May 2, 2011

Hi,

So I just got a email from dad saying he wasn't going to give in and buy another car. haha. A truck that is sweet. It will work for hauling Bryson around a lot better! And they won? They have some good talent but only with teamwork will they do anything good. Isn't it awesome to be a leader. As a district leader my favorite part is being able to pray about the missionaries in my district individually and to ask Heavenly father how I can help them. And then to assign meetings and trainings to help them. I know that you are already awesome at that. It is funny how many times we have a problem and realize that we aren't doing what has already been given to us in the scriptures and by the prophets such as we hand books and general conference talks. I'm sure you are a great young womens leader.

Well the weather here is awesome it took like two days and all the trees bloomed and we haven't worn our jackets all week. It is almost too hot though with all the humidity. But way better than wearing suits everywhere. Now everyone knows that we are Mormons haha because of the white shirt and tie. Elder Foust and I have been having a blast. I kinda feel I have to do everything but he has come a long way and he teaches me a lot. For easter he bought everyone in our apartment easter baskets and he made me dinner the other night. Sometimes you have to let people serve you and then they feel better about life. Yesterday the sisters from LP1 ward had a baptism so I volunteered us to fill the fount for them and we woke up at 430 to get to the church by 6 it was a long day. I don't really remember a lot that happened this week it all went by so fast. I'll tell you what I remember though.

Okay I can only rememeber from Saturday and on Saturday Elder Koerper and I went on tours and it was so much fun. I was in a car area and it was so easy. I told him afterwards that car areas isn't real missionary work haha. Being in the city and having people constantly around you to talk to is fun but stressful. I have a hard time when I don't talk to everyone and beat myself up for it. Our ward is starting to all go home and that is sad because then we won't have dinner appointments or anything and it will be back to street contacting all day. Yesterday we had like half as many people than usual at church. But we are going to be at the bishops this Saturday to help him with some remodeling the bishops wife came and talked to us and it was cool because she was like we need to get this work done and bishop is so busy so we told her we would love to help.

That is all I can really remember... I will tell you a cool experience that we had last night though it was a great night. Last night Jian our chinese investigator told us that he wanted to make us some authentic chinese food. So we went to his house and he was cooking for us and he invited his friend who is here for a study exchange and is a professor at the #2 school in China and doing some research here. We talked with him and had a great time at dinner which was way fun. Then afterwards Jian asked us if we could teach his friend Yang about the Mormon church and the Mormon Bible. So we started to teach him about Heavenly Father and prayer. He had amazing questions and knew god was there so that was way cool. Then when we were talking about prayer Jian started to teach him and it was so funny he started asking the same questions that we ask him when we met with him. Like how do you feel when you pray and different things. It was like a little kid but super awesome then we had both Jian say a closing prayer and then his friend and it was an awesome prayer. Then after the prayer we gave him a Book of Mormon and I told him that it would help him come closer to god and he loved it. After I shared my testimony, He told me I know by the look in your eyes that what your saying is true. He said he wanted to come to church and I hope he does but he was a great guy and in tune with the spirit. It is a lot of fun meeting new people and there are miracles everyday I wish I could tell you them. They aren't huge but they are there.

Well Happy Mothers Day this next Sunday and I will call you on Saturday night to set up a time we can call on Sunday. Your awesome mom and dad is as well. All my family is the best. I hope that you have a great week and i pray for you as well trust in the lord and everything will be fine. Thank you for everything that you do for me.

Love Beau :)

April 25, 2011

Howdy,

This week was such a great week probably one of my favorite weeks this far in my mission. First of all Elder Zwick from the seventy came to tour our mission and second was that Roxane was baptized and to top it all off was that it was Easter and we were taken care of by our ward they gave us way too much candy! That is our week in a nutshell..

