Monday, July 18, 2016

Tuesday was great we had zone training and it was so fun to see
everybody there. Me, Elder Bybee, and Elder Nielson were all there and
all three of us were comps with Elder Harvey. So we took a picture and
sent it to him. Zone training was really good and I loved the theme of
it. We talked mostly about how missionary work should not be boring,
routine, everyday the same work. We need to learn to try new things,
try talking to people different ways, be creative. Our zone goal this
transfer is "to kill the robot.". It is so easy to just get stuck in
the routine of missionary life but when you just settle in with that a
lot of times you stop pushing yourself and you just settle in. I don't
want to do that, I want to have fun, I want to try my best everyday
and not just go through the motions! It was really good. I liked it!
Then me and Elder Stomps got to teach about studies and how we can
improve our studies. I think it went really well. We just talked about
where does a good study start? Then we talked about planning our
studies, praying for help in our studies, and having a good morning
routine so you are ready to go at 8 to start studying (I know I just
contradicted myself..) then we focused a lot on comp study and talked
about how it's really a chance to actually teach each other and learn
so much more than we would alone and then how we can use our companion
studies effectively. I think it went really well. :) we also watched a
talk during zone training from Jefferey R Holland and it related
missionary work with the atonement of Christ. He talked about why
missionary work has to be hard and why we have to be challenged. It is
so that in the smallest way possible we can feel just a small part of
what Christ felt. He said "missionary work is not easy, because
salvation is not easy, it never was easy!" That really touched me and
it really made me just want to work harder. It was a great Zone
tRaining. After that we headed back to Wil and taught Yvone. She has
never really had a strong faith in anything and she hopes that God is
there and she hopes for a lot. But we talked with her and just told
her she doesn't have to hope she can know. She just has to ask. We
committed her to just pray and ask if God is even there and then go
from there. She was very shocked with the idea because it was so
simple but she said she will do it. Then we just spent the rest of the
day going by on people. On Wednesday the day started out really good,
we went and ran with Nanu and Audrey and me and Nanu did intervals on
the track. We did 6x400 on 4 minute interval and were holding like
67-69 the whole time. I was DYING. I threw up after the forth... Haha
but it was great. Other than that we had a pretty boring day, we just
had to go to Zurich to anmeld (register) Elder stomps. That took a
really long time. Then we finally came home and just went by some
potentials but nobody was home. Thursday we had planned most of our
day to a service project that didn't end up happening. So instead
elder Stomps decided he wanted to cook banana bread and so he did that
and then we took it to a few members. Then we went by Bruder Riesen
and talked with him for a while and shared a spiritual thought on
"gods will not ours" and he shared some really personal and really
touching stories. It was really cool. Then we just went and tried to
catch some less actives at home finding along the way. Nobody is home
right now because everybody is on vacation!
Friday was pretty boring we just did all our studies and then went out
finding for a bit and found one really nice lady from Peru, she said
she would meet with us and also gave us the numbers of three of her
friends and her mother in law to try to meet with them as well. That
was cool. We will see how they turn out. Then we went home and did our
weekly planning and ate some lunch/dinner and then we went and played
soccer with the YSA and Mario was there and we got there early with
him and taught him a lesson. Saturday was a mix up but way good. We
went running with Audrey in the morning and then afterwards ate
pancakes and had a mission prep class together. It went really well.
Then we went to the Kudrnac real quick just to see how they are doing
and we caught them at just the right time and gave a spiritual
thought. Then we headed out to Steckborn to go by on a less active
family and do some finding. I had never been there before but it is a
way cool city. It's right on the Bodensee and is just a cool little
town. I liked it. We didn't have any success but at least the
surroundings were good! :) on Sunday we had a great day. We had church
in the morning and it was way good. I really enjoyed the talks in
sacrament meeting and then for the second hour the girl teaching it
got sick in sacrament and so we got to teach that lesson. It went
pretty well for about 10 min prep. Haha :) we just talked about Joseph
Smith and his life. He is seriously so amazing and had to suffer so
much in order to restore this church on the earth for us. I love
studying Joseph and his life and really just trying to see him in real
life through my imagination. After church we went to the Diethelms for
lunch and both of their inactive sons were there with there none
member girlfriends. We got to teach a small spiritual thought just
about God and they all participated in it which was really cool. We
had a great lunch (bread with blue cheese and garlic and all kinds of
stuff. So goood). After lunch we all were just talking around the pool
and talking and then the two sons thought it would be funny to push me
in. Haha it was pretty funny. I was obedient though and got right out.
It was tempting to stay for a bit... Haha I was soaked. But I think I
was able to really build a good relationship with the two of them and
we had lots of fun which was good. After that we went by the
Wichterman family to pick up a backpack for today for Elder Stomps. We
got there and they asked us if we wanted to play a round of Wizard and
so we did and then we played a round of dido dog as well and had
dessert and then we shared a fun activity/thought with the kids. It
was way fun. Today we are going back to Pizol because Elder Stomps saw
the pictures and really wanted to go so now we are headed back. Haha.
Then afterwards a member invited us to go to this Mexican restaurant.
Should be a fun day!!  Only four more weeks here in
frauenfeld and I am actually already dreading that I am leaving. The
ward here is seriously already like family. They are just so open and
friendly and just great people. I am just going to love and enjoy the
time I do have left though. :) I hope you all had a wonderful week as
well.  Love you!!

