Down to One Companionship In Cachoreihna

Bowling with Hugo

Monday-We wanted to have an awesome p-day, so we decided to go with Hugo to a mall to go bowling! We looked in the rule book about things to do on p day and we couldn’t find anything that said we couldn’t, so we went and it was awesome! 

Elder Hunt is the second H on the board- He won!

I won the last game too! Lol! Then after we had burgers and milkshakes at an American 1950’s styled burger place, it was great! :)

Elders Hunt and Nunes with Hugo at the 1950's American restaurant on P-day

Tuesday-District meeting; I gave a training on getting more investigators to church, it was good. After we did a division with the zone leaders. 

Elder Hunt with Elder Della Piana, their new Zone Leader

Elder Della Piana is GREAT!

I went to the area Parada Pinto with our new lone leader Elder Della Piana who is from Maine and is awesome!!! We had so much success and it was a day full of miracles and it really helped me get my excitement and animation back! :)

     

Wednesday-Today I did a division with Cachoreinha 1, Elder Ellis and Cerantonio. I went with Cerantonio to visit their investigators and to animate and motivate. We did a little competition between us, whoever found the most new investigators and marked the most baptismal dates wins. 

Elder Ellis, from Provo, Utah

After a hard, hard awesome day of work, we limped and staggered into the door with having found 24 new investigators and 8 baptismal dates, WE HAD WON! :)

 The two sets of missionaries in the house in Cachoreihna, until the end of this week

Thursday-We got a ton of great work done before lunch, had a good lunch, and then started a good day of work. We were both super tired from killing it the day before, but we still had an all right day. Also, that night we had a meeting with our Bishop so we can try to get things better with us and the ward. The Bishop was very humble and was very open with us and with how he really wanted to help and get things better. :) I could feel the sincerity and I really appreciated his meeting with us. 

Friday-We planned, had lunch then found more novos and taught lessons. But unfortunately we got some very bad news. We found out that some things had happened in the mission and Elders Ellis and Cerantonio would have to be transferred to different areas in the mission (don’t worry, they didn’t do anything wrong.) This leaves Elder Nunes and I in Cachorienha in our house, in the area, in the ward. I’ve always lived with 4 people, in my almost 9 months on the mission. Having just one companionship is way more lonely and difficult. We also tried that night help a member move to improve our relationship with the ward.

At a Zone Activity

"Elder Anderson, my Bud!"

Saturday-In the morning we did an awesome zone activity where the zone met at terminal Cachoreinha and we handed out tons of old Ensign magazines of the church, we made contacts, taught, and took addresses. Then we did another division. I went with Elder Ellis to do various interviews. Elder Nunes went with Cerantonio to meet all of their investigators because we will take over teaching them.

This is one of the BEST BOOKS EVER!

I did an interview in Imirim with a 22 year old woman who was amazing, she knew so much of how God works and she was so in tune with the Spirit. It was great! After, we went to Santana and we helped some of the sisters there with a baptism. I interviewed a 70 year old man who was very knowledgeable and believed in everything: Joseph Smith, Book Of Mormon, everything. It was interesting. 

My last pair of good shoes are GREAT

Sunday-We worked super, super hard all week, tried our very best, and in the end we did not have a baptism and we didn’t even have one investigator at church. We tried to pick them all up with cars and everything, but nothing went right. We were sad.

   

For lunch we ate an amazing, huge, 10-layered lasagna! :) That night the other Elders left, leaving just Nunes and me here in the house.

         

Downtown Sao Paulo

Downtown Sao Paulo

Monday-We had an awesome p day. We went into the center of Sao Paulo and saw some really cool things; it was so nice to get out :)

A lady in our ward made all of the missionaries a chocolate Brasilian Easter Egg!  It was so nice of her!

This week I promise will be a blessed, miracle-filled week, you will all see :)

                          General Conference and Easter! :)

Just Another Day As A Missionary

Monday- We went back to 25 de Março because Elder Nunes was looking to buy glasses and Burt was looking to get a new watch. It rained while we were there, but we ate a good lunch!

Elder Neto Lima and Elder Hunt

Elder Hunt and Elder Burt

Elder Dallto and Elder Hunt

Elder Hunt with Elder Marchant

Elder Kingler and Elder Reboucas with Elder Hunt

Marcus loves being with all of his fellow missionaries

Tuesday-We went to the transfer meeting and it was so nice to see all my good friends there! :) I love transfer meeting because President Farnes always motivates us SO much and I love seeing all the new missionaries arriving in the mission. One thing that will happen from now on is if a companionship baptizes all 6 weeks of the transfer, or baptizes the most in the whole mission, they win a ‘Desire Plate’ (like on a car.) I WANT TO WIN IT!

     

Wednesday-I did training on Lesson 5, which is about The Priesthood and temple work among other things. These are the treats that I brought to the meeting for my people.

We visited Hugo, trying to get him baptized on Saturday, but it depends upon if his family can make it or not, it just needs to be soon. We visited Michelle, but she’s not progressing anymore, she has an excuse every week not to go to church. She doesn’t want to get baptized, so we had to stop teaching her for now. Sad day, not a ton of success. 

Thursday-We cleaned our house like crazy today because it really needed it. We worked in a favella built into a steep hillside close to where Lia and Yazmin live. We worked super hard, it rained a ton and was very slippery, but none of the people we tried to contact wanted anything. :( 

We visited some recent converts in the night and then searched for a long time to find a man who was almost baptized a while ago, but it turns out that he just happened to join a different church a few days earlier...

