Wake Me Up When My Birthday Is Over

"These guys are crazy!" :)

Tuesday-Happy 16th Birthday Elisabeth!!! :)  We had district meeting and it went super well! :) I was not nervous one bit and I felt extremely comfortable, it went great! I gave a training lesson on how to use time with wisdom.  

Elder Hunt brings treats to his district meetings for his group to enjoy.

Elder Hunt and Elder Burt are great friends

That afternoon I did a division with Elder Burt and it also went very well. 

We found a ton of new investigators, marked many baptismal dates, and most importantly, helped a ton of his current investigators progress, closer and closer to getting baptized. 

Wednesday-We worked really hard with our area book today. We found some ancient investigators who had been to church before and were really receptive! :) We had more great lessons that afternoon, helping our investigators progress and progress! That night we had a lesson with Michelle, a very elect, prepared 19 year old girl. She accepted a baptismal date for March 1st and when the lesson had ended, she revealed that she had made us dinner!!! It was great!  :) 

An investigator bought us pizza!

Thursday-I went back to Cantareira to do more interviews for Elders Zenteno and Messick. Elder Zenteno came to our area to do interviews for us and I went and did interviews for them. I had 3 awesome interviews that I really enjoyed, including one with an old woman who is AMAZING; she will be a huge force and help for that ward. Overall I had an amazing time doing interviews in Cantareira!

But unfortunately we are having ghost problems again. Mysteriously popped balloons, strange noises, things ripped off of walls, and to top it all off, Elder Cerantonio awoke in the night and had a ghost at the foot of his bed staring right at him. Things have not been good in the house. 

Go Timberwolves!

Friday-It was a long, hot and uneventful day. Except we taught Michelle the Plan of Salvation and she really liked it! I was super excited for my birthday for the upcoming day! I always love birthdays and we had planned to have a baptism and order pizza. The Elders in the house say they have a great Key Lime Pie recipe! I’m pumped!!!!!!

Saturday- Today was the worst birthday I've ever had in my whole life. We had a baptism planned for an investigator who I absolutely love named Hugo, who it has taken a long time to be baptized and he was 100% ready. Both of us were in our baptismal clothes and then something happened with our zone leaders and they decided that he couldn’t get baptized. Hugo, my comp and I were very sad. 

Then we were late for lunch and the woman who made it got upset and said that she will never make lunch for us ever again.

Then more bad stuff happened and we tried to visit Hugo, but he is mad and sad and doesn’t want to get baptized anymore because he’s offended due to what happened. 

I tried to do a baptismal interview for Elder Burt, but the person wasn’t home; we just got into a huge argument with the person’s mother who we wanted to interview. We walked out of the deep, dark huge favela with tears, feeling defeated by this day.  Happy Birthday, Elder Hunt.

Merry Birthday Elder Hunt

Pizza to celebrate Elder Hunt's 19th birthday

To try and make it better, we ordered pizza and ate the key lime pie, which was delicious! :) But more problems ended up coming. 

The guys made him a Key Lime Pie for his birthday

"Elder Burt made these scones because he loves me."

Sunday-We had the baptism of Luciano, a man who has known the church since he was 13 years old (now hes 41.) He told us on Sunday that he was so excited for his baptism the next day that he couldn’t sleep and that he stayed up reading the Book of Mormon all night.   He explained to us all that had happened in Alma chapters 7-11:) He's awesome! :)

Luciano on his baptism day

After the baptism we started having many problems with our ward and stake leadership, but things will get better, I hope. 

Silvano, an awesome guy in our ward

Elder Hunt with Elder Cerantonio

Monday-We had a zone activity and played volleyball and basketball. 

Other news, my district baptized 5 people this week. As for right now, the zone has baptized 23 people this month, and out of those 23, 16 have been from my district! :)

Elder Hunt

We Baptized A Family!

Tuesday-When the alarm went off at 6:30am I was already awake because I hadn’t slept a wink the night before. I was sick all of Tuesday, so I stayed home with Elder Burt.

Wednesday-Once again, I didn’t sleep at all and was awake all night so I am super fatigued. Morning studies are always amazing. We had lunch at home, so I made some eggs and grilled some onions. I also printed my baptismal photos! Finally! :) I love my baptismal photos!

