9-17-2012

Hola todos!
How is everyone? Happy Birthday Prez!!!! I hope it was a good one!!
:) I can´t believe you´re so old now!! And Halle-Balle... send me your
shoe size! I am bringing home something different for everyone but if
anyone specificall wants alpargatas (the Toms shoes) also, let me know
and let me know your shoe size so I can bring those home too. Also
let me know a couple of colors you would like! Ok, so this week...
 
WEATHER: wow. It has been REALLY hot and humid the last couple of
days! It hasn´t rained yet but it really doesn´t need to... all you
have to do is walk outside and you feel like you are swimming, haha.
It is pretty crazy, after being in an air-conditioned building you
step outside and it just hits you like a truck and instantly you are
dripping sweat! We have a temperature thing in our pension and we took
it outside yesterday... not sure if it´s accurate (although I wouldn´t
be surprised), but it said 103 degrees F. The heat isn´t the worst
part though, it´s the humidity. The best part of all though, is that
we´re still in winter. :) hahaha! Spring hasn´t even started yet.
Just imagine what it´s like here in Formosa in the summer. Can´t wait
for that.......... :)
 
COMPANION: this week my companion got big blisters on her feet and has
been kind of waddling haha and walking like a little turtle behind me
all week. Who knew I would be the fast walker by the end of my
mission?! I remember at the beginning I was always running behind my
trainer, wondering how she could walk so fast. And now I am the one
having to learn patience... haha. It´s ok though, at least I can see
my progress!
 
TRANSFERS: this week is transfers. It´s not very likely for me to
go.. I´m pretty sure I will stay here until I finish, but I guess
we´ll see! I have a feeling that there will either be a big change
that will affect me a lot, or there won´t be any change at all with
hardly anything. We´ll see what happens!
 
EXERCISES: this week we have decided that we are going to start eating
healthier and do real exercises instead of sit-ups in bed.. hahah, so
we started waking up a little bit earlier and going out to this soccer
field every morning. I have been running! Well... jogging, hahah,
and a little bit of running. I of course can´t go very far (you all
know how much I LOOOOOVE running), but it´s a start!!
 
EXPERIENCES OF THE WEEK:
On Friday someone tried to break into our pension. Don´t worry.. it´s
not as scary as it sounds! Although we were a little bit freaked out.
We were inside and we heard someone try to open the barred door
outside of our front door, and then they realized it was locked and
banged on the barred door, and then on our window. We asked a couple
of times who it was and they didn´t say anything, and then finally
answered ´yo´ (it´s me) and we asked again and they said ´la señora´
and we asked who they were looking for and they kinda stuttered and
said ´ ehh.... está el señor??´ and we said no that they needed to
knock next door, and then they didn´t knock next door. Haha. I guess
that is a big tactic to rob people here. Luckily we didn´t open! :)
Don´t worry mom and dad... our apartment is doubly locked with 2
different doors and is safe!!
 
This week I also started teaching piano (last week it didn´t work
out). There were about 7 people there and it was actually really fun!
Hopefully I won´t get transferred so I can keep up with that.
 
On Friday we went to see if my shoes were fixed yet (I think the 5th
or 6th time I have had to fix a pair of shoes haha) and a creepy drunk
guy named Cesar appeared out of nowhere really close to us and started
talking to us. He freaked us out a lot at first but then we realized
he was harmless. He was kind of begging us for help... telling us
that he had been in prison and is an alcoholic and really wants to
change his life and really wants help and knows we can help him. We
told him we could only visit him if he was going to be sober, so he
told us the next day he would be sober so we could chat. We show up
the next day and he is outside with 3 other completely wasted guys,
and they all start calling to us telling us to come teach them about
the Bible. Hahaha. Only this was different than the usual drunk guys
who call out creepy/inappropriate things... they were actually serious
and wanted us to teach them! We asked if they drank last night and
they said ´no we just barely started!!´ hahah and they were yelling to
us about how Jesus visited the sinners and helped the sinners. It was
the most hilarious thing to watch... they were totally wasted but
seriously wanted us to go teach them... even calling themselves
sinners to get us to go teach them, haha. We told them we could come
another day, in the middle of the day, when they weren´t drunk. It
was pretty hilarious.
 
Saturday Lucas and Ezekiel from my old area got baptized! I had the
opportunity to find them and start teaching them, and I had permission
from president to go but then our investigator couldn´t go so we
weren´t able to go either :( :(. I was pretty bummed.. but really
happy to know that all went well and they both were able to get
baptized!!
 
