrounded by giant tropical bugs and animals! All of the crazy dueños from all of my apartments. Getting my self-esteem boosted everyday as all of the creepers made creepy comments hahah. Living amongst poverty... watching and being amazed at how the people so easily live in a house made of wood posts and nylon or cardboard. The contrast every Sunday walking to church and seeing the drunks sleep in the streets, haha. Late night hamburger orders from our neighbors´ kiosco :). Getting letters each week. Entering in the air-conditioned pension after being outside in 110 degree and 90% humidity weather. How fast my hair and nails grow here. All of the awkward moments of not understanding the people or saying something wrong haha. Church in Spanish. Sacrament prayers in spanish. All of the people... the members--their service, sacrifices, their testimonies and stories and dedication. All of the acquaintances, the investigators, and especially the converts that I love SO much. I will miss changing so honestly and sincerely everyday. I will miss so much being Hermana Hunt. I will miss this incredible adventure that my Father in Heaven has allowed me to go on. I can`t believe my time is up here. It has been a wild adventure filled with every possible emotion. I have learned and changed and grown so much. I will miss every minute, but I kno it is my time to move on and I am excited for the future. I know my mission was not the peak of my life... it was only the beginning of a lifelong climb that I am now going to make. I absolutely know 100% that this is the work of the Lord. I know that Christ is real and exists, and I know that this is His church because I have asked God and He has answered me, and I will never ever be able to deny that. I am so grateful for this year and a half that I have had... I will forever be grateful for my mission and the change it has made in me. I am so grateful for all of you and your examples and support. One more week of emails and then we will be talking in person. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!! --Hermanita Hunt

11-27-2012

Ahhh I am so sad!!! I just wrote a big long email that was really great and the power randomly went out and the email got lost!! :( :( boooooo :(. Well... anyway, it was an awesome week!!! First, congratulations to my good friend Aric sparic Farnsworth for getting engaged!!!! I am so happy for you and can`t wait to meet your fiance!! So the big news of the week.. on Sunday they announced that our branch are ward are now combined! I was sad at first but now I think it will be a great opportunity. In a year they want to split it into 2 wards.  Our branch president is now the bishop and he has counselors and everything so that is great.  Also, we have 2 weddings and baptisms coming up next weekend!!! It is SUCH a miracle!!! I am SO excited! We are finally seeing some fruits of our work here.  Yaqui and Daniel will be getting married next week and Yaqui will be getting baptized (he will too I am positive but not yet because he hasn`t gone to church yet. He is going to be a great leader some day!!) and Viviana and Federico (a new couple we found this week... he is an inactive member with a strong testimony and she already knew the church and wanted to be baptized!) should also be getting married and Viviana will be be baptized.  Please pray that all will go well! They both have some obstacles, but hopefully all should go well! Ok sorry for the short email.. the last one was a lot better with more details of all the miracles we have seen this week! But I don`t have time to rewrite it all.  2 weeks left of email and then we`ll be talking in person! Love you all!!!

--Hermanita Hunt

11-19-2012

Buenas!

It has been a great week! We were able to find a lot of people this week that I think should be able to progress well.  Unfortunately I won´t be here for their baptisms :( but that doesn´t matter!! We MAY have one before I leave. I don´t think I have told you a lot about Yaqui (Jackie).. she is a 20 year old who lives with her 17 year old boyfriend and their 5 month old baby.  She is progressing really well and wants to be baptized.  She came to church all on her own yesterday! She has progressed a lot and feels really really good and has already recieved a lot of answers that it´s where she needs to be.  Her boyfriend and her also want to get married, which is also a big plus!! Now we just gotta help them decide to do it now instead of wait so that she can be baptized.  The work is moving along and things are looking up here!

So here in Argentina they don´t celebrate Thanksgiving, but I wanted to write a little bit in honor of that today! :) First of all... everyone needs to watch this video: http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#in-the-spirit-of-thanksgiving

then... everyone needs to do this activity! :) at the beginning of the year I posted an activity of thanksgiving.. I don´t think I ever shared mine on the blog but this time I am going to share it.  I did it again yesterday and I also changed the questions a bit.  Here are the questions:

Write a list of the following items of things you are grateful for:

1. 10 physical abilities
2. 10 physical/material things
3. 10 non-physical things
4. 10 places in the world
5. 10 things about today
6. 10 attitudes/emotions
7. 10 items of media (songs movies books magazines etc.)
8. 10 positive experiences
9. 10 difficult experiences
10. 10 things of the gospel

Here is my list:

PHYSICAL ABILITIES

1. write
2. learn/understand
3. progress/change
4. laugh and cry
5. express myself
6. love
7. listen
8. create
9. ponder
10. speak and sing