That afternoon we visited Hugo and things are 100% good for his baptism on Saturday. After, I went to do a baptismal interview for Elder Burt. It was a little girl who was SUPER excited to be baptized; it was great!  On our way back to our area a random guy on the street waved us down and told us that things had happened in his life and that now he KNOWS the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He said he was going to move to a different state in Brasil, but that he wants to get baptized first!!! We marked with him for my birthday, February 21.  

WHAT A MIRACLE!!!

Elder Hunt and Elder MacArthur

Thursday-We did a division with Elder Perkins and Elder MacArthur who is the health and finance secretary. I went to their area, which is called Tucuruvi, and Elder Perkins stayed with Elder Nunes here in our area.

The most authentic NY styled pizza so far in Brasil, plus a chocolate pizza

Their area is very rich and most of everyone there are very closed and don’t want to listen, but we were able to teach a good amount of lessons and find a few "elect" people, who were ready for the gospel in their lives at that moment. That night we realized that they had no food whatsoever in their house, so we ordered the most authentic tasting New York style pepperoni pizza I’ve ever had in Brasil, as well as a special limited time offer of a M&M pizza! :)

Obviously Elder Hunt enjoyed the M&M pizza

Friday-The day started off well, a bright sunny morning. But after we left the members house for lunch, it felt like we stepped out the door and walked into hell. The sky had turned from sun to a very sinister cloud cover, but not a rain cloud cover, just like a dark, evil cloud cover that sucks out all sources of light and hope from the world. Everyone in the streets was on edge and acting strange. ALL of this remained the entire day.

Elder Hunt was almost hit by a car this day

On our way to pick up some references from the elders from Parada Pinto, a violent car crash happened right in front of us, close enough that my adrenaline pumped and we literally had to run out of the way because the car that was hit came speeding out of control right for us.  If we had not moved...

     

Just being out in the streets we could tell something was up, something was different, we could feel it in the air, it was heavy on our spirits, Satan’s presence was very strong this day. We could feel it and it did not feel good.

This day Hugo told us that he was going on vacation, so his baptism fell... Later I went and did another interview for Elder Burt, it was a 25 year old woman; I helped her clear her doubts and she will be baptized on Sunday.

One little miracle is that we finally marked a baptismal date with a little girl named Gabrieli, we marked it for her birthday, March 6, which was actually the day I was baptized as well :)

The missionaries have a little fun at night to combat the evil feeling they experienced on Friday 13th

When we arrived home at night, we talked about the dark, sinister, demonic presence of the day and finally realized that today was Friday the 13th and the first day of Carnival...

Saturday-We did a division in Cantareira, Elder Zenteno came back to Cachoreihna and stayed with my comp to do our baptismal interviews and I went to Cantareira with his comp, a young American named Elder Messick. Their area has a very rich part and then a super favella part. We visited both. It was just a bit frustrating because Elder Messick doesn’t know the area very well, so we wasted a lot of time walking really far, getting lost, and not finding the people who I came to do the interviews for.  I returned home that night.  Happy Valentines day.

Sunday-We went with a ride and picked up Rodrigo, Eni, and their grandson Enzu for their baptisms that day! After sacrament meeting (which we have last) they were all baptized!!! It was so great and they were so happy! 

It is awesome to baptize a FAMILY!

Rodrigo, Eni, and Enzu on their baptism day

That night we found a 19 year old young woman from a reference who was SUPER ELECT, she has been well prepared already by the Lord. It was an amazing powerful lesson, nothing like I’d experienced before.

So far this transfer I've grown so much, so much that I literally can see the results first hand. Last p-day I hit exactly 7 months on the mission, and Sunday I hit my 44th baptism.  

Also, this week our zone baptized 6 people, but my district baptized 5, and all 5 of those people came from Cachoreinha. Burt and his comp baptized 2 and us, 3.  My 19th birthday is also on this coming Saturday! :)

Jazmin

Elder Hunt and Elder Nunes

Elder Hunt bought some treats to welcome his new companion Elder Nunes to the house

Tuesday-Transfers. We got there a bit late, but it all worked out. I went to a leadership meeting and then I wished all my pals goodbye until the next time and we got on the bus headed to Cachoreinha. It rained and rained and rained. 

