POOP, SUN & MISSIONARY WORK

Rachel Hunt Sent: Mon 10/21/13 1:17 PM Hola! Que tal familia y amigos?! Another week in paraguay and to be COMPLETELY honest I have never pooped so much in my life. For those of you who think, wow.. thats really innapropriate to share, your probably right. But until you have spent as much time in the bathroom as me in the past week, you cant judge. Its hotter than satans spit here in Paraguay and everyday it gets hotter and hotter and i get more tan. Pretty soon ill fit right in with all these latinos. The food is, making me poop alot. But none the less i am SO grateful. The members that feed us are so nice. My heart aches every time i eat with them becasue i know that their entire weekly paycheck went to feeding us for one day. But i also know God is blesssing them for being so kind and so generous. I spoke in church on sunday on joseph smith and the first vision. Holy cow the spirit was so strong. The chapel was completely silent when I recited the words of jospeh smith. It was amazing. I cant even explain how powerful the lessons. its insane. My companion is still freaking awesome. She is 30 by the way. I didnt know that before. I thought she was like 22 and so i was always thinking holy crap this chick is so mature and so motherly like for being 22. But then she said she was 30 and it all made sense. She is flippin awesome and so close to the spirit. Sometimes were walking down the street and she will start walking towards a crowed and im like oh no.... not this crowd. And then it ends up being one of the best lessons of the week and the next thing i know we have 4 new investigadores. I am grateful she is always listening and is always so courageous. I am working on my courage though and getting better every day! Our district leader, who is sitting next to me right now just told me we have exchages tomorrow. Haha oh boy.. So that means i will have another companion for wednesday! That makes me nervous but it will be just fine. The people here are great. president mcmuhllin has us working alot with the less active memebers. There are a ton. There is this old lady who is a member, her name is felicita. She is SOOO sweet and cute. And has two teeth like most people here. She has a really hard time walking. We visit her often. Yesterday, she told us a story and after we left i just cried. She said that about two months ago, there was a really big rainstorm with wind and thunder and lighting.. the whole shabang. And it got so bad tht in the middle of the night it ripped the roof off of her house and she had no idea what to do. I mean, She can barely walk, her son lives with her but he had no idea what to do either. She said they finally just knelt down in 5 inches of water and prayed and prayed and prayed for the storm to stop. She said every time she thinks its going to rain she gets so scared. My heart just aches for her. Another less active family doesnt go to church because they have no clothes. so i plan on giving them some of my skirts to help. they have 4 little kids. One little girl reminds me so much of brooke. She is 9, very VERY smart. She can read like a champ. Keep in mind that most grownups here cant read. She has nothing but she is SO happy. Everytime i visit this family i bring them some candy and the kids are so happy. They look at me like this is the first thing anyone has every given them. They are very grateful. I wish i could give them more.. so bad. My spanish is coming along. I am learning patience. Sometimes in the lessons i dont know how to say what i want to say and there is a long awkward silence where everyone just stares at me... I dont love it. But sometimes i think maybe what i want to say isnt what god wants me to say. I dont know. haha All i know is im doing all that i can. Im working hard. The past two week has been busy. and ive been very tired. Yesterday after church, during personal study i was dosing off pretty bad. And finally my companion said, take a 15 minute nap hermana hunt. and i was like uhh... no. haha i cant. i dont have time to sleep. and she said she had been feeling for a couple days that i was in need of a nap but never said anything. She said you arent a machine hermana. You are a person. God knows that. The spirit cant be in the lesson if you are so tired you cant think. So needless to day i took a 15 minute nap yester day and i was so so so so grateful. it was much needed. I want you all to know that im working as hard as i can. I love this work. Its hard but so rewarding. The people brake my heart every sunday when they promise all week they wil come to church.. and then dont. And i search and search all through sacrement meeting waiting for them. My companion laughs because she says thats exactly how she was when she first started her mission. My companion has alot of love in her heart for everyone. She is a studly missionary. I am greatful for her every day. We live with two other hermanas who i love very much as well. Anyways, i love you all and want you to know that you are all in my prayers every day. Have a great week and read the book of mormon becasue its the best book in the world. okay! until next week!

I dont know how to be hilarious in spanish yet but after i learn the important stuff, then ill learn how to be funny.

