12/07/16 Letter

Hi everybody,
I'm so sorry I ran out of time today, we had a ton to do and only finished a small part of it. The good news is that I'll be able to write on Monday as well. Don't tell anyone, but our p-day is changing to the normal so we get a "double" this week. We met with Fernando last week several times and Jaime as well. Jaime set a baptism date for Christmas Eve as well with Fernando. Things are looking good, sorry for the short letter. The picture's for Grandma, there are a couple around town. Love you all!
Love, Elder Hunt

11/30/16 Letter

Hi Family!
Where do I start? I guess with apologizing for missing last week, and maybe the one before. I don't even remember. But we're here to learn and improve! One of President Smith's favorite phrases is "repentance is cool!" We had a rare opportunity to attend a temple dedication for my first Sunday. Hartford  conn is open for business. We've had some really good lessons too. We're working with a part-member family, the father is the investigator with 2yearold twins. They've decided to be married on the tenth and we're planning to have him baptized on Christmas eve! His name is fernando and he has a strong desire to follow Christ. We're up to 4 lessons a week with him to make sure he's got it down. We also teach some recent converts, the Mendez family. Their father and oldest brother received the Priesthood last week and will participate in the sacrament this week. Who else do we have a special love for? We also work with a less active who has chosen to work on Sundays. He's looking for ways to feel the spirit but he just can't find them. Wanna know a secret? The answer is coming to church every week. We'll keep loving him, we'll get him started on family history, but if he wants the real deal he has to make that choice. It's the same for all of us. We make the choices, and we get what our hearts really desire, because that's where our action is. Until we have a real desire, a sincere heart, nothing happens on its own. Be agents for change! (-Pres. Smith) it's on us. We went to the temple today! The city is crazy. I already know I would never choose to live there. But people do. The temple is across the street from Julliard! The temple is like the smallest building in the whole city, but it has a full sized stake center, family history center, distribution, an angel moroni, insane. When we got out of the temple we met a man named Mike. Hen is a member! He said we were his heroes and wanted to share his story over lunch. So he bought us lunch in a cafe next door to the temple. But the real treat was getting to know him. God has carried him through his life, and He will carry each of us if we let Him. Love you all!
PS Have everybody check out the Christmas initiative on mormon.org it's all about service. There is a quick video, a smaller video for each day in December until Christmas. The main idea is to find a way to serve someone every day. We really can do as the Savior did, to everyone around us.
Love,
Elder Hunt

11/16/16 Letter

Hello! I'm on the east coast! More importantly, I'm an official missionary! I got to the airport at about 4pm local time, then went to the welcome meeting in the Scarsdale chapel. Believe it or not, it used to be Elder Rasband's home ward. We had a testimony meeting and slept in the mission home next door. The next morning, we had personal study time back in the chapel, then the real meeting, area and companion assignments. My companion is Elder Brower from good ol' Lehi, Utah. We are assigned to serve in the Norwalk area of the Stamford zone. We have a Spanish ward, the Stamford 2nd. I know of 3 progressing investigators, one of whom we had a dinner/lesson appointment with last night. We taught the third lesson, the Doctrine of Christ. We invited him to commit to be baptized, but he wants a big answer before he will commit. We also did some service at a food pantry, we had to park around the block, which presented us with a contact opportunity as well. We taught a kind woman a little about prayer. We had planned to introduce me to the ward elders' quorum president, but he wasn't home. So we knocked on doors for a little bit. It was really interesting. The first door, slam, take your message somewhere else. Each one improved though. By the 4th house, we had a referral for the sisters. I'm amazed at the variety of experiences I had on my first day. Today we unpacked, did a little laundry, and bought groceries. Oh and I learned a new game called gator ball. It's a mix of soccer and rugby played in a church gym. I love my comp so much. He reminds me a little of Adam Schulz. I will be his last companion, he goes home in February. So i better make it a good couple of cycles. Oh yeah, they call transfers cycles here. The roads are insane, and I have no sense of direction yet. Nothing is squared off, and you can't see into the distance because of trees. It's weird to me. The landscape is lumpy, but only enough to block the view. It was cloudy and rainy all day yesterday, and we've been inside most of today. The sun comes up and sets early here, so I feel like I'm always late. We have two English elders in our apartment with us, elders pulu (zl) and tanner. Sorry for being scatter brained, if you can imagine it's been a whirlwind. We forgot to take a picture until after exercise today, but we have our tags on, so it's legit.

