Her life has changed forever!

Alright, this week was interesting.  There were many times when it was just cold and sometimes too cold to go outside, so what Elder Griffin and I did was we drove around, got out and tracted a couple streets, then got back in to warm up, repeat.   

Occasionally we find that 1 person who happens to be a "Hebrew Israelite." Now, Hebrew Israelites on are a separate branch that broke off from the Jews, they believe they are the real Jews and by real Jews they believe that they are the real descendants of the slaves that left Egypt and real descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They also believe that Jesus was black and that anyone who says otherwise should burn in Hades  We talked with this Hebrew Israelite and he got so angry with us saying that we’re not preaching the truth and we’re just spreading around false doctrine. When he asked us where our proof was, we held out a Book of Mormon saying here it is.  Then he said that was not proof and its false doctrine.  Then he continued to walk away cursing us and cussing at us. 

So that happened but hey, he will hear the truth eventually and will be forgiven one day so I'm not too worried for him.

The members feed us very well here.   Hey Bryce, what spaghetti was for you on your mission, pizza is for me.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Mmmm delicious.

I was able to go and see Michelle Gallagher’s baptism from my last area in Pittsburgh. The only requirement from president was I needed to bring someone from my area to the baptism.  She was baptized and I knew immediately that her life would never be the same.   I knew her life would change forever with Jesus Christ in the center of it.   I was very happy to be there for her and to witness that. She was so happy after her baptism.  She knew she just got a new start, a new life and she’s very proud of herself for doing this. 

This is another thing that makes me so happy to be a missionary, to help those people find Christ in their life and endure to the end.  That is something, it’s truly love.

Elder Hunt

Michelle's Baptism!!

The chapel where we had Michelle's baptism

My comp, Elder Griffin

Elder Zarges!!

She was amazing!

Hello friends and family this has been a great one, first things first you thought I would email you tomorrow, but our Mission President let us decide between our companionship whether we want p-day today or tomorrow because of the weather.  Right now, there's a wind chill advisory warning in effect, it’s 7 degrees but the windchill is making it feel like -9 degrees so here I am emailing you today, why? Because neither of us want to walk around in that Antarctic cold, heck no.

Well now to the week, in one word, bizarre.  Good, but bizarre. 

For starters, as a side note, I found my dream car, a Jeep Wrangler Sport.  It's must have 4 doors not 2, with a hard top, not soft.  The color doesn't matter to me but if I get to choose it would be a deep forest green color.

Moving on, we had a bible referral.  She was amazing!   She told us she has had some grief and loss in her life, so we told her where her loved one is.  She was so touched at that point so we shared a couple more scriptures and after she said this, and I'm not kidding you this is the truth, "can I be a member?" We said YES so fast!  She got so excited to read the Book of Mormon and come to church.

Moments like that is what I love about being a missionary, to tell people that no matter what happens in your life God will be there every step of the way.  Also, to tell people that God does not put trials in your life that you can’t handle because that wouldn’t seem fair if he did and so they understand that God is there for His children.

From 1800 miles back to Utah

Elder Hunt

Getting more done

Hello all

I like this new area!! We do a lot more because we have a car so we go around places faster than buses.

Elder Griffin and I get along so well.  We have a lot of fun together.  We both enjoy the same music and stuff.

The members are very nice.  It's a small branch so we don't get fed as often as we did in my last area. However, more importantly, they are always willing to come with us on team ups so that's always nice. They’re great!!

Love,

Elder Hunt

On the banks of the Youghiogheny River

Youghiogheny River

New friend

"There's never a shortage of guns"

McKeesport PA

I like my new area, we live in a house and it's a decent size house. The bedroom and study are upstairs and the kitchen and sitting room are downstairs.  We live next to the railroad and I swear there is a train every 5 minutes honking on the massive train horn. Gotta get used to that.  Also people here are not afraid to call the police on us for "soliciting."  

Our car is a Toyota Rav-4 and it has 18,000 miles on it so it's a newer car.  We get 900 miles a month. 

I'm in the McKeesport Branch and I've never seen anything that small in my life. The members are super nice there is just so few of them.  We had a dinner invite already. The church building used to be a catholic school, but not anymore.  It's a 3-story building but the top 2 floors are closed because of asbestos, which is in the walls and causes cancer. Great!

Elder Griffin, oh man... he is a handful, but we get along really nicely.  He likes to eat.  A lot.   I think he told me he is almost 325lbs.  He hasn't touched my food yet thank goodness. He also likes to do everything.  He drives while working the GPS and being the DJ while I ask what I can do to help get us there safely, so yea.  I'm trying to get him to either let me drive so he can just do the GPS and be the DJ while I drive or the other way around. He also hates taking pictures of himself or that are of him so if you don’t get a good picture for a while, I'm sorry.

Love you all,

Elder Hunt

Our little house

The asbestos ridden ex-catholic school
turned branch building 

The school/branch building on the left and his little white house directly across the street to the right

Elder Hunt's study area

Breakfast WITH a piece of fruit

Transfer time!

 

This week was the slowest one in my life, each day felt like a year. It was a good week though lots of thing happened like Elder Revee got his visa and is heading for Ecuador tomorrow!!

Transfers are on Thursday, Elder Zarges is staying and is training while being a district leader or DT for short. I'm being transferred out to McKeesport. I'm still in the same zone but not the same district. My new companions name is Elder Griffin and all I've heard about him is that he likes to eat a lot...  (including my food) so I don’t know what to do about that.

It's been in the high 20s but the humidity makes it feel 20 and that’s not too cold for me. I am lasting a good long time without freezing up so no it's not cold yet.

Norman is a man who is not interested in progressing. He’s only interested in what our faith is about and why. So I guess he’s going alright.

My new area has a CAR.  I'm so happy to get rid of those buses.


Love you,
Elder Hunt

Michelle, our investigator and soon to be member!!

(Interesting read for you history buffs)

Mellon Institute- Now the Carnegie Mellon University

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Pittsburgh was notorious for its pollution and soot, earning itself monikers like “Smoky City” and “Hell with the Lid Off.” The flourishing coal and steel industries caused the city’s buildings to be stained black, and the city to be dark with smoke even before noon.

Conditions were so bad, white-collar workers often had extra pairs of shirts to change into during the day. And when Frank Lloyd Wright was asked how to fix the city, he glibly said, “Raze it and start over.”

In 1946, the newly elected mayor proposed a less extreme plan to clean up the city and improve the standard of living. Over the next two decades, the surfaces of buildings were cleaned, new, cleaner industries slowly came up, and the level of pollution dropped by nearly 90 percent.

But some buildings wanted to keep a reminder of the city’s smoky past to warn future generations about the consequences of filthy air, and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research was one of them.

The headquarters of the institute, built in 1937, takes up an entire city block. The building is ringed with 62 large columns, each 36 feet high. When the city was cleaning up its act, the institute left one side of some of these iconic limestone columns untouched and black, as a reminder of the smoky air of years past.

The Institute merged with the nearby Carnegie Institute of Technology to become Carnegie Mellon University in 1967. Today the picturesque columns at the front entrance of the building are a popular spot for wedding and occasion photography, and even filming scenes for movies—black soot and all.