I Love my Mission!! :)

The Montreal temple is located in my area of Longueuil. It is closed until next fall for renovations.

 
Bonjour Famille Hunt et les autres!!

Wow, do I ever have so much I could write and tell you this week. This week has been absolutely wonderful!! Well I guess the beginning of the week started off a little slow and not too much going on, but this last weekend it just took off!! We had lesson after lesson and we were able to serve some of our investigators too.

This last Satuday I got to do my first exchange with the Sister Training Leaders. I was sooo scared for my first exchange because Soeur Hinkson was leaving me and I was staying in our area and I kind of had to take charge. I was so nervous. Now that I look back on Saturday I can see that it was one of my best days out in the field. The Lord truly is there and helps us with our fears.

One of the reasons I was so scared was because the Sister Training Leaders wanted me to drive that day to get to know the area better. I hate driving and especially in unfamiliar places. I was so stressed. Ha!…funny story about driving though. I get in the car my first time to drive and pull out. Everything is okay until I pull under the garage door and then the door closes on top of the car!! I was just like are you kidding me. I have only been driving for 1 minute and I already dented the car and broke the antena off. It was really funny though. Later that night I called the mission office to tell them what happened and found out I wasn’t even supposed to be driving. Technically I am not allowed to drive until I have been in the field for 6 months. So the Sister Training Leaders kind of got in trouble. I was just glad I wasn’t the one getting yelled at.

After that the day went great and I drove everywhere. I got to all the appointments on time and taught 4 lessons with Sister Robles. We found 3 new investigators in one day. It was a really busy and fun day. Later that day we were able to teach Geraldine and her daughter, yes her daughter is starting to be taught too and they are both attending church!:) I am so excited for them. When we arrived to their home Geraldine was making a big dinner for us. She wanted to eat with us before we taught her. We already had another dinner appointment that night, but she pretty much forced us to eat with her. She fed us Fou Fou an african dish. It was very interesting, but suprisingly really good. So yeah, we were fed twice that night. I just made sure not to eat a lot at each house. Everything is going really well with Geraldine. We fasted for her this Sunday in hope of setting a date for baptism this next week. She is really open, loves what we teach and enjoys coming to church. She just doesn’t see the need to be baptized. I know she needs to gain a testimony first. So we will keep working with her and teaching her.

Another amazing miracle happened this week with our new investigator, Daniel. He attended church last Sunday without even being invited. He decided to find the church himself after many amazing experiences he has had in his life. He has faced a lot of trials in his life and truly has been prepared by the Lord to hear His message. He has had random times in his life when the missionaries have found him, but he was never ready. He said yesterday over dinner with us that he feels the missonaries planted a seed inside of him and now he is ready. I was just like, “oh my goodness” is he for real!! Is somebody pranking me?!! We were able to teach him two lessons this last week, eat dinner with him at a members house and went to church with him on Sunday. We also set a baptismal date with him!! I am so happy for him. I can’t explain the love I have felt this last weekend for the people we are teaching. I was teaching a lesson to Daniel this last weekend and was overcome with so much love for him and all our investigators. I just started crying out of nowhere in the middle of dinner as we were talking with him and getting to know him. He probably thinks I am weird now.

I truly have felt so blessed this last weekend. We faced a lot of disappointments at the beginning of the week. Through diligence, obedience, prayer, fasting, and faith I saw miracles this weekend. I am so excited to keep working with our investigators and see the progression they will make. Please keep my investigators in your prayers.

This last week has been really hot and sticky here in Montreal. On Friday we helped Carol, another investigator, clean her apartment. She was getting organized in hopes for a garage sale. Cleaning her apartment was a real shocker. I was not prepared for what I was getting into. It was a good thing me and Soeur Hinkson brought gloves to clean with. I literally saw so many huge spiders that day cleaning…it was not very pleasant. Her apartment building scares me in general, especially when there are spiders everywhere. Ha!, but then again I saw the blessing of serving. The reward you receive is love and love for the person you are serving.

