5-21-2012

 

¡Buen dia!

First of all, Happy Birthday this week to mi hermana Jenni!! Next year you will be 30... dang you are getting old!! :) Haha jk, hope it is fabulous! News of this week:

• New companion! Her name is Hermana Shoaf and she´s from Kentucky. She has about 2 transfers less than me. We get along well and we work really hard together! This area is still pretty dry so we are putting in all of our efforts to do our part and find those who are ready to hear the gospel
• Thank goodness Hermanas Hobbs and Juarez both stayed, so we are still neighbors! :) We enjoy eating together and having parties each night... :). Just kidding. But seriously. Who knew church music could be so fun to dance to?? Hahah
• A few cool experiences this week with investigators:
• yesterday we met the friend of a member and her name is Lia. She was kind of closed off, but she told us that God was really not a part of her life and she had never prayed before, ever. I was shocked! We never hear that. So we talked to her for awhile and then helped her say the prayer in the end. It was awesome, the spirit was so strong and afterwards she just sat and cried. She told us that she always felt like she was talking just by herself, but this time she felt like someone was there listening. She is awesome!
• This week my comp and I had 2 awesome experiences about promising blessings. Our mission president has talked to us about promising blessings since we are representatives of Jesus Christ, we have the ability to promise blessings to the people that will really be completed. Of course that doesn´t mean just going around to anyone promising whatever we want. It has to be done with the spirit. So we were teaching an awesome lady named Vilma. She is struggling because her husband is not very supportive (wow big surprise here in Argentina! haha) and she really wants him to change. My companion told her that she felt strongly that she could promise her that if she keeps going in this and progresses on to baptism, her husband, with time, will see her example and will change and will also make the same decisions. As she was promising this I could a huge rush of the spirit all through my body, and I knew that exactly what my companion was saying was true. So I promised her too that it really was true, and that I knew without any doubts that this promise would be fulfilled. Then, the next day we were in a different lesson with a lady named Avelina and her son is sick with cancer. In the middle of the lesson she started crying and praying, and a thought came into my head that if she kept going in this, if she went to church and progressed on in baptism, her son would be healed. Right after, my companion gave her that promise, that her son would be healed if she kept going in this. We talked about it after and about how it is just so cool how the spirit works with us and testifies to us what we need to say and do. Being a missionary is the greatest calling in the world!

Well, that´s about it for this week! I hope you all have a fabulous week!

--Hermanita Hunt

5-14-2012

Maria's Baptism

My Companion 

 Maria's family with Hermana's

A dead Tarantula

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡FELIZ DIA DE LA MADRE!!!!!!!!!

Well, it was great talking to a lot of you yesterday on the phone! Also, I hope you had a fabulous birthday this last week Robyne!! :) so glad we share a birthday.  Just a few things to say this week:

AWKWARDS INCOMODOS Y CHISTOSOS

• this last week I heard some hilarious pick up lines, and also had some creepy experiences, haha. 
• (as we´re walking down the street and I am peeling a mandarin and eating it) some kid in a soccer field yells that he wishes he was that mandarin... bahaha, for real??
• (as we`re talking to a weird old man in the street) we ask him about his life and who he lives with and he tells us that he is a widower and lives alone. He then grabs my arm and says ´you wouldn´t want to live with me would you?? :)´ I, being an awkward missionary and not knowing what to say, reply with ´ha ha...... no.. sorry!....´ hahah
• in a lesson, a guy is asking us about how the mission is and if we have kids and families and boyfriends and stuff and we tell him that no we are single in the mission and he starts to say ´well lets suppose for example, you wanted to live with me, could you do that?´ and then he starts to reason and say ´oh but no that would be hard because you travel every six weeks and go to different areas.....´ etc., as if he was really considering it, hahah. I responded with ´oh.... no. in the mission we are single. single single single, like, we don´t have anything to do with that, we are just single and we stay away from guys, and then after the mission we go back to our own countries and get married there´ hahah.
• it´s funny, I remember always talking to Hermana Payne about how in the states we are just normal girls, but here just because we are different we stand out a lot and for some reason people just notice us and say weird creepy things all the time! ohhh Argentina
• this week our investigator Maria had her baptismal interview.  In the interview with Elder Robinson our district leader, he was asking her about the Sabbath Day and what it is, etc.... she goes on explaining ´ well we don´t buy stuff, we go to church, we spend time with the family, we don´t have sexual relations´ hahaha and Elder Robinson went completely red and said ´what?!?  what did you learn that??´ and she went on to explain that her mother-in-law who is a member told her that haha and Elder Robinson was so embarrassed and didn´t know what to say.  He just said ´umm... I think you can.......?´ hahaha. Ohhh poor Maria was so embarrassed but it was SO funny, we were all laughing so hard when she told us after

