Letter From the Mission Presidents Wife

New Missionaries with their trainers. Elder Hunt is on the far left
New Missionaries at the mission home! Elder Hunt is in the Center

New Missionaries at the Temple. Elder Hunt middle back.

New Missionaries coming from the airport.

Dear Family and Friends, August 28, 2010

What a wonderful couple of weeks we have had! I’ve really thought a lot this week about the amazing blessings that can come through missionary service. In the last couple weeks we have watched eighteen wonderful mature young men finish their missions and return home. We have also welcomed eighteen new young men who are just beginning their service here in Paraguay. It’s interesting each change to watch the contrast in the two groups of missionaries. The returning group is confident, full of wonderful experiences that have helped them grow in their testimonies and understanding of the gospel. They are excited and ready for the next steps in their lives. This group was especially focused and certain of the role the Savior plays in each of their lives and it was evident in the testimonies they shared with us the night before they flew home. They recognized that they are who they are now, because of the challenging and difficult things they have done over the last two years here in the mission. They know that they are prepared for whatever comes next in their lives. There was a quiet peace and joy in their faces (along with some tears) as we said good bye to each of them.

The arriving missionaries come with excitement along with a little nervousness and fear of what they are about to experience here in the mission, in a new and foreign country. We also see in most of them a determination to take this new situation the Lord has given them and do the best they can here. They have made covenants and accepted this calling and are ready to fulfill it. It’s nice to imagine how they will all be in two years when they have gone through the experience of the next two years. The mission is such a wonderful way for these young people to prepare for their marriages and lives in the future. It is so evident as we compare the arriving and leaving groups of missionaries during change week, that there is so much needed growth that can happen in their lives during this time.

I also have been thinking about the role that families play in the lives of the missionaries during their missions. Even though we are all separated by many miles from our families, the things we do and say can have far reaching effects as we support our missionaries. Our families are also effected by the things we as missionaries do and say. I know for me a scripture I read often that gives me comfort is D&C 31 that speaks of the blessings that come to missionaries and their families. I also know that the promises given to missionaries are real because I have seen them in my life. As we leave our homes, families, girlfriends, and all things in our lives at home behind and focus on the work, we will be blessed and so will they. I have seen some missionaries come who try to be too tightly connected to girl friends, events at home etc. and really struggle. When they finally decide to be more focused on the work here, they become happy and wonderful missionaries instead of miserable, struggling missionaries. The happiest missionaries are those who are 100% obedient to all the mission rules. Families can also help by helping their missionaries to keep all the rules. The Brethren have told us that missionaries can only email their immediate families, (parents, siblings, grandparents) and that is all. All letters to girlfriends and other friends and relatives are to be sent and received by regular mail. When we help our missionaries be exactly obedient with this they can feel confident and then they are able to feel the spirit and receive the help they need to be successful missionaries. We love these missionaries and want all of them to have wonderful and successful experiences as they share this glorious gospel with the people of Paraguay! We have seen some true miracles as young men who recommit to being obedient have had total changes in their hearts and then have gone on to be excellent missionaries. What a privilege to see these experiences in the lives of these young missionaries.

Tuesday the airport was exciting as we welcomed Elders Barboza, Beckett, Brown, Butcher,Davis,Griffin,Guizada,Hunt,Larsen,Madsen,McGee, Nelson,Obray,Richards,Tyler,Van Mondfrans,Villalba, and Yaringano . It is always a miracle when those big groups all get here with every piece of luggage. We immediately went to the temple and then to lunch. Afterwards we went to the office for orientation and interviews with President. After dinner we came to the mission home for dessert and then testimony meeting. The new elders bore sweet testimonies in their new language of Spanish. It’s a long couple days for the new missionaries with a lot to take in but they do pretty well, considering all they go through to get here. After a night’s rest at a local hotel they headed downtown to sign their legal papers and then they came back to the office to meet their trainers. By 10am or so they were all off to their new areas to begin working!

