Week 10: His Time is Perfect

¡Familia y amigos!

 

Is it P-Day already!? This week was so good and honestly such a blur, so here are some highlights!

 

Tuesday-- was P-Day and we just went shopping and cleaned the house and the car and all that good stuff! It's so nice to have a day to get everything prepared and ready! We went out to Dinner with some members and went and met some potentials! It was awesome!

 

Wednesday-- We did studies and went and visited with some less active members and contacted some potentials and had shift at the visitor center that night! (Night shift is from 3-9 and morning is from 9-3) I love working in the VC! There is such an amazing spirit there!

 

Thursday-- We had shift at the VC in the morning and did our studies after we got home and went to dinner. We had an appointment that fell through so we went contacting and met one of our new investigators, Jim, and it was so awesome! We have an appointment with him this week!

 

Friday-- in one word: INSANE! Haha but really! We had Friday morning Training meeting at the VC from 7:30-9, it was amazing! President and Sister Vest came and it is always so cool to be able to hear from them! Then we were on shift in the morning. At about 10 this lady who apparently does this all the time, came in with her Cupcake cruiser and gave us four HUGE tubs of cupcakes (pictures to come!) it was insane! Thankfully we all had zone conferences to take them to so we could get rid of them! So after shift, we went to the stake center for zone conference from 3:15-6:30 because we got stage 2 of the IPads yesterday and ha do make sure we had all the right training and info about them so we could start transferring our area book to digital and our planners as well! We had an appointment at 6:30 with a family and got there a few minutes late, but it was awesome! We taught the first lesson and are going to visit them tonight! 

 

Saturday-- We had such a crazy schedule! We did studies and then had interviews with President and Sister Vest at 10! I love them both so much! Then we went home finished studies and did lunch/weekly planning  and then had shift at the VC and I got to take a family through Gods Plan for Families and it was such a tender mercy to be able to talk about the importance of the temple and families at the very time Ryan and Andrea were being sealed! I am so blessed and so happy for you both! The pictures are awesome so thank you for sending them! The lord is so aware of us!

 

Sunday-- so ward council got canceled and we walked into church and the stake presidency was on the stand... So needless to say, we got a new bishopric! Sacrament meeting was SO powerful! It was about 2 hours after all the people who spoke and it was just so powerful! It's going to be awesome! So we just went straight to relief society. And then had shift at the VC 12:30-3:30 and then Studies and we went to visit some of our investigators and it was great!

 

Monday-- was WAY crazy! So we got the area book/planner app and we had to transfer all of the teaching records, progress records, everything from the area book on to the app and President has set aside 2-3 hours everyday to work on it... We usually only have that much time in our area so this week is gonna be crazy! But none the less we will make it work and I'm looking forward to seeing the miracles that are in store!

 

2.0

This week is all about patience and faith. In life we have goals and things that we want to accomplish. We set goals and have this vision of what we want to happen, and as we try to start going about doing these things and we don't see any kind of progression we can become discouraged. God has perfect timing. Part of trusting him is trusting his timing. He knows what's best and putting that trust in him can be really hard, but I know that when we council with the Lord in prayer and continue to live the gospel, we will be happy and through the ups and downs of life, God guides us to where we need to be. He wants us to be happy. He sent his son Jesus Christ to perform the atonement so that we would have a constant friend by our side helping us change and become better so we can return to live back with our Him again. I know it is hard to trust God's timing sometimes, but I also know that as we turn our will over to him, he is there helping us be where we need to be. 

 

I am so grateful for this gospel and the blessings it brings into my life! I love seeing the change it brings to others lives as we help them gain their own testimonies! I pray for you all every week and hope you have a week full of miracles!

 

¡Abrazos y oraciones!

 

Hermana Hunt

 

Week 9: "Todo, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

¡Familia y amigos!

To quote Eric "This week was CRAZY!" Haha but really! So I got transferred out of Iola, I'm serving in Independence, Me and my companion (Hermana Baggett!) have both only been out 6 weeks so we are training each other, I'm learning Spanish AGAIN, AND I'm serving in the Visitor Center! Hence why my email is coming today and P-day will now be on Tuesdays for the transfer because of VC shifts and I hit my 2 month mark! Did ya get all that!? Haha but it has been AWESOME!

