There's an Angel watching over me. Her light is shining down upon me.

Happy Happy New Year! God is good to me!

Transfers! I'm a trainer!! God continues to provide me Tender Mercies. Happy New Year to you all. Love my family.

Hello there all my family and friends! First of all, it was SO GREAT to see all of you for christmas even though i cried almost the entire time... oops. haha I loved seeing all of you, but i dont love crying. haha I hope everyones christmas was the bees knees. Anyways.. I have completed 4 months in my mission everybody! I have officially been in paraguay for 3 months and completed my training with hermana villanueva. Tomorrow at 8 o´clock in the morning she will no longer be my companion. haha How weird. I´ve been trying so hard to hold in the tears. Haha She wrote me a little message in my journal and I just balled. She really is an amazing person, an amazing missionary, and an amazing friend. I honestly could not have asked for a better trainer. Im so blessed. I know that many blessings are waiting for her in Peru. We will always be good friends. It is my prayer that she can move to Arizona with her family so that i can one day see her again. So you all need to be on the lookout for someone tall dark and handsome that is on the look out for a chica from peru. Well as most of you know today we were supposed to get our phone calls to find out who would be our next comps and where we would serve... Well on Friday i got a call from our district leader and he said hermana hunt this change is gonna be different... Tomorrow i will call and let you know who will be your comp and where you will serve and tuesday you will head to the office for your companion. So i said okay and the next day i was really nervous. haha The phone would ring and i would freak out thinking it was my district leader.. Well the other two hermanas that live with us got their call and ran into our room and put the phone on speaker so that all could here and they got their results. Hermana Sanchez will stay here in Itaugua and her comp will be hermana braunersrither from texas. she was in the mtc with me. And hermana alania is leaving Itaugua and will get a new companion that right now i cant remember her name. So both of them arent training. So when i heard that they werent training i was like Oh, okay so im not training either because they both have alot more time and experience than me. And if they arent training, im sure not. So then our district leader called me and i put it on speaker phone.... and we waited.. then he said something and no one could understand so then he repeated himself and he said hermana hunt, The lord has called you to be a trainer. My comp, and the other two sisters started screaming and freaking out and hermana villanueva kept yelling I KNEW IT I KNEW IT! haha.. And i just started to cry. I couldnt believe it. I still cant believe it. I said but i only have 3 months in the mission. And hermana villanueva said hermana hunt... that isnt important. Whats important is that the lord trusts in you, so he called you to train. ah.. wow. The past two days there has been a big war in my head between satan and the lord. That sounds super dumb but its true.. There is Satan who says you cant this.. You dont know everything. You dont know spanish, you dont know all the scriptures, you JUST finished your training , you have a thousand weaknesses.. How in the world are you going to train.. And then the voice of the lord that is telling me to put my trust in Him. I know that i will need to rely on my heavenly father more than ever before. I honestly never ever thought that my heavenly father trusted that i could do something like this. But he called me.. I only have three months and he called me to train. I am so humbled and im so nervous. But im pretty determined not to let the lord down. and if you guys could just keep me in your prayers i would be so grateful. I know that your prayers always help me. Im so thankful to be here on a mission. I decided to serve a mission because i wanted to give others the same happiness and knowledge that i have. I wanted to see peoples lives change, I wanted to see families recieve the blessings from this gospel. And i do.. I get to do all that i expected to do. But i get to do more than that. I get to see a change in myself. I get to see my own family recieve the blessing from the gospel. God continues to provide me with his tender mercies... His little miricles build my faith and my testimony more than you could imagine. He is helping me to overcome my weaknesses... He is helping my family to be happy. He is answering my prayers. I know that he can do the same for everyone.. I just know that it all starts with humility. We cant change if we arent humble. We cant feel the NEED to change if we arent humble. Im so grateful for every single one of you. Every single family member, every single friend, every single prayer... Thankyou for all the love and all the support. Have a peaceful, happy day. And Have the best first week of the year 2014. I love you. I will talk to you all next week. AND REMEMBER.. Dont forget to go to church. Chau! © 2013 MicrosoftTermsPrivacyDevelopersEng

Skype Christmas with Rachel

Merry Christmas Message from Rachel Families Christmas Caroling in hotter than you know what weather! Love my family.

