Welcome to Argentina! 9-12-2011

Whewwww.... I made it!  Here I am in the lovely city of Posadas, Argentina!  My area is called Lavalle and my companion is Callie Payne from Lehi... she is awesome!  She is my ´entrenador´¨... my trainer, and we have lots of fun together and work hard!  After a 4ish hour flight to Atlanta, a 10 hour flight to Buenos Aires, a 1 hour drive to another airport, a 1 and 1/2 hour flight to Resistencia, and a 5 hour busride to my area, I am finally here!! (if you want to add that up that´s over 20 hours of travel, plus the layovers and waiting etc... it took us about 2 days to get there) So let me tell you all about Argentina and my area!  It is so awesome!  Ok this is how I´m gonna do it... first a list of facts about my area, and then my usual awkwards and awesomes of the week! There are a lot.  If you make it to the end of this letter, felicidades :). Bueno... primer..

• The city I´m in is called Posadas and the area is Lavalle.  We live somewhat near downtown ish but we tract mostly in residency areas
• some of the streets here are paved and some are halfway paved with rocks, and then most are just dirt!  The dirt here is red... so all of my shoes have turned red already, haha.  It is awesome
• This area is really poor.  I have actually seen probably only 1 or 2 houses that are near the ´nice-ness´of our apartment.  Most of the houses are made with cement or some with brick and whatever else, but the insides are really low in quality.  Many of the insides are kind of homemade I guess you could say... the walls are made with pieces of wood or scraps that they could find, and everything is really really messy and dirty.  Most of them have flushing toilets but usually you can´t flush the toilet paper so you have to put it in a trash can
• our ward has about 40ish people in it I think... it´s so weird being in a chapel and only like 1/4th of it is full! Don´t worry though... we will change that :)
• so... our apartment.  It is awesome. :) we have a working kitchen sink and bathroom sink, and they both have one temperature-cold.  Luckily our shower does get warm/hot sometimes!  But as you can see in the picture we have no shower curtain or anything... it is so great.  When I first saw our bathroom I thought it was under construction or something haha! But nope... it´s normal!  Our toilet seat is made out of plastic... and not like the normal toilet seat kind of plastic, but like the kind of plastic that shampoo bottles are made out of, haha.  Our beds are decent, my mattress is probably like 4 inches tall but it does me justice :) aaaaand the stove and oven both work!  They are gas though so we just have to light it with a lighter every time.  We do laundry outside in the sink and buckets out there and then hang it up on the clothes line.  It´s really poor and pretty ghetto here but in a different way than I thought!  I hardly ever see homeless people, and they have all the same technology as we do but not many people can afford it (most people don´t have computers and usually they only have one phone... sometimes more.  Most everyone has a tv though of course haha). 
• a lot of places here are really dumpy... most of the homes just have tons of junk all over the place, and nothing is ever clean, but at the same time it is really pretty here.  Posadas is in the providence Misiones so it is considered kind of the jungle.  My area is all residencies and the houses are all close together in communities but there are still tons of trees around and it is really beautiful!  I haven´t taken any pictures of the area yet because we never bring cameras around with us in case we get robbed... but I will take some and send them!
• the people here are very interesting... some are so humble and sweet but many are very prideful.  Well, not any more than Americans, hahaha.  But everyone is christian, either Catholic or Evangelist... and most have a strong belief in Christ but they never go to church haha.  They are usually pretty smart in their religion but they are still a very simple people... not very educated.  Most of them have lived here all their lives and all of their kids will probably live here all their lives because they don´t really have a huge opportunity to advance.  Most of them just own kioscos or little shops in their homes where they sell food and random things from their windows
• alll of the houses have fences so instead of knocking on doors we clap in front of the fence... so awesome!  Also all of the windows have like fence things over them so most people just open their window and talk to us through their fences, haha.  They´re very hesitant to talk to us or invite us in at first but once we introduce ourselves they are very willing to invite us in and everything
• there are a million dogs here. everywhere.  every home has at like one or two dogs, but most have more... sometimes 5, 10, or 100 I swear haha and every dog barks then you come up to the fence, so we are always basically shouting over the dogs to talk to the people inside hahah it´s so great
• since they speak castellano here and not spanish, haha, it is really hard to understand.  Well actually it´s not just because of them but because they are natives so they speak really fast and they mumble everything!  But I am starting to learn to understand them!  I actually don´t really have a hard time speaking it´s just understanding their responses, and it´s getting better every day!

ok... awkwards and awesomes real quick!