It is good to hear that things are busy at home. I'm sure that it is only getting busier and busier with the wedding and end of school year it always is a crazy time. That is great that you had the opportunity to share your testimony twice at church on Sunday. Isn't it the greatest feeling!! It is by far the best thing that any person can do is to share a heartfelt testimony of things that are so close to them. When Elder Zwick was here he told us that when we are teaching to shorten our testimonies and to make them more basic and then to share them with power. At the end he left 30 minutes for the missionaries to share their testimonies in 1 minute or less and it was so great to feel the power because people only have a minute so they say how they really feel and share what matters most to them. I feel like a lot of people love to drag their testimonies on and on sometimes.

Also another thing that Elder Zwick told us is that we need to build a firm foundation. That while on our missions, we need to get to know Jesus Christ the best that we can and to spiritually grow our entire missions. If we do that then we will see miracles and we will have a greater desire to work harder and to do the best that we can. It is cool having a general authority there to talk with and hear their experiences of how they got where they are and all the times that they lived on faith to accomplish something. Elder Zwick also held a fireside for all of the ward councils to be a part of and he talked about member missionary work and if the members work with us then our work can improve by 5 times! hopefully we can get more help and work harder to impress and develop the trust of the wards.

Then Saturday we had the baptism and it went really well there were at least 50 probably more people there to support Roxane in her decision. She is so awesome. Just ready to receive the gospel from day one. I was able to give a talk on baptism which was sweet. I love giving talks then the pressure is on me to learn enough to share something that is important for everyone there. I got some pictures and will send them home soon.

Sunday Roxane was confirmed and it went really well then we had an awesome sacrament meeting where we had musical numbers and then in between we had testimonies by members and it was sweet there are some extremely talented musicians in our ward. After church I did a baptismal interview and then went to a members home for Easter dinner. It was a huge dinner with about 20 maybe 25 members there and we got to know some members I hadn't meet too much before and talked about their careers which are really cool. They were teachers in the innercity at high schools. Then at the end of dinner Elder Foust and I got to share a spiritual message. We first invited a couple members to share their testimonies and they were such great testimonies. Then We talked about Christ resurrection and how he told peter to feed his sheep and how Jesus wouldn't ever tell us to do something that wasn't the best thing for us. And I shared my testimony and then Elder Foust shared his testimony.

We then left dinner and were walking home a different way than I usually would go because I thought that it would be faster. We were walking down a street and I was thinking we should've went the other way where there would be people we could talk to. Just as I was thinking that this guy walks around the corner and pointed at us and said "I told you I would see you guys again." I had no idea who he was at first. I was thinking what am I going to do. Then I had kind of a flash back moment when we meet him down the street from our house and we gave him a Book of Mormon with a Word of wisdom pamphlet in it because he was smoking. I asked him if he read the Book of Mormon yet and he told me that he hadn't but that he needed too. Then I shared my testimony of the book and he said he was reading another book. I then told him that the book was so good that by the things we teach I could still remember his name (we met him like 3 weeks ago and talk to hundreds of people a day). He then asked me what is my name. I told him that it was Glenn. And he freaked out and couldn't believe I remembered. He didn't seem to interested in anything at that time and we went our separate ways, but it was a cool experience the Lord leads us to places that we are supposed to be in if we are being obedient to his commandments and he won't let us go astray. Also the spirit helped me remember his name and everything that we talked with him about on the street 3 weeks ago or so. This is the best thing I could be doing no matter how hard it may be our how awkward situations may seem sometimes. I can't wait to talk to you guys on mothers day it will be great. I love you and hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Beau Hunter

April 14, 2011

Hello,

So Roxanne didn't get baptized this past Sunday but she is going to get baptized this next week on Saturday. I am really excited for her choice. We waited another week so we didn't have to cram all the lessons in so fast. I get worried baptizing people so fast sometimes because they aren't completely ready and then they fall away. Roxanne though is ready and has been she is super awesome and i am priviledged to be able to teach her and help her. So this Saturday and I am excited.