As soon as the new elders were off, President started interviews with the leaving missionaries. We went to lunch with the leaving missionaries and then to the temple for a session and then to the mission home for dessert and testimony meeting. Our leaving missionaries, Elders Bill, Carrasco, Dobbins, Draves, Fifer,Hoyle,Lytle ,Najac ,Santacruz ,and Sosa all left Thursday. It was an interesting day with three separate trips to the airport. What great missionaries! We will miss them! We love the energy that we receive from the missionaries as we interact with them. We truly feel a great love for them and are grateful for the experiences we are having as we help with the work of helping the people here learn about our Savior and this wonderful gospel and church!

We hope you all have a great week! Love, Mark and Sandy

A better week :)

August 30th, 2010
Well we finally just got back from our meeting with our zone leaders and playing some soccer. Haha it was really fun until we started to play on this ghettttttoo like beach soccer court!!!! i was so covered in dirt and my legs were pretty much black!! yep right after that i had to put my prost clothes back on and get on the bus to go back. I feel sooooo nasty!! i am still all dirty and sweaty! haha but i guess you could say that i had a little better week... It helped when we were teaching and doing service for people to get my mind off it but when we are teaching sometimes and i cant understand i will just totally zone out and not pay any attention and just start to think about home. This mostly happens when they start mizing spanish and guarini and portugese!! ahh its so frustrating cause i cant even understand their spanish let alone two other languages combined!! haha well it sounds like me and travis have alot in common about our first week in the mission. Crying myself to sleep every night. haha but i am REALLY hoping things pick up and we can see some success especially as i am able to do more and more. I know that i can always study harder and pray harder and try to say more and that is something that i really will be workng on alot harder this week is to SPEAK SPEAK SPEAK!!! who cares if thye cant understand me. Its my efforst that count and i know that the lord will bless me if i am giving my all!! thats what the atonement is all about... when we are giving our all and cant make the rest on our own christ is there to help pick us up and carry us the rest of the way!!! I guess i should start using my own advice in my own life. The word is really not that bad.. they eat lots of chicken and spaghetti and rice and the juices here and fruit are SOOO freakin good!! you can definitely tell they are natural and not loaded with sugar like things back home. We have been working with a few people this week and hopefully this week we can get them to committ to a date and follow through will their commitments! A baptism right now would really boost my confidence... that is probably one thing that i think i have really seen a difference is in my confidence! back home everything that i encountered i wuold just face head on and i would accomplish it! but here i feel so uncapable and so i just get defeated very easily! i know that it is the advisary who is doing it and frustrating me and i will not let him win!! I will battle him head on and try my best to MAKE it the best 2 years out here. I notice that time is REALLY LONG out here! we will walk and wlk and walk and i will look at my watch and its only been like 30 minutes... haha and then when we are just relaxing after a long day the time flys bye!! i hope that it starts to do that every day all day. haha Dad.. your ten things have really helped me and i am trying to implement them more and more as i get more and more comfortable here. I used your FHE one the other day for our planning and my companion really liked it. My companion elder arrieta has been here for 18 months. He has learned quite a bit of english but it is still WAY hard to understand anything that he says and i know that its gonna take lots more time than just a week to get used to the language and accetns and things. I got a email from jarren thiriot this week and it was really funny to hear some of the things that he misses about the mission that i experience every single day. I hope to have a misison as great as his thats for sure. haha We have lunch with members every single day and we really like never have to make anything at all. The only thing that i have had to cook since being here is cold cereal. haha so hard!! so i like that part of things alot! I make sure to write everything down in my journal and when certain things happen i take note of them in my little note boook so i can make sure to get everything that i am experiencing.. haha like the other night we came home and the power was out! dang did i sleep crappy with no AC!!! it was like sues pet castle mixed with the saunas at summit! haha i tossed and turned all night long!! Tomorrow is our first distric meeting and that is when we get letters so make sure you just keep sending them as soon as you get done with them and i will start getting them every week which will be really really nice!! that is also when i can send letters home so they should be coming soon. How is everything going at home? hows preston and the family and everyone else. I got actually alot of emails this week and they were REALLY helpful thats for sure! Kelsey´s dad sent me one that really raised my spirits and helped me to just keep on pushing and to never give up. Then i read dads email and all i could think about was how i cannot give up and this is totally natural for EVERY missionary. haha well except that ones that get to go state side. hahaha jk but then when i heard about travis doing the same thing as me it really helped.. to thnk all these super spiritual giants felt exactly like i do now! its motivation and gives me hope to see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! hahaSo here are some pictures from the last week that i have been here. i hope that you like them and i cant wait to hear back from all of you!! Send pictures and whatever else that you want. I think that the next zone conference is in november. So send things soon and it will get to me right in time for christmas. haha i hope!! I love you all until next week.
Elder Hunt
well actually i just looked at my coard for my camera and its the wrong one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHH!!!! i am so freakin mad!!!! i will try to figure out some way to send pictures to you all so you can see whats going on!!