AWESOMES

• my first baptism here in Formosa! Woooo! Everything went smoothly, and it was so awesome.  He is a member already but was really inactive, and she wasn´t a member.  He cheated on her a few years back and they had some issues but they started fixing things up and the night before her baptism they stayed up all night talking and he told her that he has changed and is going to move forward in this with their family now forever.  She cried to me in the bathroom right before she went in to get baptized, telling me about this.  I am soo so happy for her and her family.  They are going to be strong members forever and I know that this was SUCH a blessing for their family

And now, in honor of Mother´s Day, a nice little tribute to my MOM! :) I can´t thank her enough for everything she has done/does for me.  My mom is the perfect example of a faithful member of the church, a sibling, a daugther, a friend, a wife, and a mother.  She is an example to everyone who meets her and I don´t know anyone who could ever have bad feelings towards her.  She is ALWAYS working hard, doing everything for everyone else.  She is quiet and shy until you get to see her silly dorky side--which is the funniest thing to watch. :) I have countless memories laughing my head off with her, whether she is making up silly skits for church activities, putting on her bike helmet backwards, or dancing in the kitchen with me.  Many adventures such as trips to Hawaii, Mexico, Las Vegas, and of course California and getting lost in Tijuana Mexico.  I love talking to my mom and I can´t keep any secrets from her... I trust her with everything.  She is very respectful and smart, and always open-minded, non-judgmental, and charitable towards everyone.  Of course I miss her excellent cooking and her cinnamon rolls :).  All of my friends love my Mom and love just sitting and talking with her.  A couple of months ago my companion and I were talking about parenting and how we feel like parents should be, and I went on to explain how my parents were so great and how much I respect them for how they raised us in the gospel.  My mom is the perfect example of a pure and virtuous, but not naive woman. (ok ok yes naive in some things but we just like to tease her for that... for example-spooning. hahah, love you mom!!)  I am so grateful to be raised by the mom that I have.  She is my best friend and my best hero and example.  I hope you had a fabulous Mother´s Day mi Madre!! Thank you SO much for everything you are.   LOVE YOU!!!

5-07-2012

Hola Familiaaaa!

Well well, it`s an exciting time here in Formosa, I suppose!  I finally have a companion... Hermana Claro my mini from Posadas! It has been way awesome being with her.. lots of fun! We only have a week and a half left though and then we will see what happens.  They might put me with another mini or put me with a real missionary... we`ll see!  

Exciting news of the week:

• today we are moving!! I am actually really sad, haha but at least we will be in a nicer apartment and we will be living next door to the other hermanas
• this week our shower broke and only has freezing cold water, so I washed my hair Argentine style... outside in the clothes washing sink with a cup, haha.  A lot of people here don`t have showers so that`s how they shower every day! Right there in their backyards
• this week we have a baptism! woooo! Finally! My first baptism here in Formosa.  Her name is Maria and she is the wife of an inactive member. They have the cutest little family, oh my goodness their little boys are soooo dang cute.  Matias is 7 and everyday he asks his mom when they get to go to church again, and Benjamin is 2 and he is always yelling non stop `Hermanas hermanas hermanas!` hahah.  We are really excited for them, they are an awesome family and are going to be great members

Well.. that`s about it for this week! Haha, sorry... boring email! But things are going better in the area.  It`s still been a little rough here but things are improving and we have some pretty good progressing investigators.  We are working hard, and I am 100% focused in the work.  We`ve been so busy that there`s not ever time to think about anything else! Haha, but it`s good... even though it`s sad that the time is flying by so fast, I know I am giving it my all.. which is a really good feeling!  Hope everyone has a fabulous week!!