I am SO glad Andrea's visa situation got all figured out so her and Ryan can get sealed Saturday! God truly answers our prayers! Also I want a TON of pictures, so you all better send some! So excited! Good luck with the first week of school Kev, and to Eric and Ellen settling in! Mom and Dad, hang in there! Haha one day at a time! 

Monday-- We had our last hoo-rah for the missionaries who were going home, who knew I'd be heading out as well, and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and then played sports up in Olathe. We drove home and went to a couple appointments and had a really good day!

Tuesday- We went to visit our less active who has the breathing problems, and had an awesome study with her about the first vision! It was so powerful! I am so grateful for the restoration of the gospel! It truly is the biggest blessing! And Tuesday night was when transfer calls were and Sister Bressler and I thought for sure if anything happened, which we were assuming nothing would, she would get transferred and I would get follow up trained. They didn't send out the voicemail until 10:15 and we were DYING! So we listened to it and of course Iola was the last one to be said and it said Sister Bressler's name first so we were so sure we were staying, and then they said another sister as her companion. I was freaking out! Then they went through and listed the missionaries leaving the zone and I was the last one! And it said the ward I would be in and that Hermana Baggett would be my companion and I would be serving in the independence visitor center. Total surprise! 

Wednesday-- I spent all morning packing up my things because we decided to drive half way to Independence for transfers on Wednesday night to stay with some sisters so we wouldn't have to drive so far in one day. So I got done getting everything packed up and we went and said goodbye to all of the people we were teaching and the ward members before we headed out! It was so sad to say goodbye, I for sure left a piece of my heart there, but I can't wait to visit them after the mission! We got in The car at 8 and got to the sisters house at about 9:30 and turned in for the night

Thursday-- We got up early and got ready and drove the rest of the way to independence and waited in the parking lot of the church for all the new missionaries and the rest of the missionaries getting transferred to get there! It was so weird saying goodbye to Sister Bressler! We were only companions for 6 weeks but I felt like I have known her for years, but Gods got a plan for each of us! So I knew Hermana Baggett because I had followed her on Instagram before I left and we saw each other at the MTC and came out together so it has been so fun! We are so close and I am so excited and blessed to be able to work with her! I can tell we are going to be really good friends!

Friday--  We had a full proselyting day, which are divided up between the companionships every week and a half two weeks in the VC, and it was awesome! We got to meet quite a few people and had a super successful day! God works miracles everyday!

Saturday-- We were on shift at the VC in the morning and in the middle of our shift, Sister Toronto who is over the Visitor Center and Historic Liberty Jail with her husband, came in and asked me if I sang. I was really confused and said yes, well some of the other Sisters had a baptism and they needed/wanted a musical number (still not sure which one it was), so I went with Sister Toronto and sang a song that I sight read in the car (Shout out to my Choir teachers for teaching me how to do so, it has been extremely useful!) and we ran through it twice and then sang it at the baptism! I was so glad I was able to go! The spirit was SO strong! I feel so privileged to have been asked to go and take part in it! What a special thing! Also President and Sister Vest were there so I got to say hi and visit with Sister Vest about the craziness and how much I know I'm going to love it here! We went out into our area after that and got to meet some of the less actives in the ward and introduce ourselves! It was such a good day full of miracles!

Sunday-- First week in a new ward and it was pretty awesome! I got asked to go and bare my testimony and I already feel so much love for the people I am going to get to serve here! The ward has Spanish and English members and so sacrament gets translated, the Elders serving in our ward did it on Sunday, and I'm hoping since Hermana Baggett is a Spanish speaking sister that I'll be able to help translate one of these Sunday's! But it was incredible! I love the opportunity I have to attend church each week and partake of the sacrament! I also got to play the piano in Relief society, so I need to brush up on some of my hymns! Haha but it was awesome! We had shift at the VC right after church and then we had 3 set appointments and they were AMAZING! Our first appointment was with a family in the ward, a mom and her 3 daughters, and we practiced teaching the first lesson with them! The spirit was so strong! We committed them to reading the Book of Mormon for 5 minutes everyday and to pray to receive a witness from the Holy Ghost that it is true. That promise is something we should all exercise often and either receive an answer for the first time or the hundredth time that it is true, but I know that if we study ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon that we can all gain a witness of its truth! Then we had an appointment with a New investigator, David, and it was so awesome! He is very open to the gospel, and he asks great questions and really helps us understand what he understands and what he doesn't! We invited him to pray and read about the Book of Mormon and he told us that he had done it before and didn't really get an answer, but is willing to try again! We promised him that God reveals things to us in his own way and his own time and I got to share with him that I sincerely and intently prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true for 2 and a half years until I received my answer, but I know that it was in the timing of the Lord and as I put forth my faith and continued on, God answered my prayers! So we are really excited for him! Then we went to some less active members and read 2 Nephi 31 and then discussed different ways we can study the scriptures and it was so good! Then we headed back to the VC for our nightly prayer and then we all headed home.

