Email from Nov 17

Things have been so great here! Really, it couldn't get too much better.

On Saturday, I completed 18 months in the mission! It's crazy. I can't even believe how fast the time has just flown by. It's amazing to stop and think about how i've changed as a person as I've been here in Guatemala. The most important thing that i've learned: to love. That's the key to success in anything. If the motive isn't love, the success wanted won't be the success received. My testimony has strengthed so much and my knowledge of the gospel has deepened. I have a focus that i never really thought I'd have. It's all about making goals and reaching them. Not all of them though. We always need to have some goals that are unreachable so that we can try as hard as we can and still have space to improve. If all goals are reached, we didn't expect us to reach our full potential. But, as with the rest of the traditions. I burned my pair of pants to mark 18 months! Here's the picture:

Sunday was a great day. A day of baptisms, to say the least. It was a super long day. We got to the church building at like 9:20 am and we left at like 7:20 pm. We didn't leave the church property for all that time. Church from 10-1, baptismal service, church from 2-5, baptismal service. It was a tiring day. Anyway, the people that we baptized are really special. 

At 1 in the afternoon, we baptized a young woman and young man. For a lot of past history issues and law of chastity problems, the parents couldn't get baptized even though they really like the church and what we teach and represent. But, the kids love reading the Book of Mormon and were really, really excited to be baptized. We had the help of a ward family that had them at Family Home Evenings and everything. Their names are Katherine and Brayan Poou Ramirez. Pictures sent in other email.

At 5:30, we baptized a really special. I imagine I've mentioned a Familia Camey. The dad, Oswaldo, the mom, Angelica, and the kids, Fernando, Bylly, and Flor de Maria. They have found a special place in my heart. Their road to baptism has been a long and difficult one. They met the missionaries 8 years ago. I visited them like 15 months ago and again like 2.5 months ago. Angelica asked for three signs from God before she would get baptized. Ever since I went back like 2.5 months ago, Oswaldo was ready to get baptized, just waiting on his wife to make the choice for herself. Also, the son Fernando was down to get dunked. Now that they've been baptized, Angelica shared with us the 3 signs she received from God through me especifically. It's truly humbling and awe-striking. God answers prayers in misterious ways, but He answers, that's the most important thing. They were so beautiful and excited as they were dressed in white waiting to enter the waters of baptism and come out new creatures, being born again. They have the goal of getting sealed in the temple, and just saw baptism as a necessary step to get to bigger and better goals for the family. This will probably be one of my most memorable baptisms of the mission.

My mission hasn't been easy, that's what i realize as i look back over these 18 months. The Lord has asked a lot of me, and He's helped me to reach it. If my mission was easy, i wouldn't have progressed as far as i have until right now. There's still a long way to go and much more time to be refined by my loving Heavenly Father. I'm not the best missionary or the perfect missionary, but I strive to be obedient in all things that I do. I try to show diligence in all tasks that i'm given. 

This week, it's been pretty calm. Things have happened, yes, but it's normal now. But in about 3 weeks, i'll be in a new area doing new things, so that'll be fun. After all, i've been in Boca del Monte for 14 months of my mission just about (10 transfer cycles). I love change. My mission is not going to get any easier from here on out, and i'm excited about that. I don't want it to be easier, because easy doesn't cause progression how i want it. 

I love y'all!!

--Elder Hunt

Pictures from Antigua

Email from Nov 10

Everything is going quite nicely here in Guatemala. I love it here. The people are the best. It's been crazy to see my view of the Guatemalan people as I've been here. President Markham talks about the theme 'Faith in Every Footstep' and says that now, it's not sufficient. We're not here to have faith in every footstep. Now, we must have 'Charity in Every Footstep.' That's what I've learned on the mission. I don't work as hard as I do to impress others or just to pass the time. I work as hard as I do because I love these people. When I see people progress, it makes me truly happy because they will receive the blessings that my family has received. When they decide not to do what we invite them to do, it's heartbreaking because they're missing out. Charity, that's the difference. That's the motor of missionary work.

This past Tuesday, we went to Antigua, Guatemala again. I love Antigua. It's super pretty. It's also fun to see a lot of 'white' people. Usually, they're not even from the States. I say hi to some and they respond in French or German or who knows what. Once, I talked to someone from Tennessee and the accent took me home, it was great. This time, we didn't just go to the market, we went up to a hill that has a view of all of Antigua with the volcano. It is absolutely beautiful. I love natural beauty. It's a testament that it was all made by God.

But, since we were in Antigua, I had to take advantage and buy a couple things. As of right now, i don't think i need anything else from Guatemala. I have all that i need and want. Sure, there's still a lot I could buy, but i'm good with what I have. I have a few things that I really do like and am super excited about. Plus, it's just super hard to decide on what to buy from here. Because the market is crazy packed of goodness.

