Just Kidding. Christmas in Topeka

So last P-Day we get a call from President Bell at around 8:30. He said "Do you remember that song? I'll go where you want me to go?" We both looked at each other and realized that one of us was leaving. "You Elders are both going to Topeka Kansas. Be in Wichita tomorrow at 1" So we took the rest of the night, packed our things and hit the road back to the opposite side of the Mission. 

So we got to spend Christmas here in Topeka Kansas. It has been super awesome! We got to spend Christmas here with people we've never met before, which made it that much better. Skyping was super fun. Although I am super sad that Christmas has come to an end. We are switching back to giving out regular Mormon.org cards instead of the He is the Gift cards. But we still have our tree up and to be honest it'll probably be up for the rest of the year. or at least the time that I will be serving here. 

We got to see so many awesome miracles this week. When we got here we didn't have a big teaching pool or anything but we have been able to meet a bunch of awesome people and seen so many awesome miracles. It's awesome to be back in civilization and having more then just Walmart in the town. also there are so many people! 

It's been a crazy couple of weeks but it's been awesome! I hope you all had a great Christmas! Love you all!

-Elder Hunt

Christmas in Colorado

So Christmas is coming way quicker then I ever wanted it to. I wish that we could just freeze time right here. This Christmas season I have been able to focus on the Savior more then I ever have before and It's been amazing. It truly has changed the meaning of Christmas for me.

This week has been super fun and super fast. A fun story that happened this week. So we get this text from a member that says "The roads are muddy and getting the big is harder then we thought. It's going to be muddy, bloody and smelling. Wear appropriate clothes. See ya at 8" So we were thoroughly confused, but apparently the Sisters had signed us all up to help with a killing and gutting a pig. So we get up there and the Pig is already dead and hanging upside down and it's our job to shave and skin it. It was definitely an experience let me tell you. We used knifes and the hair and top layer of the skin would fly back into your face. But we had to leave before they gutted it because it was passed curfew. Which was a real bummer. But we did get to eat it at their daughters wedding this weekend. It was really good!

Last night we drove to Garden City for the mission presidents devotional. It's where all the investigators and recent converts are invited to share their testimonies and hear the Mission President speak. It was super spiritual. We watched the He is the Gift video and then after you had the opportunity to stand up and share what your gift to the savior was this year. It was a very spiritual and special experience.

Last night on the drive to Garden we listened to a talk entitled Self Worth by Hyrum Smith (not the Hyrum smith...) and it is such a great talk. It talks about how despite all the put downs and let downs that are inevitably going to happen in life that if your self esteem is based on Christ it cannot fail. And when you know who you are and who you are supposed to be you can be confident dignified and find peace in your life.  It's such a great talk!

We also got to volunteer with the Toys for Tots drive out here. We got to separate all the presents into bags and on Christmas Eve we get to help deliver them to the families! I am super excited for that! I love the service that inevitable comes from gift giving during the Christmas season.

We have seen so many miracles this week and it's been so amazing to be able to be serving the Lord out here is Colorado. Lamar is awesome. The people are amazing and I can't wait for these next couple of weeks.

Love you all so much!

-Elder Hunt

First Week In Colorado

This week has been so great and super fast! I am learning to LOVE Colorado! Lamar is super small town and is so different then Wichita. They both have such a big difference. The people here are so much nicer and willing to talk to you. Also everyone know EVERYONE. haha so it's pretty rare that somebody hasn't heard of at least one member in the ward.

This week we saw a huge miracle. We have been praying to find families to teach. We have found three families this week. The one that was a huge Miracle is the Lingle Family. All of the kids were blessed in the Church as babies and they have been to the Church before and that's the church the associate the most with but they have never been baptized and they don't really know any doctrine or anything. But we have been able to teach them and it's been so awesome!

We had a baptism here in Lamar. I just met them on Monday and they have been working with Missionaries for a couple months now. The Mom and Son got baptized on Saturday. They are such an awesome family and it was a great experience to see them be baptized. We actually have dinner with them tonight so that will be super fun!

My Companion is AWESOME! I love him so much. He's super funny and we just laugh and work hard like all day. It's the best. This has been such a great week and has gone by so fast.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME! It's such a great time to focus on our Savior and the gift that he gave the world. We have been sharing the video He is the Gift with everyone we meet and it's such a great video. If you haven't seen it. look it up now! The spirit is so strong every time we watch it. It truly portrays what Christmas is about and why we really should be celebrating.

Hope you all have such a great week! Love you all!