This past week we had some interesting times. I have decided that I want to learn more about other religions so Elder Foust and I went to some different religions. We went to an Islam 101 class and learned a little about what they believed and also we went to a bible study at a guys house who likes to bible bash with us and listened to his opinions and sang christian songs with him. It was fun and a good learning experience.

Elder Foust is the man. He is such a stud and has come a long way since the MTC. He still has some work to do but who doesn't?. So we are just working and seeing what we can do to improve daily. He has been waking up on time lately which is awesome and he is going to start running with me in the mornings. I can't wait to have a companion that will actually go outside wtih me and work out. It is ten times better to work out outside rather than in our small dinky apartment.

Yesterday was pday and also patriots day. So we woke up at 3AM and went to the reenactment of the battle of Lexington it was super cool. Well kinda cool. It was more out of tradition I guess all the missionaries always go. And it was worth the experience. Also there were missionaries from all over the mission there which was sweet. I saw some of my buddies from the MTC. Then we went to the temple and it was a great experience as well. After that I was so tired that I went to sleep for 3 hours and Elder Foust crashed as well so we didn't make it to the Boston Marathon. That is okay with me though because I would rather be rested for the week than to be exhausted and not work as hard.

After Pday we went to Bishop Maitlands house to eat and his wife is an amazing cook. All of it is New England style too. We had new england style strawberry shortcake and shrimp and chicken and potatoes and corn and salad. Just a huge meal. Bishop and his wife are amazing people. I love being able to go over there and to talk with them about their experiences in life. Just awesome. We have developed a good relationship with them and are probably going to help them tear down some walls in their house so they can remodel. It will be fun.

I am really focusing on trying to get to know members better and develop friendships it is the best thing we can do. We have tons of nonmembers at church but they are scared to ask their friends to meet us. It is a step that needs to happen though.

Well we are trying... I sometimes wish I had someone that would motivate me more and help me do missionary work but I know thatI am here for a reason and that Elder Foust is my comp for a reason so I will help him the best I can. I never feel adequate for the job. We also had interviews with president and he is so loving and amazing he just complimented me and said I know what your going through just endure it and everything will be fine. I can do more than endure though.

I love you mom your the greatest. and I testify to you that the lord helps us as long as we are willing to give away our sins and to follow him a little bit better everyday he will help us. Prayer is real and it takes a lot of work to really receive answers sometimes but he does answer and he does love us. I realize how much that you have done for me mom and dad and I can never thank you enough your the greatest. Take care and have a wonderful weeek.

Love Elder Hunter

April 5, 2011

Hi,

Today is our pday because of transfers and I am staying one more here. The Assistants to President asked what I wanted and I told them that I wanted to leave and get a new area. Then I realized that it isn't about what I want and I texted them later that night and said that I would do whatever they needed of me. I think that since Elder Foust has only been here for a week he doesn't know the area or the ward too well so I need to show him how it works here. In our mission it is very likely that people will stay in their first area around 7-9 months or more so it is just normal. Out of the people that came out with me only 2 of us are in our first area still. I really like it here it is just a lot of pressure I feel like... President has to always have good missionaries here in our stake because our stake has a lot of well known people that are very big influences for the church and if he sends some missionaries that do something stupid it would be very bad for the area.

This past week was good conference was good. I really liked the talks that talk about how to change who you are on the inside rather than who you are on the outside. I realize there are so many people that will do everything right when they are seen but then nobody is around and they are a completely different person. We have to learn how to learn who we are and what we want to become.