From: Rachel Hunt Sent: Mon 10/14/13 1:41 PM Hola familia... My first week in paraguay has been very challenging and very rewarding. Many tears. i said goodbye to all my mtc brothers and sisters. i said goodbye to my 2nd favorite elder, elder worsham from utah. That was rough. But The hardest part of this whole week was saying goodbye to hermana buss. Oh how it broke my heart. We were assigned our trainers at the Mission home and had to say our last goodbyes.. we hugged and cried alot. I wasnt even embarrassed either. It was really hard. We grew very close in the mtc so lets just say I cant WAIT to see her again. She got assigned to open a new area!!! in the chaco. or the boonies. Where hardly anyone speaks spanish! They all speak guarani.. and guarani is not like spanish at all haha so i make sure to keep her in my prayers night and day. One elder from the mtc is in my district, elder simpson... well i call him elder simps. he is a nerd. he reminds me of tyler willis. haha I love him. he is funny and he is always making sure to check on me. I think his companion, (the district leader) elder herrea could tell i needed some checking up on so he assigned that job to elder simps because he cant speak english and elder simps can. I LOVE my mission president, his wife and his kids! Prez and I hit it of really well in our interview. He cried, i cried. haha i was lucky enough to have my interview in front of the temple in asuncion. We ate dinner at a restauraunt our first night and i sat with his kids... They think im hilarious. I love when people think im hilarious. haha I dont know how to be hilarious in spanish yet but after i learn the important stuff, then ill learn how to be funny. Anyways.. my trainer, hermana villanueva from perù!!!!!! She has 3 months left in the mission, she speaks very very very little english and lets just say president mcmulllin Hooked. Me. Up. haha This chick is ridiculous! She is SUCH a good missionary! Together, we tear it up. My first day proselyting was insane. we taught lesson after lesson after lesson. She is the best trainer in the mission for sure. We practice EXACT obedience and recieve many blessings for it as well. She is very kind and very patient with me and my spanish.. Speaking of which... how am i coming along with the spanish? lets just say any extra SECOND i have to study, i use it. haha I do all i can on my own and then rely on the Lord and holy ghost for the rest. Which is a pretty effective technique. haha My first day, we were contancting... it was my turn and my first contact in paraguay and i started talking to this guy and when he responded i had NO IDEA what he said... oh man i was freaking out.. haha i was like ummm this does not sound like the spanish they taught me in the mtc... Im screwed. turns out it was guarani. haha my companion didnt understand either so it was all good. my next contact was much better. So, paraguay... my area is an area called itagua... yeah i dont know how to pronounce it either. esta bien. When president assigned us our area he said, We call this area the baptismal area.. that got me super exited. haha Then When i first got to my area my thoughts were, what did i get myself into... haha i was scared out of my pants. I was having separation anxiety from hermana buss pretty bad. haha i know pathetic. She just took good care of me. anyways.. when it was time for bed and i climbed up on the top bunk, i layed down and the first thing i see is this giant spider on the cieling.... you can only imagine my reaction. hahaha i cried and prayed alot that night and I ended up sleeping really well. The next days were just wonderful.. my second night, walking through the back roads, we saw lighting bugs.. AH! I love lighting bugs. They are the only bugs i will ever ever ever like. They are beautiful. AH! After my first day in my area i have just grown to love it more and more every day. The people are so receptive, so kind, so loving. i have a few experiences i want to share. My third day we were teaching this old lady and her daughter. This old lady was super sassy. Reminded me of grandma and the daughter was very smart. i could just see in her eyes that she was ready for this gospel. Anyways, in the middle of the lesson this lady was getting a little worked up talking about how she didnt have anything and people in the world are so selfish (which is true) but the she pointed to me and my bag full of books for teaching and said, people like you have all these things but dont give anything to the less fortunate. You only care about yourself.. and all this stuff and it set of a trigger in my heart. As i sat and listened to this lady tell me all these things, and struggled to find the words to tell her how i felt, i finally said, hermana, my life is very different than yours. The united states is very different than here. I have many things, i have been very blessed. But my things dont matter to me. You can have my things. you can have it all, because that isnt whats important to me, and its not what is important in this life. What matters most to me, is this gospel. Its god and jesus christ. Its doing ALL that i can to return to live with god again with my eternal family and to be with them Forever. This lady was silent for a long while. and then i extended my very first invitation to her and her daughter to follow the example of our savior and redeemer jesus christ and be baptized. My next experience happened yesterday when we were teaching this lady.. Oh this lady was so kind! Her name is Maximo.. Maximo is spanish means The best! anyways this lady had alot of kids running around when we got there and 4 of them... really little listened to our entire lesson. The were fasinated. they listened very carefully and looked at the pictures we had with amazment. I teared up and i bore these chilren my testimony. My favorite part of paraguay so far is the people... especially the little kids. These little kids have nothing. when i hand them a picture of jesus christ i can see in their eyes that they know who he is. their little faces light up. They touch my heart more and more every day. My last experience is church yesterday. One tesimony given buy a pretty wealthy member of the church. He got up and bore his testimony in guarani. haha he sounded like a freaking monkey! guarani is so weird. Ive learned about 5 words and plan to learn more... i would share them with you but im not sure how to spell them. my bad. Also, in church yesterday, there is no one that can play the piano... so between me and elder simps we do the best we can. Its hilarious. haha For some reason the bishop picked all the songs in the spanish hymn book that are not in the english hymn book. It was interesting. I have never felt so close to god, and my savior jesus chirst in my entire life. My heart is so full. I am so thankful im here, in paraguay. I am loving it! haha i love my trainer, my president. I am so blessed!!!!! AH!!!!! im OVERLY blessed.. if that is even a word. If it wasnt, it is now. haha My testimony has grown so much this past week as i have forgotten myself and lost myself in the work of the lord. I am learning so much about the gospel, so mucha bout myself, about life, about everything. Im so thankful my friendship with God, and my savior. Never in my life have i thought of god or jesus christ as one of my friends.. but being here has helped me to realize that he is They are my best friends. Its my prayer that everyone can be best friends with god and jesus christ. because they will always have your back.. they will always listen and make you feel better. one qupte i want to share from conference, which by the way was AAAAMMMMAAAAAZZZZZING!!!!!! was by elder holland.. duh. "If the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong" i love that. so much. if you havent listened to the conference talks. please do. i know that all the words spoken in general conference are true. i wish i could watch them again SO SO bad. So bad. anyways..... i love you all.... and i will talk to you next week! ps, my new address is this, okay nevermind i forgot my planner. sooo next week! ill give you my address next week. mmmmk. sorry! my bad! i forgot! okay bye!