This week we have found some good people that can progress. The only
weird thing is that they all have weird names.... one is named Reina
(which means queen), Coca (as in coca-cola... coca also means cocaine,
hahah), Ñoco (I think this comes from Ñoqui which is a type of
noodle... it´s just a nickname but his real name is Amador which is
also weird because it means ´lover´ hahah), and Geronima (ya know like
how you say ´geronimoooooooo!´... like that, only feminine. hahah).
It´s been good though... we have had to leave some people who weren´t
progressing, but it feels so good to be moving on. (It´s funny how
every relationship with investigators is like a real relationship) We
had Zunilda who was progressing and then started avoiding us. It´s so
funny how everyone here just trains their kids to say ´ no hay nadie!´
(no one´s home) when people show up at the door. The other day we
show up to find her door wide open and music blasting, and we hear her
yelling inside at one of the kids. A neighbor like 3 houses over
yells ´no hay nadie!!´ hahaha. Then her little daughter comes up and
we ask for her mom and she points to the house and tells us she´s
inside. Then she enters in with some other kids, and they all run
outside and tell us that no one´s home and they try to shut the door
haha. We finally write a note telling Zunilda that if she´s not
interested we would appreciate her sincerity and honesty and we ask a
little neighbor to deliver it her, and he of course goes directly into
the house to give it to her. It was great. We went by the next day
and her sister finally told us that she wasn´t interested. Is it
really that hard to be honest? I guess for some people it is!
 
Anyway... I think that´s about it for the week! All is going well and
I am loving the mission more than ever, despite the little success we
are having. Thanks for all of your support!!
 
--Hermanita Hunt

9-10-2012

Familia!

Como estan?? Haha thanks everyone for the pictures!!! Keep ´em coming... I love
them!! Whew... what a week! We´re gonna go by days again...

TUESDAY. I had to be in charge of the practice in district meeting which means
I also had to do a demonstration. Ensima, the assistants just happened to show
up, so I had to do it in front of everyone!! I never get nervous when teaching
but for someone reason in front of other missionaries I always get nervous!
Luckily it turned out ok. Then after district meeting, I received two very...
well.... exciting I guess you could say papers in the mail!

First: my trunky papers. Booooooo!!! :( :( :( (see attached picture) That
was... interesting. I really don´t know why the first thing it says is ´it´s
already time to return home, so you need to pack your bags!´. What??!?? I swear
I still have like 3 or 4 months...!!

Anyway... my date as of right now is January 2nd. It was a surprise to me too!
Haha. I had talked to President about the 12th of December. I´m going to talk
to him and see if it´s possible still to change or not. Although, I would love
to stay the extra 3 weeks until the beginning of January. The only problem is
that just the thought of coming home Saturday, moving to Provo on Sunday, and
starting school on Monday without even a second to spend with family or even
realize that I just spent the last year and a half in Argentina kind of gives me
a heart attack, hahah. I don´t know how I would be able to prepare myself for
school that fast (physically or mentally! haha). So we will see what happens!
Whatever date works out is whatever date I need
to come home.

Second: a letter. From Lucas and Ramona... my converts from Posadas!!!

Oh my gosh, it made my whole mission getting that letter. I may have even shed
a few tears reading it. :) Here´s what it said... (if you don´t know spanish,
you can google translate it and hopefully it will translate ok haha)

 

¨ Hola Hunt:

Espero que este bien. Quería agradecer por haber conseguido que
nuestra familia sea hoy parte de la iglesia y que hayamos conocido el
Libro de Mormón. Queiro agradecerle por los cambios en nosotros.
Queiro decirle que usted va a tener una gran recompenza de nuestro
Padre Celestial por haber cumplido con el. Queiro contarle que he
recibido el Sacerdocio de Melquisidec, mi familia está estable,
conociendo un poco mas la gracia del Dios. Gracias a personas
especiales como usted que llevan como estandarte el nombre de
Jesucristo. Estabamos tristes y afligidos y hoy en dia ya ¨no¨
queremos decirle que le extrañamos mucho mucho, pero muy concientes
que usted ya cumplió en este lugar con lo que se le encomendó. Nunca
la vamos a olvidar, la queremos mucho. Con palabras sinceras desde el
corazón. Espero que no se olvide que salvó una familia completa.
Esperamos que le vaya muy, muy bien. Muchos saludos de Agus, Lore,
Braian. La familia Ferreyra y Monzón--Lucas y Ramona

 

The best feeling in the entire world is not just that you helped someone accept
the gospel, change, and be baptized, but that they are now continuing to
progress and live the gospel every day, and enjoy the blessings more and more.
I can not explain the joy I have felt this week. When we found Ramona, Lucas
was into drugs and alcohol, he told us that he wouldn´t even think about
getting married until he was 70, and he wouldn´t even talk to us. Now he is a
worthy melchezedek priesthood holder and their entire family attends church
every week. I am SO grateful for the change that is possible only through the gospel.
There´s so much more to say here but this email is already going to be really
long so I better move on..

