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