HAPPY THANKSGIVING from Prince Edward Island!!!

  

Dear Family,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING THIS WEEK!!!  Hope you all have a fun time!  Eat some pie and turkey for me, okay!?!?!

Here's how some of the week went:

On Wednesday we went to the Summerset Manor to provide service.  We got many of the old folks living there to come for our musical performance.  I accompanied many hymns on the piano while everyone sang.  Elder Tusa and I played a duet of Love Is Spoken Here on the guitar and violin.  I played Danny Boy as well as Sarabande on the violin.  Sister Drew sang Hallelujah and was accompanied by Elder Tusa on the guitar.  Sister Comfort sang along at different times, and was able to talk with a lot of the people.  It was a fun and good opportunity for us.  

One old guy got up and started dancing when I played Bumble Boogie on the piano!

Later in the day we did some service for the Simmons.  We moved their nativity into place, but it was SO cold.  It was only -3 degrees, but it felt like -25 with the 80 km winds!!    Later in the evening we had a really great meeting with Gary, our investigator.  We discussed the steps of repentance, and baptism.  He has such a great desire to do these things, but he's also worried about leaving his old church.  He is doing well, and is recognizing the spirit.

It's very interesting to share the gospel with people.  So many times they share a lot of the difficulties of their past, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives them so much peace and understanding.  

Ohhhhh, on Saturday we were just leaving the church building after doing some weekly planning and just after we walked out I realized I had left the keys in the church...which was now locked.  Soooo, we were out walking all over Summerside to contact people.  The best part was that it was cold, really windy and hard snow was pelting us in the face the whole day!!  Sometimes it can be really hard to stay positive, but I'm working on it!

We had a good day at church on Sunday and a lot of the talks were very helpful to me.  Afterwards, we went and visited an older lady named Jean.  She is the sweetest lady and I love visiting her each Sunday at the care center she's at.  Her daughter left a loaf of homemade bread and strawberry jam for us to take home.  That was really a tender mercy from the Lord.  As I ate it, it tasted just like it would've back home...so I did a little reminiscing and it was nice.  

Last, but not least, Mom told me about the video from my knee surgery getting a lot of attention lately.  That's kind of crazy!!  Who would have thought???

I love you all.  Sure miss you and wish I could be there to share Thanksgiving Day with all of you.  Oh well, I know this is where I'm supposed to be, and I'm definitely learning a lot as I go through different experiences.  Think of me if you have a Turkey Bowl game!!

Love,

Elder Hunt

FREEZING RAIN...Really???

Dear Family,
Sorry if I say "It's cold" a lot...but it's cold.  You can definitely tell winter is here.  (And his mother says..."No it's not!!  Just wait until FEBRUARY!!")
We've had a good week in the cold and freezing rain...literally freezing rain, which is what happens when it rains but the temperature is below freezing.  Weird...and cold!
We tried playing football and rugby in it for awhile, but then had to call it quits.  Our zone leaders were here and bought an ICE CREAM cake that said "Happy 15 Months" since E. West, E. Jensen and I all came out together 15 months ago.  It was a lot of fun to be together and do some reminiscing!

Can I just say, I'm pretty organized and sometimes get the feeling that others haven't experienced that before...like having an agenda printed out for District Training.  We talked about Prioritizing our Efforts...and also Being Real, But Dignified.  Everything went really well






Did splits with the Zone Leaders and that was great!!  At one point we had to stop in at the Zone Leaders' before heading back to Summerside, and Elder Nzojibwahmi was there since he was visiting the zone leaders.  That was awesome!  Late Wednesday night we were back at our home-sweet-home!!
I have been more exhausted at times on my mission than I ever remember anywhere else!  (He's forgetting the uphill climb out of Havasupai with his dad and some scouts a couple of years ago!!!)

  

We gave blood this week which was a good service opportunity and we were able to talk with quite a few people.  My blood pumped really quickly...Elder Tusa took a long time!  They had to move him three times to get things going!

(I thought about all of you on Saturday doing the run for Denz.  Wish I could have been there.  Sometimes it's really hard dealing with stuff out here on my own.  I love our family and that we're so close.  I miss you a lot!)  Good thing I'm mailing Elder Hunt [and Jaimi!] their shirts from the run!!

We checked on a referral this week, and when the lady came to the door she went off on us about how she didn't believe in our religion...then we simply asked, "Do you know where we can get a Christmas tree?"  She paused, then said, "Come back tomorrow and I'll have one for you."  Never thought we'd get a tree from knocking on doors!  :)

I spoke in church on Sunday and it went really well.  A less active member named Al came to church...first time in a LONG time...and he really enjoyed it.  We met with later that evening and had a really good lesson.

So, that's my week in a nutshell!  I hope I can stay warm...relatively!!!

Love,
Elder Hunt

REMEMBRANCE DAY and More...

Dear Family,

Monday, after emailing and stuff, we cleaned a lot more at the apartment. Tuesday we were contacting on our bikes all day and it was cold.  The breezy wind didn't help much either.  We talked to lots of people and got some potential investigators.  For dinner we were at the Meisters for dinner.  President Meister is an incredible pianist, so after dinner we came around the piano and he played and we sang song after song from Phantom of the Opera.  It was definitely a tender mercy since it felt just like home when we would always do that as a family. 

