Well I was writing earlier but a storm passed through and took a few things with it. First thing it took was the internet and then it took the power. This will be a quicky. We have two baptisms now. Alejandro Cuevas will be baptized on the 12th of December. He didn´t show up on Sunday so that is that. We will continue with the baptism of his daughter Carla and Victoria Sotelo. This week really hasn't had much in the sense of excitement or anything new. I don´t know if I told you all about the family of three that we found. The son has had four years of English studies. He understands pretty much everything. It was fun teaching them. They are extremely Catholic and they feel comfortable where they are. When I hear that someone is comfortable I always start to think of how comfortable the Jews were when they crucified their Redeemer. It just makes me think that if He were to come now, many people would still deny Him and take His life. I love the gospel and this church. I have experienced many things here in the branch and in this area. I do believe that I will be on my way to a new place this coming Wednesday. I hope you all know that I know that this is the Lords work and that I´m here serving because of the love that God has for everyone of his children. I hope I will be able to reflect His love towards His children here. I´m thankful for all the support given from everyone back home.

I love you all. Chau.

Elder Hunsaker

R.S. Cooking Contest and Rockin' the Boat-Van

Howdy! 11-19-08

I have some wonderful news that will be even more wonderful when it becomes a reality. The news is that we have three baptisms set up for the 29th of this month. We are hoping that all goes well and that we end this transfer with a bang. Haha. Alejandro and Carla Cuevas and Victoria Sotelo are the participants in the baptism. Victoria is the daughter of a less active woman that has recently reactivated herself. We found Alejandro and Carla in the clapping sort of way. I really hope that they are able to keep this commitment.

This past Friday the R.S. had a cooking contest. Pres. Martinez, Elder Cavero, and I were the judges. Yumm. We had fun tasting and judging. The food was scrumptious. They had a selection of sweet and salty foods. There was a winner for the two types of food. The requirements were; Minimal Preparation, Few ingredients, Presentation, Flavor, and Creativity. The Rogel won the dessert prize and the Bomba de Papas won the normal prize. Here are the dishes.

Alejandro and Carla live in these buildings. This post was slight destroyed before but now it doesn´t even touch the ground. The wires above are the only things keeping it from falling. Alejandro called the power company but the said they couldn´t do anything because the post and wires belong to the telephone company. I suppose that in a couple of weeks we will be hearing about some kid that was electricuted or smashed due to the lack of attention given to this problem.

Today we made a short trip to Lavalle to eat with the Calarco family again. However, this time we made a visit to the river. We took a few photos and then we saw “the van”. Everyone wanted to take a picture standing on top but there wasn’t anyone to take the picture. I decided that I would take the picture and enjoy whatever mishaps that might occur. Nothing happened in the end and we were able to come away with a few good pictures. I hope you enjoy them. The water is really brown. I picked up some sort of a river plant and when it snap in half it left a very interesting smell on my hand that is still there as I speak/write.

We had some southern winds that came through with some cold air this past Saturday. However, the weather is back to being warm as it should be for the upcoming summer months (21 of Dec. to ?? of Feb). Christmas will be different with the warm weather. I believe that this will be my last transfer here in Goya. It won´t be that great of a Christmas if I get transfered but I don´t know if I can handle 9 months here. We´ll see what happens. I love you all and hope that things go great with the upcoming holidays. Happy Birthday to Tanner on the 21st. I´m sure I won´t be seeing a turkey on the table for Thanksgiving. Chau.

Elder Hunsaker

Visit to Lavalle

Hola family/friends,

This past conference was a different one. Elder Shane Bowen spoke for about 2 hours. He spoke about line of authority in the priesthood and about who we are. It was a really spiritual conference. I learned that he as a seventy doesn't have keys of the priesthood but that he works under the keys of the twelve apostles. He also asked us if we knew the juramento y el convenio...yeah I didn't understand that either until he said priesthood. It is the oath and covenant of the priesthood. I've studied it a few times now and I think that everyone that has the Melchezedek (give me a brake, I can hardly speak in english anymore thanks to my Spanish speaking companion) should probably do a quick little review on section 84:33-?.

My stomach was on a slight fritz during the conference and it wasn't fun to watch everyone eat real food while I sat with a banana and a sprite. I also received the package from the Vincent family. It was about time for that box to arrive. I received a box from my friend Kylie from Dearelder.com. It was full of all sorts of goodies. I am starting the American candy addiction for Elder Cavero. He is all ready hooked on phonics and the reese´s pieces. He'll probably end up coming to the states just for the sour patch kids.

Yesterday we had divisions with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Saldivar in his area. We had the fantastic Lavalle lunch appoimtent. There are about 35 members in Lavalle. It is a little town outside of Goya kinda like Glendale or Overton. The Calarco family lives there and has church in their house every Sunday. They are a funny family. The food was really tasty. It was like chili-mac from the mid-west. I only came to know of chili-mac as of yesterday when Hermana Byrhn said it to me when the food came out. Hermano Calarco is a little bit crazy. We jump from this tree with the swing beneath his feet. I have it on video and you can see it when I get home in a while. He let me try it too. I also met my first pineapple plant at the Calarco house. I never knew that they were red before they were brown. The bird's nest is just to show how excited Hermano Calarco gets when we come. He just wants to ? everything he has.

I saw one of the swallows the other day and I wasn't quite sure how to feel.

I´ll make sure to take pictures of the swallows when they arrive.

I love you all and hope to hear from you soon. Lots of love. Chau

Elder Hunsaker

P.s. I did see Hermana Peruch in the conference. She told me that she had 6 months left and wasn't sure how she felt. I let her know how I felt about that. Haha. It was fun to see her and another elder from the MTC.

Miracle in Belgrano

I'm going to start this letter off with the best. This past Sunday we had 5 investigators in church and the total amount of people on Sunday was 38. That is a miracle for Belgrano.

Elder Cavero and I have been working more with the branch. We´ve got a lot of work to do so that the baptisms that are coming will be able to remain active. We now have a ward mission plan and we are working on a few other plans. We have the baptism of Alejandro and Carla Cuevas coming up on the 22nd of this month and another in December. We just need to maintain assistance.

We have our usual conference trip coming up this Friday. For the first time in the mission I will be able to see Hermana Peruch from my district in the MTC.

Last night I tried the 1 year 1 kilo challenge and from how this morning went I don't think I won. I tried to eat a whole kilo of ice cream last night and I am now dying from a terrible tummy ache.

Summer is finally here and I'm ready for winter again. It just isn't that fun to walk outside during the hottest part of the day. I feel bad for the sister that washes our clothes with the way Elder Cavero and I sweat. If mom thought that we had dirty shirt collars only after church at home she should see my shirt collars now.

This is all for this week. I hope that things continue to go well back home.

Love you all.
Elder Hunsaker