I Love Every Single One of These People

Family and Friends,

This was a wild week to say the least. But to start off I will apologize for a lack of pictures, my camera got wet during a rainstorm, even though it was in a plastic bag and it broke, but I’m getting it fixed today.

Kayo and Kemerly on their baptism day

Tuesday- Tuesday night after the temple...Wow...seriously one of the biggest miracles of my entire mission.  So, to start this story off, we have a less active woman and her 3 children, Kleiton (14), Kayo (11), and Kemerly (9). We call them KKK for short. During my last transfer with Elder Medina we worked with them every single day for 3 weeks strait trying to baptize them, but things kept going wrong so we stopped meeting with them. Elder Augirres and I returned to teach them again a few weeks ago. The less active mom is honestly a little different, but finally we convinced them to be baptized. Tuesday night we had to pay for a taxi AGAIN to take the family to the church because it is a long drive and it was raining. Kayo and Kemerly wanted to be baptized, but Kleiton was being a typical Brasilian teenage boy and didn’t want to be baptized, for no reason. 

Kleiton had a change of heart and was baptized right after his siblings!

We baptized his siblings, and after while they were changing, and I talked to Kleiton. The Holy Ghost spoke to him and he said he felt something and (had changed his mind and now) wanted to be baptized. So we got him the clothes, took another picture, and then I baptized him too! :) A whole family reactivated!  I am so happy for them! 

I prayed so hard to know what to say to Kleiton, and the Holy Ghost told me what to say. I was very humbled and very, very thankful. I couldn’t believe it happened.

It was also very special for me because it marked my 30th baptism. I’m so happy to have been so blessed to help 30 people in this short of time that I have here. Yes it is cool to have numbers, but to me, these people are not numbers. I remember every single person, their stories, their weaknesses, and their triumphs. I’ve spent countless hours with every single one of them and I love every single one of them.

My best pal, Elder Lima Neto, we are super close and great friends. I already know we will be friends for life. He is the type of Brazilian that Grandpa talked about when he said how fantastic and crazy Brazilians are!

Thursday-Today is Thanksgiving, but no one celebrates it here, so nothing is different unfortunately.  Elder Lima Neto and I are becoming best pals! He only has 3 weeks on the mission, but he is from the north of Brazil, in Fortaleza, and he is the greatest!!! 

Meat, fruits and vegetables...bliss!

We are both trying to eat as healthy as possible and we are supporting each other a ton! Also, our whole house in working out super hard every single day, which is awesome!

Elder Hunt is channeling his inner James Bond 007

Last night in an investigator’s house, he had us listen to a bone chilling voice message from the second in command of the largest drug cartel in Brasil. The Boss of the cartel had been killed by the police, and for revenge, the 2nd in command broadcast this message through social media to the whole world. He said that anyone in the streets after 3pm on November 28 would be killed on site. He specifically called out Pirituba, Brasilândia, and Vista Verde, which are 3 cities in our zone. To make it worse, he called our 2 streets in particular as well, Streets: Parapua, which is where our house is...where we live... and Petronio Portela, which is the street where the church is.  Everyone was freaked out. We were instructed to work as normal, but at 2pm the next day we received a call from our zone leaders instructing us to go home immediately, so we did.

This not only affected us but many other areas of our mission as well. Later that night we were allowed to go back out, but no one was in the streets, NO ONE.  The next day we got the sews that 2 cops were killed in front of the church, and 2 others were killed in front of a supermarket very close to where we work.

The cake Elder Hunt made for his new friend

We made a cake for one of our investigators for his birthday.  We want them to know we really care.

Augirres in goal

Soccer at the church 

Saturday-We did a division with Elder Costa and Lima Neto, I went with Lima Neto and we marked Friday to go with an investigator to marry her and her partner so she can be baptized.  We also hosted another soccer game for our investigators, which was another big success.

The soccer game got a little rough and my pocket was a casualty of the game.  

But it was a huge success!

Sunday Selfie

Sunday- I love wearing my new suit and shoes; it is super sharp! ;) We did 5 confirmations and it is great because now I am very comfortable confirming people in Portuguese. We had more problems with our ward leadership. 


After church, we had lunch with a new couple in our ward, Bruno and his wife.  They both served in the São Paulo, Interlagos mission. Lunch was good and he had a ton of great stories! I hope they call him to be our Ward Mission Leader, because we haven’t had one in 4 months.

Elder Hunt with his housemates- November 30, 2014

Monday-The zone vs. zone competition ended and our zone won!!! This means we will get to eat pizza with the President and go to the temple again! Also, I finally got all my mail today! I’m super excited and feeling great! Only 24 days till Christmas! :)

Elder Hunt

A Blessing In Disguise + Workout and Baptize Part 2

Elder Hunt in his new sweater

Elder Hunt with a yummy mini pie

Hey everyone,         

This week was different. We started off Monday morning going back to the members house who has weights, and we had a great lift and it was a great way to start off the week!

Merry Christmas everyone!

