A Week of Miracles

This week was absolutely awesome. So remember how last week I was like, "I'm going to write down a miracle every week because we do that in district meeting and it's awesome!" Well, this last week the entire week was a miracle. First off, we finally got 20 lessons. Between cancellations or other things we have not had 20 lessons pretty much since the university got out. BUT THIS WEEK WE DID. It was so great. Not only that but we were incredibly busy. We kept having people call to ask us for service or to ask us to come over and for that we were hardly out doing stop bys at all. But then when we did do stop bys we found 4 people that were interested and we have an appointment set up to see one of them tomorrow. How cool is that? This happens practically never. It has been amazing.

The best miracle of all though is one of the less actives in our area. She had been coming back to church really strong for a while there and then all of a sudden she just completely dropped off the face of the planet. She wouldn't answer the doors or phone calls or anything and started going to another church. Eventually we were able to meet with her and then we would randomly catch her. Then we dropped by this last Friday and she had completely turned around and wanted to start coming back to church again. It's awesome because she has been going off an on her whole life, but this time it was only 2 months before she started back again. Meaning I have been here this entire time. Normally it takes years for her to want to come back. It's amazing. It was so great. Love it. Happiness all around.

But yes. This week has been wonderful. We were praying really hard to be able to make it to our goal of 20 lessons and it happened and we were so happy. And our whole zone did great. This week our zone had more lessons and more new investigators than it has ever had. Can you say awesome? Because I can say awesome.

So there you have it. Full of fantastic. What a great week. I hope all of yours went just as well!

-Sister Hunter

The pictures:

-We wrote Elder Covey a note for when they came to inspect our apartment. Our note is in red. His response is in orange. I feel as if it describes our relationship beautifully. 

-But because I don't like only sending one picture: Here is a weird bug sister mertlich and I found in the church a couple of weeks ago in the church

-The Cady's made us each our own pies. Yep. They did. 

-A picture from our elevator ride of last week.

 

What to title this...

Hello family! How are you all doing in your lovely homes and lives? I hope well.
This week was pretty..interesting. We made a lot of phone calls this week to try and find some of the former investigators that were in the area. One of them was spelled Dajana. Luckily she didn't answer the phone because her name is pronounced Diana. I was going to say "Da-john-ah" That would have been wrong.
Sister Bullock and I also had some super special moments this week. I don't even know how to describe them. There was one point when Sister Bullock and I were in an elevator and I walked out of it and turned around and she was still in it. So I turn behind me and the doors are starting to close and we both have this look of sheer panic on our faces because neither of us could think of what to do to prevent our upcoming separation. And then we both realized at the exact same time that perhaps if we stick our arms out the doors will stop. But we both did so incredibly hesitantly because one of my (I suppose no longer) secret fears is that the doors will still shut on my arms because the thing that recognizes that there are body parts there is broken or something. And she said later that she was thinking, "What if these elevator doors are ones that that doesn't happen with." Don't worry. We managed to not be separated and lived to tell this tale. Neither of us with any missing limbs.
I love Sister Bullock though. She is so great. We are getting along smashingly. Which is awesome. Especially since pretty much every single thing we like is different from each other. Like she loves the heat and I don't. I love pets and she doesn't. But we get along awesome. So great.
To completely change the subject, every week in district meeting they have us say a miracle that happened that week so I think I am going to do that on my emails now as well. This week my miracle was last night. Our appointments all fell through and none of our stop bys were home so we were riding back down Maple which is a street where one of our less active members lives. We have been trying to see her but her son has been in the hospital in a coma so we didn't want to disturb her or pressure her or anything while her and her family are trying to cope with this time. But last night I was thinking as we rode that maybe we should try and stop by her. And then I almost completely missed her house but then looked over just in time to see her standing in the doorway and she was waving at us. So we were able to see her and talk with her for a little. I don't know if anything we said helped but I know that it was no coincidence that she happened to be standing there right at that time. I know that Heavenly Father is always watching over all of us and helping each one of us. Even if it doesn't seem like He's there. He always is. He's always helping us and will always help us. IT took me a really long time to understand this concept, but I know it is true. Even when it's hard to believe.
I hope you're all doing well. I miss you all so much!
Love,
Sister Hunter

Can you say confusion?

