Monday, October 27, 2014

Only In Brasilandia

Elders Da Silva, Taylor and Hunt- the 3 Americans


Hey everyone!
I had a great, but wild week this week! Love you guys! :)

Cool Street Art with a message



Monday- I had a great P-day, Elder Taylor and I stayed an extra hour together to email and went and got donuts after as a treat! We totally bonded and I’m happy we are becoming closer, because I want top help him because he is American and I know exactly what he is going through. After, I worked out more, wrote letters, listened to talks by Grandpa and MOTAB music.


A less active teenager fixed our pen drives and got rid of the virus! Yes! It was cold today, which was nice because it’s been super hot lately! My personal goal for this week was to stop worrying so much about home and really focus on enjoying my experience here in Brazil and working as hard as possible with extreme focus. I’m extremely motivated this week! Let’s go!!!


Tuesday- Zone Conference was good, I bought more protein bars, Medina and I had lunch at an all- you- can eat place because they gave us money for lunch. I loved it, tons of meat and veggies, and I also discovered banana frites, fried bananas! Savory on the outside and deliciously sweet on the inside! SO good!! Before, we walked through this favela because it was quicker than going around and the same thing happened. We entered and these guys with guns called up with walkie talkies to tell everyone else we were there, but they respect us so nothing happened. 

Edwarda
Elders Hunt and Medina with Edwarda and Augusto


We have been working on a teenage girl and her little brother to be baptized. They finally want to be baptized, but the girl’s mom flipped out on her about random stuff and even said things as ridiculous as her daughter breaks the word of wisdom because she doesn’t get 8 hours of sleep and the word of wisdom is a health code. Little things keep getting in our way of tons of baptisms, honestly, it’s the parents of the kids and teenagers we are working with that are getting in our way and saying no. It’s just another challenge we are working through.   

These are the donuts Elder Hunt ate on P-day. 


Today was the first day I was bitten by a dog. There are TONS of stray random dogs here, EVERYWHERE. We have trouble with them sometimes, but today was the first time I was bitten. It didn’t break the skin, but the back of my calf is bruised and hurts a ton to walk.

Street Art featuring South Africa


Wednesday- It was cold and cloudy and great today! We found a random lime cake mix and everyone in the house decided that we should make it, but Elder Costa took the lead and poured the mix and a whole liter of milk in the blender without reading the instructions...our "cake" was over before it began. We then did everything we could to try and save our precious cake. We added eggs, hot chocolate mix, coconut flakes, butter, chocolate frosted flakes...and even protein powder, but nothing did the job. Then the others decided that I should just make pancakes out of it, so I did and they turned out all right. 

Elder Hunt holding 'Pricilla,' the fat white rabbit


After, we went to lunch and I discovered they had a pet rabbit! I decided I was going to catch it and take a picture with it! It’s just a rabbit, I mean come on, how difficult could it be, right?  On the roof of this house I tried to catch this fat, white rabbit named Pricilla for over a half hour...Elder Taylor was with me and was the designated cameraman because he didn’t want to touch the "dirty rabbit," and Medina and Costa were downstairs, so I tried to catch this rabbit alone. It would run and hide and I’d have to chase it and find it over and over and over.  I was exhausted. 

Elder Hunt likes rabbits.  Ha ha.

Eventually the others joined us and by then I was drenched in sweat. All together we caught the rabbit, and Elder Costa victoriously snatched it up by the ears. I thought it was really funny. In the end I got my picture and we went down to eat as champions. 
Rabbit: 0 Elders:1. We will meet again, rabbit.

Pricilla, the rabbit


Also, these drugged out kids threw tons of fruit at us today, I didn’t like it, but luckily for us they missed every time. Here, no one does anything to our faces, only when we are walking away, no one has courage.

Elder Hunt eating a pastel


Thursday- In the feira, Elder Media and I tasted a Brazilian classic, a pastel! A fried square tortilla type thing filled with whatever you want, I got egg and meat!   Later Elder Da Silva and I went on a division and went off!!! Together we gave out 45 Books of Mormon, taught 31 lessons, had 7 new investigators, and 88 contacts!!!! We went off!! We gave out every Book of Mormon in the chapel and all of them he had in his apartment. If we would have had more, we could have kept going! I love being the "senior." I do so much better, learn much quicker, and grow a TON!

