A New Companion

This week marks my three months here in Chihuahua. I can´t believe it. This week I got a new companion too!! Hermana Z. She´s pretty cool. She has been out for six months now. She knows a lot and follows the Spirit well, so I am learning a lot from her. We are working hard to talk to everyone. She´s from Bolivia, so I am also learning how to cook bolivian food. When I get back I´ll know mexican food, true mexican food, and bolivian food. Pretty excited to learn :)

General Conference was awesome. The session I watched in English was even better. Lol

I am learning to care for the people here more. As President Monson said in the conference, we cannot fully love God if we do not fully love our brothers and sisters, and we cannot fully love our brothers and sisters if we do not fully love God. It´s interesting that the topic the prophet of the Lord was inspired to speak on was love. We obviously need more love in this world. I have seen love change families here in Mexico. I have seen love bring friends closer together. This week I saw love bring enemies closer together. What a blessing it is! When we have love for God and our fellowmen, we are not thinking of ourselves, and that is the true test of our discipleship.

I am trying to have more love for everyone. Investigators, members, my companion, and even myself. I feel kind of like a hippie so I´m going to stop talking about love now.

When the sun comes out in Chihuahua, everyone decides to paint their houses!! We painted two houses this week. BRIGHT green and BRIGHT orange. Everyone loves the bright colors here. Painting a house in a dress. ha. The green house they decided to paint on one of the windiest days this week. I still have bright green paint in my hair and dress. hahaha :D

Have a good week! Love, peace, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

LOVE you.

Hermana Hunt

she walks like a fashion queen.

we made cool t-shirts

not a happy exchange. we cried.

  

naturally, the first thing I think about when I think hamburger is turtle.

we found someone´s pet rock in the street. I mean, clearly, it´s a pet rock. It´s wearing a t-shirt. Pet rocks are pretty intense here. obviously. My friends K and M don´t even understand. We nicknamed this rock sally. I´m sure its owners have another name for it.

General Conference

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!! General Conference = Christmas for missionaries.

Watch this. It´s in Spanish. But that doesn´t really matter. It´s about General Confrence! And! It´s downtown Chihuahua!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zGCTkhofbI

This week=totally awesome. 

My companion=totally awesome.

Recent converts going to general conference for the first time=super awesome.

The HEATHEATHEAT=totally gross.

Knowing this is not heat yet=so not cool.

My ward=totally awesome.

Getting a new companion tomorrow=:(

Knowing I still have a whole lot to learn out here=pretty cool.

The video they played for the women´s session of conference=made me cry.

GENERAL CONFERENCE THIS WEEK=SO EXCITED.

I am learning a lot here. I am trying to focus more on others. Completely on others. I´m learning about charity, and it´s changing me. I´m different. A lot different. And it´s a good difference. I know I still have a long way to go! I´m already sad I´ve been out here for 5 months. I want this to last forever!

Hope you all are doing great! Love you all!!

Hermana Hunt

 Family of investigators

 Fight to accomplish, accomplish to give

 Teaching for an excellent life

 Aren't we cute?!

Three Months In Chihuahua

Can you believe this week marks three whole months in Chihuahua? Me neither.

My testimony was strengthened so much this week as we had the baptism of E, a twelve year-old young women with a testimony as strong as an old lady. Seriously. Her family has been attacking her decision to be baptized, and even brought a couple of pastors from other churches to confuse her. Even through all the trials, she knew the right decision was baptism. She{s got some pretty cool stories about how she knows it{s the right decision. Heavenly Father really is definitely fighting on our side. She was baptized Saturday.

After she came out of the water, Hermana L and I were helping her with her wet clothes and she said: 

{Hermana, did you feel the Spirit?!}

{Yes, E, I felt the Spirit.}

Saying that out loud made me feel the Spirit even more. What a wonderful feeling baptism brings of being clean. Completely clean of everything. Every little thing, every big thing. Yes, E, yes I felt the Spirit.

When she was confirmed yesterday in church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost, she told us just how special she felt. What an amazing feeling. Yes, I could feel the Spirit.

This gospel is so wonderful. Our Father in Heaven really wants to give us the best He possibly can. I know E will go on to be a leader in the church. An example for the rest of her family. We are working with her family too. E is a wonderful example not only to her family, not only to our ward, but to me as well. I am grateful to sit back and watch the hand of God here in the mission. A scripture I found in Doctrine and Covenants this week says that when we see the heavens moving in all their majesty, we see the work of God. In the beautiful sky of Chihuahua, Mexico, I see the the work of the Lord.

