Weeks Fly, Mormon Helping Hands, Testimony

Howdy, 10-12-09
This week has definitely flown by me. It wasn’t filled with much success either. We placed a baptismal date with a less active member’s husband for the 22nd of November and for the next few days I was in the other area helping out. My comp got sick and with Elder Aguilar in a cast it was slightly difficult to work things out. My comp is all ready feeling better so this week should be different.
I think will be going to Monte Caseros this week to ship all the stuff from the old pench to Libres. That area was closed about 6 months ago. We will also be traveling to Curuzú Cuatiá to do a special district meeting for the elders of that district. I hope to be able to spend more time in my area than out of it.
Last Saturday we finished painting the school we cleaned about two weeks ago. It used to be green and pink and is now green and aqua green. I was thinking green and white would be nice but whatever. My comp thought red, white, and green would be a good color combination. He probably would have wanted a few eagles with snakes here and there. Haha.
Time is running short and my comp and I really want to baptize a family but things are tough. We spoke with three Brazilian men the other day. They spoke in Portuguese and we spoke in Spanish. I was pleasantly surprised to the fact that I could understand them fairly well. We talked for about an hour outside of the gas station they were eating in.
My companion continues to help Elder Hinostroza to build some muscles. When we started exercising he couldn't even do one pull up by himself. After two weeks of exercises he can do two whole pull ups by himself. He can do thirty or more with the help of Elder Ramos. Elder Ramos wants to make him into a man before he goes home in January.




It rained like crazy on Sunday and hardly anyone went to church. However, we had a really spiritual fast and testimony meeting. I’ve been thinking a lot about the atonement this weekend and how it works and all that stuff. I’ve gained a much better understanding of it and I’m even more grateful for it. I know that we are able to become clean and that justice will be satisfied because a perfect being suffered for things he had not done. I love our Lord and Savior with all my heart and know that he died for me. God will hold us accountable for those things that we do without repenting but he will be more than merciful when it comes to things we repented of. I love the gospel and wish more people would come unto Christ and receive the joy and peace that he gives freely. I love you all and we’ll speak soon. Chau

Elder Hunsaker

BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS

Zone Conference, Soccer, Helping Hands

Hello fam,

Yesterday our zone was in Corrientes cap for zone conference. It was a really good conference. President spoke about the godhead and how Christ is both the father and the son. It was a very interesting topic he chose. I’ve thought about that ever since Clorinda where one of our investigators was an extreme evangelist and that was basically the only doctrine he couldn’t understand or want to understand. To him, God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost were all just one person and that person was Christ. We talked with him for a long time trying to help him understand but he couldn’t understand. I wish president would have come with us to talk with him one time. I’m pretty sure president could baptize anyone. President used a good example of titles by talking about a cake that Sis. Del Castillo made. He said that she could be classified as the “mother” of the cake because she was its creator. The same thing goes for Christ. That isn’t the only reason why he is known as the father but it was just a good example so I decided to share it.

General conference was amazing. I missed part of the first Saturday session so that would explain why I didn’t know about the temple announcements. I’m kind of disappointed that dad didn’t go to the priesthood session. Heavenly Father definitely wants us to love more and serve more. We watched conference in the security room so that we could listen to it in English. Yes, Elder Holland’s talk was awesome and so was Elder Christofferson’s. Speaking of Elder Christofferson, one of his nephews is in this mission. Elder Erickson from my group is his trainer. He’s a really good kid. Elder Erickson said that he is non-stop when it comes to talking with people. He was happy to have a comp like Elder Christofferson so that he doesn’t die out before going home.

Last Thursday we had consejo (zone leader meeting) in Resistencia. President talked about preordination and pre-assignation. He taught us the difference between justification and sanctification. I decided that I should probably read more church books when I get home. President knows a lot of doctrine. He always tells us that when we are mission presidents that we will be able to have books outside of the missionary library. I finally took a picture with Pres. Del Castillo and Sister Del Castillo. I believe that this is the very first one that I’ve taken with just them. After consejo I picked up some cheez-it crackers from Wal-Mart that were delicious. It was a tough to choose between gold fish and cheez-it crackers.


I received news from Elder King. He said that his new area doesn’t have a cyber and that their super market is a glorified kiosk. He has to travel to Ibarreta every p-day to shop and to email his family. I’m glad that I wasn’t there for the summer. He might just fry before he goes home in January.


This Saturday we will be finishing the service that we started two Saturdays ago. We are going to paint the school we cleaned up in September. This is part of the annual service project that the church does. We will surely be putting back on those “helping hands” vests again.


Today we had the whole zone in Libres for p-day. We went out to a park that overlooks Uruguaiana. We played soccer in the rain and had a good time. Elder Aguilar seems to have dislocated a toe but we aren’t sure. He went to a clinic but he won’t get an assessment until 3pm because everyone was on break taking the siesta. Hopefully it is just a minor issue. Even though he’s all messed up we still had a fun time. He was our goalie and just sat in front of the goal and smacked the ball when it rolled within his reaching range. We made make-shift goal posts out of bamboo shoots and leaned them against palm trees.




Hope that all is well at home. It sounds like everyone is doing really well. Congratulations to Shawn, Steve, and Darren for completing the marathon. Good job! I love you all and we’ll see each other oh too soon. Nos vemos.

Elder Hunsaker

P.S. Elder Aguilar went to the doctor and will have a foot cast for 20 days. He isn’t supposed to walk until he gets the cast off. Hopefully we don’t have to send him to the office to wait it out but it might just happen. Sometimes the doctors here don’t give good advice. When I sprained my ankle really bad the doctor told me to chill in bed for 15 days without walking and just keep the ankle elevated. We see what the mission doctor says about it all. At least he and Elder Hinostroza were able to have a baptism before this occurred.
Photos
Me and the music man


Elder Aguilar and Elder Hinostroza´s first baptism in Libres

Playing the music man’s accordion


Dirty politics
(This guy lost to his cousin Ricardo Colombi)