AWKWARDS INCOMODOS Y CHISTOSOS

• the bathrooms here! ohhh... so many great experiences :). first of all, we tract for like 7 or 8 hours at a time and of course we need water but we never have any bathrooms to use because the stores don´t have bathrooms and it´s kind of weird to ask people to use their bathrooms.  Either way, when you do ask.. their bathrooms are super super dirty!  What´s especially great is when you wake up early in the morning and use the bathroom and forget that you can´t put the toilet paper in the toilet so you have to pull it out.... yeah.............. I might have done that one time... hahaha
• awkward situations happen everytime we talk to someone, because I say something and then they say something back and I don´t understand so I just look at my companion, hahaha.  Don´t worry though... I am learning to understand more each day!
• walking home at night and walking down the ´calle de prostitutas´... if you can´t figure out what that means you can google translate it.  So great. :)
• we were at a member´s house and their dog freaked out and attacked my companion. twice. Luckily she had her backpack to defend her!  But seriously.. I am surprised I have already made it almost a week without getting bitten by a dog!
• another great dog story... right as we pulled into our area in the taxi the first thing I see is 4 dogs in the middle of the road, 2 of which may or may not have been mating.  Bienvenidos a Pasados to me right?! hahaha
• yesterday in reunion sacramental they had me lead the music... first of all, they have a piano but no one can play except me, and I couldn´t play those hymns on spot so I just lead instead.  So I started singing, and I swear I was the only one singing! I could hardly hear anyone, and eventually it got better and people were singing so I started singing alto and it totally fell apart! Hahahah.  Apparently everyone pays attention to the leader.  Also, nobody here can sing.  It is so sad but so hilarious.  I have to keep myself from laughing everytime we sing with people!

AWESOMES

• only 2 quick stories because I don´t have any more time but we have a baptism this week (hopefully).  His name is Matias and he is 14 and he is golden! He is so awesome... he is so willing to follow the commandments and he is just such an awesome kid.  So that is the awesome part. Here is the sad part... his mom is totally against the church and she is saying no, and he needs both of his parents´permission (his dad wants to be baptized too but he and his wife aren´t married so he can´t).  So we are praying and fasting this week that she will have a change of heart... we would really appreciate all of your prayers for him!
• second story... so on Saturday we were having a charla (aka chat or lesson) with a lady named Estela.  She has 2 little boys and they are the cutest things ever!  And he ´husband´(nobody here is married) and her have a really bad relationship.  Anyway... the missionaries have been working with her for over a month but she still hasn´t read or attended church, and she has a lot of doubts about the book of mormon.  Usually during the lessons I kind of just stay quiet and my comp will look at me when she knows I know how to say something, or randomly I will give my testimony.  So we had been talking to her for awhile and my comp was basically telling her why it´s so important to go to church and to read to recieve an answer if it´s true or not and she was still really uneasy and didn´t want to go to church.  Anyway, we were getting ready to wrap up and I felt like I should say something.  So I bore my testimony to her and just told her that there are a lot of religions out there, we know, and we know that we are young, and I know that it is a sacrifice to go to church, but it´s ¨vale la pena¨... worth the pain.  I told her that my comp and I are here in Argentina, way far away from the US, for a year and half, because of this church, and that even though I am young this is something that I am sure of, and that I can´t even say how much it has blessed my life and how much it means to me.  Anyway... I didn´t really know where it all came from and I probably didn´t make a whole lot of sense haha but she understood it and felt different afterwords.  She said the closing prayer and it was really sincere, and I felt the spirit really strongly.  The next day... she came to church! :) and she really liked it.  I can´t say much in Spanish right now to people and I definitely can´t understand much, but what I can always do is follow the spirit and give my testimony, and sometimes that is what it takes.

Ok familia no more time but all is well and honestly I absolutely love it here!  It´s poor and simple but I love it... I love living this way and not worrying about anything else but the work of the Lord.  It has been very humbling so far and very strengthening.  Thanks for all your support! Love you all!

Hermana Hunt

8-26-2011

Oops! This didn't post last week.

Hola hola hola!