Hermanita Hunt

P.s. happy birthday to my lovely niece Halle Bally!!! Also, happy birthday to mi hermano Casey a few weeks ago!! Sorry.. forgot to mention it in the blog, haha

4-30-2012

Hola hola!
Feliz Mayo! (almost) This week was.... well, a very interesting one! Here´s the story:

We´re sitting in district meeting on Tuesday, in our trio of course, when our zone leader tells us he has news for us.  In district meeting he announces that they found another mini missionary to come out, so we´re looking at Hna. Jaurez saying ´ohh poor thing, good luck with this one!´ when he then says that this time though, it´s not for Hermana Juarez.  We all sit there, confused and super antsy to find out what´s going to happen.  He goes on to announce that this time, the mini is for me!  Hermana Hobbs, for the rest of the transfer, would be moving to the area of terminal, and I would stay in Parque with a mini. Whatttttttt?!?!?! Whew, I was shocked, and scared, and excited, and nervious, and sad, and everything all at the same time!  They told us she would be coming that night and we had to have everything moved out from Hna. Hobbs so we could go pick her up.  Sooooo it was a sad parting of the trio. :( So we go to the terminal to pick her up.  Her name is Hermana Rodriguez and she´s from Goya, Corrientes which is a part of my mission.  The whole night she didn´t say a WORD. Honestly. I think I only got ¨si´s¨ and ¨no´s¨ to my questions.  The next day President Ramirez came to check our apartment to see how it was and what we needed, and unfortunately told us that we need to move. :(  So all morning we were with him and some workers fixing up a few things.  When we got ready to go out to work, I told Hna. Rodriguez that she just needed to put on a skirt and we could head out (she woke up and got ready in pants).  Aaaand then started the drama.  She told me that she didn´t like wearing skirts and didn´t want to wear one.  So I kindly explained that in the mission, we wear skirts as a uniform and that she was going to have to wear one while she was here.  Her answer was still ´pero no me gusta polleras.  no quiero ponerme´.  So after talking for a bit and trying to convince her to put a skirt on (which failed each time) I finally asked her if she wanted to be here, and she said no and that she just wanted to go home.  So I called the zone leaders and told them, and they talked to her and she said she wanted to go home.  Then the elders in her branch called her, then her mom, then her sister, then the branch president´s wife from her branch, then the next day the hermanas from her area called her, and still she just wanted to go home (and still also wouldn´t wear a skirt... after wasting the whole day waiting for someone else to call, we finally went out and worked for a few hours with her wearing leggings. hah!).  She also talked to the assistants, and still wanted to go home.  I felt so bad! The poor girl just wanted to go home!  But everyone was determined to convince her to stay.  So the elder from her area had this bright idea of calling the stake young women´s president here in formosa to see if she could go talk to her.  So we all go to meet in the stake center... us, our zone leaders, the zone leaders from the other zone, and this lady.  And we waste about 2 hours there.  And after they chatted we walked out the door and I asked her how it went and she said ¨bien.... pero todavia quiero irme¨ (good, but I still want to go). hahaha. So FINALLY, the next day, they let her go home.  WOW.  Out of the 3 days we were able to only have 5 lessons. 5 lessons! Ay. So now I am in a trio with the hermanas from terminal again, hahah.  This whole week I have hardly been able to get anything done in the my area. But good news! Tonight I will get another mini, and this time she will be awesome, because I already know her.  Her name is Yuli (Julie) Claro and she was a member in my old area, and I love her!! I am so excited to work with her the next two weeks.

And... that´s pretty much the exciting news of the week! Haha. Also this week we have to move apartments, and we are moving outside of our area. :( At least we will live next door to the other hermanas.. so that will be fun.  This transfer has been everything but normal, and I feel like we´ve only been able to work in my area 50% or less of the time.  In spite of all that though, we do have 2 good investigators that are progressing well and will probably be getting baptized pretty soon.

Sorry no time for a spiritual thought this week, but I hope all is well!! Love you all!!