Hola Familia! Feliz Navidad! I hope everyone is enjoying themselves this christmas season! I know I am enjoying every second of christmas here in Itaugua with my comp. She leaves the mission in 1 week and I complete 4 months and get a new companion to start off the new year! So we will be working super hard in this last week that we have together! Were going caroling in the hotter than you know what weather and sharing the christmas cheer!! Which is the gospel. Duuuh. AND Tomorrow for christmas eve i will get to talk all my family. And really that is all that I could ever ask for, for this christmas. I am so excited to talk to my family! Im so excited to see your faces! Hoooly moly how emotional. haha I will be able to skype at 5 30 our time.. Thats 1 30 your time, i believe. Be there or be lame. Wow so another year gone by... would you look at that. Almost a year Exactly from today I made the decision to move home to prepare to serve a mission. Best decesion that i have ever made in my entire life. I remember I didnt feel the least bit good about going back to thatcher. Something inside me was telling my that to go back to thatcher and study wasnt what needed to happen. I fought that feeling for like 3 weeks straight and tried to ignore it. But when i came home for christmas I had that feeling even stronger.. it wasnt until after i had read in D&C 4:3 that it hit me. I said to myself, Whelp Rach, you´ll break the news to mom in the morning. haha And i did just so huh mom? haha And now im here serving the lord in South America. I am so grateful for all the things that have happened in the year 2013. My love for the lord has grown so much.. My testimony is stronger than it ever has been and I have learned What really is "the importance of my family." My family has always been important to me.. but now more than ever, I know that my family is the most prized posession that i have and i would do anything for them. Not a day goes by that i dont think about my family. Families are sort of like teams. In a team everyone has to do their part and give everything they have in order to win. Well, every memeber in the family needs to put in their part and needs to give everything they have in order to live together happy, and united for ALL eternity.. I know that I didnt put in my part before my mission.. But i didnt understand. Now i understand. I understand what IS important and what is not. Im so happy and grateful to be here in Paraguay. God couldnt have chosen a better place for me to serve. Duh. Cause God is perfect. He knows me better than i know myself. For example, I thought before my mission that i hated to be hot... but nope. I love it. I love being sweaty 24 hours of the day. haha just kidding.. but really. I love the people, I love the food a little bit, I love the spanish... The words of Grandpa Marion Always ring in my mind. They are good people everywhere you go. Family and friends Its my prayer that everysingle one of you will have a very special christmas where ever you are in the world... And that this next year. THe year 2014 will be filled with lots of happiness! and that we can all learn lots of cool stuff about life. Because thats why God sent us here! Duuuh.. to learn and grow and to be happy! My Motto for this year is this..... "And inasmuch as you keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land.¨" THis is my motto because, 1. It says it a billion times in the Book of Mormon. 2. Because its true. 3. Because i want to prosper in the land. haha Anyways!!!! I love you all! and have a very merry christmas!!!!!!!!!!!