Monday-- FULL OF MIRACLES. So at the visitor center, we have different presentations, and I have just been shadowing Hermana Baggett during them since Thursday, but yesterday out of whatever the circumstances were I was the only Sister upstairs ready to take a group, and Two gentlemen came in and they were from Mesa! How cool is that!? So as I was talking with them Hermana Lamb came with me and they said they wanted to look at the photo display downstairs of Joseph Smiths life. So they did that and before they left one of the Gentlemen began to tell me that he knew some Hunts from Snowflake and I said my family was from up there and he started to tell me that he was brought into the church when Georgia and Ralph Hunt invited him to Go to Boy Scouts with Lauren when he was about 10. I was overwhelmed by the spirit as he told me this because they are my great grandparents! He began to thank me for the blessing that they had been and told me about all of the people who had been blessed with the Gospel because of them. There are truly no such things as coincidences! I am so grateful for the missionary example they were and are for me and to be able to see those blessings from sharing the gospel was incredible. His name was Ellis Lindsay and he was just passing through on his way to Indianapolis where he was moving for work. It was truly amazing! Then later that night I got to take a group through a presentation all by myself. It was a couple, the Blackburns, who were just passing through on their way home from dropping off their granddaughter in NC and it was so awesome! It truly was guided by the spirit and it was amazing! I am so grateful to be able to serve in the Visitor Center!

So this week has been crazy and busy, but I didn't forget to pray about what to share with you all this week! 

2.0

As I have had a week full of all kinds of adventures and experiences, I have truly seen Gods hand in my life. I know he has a specific plan for me and for each of you. He knows us perfectly. And part of that plan is the people we come across in our life. Leaving Iola and being here I look back on those six weeks and how much I learned from all of the wonderful people I got to interact with! I learned so much from all of them, and even in these short 5 days here in independence I have seen people come into my life to bless me, teach me, and help me grow! I know that this transfer is going to be one full of miracles and amazing experiences! God knows who we need, what need and where we are needed. I can't wait to learn from all of those I will have the privilege of getting to know and serve!

I am so blessed for the opportunity I have to be a missionary! I know there is so much joy to be found in living the gospel even on the hardest days! Keep pressing forward! I pray for you all everyday and hope you can feel the prayers I send your way just as I can feel yours! Hope you all have a week full of miracles!

¡Abrazos y Oraciones!

Hermana Hunt

Week 8: God Has a Plan

Familia y Amigos!

Wow! This week: Crazy crazy and more crazy! Transfers are this week and I cannot believe it! I have NO idea what is going to happen because Sister Bressler has been here since March, but we are thinking we probably won't get transferred because her Neurology appointment is Thursday, which is transfer day, and I know what's been going on and all that jazz, but Sister Bressler told me that the transfers in this mission are EXTREMELY unpredictable so we'll see what happens! So if you send letters this week send them to the Independence address!

Monday- we drove to Olathe for P-Day and we went bowling  and hung out with our district! So much fun! We have two missionaries going home this week, Elder Willams-- he's our District Leader and I am so sad he's leaving but he is going to do great things! And Elder Wagner-- he is from Mesa and went to Mountain View, so I am going to miss talking about all the cool stuff back at home! We are driving to Olathe again today to spend our last day as a district! I'm really gonna miss my people!

Tuesday- We went and visited a lady in our ward who is less active because she doesn't have a car and lives 45 minutes away from the church. We are trying to figure out some arrangements for people to take her to church and she got to come on Sunday and was so happy to be there!

Wednesday- We went out on a team up with the Relief society president and visited a lady in the ward who is older and pretty lonely! She has some pretty crazy circumstances in her life, but we had a good time visiting with her and let her know who her home teachers were and visiting teachers as well, so hopefully she will have some more friends at church! We are going to try to go paint her house this week!

