Memorial Day Weekend

Has occurred. And for that reason emailing could not happen yesterday during preparation day as the library was closed. And for that reason there is now a very limited amount of time to email today. So I apologize now if I don't get to any of your letters. Next week I will do so! 

This week was incredible. Why was it incredible do you ask? Well, I will tell you. We were able to hear from Elder Holland! And Elders Hallstrom and Seldon. But Elder Holland! The message he gave us was amazing. 

My favorite part was when he told us the saddest thing for him is when full time missionaries return from their missions and then fall away from the church. He said, "We can't go out and find the sheep when we have to go find the shepherds as well." So he said in order to not do that we need to stop thinking that when we come off our mission we are going back to 'real life'. He said, "THIS is real life. THIS right now is the CLOSEST you will ever get to real life." Which I realized I have definitely been guilty of thinking about it that way. Not so much as real life more of 'normal' life. But how we are living right now is how we should be living all of the time. We should be devoting this much attention to the scriptures and trying to understand them more. We should be feeling the spirit as much as we do. We should be trying our hardest to live the best lives we came and make the most out of the time we have. Not just now but always.

There was a whole bunch more but I don't have a lot of time today so there. Take that. Run with it. Steph and Andrew, remember this. I will say more next week! 

But yes. It was great and amazing. And things are going well. I hope things are going well for the rest of you too! Love you all!

Love,

Sister Hunter 

The Week of 3 new investigators!

That is right! 3 new investigators! We are so excited. We have 'standards of excellence' here, I don't know if that is every mission, but one of ours is to have at least 3 new investigators each week. So far I have no met that. UNTIL THIS WEEK.

It was awesome! The first one was a former investigator that elders were teaching 7 years ago and she got too busy and no one had seen her since. On Friday one of our lessons cancelled so we decided to go try her and she let us right in! She pulled out a notebook and pen and everything and was like, "So what do you want to tell me?" It was awesome! 

Then yesterday we were in our dinner appointment a half an hour longer than we wanted to be because everyone there loves each other and talks quite a bit. So we decided to cut across the park instead of walking all around it like we normally do. Then we happened upon a couple of people that were recording themselves playing guitar and a box (Just like the box that guy played at battle of the bands that one year, Beth! Do you remember?!) And I didn't want to give them a card because they had a camera and my thought process was, "Ain't nobody need to see a recording of me givin' out a pass along card." But then Sister Mertlich was like 'doing it anyway.'

And so we did and it was awesome! They kept saying we were the answer to their prayers because they had been praying to meet people who have faith in Christ. And there we were. It was awesome. Plus the girl had some blue streaks in her hair. So obviously we bonded immediately. It was really cool though.

We had a lot of cancellations this week and the weather has been fairly dreary, but it has overall been really amazing. 

I hope that all of you are doing well! As always, thanks for the letters. And stay classy. 

Love,

Sister Hunter

A picture of Sister Mertlich, me, and Brother and Sister Williams and their son Kayden (I have no idea if I spelled that right). Brother Williams is doing an internship for the next 3 months in Michigan so that is probably the last time I'll see him on the mission.

 

And me and Laura one of the recent converts in the branch! She is pretty much amazing. 

And then Gabby who is the relief society president of the branch. Well...was. Sad day. Both of them are amazing and I miss them dearly. 

The Week of Heat

Everyone, I am going to die of the heat out here. It was only 83 and only somewhat humid and it was terrible. I would like the never ending winter to return. Not really. That was also terrible. But the last 6ish weeks have been good. I will take those. None of this heat. None of this heat on bikes. You should have seen my bangs. Mom and Dad did yesterday. VIA SKYPE. That was great. It was awesome talking to you both and the rest of the family that I got to talk to. Sorry I had to cut it short. But such is life.

This week has been pretty great and also sad. Practically everyone we teach in the branch are now at the various homes since college is out so that is sad. We did meet a really exciting person on roller blades yesterday who said he would come to church though. So there is hope for some more! (Everyone in Ohio roller blades. Is this a new thing that is happening everywhere? Or is Ohio just weird?) 

I would send you all pictures this week but I forgot my camera cord. So you shall have to go without again. Sorry. I am not the best with the pictures. They take forever to load too though. So cut me some slack. Jeesh...I have no idea how to phonetically spell that word. Hopefully that worked. 

We had a bunch of cancellations yet again this week so that was sad. But I'm getting a lot better at contacting random people on the street! 

On Saturday we did A LOT of service. It was great. We helped one family in the ward move this giant tree stump because their tree had fallen down. It hit me in the head as we were putting it down. It's still sore. But don't worry, no concussion or bleeding or anything. FEAR NOT. 

Well, I don't know what else to say this week. Sister Mertlich is awesome. I'll have to send a picture of us next week. Probably from her camera because apparently my  new life story is stealing my companion's camera pictures because I dislike my camera. But there you go. 

And I guess with that I'll bid you all adieu. Love you all! Miss you all! I'm so very glad I got to talk to you Mum, Dad, Wendy, Becky, Robert, Cory, and Jack. And my apologies to Sammy for not asking about him and causing him to walk away in offense.

Love,

Sister Hunter

And so it begins...again

Hello all! I hope all of your weeks are continuing to go well and all that fancy jazz. Another week has past in the good ol' Ohio and our apartment is quite different. 

We have two new sisters! My new companion is Sister Mertlich and she is absolutely wonderful. We are having a really great time together! She is actually a Kirtland sister (meaning her mission call was to be one of the missionaries that gives tours in Kirtland along with the other mission life) but because all of the sisters have an opportunity to go 'full pros' (pross? proz? PHAOTPHE?) (as in full proselyting...which is what it is called when we go knocking on doors and teaching and all that jazz) she is now here with me! It's great. She said she'd been praying for the opportunity to be on a bike and here it is! 

We also have Sister Urso in the apartment, she is hilarious and adorable. She's probably less than 5 feet tall (I have yet to ask) which makes it great because Sister Maddox, her companion, is 6 feet tall exactly. They make a great combination. They're both really great. Though I am really sad that Sister Hodson is no longer here. But such is mission life, right?

This week has been pretty crazy what with transfers and everything. It's finals week for the university so we're going to be losing a lot of our teaching pool this week, which is sad. I'm going to miss all of them a whole lot. They're so great. Ah. Bowling Green. I didn't think I would like it here but I really do now. Particularly since everything is no longer dead. That definitely helps. 

Ah, Ohio.

Have I said how grateful I am to be here? Because I most definitely am. I can't say for sure if I've changed anyone's life, but I know that I have changed my own. And that's definitely worth every minute. There's a 'how to begin teaching' point that we have as an example of things to say to people that says, "We may not be able to answer every question you have, but we have been called by a prophet of God to share what we know. We know that this message is true." That one was my favorite from the first time I read it. Because there are so many things about this gospel that I don't know. But I can say that I know that what we share is true. I think the best is looking back over the past 3 years where I went from thinking "No way is that true" to "Well probably but I'm not telling any of my friends" to "Yeah. Definitely. Gonna share it with the world" and it makes me laugh. I do know that this is true. There are too many things that have happened that don't make sense in any other way. And why shouldn't it be true? Why can't we believe in something that is so filled with hope and happiness? That teaches us how to live good lives? That changes so many lives? What's wrong with believing that there is something better out there? Nothing. There is nothing wrong with that. 

Look at that paragraph. Full of inspiration. So serious. Yep. Gonna stop there. 

Until next week, I love you all! (I stop loving you after next week. Sorry.) I look forward to skyping with you on Sunday Mum and Da!

Love,

Sister Hunter