BEST WEEK EVER

"We did our studies in bed with some hot ecco- mormon coffee- its too cold here not too. and we have concrete floors so this is what happens"

Hi everyone! Oh my goodness best week ever!!!!

  

Well to be honest I was expecting this letter to say it was the worst week ever... because.... I found out that my companion had to go back to Lima and that Hermana Purse and I would be working together alone... we are both learning Spanish and in training still!!! We both just put a smile on our face and decided that this week was going to be our test and that we wanted to ace it! Well on Tuesday I got sick around 4 and I tried to keep pushing, but it got to the point that I felt I was going to pass out and throw up so we hurried and got a taxi and I got back to the house just in time. The peruvian food isnt always nice to us... So that was the beginning of the week.. then came Wednesday! Our first appointment was with a woman in my wad that we later found out has a bit of a mental challenge. Hermana Purse and I sat there as she went off about the most random things and didnt even understand most of it, afterwards we just laughed and decided to say a prayer that the day would go better. Well it did! We had a lot of citas and the all went SO well! One of them was with Kempis y Sandra. We decided to teach the resteration- forgot how to spell it in english- and we went into detail about the priesthood. It was amazing. Kempis talked about how he knows he needs to be better and wants to be able to bless his wife with the priesthood. Well then Sandra said that its hard to be a member at times and that our visit was what they needed and she felt so much better. I almost cried I was so happy! It was the best! The whole week everything just seemed to work out for Hermana Purse and I. It really made me realize that God is so aware of us. He knows us, and HE LOVES US! He has blessed me so so so much this week. 

   I also got a blessing this week from my District Leader because I felt prompted to do so. I alsways feel nervous for asking for one because I feel like I have had a lot- 2- since I have been a missionary. But when you feel promted... ACT! It was amazing. I had my testimony of the priesthood strengthened this week. My blessing addressed every single thig that had me worried. God really talked to me and just told me to keep going, and He will take care of the rest. To be honest, sometimes it is so hard to keep pushing, especially when we get rejected so hard by so many people, but somehow the Lord puts something in my path every time that makes me want to keep going. Missionary work is amazing.

   Yesterday we just contacted like crazy and we really strongly felt that the Lord guided us to these people when they needed us the most. One lady even had a black eye and was so scared whe we approached her, never ssaid a word and when we asked her her name she started shaking with fear. We just bore our testimonies about the Plan of Salvation and told her that God led us to her for a reason. We even had four investigators at church yesterday!!! Moises said he was coming, but never showed up. It was sad, but we arent giving up on him. We also had to drop Elbia. She read the Book of Mormon and knows its true, but said she doesnt want to change. Its sad, but we just keep on going!!

  I have felt SO much love from my Heavenly Father this week. I love sharing the truth to my brothers and sisters here in Peru every day. It is the best feeling in the world, even if they dont accept another appointment, you know that you planted a seed, you have done all you can, and the Lords approval is all that matters. I love being a missionary!! I have never felt so happy!

  I love all of you!!! Thank you for everything!!

    Love forever and ever, Hermana Hunter

Poco en poco

hola familia!! Oh my another week has flown by! Slowly the time has started picking up a little and I dont know how I feel about it!! Having 15 vmonths left makes me feel like I need to hurry up, learn Spanish, and rescue as many people as I can!!

   Speaking of rescuing, we found Moises in a bad state last Monday, but we have had contact with him every day since then and have had some very serious lessons about the word of wisdom, law of chastity, eternal families, following the prophet and repentence. Its amazing how slowly throughout the week we have seen him change. You can literally see it on his face! It is the happiest thing!! He didnt come to church, so the baptism is pushed back yet again, but little by little, poco en poco!!!