I am so grateful for the priesthood. I have never been so grateful for the priesthood in my life. The priesthood really is the power of God given to man to act in the name of God for the salvation of His children. I am grateful for worthy priesthood holders here in Mexico that have the power to baptize, confirm the Holy Ghost, and bless the sacrament every week as a mini-baptism where we renew our covenants. I know that power, that wonderful power, can only be found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know this gospel is true!!

Hermana Hunt

Aquí está su foto con presidente. Compártalo con su familia!

Our last week together :( 

someone loves me!

We ate separate from the Elders yesterday, but Sister H had already made enough food for the four of us. She gave me and Sister L the portions the elders would have had. SO MUCH SPAGHETTI. Hijo le.

E's baptism

Let's talk to everyone like crazies!

This week has been funny. Super funny.

It all started out with Hermana L at the beginning of the week. In spanish she said, ¨let´s talk to everyone like crazy!!¨ which can also be interpreted into english as ¨let´s talk to everyone like crazies!!¨ You can imagine my confusion at first, and then my laughter once I figured out she was suggesting we talk to every person we pass, not talk to everyone like we are a little bit on the crazy side.

That is what we did. The Jehovah´s Witnesses was an interesting one. I got to talk to them as Hermana L talked to a different family. I bore my testimony to them very strongly. It was an interesting experience. We also found a semi-drunk man who would not accept that I am not a menonite. We tried to talk about the gospel, but he just kept saying ¨YOU´RE A MENONITE!!¨ He then asked to look me straight in the eye to see what color my eyes are. When he got close to me, he saw my sun-bleached hair (I have streaks in the front that are a different color) and he decided I am really Mexican and I just dye my hair. He was very offended that I would tell him I am a menonite even though I am really Mexican. Then he saw the color of my eyes and determined I really am a menonite. We have an appointment with him for Saturday. hahaha

We went to teach a lesson to one of the sisters we contacted in the street. She´s a bigger lady. We started with a prayer, and then we taught her the Plan of Salvation, the way we can make it back to live with our Heavenly Father again. At the end of the lesson, we asked her to say the prayer. We explained how to pray, and she accepted. She then crossed her arms, leaned BACK in her chair, and I swear she fell asleep. Silence. Silence. Silence. It was so funny!! I didn´t know what to do! Maybe she didn´t understand my spanish or something, so I just started praying, and everything turned out alright. I really wish I had a picture of her sleeping in her chair.

This week, I discovered I can have an entire conversation with Hermana L in her sleep. She will even teach me an entire lesson of the Restoration of the Gospel if I ask. I usually respond with ¨REALLY!?!?¨ to everything she teaches me, but when I respond with doubt in my voice she teaches me more fervently.

The bishop called me late saturday night to ask me to give a talk Sunday. That was an interesting experience. I had them all laughing, so I guess that´s a good sign. I think. Maybe.

Okay, on a serious note, our Relief Society President, who is married to the stake patriarch, told us her conversion story. She was converted to the church for a long time, attending church every week, going to all the activities, sharing the gospel with friends, before she was even baptized. She was finally baptized months and months after discovering the true church. It was a testimony to me of patience and the worth of souls. The Lord´s timing is perfect, and sometimes we don´t see that, but He knows what is right for us. He loves us very much. We are His sons and daughters. It doesn´t matter what the world pressures you to do, it only matters what is right with Heavenly Father. I have learned to have more patience with the people we teach. Not to pressure them because we know this is true, but to help them to realize it´s true. Each person has trials, big or small, but the gospel helps in every aspect of live. I know this gospel is true!!

Love you all!! Remember this gospel is true, no matter where or who you are!

Hermana Hunt

I can´t send pictures this week because my computer is really old! :( Next week!

Week............geez i have no idea.

Overall a good week. I mean, no one threatened to chop me into triangles, I didn´t get too many people calling me ¨white girl,¨ and we´re doing the Lord´s work out here. What more could I ask for?

We did this cool ¨Lehi´s Dream¨ activity for our ward´s family home evening night. We put up a totally rad tree made of gold tin foil and an iron rod made of foam tubes. The people had to answer questions right to advance in the rod of iron. If they answered a question wrong, they had to go to the great and spacious building. If they were steadfast and dilligent, they made it to the tree where they got a fruit and a sucker. It was fun. We even had a great turnout of..like..ten people. hahaha

I got letters and dear elders this week!! I´m working on responding to them. Don´t worry. Thanks to everyone who has sent me something! I hope you´re reading this.

