39 in 4

Irene on her baptism day 

(from last week)

Monday- While we were celebrating because our zone had won the competition including 35 baptisms in 4 weeks, we received a call from President Farnes. He congratulated us but asked us if we thought we could do more. We responded yes and then he reminded us that it was only the 29th of June and that Tuesday would be the 30th, technically the last day of June...Challenge Accepted. 

Tuesday-Today was one of the most wild district meetings ever because we had just one more day to break the mission record of 40 baptisms!!!! Everyone left district meeting CRAZY to win! 

Estevam on his baptism day

Everyone gave it their all and by the end of the night we had baptized 4 more people as a zone, including the baptism of Estevam in our area. We came so close to beating the record, but for being the rich (generally more difficult) interior, we did pretty well. We ended with 39 baptisms as a zone and 10 in the month of June as a companionship. We still have A LOT to improve; I know we can do so much better this upcoming month!

Wednesday- It was a rainy colder day, but the work was good. 

Elder Hunt with Elder Medina and his 'grandfather' on the mission

Thursday-We woke up at 3:30am because we were to attend leadership counsel in the capital. The counsel was great! Elder Farias and I shared what had gone well in our zone, and we learned a ton too! I also made a workout and meal plan for President Farnes' son Skylar, so it was cool to be able to talk and hang with him a bit. We had a bus ride home after the counsel so we got home a bit late. 

A 'Juliana' (Summer) Party

Friday- Our ward had a ‘Julina party,’ which is a summer party with a ton of corn. :) We had our little booth and we did a drawing, so all the people who aren’t members put their names, addresses, and if they've been to church before ;) on little pieces of paper and we had a prize and everything! It was a huge success; we got a ton of references!

Dressed up for the party!

Elders Farias and Hunt with their prizes

Elders Hunt and Farias with David, new member

Brasilians know how to PARTY!

Saturday- Happy 4th of July! I didn’t see a single other American today...but we did a division for baptismal interviews. It was also a cold, rainy day and it was soooo nice. 

 Sunday- We picked up everyone who we had baptized the week before and we had 5 confirmations! The ward went wild haha. We both also bore our testimonies and had a great Sunday. We had a awesome lunch with a return missionary (he’s older) but he’s our bud and it was great to talk with him.

After we went to Cidade Nova to do more baptismal interviews. In the end, we finished with 10 baptisms this week in the zone! We also talked with President Farnes.  Because we won the mission competition, we will play paintball this Friday! How sick!!! 

I am so very happy with the progress we have made as a zone from when I got here in Itu, to now. I am proud of the personal progress many have made in the zone as well as my own personal progress as a follower of Christ. Through it all, I am a completely different person than I was before, and I still have a lot more to improve.  But that is honestly the process of life as we read in Alma 34:32, every single day of our lives we are preparing to meet God. Every day we win or lose little battles with ourselves, our thoughts, actions, etc, that in the end makes a huge difference in our progress of becoming more like Christ. We may not be perfect, but the decision to become more like Christ, is now, not later. 100% obedience is just the first step, being the light and example like Christ. 

Also, after my (almost) week long fast last week, I got on the scale to see that I had lost 13 pounds, wow, LOL, I don’t even feel any different. This is the last week in the transfer, so it will be my last week with Elder Farias; transfers are always interesting times. J 

AND, this Thursday I will hit my 1 year mark on the mission, how crazy! 

Love you all, até mais! <3

Elder Hunt