Hey Heyyy
Sorry the email is late today! We went to west virginia for p-day! haha we have a member who is originally from that area and since we technically cover that area anyways, we went over there and the member showed us around. it's way country, but awesome. I got some great pictures!
We've been warmer here lately, but it's been raining. But we are expecting more snow here soon. But they don't think it's gonna stick but we'll see. haha. It's starting to get cold again so yeah.
ok so funny story today. I was riding with bro. ruddle (the member who took us to WV) and he started to spray his windshield with the wiper fluid and the first thing I thought of was when dad would always do that and tell us that it was a little indian dancing on our car calling down rain. hahahaha. I don't know why I thought that was so hilarious but it was.
Oh yeah! You remember Junior? the one who called you on christmas? Him and his wife are getting baptised this weekend! :D It's going to be great. They are wonderful. They are being baptised by the person who first brought them to the church, but I am confirming diane. So that'll be awesome.
I've been having somewhat of a rough time lately, just because we have been super limited on miles and we can't go very far, so I feel like we get nothing done. I unfortunately, still feel like I'm being way to pressured by numbers and stressed out by them as well. Numbers aren't important! I just don't understand why I can't get that through my head...oh well.
But I'll be ok. It's part of missionary work. We have ups and downs.
I miss you all and hope to hear from you again soon! talk to you next wednesday!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
January 13, 2010
I am loving harrisonburg! We should be setting another man here soon for baptism! And junior and diane are gonna get baptised soon! I also attached a picture of junior. He's the bigger one who is kinda bald.
But yeah overall we are doing great here. I love it!
I did get my bike back! The beginning of this transfer. We don't ride it but yeah. I'm pretty sure the assistants loaned out my bike while they had it, cause I got it back all dirty and whatnot. But the pieces are all there. and it's still in good condition, just dirty.
I think the reason elder terry was so controlling in the lessons, was because he was here for so long, that he felt like he knew everything about these people and he thought he was the only one who could do it right. I guess? I don't know. Elder Lowry is the man though. He helps me alot and we have lots of fun doing the work!
So we have these members in our ward. Who at first when elder terry was here wouldnt meet with us. Were pretty sure he offended them somehow earlier on. They are active in the church, but just didn't like missionaries. So we called them after transfers and we set up a time and they let us come over! So we are teaching them and we are having a great spiritual lesson, and their son is there. Now their son isn't very strong in the church and isn't very excited about it. He's like 16-17. But as we were finishing up I see him pull out two cd cases that he got for christmas. And I recognize the backs of them and I ask him "are those death cab for cutie cds?" And he's like "yeah!" So instant bond made. And we started talking about it all and he just gets really excited. So later on that week on sunday we are driving around and we get a call from his mom. And she invites us over to dinner and tells us that they are actually starting to see some progression from him! And he actually was the one who wanted us over. he's really starting to come along. And his mom couldn't be happier. I think like elder larson and the hawaiian elder (haha can't remember his name) were some of the motiavtors for me to be stronger in the church, I think we are sort of starting to be that motivator for him. I hope we can continue to help him!
But yeah, that's all I've got today! I love you all and I'm so thankful for the things you do for me and the prayers you are doing and for the love you've shown me!
Oh! One last thing. I found a blackberry on the side of the road yesterday. It was all smashed up. We think someone set it on the top of their car and drove away and it fell down and got crushed by a car. But I picked it up and took it because it was of 0 value. But I messed around with it for a while (it obviously doesn't turn on :P) and popped the back off and found an 8 giga-bit sd card! nothing on it, just empty folders! woo.
anyways. wanted to tell you that.
love you all! I hope your week is great! love you and stay safe!
But yeah overall we are doing great here. I love it!
I did get my bike back! The beginning of this transfer. We don't ride it but yeah. I'm pretty sure the assistants loaned out my bike while they had it, cause I got it back all dirty and whatnot. But the pieces are all there. and it's still in good condition, just dirty.
I think the reason elder terry was so controlling in the lessons, was because he was here for so long, that he felt like he knew everything about these people and he thought he was the only one who could do it right. I guess? I don't know. Elder Lowry is the man though. He helps me alot and we have lots of fun doing the work!
So we have these members in our ward. Who at first when elder terry was here wouldnt meet with us. Were pretty sure he offended them somehow earlier on. They are active in the church, but just didn't like missionaries. So we called them after transfers and we set up a time and they let us come over! So we are teaching them and we are having a great spiritual lesson, and their son is there. Now their son isn't very strong in the church and isn't very excited about it. He's like 16-17. But as we were finishing up I see him pull out two cd cases that he got for christmas. And I recognize the backs of them and I ask him "are those death cab for cutie cds?" And he's like "yeah!" So instant bond made. And we started talking about it all and he just gets really excited. So later on that week on sunday we are driving around and we get a call from his mom. And she invites us over to dinner and tells us that they are actually starting to see some progression from him! And he actually was the one who wanted us over. he's really starting to come along. And his mom couldn't be happier. I think like elder larson and the hawaiian elder (haha can't remember his name) were some of the motiavtors for me to be stronger in the church, I think we are sort of starting to be that motivator for him. I hope we can continue to help him!
But yeah, that's all I've got today! I love you all and I'm so thankful for the things you do for me and the prayers you are doing and for the love you've shown me!
Oh! One last thing. I found a blackberry on the side of the road yesterday. It was all smashed up. We think someone set it on the top of their car and drove away and it fell down and got crushed by a car. But I picked it up and took it because it was of 0 value. But I messed around with it for a while (it obviously doesn't turn on :P) and popped the back off and found an 8 giga-bit sd card! nothing on it, just empty folders! woo.
anyways. wanted to tell you that.
love you all! I hope your week is great! love you and stay safe!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
haha yeah you missed me by just a few minutes probably. oh well
let grandma and grandpa christensen and sorenson know that I love them and thanks so much for the money it's helping me alot with what I need!
Yeah we took our tree down a few days ago. New years eve was uneventful except for the fact that we were dealing with "Bob" finding out that Elder Terry was leaving finally. He was devestated of course and we are still working with him through that. But "Bob" is doing MUCH better even if he doesn't say he is. We went and saw him yesterday. But he's doing fine.
The weather is good here, just a bit freezing. Me and Elder Lowry walked around two days ago and didn't realize how cold it was going to be. We were freezing our butts off. But we went back and got our hats and gloves and big coats. Then we were nice and warm ^-^. Yeah those garments would be way appreciated whenever you can send them :P It's very cold and it's supposed to stay this way for a while.
Elder Lowry is the man! Not even kidding. Things are going way better with him than with Elder Terry. What I really loved about him showing up is the fact that I have to really step it up and be more responsible with everything since He doesn't knwo the area. It's really helped me grow alot and fast since he showed up. It's actually
noticable and I'm glad. But Elder Lowry is from Draper, Utah! He was in Virginia beach before this and was a zone leader. So that was a little intimidating but now I'm way glad we are companions. Because the lessons we have been teaching are WAY better than with Elder Terry because we equally talk instead of Elder Terry being the only one allowed to talk. But by the way...Elder Lowry LOVES hot chocolate, so if you find anything that you want to get for him like that, feel free to send it with my stuff :P I know he would be very surprised!
Yeah I'm not too worried about the position stuff anymore. I am seeing teh growth I am experiencing just as a junior so it doesn't even matter.
I am feeling so much less stressed and am loving every minute of the work. I feel even better and mroe confident because I am able to actually do things now instead of elder terry feeling like he needed to be the big bad man in charge. It's really helping me become a better missionary!