I love you all, thanks for your letters and support!

Love, 

Elder Hunt

11/05/16 Letter

I'm so sorry about last week! I didn't feel like I had anything worth sharing, not even pictures. I still don't have pictures. But I can share some thoughts. Not much changes in the MTC after the first 3 weeks. We're pretty much just left to learn on our own for the most part.
So Sundays are the best. There are missionaries who will say they're boring. Not me. I love to learn on the Sabbath, in Sacrament, District, and Priesthood meetings. It's just different from usual classes and study time. I can't really explain it.
I love the scriptures. It's hard for me to get into a groove while studying, but when I do, it's amazing. Some things I've learned from the scriptures this week:
Man's opinion doesn't matter. God has the final say, especially about His kingdom and children. (2 Ne 7:11-15)
We are here for a reason. The challenges we face are intentional and God wants us to learn from them. (D&C 9:6)
(not from the scriptures) God loves us. I've known this, but this week I know it even better. We matter to Him. He cares, and wants us to care. He wants us back, more than we can understand in this life. When we know He loves us, we start to love Him, and this is what drives our improvement in every facet. 
(also not from the scriptures) Christ doesn't do a bad job, or leave a task unfinished. He puts forth His best effort (which happens to be perfection) and expects the same from us (not perfection). It's hard, but if we follow his example in everything, from cleaning our rooms to studying, from employment to loving our families, we will be successful. Please always do your best.
I expect I'll quote this talk again, but I'll share now because I love it. Elder Holland said that tomorrow will be wonderful, because God wants it to be. The first great commandment is to love God. The first great truth is that He loves us, with all of His being. And that changes everything.
I hope this finds a place in your heart. Keep studying, keep trying, keep trusting in God. He is cheering you on.
Love, Elder Hunt

10/29/16 Letter

Hi, Josh has not sent a family letter but in my letter he shared this little bit about class.  He began by talking about how easy it is to not work your tail off.  His teacher said that we don't obey because we have to  but because we want to!  then he said, "She also helped us learn a powerful lesson on prayer. we all have our habits with prayer, most of us say the same things, maybe in a different order. We need to talk to Him as if we are talking to our parents, with specific, heartfelt thanks and questions."  both good insights that are always good reminders of things we know but forget on occasion.

Of course being a missionary away from home He would love mail and especially to hear what you read in your scriptures this week, feel free to write anytime, we all love mail! jdhunt@myldsmail.com

-Mom's thoughts for the week October 29, 2016

10/22/16 Letter

Hello everybody! It's been an interesting week. Last Sunday, my companion was complaining of stomach pains, and he had previously been checked for appendicitis, so we went to the ER at Utah Valley to get him checked out. After a CT scan, the diagnosis came back positive, so he had his appendix removed at about 7:00 pm that night. We ended up missing dinner and choir practice, so I didn't get to sing in the devotional. I was a lot better off than him, though. He's been in pain all week, and in a wheelchair a lot of the time, missing most classes and all of our practice lessons. I've been able to teach with another companionship though, so I've been okay. In the MTC Elders' dorms, there's this weird sort of economy, based on snacks from care packages, ties, and anything else we can find to trade, including services. My companion has offered haircuts, for example. Our room didn't have a ladder for our bunk beds when we got here, and we got used to not having one. But one ended up in our room somehow. We traded it away for a bag of tostitos scoops, our best transaction so far. Ties go around pretty quickly, but i'm pretty attached to mine. Another tradition in the dorms is to sing right before bed time. But all of us are learning languages, so we don't sing in English. We've been switching between Spanish and French. I think french sounds super weird. If anyone feels like writing in spanish, go for it, i could use the practice. Our lessons went pretty well this week. We teach our instructors, acting as investigators, and we have lessons called TRC, and we don't know if these people are members or not. We committed one of our TRC investigators to baptism yesterday! I'd probably feel super amazing if i knew for sure if he wasn't a member, but we have to practice somehow. The laundry facilities are a little rough here, they're always full and i've lost two different socks, so that makes two useless pairs. We get service opportunities wednesday morning, so we get to clean a different dorm building, like mopping and bathrooms. It's fine, i'm glad my mom taught me how to take care of these kinds of things. How is everybody doing? I'd love pictures and emails from all of you. I exhort you to continue reading scriptures and praying daily, and attending church on Sundays.
I love you all!
Love,
Elder Hunt

