Friday, May 27, 2016

Hello everybody!
It's already Monday. Wow this week felt like it was over in the blink
of an eye. It's crazy how fast the weeks go by. Today we are going to
the eagles nest by Königsee which is hitters house shortly described.
It's up on top of a mountain with a beautiful view. But it's also I
decent drive there so we don't have a ton of email time this week so
it might be a bit shorter. But here we go. There were some fun things
this week and also some really cool things this week. Tuesday was a
crazy day, because Monday everything was closed since it was a
holiday, we had to do all our shopping and everything on Tuesday. So
we had district meeting which was good, then the Ehepaar made us
"lunch" something called the zoo. It was just a big bowl of ice cream
with a bunch of random sweets mixed in. I made us stop on the way home
and get a sandwich and then a made a green smoothie at home. Haha then
we had to hurry and get all our food and everything and get our hair
cut. The hair dresser guy was way cool and actually gave us a referral
which was good. Then we had dinner at Stefan Roths and then had sport
abend with Harry and Andreas and Tobias Dengg. That is always way fun.

On Wednesday we started off the day by taking a birthday present to
Frau Lissi which was just a picture of us with her with a little note
on the back and she was so excited. It was really funny. She then just
talked to us for a while. Showed us all her old stuff her and her
grandson used to use to grow marijuana.... She's great. Haha then we
met with Marek, then went by sister Huber and went for a walk with
her. Then came back and met with Sonja and talked with her about
Patrick. She said she is still just waiting for him to give her a good
answer as to why he wants to be baptized. Then we just went dooring.

On Thursday we had a pretty busy day which was way good! We started at
12 and met with Harry and had a good lesson with him, did some doors
the. Met with Andreas at 2 and talked about the talk why the church
from last conference and he asked some really good questions which was
way cool. Then we doored some more. Then we met with Horst at 6 and
sadly he was not feeling great (but hadn't drank all week.) and his
sister was not able to help him go shopping this week so we offered to
go to the store and buy him some of the essentials. I left him my iPad
and he watched meet the Mormons. He loved that so much. Then after
Horst Sonja invited us to come to a museum opening thing. It was kinda
cool. We just went to make her happy and keep a good relationship. We
just called it our dinner hour.

On Friday we helped set up for a big relief society thing and that
took all morning then we met with Patrick. We had a really good lesson
with him, he still hasn't said he wants to be baptized but we asked
him some pretty blunt questions like "do you believe Thomas S Monson
is a living day prophet?" Do you believe this is Jesus Christs church
restored back to the earth? Etc.  and he said yes and gave really
strong testimony to all of them then it was interspersing at the end
he prayed and was saying thank you for our church here on earth and
for our prophet and apostles and for our ward. It was just funny, he
sounds like he is already a member. Then we came home and did some
weekly planning and then had dinner/ mission correlation at Benny
Malzls house. That was really good.

Saturday was way fun. We just did our studies then we put to the
Kellnersteinmetz for a day of service. We got there at 11 and we
started by power washing the pool and cleaning it out. Closest I'll
get to swimming for two years... Then we started up the grill and had
some Käsewürsts and fried zucchini and salad for lunch. Then Samuel
really put us to work. He had us take out a whole fence and move it
back about a meter so that it was on the actual border of their
property. Each post had a big block of cement on it that we had to dig
out and then dig a whole equally as big to put it back in. We worked
on that until 7:30 and then helped clean it all up and then they took
us to McDonald's (which is sooo much better here) and then we came
home.

Sunday was sooo cool in church. Ever since I have been here we have
been working with Harry trying to get him the priesthood and there was
always just something holding him back and making it just not happen
but this week he was finally ordained a priest. Bishop announced it in
sacrament and had him stand up and he just had the biggest smile ever.
He is such a good guy. I was/am stoked for him. Then after church we
went to the Kellnersteinmetz AGAIN for lunch (not complaining). We
made cordon bleu. And I have to say... We did a dang good job. Haha
and breaded mushrooms as well. It was a good lunch. They had invited
to non member friends as well and we got to teach a lesson. They were
really nice and listened and asked questions and everything. It was
great. Then we came home and did studies and finished weekly planning!

Now today we had a district p day and we went to the kehlstein haus.
(Eagles nest) sadly it was super foggy so we didn't get to see the
amazing view from the top but we did get to see a lot of really cool
historical stuff. We went through the WW2 museum and it was kinda cool
to listen to some of Adolf Hitlers speeches and actually understand a
lot of it. He was a very angry man. The history of ww2 is really so
sad. There was just so much evil. But it is good to learn about. Then
we went shopping and got all our food and everything now we are just
doing some emails!!