Yeah I love "Bob". You'll see a picture of him with me and Elder Terry next time I send the card home. He's got his problems, but he is slowly getting better and he will be a great help to someone someday. It was kind of funny yesterday, we went to see "Bob", and he completely opened up to Elder Lowry and told him ALL of his problems, and I mean all of them. So needless to say Elder Lowry is in on it now haha. All I want to do for "Bob" is help him as best as I can. In sacrament meeting on sunday he was having a really hard time knowing the Elder Terry wasn't there, and when Elder Lowry went up to bare his testimony he unknowingly said Elder Terry's name and "Bob" just couldn't handle it. he had to get up and walk out. I waited a minute for Elder Lowry to finish, then I went out there and sat down with "Bob" on the couch in foyer. He was sobbing and I didn't know what to do for him. So I just sat and talked to him for a few minutes. Told him that the Lord loved him and that he could make it through this. He told me he couldn't let Elder Terry go and I said he didn't have to. He's not dead, and he'll write him periodically. So we said a prayer together and I told him a story and asked him how I could help him. So after all that things are doing much better. It's still somewhat stressful, but we are handling it.
Thank you so much for the prayers mom. You don't know what it means to me to hear that people are praying for us back home. Sometimes the mission field is very lonely, and that really helps.
I miss you all so much too, and am so grateful to have loving parents like you two who support and uplift me. Please tell me if there is anything I can do to help you out or to make it easier for you all because I will do whatever I can to help.
I love you all so much and I am doing great. Missionary life is a great way to live. It was pretty funny when we saw "Bob" the other day he said he was worried about what others think of him, and I said "Bob", try being a missionary. It'll cure you of that fear really quick." hahaha.
But anyways, I love you all so much and I love hearing from you. THank you for all you do and all you sacrifice for me. Here's a scripture to help you through the week!
2 Nephi 31: 15-16, 18-20:
"And I heard a voice from the Father Saying, Yea the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
"And now, my beloved bretheren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the Living God, He cannot be saved.
"And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son unto the fullfilling of the promise which He hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.
"And now, my beloved bretheren after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold I say unto you Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly up the merits of him who is mighty to save.
"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."
Hope that helps your week :) Love you all!
Hunter
Yeah we took our tree down a few days ago. New years eve was uneventful except for the fact that we were dealing with "Bob" finding out that Elder Terry was leaving finally. He was devestated of course and we are still working with him through that. But "Bob" is doing MUCH better even if he doesn't say he is. We went and saw him yesterday. But he's doing fine.
The weather is good here, just a bit freezing. Me and Elder Lowry walked around two days ago and didn't realize how cold it was going to be. We were freezing our butts off. But we went back and got our hats and gloves and big coats. Then we were nice and warm ^-^. Yeah those garments would be way appreciated whenever you can send them :P It's very cold and it's supposed to stay this way for a while.
Elder Lowry is the man! Not even kidding. Things are going way better with him than with Elder Terry. What I really loved about him showing up is the fact that I have to really step it up and be more responsible with everything since He doesn't knwo the area. It's really helped me grow alot and fast since he showed up. It's actually
noticable and I'm glad. But Elder Lowry is from Draper, Utah! He was in Virginia beach before this and was a zone leader. So that was a little intimidating but now I'm way glad we are companions. Because the lessons we have been teaching are WAY better than with Elder Terry because we equally talk instead of Elder Terry being the only one allowed to talk. But by the way...Elder Lowry LOVES hot chocolate, so if you find anything that you want to get for him like that, feel free to send it with my stuff :P I know he would be very surprised!
Yeah I'm not too worried about the position stuff anymore. I am seeing teh growth I am experiencing just as a junior so it doesn't even matter.
I am feeling so much less stressed and am loving every minute of the work. I feel even better and mroe confident because I am able to actually do things now instead of elder terry feeling like he needed to be the big bad man in charge. It's really helping me become a better missionary!
Yeah I love "Bob". You'll see a picture of him with me and Elder Terry next time I send the card home. He's got his problems, but he is slowly getting better and he will be a great help to someone someday. It was kind of funny yesterday, we went to see "Bob", and he completely opened up to Elder Lowry and told him ALL of his problems, and I mean all of them. So needless to say Elder Lowry is in on it now haha. All I want to do for "Bob" is help him as best as I can. In sacrament meeting on sunday he was having a really hard time knowing the Elder Terry wasn't there, and when Elder Lowry went up to bare his testimony he unknowingly said Elder Terry's name and "Bob" just couldn't handle it. he had to get up and walk out. I waited a minute for Elder Lowry to finish, then I went out there and sat down with "Bob" on the couch in foyer. He was sobbing and I didn't know what to do for him. So I just sat and talked to him for a few minutes. Told him that the Lord loved him and that he could make it through this. He told me he couldn't let Elder Terry go and I said he didn't have to. He's not dead, and he'll write him periodically. So we said a prayer together and I told him a story and asked him how I could help him. So after all that things are doing much better. It's still somewhat stressful, but we are handling it.
Thank you so much for the prayers mom. You don't know what it means to me to hear that people are praying for us back home. Sometimes the mission field is very lonely, and that really helps.
I miss you all so much too, and am so grateful to have loving parents like you two who support and uplift me. Please tell me if there is anything I can do to help you out or to make it easier for you all because I will do whatever I can to help.
I love you all so much and I am doing great. Missionary life is a great way to live. It was pretty funny when we saw "Bob" the other day he said he was worried about what others think of him, and I said "Bob", try being a missionary. It'll cure you of that fear really quick." hahaha.
But anyways, I love you all so much and I love hearing from you. THank you for all you do and all you sacrifice for me. Here's a scripture to help you through the week!
2 Nephi 31: 15-16, 18-20:
"And I heard a voice from the Father Saying, Yea the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
"And now, my beloved bretheren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the Living God, He cannot be saved.
"And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son unto the fullfilling of the promise which He hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.
"And now, my beloved bretheren after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold I say unto you Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly up the merits of him who is mighty to save.
"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."
Hope that helps your week :) Love you all!
Hunter
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
So yes. I am still alive! AND NO EMAIL FROM YOUUUUUU
Oh well.
So yeah. Transfers came last night and I am staying here. My companion is leaving to be a district leader in an area in my old zone. So yes. I am getting a new companion named Elder Lowry. I'm a little nervous because he is a former Zone Leader who is stepping down so we'll see how that goes.
But besides that, I'm in Harrisonburg at least another 6 weeks! I can't say I'm not relieved, but I'll still miss Elder Terry even though he has stressed me out to the max.
Things are good though. I'm still junior companion, but we'll see what happens. I guess it doesn't matter what I am especially since it doesn't even matter.
But yeah. I loved talking with you all on Christmas, and Dad I don't think I could thank you enough for helping me keep my commitment of 40 minutes. I wanted to talk more but I know that you knew I would have a hard time saying goodbye, so you cut it off. I'm glad! I didn't cry nearly as much as I was thinking I was going to.
I feel an unbelievable amount of stress now that Elder Terry is leaving. He's been here 7 months. I've been here 1 1/2. O_o
Everyone trusts him and knows him and they barely know me and I'm going to be the one that knows the area ugh. I'm especially worried about "Bob"...have I told you about "Bob"? I don't think I have. Let me just relate a little bit of what has happened over the last 6 weeks with that.