Friday-We were given the opportunity to write the article for the mission newspaper. It was such a privilege because generally only Zone Leaders and the assistants get to write the articles. And especially because I LOVE writing too! It brought back some of my good newspaper memories. :)  Today was another rough day of not much success and a ton of rain.

Saturday-We had a really good lunch really far away at a member’s house. Then we did a division so I could go do an interview for the Sisters in Santana and so Nunes could go visit Hugo. Sister Morley and Sister K. Silva are also doing well. They have SO much faith! They called me to come do an interview for them for the following day, I asked who will be interviewed and the sisters said they weren’t sure yet, but that they would have a miracle and that they would have someone. The next day they had a man to be interviewed and he was baptized the following day; it was spectacular! 

Sunday-Hugo wasn’t baptized, but he went to church today. He was our only investigator at church despite our efforts with members.  We provided rides to pick up various investigators but no one wanted to go. :(

         

Elder Hunt with his companion, Elder Nunes

At lunch there was a return missionary of 3 years and he was super cool with his advice and stories. But Hugo's baptism had to be remarked for April 4 because he’s going to a music festival next week. 

That night we had a meeting with the ward leadership. This is the first one we have ever been invited to. Finally. This was the first step in improving our relationship with our ward. 

 We also got news that on May 3 an Apostle will come to visit the Sao Paulo North Stake, so that will be interesting. If I’m transferred I will not get to see him. 

This was a rough week :( but, everything starts in the mind; we will get back up and have a better week this week!

Love,

Elder Hunt

Sushi, Assistant Dallto, and Transfers

Sushi in Brasil

Monday-So last P-day we were feeling a little down, rain was falling, and with nothing to do, we decided to go to the Andorinha mall. It was super cool, we went and looked around in a bunch of stores and then ate sushi! Sushi is one of my favorite things :) We returned by bus with a ton of traffic to learn that due to the rain, a huge part of the street caved in, causing the heavy traffic buildup. The good thing is that we got haircuts and visited Hugo that night, so we were productive.  :)

Elder Hunt with his Zone

New Baptismal Invites and Magnets

Tuesday-We attended zone training and there received new baptismal invites and refrigerator magnets for our investigators. We had some visits in the afternoon, followed by a miracle with Michelle that night. She said she wanted to get baptized on Sunday! What had happened was that she promised us that she would go to Stake Conference with us on the weekend but she didn’t. On Monday she broke out in hives all over her body, and she told us she realized that the hives happened because she didn’t go to church like she said she would.

Toblerone Chocolate! 

Wednesday-I did a division in Cantareira with Elder Zenteno! That was the first time the two of us were back together since we were companions last transfer. I did a bunch of interviews for him and it was great. Also at a supermarket I came upon a huge Toblerone Swiss chocolate bar, my family's favorite! It was such a great find :)

A Spider bite on Marcus' leg

Thursday-Now today was interesting. I did a division with the assistants. My companion stayed with another junior companion in another area, and I went with Assistant to the President, Elder Dallto. He is from Manuas, Brasil and he is the greatest! He taught me so much and from him I genuinely felt like he was there to help me and help our area. I felt his sincerity and I realized how good of a leader he is. He was just himself and was super funny and real. AND he's all about that baptize.  J

The people still call Elder Hunt 'Wolverine' sometimes :)

A highlight of that night was when we were in Vista Alegre (a super poor favela) teaching and finding new investigators when ALL the lights went out. We ended up teaching a huge family an extremely powerful lesson of the Restoration under candlelight. It was an amazing experience and certainly one I will never forget. 

Pizza with Elder Dallto

Friday- Day two of the division with Elder Dallto. He did a ton of interviews for us and we also did weekly planning together. It was another amazing, exciting day! He interviewed Hugo and Michelle, so they both will be getting baptized soon! 

Saturday-I spent a big part of my afternoon doing A TON of interviews for Elder Burt, but the thing is, I love doing interviews, so it’s always fun for me. That night we visited Michelle and she said she didn’t want to get baptized anymore and we were DEVESTATED. After, we attended a baptism of Elder Burt and Elder Cerantonio.  This was also the day of my beautiful, amazing Mother's birthday! :)

Sunday-We all anxiously awaited transfer calls to find out that Elder Nunes and I will stay here in Cachoreinha for one more transfer together, Elder Burt is going to an area called Ariston, which is a SUPER good area.

Elder Burt and Elder Hunt 

But I’m really, really sad Elder Burt is leaving. :(  Elder Cerantonio will also stay in Cachoreinha with an American from Provo, Utah who has 3 months on the mission, his name is Elder Ellis. 

     

After 8 months on the mission, Elder Hunt's Mephisto shoes are toast. 

"It's been a good 8 months with these shoes." 

'Goodbye shoes, the legend lives on.'

In sacrament meeting, Lia and Yazmin were confirmed. :) We had a good lunch, visited some people, but then had to be home by 6pm because huge riots all over Brasil were happening to impeach and overthrow President Dilma here in Brasil. (President of Brasil)

              

God has kept me here in Cachoreinha for a while longer because I know He has unfinished business for me here- with my companion, with this ward, with my leaders, and with myself.  #3More

Elder Hunt