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| ELDER HUNT ON HUNT STREET |
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| HE ARRIVED IN TRINIDAD ON NOVEMBER 2, 2015 |
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| MISSION OFFICE |
Sunday, December 13, 2015
NOVEMBER 9, 2015
Hello, hello, hello! I have finally made it to the Trinidad Port of Spain Mission! I am currently in New Amsterdam, Guyana! Guyana is a crazy place but I'm loving it here.
So much has happened between the last two weeks. I got a phone call from President Jenkins in Arizona saying that I received my visa to Suriname two Fridays ago and that I would fly out in 3 days! Last Monday I flu from the Phoenix airport to Houston and there met up with the other missionaries that were headed to Trinidad. There were 5 other missionaries, 4 Spanish, 1 English, and then me. We got to Port of Spain at about 9. Customs was weird. They're super strict and we barely made it through. The AP's picked us up and took us to where we'd stay for the next two nights.
I haven't been able to meet President and Sister Egbert yet. President Egbert was in the Dominican Republic recuperating from a eye surgery he needed. We were able to talk to him over the phone the following night though. He and Sister Egbert are super awesome!
We had orientation the day after we flew in. There I found out where I'd be headed and I got to meet my trainer over skype. We spent the next day at the office waiting to fly out to Guyana. We got to do a little office work which was kinda fun actually. They don't have Elders that work in the office, which I was bummed about. I thought that'd be something I'd be good at. But on the flip side the church has officially opened a Dutch branch in Bonaire! It is the first Dutch branch outside of the Netherlands, Belgium, or Suriname I believe. Before then, the branch in Bonaire had native Spanish, English, Papiamento, and Dutch speakers. President Egbert wants to do the same with the islands of Curacao and Aruba. So there will officially be a circulation of Dutch missionaries between Suriname and the ABC islands. Very exciting!
What is holding missionaries up from getting into Suriname are what they call MKV's. It's like a minister visa, or permission to preach in Suriname. After someone recieves their visa they then have to apply for a MKV which takes another 3-4 months. So Suriname will not be getting new missionaries for the next 3 to 4 months unless Elders Burr or Buehler receive their MKV this next coming transfer.
We made it into Georgetown, Guyana at like 11 at night. The flight was delayed 40 to 50 minutes (which is normal apparently). We spent the night at the Guyana mission home and then spent the next day in Georgetown dealing with legal and administrative stuff. We then drove the two hours down to Berbice, the zone that covers the eastern section of Guyana.
I am here in New Amsterdam which is sort of the big town for Berbice. I am in another trio! Elder Cook is my trainer and Elder Burr from the MTC is my other companion. It's been awesome to be companions with Elder Burr again. It's been nice to practice my Dutch again. Elder Cook is from Colorado, and is a Computer major at BYU. So here's these three, white, computer geeks working as missionaries, walking the streets of New Amsterdam, Guyana haha. Elder Cook is awesome though. Very hard working.
Guyana is super interesting. The branch is relatively big. About 50 active and another 300 less active. Guyana itself is a smaller country, with like 700,000 people. Most Guyanese live outside the country though. Elders Cook and Burr have some awesome investigators. One of our investigators is from Suriname so me and Elder Burr get to practice our Dutch with her.
A lesson highlight we had this week is with a younger couple, Thadius and Marcy. It was our first lesson with them. We were on the top deck of a two-story apartment complex thing. There were about 10 other people who wanted to sit in on the lesson, so picture 15 of us on this second story deck as we teach the Restoration. The lesson went really well and at the end they both accepted a baptismal invitation for December 12th! Very exciting can't wait to see how things play out with them.
New Amsterdam has got some very exciting stuff going on. The people here are amazing and very humble. It is awesome to be able to experience this country first had. My favorite part so far has been the market here. It's very much so alive there and they have the coolest stuff there.
I am loving it here in Guyana! Thank you for all your support. Missions are the best!
Thanks again!