--Hermanita Hunt

P.s. Callie (wow that´s weird saying your name!).. Hermana Green will almost for sure be transferred this transfer so she won´t be able to deliver the picture.  She does know where Cristina lives though.. I will talk to her and have her show her companion so she can deliver it when it gets here! If you remember how to describe how to get there though you should probably put that with the picture just in case... I know she didn´t have an address it was just in that really poor area with no roads in Barrio San Jorge, but I´m sure she´ll be able to find it!

4-16-2012

Hermanas at the bus terminal

Kissing a pig

Pumping well water

Exploring the jungle

My poor shoes!

Argentine Mud

Cow Stomach for lunch

MTC Buddies

Buenas!!

Well, this week you all get a lot of great pictures, since I haven´t been able to send any the last couple of weeks and we have had some great adventures! Hermana Jaurez has been with us in a trio since her new companion hasn´t been able to get her visa and is stuck in Mexico.  This is I think the 5th or 6th time that she has been with us, so we have officially decided that we can count each other as companions since we have at least 6 weeks worth of time together now, haha.  It has been a blast!  My new companion Hermana Hobbs is AWESOME! The only problem we have together is that we stay up too late in bed because we can´t stop talking, hahah.  We have had an awesome week with the 3 of us, despite the drama of having to work in 2 areas.

A few highlights of the week... 

AKWARDS, INCOMODOS, Y CHISTOSOS

·         well, I only have one for this week, but it is definitely a good one.  This week, we had the lovely opportunity of eating mondongo with a member family. Mondongo in some countries is also called pansa de vaca.  For those of you who don´t speak spanish, that translates to COW STOMACH. Yes. It was as bad as it sounds. I almost threw up. Hahah. BUT, I DID eat it! And my full plate too. Well... almost. Luckily Hermana Jaurez was sitting next to me and she knew what that was like for americans so while the members weren´t looking she stole a few pieces off of my plate and ate it for me, hahah. But my poor companion had an ENTIRE plate full... way more than any of the rest of us, and she tried one bite and just couldn´t do it.  The members saw that she wasn´t really eating and asked if she didn´t like it, and she thought for a minute... and finally just shook her head. hahah. So they took it away and gave her something else. She felt SO bad, but she just couldn´t do it! I sent a picture of us all at lunch. Our faces may look happy, but our tummies definitely weren´t, haha.  I was feeling it in my stomach all day. Whew... glad to have that experience over! Now to make it even better... we were talking with one of our investigators later about the experience and we told her it was ´interesting´ trying mondongo.  Somehow she took that as ´awesome´ and invited us to lunch for this week so she could make mondongo marinera for us.  We have no idea how we´re going to get out of that situation now... hahah

AWESOMES

·         this week was awesome for a few reasons:

1.    we are in a trio, which=fiesta all the time!

2.    we have been able to find some really great people this last week that actually are progressing... I am feeling the work pick up a little bit!! lets keep our fingers crossed :)

3.    today for P-day we went to a member´s house in Hermana Jaurez´s area to hang out at their little farm and explore the jungle, which happens to be their backyard. It was Awesome!! Unfortunately we didn´t get to see any exotic animals :( they were all hiding.. but they told us that there are monkeys and tucans and everything!  I sent some pictures, it was an awesome day! AMO ARGENTINA :)

This week for my spiritual thought I am going to share a little bit of what I shared in church this last week.  Our branch president asked us 2 minutes before sacrament meeting started if we could give a 10 minute talk on missionary work to excite the teens about serving missions, haha.  I just shared a few scriptures in Alma 26 and my feelings about my mission so far.  Here is verse 16 from Alma 26

 16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

I love this scripture.  This whole chapter is really great actually... I love how much Ammon just rejoices because of how great the Lord is in helping him and the other missionaries bring the gospel to the lamanites.  I feel the same way as him when he says ´I cannot say the smallest part which I feel´... when I was sharing my testimony I couldn´t express even the smallest part of what I feel for my mission up until now.  It has absolutely changed my life.  It´s not easy.  There are a lot of ups and downs, and maybe even more downs than ups.  But the special times are SO special, that it is worth every single little trial one has to go through in the mission, just for that one moment.  I am SO grateful for this decision I have made to serve a mission.  I would not for one second take it back.  Every day I am gaining a stronger testimony and loving the people here more and more.  Some days we are just walking down the dusty roads or sitting on the bus and I look out and think about how much I love this country, and how hard it is going to be to leave when my time comes to go home.  I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven and especially to my Savior for allowing me to have this incredible experience, and helping me every day to improve and try a little harder to love and serve the people here in this part of the world.

