November 22, 2010 and December 1, 2010

December 1, 2010

Hi Mother,

I am glad you guys made it safe to Fresno and back (Note from Mom: Sam's 100 year old grandmother passed away and we drove to Fresno for the funeral). I was worried about you guys, but dad is amazing and could stay awake for a month and has before so I wasn't too worried. And don't you just love basketball season? All the games, how did Mckay do in his games? I am glad that Bryson played and did well. He just needs to work hard. I think that Drury will spend the preseason trying to figure things out. I have no doubt that they will have a good year. That is crazy you did Thanksgiving on Wednesday, but that is cool that you made time for it still. Being busy is a good thing but recently I have been reading the conference talks and Elder Uchtdorf's talk is about slowing down when life gets crazy and focusing on the things that are really important. I know you and dad already focus on things that are most important.

Well it was transfer week so it was a long 10 day week with no p-day. The hardest week by Tuesday you can barely open your eyes. Not too much exciting things happened, but I have learned and continued to grow.

For Thanksgiving we went to Bishop Neilson's house and it was so much fun. We had Jim there and he is the funniest guy ever. He knows a lot of information about everything and is very opinionated and doesn't ever hide his real thoughts. He got along just well. Then the rest of the week went by pretty good. Elder Sorel had a sore in his mouth so he stayed home one day and then we went to Mass. General Hospital the next. The hospital is super cool. It was hard for me one day I cleaned the apartment super clean and cooked meals for our roommates because I didn't have anything to do. It was funny they kept making fun of me for it.

We taught one lesson to Jessica and another to Jim. We are trying to make the best progress that we possible can but it is hard to get them to progress it seems like we are stuck. Both come to church every week and fit in well. Jim has a little bit of drug problems and stuff but he is getting a ton better every time I meet with him. I have been searching the scriptures trying to find an answer to how I can better help them and I haven't found the right answer yet. I think by just always being there for them and making sure they are reading and praying and going to church the rest should fall into place.

We just found out about transfers and Elder Sorel is getting transferred and I am staying. I love the city. It is a challenge everyday to go out and talk to everybody, there are so many people everywhere. It is funny I am always looking around for people to talk to and if I am not talking to anyone I feel bad. I am going to come home and be so weird:) that is a good thing. So as for transfers I think that Elder Yim will be my Companion and we will be over LP1 and LP2 wards which are the wards that have the singles under 31 years old that are in Grad school or just working. It will be pretty fun because people are pretty smart and Ii can help them. That is my prediction and I will find out tomorrow for sure who my companion is and stuff so that will be fun. I think that Ii am finally getting the hang of things here. Well hopefully as soon as I say that is when I realize I don't know anything.

Also the weather here is still way good. Like the 40s which is a lot better than a bunch of snow. Having a lot of snow would be hard here in Boston. People already don't want to stop and talk with us so with snow it will make it even worse. Anyways this one is a little shorter than normal I apologize I will be sending some pictures home within the week and letters. I Love you and thank you for everything you and dad have done for me. I will email on Monday next.

Pictures of Beau and Boston in the Fall Beautiful!

Sunset by Cambridge

Love,
Elder Hunter

November 22, 2010

Dear Mother,

The weather here has been really good so far. I am surprised. The last couple of days have been freezing though like 32 it isn't the temperature that is so cold but more it is the wind. It is so ridiculously cold. Brrrr... We are focusing more on contacting on the T and buses so I don't feel bad stopping people in the streets. Up to this point though the weather has been terrific like 40s all we have to wear is a suit and not our scarf or big coat yet. That is cool that you are going to Fresno to great grandmas funeral. It will be a great experience to see all of our relatives and hear of our heritage. Make sure to travel safely.

As for Bryson and Mckay I am so excited to hear about their basketball seasons. They both will be better than I was they are such studs. Except Bryson because I never hear of him. He better email or write me soon! Mckay emails me every week he is so awesome and growing up a ton I can tell.