Elder Hunt
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Arrived in Trinidad Monday November 2, 2015
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Dear Parents of Elder Hunt,
We are so pleased to welcome your son to the Trinidad Port of Spain Mission! He arrived safely in Trinidad & Tobago on 02 Nov 2015. On Tuesday, he and several other new missionaries from the MTC were given a tour and brief training in the mission office, were interviewed by President Egbert, and then received instructions from the assistants to the president. We spent the remainder of the evening with him in the mission home for a welcome dinner and a spirit-filled devotional. We have loved getting to know him and we love him already. He is a bright and thoughtful young man, and is clearly excited to go to work teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yesterday and today, each new missionary is either flying or driving to their assigned area. Elder Hunt has been assigned to labor in New Amsterdam , Berbice, Guyana . There is a growing population of members there, and the missionaries enjoy much success working closely with them. His new companion is Elder Cook, an experienced faithful missionary who will guide your son through a 12-week training program.
Elder Hunt's faithful studies in the Book of Mormon, Preach My Gospel and the 12-week training program will prepare him to be an inspired teacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please encourage your son as he begins this challenging but extremely rewarding work. His gospel study and diligent obedience will help him teach effectively by the Spirit and to grow in his own testimony and conversion, which will be a foundation for his mission and also for the rest of his life.
Your son is encouraged to email his immediate family and his mission president every week on Monday, our preparation day.
We look forward to getting to know him and working with him in the great work of salvation in the Trinidad Port of Spain Mission. Thank you for sharing him with us!
Sincerely,
President and Sister Egbert
We are so pleased to welcome your son to the Trinidad Port of Spain Mission! He arrived safely in Trinidad & Tobago on 02 Nov 2015. On Tuesday, he and several other new missionaries from the MTC were given a tour and brief training in the mission office, were interviewed by President Egbert, and then received instructions from the assistants to the president. We spent the remainder of the evening with him in the mission home for a welcome dinner and a spirit-filled devotional. We have loved getting to know him and we love him already. He is a bright and thoughtful young man, and is clearly excited to go to work teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yesterday and today, each new missionary is either flying or driving to their assigned area. Elder Hunt has been assigned to labor in New Amsterdam , Berbice, Guyana . There is a growing population of members there, and the missionaries enjoy much success working closely with them. His new companion is Elder Cook, an experienced faithful missionary who will guide your son through a 12-week training program.
Elder Hunt's faithful studies in the Book of Mormon, Preach My Gospel and the 12-week training program will prepare him to be an inspired teacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please encourage your son as he begins this challenging but extremely rewarding work. His gospel study and diligent obedience will help him teach effectively by the Spirit and to grow in his own testimony and conversion, which will be a foundation for his mission and also for the rest of his life.
Your son is encouraged to email his immediate family and his mission president every week on Monday, our preparation day.
We look forward to getting to know him and working with him in the great work of salvation in the Trinidad Port of Spain Mission. Thank you for sharing him with us!
Sincerely,
President and Sister Egbert
Attached are some pictures you might enjoy
Sister Bevins
Trinidad Port of Spain Mission
1 Morequito Ave Bldg. #10
Valpark Plaza
Valsayn
Trinidad & Tobago
Elder Hunt was up at 4 am to get to the airport by 6:00 am. He flew out at 8:15. He was able to talk to his brothers John and Drew before he flew out.
He then arrived in the Houston at 11:40. He was able to talk to the rest of the family before he boarded his plane at 1:00. He arrived in Trinidad at 9:00 pm. He looks great after that long of a day!
GOT MY VISA Oct 30,2015
Well, you were right mom and dad, I got a phone call from President
Jenkins this morning and I officially have my visa! I fly out of
Phoenix to Houston at 8:50 in the morning on Monday, November 2nd.
I'll be in Houston at lunch time, and I will arrive in Port of Spain
at 9:10pm. I don't know when would be a good time to call. I guess just
Jenkins this morning and I officially have my visa! I fly out of
Phoenix to Houston at 8:50 in the morning on Monday, November 2nd.
I'll be in Houston at lunch time, and I will arrive in Port of Spain
at 9:10pm. I don't know when would be a good time to call. I guess just
be on stand by or something? Or send me a time to call I guess :)
Elder Roberson and I are doing lunch with Dee and Linda today so they
will help me take care of my bike and stuff I need to send home. I
have my iPad until Sunday night, so I can receive emails until then.
Could you send me my West Indies packing list we made today? It should
be on the laptop.
Thank you for all of your support! I'm super stoked! Talk to you later!
Ik hou van jullie!