Well. This week. Super special. Super awesome.
I got called to ..kind of train? But not really? It's an interesting story. My new companion is pretty awesome. Her name is Sister Bullock. She is from here in Ohio. She was serving in Arizona (Phoenix, not scottsdale, sorry, steph) but then had to go home for medical reasons and is now here waiting to get a call to a completely different place. So she basically is going to have 3 different missions. How fun is that! But yes..so I'm supposed to be 'refreshing training' type of thing? I don't know. It's interesting. President called the night before transfer meeting to say he wanted me to go so I could meet her there like all the trainers meeting their new missionaries. But I'm not really training. But then he wants us to go to training meeting on Friday. So it's just all sorts of weird. But hey. It's fun. And Sister Mejia is training so I got to see her there and we'll be half riding up with her on Friday. So that'll be awesome.
Sister Bullock is super cool though. I enjoy her. She understands sarcasm and loves cheese so we can be friends.

This week has been pretty crazy what with transfers and everything. I miss Sister Mertlich quite a lot. She is such a cool person. But we all must move on. She got called to be a sister training leader though. So that is quite exciting!
I am also now the 'oldest' one in Bowling Green. In the sense that I am the missionary that has been here the longest now. That is weird. But awesome. I love Bowling Green. It's so great. Especially now that everything's not dead. But it's also starting to get terrible humidesqueness. So that's less fun.
At the interfaith bible study we go to on Wednesdays they asked me if I'm killing off my companions. I told them they'll never know.

We had to give a talk yesterday in Branch with the theme of anything father's. I gave one for the first time with just bullet points instead of writing it all out. So that was special. Fourth talk ever given. I actually managed to last 15 minutes too. I am proud of myself. Look at me. Growing. Shucks.
I was reading the book of mormon this morning and something in it reminded me of that talk that President Uchtdorf gave a couple conferences ago about doubting your doubts before you doubt your faith (it was uchtdorf right? Or was it Holland? Pretty sure it was Uchtdorf). But it was really cool because I had this realization about it. Before when I thought about it I always thought it meant that if we doubt anything we should immediately write it off because it means you're not letting your faith take over. But really I think he meant that when we have doubts we should thoroughly 'investigate' those doubts and not let those doubts seep in to other aspects of the gospel that we know to be true. That we should never say, "Well this one little bit seems to be wrong so every other thing is obviously wrong as well." I think that is what he meant by it. Which I'm glad I realized that. Because we all have doubts sometimes, and pushing them into a corner doesn't make them go away permanently. Studying them out and finding them to be wrong or baseless does. And then when we have studied it out and proven those doubts to be wrong, our testimony of that thing is that much stronger. It's really cool.
And there is my two cents for the week. I bid you all adieu.
-Sister Hunter

PS Sorry this is all over the place. My head is all over the place today. Not literally though. It is in fact in one piece on my neck.

Pictures:
Me sitting in the back of the van with all of the luggage on the way back from transfer meeting. It was my favorite moment. How do you fit 5 missionaries and 3 of their luggage in a minivan? Tetris and mad skills. That is how.
How lovely the bruise on my foot is progressing
The bruise and cut I didn't realize I had on the back of my leg for a while because I was so distracted by the fact that my foot was swelling up to a gumball and then exploding from within.

A wedding, a performance, transfers, and a broken foot

This week has been pretty crazy. We attended the wedding of a member in our ward whose name is Lizzie. It was really beautiful. They were adorable. We then had a musical performance thing in the church on sunday evening called Women at the Well. Which some of you may know very well but I knew nothing of. It went great. Sister Mertlich and I were only in the choir BUT WE MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. Not really. But it was great! 2 of our investigators came and a lot of people from the community and other wards so it was quite the success! 