WHY DID GOD SEND ME TO PARAGUAY...... GMA & GPA AUNT JEAN AND GAYLE BASSO

Rachel Hunt Add to contacts 1:27 PM To: jena velte Why did God send me to Paraguay?‏ Hey mom, whats up? I have been thinking lately of all the reasons why God sent my to Paraguay. There are alot of reasons. But there is one reason that i would like to share with you. Here in paraguay mom, everything is GREEN. There are plants EVERYWHERE. Trees everywhere with fruit. Lime, lemon, mango, bananas, papaya.... and alot of fruit that i dont know. Today for pday we went to a lake... we had to walk to thick thick trees to get there. I cant help but think of you every time i see the green trees, the green fields... You always work so hard in the yard, in the garden. My point is that one of the reasons that God sent me here to paraguay is to be reminded of you every day. I love you mom. SO much. And guess what... i got your packages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKYOU THANKYOU!!!!! I opened them up and squealed!!!!! And cried! I am so blessed to have you in my life. THis is for gma and gpa. Hey there grandma and grandpa! Boy do i miss you alot! i dont have much time but wanted to share an experience with you. A long time ago grandma, you shared a story about your tithing. And how grandpa kept forgetting to take the tithing to church. And one of the people out at the ranch who isnt a member of the church called and told you that you needed to pay your tithing so that it would rain. And then grandpa finally remembered and it Rained..... Well in a lesson this week i shared this story. I cried a little bit. The spirit was SO strong. I just want to thank you and my sweet grandpa for being the best grandparents and the best examples. Your examples are something that i have used so much here in the mission. PLEASE stay there in heber and dont move a mussle until i get back. I have alot of things planned for the three of us when i get back. Lorence welks and dancing every saturday night. And listening to my grandpa play his guitar. I love you guys! THankyou so your prayers! This is for aunt jean Aunt Jean. My sweet sweet aunt jean. I love and miss you so much. I want you to know that i think about you everyday. I want to tell you to be strong and always remember that Our heavenly father and uncle cyrol are looking down and watching over you. They are rooting for you and want the very best for you. DONT ever forget how much i love and care about you. This is for gayle basso Gayle, How are you? How are things? I dont have much time but wanted to write and tell you that i have been thinking about you. I want to share my testimony with you... and apologize for not sharing it before i left. Gayle i know that god loves you. I know that he is looking down on you with your sweet husband. I know that through This gospel You can see your husband again. YOu can live with him for all eternity. Dont ever forget that you are not alone. God is always with you. And remember that i llove you. And i too want the very best for you. I love you and want to thank you for your example, for your prayers and your support. And PLEASE remember that you have always been and will always be a member of our family.

My very first baptism and more baptisms on the way!!

What up family and friends! I would like to inform you that saturday i had my first baptism! Can you believe it? Her name is Marcelina Aguilera she is 80 years old and single. She seriously is so cute and speaks very little spanish. Mostly guarani. We always have to have a translator. But i dont like translators so i learned some phrases in guarani so that i could communicate with her. I want to learn guarani SO bad. So after i conquer spanish, Guaranii better watch out because im comin in hot and ready to learn. Anyways so the baptism... was.. AWESOME: And she is doing so so great! Her family is members and they are MORE than happy. They couldnt stop crying because they were so happy. It was pretty great. This saturday we have another baptism! With an old fart named Leonor Gonzalez. He too is very old and single. He lives in a house two feet away from marcelina. And i always say that him and good ol marcelina are gonna get hitched. Haha Anyways Leonor is my favorite. He is always trying so hard to learn in the lessons, he always says, That american sure has a good character. I tell him i get it from my grandma. We had a lesson with him the other day about temples and temple work. We had planned to teach about the ten commandments but in the lesson i was strongly impressed that temples was the way to go. In my mind i was thinking about his parents that right now are in the spirit world.. I just felt strongly that they are rooting for leonor to be baptized and they want us to do all we can to help him enter into the waters of baptism. I know.. i sound a bit crazy but im being for reals. Anyways... im super pumped for his baptism this week! Then on the 28th we have another baptism with a chico named rodrigo who is 24 years old and all he does is exercise and work. His family is a less active family. Family Vaez. They seriously are such a great family and we have been working so hard to get them back to church. And everytime they havent come ive just about cried. The daughter, named gaby is my age and she is a stud. she reminds me so much of Olivia. Anyways yesterday this family went to church!!!!!! Boo. ya. I was SOOO happy. And there son rodrigo who NEVER wanted to listen to our lessons or have anything to do with us... showed up too. So after church we had a lesson with him and he said he isnt happy and he is missing something in his life and he accepted the invitation to be baptized. SO awesome. He is a hard worker so i know that he will do alll he can to find this happiness in his life. Then on the 5th of janurary we have another baptism!!!! With this lady name balvina and her son jorge. Balvina is really crazy religous. Our first lesson with her she stood up and closed her eyes and starting praising the lord. I was a little scared but i figured that this was her answer that the church is true. Haha Were hoping to work with them alot so that they can get dunked as well. How awesome no? The missionary work is a miricle. Really, I love to watch these peole grow in the gospel. I love to watch the holy ghost work in their hearts and testify that this gospel is true. I love to be invloved in the work of the lord. Its such a blessing to be here in paraguay. I am overly blessed to have so many of you my family and my friends supporting and rooting for me. I feel the power of your prayers and ask that please dont stop. I need all the help i can get. haha Its a sacrifice to be away from my family and friends for a year and a half. A sacrifice that before, i really didnt understand until now. But I know with all my heart that sacrifices bring blessings. And i have seen the blessings already overflowing here in the mission. Thankyou so much every single one of you. For the packages, for the letters, for the prayers and for the support. I pray for you all every night. My prayer is about 10 minutes long in the night times because i have SO much to thank god for. I love you all! WIth all my heart! Yo quiero compatir mi testimonio con ustedes. Yo se que este evangelio es verdadero. Te quiero mi familia muchisimo y Se que mi familia puede vivir juntos para siempre. Se que a traves este evangelio mi famila puede ser mas unidos. Podemos tener mas felizidad y mas paz si cada uno de nosotros hacemos nuestro parte. Se que Dios tiene mucho amor por cada uno de ustedes. Y como mi abuela siempre dice.. Si guardamos los mandamientos, vamos a recibir MUCHOS bendiciones. Y dejo estas cosas con mucho amor.. en el nombre de nuestro salvador, jesucristo.. Amen chao familia!