Much Needed Prayers!

Well today is officially my second day in the field... we have kinda like a p day for us to get all the things that we need and we get time to email. So i can tell you about everything that has been going on. Oh ya and the best way to get letters to me is writing them through dear elder because you can write way way way more and the MTC then sends them here to the office and all around it is just way faster and way better. We have about 190 missionaries in our mission. But we are at our max right now. Our last flight was really long and we actually met 4 more elders who are native speakers in the gate we were waiting in. They were funny! But the plane ride was about 11 hours long and all the time changes really really threw me off. We kept losing more and more and then gaining and losing it was so dang confusing. We got off the plane and were met at customs by our Pres. and his wife. We got through that really easy and loaded our stuff on a way way big truck and packed in some vans to head to the office. After that we got to the office and got some water and did a few things then headed out to the temple. Oh ya and by the way the roads here have basically no laws whatsoever and everyone has the right away. Everyone passes anyone every direction and speeds and cuts people off like crazy!!!! So its gonna be something to get used to for sure. Not that we really will drive ever but riding in the bus is even more crazy because they dont stop for anyone or anything!!! We got to the temple and took pictures and then we went to the Chinese resturant in the city. Boy was that interesting cause i dont know how anyone can remember how to get around here. There is no street signs and no addresses whatsoever!!! I will never be driving here or vacationing here that is for sure! The food was decent but nothing like back home... Plus you all know how picky i am and so i was limited to what i could eat and not jsut hurl everywhere!! We got done with that and went back to the office to get our orientation on everything there is to possibly know here. I dont think any of us got very much out of it because we were all so exhausted. We then had some kind of dinner... Dont ask me what it was but definitely not on my list of things that i will be eating again soon. I choked it down though since i will have to be getting used to that. After that we left and went to the mission home and had some carrot cake which was surprisingly really good!! :) We then had a testimony meeting... that i constantly kept falling asleep in and forcing myself to try and stay awake for at least the president and his wife. After that we took off to the hotel for the night where my room was the exact room as my MTC roomates which was way way nice! The hotel i guess is supposed to be like the hotels of hotels here.. Like the hilton of paraguay i guess. At first i thought to myself you have got to be kidding me... This is supposed to be nice?!?!?!?! hahaha so we changed finally and all relaxed and wrote in our journals and then totally crashed we were so exhausted. The beds were WAY more comfy than the MTC beds thats for sure. I woke up... oh yea we now have to wake up at 6 instead of 630. I woke up though and slept so good that i actually thought that i was home... for all of about 13 seconds when i saw the pink walls and the odor that paraguay carries. Then it hit me... I was so far from home it was not funny!! haha after we had breakfast at the hotel which was about as good as hannah making breakfast for me... actually i take that back hannah could do better!! We then sat out front for about 30 minutes waiting for the AP´s to come and pick us up so we could go sign papers to be legal. I now know what it feels like to be an Illegal alien. hahaha So after that we went back to the office and met in the chapel there and we finally got to meet out trainers. One by one each greenie was called out and the name of the area in which he would be serving... Then our trainer would jump up and come give us a huge hug and we would sit down... of course i was dead last and come to find out my trainer is a native and speaks NO ENGLISH at all. I wish you could have seen the look on my face. We then got all our things and were headed off to the train station. We got there and waited for the second group to finally show up... We got our tickets and my companion got me an empanada. Supposedly really good but i really beg to differ. We were finally off to my first area. Ciudad del Este or City of the East, which entails a nice 6 to 7 hour bus ride with crappy roads and a hot steamy bus. Stop by stop more and more elders got off until finally our area. We had to call some members who were taxi drivers to come and pick us up and then take us back to our house... or what is called a pension. This is it... I was finally here... I had my hopes up for something decent.. then i realized we were leaving above a convenient store and our house was tiny!!!! I got in the front door and saw what our so called ¨pension¨ had to offer!! Just wait until you get to see the pictures!! haha next email will have some. But we have a tiny kitchen that looks like a replica of a kitchen that Joseph smiths family had. Tiny fridge even smalller oven and something that resembled a sink. Next room... The living room where we have 3 tables and a couch with a few chairs!! Next... Our other room with simply four closets in it that have less space than all the my luggage. So i am literally living out suitcases. haha what a life. Our bed room has two twins and a twin bunk bunk. The mattresses are like a wait to broken in tempur pedic mattress that never returns back to its original shape. We had no time to unpack because we had to get to a ward activity for the next hour and get 10 contacts. I will tell you what... I was not feeling that at all. I couldnt understand a single member cause they talk SOOOOOOOO FAST!!!! Not to mention my trainer cannot translate... i couldnt even understand the 2 yr old kids how sad is that. We finally made it back to the pension and got ot unpack. I got about half way through and then had to get ready for bed. Lights out here is 10. The really hard thing is