Thursday- We drove out in the middle on no where, but like really Dad-- the creeper middle of no where. I prayed the whole time that the car didn't break down because there was literally only fields and super old farm houses. Sketchville. But we went and visited a lady in the ward who has some serious health problems and she can't come to church because certain smells close off her airway and she can't breathe. We couldn't wear deodorant or hairspray or anything out to her house, but she is honestly one of the sweetest ladies! We decided to set up a schedule for us to go and do some studies with her every week.

Friday- We had the mid trainers meeting because I'm half way done with training! It took almost the whole day because it was up in Independence and it was pretty long! It was probably one of the coolest meetings and trainings I've been to on my mission! We got home at around 5 and ate dinner and saw our investigator Robin. She has a niece that is 5 who has had cancer for a couple years and she was given 2 weeks to live on Tuesday morning, so she's been having a really hard time. I am so grateful for the plan of salvation.

Saturday-- It was a long day! We tried to see if Sister Bressler could slowly take out the naps and see if she was up to doing more, and it back fired hard. She had a super bad migraine all day and had to rest a ton. So we decided naps will be kept in the schedule. I really hope we can figure out what's going on at the Doctors on Thursday!

Sunday-- As Joseph B Wirthlin said "Sunday will come." I love Sunday's! We had an awesome fast and testimony meeting! It was a way powerful meeting! We didn't have any investigators at church, and we were the only two people in gospel principles and so we went to Sunday school, kinda nice to not be the teacher for an hour! Haha and relief society was awesome! The lesson was titled "Be not weary in doing good" and was just what I needed! I always feel so refreshed and rejuvenated after I go to church!

2.0

Honesty hour: Being a missionary is so hard. Having a sick companion and having limitations has been so hard for me, somedays are better than others, but it is hard. Within all the craziness and trying to work through all the loop holes to get a doctors appointment and trying to be a good missionary and being trained I have come so close to my Heavenly Father and to my older brother Jesus Christ. I have never felt the atonement in my life more than I have these last few weeks. I know that God has a plan for me. That this trial is to help me learn to be patient and understanding and loving and truly know what is means to rely on the Savior. As I take my struggles and concerns to the Lord I know he hears my prayers, and he has shown me countless tender mercies! Like this week I realize that at home I coped with things by driving and I drive countless hours everyday. What a blessing that is for me. He is aware of me and I know he is aware of each of you. The atonement is so real. Jesus Christ suffered individually for each of us so that we could not only be forgiven of our sins, but to have someone who knows perfectly how to comfort us and through the enabling power of the atonement gives me strength to press on everyday. This gospel is true. I know that living the gospel brings me joy even when the circumstances seem so gloomy. Being a missionary is hard, but I have never felt so much joy in my whole life. I would not spend these 18months of my life any other way that being here, serving others, and sharing the gospel. I know God is aware of us. I know Jesus Christ lives. They love you, and always will, no matter what.

I hope you all have a week full of miracles! If you tried out the gratitude reflection last week, email me and let me know how it went and is hopefully still going! I love you all so much. I truly mean it when I say I can feel your prayers and love and support everyday. Thank you for all that you all do!

Te quiero

Hermana Hunt

PS Mom, I am so sorry you had such a stressful week! I'll keep prayin for Ryan and Andrea! And YES I was to see the picture from Eric's surgery! I love you and thank you for writing me every week! Means the world to me  xoxo

                                                                    Sister Hunt's zone

Week 7: It's Great to Be a Missionary!

¡Familia y Amigos!

This week was full of miracles!

-Monday we went to P-day in Paola, which is about an hour from Iola, and had a district BBQ. One of the companionships in our district got 40lbs of meat from their Bishop, and we made the most of it! We had all kinds of steak and chicken marinated and seasoned 15 or so different ways and it was all so good! Then we played some sports and drove back to Iola to go to dinner and visit a few people!

-Tuesday the Sister Training Leaders scheduled a blitz, which is where they come to our area and we go on splits, so we could visit more people since we have been kind of limited due to Hermana Bressler's headaches. Before we left, Sister Vest called to tell us Sister Bressler's neurologist appointment got canceled, pretty frustrating, but God knows what he is doing! I went out with Sister Mansell and we went and visited our investigator Carol and she is working on quitting smoking and doing pretty awesome! She had a set back a few days ago, but she keeps doing better and better! We visited a couple less actives and we had about an hour left on our blitz before the STL's had to leave, so we decided to try and contact some referrals! The first people we went to visit weren't home and we had another referral that lived right up the street so we went to her house. She answered the door and asked who sent us. Usually this kind of conversation goes south pretty fast, but turns out she had met with the missionaries for a long time and she let us in! What a miracle! Her name is Robin and she is honestly golden! We shared the Because He Lives video with her and it was awesome! The spirit was so strong and we set a return appointment for Friday.