WEDNESDAY: divisiones! Tuesday night and Wednesday we had divisions and I went
with Hermana Martinez who is still in training.. it was really fun!!

THURSDAY: we went to Corrientes so I could finish renewing my visa. I talked
with Hermana Parker who is now in my old area Parque and she said that all is
well! Nieve my last convert has been going to church on her own and got her
temple recommend and everything, which is a HUGE deal because in the beginning
she didn´t have the will to do anything on her own! She has changed so much!!
Also, her son Lucas is getting baptized this week!! As well as another boy
Ezekiel who I taught while I was there. I´m going to ask president for
permission to go.. hopefully he´ll let me! She also told me that Hermano
Valdiviezo (the family that we helped re-active.. his wife is María the one who
got baptized with me. He is the one who cheated on her but they got their
family back together and are now active in the church) is now

the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency!!! SO awesome!!! I was SO excited to
hear that news. Once again... seriously, there are no words to describe the
happiness I feel finding out that people who I was able to help are doing so
well and are progressing in the gospel. We worry SO much for these people and
love them SO much and there is always just this little worry that they will
fall again, or inactive,etc... so finding out that they are doing well and are
strong and are holding themselves up is the best news in the world!

FRIDAY: our only real full day of work this week.. haha! It was a crazy week.
But we found a new girl named Fatima who has a baptism date for the end of this
month. She is 14 and is SUPER awesome.. she already has a testimony! I´m really
excited to work with her.

SATURDAY: we went to the stake center to watch the celebration of the

Buenos Aires temple. I got to sit by Nieve and Jorge and Lucas and it was sooo
awesome to see them again!!! I also got to see my hija Hermana Medina who is
seriously one of my favorite people in the entire world... I was SO excited to
see her!! Some of Sandra´s kids were there too and I saw a few others from
Parque. It was so nice seeing them all! :)

SUNDAY: instead of having church we had the Buenos Aires Temple Rededication.
It was incredible.. I miss the temple so much!! It felt like we were there
though in the temple. I sat by Romina from Parque which was also awesome. When
they gave the dedication prayer, I felt a strong impression that God was
listening to this prayer and accepting it... another confirmation from the
spirit that this is all true, that it is all real, and it is right. I love the
gospel. :)

 Well... that´s the jist of this week! There is a lot more that happened in more
details haha but it´s already super long and I´m out of time. I love you all!!
Thanks so much for everything!!!

 

--Hermanita Hunt

9-03-2012

 My homemade piano keys to help teach piano lessons

 Hermana's Hunt and Ovando with investigator family

My companion, Hermana Ovando

Going to Zone Conference in our styling muddy boots!

Family-

First of all, thanks so much for all the pictures!!! I loved them!!! I can´t believe how much the family is growing up... I hope all the grandkids aren´t forgetting about me!! :) I miss them so much! Oh... and you guys too, I guess. :) Haha just kidding.  Well it was a good week! Nothing new really... the usual.  We are working really hard, and are not seeing much happen yet but I know we will be blessed for our work and I´m really happy to be here.  I am learning SO much in this area... I feel like just in the short time I´ve been here so far I´ve grown SO much as a missionary and a person and have become so much better.

Today I want to just share a little bit with you about something I studied a few weeks ago... it´s about ´overcoming´.  

I have thought a lot on my mission about agency, and how important and key that is in the plan of salvation.  It is the thing that God wanted us to have, and that Satan wanted to take away.  Now, Satan is still trying to carry out his plan of taking away agency... only in a different way, by tempting us and leading us to make wrong choices, which ultimately takes away our agency little by little.  With every wrong choice we make, the harder it is to make the right choice the next time, and so on and so forth until we really have no option... we have no ability to choose.  For example, someone who does drugs one time, is way more prone to do them again, and then again, and again and again until he really has no control over his body and is dependent on the drugs.  On the opposite end, one who decides to never even get near drugs will be able to live his life drug-free and will really have no temptation to do drugs.