I had an interview with the Mission President this week. We went all the way to CHIMEX to talk to him, and my interview was like. A minute long. Here´s how it went:

¨How are you doing, Hermana Hunt?¨

¨Great, President!¨

¨How´s the mission going?¨

¨Great, President!¨

¨Are you writing your family every week?¨

¨Yep!¨

¨How are they doing?¨

¨Great!¨

¨You don´t say very much, do you Hermana?¨

¨No.¨

¨Is that something in English or just because you don´t have much to say in Spanish?¨

¨Nope. That´s in English too, President.¨

¨I´m not really a person of many words either, so it looks like we´re done. Let´s pray.¨

And that is all. I paid over ten dollars in taxis to have that interview.

One thing we have been testifying a lot about because everything centers in Jesus Christ is the Atonement. I know Jesus Christ knows each one of you by name and that He suffered for your sins individually. One by one. He has felt exactly what you have felt, whether it be joy, sadness, sickness, or stress. He has felt it all, and because of that, He knows exactly what we are going through. He loves you with a perfect love. All He asks is that we follow Him through our good works. I know He lives and is here for us when we need Him. He is here for us when we think we don´t need Him. I know when we follow His commandments, we recieve blessings in our lives.

I love you and hope your week is full of sunshine!

Hermana Hunt

Every Day a Jamba Juice Day

Could I really be in any better place in the world? I think not. Every day on the streets they{re selling what is better than Jamba Juice for way less than Jamba Juice. This morning I had a whole glass of pure, freshly squeezed orange juice and two burritos with carne, potatoes, and beans for less than four dollars. Livin the life. ;) On the other hand, some things are more expensive (shampoo of all things! Weird, I know).

While on the bus last week, two men started playing the guitar and singing PERFECTLY. Just chillin in the middle of the bus. I don{t know how they did it with a guitar and everything--I have a hard enough time standing without a guitar on these crazy busses! It was so cool. I loved their music!

This week was wonderful. Three very amazing things happened that strengthened my testimony a lot. First of all, we went to visit an investigator who had a date for her baptism, but needs to resolve some sticky situations before she can be baptized. She was having a hard time keeping her chin up with the difficult situation that she has, and was feeling very down. We asked her why she wanted to be baptized, and the answer she gave blew me away. I did not know she felt so intense about wanting to be baptized. It is amazing the faith she has. We are working hard, praying a lot, and putting our trust in the Lord that we can resolve everything. My testimony of the power of baptism was strengthened as she bore her testimony of baptism and the reasons she wants to be baptized.

Second, we started teaching a sister named R that is very catholic. When we first visited her, we talked about how she is having some problems with her son and his new wife helping out around the house and having respect for her. We testified of the power of prayer and of the answers that she can find in the Book of Mormon to whatever questions she has. The next visist, we went in to talk about how families can be together forever, and she had been reading the Book of Mormon. She said how she prayed and asked for help, then opened the Book of Mormon and immediately found her answer. A sweet spirit filled the room when she told us of the answer she found and the changes she is making in her life because of that answer. My testimony was strengthened of the power and truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. 

Third, we have an investigator K who is going to be baptized this month. She{s only eleven, but she is amazing! We went to talk to her and her family the other day and she expressed how she felt she wasn{t ready anymore. We talked to her about how the purpose of this life is to learn and grow, and we{re always going to be doing that. We talked to her about how the only thing Heavenly Father asks is a desire and repentance, and how every week we have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament and renew our covenants. At the end, we offered a kneeling prayer with them. K said that during the prayer, she felt a peace that she only feels while she is praying. She talked about how grateful she is that through prayer, she can feel comforted and have the courage to do what is right. My testimony of the power of a simple prayer was strengthened that day.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to help others have experiences in their life that bring them closer to Heavenly Father, and in turn, strengthen my testimony. I am grateful to be in Chihuahua where there is always juice to be had and sometimes beautiful singers on the crazy busses. Where it}s always sunny except for when it dumps hail, and where the people are always laughing about something, even when it{s really not that funny. 

Love you all and hope you can still understand my english!