that it gets dark at like 5 here and when i say dark i mean DARK!! i was afraid for my life when we were contacting! We were getting ready for my and i will just tell you now after my 35 minute prayer of BEGGING MY HEAVENLY FATHER to help me out with all this i then went on to crying myself to sleep. Yes i literally cried. Culture literally woke me up the next morning with a SLAP to the face. After writing in my journal for the last two days it was my turn for the shower. I hadnt really looked in the yet and i am glad that i didnt. NOT!!! i got in there and the toilet is made outta some kind of fancy plastic and the shower... is simply a oversized head that sticks outta the wall and has no hot water at all!! Oh yea did i mention that there is no such things as bath tubs so you jsut stand on the same floor taht everyone uses to walk around on... taht everyone pees on cause they missed the toilet and everything else that goes on in there. After my cold shower and near panic attack i sat and stared at all my pictures at home. I am SO LUCKY to be born in the USA and have some such an amazing home and so many amazing things. I have such a great family and friends and girlfriend. I thought to myself this is REALLY GONNA BE THE HARDEST 2 YEARS OF MY LIFE!!!! As tears rolled down my eyes... i thought about how crappy of a situation that i am in and how i guess i am just gonna have to live with it. After we started our personal study and i really had no idea what i was supposed to be doing. haha then companionship study.... ya that went great i didnt understand anything that my companion said cause his accent is so thick and he speaks so fast and not to mention he pretty much drops all of his letter ¨s¨ in his speaking. He is from colombia i have no idea what they teach him there. haha After all our studies we got on another bus to the bigger part of the city and went to this funky zoo thing and saw some really interesting animals and things from the guarini culture. Dont ask me waht any of it was cause i couldnt tell you at all!!! After that we got done and they all wanted to go to another chinese buffet. Oh ya we were with like our whole district i think? So we went to a place called new tokyo... Ya it was nothing great at all!! After that we rode back on the bus and now we are here. We live with 2 other elders and luckily one of them speaks english!! So i am not really supposed to email anyone else but my family... I figure since kelsey is pretty much family in due time taht its ok. I will just include her part in the email to the family. This is kelseys part.
Baby I MISSED YOU soooo much after i got off the phone with you... i thought dang how am i gonna do this without you! I did gett all your packages and they were so good!! thank you so so much sweetheart! I got some letters too that you guys had sent to the MTC and my mission home on accident so nothing new there. But baby i am not gonna lie to you... i really dont know how i am gonna do this!!!! i would say about ten different times i have thought i would really like to come home and then i think that i have to just try and forget myself and my desries i guess and pray for help. As i am writing this i am getting all teary eyed. This is the exact opposite life that i have been living. I have been living like a KING for 19 years and now i dont know waht to do. Everything is so different here baby!! The food makes me sick to look at and i have had NO APPETITE at all. And when i have eaten i just wanna puke afterwards. I am really trying my best and i will continue to because i know that coming home is not an option. I will not let anyone down back at home. I am sorry that i am putting this all on you but i just really need you right NOW!!!! REALLY BAD!! WORSE THAN EVER and were about 10000 miles apart! This REALLY SUCKS!!! i will try my best though for you baby just please prayer really really hard for me and do whatever you can to help me. I am praying that things will get better and i will finally feel like i am comfortable.. I know that i need to give it a couple more days and i will so i can finally feel comfortable cause thats waht it took at the mtc but its just different cause at least there people spoke engish. ha I LOVE YOU SO MUCH and there is not a minute that goes by that i dont think about you or miss you or wish i was home with you!! i am not a quitter but i am praying that this doesnt get the best of me. The culture is jsut SOOOOO DIFFERENT and i know its goin to take time. Dont worry too much about me baby... i really hope that i havent made you all stressed out now and sad and worried about me because i will be fine i am jsut being a big baby. I need to stop crying. I LOVE YOU and i cannot lose you baby!!!! please dont ever forget me!! i will try my best to write you as much as i can. When you email me back just use my moms account so it comes from her. I really wish i could kill that stupid black kid right now!!!! i hate him!!!! but i will just get over it. Nothing is goin to get in the way of us being together right baby?!?!?! i will be waiting for you while you are out!!! for as long as it takes!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!! more than ever! last night i curled up to the blanket from garetts parents and put it up against my face like it was you so i could actually calm down and fall asleep finally. I looked at your pictures forever and just missed you!! I am sooo glad that the blessing you received helped you out so much!! your dad is such an amazing man and i know he has so much faith and love for you and in you kelsey lynn!!! The power of the priesthood is great isnt it? I cant wait to be able to be the one that gives you blessings when we are married! haha sounds like you had a really good time at school?!?!?! hahahah well i gotta go so i will hear from you next week!! I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH BABY!!! KISSES AND HUGS BOO!!!!!!!!
Thanks for all your love from veryone!!! Keep me in all your prayers and the people of paraguay! I love you all and tahkns again. Oh ya my p days are really on mondays so from now on expect them to come on mondays. This monday i will write again!! i LOVE YOU!

