Dear family and friends,

What an amazing week!  We taught 2 new investigators, Trisha and Paul.  Paul came to church yesterday yay!   We had an investigator agree to come back to church next week and let us teach him yesterday.  We had a branch family home evening night on Tuesday and a lot of people came, including an investigator, a less active, and a non-member (hopefully soon to be investigator).  The non-member liked bingo so much that she came to church Sunday, too!  (They played Bingo as a ward activity) And she wants to come next week too.  Her name is Norma and she is quite the character.  She is friends with a member here, and she sat in on a lesson that elder Taylor taught to the members and she said, "oh that made me feel so good, I think I'm going to start going to church at the Baptist church." haha what?!  She is so funny, I love her! 

Anyways, we had an awesome lesson with Trisha despite the fact that the member present kept bringing up things that should not be brought up in the first lesson such as:  women not having the priesthood, polygamy, and more.  But she wasn't worried about it, she is very open about learning, I think the Lord has really prepared her.

I got to go to Utica for special training this week too, and they gave us a talk by Lawrence E. Corbridge called "The Fourth Missionary"  it has changed my life! It blew my mind!  It taught me what it really means to serve with all your heart and mind.  Here is just a small part from it, "In the end, your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the Lord does not already have.  If you give your time, two years, and your strength, you give only that which He grants to you with each beat of your heart and each breath that you draw.  If you dedicate your gifts and talents, you only return to Him what He already has given to you.  If you pay tithing you only return to Him a tenth of what he has already given to you.  Everything that you have to give to the Lord has it's origin in Him, except one thing: your will.  He does not have your heart, nor your mind, unless you give them to Him.  It is the only gift you have to offer that He does not already have.  And so when you give yourself, you truly give everything to Him."  I know that by giving your whole self to the Lord you will find more true joy and live a more enriched life.  There may be times that it can be hard, or you may mess up, but that's what the atonement is there for.  Lean on the Savior DAILY and He will help your weaknesses become strong. It is never impossible to change your nature, through the atonement you can become like the Savior. Look to the Lord and live!  I know that He overcame death and that He lives today, and because He lives we can live again also. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

love, sister Hunting

p.s. read the "Beware of Pride" talk by President Ezra Taft Benson.  I have to read it everyday and repent everyday haha

p.p.s. just met this man in the Library and he started talking to us about church and God and we invited him to church and gave him a pass-along card! crazy!

Sister Hunting took this picture of her cousin, Chris Hardinger, (the tall guy in the back). He served in the same mission about a year ago and this picture was posted on a wall in the Mission Home. :)

Sister Hunting, Sister Mathews and several other sisters! (Sis Hunting is wearing the dress my sister Julie made her! So pretty on her!

Sisters being silly!

 Dear family and friends,

This week has been pretty great!  My testimony has been strengthened of asking in faith and receiving.  We have been praying to find new people to teach and we got some!

We went to Brother and Sister Perkin's how on Tuesday to talk to sister Perkins about the family history fireside we are planning, and brother Perkin's aid, Trish, was there at the house, and when we started talking about family history she seemed really interested.  So while Sister Mathews planned with sister Perkins, Brother Perkins and I answered Trish's questions.  Later that night we got a call from brother Perkins, he said that Trish wanted to meet with us and learn more!!  We meet with her tomorrow :D 

That night we went home and started cleaning out the area book, and made calls to old potentials and investigators.  One man named, Barry, is really wanting to meet with us.  He said that he has toured the Salt Lake temple square a billion times, and really wants to come to one of our church meetings.  He couldn't make it this Sunday because he travels a lot, but maybe next :)

Early the next morning we got a call from brother Perish who told us that there is a woman named Ninna who really wants to meet with us too!

Then we met this woman at the soup kitchen who needed help painting her house, so we helped her.  She is really sweet and very curious about our religion, I think she would be a great member!  Crazy how when you ask in faith the Lord blesses you so much!

Let me just tell you how much the members of the branch help!  Every member truly is a missionary!  I encourage you at home to look for missionary opportunities, be an example to someone, then share your testimony with them or answer their questions.  Invite missionaries over to eat and give them referrals or invite a non-member to the dinner.  We need the members help!!!  Each one of you!!  PLEAS HELP YOU MISSIONARIES!  You will be blessed so much.

  I know that this gospel is true, and that it blesses peoples lives. Keep putting your trust in the Lord and he will guide you by the hand. I love you all!

-sister Hunting

                                                                                        Golfing on Pday!

                                                             Real Amish peeps! 

                                                            Sis Hunting getting drinking water from the spring

               

Sis Hunting & Sis Mathews- Beautiful Sisters--inside & out!