I have been thinking about the word overcome, and what that really means, and why that is so important.  I was reading in Revelation and in the first couple of chapters it uses this word a lot.  A few examples... ¨to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life...¨  ¨and he that overcometh will I give power over the nations...¨ ¨to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne¨... etc.  A few other scriptures that talk about overcoming are found in JS Matthew ¨but he that remaineth steadfast and is not overcome, the same shall be saved¨ and D y C ¨he that is faithful and edureth shall overcome the world¨. 

So what are the things we need to overcome?  Well, of course.. temptations, the natural man, and world, and really.. ourselves.  We need to overcome ourselves, by having enough will power to not do what we want to do, but to do what He wants us to do.  This has kind of been a theme of my mission (as I wrote about a couple of weeks ago about sacrifices and choosing God´s way instead of our way), and I am working really hard on trying to search out the spirit and learn God´s will, and do it, instead of do my own will.  

Why do we need to overcome?  As the scriptures state clearly, we will receive many rewards by overcoming and turning ourselves over to God.  His way is always better than our way, even if we don´t have enough faith to see that or if we are too prideful to see that.  How do we overcome? As the scriptures also teach us, first of all, we must not be overcome.  We have to resist.  By resisting... we become stronger and the temptation becomes weaker or less effective.  Along with resisting, we must be steadfast and continue enduring to the end.  Really, it comes down to the first principles and ordinances of the gospel.  We must start with opening our hearts and humbling ourselves enough to have faith... we must believe that it really is important to overcome and that God will bless us for following his way instead of ours, and that we are capable of doing God´s will with the help of Jesus Christ.  Then we must show that by being obedient and following, and of course sincerely repenting when we mess up.... picking ourselves back up and turning around.  Then we must continue in our repentance process by taking the sacrament each week and renewing our committment to follow, and of course... enduring.  Like it says in JS Matthew ¨but he that remaineth steadfast and is not overcome, the same shall be saved.¨ 

Really, in order to be saved... we must overcome.  We must choose one way or the other.  God´s way, or our/the world´s/satan´s way.  God´s way is always better. By choosing God´s way, we win.  It is inevitable.  Even if we don´t do everything perfectly, we always have repentance and what matters is the road we are choosing... not where we are on that road.  As long as we are moving forward, we are doing what´s right.  By not choosing God´s way, we lose.  It is also inevitable.  I am learning more and more the importance of not just listening to the spirit to know God´s will and do it, but to actually search out the spirit and pro-actively follow God´s way.  This shows our true humility and desire to follow God.  I definitely have a longs ways to go, but I am trying each day to apply this to my life.  I know that by following God´s plan, we will receive not only the prize in the end, but pure and true happiness and joy in this life, right now.  The world provides fake happiness that lasts for a second, God provides real happiness that is deep, unexplainable, and everlasting.  I know that these things are true because I have seen them and experienced them in my own life and I see them every day in my own decisions and the decisions of the people I teach and talk to everyday.  

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ´s church, I am absolutely 100% sure of that because I have asked my Father in Heaven with sincere desires to know and he has answered me.  Besides the answer that I received, I receive a witness every single day in my mission from the Holy Ghost that it really is true and really is the right way to follow.  I know that God loves me so much and is so aware of me, along with every person here in Argentina, and each one of you.  I know that Jesus Christ is real, that He lives, and that by Him, we live.  My life is a witness and testimony of that and I am so grateful for the miracles He has done in my life and the miracles He continues to do in my life and the lives of others.  I can´t explain the happiness and deep joy that I feel by studying about and living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love you all so much, and am so grateful for your examples and your support.  Have a fabulous week, and remember that God knows you, loves you, is aware of your situation, and is listening to all of your prayers.  Que tengan una semana maravillosa! :) Besitos!

--Hermanita Hunt

P.s. I sent a few pictures! My comp and I, a family we are teaching, us hermanas in the bathroom lookin´ real good in our boots at zone conference (haha) and a paper piano I made... this week I am going to start teaching piano lessons in the church!  An hour every week for everyone who wants to learn.  It´s going to be interesting trying to teach not knowing all of the terms in spanish.. but luckily my companion knows how to read music so she´s helping me out with the vocab! I´m really excited, and I´m sure Grandma is really happy and proud of me :) 

8-27-2012

Buenas!!
Whew.. what a week! First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!! I hope you have a fantastic week!! :) And now... lets go day by day:

TUESDAY-zone conference. It was super fun! I got to see a lot of missionaries that I haven´t seen for awhile. First thing first when I walk in, Elder Gochez (one of the assistants) says to me ´Hermana Hunt, we´re going to ask you a favor and you have to guess what it is!´ and I of course guess ´play the piano! hahah yes Elder I can do it´. We walk in to find the program of the conference, with my name already printed as pianist. Hahaha, love that. We learned a lot of great stuff and it was fun to see everyone.