Safe and Sound in Paraguay!!!

Shelly got this email from Benetton:) Nothing much, but at least we know he has made it safely.

Hey mom,

They are giving us just a few minutes to write you and tell you that we made it safely! Its been such a long day with all the orientation and everything but the country is amazing and the Chinese food was great! I Love you all and i will be able to email you again Thursday! Love you thanks for everything!

Elder Hunt is currently traveling to the beautiful land of Paraguay!!! The greatest thing about having a missionary going to a foreign country is that they tend to have a lot of layovers!!! We have had the wonderful opportunity to hear from him several times throughout the day, and we still have one more chance to do so early this morning. I am happy to say that he does not seem to be missing home at all. Though of course a part of me wishes he was missing me like crazy I am so grateful for the wonderful attitude that he has had. Any one that knows Benetton, knows that he has a hard time with individuals who are slightly immature to put it nicely, not not being able to do what he wants. Despite this we have not heard him complain about his conditions in the MTC AT ALL! All we keep hearing him say is "its all in your attitude." This is very true of course, but he has truly put it into action and I can honestly say it completely shows! Yesterday Shelly and I were preparing to be super emotional at the sound of his voice, but I am proud to say neither one of us have lost it one time! YES! How can you be sad and depressed when he simply is so happy and positive about everything :) His joy and happiness is completely rubbing off on all of us! A great friend hooked us up with some pictures of Benetton the night before he left and he looked so happy and full of the spirit! Thanks so much my good friend, you know who you are. I can't wait to hear his voice one last time before we say see you later for 4 months until Christmas. Letters will be few and far in between but we know they will be really meaningful to him. We encourage all his loved ones to continue to support and write him!