-Wednesday we went to District meeting and on the way there the mission psychologist called us and asked if we could go see him in Independence that day at 2, so we finished our meeting and headed that way. After the meeting with him they told us they scheduled another visit with a different neurologist for the 6th of August, which is transfer day, so hopefully neither of us get transferred! We got home and went to the Bishops house for dinner and Hermana Bressler was pretty wiped out so we went home.

-Thursday we went to Chanute to see the Chiropractor after lunch and Hermana Bressler got her last adjustment so that was good! We got done with that and drove back to Iola for our dinner and ended up having a couple less actives join the family we ate with! It was a super powerful message! The members actually know Robin as well, and her entire extended family and told us they would love to introduce us to everyone else! We are super excited!

-Friday we had a slower day due to a pretty bad headache Sister Bressler got, but we got to go and bring Robin dinner and visit with her some more! She honestly is absolutely amazing! We went out to dinner with a member of the ward, and had real Mexican food. SO GOOD. But it was a pretty good regardless!

-Saturday we had a busy day! We went to a members house and tried to set up their computer to help them do some indexing, but it wouldn't recognize the hard drive, so they ordered a new version of windows (the newest one they had was windows 95) and hope that will help! Then we     set up a lot of our appointments for this week and had correlation at Bishops house. It was really awesome! After we gave our report for this week and our plans for the coming one, he told us that all the people who had been on his mind were people we are planning to visit. The spirit truly does guide us, and this is Gods work. 

-Sunday. I love Sunday. Church was absolutely amazing! I love going and partaking of the sacrament and being reminded of the covenants I made when I was baptized. I also love that every week there is always something said that feels like it is just for me! Much needed rejuvenation to be better this week than I was last!

As usual, I have prayed to know what to share with you all this week. I know that God often answers our prayers through others, so I hope you know he is aware of you!

2.0

"And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?" - Alma 26:2

I love this scripture! God blesses us in so many ways! How often do we fail to recognize it!? So I'll pose the question, can you tell? This week I would encourage you all to take time before your prayers at night to reflect all the ways you saw God's hand in your day. As you take the time to do this you will be able to recognize all the ways he was there, and the more you do this, the more ways you will see him. After you have reflected thank god for each of those experiences while you pray, and ask God to open your eyes to his hand in your life. You will be happier. You will have a stronger sense of gratitude. You will be able to recognize God more in your life, and in turn see opportunities to serve others. As you go throughout everyday trying to seek him out, you will realize how much he loves you and you will see him. I hope you all will take this to heart and be able to strive to be happy and grateful regardless of the circumstances. I know God loves each of you. The plan of salvation is the plan of happiness! I know that Jesus Christ and his atonement are central to that plan. How grateful I am to know that I can be changed for the better through Christ and be given the strength to do anything. This gospel brings me so much joy! Sharing it with others everyday brings a kind of joy that I didn't know I could feel, and I know it is true. 

I hope you all know that I pray for you everyday! I feel so much love and support from you all! I am truly humbled to be a missionary that is supported by such wonderful family and friends! You are all awesome, and I hope you see a week full of miracles amidst your everyday lives!

Love always,

Hermana Hunt

Week 6: God Watches Over Us

¡Familia y Amigos!

Thank you for the package as well! Made my day 

Well this week has been quite the week.... I don't even know where to begin! But bullet points seem to help me remember what happened so here we go!

-Tuesday we went to the chiropractor for Sister Bressler. Turns out her C6 and C7 were out of alignment on one side of her neck, and her C1 on the other side and after he put them all where they were supposed to be he was like 'This doesn't happen very often but I'm gonna check...*starts doing stuff to her head*  is that tender?' She says yes and he goes 'Your suture in your Skull is out of place' (Sidenote: Carrie Blackburn: thanks for being the coolest anatomy teacher on the planet and teaching me how to speak body parts and illnesses, never been so useful in my life than it has been this week! You're amazing!) So he like took this little tool and popped it back into place. Sister Bressler said it felt like she got shot in the head, she's been such a trooper!