I can't believe that Willie is back time is going buy so fast. I have been out for 3 months and 6 is right around the corner of winter. For Thanksgiving Bishop Neilson is having us over and some other members of our ward it should be really fun. As for our work and investigators we are still working with the same people and trying to find some new ones it is really hard finding people that even have the slightest interest in religion here, and if they do have a religion or interest they just want to bash or tell us why it is all made up and fake. People here are all so prideful it is sad. There are some people that are very nice though.

This week has been hard nobody wanted to talk with us i think i had one real conversation all week while contacting on the street. It is tough especially since last week was so fun. But we keep on pushing we are trying to get the ward more involved with splits and different things but it will be hard with the holidays, i think once we get the ward more involved then they will see how hard it is and want to bring friends to church.

I learned a couple of lessons this week though that I think were very good for me and I would love to share them with you and my family. The first one was we were walking in Allston and there was this guy that was in a wheelchair balancing on the hind wheels forever with the biggest smile on his face. He had long hair and looked kinda crazy. I went up to him and started complimenting him on his ability to do a wheelie for so long in his wheelchair and he looked up at me and started telling me how he was a pro. Anyways we got to talking and he explained to me that he was hit as a pedestrian by a drunk driver 20 years ago and was paralyzed from the waist down as well as his right arm didn't work only his left. After he had told me those things he immediately told me how he is learning the piano and the guitar and how he writes songs. It was so cool to see someone that was that optimistic under those circumstances. Everything that he told me he had the biggest smile on his face and it was so awesome! It made me so grateful for everything that I have been given and that I have a body that works fine. I thought that was the coolest attitude that I had ever seen.

The second thing that I learned was about not judging people by their looks. So Ralph, who I have a picture with that I sent home he is so awesome. He grew up in the ghetto of Boston and in the streets. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and HIV. We are pretty sure that his parents abandoned him when he was young. Well we teach him every week and he always has something new to show us. He usually has 3 or 4 layers of clothing on and 4-5 watches on his arm. He just is so funny.

Well I always just thought that he was just crazy and what not and that he probably didn't know much about other people or care too much. this week was different. When we taught him this week he walked in he still looked the same, but he brought his little brother with him. His brother was just like any normal guy. He told us about his 5 kids and how he loved them and his wife.

Then as he was explaining to us about how he grew up he told us that Ralph always protected him and helped him many times and saved his life. As I thought about where they grew up and what their circumstances were it made sense why Ralph has a big fro and wears a bunch of layers of clothes. It is probably because people won't mess with him if he looks that way. People will stay away from him. As we talked with his brother, Ralph interupted us and politely told us "what was the lesson that you have for me and Chris today." We then taught about the Book of Mormon and Ralph told us about Joseph Smith and Angel Moroni which he usually doesn't remember anything about. We gave his brother a Book of Mormon and Ralph was so excited that his brother was going to read it.

I don't know if I have ever seen or felt so much love one brother has for the other. Ralph's brother loves Ralph and thanks him for everything. I developed a love and appreciation for the type of brother Ralph was for always protecting his brother and keeping him out of trouble.

Beau and Ralph

Well this morning we went to the food pantry and moved a bunch of turkeys and helped out for like 3 hours it was a lot of fun. They are giving out like 600 this week which is cool. Also last night there was a musical fireside put on by the missionaries for investigators and members to bring their friends it was so awesome. It helped free my mind and think of what I really need to improve on. I love hearing from everyone and how everyone is doing.

I have been blessed with so much in my life I don't think I could ever be thankful for everything or show my gratitude to you and dad. You have always done so much for me. By the way it is the last week of the transfer so I will email you Wednesday. I don't think I am being transferred but maybe a new comp. Elder Sorel has been here for 7 and a half months. It is a long time in one area but time goes by fast if you take it one day at a time and don't think about tomorrow because tomorrow always comes. It is about making the best out of the position and place you are in now.

I love you very much and I love getting letters from dad they are my favorite. I will write him back. Also I love getting letters from Grandma and Grandpa they always tell me things I need to know and grandpa sends poems that are always applicable to what I am dealing with. Tell the family I love them. and good luck on their games they are all so awesome.

Love Elder Hunter