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Hunter
 Top of Pizol again!!


I was thrown into the swimming pool by two boys that we were visiting!

 
Making pancakes after our morning run!

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Hello everybody!!
This week has been a good one and a pretty interesting one. Monday was
great and we had a really great last p day together. We got incredibly
sunburnt but it was worth it. We gained 2200 meters one way! Pretty
sweet! Then we went to Czieslas and had dinner and it was great. Then
on Tuesday we had district meeting and I taught about baptism and
helping people get to baptism. It is always fun to study all the
different topics and you always learn something new. But what I would
say what was for me the most important is that it is not that baptism
is honestly even the most important convenant we make it is just the
first and that's why it is focused on so much but it is just the
entering into the straight and narrow and there is still a lot to do
afterwards that is equally important. After district meeting we went
to Andres for lunch and Gmk. Afterwards he let us shoot his pellet gun
for a bit which was fun! Then we went to the klaumunzners and ate
dinner there and went to a big look out tower and climbed up it. It
was way cool. As we were hiking I was talking to sister klaumunzner
and she was so nice and offered to give Elder Mikulenka a new pair of
shoes before he left and we made a plan for her to come by in the
morning. Wednesday morning she came and gave him the shoes and he was
so happy it was like a kid at Christmas. It was really cool and nice
of her! Then we headed to Zurich for transfers. It is always fun with
all the changes and excitement and seeing everybody. Elder Mikulenka
met his comp pretty quick and they took off back to their area. Then I
waited until my comp showed up from Stuttgart. He finally showed up
and he is so tiny! Haha not in a mean way but he is so small. I feel
like it's my little brother that's older than me. We headed back to
our area and let him unpack a bit then Roger from Sankt Galen picked
us up to go BACK to Zurich to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. That
was really cool, we had Suveybe there with us (she is an old
investigator) and she really enjoyed it a lot which was awesome and
also the girlfriend from Nanu Klaumunzner was there. I met sister
Gehris during the intermission and got a very nice little package from
my family with some treats and some sweet letters in it! (Thank you
everyone that wrote letters) :) then the concert ended about 9:45 or
ten and then we got a ride home with the fuhrers. It was funny because
I saw somebody from Neumarkt that was only there my first transfer and
it was weird to actually speak semi okay German with him.

On Thursday
we had our first full day together as companions. Me and Elder Stomps.
He is a good guy.  haha then we had an appointment
with an older couple and they were really nice. We will be meeting
with them again beginning of August. After the lesson we went and
played fussball with the YSA group and it was way fun. It was a
smaller group as usual because it's summer and so many people are gone
but it was still way fun. I have only been here for one transfer and
seriously I just love the ward so much. So many really cool just nice
caring people. I will be really sad to go this next transfer. On
Friday we did weekly planning which is always rough for me. Planning
is extremely boring but also very important. Then we went to the
church to download the new area book app. It is pretty cool but will
deffinatly take some time to get used to and also take a lot of time
to transfer all the records. Changing three records took me almost an
hour and we have hundreds of records. Haha then we went to Czieslas to
help them get rid of all their food before they go out of town... :)
then came home. On Saturday we went to wintertour and sang with the
sisters and a few people from the ward there at two rest homes. It was
so fun how happy it made the older people there. We sang some Swiss
German songs and man they sound crazy. Haha we also had to sing a song
in French. It was a lot of fun. We got to also give one of the members
a blessing because she is having foot problems. I always love having
the opportunity to give people blessings and knowing God is working
through me in that second. Then we got to find in wintertour for a few
minutes waiting for our train. Then we went finding in frauenfeld
again.

Also this week in frauenfeld was a big hip hop festival
(biggest one in Europe) and it was seriously crazy so many people were
here. The streets were just lined. I kinda felt like I was serving in
the hood with all these kinda scrappy people half naked blasting rap
music and the whole city just smelled like marijuana. It was
interesting and funny for a few days but I am happy it's over. Then on
Sunday we had church and it was really good. Nanus girlfriend came
with him and stayed all three hours. After church we went to
Klaumunznrs house and ate lunch and got talking with Nanu and Rahel
and she agreed to hear the first lesson. It actually went really well
and she asked a lot of questions. It was cool for Nanu to get to help
teach her and you could really feel the spirit especially when he
would explain something to her. Really cool lesson. Then we went
straight to fuhrers and had a BBQ with all the YSA, if you haven't
noticed we do a lot with YSA in frauenfeld. It's way cool! We had a
BBQ and played some games and did a little spiritual thought. It was
great. The game we played is when you have to talk and try to get the
others to guess what the word is without saying the word but we played
the extreme version where you get brownies and candies stuffed in your
mouth while you try to talk. Haha it was hilarious. Today we just went
to Konstanz to go shopping because it is WAY cheaper there and now we
are getting our hair cut. It was a fun chill P day. Hopefully we can
have a good week this week here and even more hopefully you all have a
wonderful week this week!! I love you all so much. Thanks for all that
you do!!