This week was a slow week I was just merely enduring to the end rather than trying to work hard and get something done. I hate when I get into that mode, but I always seem to come out of it. We had some cool dinner appointments and also at conference we had 3 investigators there. Roxanne is awesome she watched all the sessions of conference all on her own and then she goes to all the activities. She is so ready for baptism but is scared about what her family will think and she wants it to be positive on her family so she is trying to help them. Also we have Jian who came to conference and he brought a friend it was so sweet. All of these Chinese people are awesome they are great and they love to learn about God we just need to get him to read from the Book of Mormon. Andrew is another guy that came to conference he is really busy working and what not so we are trying to meet with him and get him to be more serious about investigating. It is hard right in the middle of the semester. I think that after the semester ends things will be a lot easier to schedule things.

Sorry my English is diminishing and my paragraphs aren't too organized. Ha I just try to write fast. That is awesome about Tyla playing soccer and I did write her a letter and sent pictures home yesterday so you should get them soon. I haven't been too good at taking a lot of pictures. I am always exhausted and barely have time to eat some nights. I miss Bryson and his friends they are all so funny a great group of guys. Bryson will tear it up at AAU. Who all is going to be playing on his team? Is it all the Provo High guys or are some of them playing on other teams? It would be lame if the whole team isn't going to play together that is why west Jordan was so good and beat lone peak because they always played AAU together all summer. Mckay is a stud and just tell him to have fun and learn to work hard and improve as long as he is improving then that is the most important thing that he can learn is to work and set goals and then achieve them. Getting hand outs and favors from coaches isn't worth anything and won't get anyone anywhere.

Thanks for everything.

Take care and have a great week!!

Love Elder Beau (Big Bear) Hunter

* Big Bear is my nickname amongst the other missionaries here. haha

March 28, 2011

Hi mother,

Sooooo you will never believe what happened this week, but before I get to that I promise to send pictures to you by next Wednesday:) I don't know if I have taken that many because I have been in the same area so long but I will take a bunch and print them and send them home.

This week... was crazy. So I was trying to get a hold of president to ask if I could go to the BYU Hawaii game and he said I couldn't and that instead he was going to give me a new companion and split up our trio. On Wednesday I got a new comp and it is Elder Foust my MTC companion.... haha He is super cool and a great guy. He kinda has been thrown around a lot and this is his 5 area already. Where I am in my first area and the Assistants to the president called and asked me if he would be my comp. I told them yes and then they said that I most likely will have to stay in the same area for another transfer which will make 9 months in this area.

I love it here though even though I may be a little bipolar on the area I do love it. It just gets exhausting to talk with everyone you see all day everyday and have only a few appointments scheduled a week. Also we walk close to 12 miles a day which is a good amount and I have a feeling that I am going to get Elder Foust into good shape. It will be fun. I have been easing him into walking more and more so far each day and we have only been comps for 4 days and last night he went to sleep at 8 oclock.

Well we had some cool experiences this week and we have met some cool people. Right now we have a few investigators that are slowly progressing and then we have Roxanne who is awesome. She has been researching the church and what not and I explained what it feels like to feel the spirit and she didn't really feel like she felt like that so she went to lds.org and typed in feelings from the spirit and researched a bunch of talks till she found one that related to her. She is awesome and ready to be baptized but is scared what her family will say. She hasn't asked her family what they will say yet though so who knows maybe it won't be a big deal she told us that she will ask this week sometime though and that will be good.

Jian our other investigator from China (Elder Yim isn't my companion so we don't have a chinese interpreter) but Jian speaks decent English. He has a problem accepting God because he is a scientist and grew up learning that we are only here because of merely science. He thinks that we came from monkeys 50 % and %0 % that we came from God. We are working on getting him to pray and receive answers from his prayers. He is really awesome but just with no background in Christianity it is really slow for him to get a testimony.

Jim (who Elder Yim and Larsen) are now teaching because they cover the Charles River Ward (Elder Foust and I cover the LP2 ward) is doing really good. He is still meeting with the missionaries and they said he had an awesome experience where he confessed a sin and feels better. It was a huge step for Jim and I really want him to be baptized. It is all about people and being ready at the right time in the right place for them.