      We got authorization to go to a mall in the São Paulo West mission to buy clothes and things. My biggest interest was to buy a new suit because my other is getting pretty beat up here in Brasil. We went and it was so cool! It was literally just like an American mall, it even had Christmas decorations and everything! :) I went to buy a suit and they only had one in the whole store that would fit my build, but it's a sharp looking suit so its alright. We ended up finding a restaurant called "América" how ironic, Elder Taylor and I thought, how many other opportunities would 2 Americans get to eat American food here in the middle of São Paulo, so we went for it! It was delicious! Burgers, fries, and a sundae to top it off. I told you about this last week but it was really awesome.

Mini pies from a bakery

         Tuesday-We had a zone meeting, where we were told that President Farnes started a new rule saying that we can only have 2 hour of computer time on p day. Also, we got the news that Elder Taylor would be transferred, THAT DAY. He was having some difficulties, so he was transferred to a new area with a new comp that night. We all went with them to make the exchange because he had so many bags, and to help the new companion of Elder Costa. We picked up a new Elder named Elder Lima Netto, a Brazilian from Fort Aleza. He is new and only has 1 week on the mission.

Last photo with Elder Taylor

A gift from Elder Taylor to Elder Hunt.  Elder Hunt will really miss him.

I became really, really sad first because email is one of the things that I look forward to all week, 1st baptisms and 2nd is email. And also my good buddy Elder Taylor was transferred. He was my good pal and kept a good balance in the house with 2 Americans and 2 Brazilians. I was really bummed out.

A typical day in the life of a missionary in Sao Paulo

          Wednesday- Every day we have awesome workouts, so that's  good, much better than before. We marked more baptismal dates and taught spouses Isabel and Robson, a family who were baptized on Saturday.  They are elect, they LOVE the church. They are family of members and every thing we teach them they love more and more.

Elder Hunt teaching in the favelas with little girls, kittens, and a pink room.

A Soccer game at the church

Thursday-We took a ton of our investigators to a soccer game at the church that the members put together. It was a huge success and it helped our investigators become a lot more comfortable with the church and members. 

All the combined supplements and protein of the missionaries in the house.

The mantra continues, 'workout and baptize'

We also went to the supplement store and I bought a delicious maracujá flavored protein powder! Augirres bought a ton more stuff to put on some weight and when we got home Elder Costa and Lima Netto saw what we had bought and went crazy!!! Elder Costa wants to put on muscle so badly, and Lima Netto wants to lose weight. They were so pumped that we went back to the supplement store and they bought a ton of stuff.

The workout plan for the house

After I jacked them up even more with my knowledge of workouts and nutrition, and I wrote up a workout routine for all of us! Everyone is super dedicated and our whole house is super, super jacked up to workout! It's awesome!

Elder Hunt and Elder Gimenez in Pirituba

       Friday-I did a division with Elder Gimenez in Pirituba and it was great ! I love Elder Gimenez, he is super cool and such a good leader and missionary!

Elder Hunt taught a man and he agreed to be baptized.

He will have to give up beer which he REALLY LIKES.

I really stepped up my game with him and marked 2 baptismal dates and persuaded 2 people to let me baptize them. We also almost baptized a guy during the division, but the Bishop wouldn't let us which was a big let down. But overall I had a great experience!

Back in Brasilandia

Baptismal day of Robson and Isabel.  Elder Hunt was able to baptize a FAMILY!

Saturday-We baptized Robson and Isabel! It was so special and great ! A ton of people showed up and we were very happy! They will for sure make a huge impact in our ward.    We are continuing to have problems with our ward leadership which is unfortunate. 

Another family was baptized the same day by Elder Costa

Elder Hunt with his companion Elder Augirres

Also, I will say, it is very difficult at times to live with 3 Brazilians. Their culture is very different than mine and my patience is being tested, but it is helping me become more laid back and not so uptight which is good. 

I am also becoming a lot more patient, this probably is 

a blessing in disguise.

Deborah on her baptism day

       Sunday-We had the baptism of Deborah, the grandchild of Maria who we baptized a few weeks back. 

Kawai and Tawani, with Elder Hunt and Augirres on their baptismal day

Also that night we had 2 more baptisms of Kawai andf Tawani, siblings. We had to call and pay for a taxi to pick up the kids and take them home afterwards because we couldn't find them a ride. But you know, we will do anything to baptize, saving souls is more important than anything else.

New member board at the church that Elder Hunt created to help the members know and encourage fellowshipping of their recent converts.

       Monday-It was a regular day, but I bought an 88 lbs pound adjustable dumbbell so that's awesome to finally have some real weight. I also got a haircut.

Elder Hunt visited Keibler this week.

Keibler's wife made Elder Hunt some key lime pie.

Elder Hunt at the Sao Paulo temple with his 3 housemates and another missionary who jumped in the photo

         Tuesday-Today! Today is our "p day" we went to the temple, and to change it up we went and did baptisms. I baptized Elder Nene and he baptized me because we are the biggest guys.  He's from New Zealand and plays rugby! It was awesome and such a great experience!

On the subway

Elder Hunt's new suit and shoes

               I love you all. Enjoy your Thanksgiving's because mine will not be any different than any other day here.

A delicious dinner from last week made Elder Augirres happy

Selfies at church, stolen camera :)

Elder Hunt's new shoes next to Elder Costas...SWAG

Elder Hunt with numchucks

Lastly, Elder Hunt saw a bar and just couldn't resist

Happy Thanksgiving!