Welcome to Paraguay!

Welcome Letter from Rachel's Mission President. Pres. and Hna. McMullin. I am one proud Mom!

From: Pamela McMullin Sent: Thu 10/10/13 6:28 PM To: jenavelte Dear Family of Hermana Hunt: We are so happy that your daughter has joined us here in the Paraguay Asuncion North mission. She has told us that she is committed to work hard and to be obedient to the mission rules and we know that as she does, and as she continues to study and seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost, she will have a great experience on her mission. She will grow to love the people, she will be willing to pass through difficulties, and she will come to know and love her Savior in a more profound way than she has ever known. We were able to give all the incoming missionaries some training on staying healthy, finances, mail, etc. We were also able to go to the spot where the land of Paraguay was dedicated for missionary work by then Elder Ezra Taft Benson. We heard parts of the dedicatory prayer and learned about the history of the Church here in Paraguay: the first missionaries to arrive, the building of the first chapel by the manual labor of the members (including Elder Robert E. Wells while he was employed in a prominent banking position here in the early 1960´s), the conversion of the Nivacle Indians, and the building of the temple. We held a testimony meeting in Spanish, and we formed a choir and sung at a baptism of several young people. We were able to enjoy some typical Paraguayan cuisine along the way too. We hope it was a very worthwhile day for your daughter. She was also interviewed and met her trainer, Hermana Villanueva, who was specially chosen for her. Hermana Villanuevajenavelte@hotmail.com has been instructed on how to help your daughter in all the skills she will need to be a good missionary. We hope you will enjoy these pictures that we are attaching as well. Thank you so much for raising such a fine young woman who is so willing to serve her Father in Heaven and be a blessing to the people here and to her fellow missionaries. We truly pray for them every day and are also committed to working diligently to help them in whatever they need to be happy and successful. May the Lord bless you, and your daughter, for the sacrifices, the faith, and the love that you are extending to the people of Paraguay. With much love, Pres. and Hna. McMullin

Watch out Paraguay Rachel Hunt has arrived!

From: Rachel Hunt Sent: Tue 10/08/13 10:44 AM Hey family! just letting you know that i made it to paraguay safe and sound! i will be in the mission home until tomorrow and then ill head to my area and you all will here from me next monday! i love you mission president and his wife! alright got to go! toodles!

Leaving the MTC Adios Buenos Aries!

Rachel Hunt 10/07/13 To: jena velte From: This sender is in your safe list. Sent: Mon 10/07/13 9:42 AM To: jena velte Well family, I leave the Buenos aries airport tomorrow, Tuesday October 11th at 7:20am to Paraguay. My heart is so full. I have developed such a strong bond with all those whom I have been able to be with here in Argentina. I am so happy to be a missionary and to be able to serve at the same time with all these wonderful, amazing sons and daughters of God. Thankyou so much.. All of you, My dear family and friends for all the love and support you have shown me. I promise you all, God, and my savior jesus christ that when the day comes that i have to get on the plane home, i will be able to say, I have done all i could. I have given it my all. I love you all so very much! I will talk to you next pday! remember that pdays are on monday now! okay, toodles!