WEDNESDAY-we had to travel to Resistencia so I could renew my visa. We got to eat the most delicious chipa in the terminal, see a bunch of my friends from my MTC district, hang out with the assistants and eat yummy pizza, and I finally received my package!! It was like having Christmas in the middle of summer... I was super excited to open it, but super sad that I can´t wear any of the clothes until I get home since it´s already hot here hahah. BUT, really it came at the perfect time because the last 3 or 4 days it has been really rainy and really cold, so I got to use all of the clothes! Thanks so much mom for sending it! We might have already eaten all of the candy cane kisses.... :), and I sure am glad to be able to use my ipod again!! On our way out from leaving Resistencia, we put a box of book of mormons that we were taking to formosa with us along with a bunch of packages for people on the bus, and then talked to the bus driver and got off for a minute to go buy some food. When we came back, the bus was already pulling away! We had to chase after it for like 3 minutes... hahahah. How embarrassing! Even worse, it wasn´t just any public bus.. it was a big convey bus, the type that takes you all over Argentina. My poor companion stepped in a hole in the grass and tripped and hurt her leg. Hahah, it sure was an adventure!

THURSDAY-we contacted a referral. The lady we contacted told us that she was Jehovah, and that she liked violence and blood. We definitely left pretty quickly from her.... hahah.

FRIDAY-so I have been really focusing on paying attention to the spirit and noticing miracles and spiritual experiences. Thursday night I prayed to have more spiritual experiences and to be able to recognize them. So Friday, we had a TERRIBLE day. ALL of our plans failed, and we had ONE lesson. It was 8:00... almost the end of the day. We stopped by a member´s house to see if she could come with us. She is an awesome member with a strong testimony that is with us a lot, but she is really struggling and loves to party and do other stuff, so we are trying to help her out. We randomly knocked on someone´s door, and she immediately let us in. Her name is Myriam. With every word that came out of her mouth, I was just completely shocked. She told us she has been searching for a church, that she has gone to a lot of churches and just doesn´t feel at peace, and that she has 5 kids and is already married by law, and that that day she had really been feeling like she needed something more from God and needed to find a church. She had a really bad headache all day, and then we showed up and it immediately left. She then, out of nowhere,started preaching to us! It was well... kind of weird, hahaha, but it was so crazy! She took the member´s hand who was with us and just started telling he that she shouldn´t be scared to talk to her Heavenly Father, that he knows her weaknesses and that she needs to turn herself over to Him and let him help her. That she has a lot of people that she needs to help and that she is really strong, and needs to give herself to Him and help others. This member is 20 and was planning on going on a mission until she started having problems again. Since I´ve been her I have really felt like I need to help her and be he friend... we are really close already and when Myriam was saying all of this, tears were just streaming down the faces of my companion and I. After that, she started talking to us, telling us that we needed to help her (the member) and prepare her, and use her to help us so that she can change. WOW! I don´t know what is going to happen with Myriam, if she is going to get baptized or never talk to us again, but in that moment I knew that Heavenly Father knew me and had answered my prayers. That in that exact moment, we needed to her Myriam´s words and she needed to hear ours. I know that Heavenly Father knows us and loves us, that he listens to our prayers. It was one of the weirdest/most spiritual experiences of my mission so far, haha.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY-my companion got sick and has been throwing up every couple of hours. We have spent lots of time in the pension or in divisions. Poor girl!

 Well, that´s about it!! We are not having a whole lot of success here in our area... we had 2 weeks in a row of no investigators in church which is the most I´ve ever had! But for some reason, I just feel so good. I feel so right about being here in this area, and I know that things will start working out. There is a lot of work to do here and I feel so good about the work we are doing and the person I am becoming, and I know that Heavenly Father is pleased with us.

 Bueno... I hope you all have a fabulous week! I know that this church really is the church of Jesus Christ and that Heavenly Father knows and loves each of you. I love you all, too!! CHAUCITO!!

--Hermanita Hunt