This Sunday, there will be baptisms. We will be baptizing a super special family. So, as maybe you should know, i'm working in the area that I started in. The same exact place. Anyway, back when I was here my first time (a little more than a year ago) I taught a family once. To be honest, they were not that positive. Super nice, yes. But positive to receive the gospel at that time, no. (discernment by the Spirit). So we didn't try hard to make them progress. But among entering into this colony one time, I was remembered of them. They were a referral from a member family that they have been trying with for several years. They are the Camey Family. They will be baptized this Sunday. But the little daughter is so cute. Last night, she said a prayer. She used to say 'God, Please buy me the two things. Amen.' But, as we've visited she's gotten better. (She's like 4). Last night, she wanted to say a long prayer. She started off fine by praying for her family and for us missionaries. Then, she started getting crazy. She was like 'Watch over the backpack of Elder Hunt. Watch over the backpack of Elder Hansen. Watch over my mom's lipstick.'  I couldn't handle it. I just busted out laughing. The mom did too and the dad chuckled a little bit. It was the cutest little prayer ever. This family is precious. I'll talk more about them next week after they get baptized so i can send pictures.

I complete 18 months in 2 days (on the 15th). I can't believe it. But, i'm not focusing on that. It just means that i have 5.5 months to do what i need to do. It's fun stuff. I will never regret having gone on a mission. But I will continually thank my Heavenly Father for this great blessing. It's the Lord's work, that's why it has yet to be frustrated.

Go do some good in the world today!

Love y'all!

--Elder Hunt

Email from Nov 3

I get all pictures that are sent my way and i love them. I love receiving pictures.

This week has been interesting. We've had to run a lot of errands to get a lot of random things done. But it's fine.

The missionary work is booming here in the area. There are so many people that want to listen to us and enjoy what we share. Many prayers are being answered. Right now, we have quite a few members presenting us to their friends. And these friends are really excited and love church. One thing that I have learned on my mission is to make friends with the people i serve here. It just seems like they love me, and i love them. That's probably the biggest way that i've grown. I actually care about and love these people here. Like, when I see them, I get really happy. When I don't, i feel like I'm missing something.

Fun stuff this week?

I got bit by a dog! For the second time on the mission. I don't even know why it happened. I was talking to somebody at their door, and a dog was passing by. But he was like 5 yards away and just walking past. I didn't bother him or anything. Out of nowhere, he changed his trajectory and pounced right at my left calf. It hurt quite bad, but I didn't hardly even react. He bit me and ran off. A couple days after the biting, we returned to this house to teach again. The dog walked past a few times like he was checking me out. Once, he came up pretty close while i was sitting down. It made me quite uncomfortable. To make it even worse, he started growling at my like he was about to attack again! I hate these dogs and they hate me.

We are teaching a really great family, the Camey Family. They are super pilas and I love them. They have the goal to get sealed in the temple even though they're not even baptized yet. They have invited me to the sealing and have offered to pay my plane ticket to come down! They're going to get baptized on the 16th of this month. They were going to get baptized this Sunday, but they've been drinking coffee. So, we told them we had to postpone it. I told them that they had to stop drinking coffee from that day on. The next day, the dad went the whole day a nervous wreck, biting his fingernails all day. He was just craving his coffee fix. But, he didn't drink it! Yea! When I went that night, I went with someone else that wasn't my companion. He asked, ¿oh, you drink coffee? The dad answered with confidence "I used to drink coffee. But not anymore." (in spanish. "Tomaba café, pero ya no.") It was so great.

I went and worked with the Zone Leader yesterday. It was a blast. He likes to work really hard and so do i. It was our 4th time working together over these past 6 months. We literally ran around all day. We showed up to the house that night at the last second because we ran like a mile and a half to get there. We found ourselves pretty far from home when 9:15 rolled around. We should up the the house absolutely destroyed fisically. It was great. Nothing feels better than getting home absolutely wrecked after a hard day of missionary work. There is no equal outside of the mission. I'm going to miss the feeling a lot when I'm back. Missionaries in whatever other mission, don't understand what we do here in the Guatemala City Central Mission, and that's okay. It's what we call "mission culture".

Stake Conference is this weekend! It'll be a blast.

Love y'all!

Elder Hunt

Email from Oct 27

This has been a crazy week. I hardly even know where to start, so much has happened. 