-Wednesday we went to District meeting and hand to relocate because they were deep cleaning the carpets at the church, so we went to a members house and had it there. We went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch and it's the closest I have gotten to the real deal and I'll take what I can get out here haha! So we drove home and we were did our studies and we ate dinner and we had an appointment 6 that we were super excited for and as we were driving out to this house, Sister Bressler told me she felt like she was dying. I am so grateful for the gift of the Spirit because she was in a lot of pain she couldn't even tell me what exactly was going on. So we went to a members house to get some help. She got a blessing and we ended up in the emergency room the rest of the night and finally got home around 11:45ish with nothing but Aleve and orders to take it easy and promise that we would try to find a doctor to go to see how  we could get it all figured out.

-Thursday we went to a funeral for a girl in our ward who passed away suddenly. Her mom asked Sister Bressler and I if we would say the prayers at the service. It was a beautiful service and reminded me how grateful I am for the Plan of Salvation. After the funeral we had a follow up at the Chiropractor and he checked everything out just to make sure it was all good. We then had dinner at The Hannons house, they are recent converts and so into missionary work. They are getting sealed at the beginning of December and we are super excited for them! After their house, Sister Bressler was feeling pretty wiped and so we went home for the night. The mission nurse called us after we got home to tell us that by miracle, Sister Bressler had an appointment at a Neurology Institute, that takes 2-3 months to get into, this coming Wednesday. God truly works miracles everyday. 

-Friday we had a Youth Lesson in the morning with Karlee (our bishop has us teach the lessons to the Youth in the ward so they can get a better understanding of the gospel) so we did most of our studies and met her at the church and we talked about the Plan of Salvation and it went really well! We finished our studies, ate lunch and went back to the apartment so that Sister Bressler could re cooperate before our dinner appointment. 

-Saturday, we went to our Bishops house to do a correlation meeting and we ended up doing some service at their house. They have been redoing their kitchen and just got it done and are now in the process of tearing down the old one, remodeling is worth it but it is hard work! We helped make lunch and then we went to the church to do language study (our language app needs wifi to work) and Sister Bressler pushed her self too hard and she went into mini shock. She got a blessing and we called the mission nurse who told us to just wait it out until her appointment Wednesday. 

-Sunday We had about 5 less actives we have been working with come to church for the first time in a while and it was so rewarding! Even though this week has been pretty slow going, God still sends us miracles! The stake president was visiting the ward, and Sister Bressler and I got asked to be the choristers in Primary. I love primary! It was so fun to get to sing with them and listen to them bare their testimonies. After church we did our studies and Sister Bressler took a nap before we headed over to the Hannons who invited all their neighbors to dinner. We had an awesome time getting to know their neighbors and are planning on doing it again next month! 

As usual, I have really prayed to know what I should share with you all is week and I hope it touches your hearts

2.0

Heavenly Father knows what he is doing. Sometimes we get so caught up in how we want things to work out, that we are blinded to what He is doing for us. We don't see the full picture, but He does, and we have to put complete trust in him and what his will is. I have truly been humbled beyond measure this week as I have had to be truly patient and understanding. I know that even with the limitations we have, Heavenly Father has shown us countless ways that he knows, and he cares. My awesome Mom sent me a talk to read last week and it was a literal answer to prayers. This specific excerpt has been one of my favorite quotes for a while now and I hope it can be as much of a strength to you all as it has been to me "You and I in a moment of weakness may cry out, “No one understands. No one knows.” No human being, perhaps, knows. But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He felt and bore our burdens before we ever did. And because He paid the ultimate price and bore that burden, He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy in so many phases of our life. He can reach out, touch, succor--literally run to us--and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do through relying upon only our own power."

I am grateful to know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me. I know the Saviors atonement was part of that plan and as Elder Bednar's quote says, Christ knows. I know his atonement is real it has the power to change each of us to become the best versions of ourselves. His atonement strengthens us just when we think we can't go any further. I know he loves me. I know he loves each of you and he knows you. Heavenly Father and the Savior are perfectly aware of you. So as life happens, when the hard days come, when you feel like it's you against the world, remember who is on your side.

I love all of you so much! I feel your prayers and support everyday. I am truly blessed with the best people in my life! I hope you all strive to become closer to Jesus Christ everyday and build your faith in him! 

