July 29, 2009

We haven't received any news for 2 weeks. Hope that means Tennison is really busy. (Not very nice for mom though.)

July 13, 2009

Some Pictures. . . Finally . . . Overlooking our area. . .

Waiting in the Rain

My companion and I on top of a cerro. .

A monkey of one of my investigators

The Zone - - Valle Dorado

Corn on the Cob - - Remember Nacho Libre

Family,

Sounds like it's been really interesting and exciting back at home. I love hearing of how well all of you guys are doing .

Crazy that Nick is already home! I really cant believe it!

To answer your question about helping with missionary work, we can help people to understand the importance of the gospel! For example, the Book of Mormon its the keystone of our religion! If someone takes that book reads it with intent and prays about it, they will have the desire to join the church. I dont have a doubt about it! That's really the key to the success of all the baptisms I've had. I have had the baptisms because of that book! Something that I have noticed here in the mission field is that members like to give us references without preparing the people to listen to us. We are all great at knocking doors and talking to random people, but if a member has a friend that is prepared to listen to us it is a lot easier and they actually let us in their house to talk! haha Also don't be afraid to ask the Lord what you should do! He will help you know the things to do to help the people that really need the gospel! Interesting fact that we recieved from President- - The Salt Lake City South Mission is baptizing 200 people a month. That is more than our mission right now. A lot of times we think - - Oh, in Utah everyone is already a member. Obviously that's not true! That really surprised me when I heard how much they are baptizing!

Anyways, I'm doing great! We had a baptism yesterday which was awesome! It's an old lady named Juana Mariano Robles. She is so cute! she absolutely loves when we go and visit her and always prepares fruit or something small to eat. It's sweet! She was totally prepared to hear the gospel! She told us that she saw us knocking doors and so she ran to the store and returned quickly to her house because she wanted to listen to what we had to say. Well we taught her lesson one and she liked it, so we made an appointement for the next day. We returned and she was like, I don't think I really want to listen anymore. We convinced her to let us in and cleared up the doubts she had. Three weeks later she was baptized! It was great! She even fasted for her baptism without anyone telling her too! Oh and she already pays her tithing! It was awesome.

We've also got some other really cool investigators that we are teaching that we think will be getting baptized in about a month or so. Really we are having tons of success! I love it! I think that I finally increased my faith and now we are doing good! Still having a nice little test of patience but its going good!

Our bishop and his wife are awesome! She washes and irons our clothes and even took my suit to get drycleaned the other day and wouldnt let me pay!. They are so freaking awesome!

I love you guys and thanks for everything! Take care!

Elder Hunter

July 6, 2009

Family,

I got the pictues and it looks like everyone is just growing up. It's so crazy! That is awesome that the family got together for the Fourth of July parade. It is crazy that I've been on the mission for 2 Fourth of July's already. I really can't believe it!

Nick is coming home tomorrow. I remember when he left. I thought that day would never come, but it looks like it's here! That's so crazy! Please tell him "Hi" for me and that I miss him!

That's so cool that Beau got his patriarchal blessing. I'm sure that there are tons of great things just waiting for him in this life. He really looks like he is doing great. I absolutely loved the fotos of you guys.

So the mission. I'd have to say right now I'm learning a lot things about the gospel and how to make people do what you want them to do and most of all lots of patience! haha I don't know why but this companion uses a lot more of my patience than my other companions, but it's all good! Something I like about him is - - he is really good at helping to explain things if I can't explain them very well!

Oh also, I think this week I'm going to have a baptism finally! Hopefully I will be able to get back on a roll again. I've just been in a drought lately and it really just makes things hard! We had zone conference this week and pretty much president told us that we aren't working and that we need to do more than we are doing. He made us feel pretty bad but then gave us the confidence and hope that we can do it! It was really a great experience!

Oh and yesterday, well, first I'm tired of having wards that just dont help much when it comes to missionary work here. It's not like Utah where everyone is a member so we took a box of Book of Mormons to church and got everyone all excited. We told them to take a Book of Mormon and write their testimony in it and give it to one of their friends. There were some people who even asked for more than one which was awesome! So basically we gave away 40 Books of Mormon in ten minutes. Now the question is if they will get into the hands of investigators so we can go and teach, but it was a great experience! I think I'm going to do it more often. The mission is great and I'm loving it and love doing new things and meeting new people!
I love you guys! Take care and haz lo justo!

Elder Hunter

June 29, 2009

Family,

Well this week has been good. Weird to think that I have more than a year in the mission now. I really can't believe it! oh! I heard that Michael Jackson died on my one year mark is that true?

Well, I'm glad to hear Beau is doing well! I would still love to recieve an e-mail or something from him! That stinks about the Hyundai I loved that car! (It is fixed. It was just a tune up issue.)

Well we found a sweet family this week that we are teaching and they'll get baptized! The member that has been helping us a lot with this family turns out to be not a member but an excommunicated member that will be getting baptized really soon! He really is so awesome! He just had some problems in his life but is now getting everything in order. It is freaking awesome to see how people really want to get closer to the truth! Oh, and for my companion, well when I first got here he kind of treated me like I was an idiot and well I found out why . . . he thought all americans were stupid because he had never had an american companion before, but I set him straight (in a nice way of course) . .haha. . but yeah things are going well for me!

Every monday, O.K., well, last monday and today we went to this soccer field. It has turf and is made for 7 on 7. It's sweet! We totally beat some locals today 5 to 4. It's funny how that happens. I can play but the rest of my team like has never played soccer before and we still won.

Well, I'm doing wonderful! You guys all take care! Oh the pictures . . I'll see what I can do. Right now in this area I haven't found a computer that can use my memory card, so who knows! oh I think ill be sending my other memory card home because it's full and I dont want to loose it! Take care! I love you guys!

This photo is a picture of the people we were teaching in my last area. The old man can't see and the old woman can't read, so their sons would take turns reading to them. It was pretty cool. I did everything to help them get ready for their baptism. Elder Barcenas told me that it was amazing!

With a magician in the ward who did a magic show.

ElderTennison Hunter