Thanks everyone for your love and support.  Les queiro a todos!!

--Hermanita Hunt

P.s. Hna. Payne ahh thanks for your email!! I´m going to send you a letter this next week and I am going to try and get a letter from the flia Ortiz and Hna. Jaurez to send with it.. the Flia Ortiz still always talks about you and they told me they want to write you. Also, yes I did find out the Lucas finally got baptized a few weeks ago!!!!!!!! Even better... Lorena, who hadn´t been to church in probably 2 or 3 months, went to his baptism, and shared her testimony, and called him her dad. MILAGROS!!! Te queiro hermanita!!

04-09-2012

Hello fam and friends!

Well.. this week was pretty exciting! As exciting as it can get here in Parque at least! Here´s a recap of the week...

Wednesday-got my new comp! Her name is Hermana Kristina Hobbs. She is from Arizona and it SUPER awesome!! She is super super sweet and fun, and we get along really well. She´s a nurse (which is great, I´ve already learned weird medical stuff that I never knew existed haha) and she has 5 months total in the mission, she just finished being trained in Resistencia. We will have a lot of fun together and will work hard together!

Thursday-we may or may not have gotten a little visit from Dusty and Allison! Hahah. It was so fun!! We met them in the terminal Thursday morning and went and had lunch there, and then went to the pension to drop off their stuff. While we worked they got to go see Centro in Formosa and even ran into and talked to a member family in our ward who we were supposed to have lunch with that day, haha! Thanks so so much for coming out of your way to see me! It was super great. And NO don´t worry, it didn´t even make me trunky in the least bit. :) Haha.. it was just fun to see them!

Also Thursday morning my companion Hermana Mamani went home! It was sad to see her go but I´m excited for her! She was a really great companion and I learned a LOT from her.. one of the most loving and Christ-like people I know

Saturday-our only progressing investigator, Myriam, dropped us. She told us she wants to continue in her evangelical church (which she wasn´t active in when we found her). It was actually really hard. We have been dropped tons of times but I have never been dropped so often as I have in this area. It was especially hard with her though because she was doing everything... reading, praying, coming to church, etc. but her heart was closed to the answer and in the end she told us that she didn´t really want to receive an answer. I have never cried when an investigator has dropped us before, but when she told us she didn´t want us to visit her anymore I couldn´t help it. I walked away sobbing.. it was really weird and really sad. I think the more I am understanding the gospel and the more I am being converted, the harder it is to see people choose not to accept it.. especially when they are already so close, and when they are someone I care about so much. It was an interesting experience that I will never forget. I will continue to pray for her and have hope that someday she will make the decision to accept it.

Friday-I might have hit 9 months. ouch. It is really weird. I don´t know how I feel about it, haha. Don´t worry, I took some great ¨9-month¨ pictures.. one with allison and one in my apartment

Sunday-hardly anyone was in church, and we had no investigators there

Well.. as far as the work goes, it may look a little disappointing. Which it is, BUT, life goes on and WE are learning a lot, which is a plus! Also, I know that none of our efforts are in vain. It doesn´t matter if we don´t get to see any of the success that we have... what is most important is that we are doing our best and improving every day to be more like Christ and to share his gospel, and our efforts will make a difference in somebody´s life.

Scripture of the week-- 1 Corinthians 8:1

1 Now ^aas touching things offered unto ^bidols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but ^ccharity ^dedifieth.

I have been thinking about this scripture this week. Sometimes we worry so much about being so perfect and doing everything right and knowing everything and being smart, etc... but when we worry about this things and don´t worry about LOVE, we become puffed up instead of edifieth. When I think about the word puffed up, I think of a marshmallow, hahah. But something that is false.. something that is not firm, not made of real solid material, just falsely large. But edifieth... it is something that is solid, built up, strong, established, made of real matter that won´t fall down with time. I hope that we all can always focus on Christ, and what HE thinks of us, and what HE wants us to be, instead of what the world wants us to be, or our neighbors, or our friends, etc. In the mission I feel like I see this a lot... people worrying about the numbers, the positions, being a ´great missionary´ instead of a ´great servant´, and the difference is who you are trying to please... other people (missionaries, members, etc.), or the Lord. I hope we can all always have our focus on pleasing the Lord!