Como estan todos? Todo esta muy bien aqui! Tengo solo una semana hasta salgo el CCM y voy a ARGENTINA! Wooo! Estoy TAN animada! Un poco temo.... pero mas animada! Ok... briefly here are the highlights of the week:

 

AWKARDS, INCOMODOS, CHISTES, and AWESOMES (yes all in one this week!)

• hosting! we got to host this wednesday because we are now the oldest district in our zone... so fun!
• missing class. hahaha. yes... I think between that last week and a half we have missed 5 or 6 classes? from hosting, having to get shots, and my companion was sick again (don't worry she's feeling better now!)
• the wonderful sewing ladies here. hahaha. while I was hosting they called me on the intercom like 6 times... apparently it was an emergency and I needed to go to the sewing room ASAP before they left for the day.  So I went, and the lady was very concerned because I wanted them to sew inserts into some of my v-neck shirts. A few of my shirts had buttons or snaps down the front and my instructions were the have the buttons open and to sew an insert in so I wouldn't have to wear an undershirt. Well... the lady was very concerned and she didn't feel good about sewing in the insert with all of the buttons undone because 'that is just very revealing and it's just almost screaming to look in that area' (her words)... she said she would feel much better sewing them with a few of the buttons closed and she had to make sure that was ok with me. Bahahahaha. So we went with a happy medium and sewed them with some of the buttons closed.  Before I left she also ironed the ruffles on one of my shirts and she went on to show me how much better and nicer and 'sister missionary' my shirt looked when the ruffles were ironed instead of bunchy.  My hermanas and I had a good laugh about her.... yes yes, that is exactly what I'm trying to do, look promiscuous on my mission. :)
• visas! we had our visa meeting this week and signed our paper in front of the Argentine consul... he flew in from LA. He was so awesome! He told us all about Argentina. Ahh I am so excited!!
• Our teacher Hermano Young... hahaha he is so hilarious!! I wish you could all meet him.  He is kind of sarcastic and just hilarious.  An elder in our district always asks questions that are way off topic and he is really smart but he speaks really slow so it takes him forever to ask.  Us hermanas talk and laugh about it all the time when we can tell that our teachers get a little impatient. The other day he said he had a question and Hermano Young goes 'ok as long as it's not muy extrana (very strange)' us hermanas all looked at each other and cracked up.  Stuff like that happens all the time! It is the best
• during one of our lessons this week we were teaching another missionary in our district. His investigator name is 'Tim' and we were asking him if he had a girlfriend. He said she just broke up with him so we were like 'oh we're sorry! is there anything we can do for you?' and he went on to say 'no... no creo. ustedes no pueden ir a citas, si?' which means no I don't think so... you guys can't go on dates can you? We cracked up and got super embarrassed... and couldn't stop laughing the whole rest of the time
• muddy buddies! yes you better believe it I made muddy buddies here in the mtc.  Mom gracias for the ingredients.. don't worry the butter wasn't completely liquid when I got it. :)  We had a good time ditching gym and making muddy buddies.
• the temple!! Today was our last temple trip for the next 16 months :( :( there's no temple in my mission and the Buenos Aires temple is under construction right now.  Super sad. But it was one of the best temple experiences I have had.  I have been praying this week that I would be able to really learn a lot and remember a lot from the temple today.  It was incredible!  I learned SO much and I know the spirit was teaching me the whole time.  I love that feeling when you know the spirit is teaching you... when your mind just wanders and you think of all these new thoughts and learn so much and it just rings true throughout you... so incredible!
• ok one last thought for the week... I have been thinking a lot this week about pride and humility.  It is so incredible how much humility has to do with life.  When we are prideful... or we have even an ounce of pride, we are hindered from any progression we can make.  We HAVE to be humble in order to do all of  the most important things in this life.  In order to pray, in order to learn, in order to repent, in order to recieve the spirit and follow the spirit, in order to have charity and serve others, etc.  It is SO important to be humble in order to return to our Heavenly Father.  Just like the hymn (and scripture in D&C) says... Be thou humble and the Lord they God shall lead thee by the hand
• ok ok I lied... a few more thought from our incredible fireside the other night.  "Total dedication is complete victory" --Ghandi. And a thought about missionary work... "Love is the way.  Obedience is the price.  Faith is the power.  And Christ is the reason."

Ok everyone have a fabulous week!  Next week I'll send my new address for Argentina.  Thanks for all of your support!! Love you all!!

