Week 34: The Best One Yet

¡Familia y Amigos!

 

This week has flown by! I can't believe it is time to write again!

 

We have been praying and studying what we can do to help our area, and we got an answer! We are starting a 40-day fast in the Ward for missionary work next week! I get to speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday and kind of kick it off! We are really looking forward to seeing what miracles and blessing come from it! 

 

One of the investigators we are teaching online at the jail (we teach people who come on Mormon.org) got put on Baptismal date for April 9th (baptism for my birthday, not too shabby for a present right?!) He is moving to Ohio this week and then we will get him in touch with the Local missionaries so they can teach him and help him progress toward his date! We are super excited for him!

 

We had an amazing week at the Jail as well! I GOT TO TAKE A SPANISH PRESENTATION!! My heart almost burst with happiness! I was a little rusty, crazy how fast it slips, but I have been praying to be able to use my Spanish and a family came in and the Mom didn't speak hardly any English and so I got to do it in Spanish and I am so grateful to know Heavenly Father knows exactly where we are and that he answers our prayers! Little big tender mercy for me!

 

2.0

So I was laying in my bed last night and I realized that exactly a year ago today, I decided to serve a mission, and WOW, what an adventure it has been! When I decided to serve I had no idea what incredible things the Lord would have in store for me to learn, grow, love and serve! 

 

I am beyond grateful that a mission was part of Gods plan for me. He has shown me time and time again, that I was called to the Missouri Independence Mission to leave June 10th, 2015 to have all the experiences I have had so far, to meet the people who have changed me forever and most importantly to gain the testimony I have gained of my Savior Jesus Christ. 

 

The time out here is going by so fast! I love being a missionary and I am so glad I still have 10 months left to work harder and learn and grow even more! But all in all I know that God has a specific plan for each of us! He wants us to succeed and live up to our potential. May we all try a little harder to see ourselves as the person Heavenly Father see us as! 

 

I love you all and hope you have a week full of miracles!

 

¡Abrazos y Oraciones!

 

Hermana/Sister Hunt

Week 33: Embrace Your Opportunities

¡Familia y Amigos!

Well this week we saw SO MANY MIRACLES! I can tell you that diligence, hard work, prayers, faith, and long days are the best and that they work!! ( Preach My Gospel is so inspired!! ) We found a new investigator this week and I am pretty sure my heart almost died when she told us we could come back and teach her more! I have never been so aware of the Lord and his tender mercies as I have thus far during this transfer!!

We have been working so hard to do what we can to serve the people and our investigators in the area and I can tell you that service, builds love, trust, and strengthens relationships! I have grown to love the people here so quickly through service!! 

2.0

This week I have been pondering a lot about change due to the changes in the mission, a new boundary change of stakes at home, the change I have seen in our Ward in just two weeks and just the day to day changes of missionary life! 

In Ether 12:27 it says "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."  What an incredible promise! If we come unto the Lord he will show us our weaknesses, and as we work with him, they can and will become our strengths!!

Change is such a blessing!! Everyday is a new day to change. We don't have to wait until tomorrow, a new area, a new companion, a new job, a new season, new circumstances to change! We can wake up every morning and choose to be better than we were yesterday, and tomorrow we can be better than we were today. We can choose to have a more positive attitude, be more loving, more organized today! 

We are constantly progressing, so embrace the opportunities you have in your life to be better! We have a Savior. He atoned for mistakes and our short comings. Take his outstretched hand and begin your daily journey to be more Christlike, today. I can promise you that as you do so, you will be able to be happier and your relationship with the Savior will be strengthened, and I know he is there along the way :)

I love you all and hope that you have a week full of miracles!!

¡Abrazos y Oraciones!

Sister/Hermana Hunt

 

 

Week 32: The Patch of Wet Dirt

¡Familia y Amigos!

Wow! Crazy that it's already P-Day again!!

This week was awesome! We got to go on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders this week! I went to Platte City with Sister Delange (I lived with her one of my transfers at the Visitor Center and love her!) and Sister Richens stayed with Sister Helmbold! I love going exchanges and getting new ideas of how we can work in our area!

One big miracle we had this week was a couple that was referred to us by one of our members, and they are so ready for the gospel! Them came to the Liberty Jail and we taught them the restoration and loved everything! Sad for us though, they don't live in our area so we don't get to teach them, but missionary work is a worldwide effort, and if souls are coming into Christ, I'm a happy camper :) plus the sisters they are going to are awesome!

