'Malhar e Batizar' - 'Workout and Baptize'

Elder Hunt and his roommates at church

The baptism day of twins, Ezequiel and Elizabeth with Elders Hunt and Medina

Monday- Good P day, at 7pm we had the baptisms of twins Ezequiel and Elizabeth! This was by far my favorite baptism yet. The kids were so happy and smiley, they enjoyed it so much and we played in the font a little afterwards. This marked our 17th baptisms of the transfer, officially breaking the record. To celebrate, we ordered 5 pizzas, including one chocolate pizza! It was a great day!

Fun in the font with the twins!  Elder Hunt's favorite baptism so far!

Celebration chocolate pizza, celebrating the 17 baptisms in one transfer.  Breaking the mission record!

Pizza!

4 pizzas for 4 young men

Celebrating 17 baptisms with Elder Medina

Tuesday-We started off our day right and went to the transfer meeting in style, and as in style, I mean the cramped Scooby Doo van (remember when we moved houses) with everyone’s luggage!  

Elder Hunt with his new companion, Elder Aguirres

We got to the meeting and Medina and I with our 17 baptisms was the talk of the whole São Paulo North Mission. 

There, I met up with my new companion, Elder Augirres! He is from Espirito Santo, Brasil (which means Holy Ghost) and it is close to Rio. He only has 5 months on the mission, and I have 4 months, but he is the bomb. I love him a ton. He loves to workout! He is very soft spoken, he is not an intense person, but he knows how to speak and teach well and be charming to gain people’s trust. I like him a lot, he thinks through things, and is a smart guy. Also, when we have a problem or something bad happens with an investigator, he just lets it roll right off him, stops for a second, and resets another plan. He also never gives up which I like a lot too. Overall, we get along great and work extremely well together, but most importantly, we both have the same focus, BAPTISM and HARD WORK.

Elder Hunt, Elder Medina and Elder Klinger

A 'family photo' with Elder Medina (Marcus' trainer, his 'dad'), and Elder Klinger (Medina's trainer, Marcus' 'grandpa')

Stickers from Elisabeth of Elder Hunt

I picked up 3 letters while at the transfer meeting and they were great! I got a special treat from Elisabeth because she made stickers of me! How cool is that!?  Seriously props to her. I also got special letters from my uncle Justin, Hannah, and Nana.  They were great and really brightened my spirits.

         

Last picture with Elder Medina

Elder Augirres and I also decided that our phrase for this transfer will be “Malhar e Batizar”, workout and baptize!   I am very pleased with it.

Elder Hunt bought his new companion some treats to welcome him to Brasiliandia

Welcome Elder Aguirres!

Right now we have no investigators or baptismal dates, so Elder Augirres and I are starting over from square one.

Wednesday-We had our transfer meeting, which was great, including some intense practices of baptismal invites. It was great and I enjoyed it a lot. Another thing great about this week, something that was an answer to my prayers, was that out of nowhere once Elder Augirres began as my companion, all of the sudden my Portuguese improved drastically. Now my Portuguese is not really a hindrance for me. I am not fluent by any means, but I can express or say almost anything I want. Along with learning more Portuguese from Elder Augirres, every morning during companionship study and language study, Elder Taylor and Costa study with us, where the Brazilians learn English, the Americans learn more Portuguese and we do a ton of teaching practices too! I love it! Elder Augirres actually knows a ton of English! But he thinks he is bad at it, so he gets really nervous to speak it.

A new area in Brasiliandia that Elder Hunt is working in, nicknamed 'Iraq'

Thursday- This week we have been working extremely far away in a part of our area that I am not familiar with. We are doing this because of references of investigators who went to church, but they are not paying off yet. We are working in this favela area everyone calls "Iraq" because it is dangerous and there are tons of guns there.  It doesn’t bother us, we are just going where we have references.

Elder Hunt and Elder Aguirres

Thursday it also rained more than any other day on my mission, I've had about 3 times where it rained a ton, but Thursday beat them all. My scriptures were ruined through 2 bags and an umbrella, and my shoes were wet for 3 days.