Elder Hunt with a combat fighting knife

Elder Hunt and Elder Da Silva, who go on exchanges often together


But there was one experience...we only had 2 books left, it was about 8:30pm. We saw a huge group of people walking towards us a bit down the street. I told Elder Da Silva we would give our last 2 Books Of Mormon out to these people, no matter what.   We walked to the group of people, introduced ourselves, and by the time we realized, it was too late... At that moment, we were surrounded by 7 super gay guys and a girl all whacked out on drugs...we were surrounded...this was the beginning of the end... I started talking about the Book Of Mormon, but they were all more interested in me and my biceps than the book! They were creepy and weird! They kept trying to touch me and were asking me all these strange gay questions. I explained about the book, they took our last 2 and then they said they also practiced black magic...I kept my cool, but tried to hurry and made an excuse to leave. As I said that, the group attacked me and a few of them tried to hug and kiss me, so I pulled a ‘swim, spin, and rip’ move from football (thank you Coach Yarno.)  Elder Da Silva and I sprinted away!!! It was super scary, they touched me, ewwwwwww.  I was super disturbed! What an experience, I will not forget that.

 Sargent Hunt

Friday-Today we fought so hard for 3 children and 2 different sets of parents stopped their kids from being baptized.   They parents refused to allow it, even though the children want to. We tried so hard and we were honesty super disappointed and sad after, but we kept our heads up and kept working. 

Elevator selfie


We taught the boyfriend of recent convert Daniella about the law of chastity, and he didn’t like it. He respects us a ton and really wants to change his life, so we are trying to help them get married, but before he could get baptized he needs to stop some issues he has.  



Saturday-Through tons of drama I BAPTIZED Edwarda today.  We worked so hard with Edwarda and her brother and their less active mother, but we FINALLY baptized Edwarda and her brother.  After the baptism we had 1 hour left before curfew and we needed a miracle, so we sprinted to the house of Felipe and told him he would be baptized tomorrow and he said he would think about it, to our surprise!

Shoes hanging on the wires


Sunday- We awoke to a large section of the road closed down somewhat close to where we live. It was the re-vote for the presidency of Brasil on Sunday, and it’s a big deal, so we thought it was for that. While picking up investigators for church, we discovered what had happened. We stumbled upon the scene of the crime, a body in the street in a body bag. The police have killed 2 people, there were literally bodies in the streets. The bodies remained there for most of the day as well. It really shook up the area, all the people, traffic, everything.  It was very solemn. Brasil is crazy.

Maria Hellena, on her baptism day


Maria Hellena was baptized, (I baptized her) but we had to get a ride far away to get her because she decided she didn’t want to be baptized today...but we convinced her and she was so happy afterwards. Felipe was not baptized, so we ended our week with only 3 baptisms. 

Sunday Lunch- YUM

Elder Hunt's Key Lime Pie

Dorinha, who made Sunday lunch for the Elders

We had an amazing lunch at Dorinha’s; she made me key lime pie again! :)  I know she loves me for making this pie. It rained a ton. We gave out a ton of Books Of Mormons to try and win the zone vs. zone mission wide competition, but we ended up coming in 2nd.  Also, Dilma won the Presidency of Brasil; she’s gay, doesn’t believe in God, doesn’t like the church and she semi communist. There are rumors of civil war.

Dulce de Leche filled donuts Elder Hunt bought today

Pasoca, this is the closest thing to Peanut Butter than they have in Brasil.  It is delicious and has a good mix of protein, fat and carbs.




In other news, I’m doing extremely well, I’m very happy and focused, I love being here; I love serving! 

Brasil is the best place to serve a mission possible!

Elder Hunt


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Every Ear Will Hear the Truth


A family all dressed in white for baptism is the absolute BEST

Hello everyone,

Last P day I wrote letters, worked out a bit more and listened to talks from Grandpa Faust, and I ended up falling asleep on the tile floor in our entry way while my comp and the other Elders slept in their beds, haha. I woke up in a puddle of drool and sweat J. This week has been SOOOO HOTTT I’ve been dying. Also I got a haircut, I needed it! We all worried a bit hearing that the Ebola virus had infected a person in Rio.

8 year old Flavio


Tuesday – We found a family who had been taught by the missionaries a while back and all the children of age were baptized, but this is where 8-year-old Flavio comes in, he wasn’t 8 when the missionaries came and taught a few years back. We baptized him this week; he’s so awesome. He is a crazy kid and I had the privilege to baptize him on Sunday!