I realize that when I go out and have a real smile on my face and am enjoying what I am doing that people are more interested in listening to me. Also I need to have the spirit with me to have that real smile. As I do that Ii have more fun people listen to me and then I can share my testimony with them and invite them to listen to the message that has made me happy. Sometimes it is hard to strive to always have the spirit with us but it is what was promised to us when we were baptized to it obviously is possible. By forgetting our mistakes in the past and working harder today we will have the spirit with us in whatever we do. I am really excited for general conference I don't know if I am ready for it because I haven't finished with the past general conference there were so many good talks given. But I am excited to hear what they will have to say.

Well I don't know what to write or type I guess. Bryson still looks like a punk that is always flexing even though we know he isn't THAT strong.. haha no he is getting huge! It is the end of transfers this week and I am pretty sure I am staying at least one more. I think maybe 2 who knows. but I will print pictures and send them to you in a package.

I love you and thanks for being such an awesome mom. Tell the family I say hi and that I am writing a letter for Tyla today. Thanks and have an awesome week.

Love Elder Hunter

March 21, 2011

Hi,

So I have learned in leaps and bounds this week it was such a good week for me. I was such a pesimest last week please forgive me for that. This week went by really fast so on Tuesday I was in Belmont on tours and then on Wednesday we had a leadership meeting. Me and a couple other elders I came out with were the youngest ones there and it was such a blessing to be with other missionaries and to learn from them. I learned a ton about teaching. I always felt like I was the worst teacher. Now I think I am somewhat figuring it out. I am not the best but I am improving.

So this week was a crazy week. We stayed really busy and had a lot of fun. We mostly have been teaching lessons and trying to figure out how to get our investigators progressing more. We are still teaching Jian and he is okay just searching. He doesn't know too much about religion so we are trying to teach him how to find his own answers. Also we are teaching Jim again from my first transfer. I don't know if you remember but I might have told you last week. We taught him twice and he still has a really bad back. He came to sacrament meeting though and I think that it was a big deal for him. I am hoping that some things can go better for him so he can start coming to all 3 hours again. Then there is another girl we are teaching her name is Roxanne and it was our first time teaching her yesterday the sisters were teaching her but then everything got switched around so we are teaching her. We took some amazing members with us that testified to her but she is really scientific so we have to explain what faith is to her. Those are mostly our investigators right now.

Then so in the Charles River ward a girl named Caroline Jacobs came up to me and she is Ms. Jacobs daughter. . my middle school teacher. It was cool. Ms Jacobs was one of my favorites. She was so nice. And also we had a lesson with one of Anatoly's friends that mostly just speaks Russian it was weird because we had translators to translate what we said. It was cool though and Anatoly brought another friend to church with him yesterday. She is from Ukraine and she is a professional Archer and was in the Olympics. She looks like a Princess warrior from movies haha. . Anatoly is so awesome always bringing friends to church whether they speak English or not.

A lot happened this week. I wish I could write it all down. One other thing that we were able to do was we went to a wedding reception of a recent convert that was introduced to the church by his girlfriend one year ago. His name is Dominique and he is so cool he is from Scotland and I had known him but not too much and at his reception he came and talked to us for like 30 minutes telling us his testimony and he just recently went to the temple and he talked to us about all of that. He said that all of his friends that knew him before wonder what happened to him and why he is so happy now. It was just such a great story.

It was such a good week. We have been teaching and finding and working with the members. I feel like we are just a part of the ward now and that the members love us and say hi and talk with us. It is a great feeling as well as they are bringing friends to church so it is great. I just sometimes get stuck on myself which is a bad habit and feel sorry because it must be all my fault we aren't baptizing people and what not. But I need to not beat myself up and do better. It has been a problem I have had my whole life even in basketball. But I just need to do something for someone else. This morning I made breakfast for my companions and it made me feel better. Being on a mission is a emotional rollercoaster but it is the most fun thing I have ever done in my life it is a wonderful opportunity to be able to go out and think about others all day everyday.