     Something really cool happened this week- on tuesday we were looking for old investigators we felt like we could start teaching again and when we were leaving one house an older man with a young special needs girl walked up to us and the man asked "Hermanas why havent you come to visit me in my house?" My comp and I looked at each other and I told the man, well we for sure can! Then we asked if hes baptized and he said no but I can be! It was crazy!! He then told us that the special girl with him was his girlfriend and asked us for bread. So things got a little weird, but I was just so excited that someone came up to us and asked us to visit them! We gave them both pictures of Christ and made an appointment. They were so excited to have the picture and it was the cutest thing! We walked away and my comp kept saying how weird that was but I was so so excited! Well Thursday came when we were supposed to go visit them and all I could think about was the Saratov Approach and how the same thing happened to them before something bad happened to them, I kinda just told myself I was thinking too much about it and then in my personal prayer, I had the strongest feeling that it was not a good idea to visit them. So my comp and I talked and asked our pension if he would go with us so that we could have a man with us. Well then we realized that we both wrote down different addresses for them and all of a sudden the time started flying and it was almost time to visit Moises. I then realized that it was God literally making it so we could not go visit them. I am so thankful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and how not only is it a comforter and helps us recognize the truth, but he also protects us and warns us of danger. It is such an amazing gift and blessing to have in our lives! But we need to live worthily to have this sacred gift! Which leads to the next thing, the drunk man I talked about last time... well we taught him last night!! It was amazing. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and at the end his wife told us "You got it spot on" the spirit guided us in that lesson and Leonidis was touched. He told us that he knows he is lost and wants to be forgiven and come back to church. It was the neatest thing! 

  We worked a lot with less actives again this week. One of them, Hermana Faltima is the cutest. She said that she was praying to be a light to her family and one day the elders showed up at her door and she knew it was an answer to prayers and she was baptized. Well she kinda fell away when she had a baby with a man she wasnt married to and then her baby died at 4 months old. She then had another baby and she is 6 months old. The father left her and now she lives with her mom. We visited her for a long time and just listened to her story and how she feels like she can have a second chance in life by coming back to church. We talked about the plan of salvation and how if she makes a change in her life and does the right thing, she can be sealed to her family and live with her babies forever! She started tearing up and told us that she wants to make a goal to go to the temple with her mom and baby. Oh my I felt my heart starting to swell! I was so so so happy!!! 

   Also, the family valecia that we have been trying to get to set a civil wedding date so they can be baptized finally set a date!! Well, first week of August, but still! It is a big step!!! We straight up asked them, "When do you want to be an eternal family?" That really set a spark in them!!!

   This week I am so grateful that my parents were married and sealed in the temple and set that example for me and made it possible for me to be with them forever. I want so badly to have the same for my future family. Temples are so special. The people here have to sacrifice so much to go to the temple. The closest one is in Bolivia. I am so blessed to have had a temple so close at home and to spend so much time there as an ordinance worker before I left. I have been thinking about the covenants and blessings that we recieve in the temples and it has given me so much strength. I want so badly for the people we are working with to have the amazing experience of going to the temple and becoming a forever family. 

  As for Spanish... I have had 6 members tell me that they can tell it has gotten a lot better! Two of our less actives this week said that they thought I had been out for a year because of my Spanish!! I am so grateful for these tender mercies and to see every day the Hand that the Lord has in my life. I see little miracles every day and they make the struggles so worth it!

  I love all of you so much! Thank you for your continual love, support, and prayers

love forever and always,

        Hermana Hunter

I am so so blessed

hi family!!!!

  Ok so yo are probably wondering how Moises is doing and when he is getting baptized. Well he has had some problems lately with the word of wisdom and we are really trying to help him out. We had an amazing lesson with him last night. It is hard for me to understand him but last night I had to fight back tears because I had the spirit hit me so hard out of nowhere that the church is true. So I shared my testimony with him of what I was feeling in that moment and told him that I want so badly for him to recieve the blessings that we recieve from this church. It really is incredible to think how blessed I am to have this knowledge that this church is true and that by simply knowing this, I feel so much hope and joy in my life. We have another lesson with him tonight so I will have to keep you updated.

  Well something sad about Gina, we found out yesterday her tumor ruptured and she might be going to Arequipa to recieve chemotherapy. I talked to her on the phone yesterday and just cried with her as I told her to remember her blessing and to always pray and read the BOM we gave her and told her we love her. I am so sad because I love Gina with all my heart and I want so badly to continue teaching her.

  This week with Rupertina we taught her about family history. I cried when rupertina cried as she told us she cant remember anything about her parents, only their names. Her husband remembers stuff about her parents but rupertina is so sick that it seems that everything in life just hrts her, but guess what, she doesnt feel pain when we teach her the gospel. The gospel is THAT POWERFUL!!!