You can continue to send pouch mail on dear elder. When you log onto the homepage, on the left side there is a link right below the one that says Provo MTC that says "Pouch Mail (free)" click on this link and select his mission which is... Paraguay Asuncion Mission. DO NOT SELECT THE ASUNCION NORTH MISSION!!!!!!!!! There is a link you can choose for further instructions if you have any questions. Also you can email me at kclayto4@gmail.com if you need help :) You may continue to send him emails at benetton.hunt@myldsmail.net. Please keep in mind his email time is limited and he will only be allowed to email his family, but I know the love and support from home would be greatly appreciated.

FINAL MTC PICS!!

Here are the final pics from the MTC :) Elder Hunt heads for Paraguay Monday Morning August 23rd. His family and I cannot wait to hear from him and see how much he has grown and changed! Though as you can tell from the pictures he is still the same Benetton we all know and love. Thanks to all who has shown their love and support. I know that he greatly appreciates all the letters and packages. Due to the mail system in Paraguay Elder Hunt will not get letters very often, but we still encourage you to use the pouch mail on dear elder because we know when he does get those letters they will be very special to him! He has truly grown so much and picked up on the language very quickly. I know that he is going to be an amazing missionary! Yes I miss him a lot. Some days are easier then others, while some I would just love to drive up to the MTC and snatch him for a day! It's going to be hard to have him so far away and not hear from him as often because it is no secret that I have been spoiled in the amount of letters I have received. But that is all going to changed and hopefully adapting will not be too difficult. I want to thank his family so much for allowing me to be a big part of his life! I appreciate their patience and understanding, and am grateful for the love and welcomeness I feel in their home! I want to thank my wonderful parents and family for the love and support they have shown him and for loving him as their own child. My 3 year old nephew Kaden has been telling him mom he is going on a mission so he can go see "Bent" :) Continue to keep him in your prayers! Thanks to EVERYONE!!!! I know that in some way or another you all influenced him to get him where he is suppose to be today. His service is truly blessing my life and I know the life of his family in ways I never imagined :)

I love this one! :)

Elder Hunt and Elder McGee

Yep thats my boy taking pics in the mirror!!

Aug 13th, 2010

Mom and Family,

This week has just flown bye! I cant believe that in days I will be out of the USA for the next two years!! I am super excited, nervous, and hesitant all at the same time cause I have no idea what to expect at all! I know its just gonna take time though like the MTC did and new I don't really car any more about how crappy of a place this can be sometimes! Its all about your attitude though! haha this place can be heaven or heck but its all up to the missionary and what they make of it, either bad or good! I know that's how its going to be out in the field too. Its gonna be weird to be going from being around all white people to nothing but dare skinned paraguayans and accents taht I cant understand at all! haha we will listen to natives on the computer an I will catch like every 23rd word. haha ok not that bad but about like every3rd or 4th word! They speak so freakin fast and they slur words really bad so its gonna be hard to pick up for quite awhile! Hopefully by about 4 months out I can understand almost everything! My teacher Hermano Christensen was a trainer and pretty much fluent after 3 months! His Spanish is the best that I have ever heard! He went to Spain on his mission... he always has way funny stories for us about things from his mission and saying sin Spanish that we don't have an English that are hilarious but when they transfer over into English they make no sense at all! One day all we did was study Spanish "dichos" or sayings that we could use! He went on a Mediterranean cruise for 10 days and he brought pictures in and everyone said that his wife looked just like Kelsey! It was funny! Our other teacher Hermana Ribera is way cool too. She is fluent in Spanish and "proficient" (fluent) in sign language too! she has prayed for us before in Spanish and in sign language and the signing is so freakin sick! We all keep our eyes open and she closes her eyes. She can even directly translate Spanish into sign language. She goes to a deaf/Spanish/ English ward here in Provo! haha So Kelsey said that you are getting pretty proficient on the computer! ha hopefully when I get back you wont need my help at all! :) With any technological thing! What kind of phone did dad get?! Is it a touchscreen? How is the office doing? Any problems that I need to answer before I am really hard to contact? Thanks so much for all your help! I LOVE YOU!
Benetton