I had a great week this week and it is crazy to think there is only 1
more week in this transfer! And it was even a 7 week transfer. But
next week I will know if I get to stay here in Neumarkt for two more
or if I will be headed somewhere else! Guess we will see!! Hope you
all have a great week!! I love you all!!

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Hunter

The pictures are of 1)the fence we took apart and rebuilt, 2) the cutest little girl we got to spend all day with, 3)Harry (the newest priest in Gemeinde Neumarkt), and 4)the saddest text saying some members were cancelling on a hike early in the morning.



Monday, May 16, 2016

Hello!
This week we were a little slow and didn't meet with as many people as
I wish we would have but we did honestly use our time well! It was a
good week for sure!

Tuesday we went into Salzburg for zone training! It is always way fun
to all come together and just talk and be together as missionaries.
You all just have a connection no matter how different you are. It's
cool to see! But it was a really good training. We talked a lot about
mastering the message and did a lot of things with that including a
test to see how well we know all the lessons and finding a scripture
that goes with each point without using anything. I need to work on
that a bit more.. Haha we also talked a lot about having the Holy
Ghost there and what we need to be doing to really have that. It
really was great! Then afterwards a bunch of us went to Burgerista to
eat some American food! Haha we all got burgers and fries and drank
lemonade! It was great! I talked a lot with a guy named Elder Kaufusi
(i think I butchered his name) BUT he is way cool. He has a
scholarship at BYU to play football once he gets home, and he is just
super cool and a fun guy to be around. His brother just barely signed
with the Ravens. Haha I don't follow football much but that's still
pretty cool! Then we went back to Bahnhof to head home and we saw
Horst at Bahnhof, sadly he was super drunk and almost didn't even
recognize us. But we talked to him and helped him get to his train and
got him on his way home. After he realized it was us you could tell he
was really ashamed. He is trying so hard but he just needs to keep
going. We're on his side! Haha after that we had just area book work,
studies, and calling then we had sport abend! It was way fun this week
and we had a good lesson and played some füßball and it was way fun.
Right as we were about to leave Tobius was like hey look and he showed
me his phone and Harvey was there in Skype!! Haha I was kinda bad and
talked to him for a second and just saw how he was doing. But it was
way cool to see him again and catch up for a few seconds. He is a good
guy!

Wednesday we met with Tomara in Salzburg and talked to her about the
plan of salvation and just talked about it and read some scriptures. I
don't really feel a ton of true intent from her but we will keep
trying a bit longer. Then we came back and helped Frau Lissi. That is
always fun! Haha then we did some dooring in straßwalchen and nobody
was really interested but we had some great discussions. Then we went
to Markus Malzls house with Harry and Andreas like we normally do on
Wednesdays and it went well! We had a good time. We taught them about
personal revelation and then talked to Harry about him talking to
bishop about reciving the priesthood. Then we played ping pong! I am
so bad at ping pong it's ridiculous. Hahahah but I have a great time
doing it and we have lots of fun! Elder Jensen slammed into what he
though was the wall and ended up shattering a glass light fixture.
Hahaha that was funny.

On Thursday we just had two appointments and a lot of finding planned,
then the weather went from raining to a straight shower to crazy
hail!! Haha we were driving down the road and it was like a river and
you couldn't see anything!! Haha it was pretty funny and pretty
awesome. Luckily right as we went to go finding it died back down just
a little bit. And we found the rest of the night in the rain! I
actually kinda enjoyed it though! It was a good finding method! People
felt bad for us and would talk to us! Haha everybody thinks we are JWs
though!! Haha we found a few potentials though which was really
awesome. We met with Horst as well and he is trying so hard. We read
in the Book of Mormon and just saw how he's doing.

Friday we had our correlation meeting and that went really well! Then
we met with Patrick and we were really hoping this would be THE
lesson. We taught about baptism and had bishop there and had a really
good lesson but he's still just not quite ready. But the whole lesson
he was quoting articles of faith and talking about the general
conference talks he watch and it was crazy. Haha this kid is TEN!! But
he has a really good knowledge of everything I think he just really
needs to receive a answer that this is what he needs to do. Then we
found for a while and then went to the Brunners house, they have 3
crazy little boys and a brand new baby girl. The kids are so funny and
so loud! I loved it! We shared a short thought and then talked for a
while and headed home!

Saturday we played basketball with the members and had a lot of fun
then we went and gave Horst a sick blessing. It is really cool how
much faith he has in the power of the priesthood. Then we went finding
for a few hours with not a ton of success but we covered a lot of
ground! Just got to sort out the people who are ready and who needs a
little more time. Then we came home and did our studies and weekly
planning the rest of the day!