My last Pday in the MTC!! I won't keep my mouth shut! Mark my words!

Rachel Hunt 10/03/13 Yo yo yo! What it do familia?!?! Buen Dia! Como estan? yo soy feliz y mui triste por que I DONT WANT TO LEAVE YET! This is my last pday here in the ccm and im just heart broken. Ive loved every minute of being here, and im so sad to have to leave. But i know that im going to LOVE the field and i will get to see my MTC family again someday. We already made plans for october general conference and a list of all the movies we are all going to watch. There are so many good people here.. I see jesus christ just radiate through every single missionary. It truely is a blessing to be surrounded by each of them everyday.Okay now on with the good stuff.. Prosylitismo! Our last time walking the streets of argentina! Well the buss dropped us off, we had a prayer and then walked to out area to eat our sack lunch. after we ate lunch we saw this girl and her brother working in the yard pulling weeds.. perfect target. so we walked up and asked her is we could help her and she was so confused becasue we were in skirts. but we were persistent and she let us help her. so we did yard work for about an hour and a half. it was awesome. we got to know her for the majority of the time and then when it was about time to be done she was asking so many questions about our church.... she was so interested and wanted us to come back so bad. It was the craziest thing. We have been rejected alot so when this lady did what she did we were in shock. Anyways.. after we left we prayed and thanked god for this beautiful encounter and just cried with happiness. oh gosh it was amazing. I pray that the missionaries will get to teaching her really quick. The rest of our day we just ran from dogs. haha there are a thousand dogs and they are so gross. ew. lets just not even go there. So we got a new batch of latinos... but lets talk about the only one that matters. Elder Caldaron. Woo baby. Some info about this elder... He is from peru but went to school in st george utah he is brown... obvi. (That one was for you lacy) He has got a stature of Nephi, and he is most attractive boy to ever walk the earth. No, that was not an exaggeration. No he is not a distraction... he is a god sent. god sent him to all the hermanas here at the ccm to look at once in a while. I even bet that the someof the elders have a bigger crush on him then us hermanas. Oh and another fun fact, his mission is the paraguay asuncion north mission. Boo. ya. hahahaha Oh man... im reading my email aloud as i type and my district is dying laughing. Im hilarious. Soo..... this week has been really interesting. Between our district, (Alma) and the arron district we decided to pick disney characters for every one. And then that let to picking harry potter characters and then lord of the rings characters and then twilight characters and then super heros. We get pretty serious about it to. haha We have written it down and everything. Every one is dying to know what characters they are and we reveal the answers today. im pumped. But im more pumped for volleyball and the temple. and breakfast. It sounds like everyone is doing fantastic. i miss you all.. im running out of things to talk about so i have to keep asking my companions what i forgot. OH YA! CONFERENCE!!!!! THIS WEEKEND! BE THERE: Or be watching! its gonna be epic and im so so so so so happy i get to watch it in the mtc with my family here. AH!!!!!!! I hope all of you can watch ALLL THE SESSIONS and not go to sleep! what else.. oh ya okay i will lay a pretty spiritual experience on ya. So we practice teaching every day right? well this one day our teacher asked us to pick someone that we knew and loved and that we would want to hear the missionary lessons. So i was the investigator and i picked my person. Someone who is so very dear to my heart and my comps started the teaching. Let me just say, that i couldnt have picked two better missionaries to teach me. The spirit was so strong and we all had tears in our eyes. It was a great experience. I really wish i would have opened my mouth more when i was at home. It breaks my heart. I will regret it for 17 more months becasue in 17 months when i get home my mouth wont be shut. Mark my words. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST GOT A PACKAGE!!!!!!!! THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU MOM!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! BEST DAY EVER! yes yes yes. hahahah mom you put it in a cake box? hahaha thankyou. THis made my day. Mostly because i miss american candy. your awesome mother. ANyways so im gonna close this email up cause i dont know what else to say and im just sitting here staring. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! your the best family and friends ever and i pray for all of you every night! keep it real back in the US. Peace. PS... Where would any of us be without this gospel? I think about that all the time. and the only answer i have to that question i lost. I would be lost with out it. How blessed are we to know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going? Think about it. What if you lived all your live believing that there wasnt life after death? That it all just ended there. Or that this world was created by chance? my heart aches for those who dont know.... but my heart rejoices that missionaries EVERYWHERE are giving people a reason to live. A purpose in life. ive learned to never ever EVER be ashamed of this gospel of my purpose. This is the way! We are so blessed to know what we know! We should always share it! i love you all! toodle loo