'This randomly happened to my shirt in the rainstorm'

We got off the bus in our suits, nice shoes, and ties (because of transfers) and it was POURING rain. We came across a huge lake (knee deep or more) that formed on a road we use often on the way to our progressing investigators house. We decided that if we wanted the blessing, we had to sacrifice. We took off our shoes, rolled up our suit pant legs and trudged through the lake to get to our appointment. 

These are the things that make the difference between an average missionary and one who is willing to sacrifice it all for the Lord. In the appointment we received a miracle and marked a baptismal date with a 22 year old woman named Fernanda who is Renon's aunt. Renon was baptized a few weeks ago as you remember.   Fernanda was baptized on the 4th of February (later in the week)

Fernanda on her baptism day

I made this treat and handout for my district

Wednesday-I gave my first training as district leader and I was SUPER nervous. I brought my district a treat and a talk called "How to be a baptizer." My training went well, but I still have a lot of room to improve. 

Thursday-I had an excellent workout to start off my day, only to find out our water had been shut off...I wasn’t able to shower, brush my teeth or anything that day...  Fernanda was baptized this night! :)

Cacherienha

Friday-The zone leaders and I did some training on how to do better baptismal interviews. That night, I went to a city called Imirim, where the Sisters in my district work and I did 3 baptisms for them. They were great! I love doing interviews!!! :) To make it better, all 3 of the people I interviewed were baptized on Sunday! :) My district ended up baptizing 6 people this week! Our zone baptized 10! 

Vilma on her baptism day

Saturday-A lot of our lessons fell, but we just pushed through and did our best. We ended the night with a good lesson, helping Vilma (Renon's Grandmother) prepare to be baptized the next day.

Casheiernha

Sun-We woke up super early, went out and looked for all our investigators, and only ended up with 2 in the chapel :( We did our best and only ended up with a couple. But after the meeting Vilma was baptized, and also almost her 20 year old son, but he got scared.  We will keep working with him. I got frustrated and realized that on the mission, you experience your worst pains, but also your most happy moments. 

That afternoon, the zone leaders called me and told me that in Imirim with the sisters, someone who had been previously interviewed (a little girl) was not baptized because her mother would not let her. The zone leaders told me to go over there and make a miracle. 

We met up with the sisters, went to the house of the little girl, and the sisters started to teach. But the mother would not budge. Eventually it our turn and we brought in the fire with a powerful spiritual lesson. The mother agreed that her daughter could be baptized that very night at 8pm, just 45 min from when we ended. 

 Jazmin on her baptism day

Elder Hunt and Jazmin

We ran and got everything ready and the little girl named Jazmin picked me to baptize her! :) I baptized her and after we changed and ended the baptismal meeting she tugged on my pant leg for me to squat down, she gave me a little hug and a kiss on the cheek and said "thank you for baptizing me." 

That was the most spiritually touched I’ve felt in a while and it was powerful enough to bring tears to my eyes. I was just so happy and the little girl was just so cute about it. 

That was a miracle :)

I will not lie, my responsibilities as district leader have not been easy, but it has helped me grow to new heights.

Downtown Sao Paulo

25 de Marco Street

Monday-We went to 25 de Março, a place in Sao Paulo West where you can buy tons of cheap stuff.   

A Birthday Celebration!

We had all you can eat pizza/meat for lunch to celebrate Elder Medina and my birthday!

Shopping area of Sao Paulo

The last of the legend Elder Borba, who ended his mission last week.

'My Brasilian Brothers'

Elder Hunt and Elder Burt, best buddies in the house 

Elder Cerantonio, who is a crazy guy from Argentina is Elder Burt's new comp

Marcus and Marcus- New District Leader and Senior Companion

Elder Hunt is Senior Companion and District leader in Cachoeirinha

Tuesday-We had our last district meeting of the transfer, and it was the best one yet! We had great practices and I picked up a ton of things I ended up applying in lessons later that week. After lunch we had another lesson with Gabrieli and her less active Grandfather.  He bore one of the strongest, wisest testimonies I’ve ever heard. We can tell he wants his granddaughter to get baptized because he wants to return to the church himself and he’s just been looking for how to do it. The baptism of his granddaughter is his vision for how he will come back.

After that we had a miracle with Hugo. We've been teaching him for so long and he’s just had so many tiny doubts, but we walked in ready to have a fighting lesson with him, but he told us that before we say anything, that he planned his baptism fro the 7th of February and he’s already invited all his family.