Sunday we had a great day at church, we taught the lesson in the
investigator class and talked about the signs of the second coming and
it is crazy as you study all of that you realize the seriously almost
all of them have already happened or are happening! It was a really
good lesson though and it was really cool for me to study too! Just
goes to show you want to ALWAYS be prepared! Then after church we went
to the Kellnersteinmetz and had a grilling party, he just let us pick
whatever meet we wanted and throw in on the grill! It was so good and
we ate sooo much haha it was awesome. After that we came back to the
church to help set up for the baptism of two kids in the ward! It was
really good!

Today is a holiday so nothing is open and it's really rainy outside so
we are just chillin at the church playing games and emailing all day!
Haha just a day to relax! It was a good week and I hope you all had a
great week as well! Love you all so much!!

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Hunter





Monday, May 9, 2016

Hello everybody!! This week was awesome!
On Tuesday we had district meeting which was way fun because we
celebrated all the elders in our districts birthdays because they were
all within a week of each other. Three of them being on the same day.
Haha pretty funny coincidence. But before we celebrated we had a
really good meeting, we talked a lot about becoming "masters of the
message" which just means really being able to understand and know the
message we are sharing so that as we try to share it with others we
really understand it ourselves and can bear real honest testimony. I
talked about a little bit different part of it that I found in preach
my gospel that intrigued me. It said that as we teach the
understanding of the people we teach will be influenced by our own
personal worthiness. I found that really interesting and honestly
something I didn't really think about. But if we are not worthy of the
Holy Ghost then the real teacher is not there and nothing is truly
"learned". It was interesting to think about. Then we had a great time
going by our good old Marek. We taught him about the priesthood and he
liked that a lot. I guess he had never learned much about it... Haha
good thing to be taught. Then we had sport abend and played fußball.
On Wednesday we had a really interesting day. We woke up did our
studies then went into Salzburg to teach a girl named Tomara. The
lesson went well. It was nothing special just a good lesson. Then we
came back to meet with Sonja who had called us the day before saying
she really needs to talk to us about something so we were obviously
curious as to what it was. We met with her and she told us the Patrick
told her he wants to be baptized. Which is amazing but she is worried
he has the wrong motivation for it. She said if it is for the right
reasons then she supports him but that she needs to see that first.
She is worried he only wants to be baptized so that he can become a
deacon. Which is awesome that he excited about that. But we need to
just talk to him and see where he is really at. We decided we will
just go through the interview questions with him and see how sincere
he is about it. It's hard to really judge with a ten year old kid. We
will see. Then we had a lesson that a old investigator actually set up
for us and she is a English teacher and we were really excited about
it but then Frau Jerey made us teach it is English to a guy that
speaks fluent German and barely understands English. We soon figured
out she was just using us as her teachers for his tutoring session.
That was kind of annoying but whatever. We gave him a Book of Mormon
and at the end bore quick testimony in German that he understood and
hopefully he got something from it. Then we did finding the rest of
the day! We found one really solid potential named terra. We will see
where that goes!

On Thursday we had a pretty interesting day. We were invited to the
stake sport day in Salzburg. We went and were able to bring a new
member and an investigator (Harry and Andreas) and we played sport
from 10-4 o'clock. Haha we played 4 straight hours of fußball, I did a
little training session with a few members training for an ironman,
then we slack lined for a bit. It was way fun hanging out with the
members and meeting the rest of the stake in a fun way like that. Also
way good to get an investigators there having a ton of fun! Great pre
birthday party!! Haha after that we came home and met with a less
active member and then met with Fabian and had a really great lesson
on the plan of salvation. I really see him making a lot of progress. I
am just waiting for it all to click for him. He's a great kid.
Then the birthday! Friday! Haha how often do you get companions that
have the same birthday at the same time of their birthdays!! It was
way fun haha. We celebrated together. We opened a few packages in the
morning and read letters from family and friends. The letters are
always the very best part. Then Frau Lissi called us and told us she
made us some birthday brunch. So we went and ate and talked with her.
She gave me some cloths from her cousin that he gave to her... Haha
then we went to the top of a big hill to do our studies before going
and playing füßball with Harry and teach him a lesson. We had a great
time and great lesson. Then we did weekly planning for a bit, called
some people, went finding, then went to a members house for dinner.
They grilled a bunch of meat for us! Steak, käsewürsts wrapped in
bacon, ribs, corn, potatoes, and Kool aid! Haha they spoiled us! And
the whole time I just got to play with their little girl named Tara
who is just a year and a half old and the funniest/cutest girl ever.
Then they gave us both a t shirt with part of the Austrian national
anthem on it! Way cool! Then Sonja surprised us with a birthday cake
and a couple presents! Haha she is too nice! To bad the cd she gave me
doesn't have any church songs... Haha some sweet German rap though!
Good for when I get home! German rap is the coolest! Haha then she
also gave us some aloe plant because we both got very burnt this
week... Very. Haha it was an AMAZING birthday.

