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