Email from Oct 20

I haven't gotten any emails from new people these days. I've just been sticking with the same old people that i've been with for the last 17 months. It would be nice to receive emails from new people! (His email is harold.hunt@myldsmail.net)

So, there's a nice little story for this week. It's fun to play soccer here on our free days with some of the youth from the ward. We have a good time and it's nice to play soccer. When we play, everybody kinda has rotations playing different positions. At this moment, it was my turn to play goalie. woo! When I play, my volleyball reflexes come into action. I don't usually catch the ball, I just kind of deflect it high and controlled, then catch it. But it got to a play that was serious. It was like 3 against me. They were all super close to the goal. A guy on my left, the middle, and the right. The guy on the right shot it and i blocked it, but i fell to my knees and the ball went right to the middle guy. He kicked it, and some how, i blocked it again. This time, it bounced like two feet from me. It bounced like two feet from the guy on my left too. He wound up to kick it, i sprang over to grab it. Next thing you know, his foot makes contact with my hand. Out of the pain caused, i grab my right hand with my left. (right hand being hurt.). I thought my hand would be straight, but i felt something a little weird. You know how on your finger, you have three joints. Well, on my right index finger, at the second joint, my finger went straight up. Yup, dislocated finger right there. Without even thinking because I wanted to prevent further pain, I threw it quickly back into place. It was great! A dislocated finger while playing some friendly soccer. Just add that to the list of soccer injuries in my life!

But don't worry about me, it doesn't affect me too much. Really, it just makes it a little hard to write.

This week has been crazy. Today, I felt super important. I had a meeting in the Area Office about immigration stuff! It was weird to say that I had a meeting at 11 in the Area Office. Really, it wasn't anything exciting or new, but still- as a missionary, it was cool to say.

I have been receiving so much free food lately! It's the best. I love how Guatemalans show their love for you by giving you food. I know it's a great sign of love because these people don't normally have much. Guatemalans are just so cute. I have Domino's, pancakes, chuchitos, ham and vegetables, cookies, etc. I go home at night, plan, and just go to sleep. I don't need to cook dinner and it's such a treat to get a full night's sleep every now and again.

Sorry, this email is really short. It's just that next week we have changes. That means everything is hectic and so busy. I'll be getting a new companion. I kinda know who he is but not really. Next week, i'll write with more information and maybe even a picture. It'll be fun.

The mission is a blast! Next week, the sister missionaries that entered the mission with me will be going home! That's crazy to think about. In two months, i'll be skyping home. in 4 months, Ben will be going home. in 6 months, i'll be home. There's too much to do before this time rolls around! Good thing, that way it won't distract me.

I hope y'all are safe and enjoying the cooler temperatures to come. I'm super comfortable here in Guatemala....still sweating and it never gets cold enough not to sweat. Besides a dislocated finger, I've never been better!

Love y'all!!

Elder Hunt

An x-ray of Santiago's finger

Email from Oct 12

This week has been so crazy! I am so tired, I can't even believe it. A lot of early mornings and late nights. I've been really blessed to be here in the office for this time. It's super interesting to see the behind the scenes stuff of a mission. I just know it's preparing me for something later on life.

But thanks to all the craziness that's been happening, I've been able to see quite a bit of Guatemala. There's been a lot of going to certain places and switching missionaries around and all that good stuff. For instance, while on a trip last Saturday, we saw a quite interesting house. I think they really like to collect street signs. It's an interesting hobby, but the written messages on the signs are quite interesting. One of the best ones is the one that says "Una Via" or, "One Way". It saids, "Sex, drugs, alcohol, one way directly to hell." It made us all laugh. This house is like two houses down than two sister missionaries. It's too bad they have a really weird neighbor.

RIght now, I am so fisically tired. I can't even think about what has happened this past week. It has literally been crazy, but super fun. I would say my journal is better, but i haven't had time to write in it-
that's how hectic it has been. I've forgotten what mission life is like for a 'normal' missionary out in the field. I can't really remember the last time I had a my full night's rest. There are always things going on.

One of my new focuses on the mission is fitness. I kinda lost the drive for a little bit. But, as my companions often remind me, I'm going home in about 6 months. I need to start getting back in shape. Now, I jump rope every night, it doesn't even matter how tired my legs already are from a day of walking. Also, I'm taking advantage of the nice weight setup that we have in this house and am doing more than just the minimum 30 minutes. I would say I've started eating healthier...but seeing as how I'm in Guatemala, there's not such a thing. We eat what we're given and we don't complain.

Other exciting news! A Wal-Mart just opened up in our town! woohoo! That'll be really nice to get stuff I don't usually get. As far as the spiritual part of the mission goes, it's incredible. There are so many wonderful people here. There's a family that is progressing to be baptized this month. Another family that's getting things worked out to get married and baptized the next. And there are a few people scattered in there. Still, the search is on for families where not everyone is members. It's interesting. But, with the help of ward members, they come back and the rest of the family gets baptized. One of these days, I'll speak in church. I'll let y'all know a brief outline of what I say. I have 3 scriptures picked out and the filler will be guided by the Spirit. That's how it works, right? Writing talks word for word impede the Spirit to change your message.