"BOb" is a 49 year old man who lives in a small town, called mount crawford. Elder Terry and his companion found"Bob" walking down the street and talked with him. Turns out "Bob"s mom had just died and that was all he lived for. He took care of his mom and had never left her home. He's never really had a serious job, and has worked menial labor his whole life. He was extremely depressed. He was also homosexual, and was dealing with that as well. Elder Terry taught this man the gospel. "Bob" attempted to kill himself by hanging himself. All he says he remembers is kicking out the chair from underneath him, and then all of a sudden he was on the floor and the rope had been cleanly cut. He doesn't know what happened, but we know it is because the Lord has some marvelous work in store for "Bob".
Now let's jump to when I came in. "Bob" has become a member of the church. Although he still has those desires of being homosexual, he is celebate, and does not act on those desires, fulfilling the requirements to be exactly obediant to the commandments of the Lord. He has been going through an extremely rough time lately, because he has started having flashbacks of his childhood, where he's learned that his father abused him. Whether these flashbacks are real or not, he's feeling the burden of them.
Now the only problem I have, is that through ALL of that, Elder Terry has been there. He knows "Bob" inside and out. I don't. I know he trusts me, but not as much as Elder Terry. Therein lies my problem. When he finds out today that his best friend (Elder Terry) is leaving, he's going to be devastated. And Since Elder Terry is leaving, I'm going to be dealing with the after math of that. UGH. I love him, don't get me wrong, but "Bob" is going to take this very hard. The Lord has some seriously amazing work for "Bob" to do, simply because of the trials he has gone through to be refined to this state. "Bob" is one of my inspirations. I know that if "bob" can go through what he is going through, I can take on ANYTHING and make it through it. I want to help him the best I can but I don't know what to do. He calls us constantly (5-6 times a day) and we are not supposed to be doing any counciling so I am just unsure of what to do.
But yeah...if you have any advice, I'd gladly recieve it.
Don't forget the facebook pictures by the way!!!! Along with Joseph's mission home address and Aunt Lorna's address.
Yeah it was kinda funny, Elder Terry and I swapped ties today, and he gave me one and wrote on it "you are a fine missionary" and I was like oh. So I'm only a fine missionary? not a good or great one? Just fine? hahaha. I know what he meant, but it was funny to me. Maybe I'm too casual, because I just wrote on it "stay sweet" xD
Gosh I feel like such a horrible missionary at times. I feel like I'm not even close to the level I should be. I see so many things I do wrong and I feel incredibely inadequate to be in the Lord's service. I know I'm not supposed to compare myself to other missionaries...but one of the Elders in my mtc district is already senior companion :( I am a failure! I guess leadership doesn't matter but when everyone else around you is moving up, I feel like a junky missionary. Oh well, I don't really know what I need to do but I will strive to find out what I need to improve.
But yeah. Things are going alright. I love harrisonburg and we should have three baptisms here in january and I'm excited. But we'll see how the new companion is.
Oh by the way, I know I told you this, but the spanish elders have been living with us for a little while and will be until the 1st. So yeah haha. Lots of spanish being spoken (or attempted to be spoken) in our apartment lately.
But yeah. I think that's all I wanted to say this week. I love you all so much and am SO grateful for your prayers and love. I know what I'm doing is what I'm supposed to be. I'm here for a reason. I have already seen my attitude on things change just in the short time I've been away from home. It's weird how much you change on a mission. I can't imagine what I'll be like when I get home. But I love this Gospel with all of my heart. And even though I get yelled at almost every day, I continue because I KNOW what I am doing and I know my purpose in this life. Jesus Christ is my personal Savior and Redeemer. Because of Him I have purpose. Because of Him I have that drive to work hard. I know that we are all able to come unto him and repent no matter what we have done. I know that the young boy Joseph Smith did see Our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove. His testimony is not one of fallacy or imagination. The Lord restored His gospel through Joseph Smith, and brought the Gospel back to this earth. The Authority to do such was restored as well, and it resides in this Church forever and ever more. The Book of Mormon is a fruit of that young Prophet. Through that ancient record, we can decide for OURSELVES whether Joseph Smith was a Prophet or not. Because, simply, this Church Solely rests on the idea that the Book of Mormon is true. If it's false, it is the greatest lie ever recorded by man. If it is, we have a prophet today on this earth. We have the fulness of the gospel restored to us by a loving and living God in Heaven. Because of this gospel, we will live with our families again into the eternities. I know this gospel is true. Life doesn't make sense without it. There are too many questions that humanity leaves unanswered. The Gospel of Jesus Christ answers every single one of those questions. I am never left comfortless when I am lost.
I love being a missionary. I wouldn't give it up for the world. I would rather die than give up my testimony of this church. And I will never forgot the miracles and experiences I have had out here.
I'm sorry for the rant, felt like I needed to do it. Love you all so much and I hope you are doing good in the new year. Please stay safe. I miss you so much. I will talk to you next week!
LOVE
Hunter
Oh well.
So yeah. Transfers came last night and I am staying here. My companion is leaving to be a district leader in an area in my old zone. So yes. I am getting a new companion named Elder Lowry. I'm a little nervous because he is a former Zone Leader who is stepping down so we'll see how that goes.
But besides that, I'm in Harrisonburg at least another 6 weeks! I can't say I'm not relieved, but I'll still miss Elder Terry even though he has stressed me out to the max.
Things are good though. I'm still junior companion, but we'll see what happens. I guess it doesn't matter what I am especially since it doesn't even matter.
But yeah. I loved talking with you all on Christmas, and Dad I don't think I could thank you enough for helping me keep my commitment of 40 minutes. I wanted to talk more but I know that you knew I would have a hard time saying goodbye, so you cut it off. I'm glad! I didn't cry nearly as much as I was thinking I was going to.
I feel an unbelievable amount of stress now that Elder Terry is leaving. He's been here 7 months. I've been here 1 1/2. O_o
Everyone trusts him and knows him and they barely know me and I'm going to be the one that knows the area ugh. I'm especially worried about "Bob"...have I told you about "Bob"? I don't think I have. Let me just relate a little bit of what has happened over the last 6 weeks with that.
"BOb" is a 49 year old man who lives in a small town, called mount crawford. Elder Terry and his companion found"Bob" walking down the street and talked with him. Turns out "Bob"s mom had just died and that was all he lived for. He took care of his mom and had never left her home. He's never really had a serious job, and has worked menial labor his whole life. He was extremely depressed. He was also homosexual, and was dealing with that as well. Elder Terry taught this man the gospel. "Bob" attempted to kill himself by hanging himself. All he says he remembers is kicking out the chair from underneath him, and then all of a sudden he was on the floor and the rope had been cleanly cut. He doesn't know what happened, but we know it is because the Lord has some marvelous work in store for "Bob".
Now let's jump to when I came in. "Bob" has become a member of the church. Although he still has those desires of being homosexual, he is celebate, and does not act on those desires, fulfilling the requirements to be exactly obediant to the commandments of the Lord. He has been going through an extremely rough time lately, because he has started having flashbacks of his childhood, where he's learned that his father abused him. Whether these flashbacks are real or not, he's feeling the burden of them.
Now the only problem I have, is that through ALL of that, Elder Terry has been there. He knows "Bob" inside and out. I don't. I know he trusts me, but not as much as Elder Terry. Therein lies my problem. When he finds out today that his best friend (Elder Terry) is leaving, he's going to be devastated. And Since Elder Terry is leaving, I'm going to be dealing with the after math of that. UGH. I love him, don't get me wrong, but "Bob" is going to take this very hard. The Lord has some seriously amazing work for "Bob" to do, simply because of the trials he has gone through to be refined to this state. "Bob" is one of my inspirations. I know that if "bob" can go through what he is going through, I can take on ANYTHING and make it through it. I want to help him the best I can but I don't know what to do. He calls us constantly (5-6 times a day) and we are not supposed to be doing any counciling so I am just unsure of what to do.