This past week has just been wonderful!! I love Quebec, I love my investigators, the ward, my companion, and the Lord. I truly feel so blessed. I hope everything is good down in Utah. I love you all and wish you luck with the week especially as school starts back up. Fall is my favorite time of the year and I can hardly wait to see the trees start changing colors. Everyone tells me fall is gorgeous here. Please know that you are all in my prayers!

Je vous aime beaucoup!!

Love, Soeur Hunt

I Love Canada!! :)

Bonjour!!

Well, another week has come to a finish here in Quebec. This week has already gone a 100 times better. I am slowly learning more and more. My companion and I spend most of our time teaching lessons to investigators (we have about 5 solid investigators right now), teaching lessons to recent converts/less actives, eating meals with members, and contacting throughout the day. We are also able to do some service each week by teaching english classes. Another service we are able to provide is by going to a retirement home and visiting with the people, doing their nails and singing songs with them once a week. I love serving people it so rewarding to make a person’s day by talking to them and getting to know them. I am actually learning french by teaching english which seems kind of of funny.

Oh, also we have a car so thats pretty nice. There is no way we would be able to cover our whole area without a car. Before I got here there were 2 elders who covered a part of our area. Their area was dissolved because there was not enough missionaries coming into the mission. Because of this our area grew a lot this last transfer.

Wow, I would like to share an amazing experience I had this week. One of our investigators is Geraldine. The first lesson I taught on my mission was with her. The other day we were able to sit down and read the Book of Mormon. We read with her the section when Christ came to the Americas. We talked about Christ and then about the importance of baptism. I was able to extend the invitation of baptism to her. It was an amazing experience. I could feel the spirit so strongly in the room. Our Relief Society president also sat in on the lesson.  Afterwards she told us that she was in awe with the spirit she felt in the room. It was amazing. Geraldine did not really accept the invitation because she wants to be baptized with her daughter. Which means we need to start teaching her daughter too.  Geraldine and her daughter came to church this week. They seemed to enjoy it. I am praying that me and Soeur Hinkson can keep progressing with Geraldine. I love her so much.

Also, this week at church we had another investigator come and then two random people just showed up who are interested in being taught!!! That does not happen very often. Me and Soeur Hinkson were just running around everywhere talking to people. We are super excited to have some new people to work with and teach.

Yesterday I was served my first Haitian meal. It was soo good. I can’t believe how many Haitians we teach here. Almost all of our investigators are Haitian or from Africa. Only 1 of our investigators is actually caucasion. I love the diversity here. It is interesting to see some of the homes we go into. Some of our investigators are living in not the best conditions and are barely making ends meet. They all seem so happy with the little they have. I am not going to lie, some of the apartments we go into are really sketchy and smell really badly of weed. I have never felt in danger though. I feel that is a huge blessing.

This last week has also been super rainy and cold. It did not feel like August here. I was sleeping with two blankets, wool socks, and wearing my hoodie at night. Ha…I don’t know what I am going to do when winter hits!

The language is coming slowly and it is super hard. I just sit in lessons a lot of the time and have no clue what anyone is saying. It’s nice with how some of the people we teach or talk with will translate into english. One of the less actives we teach each week gives us a 30 minute french lesson and then we share a little message with him each week. Everyone in the ward is so nice and so willing to help me with the language. Soeur Hinkson is really good at french and helps me a lot with the language. I just know I have to be patient with myself and the Lord’s timing.

Another thing that can be really hard for me is contacting. It is hard for me to talk in french first of all, but then have so many people reject us. I just wish they knew what I knew. It hurts to have something you hold so dear to your heart just be rejected time after time. So many people have lost all hope in religion here and see no good in it. It just makes me so sad. I am thankful for my testimony and the opportunity I have to share it each day. I am so thankful for having this gospel in my life and I am thrilled to see the difference it can make in other people’s lives. I know we have a loving Savior who invites all of us to come unto Him and partake of His atonement. I know that this gospel is for everyone. We are all children of God and need the gospel in our lives.

Well today is actually sunny and nice outside. We are just going to leave soon and go grocery shopping, clean, and then get together with some sisters in our district and do nails and play games. I hope everyone is having a great week. I love and miss you all!!