 

Love Hermana Hunt

 

P.s. Elder Rose in my zone wants me to say hello for him.... so there ya go, hello from my favorite Elder Rose, haha

P.p.s. Lori if you're reading this... thanks so much for the dearelder!  I probably am not going to have time to write so I wanted to write ya a quick note here.  But it was so good to here from you!  And yes I am expecting a couple of pizzas this week over the fence k? Haha jk... but I'm so glad to hear that you and Brent are doing well!  You still had one of my very favorite weddings :) I'm so glad I got to get to know you 2!  Hope all is well, keep in touch! :)

 

PAZ! CIAO!

9-02-2011

Well well well!  T-minus 3-ish days and I will be in Argentina!! Wow how the time has flown... I can't believe it's really here!  Well here are just a few quick experiences from my last week here en el CCM and the next time you will all hear from me I'll be 16 hours of flight and 10 hours of driving time away!

 

AWKWARDS INCOMODOS Y CHISTES

• saying bye to people here... especially our male teachers who can't give us hugs. Hahaha. It's always like "*handshake* well.. thanks for everything. The last 2 months of being with you every minute of every day were fun! K bye!"   With the Elders it's like "*hugs* keep in touch man!  Yeah write me!  See you after the mish! Good luck with everything!" etc.... oh it's so fun being an Hermana sometimes :)
• pictures with our teachers, district, and other missionaries.  They would be cute and totally normal if there wasn't a foot of space in between us and them in every picture... haha!
• there is this redhead elder here who makes it a point to talk to me and my comp. every time he sees us.  He literally follows us and makes a comment that is totally unecessary.  For example today the cafeteria is totally crowded and I'm making my way over to make a peanut butter and jam sandwich because I don't want to wait in line, and I see him so I immediately turn my head the other way to avoid contact, and he follows me and calls out 'what are you looking for sister?' and ok I feel bad because I might have had a little bit of a tone in my voice but really... what am I looking for?? what else would be doing wandering around the cafeteria?  So I reply 'um... food!' and he goes 'looks like you might have to wait in line for awhile today!' by this time I am like 10 feet away because I never stopped walking and I just call back 'no I'm just making a sandwich' without looking back at him.  These kind of instances happen literally every day.  The other day my comp and I were looking for a computer lab for TALL time (where we study language on the computers) and he is clear down the hall from us and sees us and starts walking towards us as we're walking away and says 'do you want help sisters? what are you looking for?' hahaha really? what does it look like we're looking for? and how exactly do you plan on helping us? he said something like 'there are more labs on the other side'.  We both look at each other thinking 'yeah... we know.... we've been here for 8 weeks and we use those labs everyday.' hahaha. Ok I guess I'm not portraying it well enough but I wish you could all see it... it is really funny we just laugh at it all the time.  I'm sure he is a very kind young man... :)  I think he's just a little desperate to talk to some girls sometimes so he goes about doing it in a very... creepy way..  Anyway.....

AWESOMES

• we got to host this week and last week since we're so old here at the MTC now :) and I got to host my friend Rachelle McGrath from my ward this last year!  It was perfect I walked up right as she walked up and we were so excited.  It was definitely fun getting to see her and take her around to get her room and books and everything on her first day!
• guess who came for our devotional this week! Yes... none other than Jeffrey R. Holland. Holy. Moly.  First of all... we have been here for 2 months, and no one from the 12 had spoken yet.  So it was about time!  He came on our very last devotional... perfect timing!  The other cool thing is that during lunch that day President Brown (the mtc president) came around and gave random people 3x5 cards and asked them to think of a good question to ask our speaker tonight and turn them in to his secretary.  So we got one, and one of the hermanas came up with a question, so I re-worded it and wrote it down and handed it in.  Elder Holland only chose I think 5 out of the 47 he received to respond to.. and guess who's he chose first! Yep. Ours. :) So cool.  After he spoke there was a duet, a girl sang and another girl did the song in sign language, and then they both did sign language while the one girl still sang.  It was SO incredible.  The spirit was so strong.  That whole night was so incredible... I have never felt the spirit so strongly before like I did that night.  I felt so happy, but so at peace.  I know what I'm doing is right and I know that this is Christ's church.  It was such an incredible joyous peaceful feeling that couldn't come from something false.  One of the best nights by far.  Incredible. :) A few things Elder Holland shared in his talk were these things:  The best ways to invite the spirit into your life (in his experience) are "diving, delving, and pouring into the words--the scriptures. Immersing yourself"... earnest and honest prayer... learning how to REALLY pray, and making sure that you don't lose it.  In other words making sure that you don't do anything that will invite it to leave.   He said the best advice he has received in his life are" 1) to go on a mission.  2) to marry as directly and honestly as you can... not on a time table but to the right person.  But also not to drift towards eternity.. to be proactive and to find it.  He said 'most of the blessing you will want in life will come through marriage". and 3) get as much education as you can.  And then he said that the greatest gift you can give the Savior is your HEART.   After the devotional we always have a district meeting and talk about our thoughts... Brother McDonald in our branch presidency shared this story about Jeffrey R. Holland.  He said when he was first called into the 12 he said in an interview that he always held the 12 in such high esteem and then he got called to be one and said 'I'm not that man'.. how he wasn't up to par with them.  He said he then had 2 options... he could either drop the expectation he had of them, or he could 'change the man'.  Often we are put in places where we never thought we would be, yet we don't feel like we are as good as those we have seen in that position before.  We can either drop our expectation, or become that person.  Obviously, we need to 'change the man'.  It is possible to be as perfect as you want!