Hermana Hunt

PS I dreamed in Spanish a few nights ago. It was horrible. Everyone was asking me where all these streets are and I had no idea where any of them were. Horrible. I hope I never dream in Spanish again. ;)

while hna L was setting up the camera, Elder R jumped into the picture. Lol this Elder always has a joke up his sleeve. I taught him the word [Sup] naturally--I mean, what other word is there to teach, right? and so every day now he goes around [Sup, sup sup] haahaha

My Only Friends Are Bedbugs

*****This is last week's email, sorry all! I will get today's email up as soon as I can!*****


Hola familia y queridos amigos!!

This week was one of the best in my life!! It has been one of the hardest weeks, and one where I have learned SO much! First things first, I have been forgetting funny things, so here are the funny things:

1. We say good afternoon or good night to everyone we pass by. This week, we were saluded by a GIANT teddy bear who responded ¨good night¨ to us.

2. We got a call at 11pm last Monday night from our district leader. We had two new sisters (their first day in the field) staying with us, so we were trying to be really quiet. Our district leader asked us if I was ready to train (we recieved a lot of new sister missionaries this week), and we responded that we would both go and do what the Lord commands. We honestly thought we would both be training new sisters. Turns out we don´t have any exchanges at all. Nice prank at 11 in the night. :D

3.Sometimes we don´t eat anything in the day, and sometimes we eat a lot. One day this week, we were gifted A TON of food. I never speak ill of the delicious food here, but we were sure full that night!! First, we were each gifted a donut. Holy jamolee the donuts are good here. Then, we were given a ton of food at lunch. Whenever we are in the Elder´s area for lunch, we buy flour tortillas because they are the best on the planet. We ate flour tortillas. We were then gifted melon water (water with blended up melon in it). We then visited our recent convert C, and they gave us cake. Then another family gave us pie and candies. Then, when we got back to the house and were planning, a member brought us tortas with the hottest chili ever! We were definitely full and happy that day! 

Anyway.

I want to dedicate this email to my wonderful companion, Hermana L. She is one of the best women I have ever known, and I am very grateful for all she does for me. She is an example to me in many, many ways. First, her testimony. Hna L is a convert of three years, and her conversion story is absolutely beautiful. She is out here in the field because God told her to, and she has the faith, without the support of her family, to spend a short year and a half in Chihuahua, Mexico. Hermana L has an attitude of dilligence. She works hard through the day to help others. She is always looking for opportunities to serve. It amazes me how she gets people to let her help them.

Hermana L is blessed with the ability to understand what I am saying to her. She often translates for me from what I think is Spanish into what really is Spanish. She truly loves others and has an over-abundance of charity for every person we come in contact with. She is an example to me of following in the Spirit and saying exactly what people need to hear in the exact moment people need to hear it. 

I love that even though she takes her calling as a servant and representant of Jesus Christ very serioulsy, she takes the time to have fun and laugh about experiences that have happened to us. She makes jokes and smiles along the way. I love that she has the perfect balance of work while you play. She works dilligently through the day to help as many people as we can, and does all that with a joke and a laugh. Hermana L makes the misison life enjoyable. We have our moments when we can´t even talk through what we are feeling in a language that both understand, but we have realized that the spirit is a language everyone can understand. I´m get to spend another transfer with Hermana L, and I could not be more grateful! 

We both have a lot of learning to do. I definitely saw that this week. We have a lot of learning to do as individuals, a companionship, and as missionaries of Jesus Christ. We work hard every day to learn what Heavenly Father would have us learn! I am grateful for my mama of the misison, Hermana L!

Hermana Hunt

Pop is Better Than Parasites

They drink a lot a lot a lot of pop here. I never want pop ever again. The other option is water from their tap, so I keep drinking pop. :D

This week has been another absolutely awesome week. Although my ward is very small, we have some of the best members on the planet. We have an absolutely wonderful ward. Every day we eat with a member of the ward for ¨comida,¨ which is like lunch but later in the day. They eat a lot of meals here. Haha :) We rarely have to provide this meal for ourselves because the sisters in the ward are absolutely amazing. Even more amazing when you know there are not very many sisters, so often we eat in one house more than once a month. They always have the best food too.

The people here are amazing in general. The culture is different. haha. obviously. There is a lot of respect here for others. Families live together for longer time, so grandkids have great resepect for their grandfathers and kids for their parents. Almost everyone is religious and very dedicated to waht they belive in, so there is a lot of humility as well. People really believe in God and really believe they are blessed in their lives from God. I love the difference. In general, people are more happy here and more satisfied with what they have. I love to be among these people, and I´m trying to pick up a thing or two from them.

I´m not really sure if this is in english or what it is, but I´ve been asked to share it with you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54HWBZ2A73A

I hope you enjoy.

