Hallo!
It has been a crazy two weeks that is for sure! But as many of you know I am in Neumarkt am wallersee just outside of Salzburg and it is beautiful. I love it so so Much. It is just a bunch of small little villages.  No big cities. Which is good and bad, I love the small feel and everybody is nice even when they have no interest. But we see the same people a lot which makes finding a little bit difficult. But it is all so great. We have a few progressing investigators and a few with baptismal dates that we are working with. We teach a lot of auslanders from Romania , Pakistan, etc. we finally found two Austrians while finding today that we will meet with this week!

So about my Companion. I love him so so much. He is the best and he has been so helpful while I am learning and everything! His name is Elder Harvey, he is from St George and we actually have a few mutual friends! He is so funny and works so hard. We actually overbooked our day today so half of our p day has been teaching and it's been awesome. We wake up every morning at 6 and do P90x! Haha we did a challenge workout where you do 8 sets of as many pull ups and push ups as you can. I ended up throwing up out the window at the end. Haha I have a picture of it. We only shop once a transfer. We have a cupboard full of milk and it's awesome. I am buying lederhosen today. Pictures to come next week. Haha me and Elder Harvey get along really well and we have some awesome goals that we are working for this transfer. We have a goal of no less than 15 lessons per week. Which is 90 lessons a transfer. So far we are on track!

The language has been rough but honestly not assss bad as I thought it would be. I feel like I am learning fairly quickly and I feel very happy about it. People always are very encouraging and helpful. It's cool because the people here are very patient and they will correct you as you read and speak and help you out. I actually had the opportunity to extend a baptism invitation to a new investigator named Herr Meingast. He said yes I would but I am already baptized in the katholic church and we were out of time so we will talk more about it this next week. I also learned that saying I am cold in direct translation or I am hot in direct translation is not good ich bin kalt means I am gay. And ich bin heiss means I am horny. Haha

Like I said my area is a bunch of small villages so we have a car and we get to drive everywhere so I am getting my Austrian license!! It's awesome cause we get to see so much more than anybody else and on p days we can go anywhere in our zone! So today we went into Salzburg which was awesome. We bought so much food.. Hana

Life here is so great and I am loving life and my mission. I love you all!
Liebe,
Elder Hunter

                                                         Elder Hunter and Elder Harvey

                                                      Grocery Shopping for this transfer

A game with my favorite family

Hello!!
Aw it makes it so much harder when you don't ask questions! haha This week was a little different. It was very on and off but it was mostly all really good! But we will start last Wednesday.  I was having kind of a hard time and I had a few small things bothering me so I asked President Preston if I could talk to him and we went to his office and We seriously just talked and talked and talked about everything. I went into that meeting feeling just a little sad, and frustrated with myself and my companion and the language and a few things like that and we talked for almost two hours and at the end I asked if he could give me a blessing and the feelings I got and the comfort I felt was seriously incredible. I was so happy. It was to the point that when I came back to the district room people were asking me why I was so happy and what was happening haha. But I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and watches out for us.  I read a scripture right after that. It was just like the stories you always hear about but I opened the book of mormon and the First verse I saw was Mosiah 7:33. It talks about if you lose yourself in his work and serve him with all diligence of mind, he will deliver you out of your trials and direct you. It was such an amazing verse to read at the perfect time.

Then the rest of the week was pretty normal we went about our teaching and learning and attempting to speak German. I got very frustrated with my companion when we were teaching a lesson about the Apostasy to our investigator Vincent and I felt like I was bearing a powerful testimony of the Apostasy and why it had to happen and right as I finished before Vincent could even respond Elder Price started correcting my grammer. Any spirit that was in the room was just gone. But its okay I talked to him about it and explained that I really appreciate his help and love when he corrects me but that there is a time and a place to do it and in a lesson is not the time. Later that day we had the best lesson we have taught together yet.

