August 24, 2009

Family,

Wow! Sounds like everyone is having a blast back at home. Yeah, just from the picture it looks like Mckay has grown a lot and still has time to grow. I'm pretty sure he'll be as big as me or bigger when I get back. Wow, that's so cool to hear everything that is going on back at home. It really makes me so happy to hear about all the fun things everyone is doing!

Well, I'm still here in Valle Dorado and it's great. We always bug Hna Clarita (that we live with) almost every night and she is always on my tail regarding writing to you guys. Haha. She's awesome! She made us pancakes this week and also for Elder Ficachi and Elder Glade. It was great! Oh, about the hybernating thing for 6 months, sorry but I don't think that's going to happen mom. Haha. (Inside joke, sorry can't share)

This week we received a reference from the visitors center of this lady who is totally prepared for the gospel. We just talked to her and she is just like wow it's so true! I loved it! She also found a Book of Mormon that her dad had and started reading it before we talked to her. It was cool! The only hard thing is that she has to work on Sundays so we have to see how we can help her with that. Other than that, it's been really hard to find people that are really ready. We have a ton of people that have gone to church once but then just don't go back. I really don't understand it. It kind of gets frustrating especially with how hard I'm working right now. When we finally get to the house at night we plan and I go straight to bed because I'm so tired! We are starting to see some blessings which is really cool!

So you want a list of 10 things that I like about mexico... hmmm......

1. they eat chile with everything
2. you can get wherever without having a car using micros or combis
3. you have to wait 3 to 4 hours after washing clothes for them to dry
4. they eat pizza with ketchup
5. if you didnt eat breakfast its really easy to find someone selling tamales
6. Tacos al pastor o they are so delicious
7. running out of water in the middle of a shower
8. all the people that think they know everything about the bible but really know nothing
9. all the teenagers taht try and practice their english but only know how to say whats you name 10. how all the churches are fenced in because of the crime! haha

So, there are ten quick things that I enjoy about Mexico. Really it was kind of hard to think of ten, but I'm sure there are a lot more. . . I just need more time to think!

Well I love you guys enjoy the week!

Elder Tennison Hunter

August 17, 2009

Mom,

Hey, havent heard from you for a while, is everything alright!? (I sent an e-mail, I'm not so sure why he didn't get it.) Im assuming you are super busy with work and having to run kids around especially now that Beau is in California! Speaking of Beau, tell him happy birthday for me please! That is so cool that he has the chance to play basketball in California. It would be really cool to see him get a scholarship to a bigger school to play!

Oh yeah, dad is giving me all the updates which is cool! Well this week was a hard week. Nothing went as planned, but we had a sweet zone conference which I learned a lot and it really helped me out a lot! It was really funny what president said about men and women. He said that God basically gave everything to the women and at the end was like . . .What do I give to the men. . . oh, the priesthood. It was really funny how he said it! I loved it! It's true, girls really have a lot more talents than us! the men! haha!

Well I'm still alive about to go bowling with Elder Ficachi. (I'm so stoked), I absolutely love that guy and being that Elder Romney is assistant, he gave us permission to go, I really just love those guys (Ficachi and Romney). They're awesome! Well love you! Hope everything is going well!

Love Elder Tennison Hunter

August 10, 2009

Mom,

Well, I haven't recieved a letter from you because I assume you are really busy or have some meeting or something! I know you don't like it when I don't write so I'm writing. haha! (Shame on Mom, we were busy getting Beau moved into his new city and apartment.) Everything is going good down here in Mexico! I absolutely love having Elder Ficachi as my district leader, he is awesome! I've been doing great and really working hard!

I like what dad wrote me how if you have a good attitude even through the hard times you can really learn a lot and I have really learned a lot through the hard times in the mission and well even the easy times but I can really see how you can't grow if everything was just super easy!? This week we didn't have as much success, but we still worked hard!

How is Beau doing? Is he now in Cali? and the little boys? like Bryson how is he doing? He is basically the only one who doesn't write me, haha, not surprising huh!?

Well I love you guys! Oh yeah, I might have to go to the dentist because one of my teeth has really been hurting a lot, but the good thing is that I have a few dentists in the ward so it won't be too hard. Take care!

Elder Hunter

August 3, 2009

Family,

Wow sounds like you guys are all doing awesome, what a pleasure it is to be able to write you guys!

Sorry I haven't written for a while! But im so happy to hear of all the fun things you guys are doing and all the blessings you have recieved! Well, last weeek I was going to write but I had a problem with the changes! I was waitng for my companion for like two hours and he never showed up so my zone leader called trying to find him and we found out that he was with President. So I had to stay the night with my new district leader, Elder Ficachi, one of my old companions. That was a blast! Well come to find out I ended up recieving another elder named Elder Perez he is from Monterrey Mexico and very proud of it! haha! This is his second change in the mission and he loves to work and we get along great! Basically that's the reason I didn't write last week, because of that huge mess of changes!

Well, someone told Hermana Clarita that I didn't write (that's the Hermana we live with) and well she chewed me out for not writing you guys! (Note from Mom: Hermana Clarita's son lives in Kearns, Utah and he brought a package back for me from Tennison and I mentioned I didn't receive an e-mail in two weeks and he put a word in for me. Her Grandson, David is now living with us from Mexico, he was accepted into the MBA International program at BYU. We are excited to have him in our home.)

I'm working super hard lately and seeing tons of miracles! We found 26 new investigators this week, took 8 to church and had one baptism! Really it's just been crazy! But so awesome! I love missionary work! Well you guys take care! Good luck Beau! (Beau will be leaving this week to go to Harnell College in Salinas, California to play basketball this upcoming year.) Congratulations Mckay! (McKay's team took first place in the Strikerfest tournament and scored one goal each game.)

I love you all!
Elder Hunter

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