Elder Hunt, Flavio, and Elder Medina


Wednesday – So I was on another division with Elder Da Silva, (I’ll get a picture with him one of these days). We made 40 contacts and he asked me if I remembered a crazy experience from our last division, I said no....he then told me that on our last division, a man pulled up to us in a car, pointed a gun at us and asked us for money. I asked what I did, he said I didn’t notice as I went to shake his hand with my normal huge grin on my face...yes...this seriously happened and I didn’t realize it...I remember this moment but I didn’t realize what had actually happened. Elder Da Silva said he frantically said we are poor missionaries and then the man sped off. I still can’t believe that happened haha.

Thursday – We left early in the morning to head to the mission office because I received a call that I needed to come sign something. I thought it was for a package, but it was for my visa. I was honestly bummed out. It took us about 3 hours to get there – 3 buses a train and a metro each way. 

On the way home I carried a large box FULL of Book of Mormons. Carrying this box was one of the most physically and mentally demanding things I’ve ever done in my life. 3 hours, public transit, the heat, the crowds, with a super heavy box, wow that just took everything I had to do it.

Friday – Super hot day, every day is blistering hot now. I went on another division with Elder Da Silva. I was given the responsibility of hosting 2 family home evenings in 2 separate homes, it was a huge responsibility and honestly I was nervous. Elder Da Silva is in his first transfer, so he still doesn’t speak well, so it was pretty much me alone, but we taught both about temple work and family history and we played a game, both were great successes!!! 

We got home in the night, drenched in sweat head to toe, sooo parched, I went to enjoy the splendor of dirty room temperature tap water to find out our water had been shut off by the government again...In a bout of anxiety, I drank over 2 liters of chocolate milk, and spent the rest of the night throwing it up...it was horrible.

 Wedding at the Stake Center Church Building



Saturday – We went to a wedding at the Pirituba Stake Center. I don’t remember the last wedding I went to, but the atmosphere of the wedding was seriously magical. I can’t wait to get married, so exciting and exhilarating! Such a special time! We only stayed for a bit because the wedding was our lunch appointment for the day and then we headed out back to work.   

Daniella with Elders Medina and Hunt

Later we visited Daniella (the sister of Robson) Remember Robson and Daniella both have a troubled past. We baptized them both :)  But Daniella was experiencing difficulties, so we brought Dirce, my favorite person in our ward, the sweet woman who has always treated me so well. Dirce was able to help her immensely, more than us missionaries – this is why members are vital to this work.



Sunday – We had 3 baptisms, Flavio! Hellann! and Daniella!
We woke up, got out in the streets to pick up investigators early, by 8:15 we had a great huge plan with certain people who were going to go with us with cars to pick up certain people and then we looked at the time on the telephone and realized it was 9:15 because it was the 1 hour spring forward day in Brasil! AHHHHHHH

Our good friend Kleber came to church on Sunday.  It was the first time he had been to church since 2005.  It was awesome to have him there.



We picked up people and rushed to church. We had 12 investigators in sacrament meeting! It was great!   Flavio was there, Hellann was there, the family of Daniella was there, but Daniella wasn’t! They said she decided she didn’t want to anymore. 

Hellann

I put my hand on Elder Medina’s shoulder and said we are going to do what the legends of the mission do. We brought all our baptism clothes and clothes for Daniella to show her we mean business, brought our secret weapon Dirce and got a ride to go to the house of Daniella super far away in the favella.  At first, Daniella wouldn’t budge. Dirce asked to speak to Daniella alone, we exited. Within 5 min, both women were sobbing and Daniella happily returned to the chapel with us to be baptized. Dirce is powerful and amazing, and only a convert of 4 months.  The baptisms were amazing, I baptized Flavio and Elder Medina did the others.  Great day! Great day!


Tough, extremely difficult week, but the rewards were amazing. But this week, we are shooting for a minimum of 6 baptisms. Our goal is to break the mission record of 15 in one transfer. We want it badly. 

The work is hastening here in Brasilandia; it starts here and will engulf the world. 
Every ear will hear the truth.

Elder Hunt

Monday, October 13, 2014

Robson


Elder Hunt and Medina visiting Zilda in the hospital with her husband

Family and Friends,
Last week on P-day, we took about an hour bus ride to the hospital to visit a recent convert who wanted us to come see her.  We went with her husband. We learned that 3 people can’t visit the same person, so we pulled a James Bond type maneuver and found out 2 other people’s names of who are staying in the hospital, and used those names at the front desk. It was super sneaky because the hospital actually had much tighter security than I thought, lots of guards and security checks. Zilda was very happy we visited and we ended up teaching a lesson to the other patients in her room. 