My jaw just about dropped to the floor, I WAS SO HAPPY!!! FINALLY!!! He said that he was so touched by the baptisms he saw at church on Sunday that he wanted to get baptized! :)

After we visited Tatiani and Thais, we cleared up many doubts and explained again many things and they said they’d get baptized "if they got a sign"... This is what everyone says, and then we talk about faith, but in the end we are fasting for them that the Holy Ghost will testify to their hearts strong enough that they need to be baptized.

Cachoeirinha

Wednesday-Just about everything fell apart today. All our once strong faithful investigators changed into super weak investigators even when they were fine they day before...every lesson just did not go well and everything is a whole lot harder when you are fasting under the hot Brazilian sun.

But one victory of the day was we made a contact with a guy and he seemed somewhat interested in the church, but he owns a really good gym really close to our house and said we could go in for a cheap price on a P- day, so that was a small victory that made me happy.

Thursday-We had a good amount of lessons and Gabrieli’s Grandpa volunteered to take her to church on Sunday so she could get baptized. He hasn’t been to church in over a year and we can see that he’s trying really hard to come back, he just doesn’t want to do it alone. We had another good lesson with Tatiani and Thais, but they still have a lot of doubts, but things are improving. That night I was feeling a little down, so I did some yoga with Elder Burt and I cheered right up, ha-ha. 

Elder Hunt doing some exercise demonstrations at a Multi-zone Conference

Friday-THIS WAS AN AWESOME DAY!!! We had a Multizone Conference with President Farnes and it was great! He gave us A TON of great instruction of what our role is as missionaries (baptize)! He showed us a ton of awesome video clips including tons of football ones of Joe Montana and Steve Young!

He related how missionaries are receivers and Christ is the Quarterback and we need to be exactly obedient to receive the blessings and miracles, just like a receiver has to run his route 100% right to catch the ball in the spot where the QB throws it.

Elder Hunt and Elder Medina

Also as a little surprise, we got to watch "Meet the Mormons" but it was dubbed over in Portuguese. I also got to see Medina and all my good pals! 

Elder Hunt demonstrating exercises for the missionaries

Also we had a whole segment on exercise and eating right, so President Farnes had me come up in front and talk and demonstrate a bunch of exercises and stuff, it was great!  Overall, the Multizone Conference was awesome and left us all super pumped and motivated! :)

Elder Hunt with Elder R Cruz

Saturday-We did a division and I went with Elder Burt. We went to a far away place in our area in hopes of finding new people but it ended up not working out, so we went back to our normal favela area of Pery Alto and that’s when the miracles started happening! :)

Something told us to visit Gabrieli and her mother was there with the grandfather and they were both super supportive of her baptism the following day!

Then a random guy in the street said ‘hi’ to us, so we talked to him and he has been to church a ton of times. Previous missionaries have already taught him everything, so we marked a baptismal date with him for the next day! :)

We had a lesson with a progressing investigator who all the sudden didn’t want the church anymore, I tried my best with everything I knew to convince them, but I couldn’t.  But then Elder Burt, came in and testified in his broken Portuguese with a SUPER strong spirit and the man couldn’t deny the Holy Ghost which he was felling and he came to his senses and knew that the church was true.  Elder Burt was very powerful in that moment; it was awesome.

Then we found a less active whose trying to get back to church and he took us to meet his mother and 20 year old brother named Rapahel. We had an amazing lesson and marked firm baptismal dates with them both; it was amazing!!! Then the man gave us a ride home and bought us Northern Brazilian food! 

Elder Hunt with his Brasilian buds

Sunday-Transfer Calls. We were all super nervous about transfer calls and Sunday morning we found out. I am now Senior companion and will be District Leader here in Cachorinha. My new comp is a Brazilian guy with the same first name as me from Rio De Janeiro! Yeah Marcus, haha! He has only 1 month less on the mission as I do and he is actually my buddy.:) I’m very happy about this! 

Saturday night I prayed into the long hours of the night praying for our investigators to get to church and be baptized. We did all we could Sunday morning and only ended up with Raphael and his mother who came to church. 

Elder Hunt with 3 crazy little dogs

After church the man who we met in the street the previous day showed up to his baptism after he’d drunk, so he couldn’t be baptized that day :( We felt pretty down after that. 

We didn’t get a single baptism, but we have tons of great people for the next transfer and I’m feeling very optimistic about it!

Elder Hunt