And sadly transfers are upon us and Sister Mertlich is leaving me. I am really really sad about this. Because she is wonderful and I love her. And we only had one transfer together. But it was very likely to happen since she is a Kirtland sister. But I am going to miss her so very much. I will be staying in bowling Green for another transfer though! So that's awesome! But this will probably be my last one. Maybe not though. We can hope right? I would love it if I could stay here until Jessee and Laura come back for school. But it's probably not going to happen. 

As to incredibly exciting news: I thought I broke my foot yesterday! I accidentally dropped my bike on it and the part where you squeeze the brakes fell right between the bones of my toes so when I picked it up it was creepily sunk into my foot and then began to swell immediately. I included a very terrible picture of the swelling. It didn't last very long before spreading out across my whole foot. My whole foot is swollen now instead of just the awesome goose egg looking thing. But luckily one of our fellow sisters has her LPN or some sort of nursing something and she said it is not broken so that is good! 

And we have a lot of things happening today that we want to do so we are making emailing short so I shall end this here! I hope you enjoy the pictures! Sorry I have failed at remembering cameras and cords and taking pictures every week. 

The first one: Sister Mertlich and I. She had to buy those glasses because bugs kept flying into her eyes. 

The second: I decided to lay on the couch upside down. So we all decided to do so and make Ohio out of our arms. Because obviously that's the next step you take when laying on a couch upside down.

The third: Our investigators Melodie and Charles! The ones that played the music in the park! I love them!

The fourth: A terribly blurry picture of my swollen foot! Hopefully you can see how far up it swelled. It was pretty gnarly. 

Another Week Down

And I don't really know what to say about this week. I went on exchanges with Sister Turpin and that was super fun and a lot of happiness. It was strange being back in my old area. I was kind of sad because we weren't able to see Sister Fenn or the Chases. But that's okay. Because I see them at church still of course. But yes. Fun times. Sister Turpin and I took a series of incredibly beautiful pictures together. I would show you but guess who forgot her camera cord again! 

We were able to go to the baptism of the woman that drove us to Kirtland this Saturday (the baptism was saturday. She drove us last wednesday. In case that is confusing). She is so incredible. She received a special invitation from Elder Holland to be able to attend the meeting. Seriously though she is amazing. She was telling us in the car on the way down that she wrote this letter to her old preacher that she is very close to telling him that the only defense she has for joining this church is the Book of Mormon. If he wanted to ask her any questions she told him he had to read that book first. How amazing is that? 

I think this week I've grown to love the Book of Mormon more than I previously had. It's considered the keystone of our religion for a reason. We put everything on that book. When you come to know that it is true that is how you know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that every other aspect is true. It's a lot of weight to put on something.  I also love that we invite people to read it and ask God for themselves. It's not a moment of, "Here this is the truth. Accept it." It's, "We know this is true. But you shouldn't take our words for it. Read it for yourself. Ask for yourself. Find out for yourself." And as we read in Moroni 10, "and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart and real intent he will manifest the truth of it unto you". Ah people. Missions. They're great.

Speaking of which, my other favorite part of the week: Sister Mertlich and I were on our bikes paused for cars to go so we could cross the street and all of the sudden some random guy sticks his fist out the window and is like, "Mormons!" in the most excited way possible. It was hilarious.

And with that, until we meet again familia y amigos. 

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

What a week

I believe the above title describes everything to perfection.

Happy news first! We had a ward mission fair on Wednesday which we were all really worried about because it didn't seem like it was going to come together, but then it did! And guess what? THE ENTIRE COMMON GOOD CAME. All of them! Well...minus a couple. But everyone that was there that night! Including my favorites. Which is what counts. And we had 3 investigators at church! 2 in the branch and 1 in the ward! It was absolutely awesome! 