When we got home after grocery shopping, we only had one hour of P-day left, but it was worth it to make Zilda happy. That night we taught a huge family and had 8 new investigators!


 Brasilian donuts- Elder Hunt's favorite

Tuesday- We had a Zone Conference and it was great. Our zone is a lot different from the transfers, but it was great! I learned a ton, and everyone likes me hahaha! Medina taught me that you need to be spiritual and social on the mission.  We had a great lunch, I was able to have just salad, chicken and dessert, but I started a great little trick, I bring my 2 liters of water with me so I don’t have to drink the soda- another way to be healthy here. 

Protein pancakes made with 0 Carbs!


 Elder Hunt loves the street art in Brasilandia

Wednesday-We were teaching a young woman in the favelas.  We taught her in the home of these 7 little kids who I absolutely adore, and they love me too! They all give me a big hug when we arrive and call me wolverine
We are preparing her to be baptized soon, but she was nervous about it, so out of nowhere, Elder Medina says,

"Elder Hunt will sing you all a song in English to show you how not to be scared."

Soo, I sang "Heartless" By Kanye West, but the Kris Allen version haha ;) I was nervous, but it was good :)


 Elder Hunt looking pretty swag.  
Can you picture in your mind him singing Kanye to some nervous converts?!!  

The wind was so strong that it blew out the big glass door in their house!

More Street Art


Friday- When you work super hard, the time flies by. But the mission is also going by so slow. I bought 40 eggs in the feira on Thursday and we discovered a new type of mango that is absolutely delicious!    Our lunch appointment fell through, so I just ate eggs. I went on another division with Elder Da Silva because we had a baptismal interview.

Robson

Elder Medina and I had been searching and praying for a miracle for a baptism this week, and we found one. His name is Robson and he is the uncle of Leticia from last week. He straight up found us and asked us if he could be baptized, we were ecstatic!  He's had a troubled past, but he’s all right now. 

Saturday- We started our fast and by the time we ended on Sunday, I was just about dead. The weather is sooooooo hotttttt. I was dehydrated, famished, and exhausted. It was the most difficult fast of my life. 

Robson's baptism day


Robson asked if his 1 year old daughter could come watch "her papa enter the waters of baptism and become a new clean man;" it was cute. 

Sunday his baptism was great, we had a member baptize him, this is my number 7 baptism, so excited.

The mission is super tough. This week we taught 56 total lessons, wow, we worked super hard this week. I’m exhausted. We will have more baptisms next week! 

Elder Hunt with Elders Medina, Taylor and Costa- his housemates


Sunday night, Dorinha, made Elder Medina and I key lime pie because I told her it is my favorite!!! It was delicious! But not as good as home. :)

Elder Hunt with Elder Taylor from Oklahoma


The famous, Elder Costa who has the record for the most baptisms in the mission ever, with 86 and he still has 3 months left.  

The mission is tough, super, super tough, but I need to keep pushing along. 


Elder Hunt


Monday, October 6, 2014

The Real Question Is, "What Would Christ Do?"

Elder Allen left to go home after honorably serving his 2 year mission

Elder W Silva was transferred to the countryside
Elder Hunt will miss them both



Dear Family and Friends,

New transfer this week. Elder Allan went back to Draper, Utah after completing his 2 years of service. I will miss him a ton! He was a good friend to me and helped me a lot.   Also, Elder W Silva was transferred to the countryside of Brasil; I will also miss him a lot too!  

We received Elder Costa, a Brasilan who only has 2 transfers left. He is also the BEST missionary in the mission. He is a straight legend. He has over 70 baptisms...woah.  He is a convert with an extremely strong testimony and he has a formula to get people baptized, we call him the Mormon preacher.  He has been the assistant to the president twice. He seriously eats, sleeps, and breaths baptism. I will send pics with him next week.  His companion is Elder Taylor, an American straight out of the MTC. He has reddish hair and glasses. He is from Oklahoma, but his dad was a mission president in Utah. He is a direct descendant of President John Taylor. I like him; he is cool. He is in the same position I was in 6 weeks ago. Because I know how he feels, I’m trying to help him as much as possible. Also, supposedly, Elder Neil L. Anderson made his call the SAO Paulo Brasil North too. He was supposed to be my comp in the MTC, but he had medical issues and had to wait a transfer.   It is interesting because I have now taken over the position that Elder Allan was for me. When we are trying to explain something or he doesn’t understand, his comp or mine will ask me for the English word so he can understand. Him being here has really helped me to step up. Also, since Elder Costa is here, we are trying to learn as much as possible from him; he is pushing all of us and we have never worked this hard in a week before. Our number’s exploded this week. He’s been the much needed motivation we have wanted. We are now competing with him haha. 