¡Abrazos y Oraciones!

Hermana Hunt

ER Visit!

Week 5: One Month Down

Hola Familia y Amigos!
So you might be asking yourself, why is she emailing on a Saturday?
Answer: Hermana Bressler and I got advised to go to the Temple by President and Sister Vest, and since it is not open on Mondays so we changed our P-Day to today and are going on the ward temple trip that just so happened to be today! Tender Mercy ❤️ Anyways this week has been the craziest/hardest/most amazing week of my mission so far! And because I don't have much time here is, yet again, my week in bullet points:
-Monday we had a CRAZY thunderstorm and we were at a members house eating dinner and when we went to go get our iPads from our bags, we checked the phone and had 1 Voicemail and 2 missed calls from the AP's, 1 missed call from our Zone Leaders, 2 Texts from the AP's asking if we were ok, 2 texts from the Zone leaders telling us to take shelter and asking if we got to our storm shelter, and another text from the Sister Training Leaders asking if we were safe. Needless to say we were throughly confused because the rain had only started about
10 minutes before and hadn't gotten to crazy. But we quickly called/texted everyone back assuring them we were fine. The AP's told us we needed to stay at the members house until further notice. Ya never know what you're truly signing up for when you feed the missionaries! (Don't worry Mom the tornado was a good 2 hours from Iola and I'm still alive!) 
-Tuesday we had our whole day planned for our trip to the VC in Independence. Well, good thing missionaries always have back up plans.
We called them just before we were going to head over to leave, and they told us they couldn't go and gave us a couple reasons. They asked us to come over and we helped them can pickles and we rescheduled for Thursday really early in the morning.
-Wednesday we had District Meeting that was amazing as usual! And after we got back we had two solid lessons! Our first lesson was with our investigator Danielle. We taught her the plan of salvation and we invited her to come to church on Sunday so we are hoping she'll be here! Our second lesson was with Carol! She has been trying to stop smoking and we started a program with her this week and have seen some pretty awesome results from it! She's really determined to quit! Later that night we got a text from The Fournells saying that they could not go to the VC again.
-Thursday we did our Studies and went out to Chanute and visited our investigator Tina and helped her with some family history work. She's currently on date, but she is still smoking so we are working on that!
We ate dinner with a couple that got baptized last November and they are awesome! They are so supportive Of the missionaries it's awesome!
We also stopped by to see Carol and she is excitedly reported to us about her successes she's had so far! She's doing amazing!
-Friday we we drove up to Independence to go to a doctors appointment for Sister Bressler. She is still having some side effects from the car accident she got in and has been having some massive migraines, but is still a total trooper! We also got our oil changed and we got our Hermana Tags! (Pictures to come!) We went to A&W for lunch and celebrated my one month mark. Has it seriously been a month?! Time out here flies by everyday, got to take advantage of every moment I have!

All in all, this week was awesome. I forgot to mention I am giving a talk tomorrow about being your own pioneer so that is going to be super cool! But truly God blesses me everyday! I have been thinking and praying a lot about what I wanted to share with you all this week so I hope I can answer someone's prayers!

2.0
We are all children of God. You have a Father in Heaven who truly cares about every detail of your life. His love for each of you is individual, personal, and is always there. He sent his son Jesus Christ to "take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities".
I know that's true and we have been given one of simplest, most amazing gifts to be able to express everything going on in our lives.
That gift is prayer. Heavenly Father wants to know what's going on in your life. Through prayer we can share with him all of the concerns, hardships and even joyful things in our lives. Through prayer we can access the Atonement that has the power to heal us in everyday. Often we try to put limitations on what Heavenly Father and The Savior can do for us in our lives. Putting limitations on what God can do for us in our lives is like sending away blessings he is already sending.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Love you all!!

Hermana Hunt!

Hermana!

Temple Day!

Week 4: Revenge of the Roadkill

Familia y amigos!

Holy cow this week was very interesting! Haha! But before we get to stories and the title, I'm gonna answer some questions you all have been asking!

So my area currently has a ward, we have about 300 members, but only 90 are active so we visit a ton of less actives and part member families! There's no Spanish branch, but we have tried to visit all of our Spanish investigators and NONE of them have been home. But seriously though when you have a missionary name tag on some people treat you like you have a plague! Or my personal favorite is when we knock on people's doors and they come see its us, and tell everyone to be quiet because the missionaries are at the door. Haha but there have been some really funny stories from those experiences! 