Saturday we met with Andreas and had a great lesson about the tree of
life and what it means exactly and related it to out lives today and
then I rode his unicycle for a bit which was way fun. Then we went and
visited Horst and went over his reading plan and what he had read
between last time and this time and discussed it all and all the main
points, then we read a chapter together and talked about it. Me and
Elder Jensen both have the feeling we need to talk to him about
forgiving his parents which is going to honestly be really a very
sensitive subject because his parents were horrible to him. I don't
honestly think I could say I would forgive them ether. But we both
have gotten the feeling that is really what is holding him back. So
hopefully we can talk about that and really have the spirit help us.
He is such a good guy and literally the happiest most friendly guy in
the world. He just has had a crazy hard life. But then we went to the
Denggs house and celebrated our birthdays and also Michael Denggs
birthday who was also on the 6th. There family is so awesome. I love
them!

On Sunday it was Mother's Day! One of the days all missionaries look
forward to! Haha we had a great day at church, a very busy day but a
very good day! We were supposed to teach the investigator class but
then someone asked us to teach one of the primary classes for a bit
and so Elder Jensen taught the investigator class and I taught the
primary class. I defiantly got the best part! I got to hang out with
them for about a half hour and teach about missionary work and do a
few simple role plays, then I went back to the investigator class and
translated for the English speakers in the class. Then after the class
two of the kids ran into the room and jumped up onto the chair next to
me and gave me a big hug and one kissed my cheek. Haha very unexpected
but it was so funny. There are so many kids in this ward. I love it.
Then we got to help out in primary for third hour! After church we
went to the Albrechts house and had lunch and talked with them and
gave a spiritual thought about mothers and then we went to the church
to talk to our families on Skype! It was so much fun to talk to
everyone and see that everybody was doing so well and hear all your
voices and see all your faces! 2 of 4 calls home are already done!
Crazy! Haha

Today we just did our shopping the. Went and hiked Drachenwand again
because it's way cool and elder Jensen had not done it yet! It was way
pretty than we visited Horst on our way back and now we are about to
go to a members house for dinner!! Great week!
Liebe Grüße,
Elder Hunter




