12-27-2011

Christmas Eve Dinner

Fernanda being Hermana Hunt

After the wedding of Mirta and Miguel

Our Christmas Tree Leaf

Miguel's Baptism (See any resemblance?)

Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo!

It was an awesome week!  We had another baptism... I sent a few pictures.  That is my 4th baptism now here in the mission and in this area--Lavalle in Posadas, Misiones.  We also have 1 or 2 more coming up in a few weeks.  We are having a lot of success and things are going great!  How was Christmas for everyone? I hope it was great! Mine was so awesome... we just had dinner with a couple of members and then went home early, lit candles and incense, and wrote in our journals and reflected on Christ. :)  We also might have stolen a giant palm tree leaf from the church and turned it into a Christmas tree....... see pictures. :)  Sorry I don´t have a whole lot to write this week!  It was another busy but awesome week!  I am loving my mission so much, and it´s starting to scare me how fast time is flying.  Who knows... maybe I will be home by Christmas next year!  We will see if I end up going home a transfer early for school or not.  It´s so weird to think about though... I will be hitting my 6 month mark in a few weeks and then the transfer will come, and I might be leaving here.  I love change but I kind of hope I stay because I really love this area and all the people here and my companion!  I can´t imagine leaving right now.. I am too attached to the people here!  I guess we will see what the Lord wants for me. :) I hope you were all able to take time and put Christ first this Christmas... I was able to focus on him so much more.  I was thinking this week about how we can strengthen our relationship with Christ and really feel him in our lives more.  Something that hit me a lot was that really we just need to recognize Him.  He is there... he is helping us, giving us comfort, strength, guidance, whether we notice it or not.  So how do we feel that relationship with Him?  We recognize it.  We recognize his hand in our lives and all he is doing to help us change and learn and grow and improve.  I have a testimony of Him, that I know that He lives.  That He knows us very personally and has given every minute of his life for us, for me, for you.  And it is through Him that we are able to overcome our weaknesses, improve, and become better people.  And with that comes happiness.  A lot of times we have to make sacrifices to follow the commandments or follow what God wants for us, but a sacrifice is giving up something for something better.  Many times we complain when we have to sacrifice because we don´t realize that we are not just giving up something we want, but we are GAINING something so much better.  Just like Christ did when he sacrificed every minute of his life for us, so that we could live in happiness and return to Him.  When we sacrifice to live God´s way, we will gain eternal life and a joy and happiness in this life that is so deep and so much more than what the world can give us, that it is worth every minute of pain and sacrifice we have to make to receive it.  I know this is the right way to live and this is what God wants for us, and I am able to see this everyday when I watch the families we are teaching and how the gospel completely changes their lives around.  I love you all so much and am so grateful for your support and love!! Have a fabulous new year! :)

--Love Hermanita Hunt

12-19-2011

Mabel's Baptism

Whewwww what a week!  We witnessed a big miracle this week.  MABEL GOT MARRIED AND BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (that was mostly for Hermana Payne because really no one else will really understand... haha, I hope you´re reading this hermanita!!) So wow.  A lot happened, but mostly we spent Tuesday-Saturday planning, preparing, and carrying out a wedding and baptism for Mabel.  How 2 gringas who don´t speak spanish did it, I have no idea.  I guess the Lord´s hand just might be in this work or something. :)  But seriously... we did a LOT of work.  Mabel has been working with missionaries for a year and a half now, and we have been with her for about 3 months or so I think.  She´s pregnant so right now her emotions are all over the place, haha, and last week I was really down and starting to lose faith in her because she told us that she would be baptized ´some day´.. which meant not this Saturday which is when we had the date.  I told her we were going to announce it in church anyway and see how she felt with more time throughout the week.  So we announced it, but she was still kinda up and down.  The zone leaders came with us for a lesson with her on Tuesday and everything went really well and something changed in her.  We set the date for Saturday for sure, and the wedding too.  It was such a miracle... her husband was there and everything was up in the air because they didn´t know if they could get their bloodwork done in time because he had to work.  So he was inside and we were getting ready to leave with things in the air still, and he called out from inside and said ´Mañana.  Mañana en la tarde´ (tomorrow, tomorrow in the evening).  He just called it out... and I got a rush through my body and felt the spirit so strongly, and we knew he was talking about getting his blood work done.  He came out and said ´puedo hacerlo mañana en la tarde´.  We all kind of just sat there in awe.  I don´t know if he went in and called his boss, or if he knew already that he could do it but he didn´t really want to work with us or what, but something changed and he came out, and we all just got huge smiles on our faces.  Bueno... so after that we had to find witnesses and go and get the papers for everyone to sign and get all the documents copies and everything, not to mention planning a wedding party for them and the baptism... whew! We were smoked.  We worked super hard all weekend, but it was ALL so worth it.  I have NEVER seen Mabel or her family so happy before!  This week they changed so much because she made the firm decision to be baptized.  She was more ready than I have ever seen her and more sure than ever.  And it all went through smoothly! One of the happiest days of my mission so far!  Armín her husband will be baptized too with time.  It´s funny because he is always inside watching tv or whatever, but she told us that he is always listening from inside.  He kind of acts embarrassed or like he´s too cool to talk to us, hahaha, but we know it is really touching him too and he knows it´s true.  Mabel told us that he invited some of his friends to the wedding and were telling them that because of this gospel they have seen big changes in their family.  It was all so sweet! Sooo... that´s the exciting news this week!! It was incredible. :)  We also have a baptism this week for Miguel.  He and Mirta are getting married Thursday and he will be baptized Friday.  We are having a lot of success and all I can do is thank Heavenly Father for everything he is doing to bless us!  Bueno... now for the funnies of the week!