Rain Rain nothing like I've ever seen before!! My awesome companion is going home and Changing hearts.

Wow this week has been one for the books! The work is moving along GREAT here in Itaugua. Did i ever mention that the area we are in now we had to open. We came here knowing nothing about the area, there wasnt an area book, we started from scratch. The first sunday we had 50 people attend church, and yesterday guess how much.. 100! President is very happy with the progress in our area! The church here in Paraguay is growing and i have the awesome opportunity to watch it all! Its amazing to see the changes in these people. The changes in their hearts, in their spirits.. I am growing to care for the people more and more everyday. This week we found an investigator that is a professional soccer player. He is huge. This lesson was so awesome. haha. The spirit was so strong. I could barely speak. My heart was pounding so hard. Its so awesome when we can see the spirit work in these people and teach them. By the end of the lesson he was worried about his job... becasue he plays soccer on the weekends and isnt able to attend church. He finally said, well... maybe i need to find another job. I was so taken back. Sports have always been so huge for me. I love sports and only in my wildest dreams i play on a proffesional team. haha When he said that he needed to find another job... wow. It was truely amazing. This week we have had alot of rain. But yesterday was like nothing i have ever seen before. Only in the movies. haha In the morning the sun was SO STRONG. The air was so wet all my clothes were soaked... But the sky was clear and blue. Not a cloud in the sky. Well during our personal study we heard a loud boom and i jumped... and then came the storm. Haha We watched from our window the rain, the wind... it was insane. The lights went out.. And then hermana villanueva said, lets go outside and check it out.. so we walked outside and in 15 seconds were soaking wet. But that isnt the best part. Trees, HUGE TREES had been struck by lighting and fallen in front of our apartment, and all down the streets. Water up to our ankles, the busses couldnt pass. I have pictures. It was awesome. Then we got a call from the zone leader saying to stay inside. Today on this wonderful pday, i want to talk aabout my comp. My trainer. Hermana VIllanueva has 17 months in the mission. She is going home on january 2nd. Before me, she was the sister leader trainer. Sister leader trainers are two sisters.. latino and american who look over ALL the sisters in the mission. The go on splits with all the sisters, Work with the mission president.. And make sure all the sisters in paraguay are okay. She thought that she would end her mission as the sister leader trainer but she got a call from president and he told her that God had called her to train one last hermana. The moment after president assigned our companions every single missionary, hermana and elder came to me and told me how blessed i was to have hermana villanueva. That she is a great missionary. The wife to the missionpresident gave me a hug and whispered in my ear to not waste a minute with hermana villanueva. So basically family and friends, she is a legendary missionary. And for some reason God chose HER to train ME. Why i am so blessed i dont know... but i do know that every second i have with her i am using to my advantage. She has taught me so much. I have one more month with her and then she leaves and i will no longer have a trainer. I will be a normal missionary. I dont know what will happen. I could stay in my area with another comp, leave my area with another comp, stay and train or leave and train. All the missionaries that i talk to say that now that i know how to open an area, i might get sent to open an area with another sister. Or stay and train. But im not ready to train. haha i have only been here for 2 months. THere is no WAY i am going to train. But we will see what happens. All i know is that the day hermana villanueva has to leave... i am going to cry alot. haha But i know that god knows what he is doing. And he will take care of me. Okay they just told me we have to go. so tell aunt jean i love her someone! i love you all! bye!