  Ok so the craziest thing that happened this week... we have been really been trying to work with the menos activos and recent converts this last week and we went to visit a man named Leonidis. His whole family are members and they are just the best. they live in so much poverty but they are such fun happy loving people. So we walked in on Friday night and it was just his wife home cooking dinner. We started talking to her and I asked her how she met her husband. Turns out she met him when she was 17 at a park. She lived with her auntafter her mom died at 1 years old. anyways, she met him at a park and rumors started and her uncle told her he did not like the rumors so she had to marry him. She tried running away but couldnt and married him. They have never fallen i love but they have 7 kids and they are still together. It amazes me. Well as she was telling us this story- her daughter Karen walked in and looked terrified. Then she looked even worse after she realized we were there. She said that "papa is home and he is drunk. we have to hide the sisters." I got a huge sinking stomach feeling and offered a quick prayer. We were then taken up this ladder and into a room with a bunch of beds and were hidden on the back corner bed i the dark. They kept telling us "dont be scared dont be scared" which only made it worse! Well we were hiding and Karen is pregnant due any day so she distracted us with baby clothes and ultrasound pictures. Then Leonidis started yelling and we heard banging noises and then Karen would start talking louder and pull out more pictures. We had to hide for a little over an hour and I heard some horrible things being yelled. All I could think that night is how blessed I am to have a mom and dad that love each other so much and to have such an amazing family, I dont have to worry if my dad is going to come home drun one night and yell at my mom. I live in a home where the spirit can be. A home full of love. I thought that night how badly I want my future kids to live in a home where  they feel safe and loved. I also feel so blessed this week for the commandments. So many people think that being mormon is hard because of the "rules" when in reality it makes life so so much better. 

I am so thankful for the life that God has given me. I am reminded of this every day here in Peru. I am thankful that I have been given this experience to change me, to challenge me, and to make me feel blessed beyond belief. 

 I love you all so much!!! Thank you for all your love and prayers

     Love forever

          Hermana Hunter (Casadora)

Ups and Downs

Hi!!! Oh man what a week.

   

  Well to start off, this week we had a lot of weird food and my stomach is not loving it to much. We have had chuño, sheep head, and cow utters. Yep. COW UTTERS!!! I do not know why in the world they eat this stuff and enjoy it. I am usually adventurous, but I am telling you now, do not try it.

  

   Anyways, for three days I was in a trio with Hermana Purse who I love so much and a cute little Latina Hermana Olivaras. We had so much fun all together working in each others sectors and learning way more Spanish having a Latina with us! We had a lot of citas which was the best! And all of our lessons went so well! I was so happy that each lesson I was able to talk more and more and more. We even had a really good lesson with Moises preparing him for his baptism and talkng about the importance of keeping all of the commandments. We also taught the restoration the Gina and like 12 of her family members and it started out noisy and not everyone paying attention to everyone being absolutely silent. The spirit was so strong as we talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Then I handed Gina a Book of Mormon and I have never seen anyone light up like that. It was as if we were handing her a piece of gold- it basically is- but it made me so so happy. Then her two sisters committed to coming to church with Gina and her husband and son. It was amazing!!

    Then came the middle of the week... It completely turned around. A lot of our citas were falling through- some of them even just not answering the door even when we were making eye contact through the door. This week I think some festival was going on because a lot of fireworks were going off and then there were SO many parties. One night we walked through a huge crowd of drunk people. I became so sad and even sick to my stomach as I was watching my brothers and sisters making bad choices. The next day we found a lot of passed out people in the streets. Including two of our investigators. We would go to our citas to find investigators passed out drunk. It broke my heart to see this. It opened my eyes to see how truly dark and wicked the world is becoming and how many people Satan has in his grasp. My companion and I along with our District leader and his companion had a very deep talk that night about the second coming and how important our job is right now to go out and literally save lives. 