AWKWARDS INCOMODOS Y CHISTOSOS

• I hardly ever use my glasses when we´re walking around, which is usually fine except for when we´re waiting for the bus at night and I can´t tell that I´m trying to flag down a truck instead of a bus. How embarrassing. haha
• during our awesome and spiritual lesson with Mabel and the zone leaders, Mabel´s daughter Yeni finds a dead toad outside their house and starts throwing it around above our heads. Ohhhh Argentina :)
• so we´re at the wedding and we were already starting late (which is normal) and a lady had just had a seizure and we were still waiting for people so the stress was rising.  My comp and I were outside talking and she was stressed out so I was trying to calm her down and then we both get calm and start being all cheesy and hugging because we are so happy that Mabel´s getting baptized and everything.  No one else was around, and just then, Armín mabel´s husband walks up. Bahahah. It was soooo awkward.  We couldn´t even find the words to say in Spanish, we were just like ´uhhhh..... yeah...... vamos al dentro ahora!...´ hahaha
• of course, in the most busy weeks our cell phone runs out of credit.  So we´re in the church making phone calls when the relief society president runs in and seriously throws her baby in my lap.  She said really quick ´un ratito no mas!´ or something about how it would just be for a second and then she ran off before I could even tell her that we aren´t allowed to hold babies as missionaries. Hahaha so we´re sitting there in the office, just me and hermana green, alone, and I have a baby in my lap. Wowwwwww. Super funny.
• going to the libreria every day, sometimes twice a day, to make copies and buy stuff for the wedding and baptism.  All of the workers there now know us pretty well :)
• for some reason it is really popular right now to say the F word in Argentina... I think it´s from a song.  The funny/sad thing is that NOBODY knows what it means.  We had 2 different teens in the ward ask us ´what does ´what the ----´ mean?´ and we were both shocked and freaked out and told them to never say it.  It´s definitely weird seeing that phrase come out of the mouths of church members!  We are now trying to spread the word that they should NEVER say that phrase
• we had our ward christmas party this week that started at 7:00.  What time did it actually start? 10:00. Not. Kidding.  They served the food 3 hours late. Bahaha! AMO Argentina

Bueno... I think that´s about it!  Seriously this week was awesome.  Stressful and busy but awesome.  I can´t believe Hermana Green and I already have 4 p-days together.  The time is going by WAY too fast!!  But we saw miracles this week, and I am so happy!! Seriously Mabel´s family is changed and I am so proud of her for making the decision.  I saw a huge change in her this week, and a lot of people sacrificed to help make it happen.  Armín was so cute when we was signing the papers... mabel was asking him if he wanted to practice more.  I guess he had been practicing all week, because he gets really nervous and his hand shakes a lot and I don´t think he can read or write very well.  When we went to finalize the date and time for the wedding Yeni was with us and she started jumping up and down yelling ´se casa se casa se casa se casa!!!!!!!!´ .... she was really really excited that they were getting married. :)  I am so grateful for this opportunity to be here and share the gospel with these people, and watch their lives and their families change!

Hope you all have a fabulous Christmas!  And I hope everyone is remembering Christ and all that he has done for us... the real meaning of Christmas, the miracle that we CAN change, we CAN improve and receive the strength we need to move forward and receive this pure joy that comes only from Him and his gospel.