But yeah...if you have any advice, I'd gladly recieve it.
Don't forget the facebook pictures by the way!!!! Along with Joseph's mission home address and Aunt Lorna's address.
Yeah it was kinda funny, Elder Terry and I swapped ties today, and he gave me one and wrote on it "you are a fine missionary" and I was like oh. So I'm only a fine missionary? not a good or great one? Just fine? hahaha. I know what he meant, but it was funny to me. Maybe I'm too casual, because I just wrote on it "stay sweet" xD
Gosh I feel like such a horrible missionary at times. I feel like I'm not even close to the level I should be. I see so many things I do wrong and I feel incredibely inadequate to be in the Lord's service. I know I'm not supposed to compare myself to other missionaries...but one of the Elders in my mtc district is already senior companion :( I am a failure! I guess leadership doesn't matter but when everyone else around you is moving up, I feel like a junky missionary. Oh well, I don't really know what I need to do but I will strive to find out what I need to improve.
But yeah. Things are going alright. I love harrisonburg and we should have three baptisms here in january and I'm excited. But we'll see how the new companion is.
Oh by the way, I know I told you this, but the spanish elders have been living with us for a little while and will be until the 1st. So yeah haha. Lots of spanish being spoken (or attempted to be spoken) in our apartment lately.
But yeah. I think that's all I wanted to say this week. I love you all so much and am SO grateful for your prayers and love. I know what I'm doing is what I'm supposed to be. I'm here for a reason. I have already seen my attitude on things change just in the short time I've been away from home. It's weird how much you change on a mission. I can't imagine what I'll be like when I get home. But I love this Gospel with all of my heart. And even though I get yelled at almost every day, I continue because I KNOW what I am doing and I know my purpose in this life. Jesus Christ is my personal Savior and Redeemer. Because of Him I have purpose. Because of Him I have that drive to work hard. I know that we are all able to come unto him and repent no matter what we have done. I know that the young boy Joseph Smith did see Our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove. His testimony is not one of fallacy or imagination. The Lord restored His gospel through Joseph Smith, and brought the Gospel back to this earth. The Authority to do such was restored as well, and it resides in this Church forever and ever more. The Book of Mormon is a fruit of that young Prophet. Through that ancient record, we can decide for OURSELVES whether Joseph Smith was a Prophet or not. Because, simply, this Church Solely rests on the idea that the Book of Mormon is true. If it's false, it is the greatest lie ever recorded by man. If it is, we have a prophet today on this earth. We have the fulness of the gospel restored to us by a loving and living God in Heaven. Because of this gospel, we will live with our families again into the eternities. I know this gospel is true. Life doesn't make sense without it. There are too many questions that humanity leaves unanswered. The Gospel of Jesus Christ answers every single one of those questions. I am never left comfortless when I am lost.
I love being a missionary. I wouldn't give it up for the world. I would rather die than give up my testimony of this church. And I will never forgot the miracles and experiences I have had out here.
I'm sorry for the rant, felt like I needed to do it. Love you all so much and I hope you are doing good in the new year. Please stay safe. I miss you so much. I will talk to you next week!
LOVE
Hunter
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
christmas in virginia!
here is when I will be calling you on christmas. So I will be calling you at 7 o'clock post-meridian (PM) our time, which is 4 o'clock post-meridian (PM) your time. haha. But yeah I'll call the house phone first, and if you are at grandma's I'll call the cell next. I most likely won't be able to email next p-day since we are having it on thursday instead of wednesday, and since that's christmas eve, the library might be closed. But It'll be ok since I get to call you the next day. So just remember to let me know somehow, like send me a dear elder as soon as you get this, what number to call. The number I'll be calling from will have a 540 area code, just so you know that it's me. If you have ANY questions, send me a letter asap and I'll try and see what I can do.
NOW I'll answer the letter :)
Things are going very well. The area is progressing and things are going good. I did get the suit and I laughed a little bit because nobody in our apartment has ever seen a wool suit that like before haha. The only thing is that I probably won't be able to wear it in the summer simply because it's going to be super hot. But it's good for this time of the year for sure. I wore it the other day and it was really nice. Kind of weird feeling but yeah.
Back to the letter! Things are going much better with Elder Terry. We still have disagreements, but I am seeing the blessings of being humble and contrite when it comes to companions. Last night we had a heated discussion about illegal immigration according to the gospel (don't ask me why, but you know how staunch I am on my political views, which is why I don't like to bring them up, but he did so yeah it wasn't pretty at first) and we argued for a while, and then I just felt really guilty and said "alright we shouldn't be arguing about this anyways." cause I know for one that political stuff shouldn't eb worried about on a mission and two that if we are being contentious with each other, the work cannot progress, because the spirit won't be there. So we worked that out and all is good.
We were down in richmond yesterday because we had a christmas mission conference and it was awesome. Learned tons of things that are helping me become a better missionary. It's so cool when you can actually see the progression you yourself are making in becoming soemthing ebtter. It helps alot.
The talk went really well. It was awesome because we got picked up by president millburn at our church and we drove over the mountains and into west virginia, down into a little area called franklin. They have a ward there, but it really should bea branch. But Elder Terry and I didn't really have as much time as we thought we would to talk so we basically just bore our testimonies and told the ward there why it's so important to do missionary work. Oh holy cow you are going to be so suprised when I come home how much better I am at talking in church haha
Yeah ryan told me about the freezing rain! That's intense. It doesn't freeze very often there haha. It's funny though cause recieved a warning last week for a severe ice storm and we were like "whatever, virginia people are just wimps" and it started raining later that day at about 5 and no joke, everyone we were going to see called and canceled all our apoints within five minutes after that. It was ridiculous. They all told us to get off the road and we were like, ok? it's just raining? chill out everyone. haha. We called our zone leaders and they were just like "alright, go ahead and stay in until we call you and tell you what to do." so we go in and we have dinner and fix up our area book and we are looking outside and it's still just RAINING. and we are expecting a call so that we can go back outa nd work, and we get NOTHING. So we stay effective and work on the area book and plan and whatnot but we were so frustrated because we had to stay in when we definitely could be working. RIDICULOUS VIRGINIA DRIVERS!
Yeah the snow melted a while ago. Our snowman we built is the only snow still around, and he is only a tiny mound now. He'll probably be gone by tommorow. sadday :(
Yeah the guy in the cave, his name was brother jones. It was really sad. And my old companion elder hinds actually knew him and he was his ward mission leader. it was way ridiculous. And I think we may be going into some caverns here someday for p-day! haha just kidding but we might :)
Oh and about our trip to the airplane crash thing, yeah that didn't happen this week so oh well. We'll see.
We have a tiny little fake christmas tree on a table in our living room. It isn't as bad as a charlie brown christmas tree, but we call it that haha. It has lights and a star on it. We have like a couple ornaments that members have given us but besides that, we have candy canes haha.
haha seminary is good! I really wish I'd hear something back from sis. dunmire-beer! She is awesome!
Well things are going well here and I am happy. It doesn't matter really when the package gets here so don't worry about it! I love you guys so much and if you have any questions about anything, let me know asap! I love you all and I hope you are safe. God bless!