  This week was hard in other ways as well. Last night we had a meeting and an area 70 came. He was constantly cracking jokes and everyone was laughing and enjoying his message. I on the other hand could only understand a hand full of words and as the meeting went on I just became more and more frustrated that I was not understanding. This whole time I have tried to be so patient with this language and realize I just have to try my best and realize I am not going to know everything right now. But as the weeks go on, the more is expected of me and the more frustrated I become with my Spanish. We even had a lesson yesterday and the woman is so nice, but she told her friend how well my companion speaks and that I know very little. It was hard to hear and I just told them I am learning and I want to understand and I am sorry that sometimes I dont. It is hard when these people tell us about their lives, their worries, their stories and I only understand about 40% I want so badly to communicate with these people and to be able to understand the things they want to tell me. My job here is to preach the Gospel, which I know how to do in Spanish, but it is also to be a support system, a friend, a listener. And it is frustrating when I am not able to be those things. Sometimes I just smile and tell them I love them and that God loves them and I try to be a Christ like example through my actions.

   There is a good part about these trials though, this week I have felt myself become so much stronger in the Gospel. I have felt my testimony grow, and I have literally felt myself grow. When things are hard I have learned to completely rely and trust in the Lord. I know that t is Satan working on me, trying to make me feel like I cant learn Spanish. I need to know how to speak Spanish to preach this gospel, and Satan does not want that. So when I feel sad, that is when I know I am doing the right thing because when I am doing the right things, Satan wants to change that. Remember that Satan will do everything he can to keep us from fulfilling our potentials in life. We need to recognize this and make those feelings of discouragement into power and strength to keep going and overcome the power of Satan. We have the power to overcome him, so do not let him win. I have found great comfort this week saying these things out loud:

  when I wake up and before I go to bed "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"

During the day when I might feel scared or not capable or stressed "God is with me now."

I feel Gods love more than ever before in my life. He really does love us. He wants us to be able to return to Him and live in happiness for eternity. Not only do I want to live with Him for eternity, but I want all those I come in contact with and more to live with God for eternity as well. So I will keep on going, I will keep on fighting, I will keep on praying, and I will keep on preaching the true gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

  I love this gospel and I know it is true with all my heart. It really is the answer to everything.

   I love you all!! Have an amazing week and keep on fighting!! 

Todo valdra la pensa si mi posteridad permanenezca fieles a la fe. It will all be worth it if my posterity stays true to the faith.

 Love always and forever,

         Hermana Hunter

A week of miracles and adventures

"It has been a little over two months, but i thought it was perfect!"

Hola!!! How is everyone doing?! I hope all is going well.

Ok wow what a week!!! First of all, we arent homeless anymore! We finally moved into our own house that is actually in our sector and we share it with Hermana Allred and Hermana Purse! We have the best view of the lake and we can see Bolivia and the floating islands from our room! But.. remember how when I was getting my mission call how I said I wanted to shower out of a bucket? Well we didnt have water or a shower in the house for pretty much all week so on Friday I could not handle being dirty anymore so I showered out of a bucket! Oh it was an adventure... Also my companion and Hermana Allred and Hermana Rassmussen left for Lima this morning so I am in a trio with Hermana Purse from the CCM and the cutest Latina Hermana Olivaras. Hermana Purse and I are excited to put our spanish to the test and really learn more spanish since we basically just know Gospel talk.

Ok so I think I told you how we found a woman named Gina with cancer and how it is hard for her someimes to believe in God? Well we finally got anoher appointment with her and a lot of her family was there visiting so we got to teach all of them! It was so cool. We taught about how families can be together forever and what we need to do on Earth in order to be an eternal family. It was such a special lesson, especially after finding out about great  grandma. Gina then told us that she has always seen other missionaries walk past her door but none of them ever knocked, we were the first and it was when she needed us the most. All of us agreed that God had sent us to her at this specific time for a reason. We went back to her house on Saturday with the elders to give her a blessing of health and oh my goodness, I felt myself burning with the spirit the whole time. It was amazing. The blessing told her that if she has faith, she will be abled to be healed to her hearts desire and that she will be able to take care of her family. It then turned to a blessing of comfort that said God has sent her to the earth for a reason and is wants her to participate in the ordinances of the gospel. I know that this is the family we have been praying for. They are all so ready for this message, you can literally see it in their faces. I love this family and I know that the gospel is already blessing them so much. It is the most incredible thing to see people change when they are taught the gospel. I am reminded everyday how amazing and perfect this gospel is. And I know without a doubt it is TRUE.

