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.

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