Elder Hunt
Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPad
Elder Roberson and I are doing lunch with Dee and Linda today so they
will help me take care of my bike and stuff I need to send home. I
have my iPad until Sunday night, so I can receive emails until then.
Could you send me my West Indies packing list we made today? It should
be on the laptop.
Thank you for all of your support! I'm super stoked! Talk to you later!
Ik hou van jullie!
Elder Hunt
Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPad
I got my own Ipad! October 26, 2015
Hello and greetings from Mesa! It's been an awesome week this week.
I finally got my iPad! It's been super nice to have one of these
things. A bunch of different things have happened. I have not heard
anything about my Visa. The transfer ends on November 4th which means
they'd have international missionaries fly out on the 2nd. I'd have to
get my visa before then, or else I don't know if they'll keep me
another transfer. I'm assuming I'm staying another transfer as of
right now.
Elder And Sister Sitati came and spoke to the Mesa mission this last
week. He's such a cool guy. You could practically feel the love he had
for the missionaries radiate off of him. He had us ask questions on
questions we had on becoming better missionaries. He then addressed
all the questions. You know when you have those in depth spiritual
discussions, but you totally follow everything? That's what it was
like. Very neat experience. He told us one of the things we should
focus on is not only to invite others to Christ, but that our purpose
was to "come unto Christ and help others come unto Christ". He really
emphasized the point of becoming not only the missionary we need to be
but also the person that we need to become. What we need to learn and
do on our mission, and what we need to mentally learn and take with us
after our mission. As we focus on serving and helping others, we
become the person God intends us to be. We cannot become that person
if we focus on ourselves.
We had a huge Halloween trunk er treat ward party where they combined
Kingsborough and Cooper wards together. We had dinner and then did
some trunk re treating afterwards. Cooper ward missionaries were in
charge of it all so they asked us to participate in helping plan for
it. We literally invited everyone in the two ward boundaries to come,
member or not. We were able to get 4 investigators there! The F
family came and Sister D brought her daughter and some of her grandchildren to it.
They all said they loved it!
We did a fun service project this last Saturday. We went to the salt
river which is north east of Mesa. They were able to get half the
mission there and hundreds of other volunteers. We walked along the
river bank cleaning out garbage. They made it a huge deal apparently.
Stake leaders were able to get the nature park people to drain the
river some since it's controlled by a dam. It was nice to get out of
the city for a bit too.
Me and Elders Roberson, Ulrich and Loyola did a hike today. It was
just outside of Mesa on the Superstition Mountain range. It took us
something like just under an hour to get to the wind caves. Me and
Ulrich were able to make it to the very top of the mountain just in
time for the sunrise! I swear I took like 100 pictures just of the
sunrise between my camera and my iPad. I got some narley pictures
though! I'll be sure to send them. Ulrich got an awesome time lapse of
the sunrise on his iPad as well. I'll try to send that to you guys.
My mind is blanking out on lessons with investigators. D said she
has been reading the Book of Mormon! She likes it and has been writing
down questions she's had. She's had a very busy week this week and
it's been difficult getting in contact with her though.
We received a new referral named S this week. She moved here from Florida
just a month or so ago. Just before she left for Arizona she said she'd
been praying for help in her life and as an answer to her prayers she was
able to meet with and talk to an LDS member there in Florida. She now wants
to meet with the missionaries! We'll see how this plays out.
Honestly I was not too enthralled with the idea of coming to Mesa. But
one of the things I've been learning more and more is to love the
opportunities that God gives us. At my desk is a quote by Joseph B
Wirthlin "Come what may and love it". We need to turn "trials" or
"burdens" into opportunities and blessings. Whether it be a calling ora hiccup in our plans, we need to be grateful for these opportunities.
Another thing I've been learning is to be yourself. We've all been
given a personality by our Heavenly Father that goes together with the
gospel of Jesus Christ. We each can enjoy the blessings of the gospel
the most when we are ourselves. An awesome video I'd recommend
watching is on the Meet the Mormons disk. In the special features
section is another person that they highlight called the Artist. Why
she isn't in the movie I don't know. What I learned is that the gospel
clicks and connects with us most when we are ourselves. God gives us
certain attributes that make us us. As we interact with and serve
others, we can help others see what the gospel does for us.