PHYSICAL/MATERIAL THINGS

1. camera/photographs/film
2. books/materials for learning
3. instruments
4. people (friends, family, acquaintances, strangers)
5. computers
6. transportation
7. clothes/accessories
8. journals/notebooks
9. stores
10. animals

NON-PHYSICAL THINGS

1. charity/love/service
2. music and sound
3. lists
4. change
5. cultures
6. knowledge
7. ideas/inspirations
8. communication
9. humor
10. an eternal perspective

PLACES IN THE WORLD

1. Argentina
2. EEUU (USA)
3. Europe.. Italy and Ireland above all
4. India
5. Farmington/Davis County
6. My schools.. especially Davis High and BYU
7. temples.. celestial room
8. all forests and fields
9. Mexico
10. Cities... SLC, San Fran, NYC, and Boston

THINGS ABOUT TODAY

1. EFY Music
2. bana licuado :) mmm
3. hector... after 2 months he still can´t remember that my name is Hermana Hunt and not Hermana Oont.. hahah. Good thing he just calls me ´la rubia´ to make it easier. Always a laugh with him!!
4. Yaqui!! She came all by herself! She wants to be baptized! :)
5. Jorge, Yaqui´s baby. Omg omg how he makes me want to have kids.. haha! The CUTEST baby in the world!!
6. Hugs from little Floriencia :) she´s so dang cute!
7. Hermana Miranda... seriously one of my heroes.. she is soo awesome
8. Church!
9. a nice breather/break since my comp is sick... time to WRITE! (like this list!)
10. FANS. haha.

ATTITUDES/EMOTIONS

1. positivity
2. inner peace
3. determination
4. trust/confidence
5. the feeling of laugther
6. bliss/deep joy... not the surface kind, but the real deep kind
7. sincerity
8. selfless love
9. achievement
10. gratitude

ITEMS OF MEDIA

1. all scriptures/words of prophets and apostles
2. mormonads/mormon messages
3. Christian/EFY music
4. the song ¨it never entered my mind¨
5. spanish music that I hear in the streets all the time and am super excited to look up without feeling guilty about wanting to listen to it!! hahah... such as ´jurabas tu´ by los del fuego and ´yo te esperaré´
6. any chill or jazz or christmas music
7. inspiring movies or movies that show real life situations in the world
8. 17 miracles and inspiring church movies
9. find art/film/culture photography
10. dictionaries/informatino books and internet for learning

POSITIVE EXPERIENCES

1. high school.. especially doing marching band
2. BYU photography program
3. all wards.. especially Farmington 10th ward and my last BYU ward
4. friendships and relationships
5. mission. obvio.
6. traveling/exploring
7. jobs... especially bingham and traverse mountain, photography, and even good old oakridge country club
8. church activities such as mutual, girl´s camp, youth conference, and EFY
9. family dinners, get togethers, reunions, and games!
10. volunteer work.. especially for Americorps and at the homeless shelter, and all the other random projects

DIFFICULT EXPERIENCES

1. mission. obvio otra vez. haha
2. mistreatment/abuse
3. not doing what I should do and having to recognize it and change
4. relationships (especially 1 in particular).. having to learn how to move on
5. Grandma´s death during the mission. not being able to be there
6. my best friend´s wedding. not being able to be there
7. trying to overcome difficult weaknesses and temptations
8. body/self-image
9. losing my testimony and having to regain it
10. work... jobs, school, and mission

THINGS OF THE GOSPEL

1. Jesus Christ and repentance=strength, change, freedom, and happiness
2. God´s love and mercy... my literal father
3. scriptures... knowledge and spiritual strength
4. the Holy Ghost... guidance, comfort, relationship with Them, enlightenment
5. all the prophets, before and now
6. temples... most incredible place on earth
7. church... the unity and family there and learning
8. baptism/sacrament... a new start and forgiveness
9. the truth/reality
10. the focus on the family

There´s my list!! I challenge you all to also make your lists, and send them to me!!! linsey.hunt@myldsmail.net . Some of you have already done it but I challenge you to do it again and see what is the same and what has changed! And those of you who haven´t... do it this time, and send it to me please!! :) I hope you all have a fabulous holiday!! Only 3 more weeks of email.... weird weird weird. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

--Hermanita Hunt

11-12-2012

       Hermana Hunt with Cesar

                                 Cockroaches and the lizard that we killed in our apartment

Hermanas!

Zone Conference

  Hello Fam!!