-Elder Hunt

Elder Hoak

Elder Ives

This week has been great! My companion is awesome! I don't think I've ever laughed so much! and he's such a great missionary and it's just been such a great week. I'm actually sad he goes home in February. but it'll be such a fun couple of weeks. He was an AP for like 6 months so he just wants to work has hard has possible but he makes it fun and it's just great! I'm loving it. The TOWN IS SO FREAKING SMALL! hah we went to a less actives house and we had to drive like 30 minutes out of town and then like 15 min on a dirt road and then when we got there the house was like empty and so quiet. it was like the end of the world type thing. it was crazy.

 

The weather has been great. Like 60s this week. It snowed last night but it's cleared up now so that's nice. 

Hello from Lamar, Colorado

So this week has been great! This week we had a Nativity Event and it was awesome! We had about 250 donated nativities in the cultural hall, live music in the chapel, refreshments, and a kids room where you could make your own art activities and stuff. Super awesome event that had a bunch of people come. It was a great way to really spread the Christmas cheer. I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME! Everyone that hasn't seen He is the Gift, you should go watch it now! It's awesome! It brings the Christmas spirit so amazingly every time  and really focuses on the true meaning of Christmas. 

 My new companion and I just finally got into the swing of things. He knew everyone that was progressing and it was awesome! We were going strong and everything was great. Then I get a call from the Assistant on Saturday. He told me I was being transferred to Lamar Colorado and that I needed to be there on Monday morning. So I packed my bags, said my goodbyes and here I am. I have a new companion, new area, and know no one. But it's awesome! I know that this is where the Lord needs me and I'm super excited to see what he has in store for me here! My new companion is such a great missionary and I'm so excited to learn all the things that he has to teach me! 

I have truly learned to rely on prayer this week. There was so many instances were my companion and I needed a little push and we prayed for it and it came. I know that our Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us and he really does have a plan. I don't know where I would be without prayer and the spirit that comes with it. 

I hope you all have a great week, Love you all so much! Thank you for the love and prayers!

-Elder Hunt 

Thanksgiving in the KWM

Sorry this week is going to be a little short! I'm running a little late on time. I can't believe how fast two hours goes by each week! There's never enough time to do everything I need!

This week has been awesome! We got to sing at our transfer devotional which was pretty fun! I have a video of it but it's to big to send but maybe I'll get it to everyone some how! My new companion is pretty cool. We're still trying to get in the swing of things but this transfer is going to be awesome!

Thanksgiving was great! We got to eat dinner at some members houses and talk to a bunch of cool people. We ate way to much, but that's the fun part! I love this time of year because it let's me reflect on some of the things I am thankful for! It truly is amazing how blessed we are each and every day. I love how blessed we are for everything!

I love this time of year. We have been watching He is the Gift video a lot and it really is so amazing. If you haven't seen it you should go watch it now. It perfectly brings in the spirit of Christmas! Its such a great time of year that we get to reflect on Christ and his infinite atonement!

Love each and everyone of you!

-Elder Hunt

This weeks been great! Thanksgiving was super fun! We had two dinners with members of the ward and it was super fun! We were able to stretch them pretty much all day with some stops to investigators houses along the way. I ate a bunch, and surprisingly there wasn't anything super different here. I was thinking the same thing, like what if they don't serve turkey in this place? but they do and it's pretty much the same side dishes. Nothing tooo fancy. We ate dinner with a younger couple that is just outta college with a little baby so they prepared just turkey mash potatoes and stuffing, but it was still really good. 

This weekends weather has been awesome! It was in the 60's Friday and Saturday and I was able to wear short sleeved shirts!!! However, it quickly changed on Sunday and it's back in the 20's probably here to stay. but we get the car back this week so that's nice! My new companion is pretty cool. He's from Oregon and super cool! He's been out for about 8 months. We get along pretty well.

Baptism

Jose and Christina

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I didn't write anything last week. I was sitting here and started to write but I got really distracted and couldn't think so I just exited out and left. haha sorry about that. But hopefully this one will be long enough to make up for it. 

So two weeks ago we had a General Authority come and give us a training (Elder Schwitzer if anyone wanted to know) and he talked about the Book of Mormon and how we need to center everything we do around Christ. That week I had been praying about how I could come closer to Christ and really feel him in my life and I felt like the WHOLE time he was talking he was answering my prayers exactly. It was seriously so awesome. And then President Bell gave us a challenge as a mission to read the Book of Mormon before Christmas as a gift to Christ. He gave us a green and red colored pencils and anything to do with building our faith is in green and anything to do with the Savior and the atonement is in red.  It's been a really neat experience and I've really learned a lot. The Book of Mormon truly is an amazing book. 