Love,
Hunter
NOW I'll answer the letter :)
Things are going very well. The area is progressing and things are going good. I did get the suit and I laughed a little bit because nobody in our apartment has ever seen a wool suit that like before haha. The only thing is that I probably won't be able to wear it in the summer simply because it's going to be super hot. But it's good for this time of the year for sure. I wore it the other day and it was really nice. Kind of weird feeling but yeah.
Back to the letter! Things are going much better with Elder Terry. We still have disagreements, but I am seeing the blessings of being humble and contrite when it comes to companions. Last night we had a heated discussion about illegal immigration according to the gospel (don't ask me why, but you know how staunch I am on my political views, which is why I don't like to bring them up, but he did so yeah it wasn't pretty at first) and we argued for a while, and then I just felt really guilty and said "alright we shouldn't be arguing about this anyways." cause I know for one that political stuff shouldn't eb worried about on a mission and two that if we are being contentious with each other, the work cannot progress, because the spirit won't be there. So we worked that out and all is good.
We were down in richmond yesterday because we had a christmas mission conference and it was awesome. Learned tons of things that are helping me become a better missionary. It's so cool when you can actually see the progression you yourself are making in becoming soemthing ebtter. It helps alot.
The talk went really well. It was awesome because we got picked up by president millburn at our church and we drove over the mountains and into west virginia, down into a little area called franklin. They have a ward there, but it really should bea branch. But Elder Terry and I didn't really have as much time as we thought we would to talk so we basically just bore our testimonies and told the ward there why it's so important to do missionary work. Oh holy cow you are going to be so suprised when I come home how much better I am at talking in church haha
Yeah ryan told me about the freezing rain! That's intense. It doesn't freeze very often there haha. It's funny though cause recieved a warning last week for a severe ice storm and we were like "whatever, virginia people are just wimps" and it started raining later that day at about 5 and no joke, everyone we were going to see called and canceled all our apoints within five minutes after that. It was ridiculous. They all told us to get off the road and we were like, ok? it's just raining? chill out everyone. haha. We called our zone leaders and they were just like "alright, go ahead and stay in until we call you and tell you what to do." so we go in and we have dinner and fix up our area book and we are looking outside and it's still just RAINING. and we are expecting a call so that we can go back outa nd work, and we get NOTHING. So we stay effective and work on the area book and plan and whatnot but we were so frustrated because we had to stay in when we definitely could be working. RIDICULOUS VIRGINIA DRIVERS!
Yeah the snow melted a while ago. Our snowman we built is the only snow still around, and he is only a tiny mound now. He'll probably be gone by tommorow. sadday :(
Yeah the guy in the cave, his name was brother jones. It was really sad. And my old companion elder hinds actually knew him and he was his ward mission leader. it was way ridiculous. And I think we may be going into some caverns here someday for p-day! haha just kidding but we might :)
Oh and about our trip to the airplane crash thing, yeah that didn't happen this week so oh well. We'll see.
We have a tiny little fake christmas tree on a table in our living room. It isn't as bad as a charlie brown christmas tree, but we call it that haha. It has lights and a star on it. We have like a couple ornaments that members have given us but besides that, we have candy canes haha.
haha seminary is good! I really wish I'd hear something back from sis. dunmire-beer! She is awesome!
Well things are going well here and I am happy. It doesn't matter really when the package gets here so don't worry about it! I love you guys so much and if you have any questions about anything, let me know asap! I love you all and I hope you are safe. God bless!
Love,
Hunter
Virginia winter wonder!
Sooooo yeah. Here I am again. bahhh.
Yeah I'm not down about (Mr No Name). We laid it on the table for him and he was given the choice and he chose the wrong one. So hopefully he'll see that. I'm not stressing about it though.
I'll tell you what I am stressing about though. Let me tell you a little something. I know now that all the things I've learned from you and Dad, especially when I argued with Dad alot where you would say "even if you know you are right, don't argue about it" were prepapatory for this mission. haha. I'm having a little trouble with my companion on that side, just because he is a little inflectious, and even in instances where I KNOW 100% that he is wrong, he will argue with me to the bitter end. So I don't carry on the arguement and just let him go. I've learned my lesson when it ocmes to arguements like that. They really go no where. So thank you for that. Also he doesn't seem to understand the concept that people have agency to choose. It seems like every time we knock on the door, and someone turns us away, he gets all upset and starts ranting and raving about what we've done wrong. And especially in instances where I know I did my best to simply bare testimony and tell them the way we are supposed to, this kind of thing gets extremely annoying and somewhat frustrating. I told him yesterday to stop beating himself up about it and he got all mad at me and told me that's how he gets better. I told him there's a difference between beating yourself up about it and dwelling on it, versus taking it and learning from it and moving on. He likes to dwell on it and let it sit there.
Alright, now that I've made myself sound like a horrible person for ripping on him. But I'm really not, we get along most of the time and I just have problem with his missionary inflection. He seems robotic and it drives me CRAZY. But I do love him as a brother. I never say negative things to him and we do get along quite well. I get worried with these differences in opinion sometimes, but I know this is what we need to do to better ourselves and prepare ourselves for the future.
So yeah things are going fine there it's not as bad as I make it sound.
Thank you for being proud of me :) I am going with the mission pres this sunday to give a talk and I am excited. I think I finally figured out a way to give a good talk haha. So yeah, wish me luck!
Yeah Jordan told me all about the football stuff. That's tough luck but oh well. haha there's always next year.
By the way, tell dad I am still workin on his letter, it just takes forever for me to have time to write one. I have so much stuff to do on p-day by the time I get time to write letters, I have maybe 2 hours to hand write like 8 letters. UGH. But let both sets of grandparents know tehy should be getting a letter from me soon. Send stamps in the christmas package if you can!
I'm glad didn't fall off the roof this year. Send me a picture of the finished house when you can! hahaha. I liked the story about the skit. That sounds awesome. I wish I could've been there for that but oh well.
It snowed this week! haha. Like they told us that we might get ice, and then they were like, maybe 1-3 inches of snow, and then we woke up the next morning and it snowed like 6-7 inches. We built a GIANT 8-9 foot tall snow man and we made christmas cards with pictures of us by it. So expect one of those soon ;) Yeah I was able to take 3 pictures with just the camera but now my memory is full haha. but yeah
Oh and it's so funny when it snows here. It's worse than oregon is. Like, EVERYTHING just shuts down like it's the end of the stinking world. It was so funny last night, they had a severe ice storm warning, and it start sleeting at like 5, and no joke, 5 minutes after it started raining, ALL of our apointments (we had solid appointments from 5 until 9pm) called us and canceled because they didn't want us to be out on the roads. So we called our district leader (who lives with us) and he said he'd call the zone leaders so he did and they said to go in and stay in until they gave the word. So we went in and ate dinner and planned and updated the area book and whatnot, and then we look outside and it's just...raining. And I'm like, what the heck? Why is everyone FREAKING OUT? It's just RAIN. And so we sit inside, cause the zone leaders haven't called and told us anything, so I'm getting super frustrated with all this cause I'd much rather be out doing work if it's just going to rain, but then at about 8:30 it started iwth the freezing rain which turned into ice. So if we HAD been at our apointments we would've been in trouble. So yeah. But it was all melted this morning.
We'll have a good christmas I know we will. By the way tell dad that next wednesday for p-day we are going hike up to this old plan wreck from the 60's up in the mountains. we'll take pictures!