Now to the sad. In case you all did not notice, today is Tuesday and not Monday. This is because this week is transfers. And guess what is happening? Sister Hodson is leaving me. It makes me sad beyond all measure. But I suppose I have to share her with other people. Such is the mission life. But still. I would like to keep her. 

Then there is the worst news of all, Sister Planer had to go home on Friday for medical leave. We all miss her a lot. I love Sister Planer. Hopefully she'll get better and be able to come back out really soon. Because seriously, she is the best person. And a great missionary. And I miss her. 

The only highlight of this event though is that she ended up having to leave right after the 6 of us had dinner at our ward mission leader's home so we all went out to say good bye to her and of course ended up crying because we all love her. When we came back in Brother Williams sees all of our faces and asks what happened so we tell him she had to go home. Then he says, "Oh...do you want some chocolate?" That is a smart man, ladies and gentleman.

So because of Sister Planer going home we've had to be in a triple up with Sister Maddox since Friday night. Which is weird. Triple ups are weird. They're not terrible. They're just weird. It's also extra fun because we're having to cover two areas. But we have had a car because of that as well. And I got a cold on Friday so it has been nice not having to bike while sick. But yeah. This week...lots of good...lots of sad. But the nice thing about all of it is even though there was a lot of sad stuff this week I love being a missionary. I am so glad I am out here. There is something extra amazing about doing this work. Who is it that has the quote "there's nothing more satisfying than missionary work?" It's true. 

Well, I miss you all! Continue being wonderful and writing me! 

Me on my bike in front of a beautiful tree. 

A picture of us with Nichelle!

And us with my favorite people from the Common Good!

Pictures this week: Our district! 

Our amazing investigator Jessee!

A picture that I believe describes me and Sister Hodson fairly well

A Rather Excellent Occurrence

Dear Family and the Friends,

First of all, Happy belated Easter! I hope you all had a really great one! Because it was fairly wonderful for us. Were you all able to watch Because of Him? Do so. It's wonderful.

This week has also been rather wonderful. We have another new investigator! She met with missionaries a couple of years ago but then had to stop because she got really sick and then her parents told her she was not allowed to. So the sad news is if her parents tell her to stop again she will. She's 21 though so it kind of sucks they won't let her make her own decisions in such matters, but we're not there to create bad situations between the family. She's really great though and I hope that we'll be able to continue. 

In other news, are you all ready for the best pick up line that has ever happened? We were doing service at St. Mark's this wednesday (As we do every Wednesday) which involves helping them serve dinner for the community for those that are struggling to eat and the such. You get quite a lot of characters there let me tell you. But anyway, I was standing at the end of the serving line asking them if they all wanted some candy when this quite possibly 70 year old man comes up and reads my name tag and goes, "Sister...Hunter...hmm" and then starts to walk away. But then he turns around and goes, "I've been hunting for you all my life." And then walked away completely. I about died laughing. Every one has been saying that is the pick up line my future husband will use. So we shall see.

Another semi-great semi-sad occurrence involved our leaving the Common Good that same night. I don't think I have told you all about the Common Good. It is this inter-faith bible study the other sisters found before we came where we go there and we read a few verses from the bible and then everyone has an opportunity to discuss what they got out of it. And after there's a sort of 'free for all' where you can ask people questions or just start a conversation. Every one is super respectful and sincerely pays attention as we're talking. It's awesome. We were able to teach the Plan of Salvation in our last go round and everyone was super interested. But anyway, we're having a ward activity on the 23rd so we told them we wouldn't be able to be there and that transfers are the week after so one or both of us may or may not be back. The leader of the group told us, "That's just unfair. It's like you guys tease us with being awesome people and then you're gone." (I'm paraphrasing but that was the general meaning behind it) And then a couple of seconds later was like, "That's it! Bible study is cancelled!" So, they love us. And we love all of them. But anyway, I won't make this terribly long, know that I love all of you and I'm sorry I have no exciting pictures this week! 