Sorry for this awful email. I'll try to do better next time. Really, why write? I'm almost home anyway, right? That's a scary thought... But, i won't focus on that. There are more important things to focus on right now.


Love y'all!!

--Elder Hunt

Pictures!

Email from Oct 6

Okay, I don't really even know where to start for this week, because I'm not sure what i've told you.

Um, this last weekend was General Conference. I love General Conference. As always, you have to rate and see if Saturday was better than Sunday or vice versa. I definitely say that Saturday, as a whole, was way better than Sunday. Every talk on Saturday was super powerful and direct. In Priesthood Conference, I loved what Elder Uchtdorf spoke about "Lord, is it i?". Look in before looking out when problems or conflicts arise. But here's a little story of conference. On Saturday morning and afternoon, we went to the Stake Center to watch it in English (since it's the Language of the Restoration). I loved that people got to speak in their native tongues. Why? Because I hated when General Authorites would talk with Latin accents that nobody could even understand. But whenever a Latino would show up to give his talk in Spanish, we would all run out of the English room and over to the chapel to hear it in the guy's native tongue. It is just so much more powerful that way. I felt kind of silly getting up and changing rooms, but it was necessary. I am so glad a can understand English and Spanish as if I speak them both fluently. But anyway, when about 4:30 rolled around, we realized that time was winding down to Priesthood and that we'd been in the same building since like 10 am. We decided that we wanted to go watch Priesthood with President Markham. So, we called him asking if he could. He said yes! We loaded up the cars and headed over. There was dinner! and dessert! We hooked up a laptop to the projector and showed it on the wall. We organized the couches in a comfortable manner, and watched conference in style and comfrot. And to top it off, not only was President Markham there, but also the Mission Presidents of the South and East missions! Definitely a conference to remember.

Here, we love to play soccer with the young men. We play all the time with them, whenever we have energy to do it. Sometimes, on P-Day, we just sleep. Others, we play then sleep. Here's a couple pictures of our squads that have gotten together to play.I'm actually really glad that when we get together and play, I don't really embarrass myself. Sure, my touch isn't perfect, but I hold my own out there. It's a lot of fun.

We had a monumental day here in the office on Wednesday. We have been complaining about our computers because they were virus infested but nobody ever came to clean them off. Instead of coming to clean them off, the Area Office came and gave us brand new computers! But there not just normal desktops, they are touch screens! Yea! They're like huge Tablets with keyboards and a mouse. They are so sweet. Way nicer than the ones we had before. They're a lot faster...and bug free! It's strange to think that we have these in the office but have the crappiest fones still... But it's fine. If we had nicer fones, we'd get robbed more.

Speaking of getting robbed. Here's a fun story. A couple weeks ago, Elder Roney and Elder Clouse (two other secretaries) got robbed. Not much was taken, just their fones and like 3 Qetzales (or 40 cents). We kinda felt bad for them because the guy had a gun and they lost their fone. Anyway, we got everything back to normal. They had a new fone and were out working again. On Tuesday, they went up to the same neighborhood. The same guy comes out with the same gun pointed at them to rob them again! This time, the guy took their watches and like 30 Qetzales (or $4) and their fone--AGAIN. When they got home that night, I didn't believe them. I thought there were joking. Then they're like, if we didn't get robbed, where are our watches?! When I realized that, I believed them. And I just died laughing! The same 5'5" guy robbed them again! I love it. One of the best things ever.

Speaking of people bugging us in general. I have a nice little story. This happened Wednesday night. We had just finished with a Fellowshipping Fireside in the church building. It was about 8:30 or so and we were kinda on the way back home but were just talking to a few people in the streets to see who we could visit (gotta love street contacting!) Anyway, so as we're walking, we pass by a drunk guy that yells at us "Brothers, come here" (the come here part in Spanish). I just whistle a greeting and we keep walking because we can clearly see that he's super drunk. We keep on and he enters his car. We stop a little down the street and start talking to a family. The drunk guy, in his car, stops beside us and keeps yelling stuff. We quickly stop talking to the family and keep walking. We stop a gain a little ways up, but this time, we pullin a little alley to talk to a family (don't worry, the alley is well let and there are houses down there. they're not the alleys of the Bronx). The guy somehow gets his car up there too and keeps yelling at us! So we stop talking to the family and just run. He had his car crammed in there, so we kinda had to jump over the trunk part to be freed. He backed the car out and came after us! It was a hot pursuit! So, with some smart thinking, we turn down a One Way street going against the flow of traffic. This drunk guy followed us! He was dodging cars and everything. It was insane! So we were taking turns trying to lose him. We got to a point where he wasn't behind us anymore. So we stop in a little store on the road and hid out. Everybody was watching us because we were breathing super hard and peaking around the corner to see if he'd come. He turned on the road and started coming down to us. But, he didn't see us. Once again, we start booking it around a different corner. I remembered a family that lived closed and just prayed that the husband would be there so we could enter. He was and we entered. The guy drove past the door because we were peaking through the windows. It was crazy!! One of my new favorite stories of the mission.