 

Ok... well that short thought turned into a rather long thought... sorry about that, haha.  But I will leave you all with that!  Soon I will be in Argentina... actually sharing the restored gospel with real people!  I am so excited to have this incredible calling, to stand in Christ's place and do what he would do.  It is a high bar to reach but it is possible and I'm working towards it constantly.  It's not easy, pero es vale la pena!  Sé que este Evangelo is verdadero, y es real.  Estoy TAN animada ir a Argentina en tres dias... sé que es donde necesito estar exactamente.  Cada dia encontro mas razónes por que este Evangelio es verdadero.  Mi testimonio es estando fortalecido cada dia, y estoy tan agredecida por este increíble oportunidad servir una misión.  No hay otra lugar en el mundo debo estar.  Muchos gracias por todos de su apoyo... estoy tan agradecida por todos de ustedes y les amo todo muchíssimo!  Hasta la proxima semana... en Argentina!!   :) CIAO!

 

Con amor,  Hermana Hunt 

August 19th, 2011

Hola familia y amigos!

As usual, I don't have much time.  You are all probably surprised at how much I still write even when I say I don't have much time! Whoever gets to the end of my e-mails each week gets a gold star!  Sorry for writing so much :) there's just so much going on here that is so incredible that I have to share!  First of all Happy Birthday to Dave and I think I missed Gary's a few weeks ago also, and Happy Birthday coming up to Missy and Grandpa!  And also Happy Birthday to Paul! Whew.... so many birthdays! Ok... here's the week

 

AWKWARDS, INCOMODOS, Y CHISTES

• just one this week... but it's a good one.  Each Sunday everyone has to prepare a talk on a specific topic and then in sacrament meeting they call 2 people on the spot to give their talks.  Oh and they have to be completely in spanish.  Most people copy sentences from preach my gospel and just read it haha.  But I always just write points in english and make sure I know how to say everything so if I had to give mine I could say it all in Spanish.  So.. this Sunday I was asked to give the opening prayer, so I am thinking 'oh I'm totally covered, they won't ask me to speak'.  For some reason, I wrote my talk quickly and somehow forgot to add any scriptures or quotes.  Yep... you guessed it.  I got called up to speak. Whewww did I learn a lesson about preperation!  I knew how to say most everything... but still butchered some of it.  So that's my great story for the week.... always always always prepare.  I'm pretty sure I had no idea what I was saying while I was giving my talk... I was just translating my sentences from english to spanish.  I also used the word 'ish' in my talk... some of the elders had a great time teasing me for that later.