Mom and Dad,

Well another week has flown by! I dont know about you but every week gets faster and faster the longer I am out here! It has been a really really good week with our lessons, our language and our district/companionship/personal goals!!:) We have to reset our goals every week in our weekly planning and companionship inventory! This week our district goals were:
1) Make 1 new friend everyday and 1 new really good friend!
2) Speak Spanish all day
3) Speak one at a time in class
At the end of every week we report to our district leader on how well we did with our goals and then we talk about how we could do better or could have done better! We report today on our new friends that we made and the one that we really really got to know! It's really fun to hear everyone's stories, especially because sometimes we are talking about the exact same people! The other day we talked about a companionship that contacted us and we found out later they contacted three other companionship's in our district! As for our Spanish goal we did really really well! We rate ourselves as follows:
5-Always 100%
4-Most 80%
3- More Than 1/2 60%
2-Less than 1/2 40%
1- Barely 20%
0-Never 0%
The ratings go off of how much of our effort, not that we can speak 100% Spanish! So as long as we are saying what we know how then we can get a "5" everyday! This last week personally I got a 5 everyday except P-day! haha cause you just forget when you don't have class to remind you to speak Spanish because our teachers are! But its as a companionship so we only averaged around a 4 cause my companion always forgets!! Ugh! haha also each week we have a person in our class that we have to watch all week and see how they exercise the Christlike attribute that we select each week! This week is patience... the sad part is I can't remember who my person is?! :( So looks like I will just have to throw something generic out there that could apply to anyone! haha So every week we teach in the TRC and this past week we had a very difficult investigator that reminded me of Anthony! Big, huge guy with gauges and tattoos but he was super difficult and mean! All he did was correct our Spanish the whole time and so we stopped teaching by the spirit and went into Spanish mode and only worked on what we were saying to the guy was grammatically correct! It made our teacher so dang mad! She pulled us aside after and was like that guy is a total punk, just teach with the confidence that I know you two have so this week we really worked on our lesson and we did way way good! MUCH BETTER! And I know alot of it was because we have been speaking so much Spanish or "SYL" (for dad), that Heavenly Father blessed us and loosed our tonues and filled our mouths with the words in which we needed to say and what needed to be heard! Hmm... What else happened this week? Oh ya so everyone, every morning has to wake up this one companionship that has their own room and sleeps in past 6:30. So our branch presidency said, just don't wake them up one day! So Thursday we didn't wake them up. They slept through... Breakfast... Gym... then half of class until 10:30!! Then finally our teacher went & walked down to our rooms and woke them up! It was so dang funny cause they said "Oh so none of you noticed that we weren't at breakfast of gym or class" haha we all just laughed way hard and played dumb! :) Missionary pranks are way funny! But we got in trouble last week and are not allowed to anymore! Me and Elder Mcgee would go into the showers and steal everyone's towels and put them in the middle of the room! :) haha and this one district who was here for 14 weeks waiting for their visas to Mexico we pranked way good! We hid an alarm clock in their room and set it for 4 am! On the morning they were leaving so they got to sleep in a little! They were so mad! But afterwords they were like that was pretty funny, cause it took them forever to find it! Do you have any funny pranks that I could do dad? I love the basketball hoop... my one roommate like worships it and we play a lot of HORSE and so far I have always won with my super crazy shots! And when we left one day we came back and a district that left gave one to us so we have two now and play some real games! haha and how many baptisms did you have dad? I know its not important but I was thinking and I don't think I have ever asked you! But thanks so much for the package and everything you sent! I will be buying a calling card from the bookstore for the airport probably. Unless your going to send some? I am also getting these way sweet missionary journals with my name on the front with a #1-5 for the whole mission so it will be like 5 volumes of my adventure to Paraguay! :) We will probably get our travel plans next week this time. So when I do I can email you with all the times of my lay overs. Everyone can just be at the house or wherever and I can just call individually? Whatever is easier for everyone's schedules! Well this is all for you! I LOVE YOU ALL!
"Te Amo"
Thanks for Everything!
Elder Hunt