Elder Hunt is cleaning up his diet.  At home he is eating eggs, ham, veggies and protein powder.  For breakfasts and some dinners he makes omelets like the one shown above.  The other missionaries in his apartment ask him to make one for them because they are so delicious!  He has become the resident chef!  
At his lunch appointments he eats and enjoys what is served, but has cut back to only one desert a week.
He is feeling great physically.

He will go through A LOT of ham.


On Tuesday we taught 17 year old Felipe and his mother. During the lesson, his mother broke down and wept and went on about the problems of her family and how close it was to falling apart. We showed her LDS.Org and all its amazing features. She looked up tons of things on the family and even listened to the family proclamation to the world. This family desperately needs our help, and we are here with open arms

  Fliers litter the city streets on Election Day, last Sunday.


Wednesday- I can’t believe its October already. Time is flying by, but also going so slow. Helping Elder Taylor has really showed me just how far I’ve come since I’ve arrived here 6 weeks ago. I have made so much progress; it’s amazing. We are teaching and doing everything MORE now. Wednesday night we tried raw cows milk in a members home, it was different, but great! :)

 Elder Hunts exercises each morning using his rings, body weight exercises, stair sprints and weighted push-ups.

He has filled a backpack with Books of Mormon to do his weighted push ups and exercises.


Thursday- Today really showed me how capable I am. I went on a division with Elder Taylor so Elder Costa could learn more of the area with Medina. I was suddenly thrust into the position of ‘senior’companion, and there we were, 2 inexperienced Americans in the middle of the rough streets of Brazil.  It was crazy! I knew where to go, I spoke very well, we taught a ton, and I helped Elder Taylor learn a ton.

Being more experienced forced me to step up and it was such a great experience for me! :) I loved being the senior! I did practically everything because elder Taylor had only been there 2 days and doesn’t speak well, but I had him do some contacts to help him learn.

In 4 hours, we had done, 35 street contacts, 7 lessons taught, and 4 new investigators! We went off!!! I never realized how capable I was.

"You never know how strong you are until you have to be."   

This whole entire week WE WENT OFF!!!  The work is hastening, my friends :) and it feels great :)  This all just feels so right, its tough, but its right. 

Friday- I had another opportunity to be the senior companion again, in the area next to ours, with another new American. He is half Brazilian and half American but he doesn’t speak Portuguese or anything, he lives in New Mexico. Again, I had another awesome experience seeing how capable I am pushing myself. Because the other Elder can’t speak, I do it all. I have learned so much, it is awesome!

In 4 hours we had 19 street contacts, 10 lessons taught, and 8 new investigators!!!! When I’m the senior I almost feel invincible, it’s great! I love seeing real life how much I’ve improved and how much I can do! The FUTURE IS BRIGHT!

Saturday- GENERAL CONFERENCE! YES! I loved General Conference so much! I got so much out of every talk. It was so great when they said anything about missionaries because they were talking about me/us! I felt so proud!


88,000 missionaries strong worldwide, that’s amazing!  

I got to watch Conference in English with the other American missionaries in our zone. And for the first time, we were allowed to watch priesthood session!!! Usually we can't because it is on so late here, but it was great! :)

Latisia, 10 year old on her baptism day 


Sunday- Also awesome again!!! We took a recent convert to Conference, but we took the wrong bus and were late.  After the "morning' session, which started at 1pm for us. We had a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!   The baptism of Latisia, a 10 year sweet girl. It was amazing! She had a member in the ward baptize her. It is a huge accomplishment for us to have a baptism in the fist week of the transfer! Our goal is at minimum, a baptism every single week of the transfer.  

Latisia with Elders Hunt and Medina and her family


We had to take the recent convert home after because she didn’t know how to get back and we ended up being an hour late for the next session of Conference, which made me sad, but I still enjoyed it so much! SUCH  A GREAT WEEK!!  

Today on our P day a recent convert called us because she is in the hospital and wants us to visit. P day is only once a week and weren’t extremely excited about it at first, but we are going to visit her after email. We know serving her will bring her so much happiness and blessings for us all.



Because the real question is,
 ‘What would Christ do?’

I love you and miss you all so much! :)



Elder Hunt