ps look up the Mormon Message "Shower of Heavenly Blessings"

temple trip, 10/22

companion post-morphine injection

10/15/16 Letter

Hi Family! (and friends as good as family)
It's been a fun week! We taught 4 lessons to a mock investigator, we get a new one each week. Our tuesday night devotional was great, I sang in the choir and an apostle visited. Some elders in my district went to the barber shop here today and they all hated their haircuts, so my companion fixed his and another elder's. One of the fun things we've been trying is to eat as companionships next to someone we don't know and just try to keep a conversation throughout the meal. It's good practice, but we don't see anybody else doing it. And we make new friends. It surprises me how solemn so many missionaries are. Maybe it's just the stress of the learning/being away from home. But the best cure for me is to just be friendly to everyone. I really like to play volleyball during our gym time. I'd tried it before, but it's way better than i remember. I've made a commitment to read the book of mormon before i leave the mtc, so anyone who wants to join in that goal, feel free. Actually, I challenge you to read the book of mormon again by the end of the year. I know that there is power in that book. I love you all! Keep trying, keep working, the Lord blesses those who love Him and try to serve HIm.
Love,
Elder Hunt

elder munoz, my comp
me and elder cid, the district leader
my favorite tie from sam
our temple walk sunday

10/8/2016 First Letter!

10/8/16 [Just make it to Sunday]

Thats what they tell us anyway. But things are going well. My district is amazing. We have 4 of us going to NYNYN, 5 to argentina and one to ecuador i think. Nobody tells us what to do or where to go, so we end up together a lot, which is a good thing. We really do learn a lot from each other. on thursday we tried singing together, on of the hermanas plays piano pretty well. We sang God Speed the Right, I Am a Child of God, and Called to Serve, all in spanish. Called to Serve has 4 verses in spanish, and everybody sings much more loudly and quickly here, and it really helps to feel the power. We practiced teaching in spanish last night, friday, it was hard and my companion did a lot more talking than i did. His family speaks spanish in the home. We've been praying in spanish for a couple days now, I don't always know how to say what I want to, but it's still praying. So in our room, all four of us are going to new york, my companion Elder Munoz, and the other companionship, Elder Cid and Elder Puffer. Elder Cid is our district leader. Elder Munoz is from Colorado Springs, Elder Cid is from Fresno, and Elder Puffer is from Vancouver, Washington. We've all been asked to speak spanish all the time, and we plan to bear our testimonies this sunday in spanish. We get to go to the temple every p-day, so everybody's excited for that. Elder Munoz has only done his own ordinances, but he has family names to do. Oh and yes, i did get byu ice cream on wednesday. they have ice cream bars available every meal, but i've been able to resist so far. The food is a little rough on the system, i guess you just have to get used to it. I haven't tried the orange juice yet, just sticking with water. I guess i'll end with a challenge. I invite each of you to read in the book of mormon every day, morning if you can, and pray morning and night. These are the ways Heavenly Father communicates with us, and how we communicate with Him. 

Love,

Elder Hunt

Elder Hunt's Mission Announcement Pictures