2.0

This week something I have really been focusing on is faith! As I was studying Alma 32 and thinking about the analogy of faith being like a seed, I was thinking about seeds of doubt verses seeds of faith, because that is a lot of what our investigators are struggling with. As it explains in Alma, if we take a seed of faith and plant it and nourish it, it will grow and as we continue, it will become a tree. As we take different truths of the gospel and plant those seeds of faith we soon realize we have a quickly growing forest of faith, so to speak.  As I was thinking about his in comparison to doubt, if we take a seed of doubt and plant it in the ground, we can spend all the time in the world watering and tending to it, but all we are going to get is a patch of wet dirt. And as a result of tending to this seed of doubt and all you get is mud, you can begin to lose all peace of mind over this seed that won't grow and in the process, begin to neglect the trees you have worked so hard to grow. Overtime they can become weaker, and if we let that see of doubt, take all our time, pretty soon we will turn around and realize our once forest, has begun to shrink.  So moral of the story and my little analogy: Don't sacrifice your forest for a patch of wet dirt. President Utchdorf said it best: "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith."

So I would invite you all to work a little more on tending your Faith Forest and keep the things you do know continually strengthened! 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and support, I truly can feel them everyday! 

Hope you have a week full of miracles!

Abrazos y Oraciones

Hermana/Sister Hunt

 

 

Week 31: Serving Some Jail Time

¡Familia y Amigos!

 

So transfers were last Thursday and I have been transferred to Liberty and I am currently serving at the Historic Liberty Jail! (Made you al little bit nervous for a second ) Who knew when I got my mission call to be a full proselyting sister that I would be blessed to serve at both visitor centers in our mission! My companion's name is Sister Richens, she's from Utah and we are seeing so many miracles! She white washed the area last transfer and we are now seeing the progress from the work she put in last transfer paying off! 

 

So the Work here in this area has been pretty slow, they have white washed it several times and we are really working on gaining the trust of the members here! The People in Liberty are SO different than the people in Independence! Our Ward meets at the church building that shares a parking lot with the Kansas City Temple, and our area is a pretty wealthy area! I miss the inner city, but I know I will learn to love the people here just like all my other areas :) Also a little bummed that I am not speaking Spanish this transfer, but one of the Sisters I live with is from Mexico so she's helping me keep practicing :)

 

So we have shifts at the Jail just like the Visitor Center, where party of the Day is at the Jail and the other in our area! We live with 2 other companionships, so 6 of us in a house, and the jail is seriously INCREDIBLE! Everyday I get to spend time where the prophet Joseph Smith stood. The spirit that is here is unlike anything I have ever felt and my testimony of the Prophet Joseph has increased so much! But even more so, my testimony of my savior Jesus Christ has grown even more!   I know he suffered for our sins and that through him we can overcome any and every challenge we face in our lives and His atonement is real. 

 

2.0

P.M.A 

 

PMA stands for Positive Mental Attitude, and this week I have seen just how powerful our outlook on our circumstances can effect us! Life is not easy. Somedays it feels like the whole world has done you wrong and is against you and that you have every right to be upset and frustrated, but when you begin to exercise PMA, (which is hard but just like building muscle, the more you work at it the stronger it becomes) you begin to realize just how wonderful life can be! If we spend our days looking at all the negative in our lives, we will look back and realize all the wonderful things we missed out on. So I would invite you all this week to try a little bit of PMA. I know that it will be hard at first but as you continue to work at it, you'll be a whole lot happier :)

 

Well I love you all so very much! Thank you for your letters and love, they truly are a blessing! 

 

I hope you have a week full of miracles!

 

Abrazos y Oraciones 

 

Hermana/Sister Hunt

 

Week 30: Miracles on Walnut St.

¡Familia y Amigos!

Another week come and gone! And another transfer coming to a close
(how in the world has it been 6 weeks?!) Transfers are next Thursday,
so if I get transferred, I won't have p-day till probably the 25th!
But anyways, I'm hoping I still have one more transfer with Hermana
Oldroyd here in Riverview!

Because many of you have been asking, the weather here in Missouri is
SOOO nuts! So it snowed once, and then it melted and is all gone. This
last week it was FOUR DEGREES! And with the wind chill (which is the
added temperature drop because of the humidity for all the people like
me who didn't know what that was) it was NEGATIVE FOURTEEN DEGREES! So
ya, it's been a little cold, but today it is in the high forties low
fifties and I am in heaven (never thought I'd say that). And who knows
maybe we'll have a blizzard next week! Missouri is awesome and I am
learning to love boots, coats, gloves and scarves!