Monday, May 2, 2016

Servus!!
This week was different but really really good!! We did a lot of ward
service and things like that but we still had a really good week!!
On Tuesday we had to drive to Salzburg to drop off some papers to an
eye doctor for some tests I had done for my drivers license and then
we went and got my license translated. After doing all that we came
back to our area and called a lot of people from our phone and set up
some appointments for this week and also went and did some dooring.
Sadly no luck. But then we had sport Abend which is always way fun! We
played chair soccer inside because the weather is back to winter. Haha
the weather here is more bipolar weather than it is in Utah. Then we had a good
lesson about the importance of tripod (scripture study, sabbath day
holy, and prayer).
On Wednesday we did our normal studies and then we went and visited
M and talked to him and taught him about missionary work and how
he can be a member missionary. Then we actually took him with us to
our appointment with Horst and I don't know how good of an idea it
was.... Haha we got there and M just started going hard on H
asking him if he drinks and if he smokes and how much every day and
etc etc. we finally had to just tell marek to stop because we are just
working with H with the 12 step recovery program and reading
through the Book of Mormon. After we got marek under the reigns then
it was okay but wow. Haha M... What a guy.  Then after that we ate
at the family of S R house and had a really good time and ate
some good schnitzel. Then after that we went to meet a potential I had
called that was just in our phone and he said he would love to get
some coffee with us so we met him at a bakery and drank some apple
juice and we talked and just got to know him and just very
subtly worked into the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. He
was way cool and pretty open to it all so hopefully he will let us
meet with him again.
Then Thursday was crazy. We had our district meeting and president
interviews in Salzburg and then training. It was a long time. Haha but
it was way good! In district meeting we talked a lot about the
creation and also with working with our wards. I talked about what I
have been reading in the Book of Mormon. I have been reading in mosiah
about king Benjamin and for me when I read that story and what he says
it really just makes me realize how unimportant I am to the plan and
everything but how important we all our to God. He doesn't need us in
any way shape or form but he loves us and cares for us more than we
can even comprehend. I really had to try and have a humble mind while
reading it all. I love that story. But then we did a few role plays
and it was great. It was great also to meet with president again.
Since I have been here things have been kinda crazy so this is only my
second interview with president but it was really good. We just talked
for a bit about how the works going in Neumarkt, companion, language,
etc. Then he talked a bit about how we are losing more missionaries
than we are receiving and so we are having to close down temporarily
some areas and that it makes transfers really hard. The way he was
talking to me about it I think I will probably be in Neumarkt for two
transfers after this one. But I'm not sure! We will see. Then in
training we just talked a lot about how we need to be better about
having a plan for our investigators right from the start and that that
plan should be an open thing. Not something the missionaries should be
doing in secret. We want our investigators to know our end goal and
everything. Then after that we went and got food with a few other
missionaries and went to aganigi naginigi.  Then we drove to Mondsee
and had a lesson with a potential me and Elder Erickson had found the
week earlier. He is really new here and he is from Greece. He is way
cool and his name is Er. We had a REALLY good lesson with him and
hopefully we will meet with him again this week. Then we went to the
church to help set up for tanzen im Mai. This ward goes so so hard on
their activities. It is really incredible. They put in hours and hours
of effort.
On Friday we did a service project for Frau L again and helped her
carry a bunch of wood into her barn then we also drilled a bunch of
holes in a big Metal wall for her. Then she made us some really yummy
crepes and we talked with her for a bit. Then we told the ward we
could help finish setting up for the dance and thought we would be
there for maybe two or three hours but ended up being there for about
8 hours setting up and then the part that took the longest was making
175 burger patties. And they all had to be exactly 150 grams. Haha
pretty funny. Then we finally finished and went home for about an hour
showered and changed and did some weekly planning then went back to
the church to help again at the actual dance. It was so funny they
wanted to cook the burgers on a coal grill and were wanting to eat at
8:30 and they were just like okay we will start lighting the coals at
8. Me and Elder Jensen were just like ummm let's start lighting them
at at least 7:30. They all were like noo that's way to early and we
just said better safe than sorry and we showed up at 7:20 and started
setting up the chimneys to light the charcoal and they literally had
no idea how it worked. It was hilarious. Really annoying too though.
They were trying to light the charcoal with a lighter.... The kept
trying to do that until about 7:45 then they started freaking out
because they realized it was taking longer than they thought and
started stressing then they kiddingly were like where are the Eagle
Scouts when we need them and me and elder Jensen both were just like
we are right here... Haha then me and elder Jensen
taught them how to use a chimney and got a good fire going underneath
it and got the bottom coals going good then they grabbed it and dumped
it back out into the grill because "it was ready" haha they didn't
know how it went. But we eventually got it good and going strong. Then
we grilled all the hamburgers we made ate a few then had to go home at
9:30. But the dance went all the way until 2 which is crazy. The
activities and stuff here are so much different than they are at home.
Then on Saturday we did our weekly planning, called people to find
rides for investigators, then we taught A and committed him to
talk to his mom about what we believe. Then we met with sister H
and we were kind of tight on time but for some reason me and elder
Jensen both felt we needed to cancel our next appointment and just go
on a walk with sister H and push her in her wheelchair. We didn't
know why, but we did. We had a great time and she was so so thankful
as always. Then we went by to C and she was way stressed so we
just said we could come back next week then we did some dooring until
it was time to go home.
Then on Sunday we had a great day. We went to church and I was asked
to give the opening prayer and then we had testimony meeting and it
was really cool there was a very common theme of the Book of Mormon in
almost all the testimonies. H also went up and gave his testimony
which was kind of a shock but we were way stoked. But then after the
sacrament meeting bishop came up to us and told us that sister H
is in the hospital and they are not sure what it going on and it is
not looking good. I have never been so happy that we canceled on
someone before in my life. I really hope she can pull through but it
felt really good to know we had made her day the day before. Pray for
sister H. She is the nicest lady. But then we went to Benny makzls
house and had lunch and had a great lesson there then We came back and
did studies then we went to the Lerchners house which was way fun. We
had a really good lesson about the atonement there and it was really
awesome the
n We just sat and talked for a while. They are the best!!
Well one of the best. I just love this ward.
 Today it was super foggy so we just hiked to this church on top of
the mountain and looked around there which was way fun! It is the
oldest wooden church in Austria. It was way cool! Then we found the
rope to ring the bell and rang it at 12. It was great!! Fun p day for
how crappy the weather is!! :)
Have a great week everyone and have a great Mother's Day! :)

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Hunter

                                               We hiked onto a military base on accident
                                                The oldest wooden church that we hike to.
                           Found a cupboard full of liquor behind the front part of the chapel


                                                              Grilling hamburgers