We are impatiently waiting and jumping every time the phone rings for exchanges. We recieve 10 new sister missionaries in our mission today, and we are not sure if we have changes or not. The president wants to interview each of the 38 missionaries who are showing up today before he assigns companions. It´s likely we will change, but then again not likely, so Hermana L and I are just full of anxiety.

On Valentines day I visited another area with Hermana G, our leader sister. She is a wonderful teacher, and I gained more confiedence in speaking when I was with her. Her area is much larger (assistance of 330 in her church building while my ward is about 80) and she is an amazing example to me. We ate crepes with all sorts of yummy bad for you things for the valentines day.

Hope you all are doing well, and remember--pop is better than parasites!

Hermana Hunt

One Whole Month in Chihuahua

This week marked one whole month in Chihuahua! I can´t believe it. The attached picture summarizes everything of Chihuahua. At least someone out there loves a little Hermana that´s getting fatter by the minute on all this Mexican food! Haha

This week was absolutely wonderful. We had three of our families show up to church!! We are teaching one family that is progressing crazy fast, which brings me a lot of joy because I can see their joy! It´s the family of the little boy who fell asleep in our lesson with the Book of Mormon on his face. They are reading and praying and there is a huge change in them. Their baptisimal date is set for the 15th of March. We are also teaching two other wonderful, wonderful families. It´s amazing how everything has a plan. We would not have found this family if this had not happened, or we would not have found this family if we had not been talking to this person. I know the plan God has for everyone is perfect. I know He loves us and wants us to return to live with Him more than anything else. It´s a wonderful work, missionary work.

Thanks for all the support and prayers! In all you do, remember, He has chosen you. Trust Him. He trusts you. In everything you do, do it with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. In thoroughness brings satisfaction.

Love you!

Hermana Hunt

Future Missionary L

Little oranges: these grow on the trees. super, super sour. The skin is super, super sweet. They´re like mini oranges that you eat the peel and inside together. They put salt on them too. I like them :)

white missionary one month birthday

This is what success looks like!

Effects of The Book of Mormon

We have a family we are teaching with a three year old that is very active, an eight year old, and a sister about my age that takes care of the kids. We had a lesson with them the other day, and we were talking about the feelings the sister feels when she reads the Book of Mormon. She said she feels very at peace and good in her heart. We asked her why she thought she felt that way, and she said she had found her answer that the Book of Mormon is true!!! 

I love how happy this work is. 

Funny. During the lesson, the three year old was being loud and everyone had their Books of Mormon out, so I pulled another Book of Mormon out for the three year old and helped him see the words as we were reading the chapter (2 Nephi 31. It{s a good chapter). He was sitting on my left, and everyone else on my right, so no one could see him but me. About half-way through the lesson, he fell asleep with his Book of Mormon on his face open to the picture pages!! It took everything I had not to bust up laughing in our lesson and focus!

I love the scripture in Ether 12:17 that says God shows us our weaknesses when we come unto Him. He shows us our weaknesses so we will be humble, but if we go to Him in faith, He will make weak things become strong unto us. My weaknesses in this work are definitely not just the language, and I am definitely humbled by the many things I need to improve. I love the talk by Elder Bednar on how to become a preach my gospel missionary. He says preach my gospel missionaries understand that they serve and represent Jesus Christ, are worthy, treasure up the words of eternal life, understand that the Spirit is the only true teacher, and understand that to teach is much more than just talk or converse. I am trying to make my teachings much better, along with every other aspect of missionary work. I have a long ways to go! I have felt the help of Heavenly Father as I have tried to be better.

Superbowl yesterday was an interesting day here in Mexico. I love how the Superbowl brings families and friends together, even when often there is contention between teams :) Superbowl is like Christmas here. Everyone travels from far to be with family and friends to watch it. Everyone watches it outside and barbecues "american food" hahaha

Love you all lots and hope you are doing well!

Hermana Hunt

I was labeled the fair sister by the lady who kind of does our laundry. Kind of because we pretty much do it, but have to pay her because the machines we use she tends. They{re not even hers. Things are weird here. But yeah. I am the fair sister and my comp was labeled the dark sister. Haha

We celebrated Hermana L's three year membership of the church, four months of the mission, and one month of being in Chihuhahua for me with marshmallows yesterday that we roasted over the stove. Guys. Even the MARSHMALLOWS are better here. Even the marshmallows.

these chips are so good! Even Hna L thinks they're pretty hot, but I love them. With water. Plenty of water.