Also, one night we were looking for this one house and decided to knock on a different door and we found an old man and his wife who are members, but the wife is less active because she cant walk. We asked if we could come in and share a message and it was the most humbling experience by far. They live in the most poverty I have ever seen. Their house is one tiny room wit a tiny bed and a tiny little electric stove that we us for camping and their floor is all dirt. All they have to eat are potatoes and they only have very few clothes. The Hermana told us how she tries to walk but it hurts and she feels dizzy. Sometimes it is hard for her to have faith. She sees other people walking and wishes she could walk and she just cried in our arms saying she cant go to the doctor because her husband doesnt have a job. I just cried with her and we taught how the gospel is the greatest message of joy because this life is so short and as long as we do our part, we will have eternal happiness in the presence of God and with our families.

   

I am so beyond grateful for the gospel in my life, a loving family, a comfortable life, and a healthy body. This week I really have been able to think how blessed I truly am. It makes me want to work so hard and serve with so much love because I have been blessed and I want to help bless the lives of the beautiful people here in Puru. The people in Puno may be hard hearted, but I love them and this gospel has softened many of their hearts.

I love you all!! Remember how much we have been blessed and try to serve as much as you can because it brings the most amount of true happiness!!!

Love always and forever,

      Hermana Hunter

The Mission Week 8

Hi! Oh man what a week... we had zero success some days and a lot of success other days. It is hard opening a new sector, but it is also and adventure! 

So we have been working with this investigador named Moises, he is 25 and so awesome. Our first lesson with him he told us he wants to get baptized but he feels that something is holding him back. It really hurts to see the adversary working so hard on these people with such a desire to change their lives. Well Moises is very hard for me to understand, but I just tried so hard to focus on the promptings of the spirit and it really is the best way! I shared a scripture with him from Alma 32 21 and he told me that it really helped him! The next lesson we had with him we talked a lot about faith and how the right way is not always the easy way. At the end we asked him to have faith and set a date and a goal to be baptized and he said yes! He made the goal to be baptized this coming Saturday! The sad part is, he did not come to church yesterday so he has to wait another week. We had a very serious talk about the sabbath day and I felt so guided by the spirit! I was really involved in the lesson and it felt so good! But he is still getting baptized and we are so excited!

My favorite part of the week was the other day when we had our first lesson with our new investigator Elbia. She is 24 with two kids and a single mom. We were walking to a cita and saw her in front of her little tienda and I felt the strongest impression to go talk to her, good thing because it was the most amazing lesson! We planned to visit another day and then we planned to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but when we got there and started asking her questions we were guided to teach the Plan of Salvation. Oh wow am I grateful for this plan! It was amazing because my Spanish was actually the best it has been and I got to share most of what was in my heart. I kept asking her how she felt about things after we talked about each part like the atonement, the ressurecction and all of that and she would just say I feel better and I feel calm. I was getting so excited! Then I talked to her about the things that she needs to do on earth in order to get to the Celestial Kindom, which she was so excited to learn about. She told us she did not know what would happen after this life and to see her face light up while teaching her that life on earth is not the end was amazing! I asked her where she thinks she is on the steps to returning to live with God and her family and she said faith in Jesus Christ. I then felt so strongly prompted and just asked her... will you exercise your faith and be baptized? she jumped a little then looked up and me and said YES! Ah it was th best because it was the first lesson! It just proved to me that some people are so ready for the gospel and have been waithing for this message of hope all their lives. I really got to reflect on how much I have been blessed in my life. Especially when we walk into these peoples homes that sometimes dont have roofs, dirt floors, sometimes even blankets for walls. It is so poor here, but it has been the most humbling experience for me already.

We also got interviews from President this week which is always the best! We talked about faith in a way that I have never talked about. Have you ever imagined faith as something you could reach over and grab off the table? I had not. But faith is something a lot of us do not have enough of. There are three levels of faith. the first level being a wishful or hopeful faith. Too many of us are at this level. We hope for things to happen or hope for God to bless us with something. This is not enough. The next level is a little better, but still more hopeful. The top level is where we need to be. It is the expectant faith. I expect for this to happen, I expect that I will recieve this. This does not mean we can not do our part or that God will maybe change His mind on something, because all thimgs are according to His will since He is the one with a plan for us, but if we have more of an expectant faith, it will change our lives.