Sincerely,

Sister Hunter

p.s. Next week is transfers so I will be emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday!

Crazy Greatness

On this the day of the 14th of April I write to inform all of you of my imminent...continuation...of my mission...yes. We got two new investigators this week! One is super solid. She was meeting with missionaries two years ago but then decided she no longer cared and stopped and we called her up and she said she'd call us back, and no one ever does. But then she did! So we've started meeting with her and it's super great! She's loving it and has dived right in to the Book of Mormon! The only thing that sucks is that school gets out in about 3 weeks and she is a student at the university so she shall be gone in 3 weeks. Hopefully she'll continue to meet with missionaries wherever it is she ends up. 

Our other investigator is also great! We met her at St Mark's when we were volunteering there. She said she thought we were doing was really cool and 'would like to do that'. So we had to explain to her that you had to be a member at least a year before you could be a missionary, but she's still interested which is great! 

We've had a super busy week though. We found out recently that there are a bunch of members that aren't on our ward list for some reason that haven't been attending so we called every single one of them. A lot of the numbers were disconnected, most didn't answer, the ones that did said they didn't want to hear from us, but eh so is life. We're stopping by the homes of all those that did not answer so we shall see when that comes. We had the ward Easter activity this last Saturday. Sister Hodson and I were in charge of the 'missionary race'. They had to dress up in missionary clothes, run to a chair at the end take off the clothes and then the next person had to put them on and whoever got through their whole team first won. Included should be quite possibly the best picture of Bishop Lake you will have ever seen. He kind of reminds me of David Tennant. Just a bit.  

But yes. Things are trucking along. This new area has been pretty great. Sad for the people that we haven't been able to see, but great for these new ones that they have. :)

I miss you all a lot! And thank you so much for your letters and all of your kind words! They're great. See you all in a little more than 15 months! (Can you believe it's only 6 days from my 3 month mark?) And congratulations to Jon and Morgan! Travis is adorable and that is so exciting!!! 

P.S. I don't know if any of you have had hummus with 'fresh crushed pepper' or something like that but it is incredible. Especially if you eat it with pita chips. Just saying. And that definitely related to everything I said above.

Let It Rain, Let It Pour

Familia (Y amigos!), 

This week has been absolutely crazy, but the best part was Thursday when it rained all day. We had 6 lessons planned for that day and 5 of them cancelled on us. Luckily Thursday is the day we do weekly planning so we didn't have to be out in the rain too much, but we did for the one lesson. And that ride was fantastic. Ohio is terrible about pot holes and the area we are in used to be a swamp so there are certain areas that the water gets pretty high. One of those areas happened to be at a stop sign for a semi-busy street we have to cross. It was at this stop sign that I discovered my boots were not actually waterproof. It was also on the way to this lesson that I discovered the outer liner of my winter coat is not either. So I was drenched. Also, my 'waterproof' bag. That is not waterproof. Everything but my scriptures and the book of Mormon I was carrying got wet.  

That was the same day we got the right brake fixed for my bike so now I can actually brake and signal at the same time! Crazy happenings! 

And then there was general conference. I love general conference! Everyone keeps saying how it is the Super Bowl for missionaries, and it's true. I love that we can have so many of our questions answered while watching it and the spirit that you can feel. It was pretty crazy at first because for the Saturdaymorning session (which is at 12 here. How weird is that?) There was nothing set up. Luckily one of the members who is tech savvy lives right across the street from the church so he was able to come and get it going and all was well. We only missed the first 10 minutes. But seriously, conference is wonderful. I hope all of you enjoyed it. My favorite talk was Elder Bednar's about the atonement. I love Elder Bednar. Him President Uchtdorf and Elder Holland's talks always seem to speak to me the most. Though they are all wonderful of course. DID I TELL YOU ALL ELDER HOLLAND IS COMING TO OUR MISSION? I AM GOING TO GET TO SHAKE HIS HAND. I am so excited. I think Sister Planer almost passed out from excitement. 