AWESOMES

• getting to ditch class to get a shot. and then getting to ditch class again that same day to go sit with a sick hermana (we got new hermanas this week!! FINALLY!).  and next week we get to ditch for a travel meeting, and then again to host new missionaries on wednesday! Class is great... but when you have been here nearly 7 weeks, it's nice to have a change :).
• 2. weeks. until. I. fly. to. Argentina. omp omp omp! (o mi palabra)
• this week I started writing in my journal little lessons I have learned for myself... most of which I have learned here.  Things that have strengthened my testimony or parts of my testimony I have gained.  I just want to share a few of those with you:
• it is possible to be surrounded by light and not be changed by it.  It is a choice whether or not you let it into your heart
• The book of mormon is the keystone and iron rod, and we must CLEAVE to it consistently.  Without this consistency it is SO easy to fall and become 'past feeling' just as Laman and Lemuel did. 
• our pride determines how open our hearts are and therefore how much light we will receive and how much progress we will make
• the atonement applies to everyone at any given time in life because it covers, heals, strengthens, and comforts
• repentance is not so much about saying sorry, but more about changing and constantly improving.  If you are recognizing your weaknesses and striving to change them and improve-you are utilizing the atonement.  It is a way of life, not an event.
• Often times we do something and don't even recognize that we are following the Holy Ghost until later.  In them oment it is not important to worry about whether it's the Spirit or yourself.  If you are trying to follow him and doing what's right--and doing whatever you feel is right and good, you will see later those little acts of inspiration thatm ade a big difference.
• There is a difference between having a testimony and being converted (as said by my good friend Bryan Groll).  It is the difference between sacrifice--giving your time and talents; and consecration--giving YOURSELF (which includes your whole heart)
• The object of our gospel--and this life--is CHANGE.  This is done through the atonement and only when your heart is right
• Your greatest work in life is and ever will be YOU
• the secret to success is to 'kick when you don't want to kick, and stroke when you don't want to stroke' (as said by a famous swimmer).  In other words... always be working--especially during those times when it's hardest and seems impossible.  That's what separates the good from the great.  We need to learn to overcome ourselves and overcome our bodies
• It really is possible to love every single person you meet.  If you don't love someone, it's because you don't know when well enough yet. CHARITY. NEVER. FAILETH. 

Ok there are many more but that's all I have time for!  If you made it this far.. woohoo! Good job.  Thanks everyone for all the support!  Only 2 more weeks left in the MTC and then I will be out in the field! Exciting times.  This gospel is incredible and real, and it is Jesus Christ's gospel.  Love you all!!

 

--Hermana Hunt

August 12, 2011

Buenas Tardes!

This week:

 

AWKWARDS, INCOMODOS, Y CHISTOSOS

• So we always practice teaching in class with our companions.  The other day we started practicing with each other and my companion had just fallen asleep so she was totally out of it when we started, and I was the investigator first.  After we were finished we switched and I was supposed to be the missionary, but for some reason I forgot and I thought I was the investigator again so I pretended to open the door and I was just like 'hola!.....' and just sat there. Ok... I think you had to be there but it was SO funny we couldn't stop laughing
• fue un araña en el baño de chicas... we made our teacher (who is a male) go in and kill it for us. it was quite hilarious!
• The other night one of the hermanas who has a guy kinda waiting for her got a package from him with a shirt that he made for her... she spent all of our free time at night making us take pictures of her in it.  She is a way cool girl and is really down to earth and chill, but she was soo giddy it was hilarious, we were laughing all night.
• the other night us hermanas may or may not have missed a little bit of our gym time... .  So we decided to make up for it by stretching together.  My companion was in her bed half asleep and the other 3 of us were all doing this stretch on our closets and walls (it's the one where you lay down and put your legs up and stretch them like in the splits... it is such a good stretch but it looks sooo funny). Anyway... it was pretty hilarious to have us 3 all sitting there.  If someone would have walked in they would have gotten a good laugh.
• Sister Merrill, the wife of one of the men in our branch presidency came to visit us the other night.  The wives are supposed to come at 9:30, but of course she came after 10:00 and stayed until 10:29 which is one minute before our lights out.  She talked to us about the bachelor and politics...  ohhh I wish you all knew her, she is sooo hilarious.  It was a great night.

 

AWESOMES

• the temple! I had a really sweet experience there today.  Every time I go I learn more and understand more
• ok I don't have much time but I just want to share some thoughts from this week.  I have really been thinking about consecration and how we need to consecrate ourselves and give ourselves to the Lord.  Not just our time and our possessions... not just a sacrifice, but a consecration where we literally give our whole selves, where we open our hearts to him, humble ourselves, and follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost to devote everything we are to him.  Awhile back in RS the speaker related our missions to Jesus and the 12 apostles and how they were around the Savior all the time, and Judas still betrayed him.  It seems crazy, but it is so possible and is actually easy to be in such good situations and surrounded by so much light and still not let that light into your life.  The important thing is that it's up to you and your attitude, and if you open your heart to it and let it in, it will completely change you.  So I challenge all of you to make sure your heart is open to the light in your life!  There is light all around us and if we open our hearts to it and let it in, it will create something incredible of us.  By ourselves we can only be the best person that we can be, we can only create a 'great man'.  But with the Lord's help... he can create a God.