Wow... what a week!! Here goes:

AWKWARDS INCOMODOS Y CHISTOSOS

• this week, for the first time in my whole mission, I actually got sick!! what?? Haha... well, not really really sick, but sick enough to stay inside the pension.  I think I got food poisoning or something. I never actually threw up, but needed to all weekend and was really light-headed and had a bad headache for about half of the week. I´m not really sure what happened, but I am feeling better now!
• we had some great adventures with critters this week!... first of all, I was sitting there peacefully eating my crackers, when I notice that they are covered in spider webs and there is a little white caterpillar trapped at the bottom. Ew ew ew ew!!! I hope I didn´t eat the spider without noticing!! haha. Also. It was really humid this week because it was raining a lot. Thursday night we came home to find SIX giant cockroaches in our kitchen!!! Seriously, we were just killing one after another, hahah. We also have a family of lizards living in our pension, and Hermana Ovando accidentally killed one by smashing it in the door.  You can see a lovely photo of all of the deaths in our pension this week... haha

AWESOMES

• this week we had a giant zone conference with Elder Viñas from the 70.  It was so awesome!!! I got to see a lot of old companions and friends, including Hermana Juarez, Elder Reyes, Elder Chafala, and Elder Bartholomew that I haven´t seen in awhile.  The conference was so great.  Elder Viñas is so awesome. He has such a great understanding of the atonement and the gospel and such a positive outlook on life.  He didn´t drop the cane at all (which kind of feels like what we are used to getting in zone conferences haha) but he talked about the importance of having our investigators really prepared to be baptized instead of just baptizing them, and also sticking with them after their baptisms and really  helping them progress and keeping them safe in the gospel.  It was such a good conference... I agree 100% with everything he shared and feel like our mission really needed to hear it.  It made my companion and I feel good about the work we are doing and the attitude we have towards the work.
• I also received a whole bunch of letters after the conference! Thanks everyone for writing me this week!! Grandpa... it was SO good to hear from you!! I loved reading your letter. Can´t wait to come visit you in the new house in just another month!! Also Jeff I got your letter! It´s about dang time you wrote me!!! Haha, jk jk. But it was really good hearing from you! Thanks for writing! And Loag if you´re reading this... I want you know that I am getting like 3 letters every week from you out of the 5 billion that you have written over the past 2 years but never sent. Hahaha! You are such a nerd!! I can´t believe one of them was from when YOU were on YOUR mission!!! But I guess better late than never, right?? haha
• Aaaaaand now, for the miracle of the week! Are you all ready? Drum roll.................... Cesar came to church!!!! Wow! It was incredible! Ok so this week we have seen HUGE miracles with him!! He wasn´t progressing there for awhile so we started seeing him a lot less.  The other day, we had the best lesson.  One of the very best of my entire mission.  We found him with his friend Walter and another friend and we taught them about the plan of salvation and the importance of agency and making decisions and deciding today.  The lesson was so powerful.  I felt the spirit speaking through me and as I spoke the spirit testified to me that I really am a representative of Jesus Christ, standing in His place, saying what He would say.  Walter felt the spirit, and felt a strong desire to change.  But it looked like Cesar wasn´t really getting anything from it.  In the end, we looked at him to say the prayer as always, and as always, he denied and wanted one of us to do it.  He has only prayed in front of us once because he´s really embarrassed.  A week ago we decided to just wait and wait and wait until he said it, but his friend was there so I think he didn´t want to do it in front of him. Anyway... so he promised us he would do it the next lesson, and I made a deal with him that if he didn´t do it the next lesson, we had permission to take away his alcohol and cigarrettes for a month, and he agreed! So in this lesson with Walter and his other friend, he still didn´t want to do it. So we reminded him of the deal we made, and he gave us his cigarrettes and told us he wasn´t going to smoke or drink for a month. Hah! We of course didn´t believe that that was really going to happen, but happily took away his cigarrettes and threw them in the cuneta.  So we went back to find Walter a few days later, and instead found Cesar.  He was in a REALLY good mood... we had never seen him like that before.  The first thing he said to us was that he had been behaving well... that he only drank a little with his brother and that he had only smoked one cigarrette that his brother gave him but hadn´t bought any (usually during our lessons he smokes 3 or 4 cigarrettes so this was already a miracle!).  We sat down to have the lesson and he told us he had already read (which he hadn´t been doing for a week or 2) and that he liked the chapter (Helaman 5).  Then we were about to start with a prayer and I asked Hermana Ovando to say it and Cesar butt in and said ´can I say it?´ WHAT?? We both sat there astonished, seeing if this was a joke or not, hahah. And... well, he said it!! And then he committed to coming to church. And he came.  We went to pick him up Sunday morning and he was already ready to go and had just walked outside when we walked up.  It was a stake conference, and unfortunately, well, I´m going to be honest.. it was a realllllly boring conference. Hahaha. I mean, it was good! But basically everything only applied to members, so I was really worried. But Cesar sat there and listened to everything carefully.  He met a few members, and looked around the church a little bit.  It was so cool.  As we walked in he was so scared and nervous... we almost had to push him in the door haha but he entered and after the conference he told us that he really liked it, and that it wasn´t what he expected.  He told one of the members that he wants to come back. WOW!!!! MIRACLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so happy.  Usually when someone doesn´t come to church after about 3 weeks we already have to leave them because there are other people who are willing to come.  But we saw something different in Cesar and stuck with him, even though according to numbers and datos he wasn´t progressing.  He always had wanted to go, just needed some help getting there.  He didn´t even go out Saturday night.. which is another miracle because usually we find him drunk with his friends in the street Sunday morning haha. Anyway.... who knows what is going to happen with him.  But all I can say is that I have never seen such a big and rapid change happen in him.  I don´t know if it was because of the lesson we had or something else, but he changed a lot out of nowhere, and I think it´s his time. (or at least I hope so!) I couldn´t be happier!