This last weekend we had my first baptism in the mission! Jose and Christina were able to enter the waters of baptism and make that wonderful covenant with their Heavenly Father. I had the privilege of baptizing Jose. It was AWESOME! And yesterday we got to help confirm him and his wife in church. Words can't describe how happy and spiritual it was. I was on a spiritual high this whole week to be honest. We have had some great spiritual lessons with that family and they were just ready from the time we met them. They knew this is what they wanted. 

The ward here is so great. They support missionary work like none other and they realize how many new people there are in the ward and truly make an effort to help in fellow shipping them in this new journey of their life. ALSO they are already really good cooks so I can't complain. My companion is leaving the area this transfer so we've been eating at everyone's house and they all ask him what he wants for dinner and he always says "breakfast for dinner" so needless to say I've had more then my fare share of bacon. Which probably isn't to healthy, but whaaaatever. haha 

We've had some amazing miracle here in the last couple weeks. I can't think of a super specific one that will blow everyone away, but there has just been so many little times where I know that the Lord is right next to us guiding us to exactly where we need to go and it's super amazing. We've been able to work with some awesome people that are super smart and really I feel that they are teaching me more then I'm teaching them. 

I'm getting a new companion tomorrow, which is pretty exciting. I love my companion now, but it will be a nice change to get to know someone else and learn from them. There's a lot of change going on in this transfer which is a bummer because we have all become so close and have truly gained that love for everyone. Missions are awesome. I love it so much. 

I would like to share a scripture that has really helped me in the last couple of weeks especially in teaching about the Book of Mormon. It's found it 2 Nephi and it reads " hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And ifye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach allmen that they should do good." Everything that we do should revolve around Christ. He leads and guides this church. No man leads this church, HE does and it's so cool to be apart of it. As we go into Christmas I would invite each of you to remember exactly the "reason for the season" it is Christ and his birth and the wonderful thing that he has done for each and everyone of us. 

I love you all so very much and would love to hear from all of you! Thank you for you're love and support back. 

-Elder Hunt 

District Pictures

My District

My "Family"

My "mom" (STL) Sister Sherman and her "daughter" Sister Forsgren and other "son" Elder Nix

My "mom" Sister Sherman

Karen Bazzelle posted this picture on Facebook

Elder Hunt and Elder Whitaker for dinner.  Little early for the tree Elder W. said.

Pictures

We had an investigator take pictures for us this week so that's why all of these are kinda strange but I know I will look back on them with fond memories!

November 10

Another great week in the KWM. I'm really getting into the routine of things here and I love it. My companion pointed something out to me the other day. He said "Missionary work is the least stressful thing I have ever done in my life" and to be completely honest. It's 100% true. Yeah it gets hard sometimes but really there is no stress involved. You just have to talk to people and help them come closer to Christ and that's not stressful at all!

This week we decided to go on a sanctification plan so that we can become more spiritual and find the elect. That means that we are giving up all of our doubts because you can't speak negatively and expect the spirit to guide you where you need to go, we are giving up music because we want to show the Lord we are willing to sacrifice something, and we are accepting challenges with vigor and excitement. So far it's been awesome! I have seen so much spirituality come from it.

Since we don't listen to music anymore we have been listening to a lot of talks right now. We have listened to A LOT of Elder Holland's talks. Safety for the Soul is super powerful and amazing! and His grace is sufficient by Brad Wilcox is another awesome talk. They bring in the spirit so strong in our car that whenever we drive somewhere we both feel so edified and several times we have been able to use what we learned in the talks in our lessons with other. If anyone has a favorite talk send it to me because we go through them pretty fast!

The people of Kansas are so nice and so amazing. The only problem is that we are in the Bible Belt and they really don't want to listen to what we have to say. I have heard the phrase, "I'm pretty comfortable in my religion right now" about 200 times in the last month. but it's okay because generally the people are pretty nice and let us talk to them for a minute but usually they don't really want to hear what we have to say. That's hard but honestly it could be a lot worse.

I love you all and would love to hear your favorite conference/ spiritual talk!

-Elder Hunt

Halloween Pictures

Pictures

Halloween Week

Hey Everyone! 

I seriously can't believe that it's already Monday again. The weeks are going by so fast here and it's making me nervous. If every week goes by this fast, then these two years are going to be awfully short! While there are some hard times throughout the days they are overshadowed so strongly by the good times that it makes up for it! 

