Week 26 (6 Months!!!!)

Well I just want to start off by saying that these past 6 months have been some of the best in my life and eventhough I've had plenty of hard days being soaked from all the rain we had before, and being sick in the hospital, I wouldn't rather be anywhere else! This morning was quite the morning as the bus we were traveling in tipped over.... Nobody was injured and I only have a few cuts and scrapes on my arms. I have no idea what happened. My companion and I were talking and all of the sudden we were sideways and then a huge crash. Never have I ever experienced anything like it before but I could definitely feel that we were all protected by our Heavenly Father. I also have something else to tell you all.... Haha that was a joke! Just to give you something to laugh about :) But a bus really did tip over and everyone inside was okay. I'm sorry I couldn't help myself! I've always gotta be in the spotlight ;) 

This past week was a pretty good week for my companion and I. We finally got to baptize Joel and Brandon. This week we worked super hard to get the people we have progressing, but Satan was also working hard this week! We ended up only having one person in church yesterday but like it says in D&C 18:15 it's one more soul were going to save and I couldn't ask for better. We had a family that was going to attend but they all got sick so they couldn't. Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to visit a family of members with all 6 of the Missionaries here in this ward. The Sister Missionaries taught about Love and how important it is to have in every aspect of our lives. 

My companion shared something about me. He said how much he admires that everytime I offer a prayer I say, "Heavenly father, We love you" and how often we forget to tell our own Father in Heaven that we love him after all he's given to us! It really is such an important aspect of our lives and often times the people we have nearest to us are the ones that suffer when we don't show it. William Shakespeare once said that those whose truly love something, show it. This week in Gospel Principles we also learned about service and how important it is in our lives. Through offering service and helping others we are following the two most important commandments we have, Love the lord thy God with all your heart, might, mind and strength and the second which is like unto it, Love your neighbor like unto yourself. (Matthew 22:36-40) 

This week I want to challenge you all to act on these two things. First, tell every member in your family that you love them and second show your love for them by serving them. There are many forms of service and it doesn't matter how big or small it is, you never know how much it will help them and even though you may forget about it the next day, they may remember it forever! I love you all so very dearly and wish the best for you all. Thanks for all that you do and always remember, when you can't stand, kneel! I hope that you all have a great week! 

Con much amor, 
Elder Hunt :)

Our church

Us with Brandon and Joel

 Us with Brandon, Joel, and the family at the baptism

 Us with Brandon, Joel, and the family at the baptism

Me and David

 Us and the dead pig we found in the Market (for the girls)

 Us and the dead pig we found in the Market (for the girls)

A parrot just chillin

Us after soccer :)

The bus that tipped over this morning

The bus that tipped over this morning

The outside of our Apartment

Me being me :)

Me being me :)

Picture my companion drew for a investigator haha

Picture my comp drew for a investigator haha

Week 25

Well Ladies and Gents, in 8 days I complete 6 months here in the mission and all I can say is that in such a short time I have never learned nor grown more! I love being here in Ecuador and being able to help so many wonderful people! It has gone by so fast which is kind of scary because there is so much that I want to change and perfect in my life but the time is so short. 

Today was a great P-Day because.... WE GOT TO PLAY SOCCER!!!!! I love playing soccer but to be honest these Latinos are good soccer players!! haha Not to mention that the altitude and the sun just kills you! I'm not looking forward to tomorrow and being sore :P This past week was a good week for My companion and I. We really focused on getting our lesson count up and ended up doing it. We had 6 people committed to coming to church but only 2 showed up so that was kind of a bummer. The good news is that we have 2 baptisms on saturday! I am really excited for these baptisms because these two young men, Joel (17) and Brandon his cousin (15) want it so badly. They also really want to serve missions. Its really nice to know that we will not only be baptizing to new members of the church but two young men who are going to help so many people! 

This change my companion and I are going to focus on the members we have here in the ward. We usually just call them so they can visit people with us but they need help too. If we can strengthen the members we have, then we wont have to work as much with less actives. I have realized the extreme importance of the members in the ward and how much they can help with the recent converts. Our wards are our families and if we do not build up the entire family how are we all going to achieve the potential we all have in life? The church is not only to learn and partake of the Sacrament but also to become closer to those around us and help them become better and closer to Heavenly Father. 