Dear family and friends,

What a crazy week! I have learned so much and I wish I could tell you all I've learned but that would take a long time!  I'm starting to love Lake Placid and I never want to leave, I will be happy if I stay here my whole mission, it's just awesome!

This week we got to go to an all sister's conference at the mission home with all the 48 sisters in the mission, it was way fun, and it was really great to be around other missionaries and to feel the spirit so strongly, and we learned a lot.  

I had my first exchange with Sister Lambert this weekend, and she taught me so much!  She is a great missionary!  I've learned that just as important as having faith in Christ is having faith in people.  You have to have faith in your investigators.  Read the talk "See others as they may become" by Thomas S. Monson, it will blow your mind!  Have faith in the power of the Atonement, and know that it can change people.  There are so many converts here that talk about how much the gospel has blessed their life and changed them for the better.  It's not even that they are happier, but they are also more motivated, and they have more self-esteem.  This gospel can make you eternally happy if you will not only believe in it, but also if you will LIVE IT!  I love this gospel and I know that it is true, without a shadow of a doubt.  I know that God loves each of us so much and He wants us to be happy.

I've also learned about aligning our will with God's will, it is the only thing that will bring you true happiness.  You can align your will with His in your prayers.  Instead of asking Him for things the way that you want them, ask for the strength to deal with the trials that he has seen fit to give you like Alma in 31:30-38.  And God WANTS you to pray to Him!  Read the bible dictionary definition of prayer.  God is our Heavenly Father, when we really figure out what that means, that He is our Father, than we will want to pray all the time.

Anyways!  We had two investigators come to church on Sunday which was really exciting!!  We are still working on trying to find people to teach.   We went to visit this one woman we found while we were doing OYM like my second day here (open your mouth, which is where you walk around and talk to people you see) and she had her door open when we walked by to see if she was there and she came out and talked to us and said we could come by any time :D  fingers crossed :)  We are still getting a family history class together, and we are going to volunteer at the soup kitchen this week! 

The Lord knows what He's doing.  We taught our investigator Mike, but we didn't get a real chance to teach him because the member present talked the whole time and we aren't very good at interrupting people haha, but we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" (which he had watched already) with him and all week I just felt like we failed and was frustrated that we didn't really teach Him and felt like He wasn't going to progress at all.  So I felt really sheepish and humbled when we went to teach another lesson and he said that something had hit him while he was watching the video.  The spirit is working with people when we aren't there! You never know when something you say or do will effect someone.

I love you all!

-love, Sister Hunting

Sister Hunting loves these three Italian women and wants to bring them home with her!

Sister Hunting at the lake with members. I'm not sure which lake, but will ask her soon..

Lake Placid, NY

My dear Family and Friends,

So much has happened and I haven't had any time to write.  I am in Lake Placid!  We have a big area, but due to miles we can only cover Lake Placid, Saranac lake, and Tupper lake, yeah lots of lakes haha.  It is beautiful here!  So many trees, lakes, and ponds and so green!

The branch we are in is very small, only 30 members (on a good day), but most of them are very devoted, many of them drive an hour and half to get to church every Sunday.  When I first got here I thought the people here were just completely crazy and I was going to go insane myself, but I'm growing to love them and they do keep life interesting.  We visit a lot of elderly people and it makes me so sad because they are so lonely and so they just talk to us for hours.  Kids go visit your grandparents or someone in a seniors home! 

I started out here really struggling to be myself, and struggled with talking to people.  I prayed my heart out and I was reminded of a video they showed us in the MTC of a talk by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ."  Elder Bednar talks about how Christ always turned outward, and He never turned inward.  He always was thinking of others, even after He suffered in Gethsemane, was betrayed, and crucified He was still thinking about those around Him.  I thought about how I need to be more like Christ, and stop worrying about my insecurities, and my weaknesses and just focus on others.  As I've tried to do that, I have become closer to the members and Investigators and it's just been awesome!  I encourage you all to think and serve others when you are going through a rough time or feeling bad about yourself, it really is the best thing to do!

We had some pretty awesome miracles this week.  We were discussing dropping an investigator and literally right as we were talking about her, she texted us and asked to see us!   After a rough day we received 3 referrals from a member, and taught an awesome lesson that we thought was going to go badly!  We were also contacted by a former investigator who really really wants to be baptized, and if all goes well she will be on august 24th :)  We have an investigator who wants to be baptized but she is waiting for her husbands approval, and when she told him that she needed his approval to be baptized he was really surprised and I think his heart was softened towards the church. 

Finding here is really difficult, but we are trying our best and we are planning a family history night to invite people to, so hopefully that will go well.  We have a lot of challenges and trials, but the miracles make it all worth it!

I am so thankful for this gospel and I know that it is true.  I know that with faith in the Savior anything is possible. Keep pressing forward!  I love you all!

love, sister Hunting