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to speak twice in church. I've been in one of these wards for 13 months, so i know it really well. I also know that there are many in the ward that are not helping us with missionary work. I said that to them. I was like 'I've been here for 13 months, and there are many of your houses that i've never been invited to. So it looks to me as if y'all aren't fulfilling y'all's callings as missionaries.' I was really direct with the ward during my talk. I based it off of David A. Bednar's talk from this last conference entitled 'Come and See.' Here's a little outline of my talk:

-2 Nefi 31:3 to warn them that I was going to be direct and clear with them. Why? Because that's how the Lord works, and I'm His representative. 
-The Church of Jesus Christ always has been and always will be a missionary church.
-Devoted disciples of Jesus Christ always have been and always will be valiant missionaries. A missionary is a follower of Christ who testifies of Him as the Redeemer and proclaims the truths of His gospel. 
-But our eagerness to declare this message is not merely the result of a sense of spiritual duty. Rather, our desire to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with you is a reflection of how important these truths are to us. (So, if your not sharing this gospel, it's not important to you.)
-Dyc 58: 26-29 explaining how they don't need to wait for us to ask them to participate, because that condemns them. they need to be anxiously engaged in the work. 
-Jacob 1:19 explaining that if they don't warn their fellow brother, the sins will come upon them.

This whole talk was direct and not very sugar coated. But, I also made sure to express my love to those participating and to thank them also. As the ward in whole, the talk was effective and accepted. After the Sacrament meeting, people came up and were like 'you should visit this person or the other' or just came up and thanked me for the talk. The talk was not received by the bishop in the slightest sense. hahahah. I felt crushed by the talk (Good!). He went up to Elder Clouse and Elder Roney (not to me) and said, 'you don't have the keys to say what you said.'. Uh....those aren't keys. I quoted an apostle and i quoted the scriptures. I don't need keys to do that. It was a great talk. Just for future reference, if you need someone to talk straightforward to a ward about missionary work, I'll volunteer. I've got my little talk ready. 

In the second ward I spoke in, I toned it down a little bit because i'm not as familiar with the people. I shared the same David A. Bednar quotes. I also shared DyC 58 and mentioned Jacob 1:19. But, I took a nicer approach and read also from DyC 80 and 81 and read 1 Nefi 2:16. This talk didn't have the same effect on the ward because everybody was asleep because church was at 2, right after lunch. But the people that paid attention appreciated it. Also, this Bishop really liked the talk. He thought it gave encouragment for the ward to do better. Score!

On Tuesday, we took out the new missionaries again. It's always fun because they try so hard but just can't keep up. We ended the night with a mile and a half run for the house. They were absolutely dead tired. We got to the house and there was pizza waiting for them. They were too tired and out of breathe and worn down to eat. They refused the pizza. But I ate it without a problem. I love working with the new missionaries. But anyway, a fun fact about this Tuesday, I slept less than an hour that night! woo! We had to go to the office to get ready for change meeting the next day because there was stuff to do. On the way to the office, we stopped by the gas station to fill up the Hi-Lux, a diesel truck. So we filled it up, went to the office, got stuff done, and left the office at like 2:05 am. We tried cranking up the truck, but it didn't go. The battery was charged. The tank was full. What's the problem? Who knows, it's Guatemala. So we wait for like 20 minutes, try again, and it fires up. Weird. We get home at like 2:45 am. Elder Clouse, who was going to leave the office, still hadn't packed his bags. So i stayed up with him while he packed his bags because i had to get up anyway at 3:30 to take a missionary to the airport by 4. It would have been the same as going to sleep anyway. So i stayed up. I took the missionary to the airport and got back home at like 5:30. In full mission attire, i went and laid on my bed for a second. When 6:25 rolled around, i was up and about again starting the day. We went to change meeting. After the meeting, we were on our way back to the office. I fought hard with the car to start for some reason, but I won. Also, the exhaust was letting out a lot of smoke. But, we cruised on to the office. Out of nowhere, the car stopped. It just shut off. So we were stuck. We called the car guy from the area office and he got the car towed off. The problem? The Elder that filled up the gas tank put in normal gas...it's a diesel truck. epic fail. When i found out, i died laughing. Rookie mistake. Putting normal gas in a diesel truck. Noob!

Fun News. I'm leaving the office in 6 weeks! After 14 months in Boca del Monte, I'll be saying goodbye and heading out to the normal mission field! I received my replacement Executive Secretary. His name is Elder Hansen, from Washington DC. I love him. We seem to get along quite well. I'm so excited to leave the office. I want to lose myself in missionary work again. It'll be so much less stressful. Now, I have to focus on office and field stuff. Soon, it'll just be field stuff. The excitement is to stay tuned as to where I go. One day, I'll be able to get like 7 hours of solid sleep a night. No more nights of 55 minutes! Wow, que rico.

Today, i started 6 weeks to sexy. woo! I hope I get sent to the coast so i can lose all the weight I put on here in the office. Only 6 months to go, that's crazy.

Anyway, this week has been crazy and that's just a sneak peek at what's gone on this week. I'm loving life. I love the mission. I know it's the work of the Lord so I'm not slowing down, just speeding up. 

On Thursday, the sister missionaries that entered with me in the mission went home. I took them to the airport. Crazy! I can't even believe it's been so long. 

I love y'all!

--Elder Hunt

PS: letters are always accepted.