It's kind of funny because everyone asks to see pictures of my family and when they see them, they are amazed that we are all gringos (White) and how big of a family I have. Not to mention the boys fall in love with my sisters haha. I love my family and all of you that have given me your support. I know that through diligence and hard work we can become the people of Zion we were all meant to be and we can build up and strengthen the kingdom of God! I hope you all have a great week! 

Con mucho amor, 
Elder Hunt

Week 24

Well Ladies and Gents, I will be spending yet another change here in the wonderful ward of Manantial with my companion Elder Monrroy. I never thought I would be spending more than a fourth of my mission here in this sector but I'm not going to lie I am really excited for this change! We have so many wonderful people here! 

On the 26th of this month we have 2 more baptisms and both of the young men that we are going to be baptizing want to serve missions. It is so great to be able to help them both reach their goal! This past week was a good week. My companion and I worked hard to get the people we had contacted to church on sunday and the hard work paid off. We ended up having 6 progressing investigators at church yesterday. It really is awesome when people keep the commitments that we leave with them! 

There isn't a whole lot more to report on this week. I just want to thank you all for your support and prayers and for the letters that I have received! It is hard for me to send letters back but I will try to get some sent off. 

Con mucho amor, 
Elder Hunt :)

We went to a members house to recieve changes and today is her sons 

Birthday so on Saturday I bought a cake for them so we could celebrate.

 He turned 2 today :)

Week 23

Well, this week was definitely a long one but it was a pretty good one to!! After having baptized the two families that we did, our amount of investigators went down a lot. We found ourselves with almost none, at least none that are progressing that is. We visited more members and less actives this week to ask for references. Here in the mission we could not do anything without the members!. Everyone we have baptized have been references from a member. I’m really  starting to realize the importance of the saying, "¨Every member a missionary"¨ We all have people in our lives that we know who aren’t members of our church and how great is the importance of helping our fellow brothers and sisters to know the truth and receive the blessing we have. 

I like the scriptures in D&C 18: 10,15,16. This also brings me to the other topic that I want to talk about today and that is found in the conference talk given by Quitin L. Cook this past April. There are so many people waiting on the other side of the veil to receive the blessings from theTemple and they cannot receive them without us. He talks about the grand importance of doing family history. I really wish I would have done more of it myself while at home. It is so great that not only can we do the things here on earth for us to receive eternal life and an eternal family but that we can help the people who have died that never had the chance to hear about the gospel. It is such an important work to be done and there is so much that we can do, even in our own homes. 

I want to challenge you all to strive to do some sort of family history work so that we can all live with our families in the kingdom or god. I also want to invite you all to read/listen to that conference talk. Being here in Ecuador and not being able to do a lot really has made me realize how important they are and how much I want to do them. Thank you all for your support and love! I hope you all have a great week!

Con mucho Amor, 
Elder Hunt

Week 22

Well all I can say is what a week last week was haha. To start things off my companion and I spent 4 days in the hospital. We were there from Monday afternoon till Thursday afternoon. I had two infections.One in my stomach, and one in my kidney. In my stomach there was a bacteria that normally we have a level of 5% but I had a level of 95%.  In my kidney my creatine levels were really high also. The normal for a person my age is 1.0 and for a lot older people 1.3 but I had a level of 1.3. 

They took really good care of me and even though it was probably the most boring days of my life (because we couldn't watch any TV, not even the world cup) I was glad I was in good hands. Apparently the hospital that I was in is the best hospital in Ecuador. I was slightly hoping to actually get some good food, maybe even American food. I got my hopes up ;) 

I believe it was on Wednesday that my companion and I found out that the TV we had in the room was a smart TV so (with permission) we got onto LDS.ORG and watch every single movie/mormon message we could find. In all it turned out to be not too bad! I’m pretty sure Elder Monrroy thinks it was the worst time in his life because in four days he ate a total of 3 times because the food there was super expensive. 

So after I was released from the hospital on Thursday Sister Ghent gave us money for a taxi and money for food. We went and ate lunch and got on the trolley and that's when the fun began. When I left the hospital I felt great and even better after I had eaten but as we left the city to go back to our sector I just about passed out on the trolley. My companion and I had to get off and wait until I could go again. I don't know what happened but I think it was just from resting in a nice cool place for four days. Nothing bad happened and we were able to get back to our sector and work. 