Iola and all the other areas are a whole lot like Snowflake and Taylor! A lot of people live out in the farm parts, like grandma and grandpas house, but there's always a center of town, like snowflake, in each of them! 

Teaching: Like I mentioned we don't have many members who are active so we go visit a ton of less actives and part member families! Our area is huge, for example we have a mile budget every month and for our area we get 2300 miles.... Haha which is a TON! But ya we visit a lot of people and this week we are going to the VC tomorrow with a part member family and we are super excited! We have a lot of appointments set up for this week and I'm really excited! 

So here's how the week went (sorry for the list!)

~ Wednesday we had a mission fast and wow it was way awesome! President Vest called us that night and has issued what's called the atonement initiative, where we spend our personal study reading about the atonement in the scriptures and answering some questions about each one we read! It has truly been amazing! 

~Thursday we had Zone conference and it was absolutely amazing! We talked about the initiative and working with members! And at the end I got asked to bare my testimony, will get back to that later! *cough* 2.0 *cough*

~Friday we spent a ton of time trying to get in touch with people here in Iola and out of 16 people only 2 were home. But we did get to go visit our the Fournell family, she speaks Spanish and he is a non member and they invited us over for the 4th because no one signed up to feed us!

 ~Saturday the moment you have all been waiting for, the title of the email. So our bishop lives out in the boonies and we drove out to his house in the morning for a meeting that was actually at the church so we hopped back into the car and as we were driving back there was a turtle on the edge of the lane in the road. Well I saw it and just moved the car closer to the left lane and then when we passed him he was gone and we just thought it was weird. Well not even a minute later a light comes on on the dashboard. And lot and behold the light meant low tire pressure. Any guess what happened? No? Well yours truly missed him with the front tire and in doing so ran him over with the back tire and his shell popped it. By the time we got to the church our car was sagging in the back. We went to our meeting and decided to change the tire in the parking lot because both of us have way cool dads who taught us how to change a tire. Thanks dad! But our dads forget to tell us about the kind of heavy duty arm work outs that are necessary to have muscles strong enough to get the nuts off the tire to change it. After about 20 minutes of literally jumping on the wrench, our bishop who was still at the church, came and one handed unscrews them all off. Bishops Rock. Well anyway after that we had to go to Wal Mart and buy a new tire and it took up majority of the plans we had to go visit people in one of our Towns, Chanute, and that was frustrating but our tire is fixed and we are back in business! That night we went to the Fournells and had dinner with them and their neighbors and we watched them light off fireworks and then went home for the night.

I don't have much time left, but 2.0 for the week:

So the atonement initiative has been so cool, when we were at Zone conference  they asked us to take 5 minutes and think about what the atonement is to me. As i sat thinking about it, and image popped into my mind. In life we look into a mirror. My mirror was of missionary work. All the thoughts and ideas of what mission life would be like and sometimes our mirrors, or ideas, get shattered, either by another person, Satan, and sometimes ourselves. As you fall to your knees you frantically try to figure out how we are going to put it back together. There are so many pieces or things that need to get fixed and as you try to put it back together you get cuts and then anger, frustration, stress and finally helplessness set in. As you sit there kneeling, you  feel a person come behind you and softly ask what's wrong. As you explain your situation, they listen intently. When you finish, tearing rolling down your cheeks the person tells you that they know exactly how to fix your mirror and they even tell you they can make the things you see in the mirror even better than they were before and all you have to do is ask him and be willing to help. As you turn around to tell this person there's no way the view could have been better, or even be prepared, you see the Savior, tears rolling down his cheeks and you embrace him and the two of you go about rebuilding your mirror. To me this is the atonement. Sometimes our mirrors,our lives, get chipped, cracked and even shattered, but with the Saviors atonement we can with him rebuild our mirrors and start to see the bigger picture each time it is remade. I know the atonement is real. I see it work in my life everyday. Whatever you are all going through I know the Savior can help you be restored to an even better state than you been in before. He lives! And his atonement is only a prayer away.

I love you all so much! I feel your prayers and love everyday! As I have been learning Spanish I feel them tons more as I strive to learn and understand the language so thank you, I am truly blessed! Have a fantastic week!

Te quiero mucho!

Hermana Hunt