This week we saw SO many miracles! Hermana Oldroyd and I found a
family this week! We are teaching them this Saturday! We had to drop
our investigators who were on date for the 23rd because they weren't
keeping commitments, but we have another investigator that is praying
about a baptismal date this week! She's an awesome investigator and
keeps us on our toes! She studies everything we tell her in our
lessons and texts/ calls us throughout the week if she has questions.
We couldn't ask for anything better! The lord is working miracles!

2.0

One thing I know is true and real, is Gods love. He is truly our
father, and regardless of the choices we make, he loves us. I know
that he loves everyone, because I have felt his love and every time I
teach someone, or talk to someone on the street, I can feel the love
he has for them. No matter what happens in the life, whatever mistakes
we make, heartaches we feel, through our Savior Jesus Christ and his
atonement. Turn to him and let him heal you.

I love you all and I pray for you everyday! Thank you for all of your
love and support!'

Hope you have a week full of miracles!

¡Abrazos y Oraciones!

Hermana/Sister Hunt

Week 29: I'm late! I'm late! I'm late at sending my group email and...

Week 28: I'm late! I'm late! I'm late at sending my group email and...

 

¡Familia y Amigos!

 

I don't have much time this week, except for a 2.0 but my week this week was awesome! The Lord is truly blessing Hna Oldroyd and I.

 

2.0

I just want to share my testimony with each of you that I know that God lives. I know that he is our loving Heavenly Father and he created a perfect plan for each of us. I know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. His atonement is real. Repentance is real and is one of the biggest blessings we have received! If we let the Saviors atonement work in our lives, he can change our very nature. Each of you has Devine potential. God uses our talents to bless and lift those around us. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Chris's church on the earth today. It was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and that by the power of God translated the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and as we study and read it we can feel the Spirit testify of its truth. As we read it we can receive answers to our questions. I know the calling that I have as a missionary is from God and was given by a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I know I was called to the Missouri Independence Mission, to serve and meet everyone that I have met and all those I will meet during my service here as a missionary. There is truly nothing I love more than being a missionary. And I want to share all of these things with you in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

I love you all and hope you have a week full of miracles!

 

Abrazos y Oraciones

 

Hermana/Sister Hunt

 

 

Week 28: A New Year to Come Unto Christ

¡Familia y amigos!

 

I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas! It was so fun to get to talk to my family! We had a really nice Christmas and I got all of your packages mom and we are enjoying the oranges very much so thank you!! It didn't snow on Christmas but it snowed a few days later and I like everything about the snow except for scraping ice off the car, getting stuck when you park wrong, not being able to go out in our area because of the roads, turning.... but it was really fun to go to bed and wake up and everything was white and to play in it for a couple minutes, and watch it come down! so like I said mixed emotions on the snow, but I'm surviving! I still need to buy tights and leggings but then I should be set!

 

So, on to the important stuff: This week as super awesome! We had SO many miracles and I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of each of us, and I know he watches out for all of us!

 

Highlight of the week: On Saturday night Hna Oldroyd and I had an appointment with our two investigators who are on date for the 23rd of January, and before we left to go to the Visitor Center in the morning, we both felt really strongly that there was somewhere/someone we needed to visit, but we didn't know who, and we didn't want to cancel our appointment! So we decided we figure it out later and went to shift. We got home, finished studies, went to dinner and our appointment was set right after dinner. After we left dinner, the feeling that we needed to be somewhere else was even stronger so we said a prayer and still didn't know exactly what to do. So we decided to drive to our investigators house and when we got there Hna Oldroyd had a name pop into her head and it was a less active neither of us had met before and she lived right around the corner from our investigators! So we hurried around the corner and We knocked on her door and explained how we came about coming over, and she told us that she had been trying to figure out how to get a hold of the branch president and asked us when and where church was and that her and her daughter would be ready. What a miracle!! We were able to get her in contact with the Branch President and arranged a ride for her to church all in 10 minutes And she came! While we were at church she told us it was her first time back to church in 10 years. I know that Heavenly Father lead Hna Oldroyd and I where he needed us to be that night! He was aware of her and what she needed and as we followed the promptings of the spirit we were able to help her. I know that this is the Lords work and I am so humbled and blessed to be a part of it! 

 

I don't have much time left so 2.0!

 

2.0 

New Year: New Years Resolutions!

 So last week, I invited you all to think about ways you can personally draw closer to Christ this next year. So with tomorrow being the start of a new year I would invite you to take those thoughts and promptings and to set those goals. I can promise you that as you put Christ first in your life this next year and take the goals you set to him, with his help you will be able to accomplish them. 

 

I hope you all have an amazing new year and a week full of miracles!

 

¡Abrazos y Oraciones!

 

Hermana/Sister Hunt