I love you all!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

--Hermanita Hunt

12-12-2011

Hola hola!

Ok, it´s going to be short today because I don´t have much time but this week has been kind of a roller coaster.  Great nonetheless!  A few points from the week...

• Tuesday-zone conference with Elder Foster and another elder from the 70 who´s name I can´t pronounce/spell.  We had an awesome meeting, and then at the end they told us they were going to our apartments to check our area books.  Lucky us, we had Hermana Jaurez with us who´s area is centro which is where we were, and our area is close so we just hop in the car with Elder Foster and another stake leader, no big deal, and we drive to Hermana Jaurez´s pension, which was perfectly clean and her area book was perfectly organized.  So she had been staying with us, and I knew that our apartment was a MESS, so this whole time my heart is just pounding pounding thinking ´oh my gosh oh my gosh, a 70 is going to come to our apartment, and it is a mess, and our area book is not super clean either´... there I am freaking out.  Luckily, they checked hers and just said ´looks good! thanks hermanas! see ya!´ and left. WHEW did I learn my lesson.  I´ve never been so nervous/embarrassed in my life... we got so lucky! Never again will I leave our pension messy... haha
• hermana jaurez has been with us and it has been quite the fun week.  Lots of laughter and fun... one example being at night when we were about to plan and my comp was waiting for me so she goes ´get on the floor!!´  so we can pray and then hermana jaurez in the cutest little latina accent says ´hay una cancion de Britney que dice (there´s a song by Britney that says) ¨Git me on da flouurr¨... este esta mal?? (is this bad?)´ bahahaha. we got a good laugh
• Thursday it poured rain, and we didn´t have umbrellas, so we basically got to go swimming without entering into a swimming pool. We. Were. Soaked. ...see pictures.

Ok I know a lot more happened this week but I can´t remember in this moment and I don´t really have time to think about it, haha.  But all is well here in good old Argentina! I am loving the mission.  It is not easy and there are definitely ups and downs all the time... I love the investigators and members, even though sometimes they are like roller coasters. haha.  But I am learning a lot about how Heavenly Father feels about us when we make good and bad choices, for how we feel with the choices of our investigators.  We want so badly for them to be happy and have this gospel and we know what they need to do to get it, but they still have their agency.  So all we can do is love them and do the best we can to help them!  The mission is the best place in the world.  Love you all! Thanks for all your love and support!!

--Hermana Hunt

 

No, it's not hair! It's Argentine Mud!

Lunch!

New Companion

A common site in Argy Land-Poor Doggy

Hermana Green and Juarez

 

12-05-2011

Hola familia y amigos!

Como estan? Bueno... this week was a week of change!  I got a new companion Wednesday night and my old companion Hermana Payne headed home Thursday! How crazy! So my new companion´s name is Hermana Green, she´s from Washington and she is cool!  She is a convert and has been through a lot for the church... she got kicked out of the house when she was 17 for investigating the church and since then she´s lived with friends and other families, and now she´s here!  Her testimony is really strong and it is a great strength to the investigators.  However... I speak more spanish than her! Ahhh! Haha so this week I have had to do a lot of big girl things... such as carry all of the conversations and lessons, plan what we do each day and get us to all of the places, and talk to people on the phone! (Hermana Payne I know you are just dying right now... bahah. Hna. Green has not touched the phone since she´s been here!)  Bueno.. things have been good though! I have realized that I actually do speak spanish.. kind of. Enough to do everything we need to do at least.  And Hna. Green understands better than me I think so we balance each other out.  It´s going to be a transfer of learning and growing!  It will be great though!  A few funny things from the week...

• we were in a meeting with our ward missionary leader and his assistant and I was telling them how old someone was and I said ´ella tiene diez y cuatro años´  ..... yeah. diez y cuatro.  for those of you who can count in spanish, you know that it´s catorse, not diez y cuatro. Bahaha.  One of the hermanos thought it was so funny he had to write it down to remember. Awesome. 
• last night I was trying to call a member to see if they could do a noche de hogar with us and I got the number from some ward paper.  So I talked to a guy first and asked if I could talk to hermana caballero and he hands the phone to his wife and I talk to her and we like plan this noche de hogar (family home evening) and she talked like she knew who I was talking about and everything and she said to call her the next day, so then I talk to the husband again and he tells me he has no idea who the familia caballero is and their name is something totally different and I ask him if they are members of our church and he says something like I was a member of some church... or something. Yeah. Turns out it wasn´t the right family, or the right number. What the heck...? hahah we were all like ´wait... what just happened?´ So now there is some random lady planning on us coming to her house tonight to teach about prophets with an investigator.... oops! :)
• the kid sitting next to me in the cyber right now listening to music and singing out loud.  Love listening to these latinas sing... :) bahaha