OH by the way. Did you hear on the news about that guy who died in the caves in utah? I don't know if you did or not but heres the story. this man and his wife are from charlottesville which is in my zone and an hour away from here. They have one little girl who is very young and another one on the way. In face that's why they went to utah was to tell everyone about their new baby. Anyways, this man, his name is bro. jones, decided to go cave spelunking. He went into this cave down by utah lake called nutty putty cave. He was climbing down this shaft that was super narrow and like, almost vertical. He got stuck down there and his head was facing down so all his blood rushed to his head. He was with a group so it didn't take long to find him. They tried to get him out, but the pully that was pulling him up broke and he fell back down. He was alive after that, but his pulse slowly fell. He died down in the cave. He was able to talk to his wife and child on a little phone before he died. The worst part is because of the place where he was stuck, they can't get the body out. So they are just going to seal the cave. They had the memorial service here in our zone last week. We didn't go but I can just imagine what it was like.
DON'T GO IN ANY CAVES.
We'll have a good christmas I know we will. By the way tell dad that next wednesday for p-day we are going hike up to this old plan wreck from the 60's up in the mountains. we'll take pictures!
OH by the way. Did you hear on the news about that guy who died in the caves in utah? I don't know if you did or not but heres the story. this man and his wife are from charlottesville which is in my zone and an hour away from here. They have one little girl who is very young and another one on the way. In face that's why they went to utah was to tell everyone about their new baby. Anyways, this man, his name is bro. jones, decided to go cave spelunking. He went into this cave down by utah lake called nutty putty cave. He was climbing down this shaft that was super narrow and like, almost vertical. He got stuck down there and his head was facing down so all his blood rushed to his head. He was with a group so it didn't take long to find him. They tried to get him out, but the pully that was pulling him up broke and he fell back down. He was alive after that, but his pulse slowly fell. He died down in the cave. He was able to talk to his wife and child on a little phone before he died. The worst part is because of the place where he was stuck, they can't get the body out. So they are just going to seal the cave. They had the memorial service here in our zone last week. We didn't go but I can just imagine what it was like.
DON'T GO IN ANY CAVES.
We'll have a good christmas I know we will. By the way tell dad that next wednesday for p-day we are going hike up to this old plan wreck from the 60's up in the mountains. we'll take pictures!
OH by the way. Did you hear on the news about that guy who died in the caves in utah? I don't know if you did or not but heres the story. this man and his wife are from charlottesville which is in my zone and an hour away from here. They have one little girl who is very young and another one on the way. In face that's why they went to utah was to tell everyone about their new baby. Anyways, this man, his name is bro. jones, decided to go cave spelunking. He went into this cave down by utah lake called nutty putty cave. He was climbing down this shaft that was super narrow and like, almost vertical. He got stuck down there and his head was facing down so all his blood rushed to his head. He was with a group so it didn't take long to find him. They tried to get him out, but the pully that was pulling him up broke and he fell back down. He was alive after that, but his pulse slowly fell. He died down in the cave. He was able to talk to his wife and child on a little phone before he died. The worst part is because of the place where he was stuck, they can't get the body out. So they are just going to seal the cave. They had the memorial service here in our zone last week. We didn't go but I can just imagine what it was like.
DON'T GO IN ANY CAVES.
I will definitely share with the other elders. Sevilles famiyl sent me some happy bread the other day and we all shared it and it wa awesome.
I will definitely stay safe. I am learning and working hard. I am trying to continue progressing and getting better. I love you all so much and I hope you have a good week. You'll hear from me next week. I'll let you know soon when I can call you. Clear your schedule on christmas! haha.
I pray about you guys too every night. I love you all and miss you more than I can tell you. I have to seperate myself from my emotions a little sometimes other wise I'd probably by crying in the library. hahaha.
Love you all and if you need anything before next wednesday, write me a dear elder!
LOVE
Yeah I'm not down about (Mr No Name). We laid it on the table for him and he was given the choice and he chose the wrong one. So hopefully he'll see that. I'm not stressing about it though.
I'll tell you what I am stressing about though. Let me tell you a little something. I know now that all the things I've learned from you and Dad, especially when I argued with Dad alot where you would say "even if you know you are right, don't argue about it" were prepapatory for this mission. haha. I'm having a little trouble with my companion on that side, just because he is a little inflectious, and even in instances where I KNOW 100% that he is wrong, he will argue with me to the bitter end. So I don't carry on the arguement and just let him go. I've learned my lesson when it ocmes to arguements like that. They really go no where. So thank you for that. Also he doesn't seem to understand the concept that people have agency to choose. It seems like every time we knock on the door, and someone turns us away, he gets all upset and starts ranting and raving about what we've done wrong. And especially in instances where I know I did my best to simply bare testimony and tell them the way we are supposed to, this kind of thing gets extremely annoying and somewhat frustrating. I told him yesterday to stop beating himself up about it and he got all mad at me and told me that's how he gets better. I told him there's a difference between beating yourself up about it and dwelling on it, versus taking it and learning from it and moving on. He likes to dwell on it and let it sit there.
Alright, now that I've made myself sound like a horrible person for ripping on him. But I'm really not, we get along most of the time and I just have problem with his missionary inflection. He seems robotic and it drives me CRAZY. But I do love him as a brother. I never say negative things to him and we do get along quite well. I get worried with these differences in opinion sometimes, but I know this is what we need to do to better ourselves and prepare ourselves for the future.
So yeah things are going fine there it's not as bad as I make it sound.
Thank you for being proud of me :) I am going with the mission pres this sunday to give a talk and I am excited. I think I finally figured out a way to give a good talk haha. So yeah, wish me luck!
Yeah Jordan told me all about the football stuff. That's tough luck but oh well. haha there's always next year.
By the way, tell dad I am still workin on his letter, it just takes forever for me to have time to write one. I have so much stuff to do on p-day by the time I get time to write letters, I have maybe 2 hours to hand write like 8 letters. UGH. But let both sets of grandparents know tehy should be getting a letter from me soon. Send stamps in the christmas package if you can!
I'm glad didn't fall off the roof this year. Send me a picture of the finished house when you can! hahaha. I liked the story about the skit. That sounds awesome. I wish I could've been there for that but oh well.
It snowed this week! haha. Like they told us that we might get ice, and then they were like, maybe 1-3 inches of snow, and then we woke up the next morning and it snowed like 6-7 inches. We built a GIANT 8-9 foot tall snow man and we made christmas cards with pictures of us by it. So expect one of those soon ;) Yeah I was able to take 3 pictures with just the camera but now my memory is full haha. but yeah
Oh and it's so funny when it snows here. It's worse than oregon is. Like, EVERYTHING just shuts down like it's the end of the stinking world. It was so funny last night, they had a severe ice storm warning, and it start sleeting at like 5, and no joke, 5 minutes after it started raining, ALL of our apointments (we had solid appointments from 5 until 9pm) called us and canceled because they didn't want us to be out on the roads. So we called our district leader (who lives with us) and he said he'd call the zone leaders so he did and they said to go in and stay in until they gave the word. So we went in and ate dinner and planned and updated the area book and whatnot, and then we look outside and it's just...raining. And I'm like, what the heck? Why is everyone FREAKING OUT? It's just RAIN. And so we sit inside, cause the zone leaders haven't called and told us anything, so I'm getting super frustrated with all this cause I'd much rather be out doing work if it's just going to rain, but then at about 8:30 it started iwth the freezing rain which turned into ice. So if we HAD been at our apointments we would've been in trouble. So yeah. But it was all melted this morning.