And Ryo emailed me and said that they won their tournament and they are playing in Springfield Mass. He really wants me to come so I am going to call President and explain everything and see what he says. They are playing on Wednesday so who knows it is kinda short notice but that would be the greatest thing if i could go and watch him play. I'll let you know next Monday if I am able to go or not. Well take care . I love you and pray for all my family everyday. And I did get the package and it is great. I was wondering if I could get that every couple months or so? Would that be too much? Anyways I hope that you have a wonderful week. YOur the best mom I love you. Tell the family I say hi and that I love them.

Much Love

Elder Hunter

March 14, 2011

Hello,

This week was kinda crazy really fast. The time keeps on speeding up and it gets tough at times with all that is going on and trying to adjust to 2 different wards that meet at the same time. Right now we are working. . . but not hard enough. It is hard with 2 comps that are complete opposites. I think that Elder Yim and I were getting along too well and working too hard and the mission was becoming so fun and serving others that the Lord or president decided to put me in a 3 some. haha It is completely different in all forms of missionary work you have to teach balance 3 different people and contacting and traveling in 3 is a lot more noticeable. Sometimes I get frustrated with it all but I know that I am in this position for a reason and really have to focus on prayer and asking the lord for help.

This week was kind of a tough week. We had some good lessons scheduled that all of them fell through. So we ended up calling Jim who I taught in my first transfer and he hadn't seen missionaries or members from the church in like 4 months because he has a bad back and he lost everything that we had done and how far he came when we were meeting with him. Also we met with Ralph again this week and he went crazy too because he has no friends. Missionaries are his only friends and he doesn't talk to anyone except us. Missionaries before didn't meet with him.

It is weird because we meet all of these different people and they all are great people that have different mental disabilities and so when they talk to people they sound crazy. It is sad to see at how many people judge them and avoid them because of the way that they are. For me so far of all of the people that I have talked to that seem a little crazy it is because they have been missing one factor in their life and that is love. They never had anyone that loved them. And I can go and talk to some of these people and just by asking them questions about them, about their life about their hobbies and how they feel you can really realize that they are real people and that they are loved by Heavenly Father. In Mosiah 18 it talks about the covenant of baptism and it tells how we are supposed to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those in need. Well there are a lot of people all over the world who are in need and that is why if everyone was unified then the world would be a better place.

The members we have are great and our wards are just awesome. It will be a hard but really fast transfer that will go by quick. I just need to make sure to make the most of it. Well so far I think that this week was a tough one mostly of just readjusting to different things and what not and that this coming week it will get better and be more satisfying.

It isn't raining too much here. I think it is supposed to this week though. The weather is getting nicer and nicer but not quite warm yet. I can't wait for it to be warm then everyone will know we are Mormons in our short sleeve white shirts and ties and people will know who we are. The warm weather is a lot more fun to prosylete in and to find then in the cold. I almost feel bad trying to stop people in the freezing cold wind here.

So one cool thing happened this week that was one of the members in the Charles River Ward her name is Anni Li from Taiwan- - - she fed us and she made an all out meal that was so awesome and then we had a couple nonmembers there that we could share our testimonies with and that is always fun to do. This week wasn't super exciting but I learned a lot and have strengthened my testimony.

As for that mostly everything is still the same. Our investigators aren't progressing as I would like and we aren't finding too many people to teach but the good thing is that we have people to teach that are willing to try what we have and we can invite them and do the best we know how.

I am super excited for Mckay he is such a stud and also for Bryson. A lot of my friends have been asking me for his email or address, but I don't have it and they are all praying for him and worried about him. But we know everything with him will be okay. Sorry my Emails are getting shorter. I will try to get some better stories this week :) Well, I love you so much mom and thank you for everything that you do for me you are an amazing person. Tell Dad and the rest of the family Hi for me and that I love them too.

Much love Elder Beau Hunter