Well.. I hope all is well at home! I love you all and am so grateful for all of your love and support!

LES QUIERO! BESITOS!
--Hermanita Hunt

04-02-2012

Family and Friends--
Well.... this week was super crappy. All of our progressing investigators dropped us and we seriously have NO ONE to teach. We get rejected everyday and no one wants to talk about, and it has been
super hard. I am kind of thinking about coming home early.
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 APRIL FOOLS!!!!!
 
 
 
Hahaha, I am so funny. Ok ok so that was a really bad joke, hahah but they don`t celebrate April Fools here so I had to do something since I didn`t get to play any jokes on Sunday! :) No.. things are actually
going great! Although it is true that we really don`t have any progressing investigators haha things are great. It seems like we find some really great people and then within days they drop us. But we do have one lady who is progressing and we are really hoping and praying hard for her. We are working hard though and things are great!! I am learning so much and loving everyday!
 
AWKWARDS INCOMODOS Y CHISTOSOS
-one for this week... so it`s always really fun when people realize that you`re from the US and they think they are so cool and start throwing out the few english words that they know. This week we walked past a group of 10 year old boys playing soccer and they started calling out stuff. As usual, we kept walking pretending like we didn`t hear them. However, I couldn`t help but bust out laughing when one of them yelled `Hey baby!!`. hahahah. Yes... hey baby, from a 10 year old. Only in Argentina!!
 
AWESOMES
-so our one progressing investigator, Myriam, is awesome. She has a lot of doubts but she is also very sensitive to the spirit and can feel the truthfulness of the gospel. The other night we went to see
her late at night because we were worried because we hadn`t heard anything from her for a few days and she didn`t show up to an appointment and hadn`t been answering our calls. We came just at the
right time. She was really struggling and satan has been working on her so hard... putting tons of doubts in her mind. We had a nice little chat with her and then we closed with a prayer. While I was saying the prayer, I felt the spirit really strongly and I could just feel so strongly how much our Heavenly Father loves her. I prayed for her, and we all felt the spirit, and after the prayer I saw that she was crying. She told us that she could feel the love so strongly, and that she really needed it that night. That moment in that night will always stay in my mind. When we are in tune with the spirit, we are able to be there for people when they really need someone. More and more I am falling in love with the people here and really recognizing God`s love for each of them, for me, and for everyone.
 
Another awesome would of course be CONFERENCE!!! It was so awesome! I loved every minute and it flew by way too fast. A few highlights from my favorite talks...
 
-what we do on a day-to-day basis is our biggest sacrifice
-acting on even a twig of faith allows God to grow it
-we must not be weary in what we do.. we are doing a grand work!!
-does my countenance reflect the Savior`s light?
-following the spirit=doing the Lord`s will... it is the key to
success in all areas of our lives!
-there is NEVER justification for resentment
-`don`t judge me because I sin differently than you` (one of my
favorite lines from conference!)
-it is the merciful who will receive the mercy from God
-where your treasures are, there will your heart be also. What is
most important in life? And am I devoting all of my thoughts, actions,
and time on these things?
-that which comes from above is SACRED... we must take care of it and
take advantage of it, or we won`t receive it anymore!
-does my life reflect my love and devotion to the Savior?
 
Just a few little notes that I wrote down in my agenda from my conference notes. I especially loved the talks by President Monson, Elder Scott, Elder Holland, and others! I hope you all were able to watch all four sessions and if not.. go and look them up now! I promise you will receive inspiration and things that will help you with whatever trials you are passing through right now.
 
This week my companion goes home so I will get a new one this Wednesday. Time is passing by SO fast. This Friday I may or may not hit my 9 month mark. YIKES!
 
Bueno.. I hope all is well with everyone! LES QUIERO MUCHO!!
 
--Hermanita Hunt