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Hunter



                        Me and Elder Mikulenka at motab concert. Comp reunion   (after 1/2 a day)
Us with our GML (ward mission leader)

Monday, July 4, 2016

Hello everybody!! I hope you are all doing great and loving life!!
This week was good, really really slow again but good.

Tuesday we had district meeting which was great and then afterwards we
had exchanges. I stayed in Wetzikon with Elder Edvinsson. He was so
cool. I really loved the time we spent together. He is from Sweden and
is almost done with his mission. Just a really good down to earth guy.
We had a lot of fun. I had a pretty cool experience in a really weird
way while I was there. We had an appointment with this guy named Hans
and we show up and as we show up before we could even say a prayer he
pulls out his iPad and a envelope of papers and starts just rattling
of anti Mormon papers and trying to show how the Book of Mormon
contradicts the bible and just everything. It was a bible bashing
appointment to the max. But we just sat there and listened and it was
funny because honestly he knew the bible really well and honestly if I
had not have been on my mission and really began building a strong
testimony he probably could have convinced me I was wrong. But it was
so funny because there were so many things he said where I knew there
were scriptures in the bible that I knew and could show him but for
some reason I couldn't quite remember where they were and so I never
tried to fight back against him. But instead of feeling stupid and
feeling like maybe I was wrong. I just had the most comforting feeling
and The whole time with every word he said my testimony and knowledge
of why the church is true grew a little bit. At the end I was able to
bear witness of it and I told him what I had experienced. He didn't
like that and said we were lost forever in gods eyes. But I just
didn't care. I knew so strongly in that exact moment that I was
exactly where I was supposed to be and that this really is the true
gospel. It was really a testimony builder. After that we just headed
home and ate some dinner and laughed about it all and it was also
funny because right after we left the appointment I could remember
exactly where all those scriptures were. I just don't think I was
supposed to fight with him. Bible bashing is stupid because nobody
benefits and it's just lessons of anger and trying to prove who knows
there bible better.

Wednesday we just went finding for a bit and then exchanged back and I
came back to frauenfeld. Then we had a very slow day. We were trying
so hard but we just can't find anyone. Eventually we got invited to go
play soccer with the youth and so we went and taught a lesson
afterwards and there were a few non members there too so it was good.

Thursday we actually were pretty busy. We went to Sister Klaumunzners
school class and talked about where we are from. Everybody was very
excited to ask about America. It was pretty good. Even though they are
only like 15 so we won't really benefit but it was more service than
anything. Then we went to the Diethelms and had lunch and then did a
service project there for a few hours. Then we came back for
appartment checks and that took forever. They were there for literally
an hour and a half. It was such a waste of time. But then we went and
played soccer again with a big group of kids mostly non members and
got to teach a lesson again. We got one guys number and he said we
could meet again. So that was good.

Friday we made breakfast for the Czieslas and then we went finding in
Wil the whole day. We found 6 potentials that were really cool. Only
one of them lives in our area. :( that was a little sad. But still
people that will meet the missionaries.

Saturday we got our transfer calls and I will be getting a new comp.
his name is Elder Stomps. He is apparently the shortest missionary in
the whole mission (girls included) but it is funny because that means
I will have a different comp three transfers in a row. He is from
Holland I think. You'll hear more next week after I have met him. He
sounds a lot like Elder Harvy from what I have heard. Then after that
we had a stake soccer tournament and we played for our young men's
team. We actually did pretty good we ended up getting like 4th I
think. It was way fun though. Then we came back and met Selma and got
to teach her a little bit. She will be coming to the motab concert so
that's cool.

Sunday we went to church and it was testimony meeting. It was really
good. I really enjoyed it and then we also talked about being a man in
preisthood and I really liked it. It pretty much said that to be a
real man we need to ignore almost everything media tells us a man
should be.  It was based on a talk from Todd D Christofferson. After
church we went to Sergio's house and man I had a headache there. The
mom and son speak Russian with another, the mom and dad speak Italian,
and we had to speak in German and they replied to us in English. Wow.
That was weird. Haha but still great. They were really cool. Then we
went straight to the Wichterman family. We were already so full but we
ate a lot anyways. Haha then after that we went to Sankt Galen and
slept at the Zone Leaders House.

Monday we were in a train at 5:12 headed towards Chur to go to a
mountain called Pizol. We got there at 6:40 and started hiking. We
were back by 5. We hiked/ran/slid/climbed a total of 37 K it was
crazy! I am so so dead now. But it was so so beautiful. I loved it. A
lot. I just love being in the mountains. But we also had a really
cool/scary experience there. We were hiking down and above us a guy
slipped and fell about 25-30 meters and was just rolling, he ended up
right by us and he was uncontious and pretty bloodied up. I got to use
the very few things I remember from Emr class and I stabilized his
neck and spine and called emergency services. We then just waited with
him till the helicopter came. Crazy. Hopefully he will be okay.

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Hunter
                                           Little Elenora stole my ipad during sacrament
                                                                           Hiking Pizol



Elder Edvinssen