 

Thank you everyone for all of your support!! Happy Birthday to Dusty today :) the big 25! So crazy!  Also I hope all of the fam has fun at the Meyer Reunion tomorrow! :) I miss you all.  Keep sendin' the letters... I love hearing from everyone!  I only have 3 and 1/2 weeks left here and then I'm off to Argentina.. so crazy! This gospel is so incredible and life is so wonderful! Ahh. I can't even express it.  Les amo!! :)

 

Love Hermana Hunt

 

P.s. Creager here is your shout out! Man I'm such a good friend, I hope you feel special. :)

 

P.p.s. if your name is Aric Farnsworth or Brittany Bartosiewicz that means that you need to write me ASAP. RIGHT NOW. K thanks. :) K CIAO!

 

 

08-05-2011

Familia y Amigos!

Hola! How is everyone? Man... can you all believe that I am halfway through my time here at the MTC now?  I only have 17 out of my 18 months in my mission left!! Sheeeesh how time flies here!  At the same time it feels like I've been here forever.  Real life is slowing fading away... it almost seems like there was no real life before the mission.  It's so good though, I am changing and becoming much much more focused on what I am here to do.  This week was a big turning point for me.  But I will talk about that in a bit! :)

 

AWKWARDS, INCOMODOS, Y CHISTES

• tripping up the stairs in the huge gym after a devotional. Yep... I lost my shoe.  It was great
• did I talk last week about how I realized I have a hole in the backside of my sweat pants, my leggings, and a hole in the armpit of one of my t-shirts? Yep.... so glad I have been wearing those around in public!
• this week I made the rather large mistake of sharing some personal information with some kids in my zone during lunch... I won't go into detail of what it is but lets just say I get teased now. every. day. without. fail. I guess that's what I get!
• our 'investigator'... the one who prayed for football and food, this week he told us he couldn't be baptized because he's scared of water and doesn't want to drown. bahahaha. he has been our favorite investigator so far :)

 

AWESOMES

•  ah so many awesomes!  Well first off, Gerald Lund (who wrote the work and the glory) spoke at our devotional on Tuesday.  It was incredible!  He talked about faith and the steps to faith, and how we have to open our hearts to the Lord and choose to have faith.  I realized that it is so silly to doubt... what do we have to lose?
• gym time! I have been running during gym (yes everyone.. you heard me.. Linsey Hunt has been running.  Yes every step is painful and miserable just as it always has been {for those of you who don't know I have always hated running} BUT it's not as bad as I thought! :) I actually kinda like it.... weird how the mission changes you :) haha).  This week I made a goal to not eat any desserts.  That obviously went out the window when I got 3 packages that same day filled with enough goodies to last my whole mission :) hahaha
• Packages! 3 in one day! Whew!  Thank you thank you thank you Mom and Missy and Emmeline and Emily! Ahh they were all wonderful.  Don't worry I am sharing all of the food with my roomies.  Miss, the best part was the pictures :) ahhh I miss all of those kids so much! Send as many pictures as you want, all the time!! And Emme and Em... I loved the letter with all of your updates!! Congrats to Catherine on the pregnancy.  Will one of you send me one of your addresses? I want to write you guys back! :) Also everyone who wrote me this week-thanks for all of the wonderful letters!!
• The talk 'The Fourth Missionary'.  I haven't finished it yet but it has already changed my whole mission, and life!! (thanks sooo much Krista G. for sending it!! And for the adorable notepad, I have already been using it a lot! You are so sweet! Tell your fam hi!)  I have been learning A LOT this week about our duty in life, and how we need to decide who we want to be, and be that person.  We are in complete control of ourselves and we have the ability to literally do ANYTHING we want to do and be ANYONE we want to be with the help of the Lord.  This week I have really began to lose focus on things back home, and the real life, and have really started to give my whole self to the Lord and dedicate every second and every thought to him and this work.  It is incredible the power we all have as individuals and the ability we have to gain control over ourselves by being obedient to the commandments.  They don't bind us, but make us free because we gain strength and power over ourselves.  Sorry I am rambling and am all over the place!  But this week was so awesome, I have learned so much and have already been changed so much!  Here are some great quotes from the week:
• "Your life's greatest work is YOURSELF.  What are you going to do about it?"
• "You not only CAN but DO change all the time.  To believe that weaknesses and deficiencies in your character are unchangeable is to reject the central truth of the plan of salvation.  You are right now the sum total of what you have thought, said, seen, heard, and done.  You are responsible for who you are and you are responsible for who you will become"
• "Selective obedience isn't obedience at all"