We'll have a good christmas I know we will. By the way tell dad that next wednesday for p-day we are going hike up to this old plan wreck from the 60's up in the mountains. we'll take pictures!
OH by the way. Did you hear on the news about that guy who died in the caves in utah? I don't know if you did or not but heres the story. this man and his wife are from charlottesville which is in my zone and an hour away from here. They have one little girl who is very young and another one on the way. In face that's why they went to utah was to tell everyone about their new baby. Anyways, this man, his name is bro. jones, decided to go cave spelunking. He went into this cave down by utah lake called nutty putty cave. He was climbing down this shaft that was super narrow and like, almost vertical. He got stuck down there and his head was facing down so all his blood rushed to his head. He was with a group so it didn't take long to find him. They tried to get him out, but the pully that was pulling him up broke and he fell back down. He was alive after that, but his pulse slowly fell. He died down in the cave. He was able to talk to his wife and child on a little phone before he died. The worst part is because of the place where he was stuck, they can't get the body out. So they are just going to seal the cave. They had the memorial service here in our zone last week. We didn't go but I can just imagine what it was like.
DON'T GO IN ANY CAVES.
We'll have a good christmas I know we will. By the way tell dad that next wednesday for p-day we are going hike up to this old plan wreck from the 60's up in the mountains. we'll take pictures!
OH by the way. Did you hear on the news about that guy who died in the caves in utah? I don't know if you did or not but heres the story. this man and his wife are from charlottesville which is in my zone and an hour away from here. They have one little girl who is very young and another one on the way. In face that's why they went to utah was to tell everyone about their new baby. Anyways, this man, his name is bro. jones, decided to go cave spelunking. He went into this cave down by utah lake called nutty putty cave. He was climbing down this shaft that was super narrow and like, almost vertical. He got stuck down there and his head was facing down so all his blood rushed to his head. He was with a group so it didn't take long to find him. They tried to get him out, but the pully that was pulling him up broke and he fell back down. He was alive after that, but his pulse slowly fell. He died down in the cave. He was able to talk to his wife and child on a little phone before he died. The worst part is because of the place where he was stuck, they can't get the body out. So they are just going to seal the cave. They had the memorial service here in our zone last week. We didn't go but I can just imagine what it was like.
DON'T GO IN ANY CAVES.
We'll have a good christmas I know we will. By the way tell dad that next wednesday for p-day we are going hike up to this old plan wreck from the 60's up in the mountains. we'll take pictures!
OH by the way. Did you hear on the news about that guy who died in the caves in utah? I don't know if you did or not but heres the story. this man and his wife are from charlottesville which is in my zone and an hour away from here. They have one little girl who is very young and another one on the way. In face that's why they went to utah was to tell everyone about their new baby. Anyways, this man, his name is bro. jones, decided to go cave spelunking. He went into this cave down by utah lake called nutty putty cave. He was climbing down this shaft that was super narrow and like, almost vertical. He got stuck down there and his head was facing down so all his blood rushed to his head. He was with a group so it didn't take long to find him. They tried to get him out, but the pully that was pulling him up broke and he fell back down. He was alive after that, but his pulse slowly fell. He died down in the cave. He was able to talk to his wife and child on a little phone before he died. The worst part is because of the place where he was stuck, they can't get the body out. So they are just going to seal the cave. They had the memorial service here in our zone last week. We didn't go but I can just imagine what it was like.
DON'T GO IN ANY CAVES.
I will definitely share with the other elders. Sevilles famiyl sent me some happy bread the other day and we all shared it and it wa awesome.
I will definitely stay safe. I am learning and working hard. I am trying to continue progressing and getting better. I love you all so much and I hope you have a good week. You'll hear from me next week. I'll let you know soon when I can call you. Clear your schedule on christmas! haha.
I pray about you guys too every night. I love you all and miss you more than I can tell you. I have to seperate myself from my emotions a little sometimes other wise I'd probably by crying in the library. hahaha.
Love you all and if you need anything before next wednesday, write me a dear elder!
LOVE
our Thanksgiving was good. We got up at 530 so we could study and whatnot and then go to the turkey bowl at 9. We played football for a while and it was fun. The ground was super slick but it made it more fun. But yeah after that we came home and did our weekly planning session, we went to a less-actives house for lunch. His name is (Mr. no name). He co-owns a restaurant downtown and lives in a pretty big house downtown. Elder Terry is pretty close friends with him. But yeah it was delicious. We had twice-baked potatoes which is something I don't remember ever having before, but they were DELICIOUS. ahh. haha. But yeah funny story about (Mr.No name). He's been less-active for a really long time. Elder Terry's been here for almost 7 months. Elder Terry's been visiting with (Mr.no name) since he started here and (Mr. no name) has only been to church 3 times in that 7 months. So we were having a lesson (two days after Thanksgiving lunch with him and his family) and he was complaining about how the bishop wouldn't "get off his lazy *bleep*" to help (mr. no name) get back to the temple. And we talked to him about this all and said well (mr. no name) you need to come to church, or at least partake of the sacrament in your home. Well (Mr.No Name) has had really REALLY bad back problems, so he took that as we were judging him or something and got really angry. So Elder Terry, (with the spirit guiding him I might add) explaining to (Mr. No Name) that we loved him. And his Heavenly Father loved him. And that we only want to help him. We would do anything we could to help him. And the lesson ended with a very spiritual prayer, and (Mr.No Name) was crying and elder terry was crying and they hugged and he was nice to me as we left. He was quiet but we figured everything had been figured out. So we go on our way to this town way out in the boonies called Grottoes, and we are working out there and we get a call from the Spanish Elders who are in our area. Now unbeknownst to us, for some weird and ridiculous reason, the spanish elders are working with (Mr. No name) too. So they call us and are like "Did you meet with (Mr. No name)today?" "ya? why?" "WHAT HAPPENED?!"
So we explained it all and they were like holy cow. Basically (Mr. No name) sent them a text saying that he wanted to be excommunicated and all this garbage because of Elder Terry "judging him and putting all this pressure on him"
what a load.
Anyways that day was a horrible and as far as I know (Mr. No name) is still pretty ticked at missionaries in general.
Yeah the Roarks are awesome! My old branch was basically made up of two families: The roarks and the Daltons. Everyone was either a roark, a dalton, or married to one of the too. haha. Except, ironically, the branch presidency. But sis. roark is so nice and you should send her something thanking her. Send me a copy of that picture! haha.
My talk was actually pretty good, I thought. It was the first talk I've ever given where I didn't write it out. I just made a rough outline on what I wanted to talk about, and did that. And what was REALLY weird, is that I didn't even have enough time to say everything I wanted to. It was four of us speaking, to recent converts a missionary and a returned missionary. It was missionary sunday I guess. So I gave a talk about what else? missionary work. So I talked about why missionary work is so important, and why we do it, and how we do it, along with what members need to do to help that work along. I had a whole big meaty section on attributes of a good missionary, but I had to cut that out because of time restrictions. The only thing I could've done better I think is tabbed my scriptures that I was gonna use haha. I took forever finding some of the scriptures and stuff I was using haha. Also, you know how I make stupid little comments when I'm up there and am trying to fnid something but I don't have anything to say? Like "ooo maybe I should've marked these scriptures" yeah I did that alot and everyone was just like, what the heck? lol. but the talk was good and I wasn't very nervous just hoping that it got accross what I was trying to tell them.
I'm also going with the mission president to a small branch out in west virginia this sunday to talk about missionary work again. It's closed right now but I have a feeling that us giong out there is a sign it's going to open up soon. They want missionaries so bad out there.