Love you all! Thank you all for you prayers! This may be the last
email I send in Mesa. I have no idea where the process my visa is at
only that they have everything.
Ik hou van jullie!
Elder Hunt
Sent from my iPad
I finally got my iPad! It's been super nice to have one of these
things. A bunch of different things have happened. I have not heard
anything about my Visa. The transfer ends on November 4th which means
they'd have international missionaries fly out on the 2nd. I'd have to
get my visa before then, or else I don't know if they'll keep me
another transfer. I'm assuming I'm staying another transfer as of
right now.
Elder And Sister Sitati came and spoke to the Mesa mission this last
week. He's such a cool guy. You could practically feel the love he had
for the missionaries radiate off of him. He had us ask questions on
questions we had on becoming better missionaries. He then addressed
all the questions. You know when you have those in depth spiritual
discussions, but you totally follow everything? That's what it was
like. Very neat experience. He told us one of the things we should
focus on is not only to invite others to Christ, but that our purpose
was to "come unto Christ and help others come unto Christ". He really
emphasized the point of becoming not only the missionary we need to be
but also the person that we need to become. What we need to learn and
do on our mission, and what we need to mentally learn and take with us
after our mission. As we focus on serving and helping others, we
become the person God intends us to be. We cannot become that person
if we focus on ourselves.
We had a huge Halloween trunk er treat ward party where they combined
Kingsborough and Cooper wards together. We had dinner and then did
some trunk re treating afterwards. Cooper ward missionaries were in
charge of it all so they asked us to participate in helping plan for
it. We literally invited everyone in the two ward boundaries to come,
member or not. We were able to get 4 investigators there! The F
family came and Sister D brought her daughter and some of her grandchildren to it.
They all said they loved it!
We did a fun service project this last Saturday. We went to the salt
river which is north east of Mesa. They were able to get half the
mission there and hundreds of other volunteers. We walked along the
river bank cleaning out garbage. They made it a huge deal apparently.
Stake leaders were able to get the nature park people to drain the
river some since it's controlled by a dam. It was nice to get out of
the city for a bit too.
Me and Elders Roberson, Ulrich and Loyola did a hike today. It was
just outside of Mesa on the Superstition Mountain range. It took us
something like just under an hour to get to the wind caves. Me and
Ulrich were able to make it to the very top of the mountain just in
time for the sunrise! I swear I took like 100 pictures just of the
sunrise between my camera and my iPad. I got some narley pictures
though! I'll be sure to send them. Ulrich got an awesome time lapse of
the sunrise on his iPad as well. I'll try to send that to you guys.
My mind is blanking out on lessons with investigators. D said she
has been reading the Book of Mormon! She likes it and has been writing
down questions she's had. She's had a very busy week this week and
it's been difficult getting in contact with her though.
We received a new referral named S this week. She moved here from Florida
just a month or so ago. Just before she left for Arizona she said she'd
been praying for help in her life and as an answer to her prayers she was
able to meet with and talk to an LDS member there in Florida. She now wants
to meet with the missionaries! We'll see how this plays out.
Honestly I was not too enthralled with the idea of coming to Mesa. But
one of the things I've been learning more and more is to love the
opportunities that God gives us. At my desk is a quote by Joseph B
Wirthlin "Come what may and love it". We need to turn "trials" or
"burdens" into opportunities and blessings. Whether it be a calling ora hiccup in our plans, we need to be grateful for these opportunities.
Another thing I've been learning is to be yourself. We've all been
given a personality by our Heavenly Father that goes together with the
gospel of Jesus Christ. We each can enjoy the blessings of the gospel
the most when we are ourselves. An awesome video I'd recommend
watching is on the Meet the Mormons disk. In the special features
section is another person that they highlight called the Artist. Why
she isn't in the movie I don't know. What I learned is that the gospel
clicks and connects with us most when we are ourselves. God gives us
certain attributes that make us us. As we interact with and serve
others, we can help others see what the gospel does for us.
Love you all! Thank you all for you prayers! This may be the last
email I send in Mesa. I have no idea where the process my visa is at
only that they have everything.
Ik hou van jullie!