Ok familia.. no more time.  But all I have to say is that this gospel is absolutely true and is absolutely incredible.  It truly is the only way... I hope you all take your callings in this life seriously.  It is SO easy to fall, and it is SO important to stay steadfast.  Most importantly, it is SO important to have charity, to love every person you meet the way that Christ loves them.  Charity Never Faileth!  We all have an incredible power inside of us and combined with the help of the Lord we can do literally anything.  Each person has the power to change the entire world.  Don't make excuses for yourself, you and the Lord are the only 2 who really know how well you're doing and how hard you're trying.  Reach up to your potential, and never forget how high your potential really is!!  You are all incredible.  Thank you so much for your examples, your strength, and your support!  Never settle for less than what you're worth... you all mean the world to me and you all have the power to be whoever you want to be.  You are all amazing!  LES AMO! :)

 

--Hermana Hunt

 

Me with Sister Bowen, from our Branch Presidency 

                                                      Our group at the temple

July 29th, 2011

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Sorry I don't have much time (as usual) and I am going to e-mail a few other people this week so I better keep this short!

AWKWARDS INCOMODOS y CHISTES

• ok... so I don't have very many this week. Actually I don't really have any.  I'm sorry. Hahah. This week wasn't very awkward... maybe because I am just too comfortable here now!  Funny things happen everyday though.. but they are the sort of things that you have to be there for!  I guess I will share that our district leader and another elder in our district (they were friends before) played a big joke on us Hermanas this week and pretended that they got in a fight during gym and were having to go home.  I wasn't so sure if I was convinced or not.. they are always joking!  But Hermana Michaud and Harper were both definitely very convinced.. it was quite funny
• that one time when Hna. Harper and I taught and couldn't stop laughing the whole time... yeah, one of the elders in our zone saw the whole thing and every time he sees us now without fail he asks us to sing 'Mas Cerca Dios De Ti' (neared my god to thee) hahaha. We are known as the hermanas that sing... except we haven't sang at the beginning of a lesson since then now... we are too scared we will crack up!!

AWESOMES

• once again I have to say how awesome it is that we pray 24/7 here. At least 10 times a day, and always fully in Spanish, which is AWESOME!  Spanish prayers are so beautiful
• the devotional this week was Elder Simmons... he was Alan Hood's mission president in SLC and he is in Alicia's ward in Fruit Heights.  It was so awesome!  So many of the things he said were major answers to my prayers this week
• on Sunday for the fireside the speaker (Elder Allen) had us listen to the Mo-Tab version of Come Come Ye Saints and he had us sing along with it... it was SO incredible.  Once again, I bawled my eyes out!  The spirit was so strong!!

Ok... all I have to say is that this place is absolutely amazing.  If anyone is questioning going on a mission, there is one answer.  DO IT.  If you are worthy and able to go, DO IT.  There is no other place I would rather be right now and no better place I could be.  Heavenly Father answers my prayers every single day and my faith and testimony is being strengthened every day.  I am so happy to be where I am!  The weeks are flying by and I can't believe that next week I will have been here a month... wowww time is so weird here!  At the same time I feel like I have been here forever.  Mom to answer your question--yes we do go to the temple!  Finally!  It has been closed this whole time but just opened this week so we got to go today.  It was amazing!  Inside the Provo Temple is sooo beautiful!  Also Spencer Hatch was in our session which was fun, I talked to him for awhile. 

Well, that's about it for this week!  Some days are hard here and you feel pretty low, but it's always worth it once you get past it.  I have never been happier... the gospel is so incredible and essential for everyone!  I hope everyone has a fabulous week!  Continue to write :) it's so good to hear from you all!  LES AMOS!

Love Hermana Hunt