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