Considering we only worked 3 days this week it turned out good as we had 2 investigators at church and a decent amount of lessons. This week I also finally received my birthday package and was able to listen to the general conference talks. They have helped me sooo much in this past week and I want to challenge you to listen to one everyday and try to apply what you heard throughout the day or to choose one and study it throughout the week and work more on that aspect in your life. We need not only read the scriptures or listen to conference talk, but we need to live them and apply them in our lives to get everything out of them we can! 

It might be hard sometimes but I know that it works and that it helps us build our testimonies and the relationships we have with our Father in Heaven and our families. I love you all and thank you all for the support and prayers that I receive from you all! 
I hope you have a great week. 
Con mucho amor, 
Elder Hunt :)

The amazing view of Quito from my hospital room

My hospital room

My Companion and I bought about
3 pounds of fish to eat and we got to clean it:)
He's from the coast (Honduras) so he LOVES fish!! haha

Elder Monnroy with the fish we bought

Me with the fish we bought

 Me and all the stuff I got for my birthday :) I love it all!!!

  

Me after blowing up all of those balloons ;)

I loved all of your Birthday messages!!

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

ELDER HUNT!!!!!!

Week 21

Well all I can say is what a week it has been!! Its was a good week, just a really long one. This past Saturday we had 3 baptisms and it was sooo great! We’ve been working with this family for almost 4 months and they are such a great family! In total my district had 8 baptisms on Saturday and we only need 2 more to complete our goal of 14 this month.  I was able to confirm the son on Sunday and man was that crazy! It was soo cool but at the same time so nerve racking :P

The down side to this week was on Friday. We had a Conference with President Ghent and his wife since they are leaving soon but all throughout the night I had such a bad fever and couldn't sleep. I could finally get out of bed at 2:00 in the afternoon only to lay on the floor and go back to sleep. I honestly have never had so much pain in all of my body in my entire life! My head, stomach, and legs hurt so bad! On Saturday we went to a clinic to have tests done on my urine and blood, which didn't bother me none since I love giving blood ;) I found out that I have 2 infections. One in my stomach (salmonella) and another in my kidney. It definitely isn't good but hey I’m still alive and truckin :)

We didn't work on Friday or Saturday because I simply couldn't but we were able to work a little yesterday which was nice. Don't worry about me though. All I ask is that you keep me in your prayers and we'll let God do the rest. I have an appointment today so that will help out a lot! Other than that fun part of the week it was a good one. The weather here has been pretty nice and now its summer which means NO MORE RAIN!!!!!!!!! Makes things a lot easier haha. I hope you all have a great week and that everything is good in your families! 

Con Amor, 
Elder Hunt

My Companion and I with the family we baptized, Familia Macao

HUGE Catholic Church and me :)

Picture with President Ghent and Sis Ghent
(They will be going home in July)

Week 20

Well I’m glad to say that this week was a lot better than last! We had quite a bit of success this week other than we found out that a few of our investigators aren’t married :P The thing I love about serving a mission is that you get to help out so many people and you get to see all the many ways the Lord blesses us and teaches us.

This week I completed Doctrine and Covenants and wow can I say the Prophet Joseph Smith was so amazing and thanks to him we have so much! Like it says towards the end of  D&C Joseph Smith has done more for mankind than anyone else save it Jesus Christ. It is so great to be able to share the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ and to help the people receive all of the blessings that are promised in the scriptures. Often times we think that we don't have time to do everything that we should, and we often times settle into our own routines, but in order to become the people we have the potential to become we have to always be progressing. 

To be honest before my mission I didn't really like reading the scriptures, I didn't always like going to church or fulfilling my calling and I never seemed to have time for prayers. I can now proudly say that I LOVE the scriptures and I only wish that I had more time to study them everyday!  I want to be at church all day on Sunday to increase my knowledge of these amazing things and I can see and feel an immense difference when I don't pray! I know that all of these things are true and I know that without them we are nothing. God asks such simple things from us. The least we can do is do them no matter what. There will always be a way to fulfill the will of the Lord like it says in 1 Nephi 3:7.  

This church is so great and like I said last week no matter how hard it gets we have to stay true! We are walking with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived! What more do we need? We have everything we need at our fingertips and we need to show our faith through our works for without them our faith is nothing. Remember doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. I love you all and hope all of the fathers had a great Fathers Day! I hope you all have a great week! 

Con mucho amor, Elder Hunt :)

Heres a picture of me in Quicentro (mall) representing the US :)