Something else is we are taught to teach our investigators inspired questions, but have you ever thought to ask yourself inspired questions? probably not. But we need to! If we will ask ourselves inspired questions like Am I the manner of missionary, mom, husband, friend, sibling, priesthood holder I want to be? You can ask yourself this question for whatever title you have, You can also ask, have I done something today that has strengthened my faith? Do I have the relationship with my Heavenly Father that I desire to have? If we will ask ourselves inspired questions, it will change our lives!

Well I love you all. This week I have been especially grateful for the family and friends that I have in my life. Thank you for all the love, support, and prayers. I pray for you all every day as well!!!

Ps that little old lady I told you about that ignores us, well I shared my favorite scripture with her and every day we pass by her she smiles and strikes up conversations now!!! the gospel changes people!

Love always,

Hermana Hunter

I made it to the field!!

Hi everyone!!! 

Oh my goodness seeing your faces was the best thing ever, but also the hardest thing. The bishops wife just held me in her arms after and gave me kisses so it was nice to have a mommy hug.

Anyways, holy cow I am a for real missionary now!! It is CRAZY here. I was in Cusco for three days where we visited the Christo Blanco and the plaza and got to go contacting in the plaza de armas in Cusco with our new companions! Cusco is beautiful and I hope I get to serve there eventually. Our mission is huge. We have everything from cities to jungles and everything in between. I am in Puno wich is right next to lake Titikaka or however you spell it and my sector is Huanya Capac. It is freezing here, but I am surviving!! the city is worth being cold! We have been warned that the people are a little hard hearted here, but so far it has not been too bad! Ive only gotten one door slammed in my face so far! Lots of drunks here though so at night time we have to be super careful. Also, the dogs here are vicious. Everyone in this mission that has gotten bit was in Puno.. but I have my dog zapper so I am sure I will be just fine!

 

Ok my companion is Hermana Beckstead and she is from Colorado. She has been out for 11 months and she is tall as well so we just tower over everyone here its hilarious. We are very different, but she is so sweet so that is all I care about! 

So we are actually opening this sector which is super cool, but also hard because we have to start from scratch. These past few days we have just been trying to get to know the area, members, and contact a ton. We actually have found some new investigators so I am super excited! One experience we had was we were walking up the mountain and we stopped at a snack shop and started talking to this woman, she had her back towards us and was kinda ignoring us, and then I asked her what is most imoprtant in her life. She said her family and so I told her how the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families and changes lives and I know this because it has blessed my family and changed my life. I also told her that our message is something very special and that it is ture. She then turned around to face us and started really listening to us and told us we could come visit her! It was amazing to see someones heart be softened just through a small testimony. We also taught a woman named Maribel at her front door. She is catholic and told us she is concerned about her health, we asked if she wanted us to pray with her and she agreed and asked me to say the prayer. I got so nervous, but I really just tried to let the spirit guide me to what I should say and after the prayer I couldnt remember all of the things I said, but Maribel said we could come visit her this week so I knew that somewhere in my prayer she felt something and that is all that matters! I have learned a lot this week to really let the spirit be the teacher because these people probably will not remember all the words we say, but they will remember how they felt so if I can touch their hearts somehow and have them feel the spirit, I have done my job as a missionary because the real converter is the spirit.

Not going to lie, this first week in the field has been tough. My trainer, the bishop, and our District Leader keep telling me I speak better Spanish than most new missionaries, but a lot of times I have no idea what is going on and its kinda hard to not feel useless or stupid when they laugh and say oh greenga, but I have made a point this week to really let the spirit guide me in all things and develop a stronger relationship with my Heavenly Father. I had one of my first experiences where I literally felt like God was talking to me through the Book of Mormon. I love this gospel with all my heart. Every time I start feeling down, I pick up the Book of Mormon or say a prayer and I immediately feel my Heavenly Father close to my side. I love this feeling and I love the little and big miracles I have seen every day since I have been here. I know I truly am in Gods hands and I have made a promise to Him that I am putting ALL my trust in Him. 

I hope everyone is doing well! Oh I was told if you are going to send packages, put mary stickers and crosses on them so that they get here easier and its more likely it wont get stolen! Funny, but true.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! as always, thank you for your prayers. I feel very loved and so close to you even though I am far away.

Love always and forever

     Hermana Kenzie Hunter