A little update on last weeks story. We went over to the guy's house (the guy who texted us he couldn't join) and we had a "Do or Die" lesson with him. Basically it was supposed to be our last meeting with them if they weren't going to progress any further. The lesson actually went VERY well and we talked about his concerns and while he didn't come any closer to accepting the gospel he still is trying. He gave us a booklet that he printed out entitled, "Why I can't become a Mormon". I was laughing because it was obviously all stuff that he got on some Anti-Mormon site because I seriously doubt he found the time to study Joseph Smith's journals. But we ended the night on great terms and he's going to invite us to his graduation. He's such a great guy but just not entirely ready right now and we'll be there for him when he decided he is ready. 

This week for Halloween my companion and I traded name tags and ties so that we dressed up like each other. I don't know how many people actually understood the joke, but hey I thought it was pretty clever. We've had a lot of investigators coming to ward functions this week which has been so great! I love the ward I'm serving in. They are so helpful and loving to everyone that we bring in which makes it very nice. They feel fellowship the minute they step in the building and it really does make all the difference. 

We have a couple, Jose and Christina who are about to be baptized. We started teaching them right when I got here and we have been meeting with them a couple times a week and it's been so much fun. They are such neat people. I know that the Lord has been preparing them to receive the Gospel and lead us to their front door at the perfect time. They came to church yesterday and their kids didn't want to leave they were having so much fun! We've had some wonderful spiritual experiences with them that have grown my faith and have really opened my eyes to the problems that everyone has to go through and how the gospel can really help everyone with any circumstance. 

We also had zone conference this week! It was amazing, it was like a spiritual tidal wave the whole entire day. I can't get over how loving the Mission president and his wife are. They are seriously the best people in the entire world and the way they care for each and everyone of us is so amazing! Learning to love everyone has definitely been emphasized in my mission. Through love and developing  Christlike attributes we can truly change the world! 

Love the Gospel, Love my mission, and Love you all! 

-Elder Hunt

ELLLDERS!

This week was awesome! We went and carved some pumpkins for FHE and brought an investigator which was way fun! The family we went to has a two year old little kid and whenever we come to their house he always yells "ELLLDERS!!!" in a super high pitch voice and comes and hugs us. It's probably the cutest thing ever. ahha i love going to families houses that have two year olds because it reminds me of Drew!

Missionary Life

It's crazy how fast this past week has gone. I totally understand how they say that two years flies by. The days all blur together and they got by so fast and there is just so much to do, but it's so amazing and awesome!

On Saturday we had dinner at a members house. They live at the top of the tallest building in Wichita. The view was amazing! It looked out over the river and the trees were turning colors and the sun was setting and it was the most beautiful thing ever. However, from that experience I have learned the Kansas is REALLLLLLY flat. When I'm in the city I don't really realize it but once you get above the trees and the buildings you see how flat it really is. I felt like Mufasa and Simba "As far as the sun reaches is your kingdom" I know I just butchered that line, but its something like that.

So last night we got a text from an investigator that has been meeting with the missionaries for about four months now. The text said "My wife and I decided that we can join the church. Can we talk tomorrow?" My companion and I were freaking out and we were at dinner at a members house and they were all excited. So we texted them back "That's great! When?" and then it all went down hill from there. He responds "whoops, sorry I meant can't not can lol" WHAT?!??!!? we were so bummed. We had gotten so excited and happy only to have our dreams crushed. But I guess if nothing else at least we planted a really good seed and in the future they can know that it's true.

Life as a missionary is great and I'm loving every minute!

Love you all!

-Elder Hunt 

We have our trunk or treat this week and we are giving church tours to the non member friends during it. Also everyone looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if there was going to be food. Apparently they don't do that out here in Kansas hahah

Well the mission is great! We have bikes half the time and are in the car the other half. so we switch of once a week and honestly I prefer bikes. It is so much more awkward to talk to someone in a car or pull over and talk to them then just riding around on a bike and since it's SOOO flat here it's really easy to ride a bike where every we go. We're teaching a lot of people right now, and even though none of them are super solid we can always hope and have faith that something will touch their hearts.

 It's a little strange because we don't do anything but at the same time we do EVERYTHING. we're doing something every minute of the day but a lot of the time people don't really want to talk to us or don't show up for appointments so a lot of the time it's just us trying to find someone to teach which is really fun.