Elder Hunt
Sent from my iPad
 |
| Superstition Mountain Range at sunrise |
Elder Ulrich and me
Elder Roberson, Loyola, and me
WEIRD WEEK Oct 19, 2015
A lot of weird things have been going on this week. We've barely been
able to make contact with our investigators this week.
We finally were able to get in to see B Sister this week. Apparently
she and her mom would like to listen to us but her uncle just passed
away. Her mom just had some sort of surgery and isn't up for visitors or
company over at their home. We were able to see them in person though and
they're both excited to hear our message.
We've been teaching the C family a lot this week. The parents are very inactive. Their children have not been baptized so we teach them as a part member family.
They've had a tone of crazy stuff happen and have had past drama in the Ward.
It's awesome though because you can see they really want to become
activated again and ultimately want to be married in the temple with
their children. We've been seeing step by step their progression.
They're reading and are trying to pray every night. We're going to see
if we can get them to church this Sunday.
We haven't been able to get into see the other sister this week. She doesn't have
a cell phone and has all sorts of crazy stuff that have happened. The
other F family were out of town this week to go to Tuscon I think. We are
meeting with the B family this week. They were investigators in
another stake but have since moved into our Ward so we've been picking
up where the other missionaries left off. One of the daughters is a
member of the church and her parents, sister, and now her friend are
interested in learning more.
I'd say the most difficult part of missionary work that I've seen here
in Mesa is maintaining contact with investigators since everyone is so
busy going to school or working in different parts of Phoenix. One of
the worst things here is when missionaries do street contacting or
tracking and the people they talk to are members, but some members
pretend not to be members and act totally interested and excited to
learn more.
Don't have much time left but I wanted to say how awesome it's been to
be on a mission. I've seen time and time again how the Lord looks out
for me and is always aware of my thoughts and feelings. I'm really
beginning to learn how to obtain answers to my prayers. I've really
come to learn how the gospel can help each of us EXACTLY as we need
it. That's the beauty of the gospel that makes it so simple yet so
powerful and dynamic. I'm grateful for the chance that I have to be
able to have this chance to tell other people what I have to say about
the gospel.
Love you all. Thank you for all your prayers and support.
Ik hou van jullie!
Elder Hunt
able to make contact with our investigators this week.
We finally were able to get in to see B Sister this week. Apparently
she and her mom would like to listen to us but her uncle just passed
away. Her mom just had some sort of surgery and isn't up for visitors or
company over at their home. We were able to see them in person though and
they're both excited to hear our message.
We've been teaching the C family a lot this week. The parents are very inactive. Their children have not been baptized so we teach them as a part member family.
They've had a tone of crazy stuff happen and have had past drama in the Ward.
It's awesome though because you can see they really want to become
activated again and ultimately want to be married in the temple with
their children. We've been seeing step by step their progression.
They're reading and are trying to pray every night. We're going to see
if we can get them to church this Sunday.
We haven't been able to get into see the other sister this week. She doesn't have
a cell phone and has all sorts of crazy stuff that have happened. The
other F family were out of town this week to go to Tuscon I think. We are
meeting with the B family this week. They were investigators in
another stake but have since moved into our Ward so we've been picking
up where the other missionaries left off. One of the daughters is a
member of the church and her parents, sister, and now her friend are
interested in learning more.
I'd say the most difficult part of missionary work that I've seen here
in Mesa is maintaining contact with investigators since everyone is so
busy going to school or working in different parts of Phoenix. One of
the worst things here is when missionaries do street contacting or
tracking and the people they talk to are members, but some members
pretend not to be members and act totally interested and excited to
learn more.
Don't have much time left but I wanted to say how awesome it's been to
be on a mission. I've seen time and time again how the Lord looks out
for me and is always aware of my thoughts and feelings. I'm really
beginning to learn how to obtain answers to my prayers. I've really
come to learn how the gospel can help each of us EXACTLY as we need
it. That's the beauty of the gospel that makes it so simple yet so
powerful and dynamic. I'm grateful for the chance that I have to be
able to have this chance to tell other people what I have to say about
the gospel.
Love you all. Thank you for all your prayers and support.
Ik hou van jullie!
Elder Hunt
more pictures from October 12, 2015
FIRST MISSION BIKE
FIRST MISSION APARTMENT IN MESA
VERY CLEAN
HE SAID HE CLEANED IT REALLY GOOD
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