Ok so this email is already pretty long but just one more LITTLE item of business....... I want to congratulate my BEST FRIEND and wish her and her soon-to-be hubby good luck this week! Leash.... I am so happy for you and wish you guys the best.  It is going to be the best day of your life, and I will be there in spirit and of course thinking about you here!!! I love you so much!!! For those of you who are going to the wedding, please please please take lots of pictures for me and send them to me before next Monday!!! Since I won´t be able to be there, it´s the closest I will be able to get and I´m so anxious to find out how everything went and what it was like.  GOOD LUCK!!! LOVE YOU!!!

Ok... that´s about it for this week! I attached some pictures (we´re in a different cyber this week so hopefully they will work!) A few random ones with different hermanas.... Ovando, Martinez, and Lao and then with Hermana Martinez´s new companion Hermana Adorno, also with Hermana Juarez and Hobbs (the old trio!!) and all the hermanas.  Our deaths of the week (the cucarachas y largatija) and a lovely pic with Cesar.. haha! He looks SUPER evil in this picture but he´s really not that bad when he smiles! :)

LOVE YOU ALL!! FELIZ SEMANA!

-Hermanita Hunt

11-05-2012

11-05-2012

Hey fam and friends!
Sorry... I have like no time to write this week but how is everyone??
We had transfers and I am going to finish my mission here in
Centenario II with Hermana Ovando!!! I am sooo so happy, it´s ending
out how I was hoping. This week we had some miracles and found some
GREAT people that really can progress... they are so ready for the
gospel! POR FIN!!! We have been working really hard these last 2
transfers... we MIGHT even be able to see a few baptisms before I head
out. We´ll see! But I am excited to get to work with these new
people. We are working a lot on using our time to find people who are
ready... we find a LOT of really awesome people and they read and pray
but are not willing to go to church, so we just can´t use our time
with them because they are not ready yet. Anyway... I feel like I had
a lot to tell you all but I can´t think of any of it right now! Haha,
sorry for the short email!! But I hope all is well there!! LOVE YOU
ALL!!!

--Hermanita Hunt

10-27-2012

Buenas!

How is everyone? Sorry this is going to be a short email... I really don´t have much to say for this week! Oscar and Cesar are doing ok... we are going to have to leave Oscar for awhile because he´s not progressing so much, and Cesar we are still teaching but are not going to focus on him so much either.  We met a bunch of his friends (which is nice because now we have this nice little system of protection in the streets because they all know us and stick up for us hahah) and we are going to try and work with some of his friends.  I´m pretty sure that once we start getting them all going it will be a lot easier for them all to change.. the biggest problem is the peer pressure and Cesar just can´t stay strong.  They all really do want to change, just have a long ways to go.  I forgot to share last week.. one of the best lies I have heard on my mission, hahaha. A guy didn´t want to talk to us, so he told us that his uncle is Osama Bin Laden and that they´re not cool with the states and if I want to be safe I better leave his house because Osama should be coming home anytime soon... hahahahah, seriously?!?!? It was hilarious. We both looked at him like ´uh...... FOR REAL?!?´ hahah. Ohhhh the things people say. Anyway... we have transfers this week and I will be starting my last transfer! Ayyy! I really don´t want to leave here, and I don´t want Hermana Ovando to leave either. I would be perfectly content with staying here until the end of my mission and staying with Hermana Ovando. But anything is possible! I guess we´ll see what happens! Anyway... thanks for all that you do!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

 

--Hermana Hunt

 

P.s. Hermana Heyman btw is doing a lot better and is recovering well and will be heading back to Resistencia pretty soon!! Thanks so much for all of your prayers!