The back of Elder Hunt's name tags covered with stickers!

Friday-We bought groceries because that was the day the mission money dropped for everyone, but I hatched a plan. Elder Augirres told me on the first day we met him that his 19th birthday would be Sunday. So I told Costa and Taylor about my plan to throw him a surprise birthday party Sunday night. Elder Costa went with Elder Augirres to the bank while I went with Elder Taylor and I bought a cake, ice cream and candles. I wanted to make his birthday special for him. I bet it’s tough having a birthday on the mission and not having anyone acknowledge it or anything. I also want every single companion of mine during the whole mission to know that I love them, so I’m backing up my words with actions. I bought the cake and ice cream and strategically hid them in the fridge and freezer so he would not see.

Chilean money that Elder Costa gave Elder Hunt

Saturday-This week we have been teaching Robson and Isabel, a couple who are about 30 years old. They are having trouble in their relationship and are looking for a church; they are also the family of members. They are totally elect, they LOVE the gospel, every lesson they get stronger and stronger and believe more and more, and their baptismal date is the 22nd of November. They literally asked us to be baptized so their sins could be washed away. THEY ARE AMAZING, they are missionaries’ dream.

A very nice meal of fish, rice and a big salad.  Elder Hunt loved this meal!

Sunday-We went to a leadership meeting to try and smooth out some problems we are having with our Ward leadership, it ended up just making the problems worse. I will not say anything in specific, but things need to change.

Jonas, an American football fan

We had 6 investigators at church with a baptismal date so we were pumped!!! After Elder Taylor and I visited less actives and recent converts, while Augirres and Costa visited others. We went to a less active guys house (Jonas, the guy who played American football in Brasil) to ask for references. His wife recently had a baby, and he was sitting on the couch watching an American football game. He even went as far to say that American football is the best sport in the world and that it is way better than futebol (soccer)! This is blasphemy for a Brasilain to say, but I agreed with him 100%!

The surprise party for Elder Aguirres' 19th birthday

Happy Birthday Elder Aguirres

That night we did the surprise party for Elder Aguirres and he loved it, I could tell he was very thankful and he was totally surprised! That honestly is one of my favorite things in the whole world, seeing 100% real happiness in someone’s face from something I did for them. I love surprising people with gifts and things!

New companions

Monday- Today! Today was cool. We got permission to go tot the mall to shop. The mall is in the São Paulo West Mission was just like an American mall, it even had Christmas decorations and everything!!! It was awesome! Also, close by was the Palmeiras soccer stadium, the stadium of a famous São Paulo soccer team; it was huge and very cool!

 At the mall in the Sao Paulo West mission area

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, even here in Brasil

While at the mall, I bought a new suit and some ties, I am very pleased with them. Also, Elder Costa wanted to get his suit adjusted in the heat of the moment, so he and Augirres returned home quickly to grab it, leaving the 2 Americans alone in the mall. We encountered a restaurant called "América." We thought it was hilarious, but also we saw it as an opportunity that may never present itself again, so we took it! We ate American styled burgers and fries, along with a sundae to finish it off, Murica. Because seriously, how many opportunities will 2 Americans have to eat American food in the center of São Paulo, Brasil? Overall, it was a great day, and we made it back in time to have our email time.

An American restaurant in the mall

Elder Hunt enjoyed an American styled hamburger and fries!

For the record, next week we have the opportunity to go to the São Paulo temple, so my p day will be on Tuesday and like last time, I’m not sure how much time I will have after.

He topped his meal off with an ice-cream sundae

'America' restaurant that Elder Hunt will never forget

I love my new comp, we get along great; I am learning and growing so much. I’m always happy and it’s very rare to find myself in a bad mood. The future is bright, and we will continue to help more and more children of God find the way of truth and righteousness, at whatever the cost.

Elder Hunt

Feliz Natal, Merry Christmas from Brasil

Elder Aguirres and Elder Hunt

Elder Costa and Elder Hunt