I'm glad Dad did all the talking for me! haha no one would know what was going on if you cried through it all! hahahahaha just kidding mom. I love you and I'm glad you still miss me cause I still miss you guys alot!
Your mexico pictures were awesome. YOu probably could've refrained from sending me the ones with girls in bikini's in em, but I forgive you! haha. There was only like, one so I just put it outta sight. ha. So don't worry about that. But the resort was awesome looking! I'm glad you had fun though I certainly would have haha.
OH. Another funny story about getting sick. SO. Three days ago my companion (Elder Terry) and the other Elder who lives in our apartment, (Elder Hiltbrand) started getting sick. The next morning they woke up and they just felt TERRIBLE. So me and Elder Stokes (elder hiltbrands companion) went out and worked in my area and I was senior companion for the day so that was a little different experience. But we worked all day and it was good. We came back and apparently Elder Terry had got a little better, but Elder Hiltbrand had gotten much worse. Temperature of like 103+ degrees all day. like 103.7 degrees. And we were planning for the next day, and Elder Hiltbrand comes in and is like, totally delirious. And he's super weak and can barely stand up. And then he's just like "I think you guys need to take me to the hospital." So we called the mission medical officer, (she agreed) gave him a blessing, and then elder terry and him left. It was interesting because they left at like 10:20 pm and we are uspposed to be in bed at 10:30. So I did Elder Hiltbrand's district leader stuff for him while he was gone and then went to bed. Apparently it took them two hours to get into the hospital and then when they got in, he had to get into one of those stupid hospital gowns, and then the doctor came in and all they did was put a stethescope up to his chest and said "well looks like it's only bacteria. Go upstairs and get some antibiotics and go home"
haha it was so bad. BUt they are doing much better now.
With hte video and cassette player thing, if you send me a cassette or a cd or a dvd, as long as it's from the family or the ward, and it's like a letter I can watch/listen to it. SO if the ward sent me a video like they do every year to all the missionaries, I definitely could watch it. Same if you sent me one. Just nothing like actual movies obviously haha.
I wanna hear dads song so send it to me!
haha make sure dad doesn't hurt himself up on the roof. You should take a picture of the house when it's done and send that too me! haha.
I doubt it's gonna snow enough to take the power out so don't expect it. haha. It's funny cause you know how the whole state freaks out in oregon when it snows there? Yeah it's basically the same in virginia. No body knows how to drive in it. hahaha.
Thank you so much for all you guys do for me. I love you so much and miss you alot. I'm a little nervous for the christmas season because it's gonna be hard not spending christmas with you guys. It's gonna be even harder after I have to hang up the phone with you on christmas. BUt look at it this way: at least I get to talk to you all on christmas! haha I'm excited!
Keep me in your prayers so that I can continue to become a missionary and not just do missionary things. Love you all so much and I'll hear from you again soon I hope!
Love,
Hunter
So we explained it all and they were like holy cow. Basically (Mr. No name) sent them a text saying that he wanted to be excommunicated and all this garbage because of Elder Terry "judging him and putting all this pressure on him"
what a load.
Anyways that day was a horrible and as far as I know (Mr. No name) is still pretty ticked at missionaries in general.
Yeah the Roarks are awesome! My old branch was basically made up of two families: The roarks and the Daltons. Everyone was either a roark, a dalton, or married to one of the too. haha. Except, ironically, the branch presidency. But sis. roark is so nice and you should send her something thanking her. Send me a copy of that picture! haha.
My talk was actually pretty good, I thought. It was the first talk I've ever given where I didn't write it out. I just made a rough outline on what I wanted to talk about, and did that. And what was REALLY weird, is that I didn't even have enough time to say everything I wanted to. It was four of us speaking, to recent converts a missionary and a returned missionary. It was missionary sunday I guess. So I gave a talk about what else? missionary work. So I talked about why missionary work is so important, and why we do it, and how we do it, along with what members need to do to help that work along. I had a whole big meaty section on attributes of a good missionary, but I had to cut that out because of time restrictions. The only thing I could've done better I think is tabbed my scriptures that I was gonna use haha. I took forever finding some of the scriptures and stuff I was using haha. Also, you know how I make stupid little comments when I'm up there and am trying to fnid something but I don't have anything to say? Like "ooo maybe I should've marked these scriptures" yeah I did that alot and everyone was just like, what the heck? lol. but the talk was good and I wasn't very nervous just hoping that it got accross what I was trying to tell them.
I'm also going with the mission president to a small branch out in west virginia this sunday to talk about missionary work again. It's closed right now but I have a feeling that us giong out there is a sign it's going to open up soon. They want missionaries so bad out there.
I'm glad Dad did all the talking for me! haha no one would know what was going on if you cried through it all! hahahahaha just kidding mom. I love you and I'm glad you still miss me cause I still miss you guys alot!
Your mexico pictures were awesome. YOu probably could've refrained from sending me the ones with girls in bikini's in em, but I forgive you! haha. There was only like, one so I just put it outta sight. ha. So don't worry about that. But the resort was awesome looking! I'm glad you had fun though I certainly would have haha.
OH. Another funny story about getting sick. SO. Three days ago my companion (Elder Terry) and the other Elder who lives in our apartment, (Elder Hiltbrand) started getting sick. The next morning they woke up and they just felt TERRIBLE. So me and Elder Stokes (elder hiltbrands companion) went out and worked in my area and I was senior companion for the day so that was a little different experience. But we worked all day and it was good. We came back and apparently Elder Terry had got a little better, but Elder Hiltbrand had gotten much worse. Temperature of like 103+ degrees all day. like 103.7 degrees. And we were planning for the next day, and Elder Hiltbrand comes in and is like, totally delirious. And he's super weak and can barely stand up. And then he's just like "I think you guys need to take me to the hospital." So we called the mission medical officer, (she agreed) gave him a blessing, and then elder terry and him left. It was interesting because they left at like 10:20 pm and we are uspposed to be in bed at 10:30. So I did Elder Hiltbrand's district leader stuff for him while he was gone and then went to bed. Apparently it took them two hours to get into the hospital and then when they got in, he had to get into one of those stupid hospital gowns, and then the doctor came in and all they did was put a stethescope up to his chest and said "well looks like it's only bacteria. Go upstairs and get some antibiotics and go home"
haha it was so bad. BUt they are doing much better now.
With hte video and cassette player thing, if you send me a cassette or a cd or a dvd, as long as it's from the family or the ward, and it's like a letter I can watch/listen to it. SO if the ward sent me a video like they do every year to all the missionaries, I definitely could watch it. Same if you sent me one. Just nothing like actual movies obviously haha.
I wanna hear dads song so send it to me!
haha make sure dad doesn't hurt himself up on the roof. You should take a picture of the house when it's done and send that too me! haha.
I doubt it's gonna snow enough to take the power out so don't expect it. haha. It's funny cause you know how the whole state freaks out in oregon when it snows there? Yeah it's basically the same in virginia. No body knows how to drive in it. hahaha.
Thank you so much for all you guys do for me. I love you so much and miss you alot. I'm a little nervous for the christmas season because it's gonna be hard not spending christmas with you guys. It's gonna be even harder after I have to hang up the phone with you on christmas. BUt look at it this way: at least I get to talk to you all on christmas! haha I'm excited!
Keep me in your prayers so that I can continue to become a missionary and not just do missionary things. Love you all so much and I'll hear from you again soon I hope!
Love,
Hunter
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