After dinner E. Tusa and I were biking up to the church on a big straightaway, our competitive juices got flowing.and we got going really fast!  I saw the T where we'd need to turn left, but apparently E. Tusa didn't.  I made the turn. . . Elder Tusa didn't.  He skidded about 20 feet before hitting the curb...snapped his seat post off, bashed his wheel...totaling his bike...but he lived to tell about it.  We were both amazed at how protected he was and that he had not cuts or anything at all.  We couldn't stop laughing though because we were being so stupid and this is what happens.  When we met up with Elder and Sister Tibbitts, being the "worry-mom" that she is, she took us all and made hot cocoa and babied E. Tusa.  

On Wednesday we went to the high school here to talk with the men's rugby coach.  He wasn't in but we got his info so we can contact him.  We're going to see about working/training his rugby boys and putting on a camp of some sort. We also met with part of our district and put together some plans for our upcoming Remembrance Day Fireside (Veterans Day in the states).   

Thursday we went to a music store where I rented a violin for the month.  It worked out well since I had to use it so much for the fireside.  We met with Gary this afternoon and he followed through with his reading assignment and he had a lot of questions we were able to answer.  He accepted our baptism challenge but is waiting to set a date.

                                                                      Friday was stressful. We did our weekly planning as usual, and then E. Tusa and I had a really great talk during lunch.  I'm so grateful to have him as a companion right now.  The rest of the day we met with the other missionaries at the church and set up and practiced for the Remembrance day fireside that night.

  

  

 Here's some of the stuff I was able to do:  Played God save The Queen on the piano; Abide With Me Tis Eventide, on the piano, accompanying Sister Drew singing it; and played Be Still My Soul on the violin.  Elder Tibbitts and Sister Comfort were the narrators, E. Tusa gave a great talk on the Title of Liberty and Captain Moroni, Sister Drew shared a personal experience about visiting Vimy Ridge in France, and  I shared a bit of background on Denzel before playing Be Still My Soul.  Everything went really well and the Spirit was strong.  It was incredible how well everything came together for only starting to plan it on Wednesday. All of the veterans were non-members except one.  It was a great night!

So, as you can tell, things are moving along here in PEI.  I'm really enjoying it, even though it is getting colder!

Love,

Elder Hunt

 

OYSTERS, COCONUTS, and KNIFE BLADES!

 Dear Family,
We email from a French elementary school in PEI...which is pretty interesting.  Last Monday we had to find a bank that would exchange Elder Tusa's Australian money...it only took three tries!

  We visited the Tibbitts (a senior missionary couple here in Summerside); then we went back home and I cleaned some more...surprised???  Ohhhh, and I even tried an oyster.  No comment.







Elder Tusa is teaching me how to do a Rubix cube and I'm starting to get pretty good at it.  I think I remember that Brandon learned how to do a rubix cube on his mission too...what a coincidence!






Tuesday was our zone conference in Moncton, New Brunswick.  We drove over with our ZL's, Elders West and Jensen.  It was great to see so many people.  The conference went really well and it's incredible to realize that I am a missionary at a very historic time, when the Lord is really hastening the work.  
During the conference I got to perform Bumble Boogie on the piano.  It went well even though I stumbled a couple of times because my arms were aching since it's been so long since I've played it.  I also got to perform in a string trio with Elder Call and Elder Waldie.  We played a beautiful arrangement of I Know That My Redeemer Lives.  The theme of the conference was charity and love.  I felt, and continue to feel, a very strong sense of responsibility for the missionaries I have been given stewardship over.  I felt a lot of love at the conference, but also because I was with my "Poly" brothers the whole time.  Elder Tusa (from Australia) and Elder Thurnot (from Tahiti).  We're all brothers and everyone out here knows that I'm the "white" Poly brother. Elder Tusa even gave me one of his Samoan lava-lava's.  It's all I wear now instead of gym shorts because it's so much more comfortable!


Halloween out here was "interesting."  We didn't get much done... especially in the evening because we weren't allowed to be out proselyting in the evening.  After dinner with the Tibbits and Sisters Drew and Comfort (affectionately known as "D & C"), we came back to our apartment.



 














Elder Tusa and I were just chillin' in our lava lavas, cracking coconuts and eating them.  And I witnessed a miracle!

 No kidding!!

As we were cracking the coconut with the back of a knife, the big blade snapped off and went flying right past my eyes.


I should have been impaled by the knife, but it didn't even touch me.  There are definitely angels watching over me!!

We had a cool experience finding a branch member that no one knew about.  We went to the house we thought he lived in...but no one answered and it looked abandoned.  Then we went across the street to see if they knew anything...no one was home...but as we were leaving a guy puled in and we talked to him.  Turns out it was the guy we were originally looking for!  The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Well, more stuff happened but I'm out of time.  I hope you're having a good week!

Oh yeah, just a reminder...if you want to send me stuff for Christmas, send it to the Houlton address.  It will be MUCH cheaper. The elders there will bring it to me at our conference that we'll be having on the 17th.  So be sure it gets to Houlton by the 15th.  (This is SUCH a smart idea!!  I just checked postage rates...$50 for a less-than-3 lbs.-box!!!  THANK YOU ELDER HUNT!!!!)

But there is one more thing I have to tell you...we went to a "stake conference" but it was a conference for the Fundamental Baptist Church...with loads of people!!  And Elder Tusa and I were sitting in the middle of everyone.  It was 1 hour long and then we were able to talk to many people after, including 4 of the 6 pastors there.  It was a bit weird when in the closing prayer the pastor made a reference to us and I could feel everyone's eyes turn on us, as he said something about our not having accepted Christ in our lives.  Of course that's complete nonsense, but we just got to practice charity and love.  It was a pretty cool experience.

Love you all!!

Elder Hunt

 

("Looks like a knee injury just waiting to happen!!" says Mom.)