Things change a lot as a missionary, don't they? I used to be this excited for Green Day. Now I am excited for Elder Holland. Oh! Here is another fun fact about being a missionary: I was running a couple of days ago and the song stuck in my head was Joseph Smith's First Prayer. Yep. I'm a missionary.

I hope you are all doing well! I say yet again thank you so much for all of your letters! I love them! Keep em coming and continue to have fun in your life!

Sincerely,

Sister Hunter 

Pictures:

2840: Sister Planer broke a lightbulb trying to jump rope out of the kitchen this morning. I about died laughing

 

2824: My action shot trying to jump from sitting on my legs to standing. I didn't manage it. I keep landing on my butt. (Don't worry I have biking shorts underneath!)

2804: The ride to our lesson in the rainstorm. 

The Week of the Bikes

And so it has begun! Biking, biking all around! It has been great. Minus one day when it was snowing a lot. (Yep, it's still snowing here in Ohio. I hope you're not jealous. Because man do we all love it.) Apparently Ohio has been voted the number one worst winter in the United States. But the 9th coldest or something like that. According to the bishop of our ward who we had dinner with last night. (P.S. the bishop is hilarious. In case you were curious.) But yeah. Glad we are having bikes at the tail end of it. They are great though. 

What has happened this week? We are actually having a lot of lessons and service opportunities now! Our days are super booked, without having to try and search out ways for them to be booked which has been really nice. We have 4 investigators, 2 of which are super solid, 2 of which we're hoping will be soon!

We were teaching one the other day and it was really great. She was saying how all of 'the mormons' she's met have this light about them. And it reminded me of that article that Allison had read forever ago that was studying this 'so called light' that people have. :) I wonder if that's why people think we're a cult though. Because a lot of us are so happy a lot of the time. If they think we're on drugs or something. We're not. Obviously. Word of Wisdom, guys. Come on. But yes. I don't know where my thoughts are going right now.

Oh! I bought these track pants a while ago and I love them so much. I'm not sure if it's because I can't wear pants now very often and so when I wear them now they are the best thing ever or if they truly are the best thing ever. I'm going with option 1. Expect me to be wearing them all the time when I am home. Assuming they survive. I've been wearing them running every other morning. (Yep, finally starting that up again. Jennifer, I think of you every time.) And it's just all been going great. This week has been wonderful.

We watched the General Woman's Meeting (I can't remember if that is the name so let's hope so), on Saturday and it was amazing! We've been talking a lot about inviting investigators to watch conference with a question on their minds so that they can find the answer to it and it truly does work. I'm sure the majority of you that will be watching general conference already do that, but if not do!

Well, I suppose it shall end there. I continue to thank all of you for your letters! I love them dearly! I admonish some of you for not writing me more (you know who you are) but then also understand that you have lives so maybe less admonishing and more hope for the future. 

Continue doing wonderful things and being wonderful people! 

Most sincerely,

Sister Hunter

Pictures include: Me attempting to get a picture of me and Sister Hodson while on our bikes and failing and only getting a picture of myself

Our bikes

Me looking super attractive making sure our appointments are still set for the next day in a park.

Sister Hodson looking fly.  

Changes all around

And the new transfer is officially under way and I can officially tell you all the news.

Guess who got transferred...sort of? That would be Sister Hodson and I...or is it me in this case? I don't remember grammar. Here is the story I could not tell you last week:

I was going to explain every last detail, but long story short they needed one car elsewhere, so they put us on bikes (still in Bowling Green, but the biking area where previously we were the cities north of bowling green) so that the sister training leaders who were previously in the biking area could still have a car in order to make exchanges. So, we had to swap areas. It has been crazy. And sad. But also really fun at the same time.