We got the next batch of missionaries and there are some cool ones but I miss the old group. its crazy how close we all got in the short three weeks we were together but it was seriously like we were family. But in this new batch we got a native German speaker so we have all been trying to talk to him and get used to it. haha he probably thinks we are so annoying but he is super nice and really helpful. He says I have a bad American Accent when I speak German. haha oh well proud to be an American! haha hmmm what else... well this is the last week in the MTC so that is very exciting!! Next time I write I will be somewhere in the Alpenladishe Mission! Finally!!

This was just a quote that one of my teachers shared from Mother Teresa and it just fits just about everything in life.

 "People are often unreasonable and self centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.  Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyways. For you see in the end it was never between you and them. It was between you and God."

Love you all,

Elder Hunter

                                                           Ripped my pants already!!

                                                              Sporting a new haircut!!

                                                       Last group pictures at the MTC

Hello Mom!! and Everyone!

I am just going to start in on the questions today.

-So how has your week been so far? And how is the German coming! I can't believe you only have two more weeks in the MTC!

This week has been crazy!! So I got called to be the distirct leader which in the MTC is not that big of a deal but It kinda puts our district on me and I didnt realize until then how much our distict had been slacking.  Right after I got the call for that I just felt like crap because I know we have not been doing as well as we should be and again the quote " if we knew who we were before, we would be sad we didn't try harder".  So I really prayed about it and talked to President Preston about it and he gave me some Ideas and we set some goals as a district and I think this has been our most productive week yet!! It is not because of me at all though! I think every Elder in our district is more fit to be the leader, but it is my calling for now so I want to do the best I can! German is continuing to come along! I am very ready to be outside the MTC walls. hahahha

-So I'm curious...have you had to use melatonin at all or are you so tired every night that you sleep like a baby?

So funny thing. I dont know what it is. I havent had to use it except just like two or three times since the first week but now whenever I take it it helps me get to sleep quickly but it also makes me wake up at like three every time. Weird so I just dont really take it anymore!

-How are you doing with your laundry? Are your white shirts holding up and not needing to be ironed?

laundry is all good! the shirts do a really good job of staying wrinkle free and nice looking!!

-I was excited to hear that your first talk went well in Sacrament Meeting. Way to go! Any fun things that you can share with us that happened this week?

I was happy with it! I tried just using bullet points for the first time and it actually went so well! it makes it easier just to say whats on your mind about the subject! Hmmmm this week has been a good week! I made my 500th flashcard yesterday! haha Ill send a picture of them. hmm we also had testimony meeting this week and I had the opportunity to give my testimony. There are so many strong testimonies here it is insane.  the spirit in the room was so strong. Then today we went on a church history tour which was really cool and super nice to stretch our legs! I will send some pictures!!

-Did the new missionaries arrive yet that are  going to your mission with you that don't need to learn German?

We still dont know if there is one or not. we will find out tomorrow. I am hoping he is coming cause it could be really useful!

-Have you eaten all of your christmas chocolates that we sent with you yet? I hope you shared.

Not yet! I have been savoring them and sharing most of them!!

-What is a favorite word or phrase that you learned in German this week?

hmmm thats a hard one..... not any favorite particular ones but i am starting to be able to put my own sentences together to where they might not be perfectly grammatically correct but you can understand what I am saying. haha

-How have you served someone this week?  Or has someone done something special for you?

Hmm I mean I have tried to be really nice to those around me and just act genuinely interested when some people say thing to me that really just drag on... but i am doing my best to just be nice and listen and respond.  It is harder than it sounds. But it does actually help and the relationship is better!

Well another week down and a little more German learned!! I miss all of you and Love you so much. Thank you for being so loving and supportive of me!! Until next week, which will be my last vorbereiten tag at the MTC!! YAY!! Talk to you soon!!

                                                              New Years Festivities

                                                      Preston and Church History Tour

 The apartment where President Hinckley lived on his mission when his dad told him to forget                        himself and go to work!

                                                          Yummy Christmas Dinner