Yeah that´s all I can think of for now! Sorry it´s a short week, but lots of pictures are coming! I´m sure my emails with be getting shorter and shorter with time, haha.  Last night though I did have a dream that I was home and I just remember talking to my friends and saying ´that was the fastest year and a half of my life! It went by soooo fast!´and it´s true... I can´t believe how fast the time is flying and any minute now I´m going to be home saying ´whoa... what just happened the last year and a half?!´ haha. 

Anyway... I am so grateful I am here, there is nowhere else I would rather be.  I am learning so many things that I know I couldn´t have learned any other way.  This week I have been thinking a lot about our role in our own lives.  So many people (especially here!) think that we are just in God´s hands and he will do with us what he wants.  But that defeats the whole purpose of the plan and agency.  It´s so funny here... people always say the phrase ´si Dios quiere!´ which means ´if God wants!´.  They say it in response to everything... ´awesome we´ll see you tomorrow then!´ ´si Dios quiere!´.... ´great so we´ll call you tomorrow and then we´ll be at your house by 7´ ´si Dios quiere!´ haha.  It is so sad!  So many people have such an attitude that they can just sit in their chairs, and God will do with their lives what he wants.  But what would be the point of that?  We are here to take control of our own lives, to live the commandments and do what God asks of us.  We are in charge of ourselves and we have all power over Satan if we really want.  We have our agency. So my challenge for the week is to be proactive!  My companion used to always say ´if we want something in our lives to change, we have to change something´.  Don´t wait for God, don´t wait for something to change.  You are in charge of your life and if you want something to change.. go out and make it happen!  ´Pray like it´s all up to God, but act like it´s all up to you´.  And with that, God will direct your path and show you where to go... but you are the one that has to put forth the effort and action to get there.

Thank you all for your constant love and support!  I can´t thank you all enough. LES QUIERO! :) ciao-cito!

Austina and Yenni

CTR Rings

Familia Betancur

--Hermanita Hunt

11-27-2011

Hola familia y amigos!

Sorry this week is going to be super short!  New from the week:

• we had a baptism! :) unfortunately the other 2 fell through... they weren´t able to get their documents to get married in time.  But they will be happening this next month!  We have a couple planned for Christmas eve, so it´s going to be a ´white Christmas´ :).  We baptized Agustina, she is 10 and adorable!  Her mom is Mabel who is going to get married and baptized probably next week.  The miracle was that her dad Armin showed up to the baptism.  He is always nice to us but doesn´t want anything to do with the church.  He told us he couldn´t come to the baptism because he had to go to centro (lame excuse!) but he showed up!  We were so excited we had to take a picture of him in the entrance of the church, haha.  Mabel was really happy he came and it looked like he had a good time... we are thinking he will come around sometime. :) I have pictures but this computer doesn´t have a flash drive portal so I´ll have to send them next week!  But it was a great week!
• my companion leaves tomorrow! So crazy!! So I will be getting a new companion tomorrow and will most likely be staying in this area.  I would only leave if they decided to do a whitewash, which is pretty unlikely.  So I have been writing down a lot... all of the people we need to visit, which buses take you where, etc.  I am stressing out a little bit but I´m sure I´ll be fine!  I´m excited for the change and excited to see who my new comp. will be.  I´m sure this next transfer is going to be a huge learning experience!

That´s about it for this week!  Sorry I don´t have much time... but if I´m able to send pictures next week I´ll be sending a lot.  Since my comp. is leaving we have been taking tons of pictures with all of our investigators and the members and such.  I can´t believe I have 5 months in the mission... I am almost at my 6 month mark, which is CRAZY! Mission time is SO weird!  Bueno... I hope all is well at home and you are all enjoying the cold and the snow!  We are getting a lot of moisture here too... only it´s hot instead of cold, haha.  This past week has been super hot and SUPER humid... I am getting use to constantly being wet.  I am also getting used to always feeling like bugs are crawling on me. (half of the time they really are, and the other half I think my body is just tricking me into thinking they are because I´m so used to it now, hahah).  LES QUEIRO! muchas gracias por su apoyo constante!

--Hermanita Hunt