August 6, 2010

Hannah,

Are you excited for school ? How has your summer been? I hope that you are having lots of fun with Kelsey! She loves you lots Hannah! How is having your own room? Hannah I know Jesus loves you and thinks your really great! Love, Benetton (Elder Hunt)

Ashton,

How was your soccer tournament? Did you score any goals? What position are you playing? How's your summer been? Are you having lots of fun with Noah and your soccer friends buddy? Are you excited for school ? Are you in 2nd or 3rd grade now? You are getting so big and so old! I miss you. Love Benetton
(Elder Hunt)

To the Family:

Hey I got your package!!! Thanks for Everything!! :) It's exactly what I need and wanted! I will be writing you again today after this a long letter so I will keep this short... but its been a really good fast week and today we finally go to go to the temple!!! :) It was really nice but I love the celestial room in San Diego way more!!!! It made me wanna go back there so dang bad! Hwo everything at the house? Hows Preston? How can I help him? Hows Kels and the kids? I miss you guys! You prepared me better than ever for this just know that. I love you

Dear Preston and Family

July 30, 2010

First things first before I forget... Mom can you send me the book"The Challenge" and Garrets email and the picture of me with long hair? Just any picture and then Preston I have a sketch for you to paint if you can it doesn't have to be very big at all.Thanks so much! How's things with Connor goin? Still no job yet for you? Just know I am praying hard for you to find one! Make sure that your also asking for help from the lord too. He can do so much for you as long as you ask for his help. Look up the scripture in the Bible Luke 1:37. Its really true! What are you gonna do in the fall? Any plans for school or anymore adventures planned? Have you been hanging out with Jimmy more like you said? How is it with me not being ther in the house anymore? Your Spanish was pretty dang good! Here is a little bit you can translate:

espanol es muy dificil cuando nosotros no preguntar por ayudar de Dios y jesucristo pero, la mas usted habla, la mas usted acordarse. Despures "el MTC" nuestro idioma poder venir rupidamente.

Mom, thanks so much on the continuous letters and love that you send. I cannot thank you enough!! Hows Garret? I pray for him everyday all day. I fasted for him, and put his name in the temple when I went for the first time last Friday. Hopefully Sammy isn't stressed to much about it. Things all workout for a reason! I wonder how Jeremy is feeling about all this? That's a reall hard spot for him to be in as his twin brother!! Hows the family doing? How was working at the office alone?

Dad, How's the office doing? How's Ashton's soccer team doing? How are you liking coaching? How's being the Fire president? How's all the Spartan guys doing? I have really been hitting the speak your language really hard the last few days it definitely makes a huge difference! Do you remember Wes Musso? He played sweeper at Pineview the year before J5, when they took state? Well anyways he is a teacher here and he teaches Koeran!!haha I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet though. Thanks for all the stuff from the office! My companion calls me his Doctor and is always asking about his eyes. We fixed his dry eyes and his contact irritation with 4-6 drops a day of genteal and clear care nightly, with more daily water intake. hahahaha How's Richens building lookin?

Hannah and Ashton I am writing you both letters tomorrow so you should get them soon and can write me back whenever you want.

Thanks for everything! Love, Elder Hunt