We have a trunk or treat this week on Wednesday and before the missionaries are giving church tours so that non member friends can know what our church is all about. It's pretty cool actually. We have this one family that we are teaching that has 3 kids under the age of six and she's pregnant again! Talk about hard. Also if we lived in Kansas our house would be a spacious mansion that's cleaner then every other house. Everyone lives in a mess and has tiny TINY houses. hahah maybe we should move out here so we can fit in.

My Companion

Hey everyone!

So this week has been super long but super amazing. Last Tuesday me and my district left the MTC and went up to the airport. We got to ride the train to the airport which was fun. The MTC took our bags for us so we just go to have a nice enjoyable ride up the airport. We got to the airport and guess what? The flight was cancelled. So we carried all of our luggage back on the train to get back to the MTC because the next available flight was the next morning. While we were loading our luggage, the train left. So half of our group was on the train and half of us were still on the platform. After a while we regrouped and got back down to the MTC and took a nap. 

The next morning we got on our airplane and we were finally in Kansas. I met my mission president who is AMAZING. probably one of the nicest people that I know. All the missionaries in this area are amazing as well. The Kansas Wichita Mission is the best mission in the world. Seriously!

So we go to orientation and talk about the rules and what is expected of us. While we were in the meeting the door opens and a missionary walks in and says "Where's Elder Hunt?" I raised my hand and he came over and gave me the biggest hug ever (I don't know if this happens in every mission but all the elders hug, every time they see each other. It's like a huge family) ! He was my companion! He seriously is the coolest person ever. He was a cheerleader for BYU and is super cool and such a great missionary! His name is Elder Whitaker and is from Arizona somewhere. I know my prayer to get a good trainer was answered when I saw him. 

After the meeting me and my companion waited for a ride back to our apartment. We got a Book of Mormon and started contacting people. We walked a while and remembered that we needed to say a prayer. We asked to find someone that was interested and somebody that we could talk to. Not thirty seconds after we ended a Mom with two children walks by. We walk with her and give her a Book of Mormon and set up a return date. The only problem is she wasn't in my area so I probably won't see her again. It was a super cool experience though!

After a week in the mission field I know, without a doubt that being on a mission is the best thing for me. I know that this Gospel is real and I know that it can bring so much happiness and joy to every single person. I'm so grateful that I get to wear my Savior's name on my shirt every day for the next two years.I wouldn't have it any other way. It's such an amazing experience and I know this is exactly where I am supposed to be. 

Have a great week! I love you all! 

-Elder Hunt

P.S. The address that I gave on Facebook will be the address you can send letters to throughout my mission!

First week has been amazing! So cool! My companion is awesome and the people here are super nice. It's weird though, way different then California. WAY DIFFERENT. no one has a smart phone and it's the strangest thing every, I can't tell you the last time I saw so many people on regular flip phones before. 

It's been really fun. Last night we had dinner with a memeber and they had a two year old boy and he reminded me SO much of drew. He was playing with some stuffed animals and throwing them around and being destructive and it was like hey I remember this! 

-Elder Hunt

First Day In Kansas

President and Sister Bell

The newest Kansas Wichita Missionaries

             

First dinner appointment

Sister Nelson

Chase got to see his friend from home, Taylor Nelson, while in the MTC. 

MTC Pictures

Hey Everyone! 

This week has been by far the most exhausting, long, hard week of my life, and I have never been happier. It's seriously so amazing to be here. The spirit is so strong and amazes me every day. Everyone here is so loving and kind. It's been the best day ever. 

My companions name is Elder Stock and he's super cool guy. We have a lot of fun. It's crazy how much we already know about each other. I guess that's what happens when you spend every waking second together. It hasn't been bad at all though. My district is amazing and we have grown into a close family. It's amazing that having all of these super spiritual experiences make everyone grow so close. I got called the District Leader last Thursday which has been really fun. 

We got to watch conference last weekend which might have been the best experience of my life. Every talk was like a fire hose of knowledge coming at me. I loved it. I loved every single one of the talks. We all sat together as a district and when someone really good would end we would all be like teary eyed and lean over to each other and talk about how amazing it was. 

I went into conference with the question, "Why am I out here?" and it seemed like every talk answered the question. The quote that stood out the most was Elder Holland's. It was amazing in every way. My favorite quote was "I may not be my brother's keeper, but I am my Brother's brother and because I have been given much I too must give." It was such an amazing scripture and something that I will always remember. I am so grateful to be able to be out here giving two years back to my Savior. 

Love you all so much! 

-Elder Hunt

Provo Temple

My Companion Elder Stock