Love, Soeur Hunt

My first week in Canada!

My first day at the mission home.

Bonjour!!

Oh man, I don’t even know where to start there is so much I could tell you all. This first week has been crazy! I kind of feel like I started my mission over again. Everything is so new. I will never forget stepping off the plane last Tuesday and reading everything in french, listening to everyone speak french, having no clue where I was and thinking what have I just done?? But man I really am loving it.

Everyday I am so tired and I pass out every night. I feel like I just got done running a marathon every night when I come home. I am learning and my trainer has helped me so much. Her name is Sister Hinkson. She is from California, she recently graduated from BYU and she is 21 years old. I love her and and I am learning so much from her. She is so patient with me and so willing to help me with anything and everything. She helps me a lot with the french.

My first day after arriving to the mission home was crazy. Right after I met my companion we left to go teach a lesson to an investigator, Geraldine. I was so overwhelmed! It was so hard for me to understand what she was saying, she seemed to talk so fast. Wow, but did I ever feel so much love for her. The second I walked into her house she just embraced me in the biggest hug. She is Haitian. She has experienced a lot in her life, but she feels so blessed. She told us there is no way there isn’t a God for all she has been blessed with in her life. We call her a golden investigator because she is so excited to learn and already has a strong testimony of God and our Savior. I am excited to see her progression these next few weeks. I will never forget being able to bear my testimony in that first lesson we taught her. This literally happened just one hour after finding out where I would be serving on my first day.

We also had another cool experience the other day as we went to contact a referral we recieved. They were not home, but as we were leaving a guy from his balcony starts yelling at us in french asking if we believe in Christ and God. We literally are yelling our testimonies to this man from the street. Finally we invite him down and start teaching him a little and give him a Book of Mormon. He is Muslim and has a lot of questions about religion. He soon discovers my french isn’t the best and starts talking in english with me…ha! Almost everyone here speaks two languages or three sometimes. Anyway, he starts asking why I am here and why am I not married. He was pretty confused why I would choose to be a missionary rather than get married. He told me I am doing something good and it is one of the most important things I could be doing. I just stood there shocked. Wow, just at that moment I realized that I am a missionary, I am a disciple of Christ and people are watching me. He seemed interested so hopefully we will be able to teach him later this week. He kind of started hitting on me at the end of our conversation so hopefully he doesnt do that again…ha!

Yesterday, when I attended church I once again felt very overwhelmed. First, I sat in ward council where everyone was conversing in french. I just sat there and smiled. I was asked to introduce myself and bear my testimony for Sacrament meeting. I think I almost fainted right there. I felt it went really well. I just hope they could understand me. The ward is so friendly and almost everyone speaks english too. They help me when I don’t understand. Also, I have never been hugged so many times in my life. I am not really the most touchy person, but wow I could not help, but hug all of them. Well, you know just the sisters of course…ha! I guess our ward loves the missionaries. The members in the ward pretty much feed us every night. Our area is huge. The members are so excited and willing to help with the work which makes me so excited.

The other night we ate with the family of one the counselors in the bishopric. They had a lot of family over at their house who were not members and were atheist. It became a little awkward as we started talking about religion. I have never felt the spirit so strong as Sister Hinkson and I shared a message at the end of the dinner. The room became so silent and the grandpa who had been saying some rude things about God just stopped. I could feel the power of the spirit in that moment and I know everyone else felt it too. My love for their family grew so much that night. We are going back Saturday to teach their son, Daniel. He is 19 and stopped going to church a few years ago. I am excited to teach him and he is excited to help me with my french.

It is kind of funny, but I am actually writing this letter at a mall. I am sitting next to the H&M store. I really want to go shopping…ha! The mall is located by the town of Longueuil. My first area is called Lemoyne. It is a large geographic area. I am so happy and I feel so much love for the people here. This first week has definetly been really hard and discouraging at times but, I know my Savior is there for me and is helping me every step along the way. I love you all!! You are all in my prayers.

Love always, Soeur Hunt

First time eating poutine!! It is delicious!!

Pres. and Sister Patrick with me and Sister Hinkson