Anyway, that's about all that's been happening lately! At the end of this month, the sister missionaries that enter with me will be going home. That means I'm almost at the 6 month til home mark! That's super crazy!

Love y'all!

--Elder Hunt

Email from Sept 27

Things have been so crazy, it's hard to even explain. I am fisically wrecked. When I get home from my mission, I will need to go to a chiropractor and a massage therapist. By body just doesn't function how it should. So, we need to get that planned in for the first week I'm back. In two days, I accumulated less than 5 hours of sleep! One night, I got home at 1 am and woke up at 4 am. The next night, I went to bed at like 1:15 and woke up at 3:45. Exhausting! All that because of so much stuff to do to get ready for transfers. Today, for P-Day, we just slept. From 8:30-4 we were all asleep. When we woke up, we showered, got ready, and then left to preach the gospel until 9. It was fantastic. Being in the mission takes such a spiritual, mental, and emotional toll on one's body. And being in this mission, it takes a fisical toll that nobody truly understands unless you've served here. It's mission culture and I love it.

Things have been going so well. The work is really progressing and good stories are being made. With all of this craziness that has been going on, I haven't had time to write in my journal. The only time I've found to write home is at 11 pm on a Thursday night. I don't have much time. Just writing to let y'all know that I'm alive.

If it's ever crossed y'all's minds, I do not want y'all to come down here and pick me up. It's a hassle. If you would want to come after, we can. But at the end of the two years, I'm just going to want to go home.

I love when the Lord reminds me that He is a God of Miracles. In just this week, I've seen so many that it is incredible. A miracle happens every day that I can even get up and do it all over again. The mission is the best. Through me, the Lord has changed a lot of lives. But the life he's changed the most has been mine. I'm not the same person anymore.

General Conference weekend is coming up! I love General Conference weekend! Why? Because we hardly work. It's a time to Come and Listen to a Profet's voice...and rest from all our labors.

There are miracles to be had. I need to go find them.

Love y'all!

-Elder Hunt

Email from Sept 22

This week has been a good one.  I'm trying to think about what's been going on, but not much comes to my mind...oops.

Last Wednesday, we had a fun little adventure. At about 6 in the evening, I get a call from Sister Markham telling me that a sister had just gotten stung by a scorpion and needed to be taken to the hospital to be treated. So we ran home, got the car, got the sister, and headed into the capital to get to a hospital. I was with one of the Assistants, Elder Hanson, and we thought we knew what was going on. So we entered the capital at about 7, and headed to where we thought the hospital was. It wasn't there. So we thought it was in a different place, it wasn't there. We started asking everybody for directions and they had no idea what was going on. Some people pointing one way, some pointing the other. So, we got lost in the capital with a sister missionary in the back seat that had just been stung by a scorpion. We then thought of the good idea to pay a Taxi. We paid a Taxi and followed him to the hospital. We walk into the hospital at about 8:55. Only a three hour process! Then we found out that it was not a big deal at all. The scorpion wasn't poisonous or anything. But it was better safe than sorry! Then we had to find a farmacy to buy some medicine. We stopped by Wendy's on the way home because we were all hungry. We got the sisters back home at about 11 pm and we got back at like 11:15. But that didn't end the night quite yet. The doctor at the hospital told us to put the scorpion in the microwave (because we had caught it in a cup). He says it sounds like popcorn. So, Elder Hanson and I did it. It was super cool!

Wednesday night, Elder Hernandez and I were in the colonia El Caminero (Where I lived for 6 months at the beginning of my mission) teaching a super pilas family (the Camey Family). So we taught the importance of putting into practice what we teach and what they learn from reading the Book of Mormon. We ended the lesson at about 6:45. At 7, we have a Fellowshipping Fireside at the church. So we thought we could leave and get on time to the fireside. Then, out of nowhere, this family gave us dinner! Tamales with Morcaff with Rice with milk. It was all steaming hot. We tried eating it as fast as we could, but it was not fast. I was burning my mouth, but i didn't care. So we left that house at like 7:15. I told the other missionaries not to start until we got there and that we'd get there in 10 minutes. Why did I say 10 minutes?! So I hang up the fone and we just ran all the way to the church. Down hill, up hill, flat ground. You name it, we ran it. We got there at exactly 10 minutes after the fone call. But we were worn out! Just drenched it sweat and we couldn't even breathe. But the good thing is, we made it on time. And by the way, this family is preparing for baptism in the month of October. They are really excited for church on Sunday.

Yesterday, we went and played soccer with some members of the ward on a turf field.

I have a testimony of reactivation of church members. Why? That's where you find many baptisms. There are so many families that have been inactive for like 2-5 years. They have kids that have turned 9 in this time span, so that means baptisms for the missionaries. Home teaching is so important for that. If home teachers visit their less actives then report to us missionaries anybody from the family that aren't members, we can go with them. We're baptizing this Sunday by reactivating a family and baptizing their kids. We found another family this week that has a daughter than just turned 9. They seem really positive for returning to church and letting their child get baptized. Mom and Dad, and other fellow members of the church, go look for less active families to be able to help out the missionaries!

Love y'all!

--Elder Hunt