I am very excited to be on bikes, but I am definitely missing the people. But the people in this area seem to be pretty great as well. Sunday is pretty crazy now because being in the biking area means we are also the missionaries for the YSA branch, so we are at church from 9 until 4. (The ward meets at 10 but we have ward council at 9 and then the branch meets at 12 with a 'munch and mingle' after). So, 7 hours in the same building. The branch is super small. There are about 15 people. Much different than the single's ward in Utah. We only needed 3 tables with chairs around them set up for the munch mingle. I thought fondly on break the fast with our lack of ability to have chairs. 

We also were told an hour before the meeting that Sister Hodson and I are supposed to teach Gospel Principles. So that was special. We pulled it off well though. 

I'm super excited but definitely miss everyone in our old area a lot. But I still get to see them at church so that at least is good. 

We have a new sister in our apartment, her name is Sister Maddox. She is from Orem! She is quite fun and is 6 feet tall. So, Beth, I have found a person as tall as you. Be happy. 

Now pictures! 

Sister Openshaw and I before her departure. She is in Strongsville now.

Sister Planer and I looking beautiful. 

Stole sister Hodson's memory card. Say hello to beauty. 

There is me laughing insanely.

Sisters Hodson, Maddox, Planer and I.

And me intruding on Sister Hodson and Sister Maddox's photo with my model pose. 

I promise this is the last one! This was our last district meeting together before transfers which happened to fall on St. Patrick's Day, hence the 15 different shades of green.

There would be more pictures but I have this problem where everyone else has their cameras out so I just rely on them for pictures and then never actually take them from them. But there you go. I hope all your weeks are going well, I miss you all and will hopefully have a picture of us looking super fly in missionary garb on a bike. If you thought biking in a skirt would be terrible, you would be right. Though not as terrible as I thought it would be. Just really annoying really.

And on that happy note, I bid you adieu. 

-Sister Hunter

The Week of Transfers

Hello all, 

I hope things are going well in your various lands and various lives. I continue to miss you and continue to enjoy your letters. In case you thought those things had changed. They have not.

My first transfer is officially over tomorrow. Meaning it has been 6 weeks that I have been in the field. Crazy crazy things.

As of right now Sister Hodson and I are both staying, but we're also confused because there was talk of something else happening that I don't know if we can actually talk of yet, so you all get to be in the dark, but just know that we are confused. As to everyone else, one of our roommates is leaving, Sister Openshaw to be precise. Which is really sad because we love her very much and do not want her to go. But she is being transferred out of the stake. Also, one of the biking sisters (sister Mitchell to be precise) is as well. The biking sisters are also our sister training leaders and I am very sad about this development as well because my exchange was with Sister Mitchell and she is pretty much fantastic. (For those of you that do not know, an exchange is when you switch companions for a day so that you can learn from each other and such exciting things). So, her companion Sister Frampton came to our area and I went to theirs, which is a biking area. 

It was super fantastic. I love biking. So much. It is great. I recommend it to all. Though it is less fun in a skirt. And less fun on a bike where the brakes don't work on the right side and you have to make hand signals with your left so when you're coming to a stop for the first time and making the signal and find out the brakes don't work very well you may very narrowly avoid crashing into your companion. Not that that nearly happened to me. Just as a general thought. I also got really lucky because the next day there was a super huge snow storm but that day it was 47.

On the day of the super huge snow storm we were stuck in the apartment until 6. At which point we then went and shoveled a members driveway for 2 hours. It took 2 hours because she a) has a huge driveway and b) there was snow probably about 8 inches at certain points but on average about 6 across the whole thing.  But yes, it shall not be long today because we had a lot going on. So, enjoy the short email. There will probably be some super huge news next week.

Until then, 

Sister Hunter 

PS Here are some more pictures to show how picturesque Ohio is. Also, a picture of me looking like a crazed raccoon after we shoveled that driveway. 

Should be in order: Me as a crazed raccoon, Toy story clouds and the flat barren landscape, Ohio being Ohio, Ohio actually having some pretty things, like a river and trees! And a super beautiful sunset that makes me regret having such a terrible camera because every other picture was blurry or plain terrible.