November 16, 2015

So yes I got the package and thank you so much, you havent forgotten what I like. I made some syrup on sunday and my companion loves hot chocolate so that was great. I will make the papers for the journal work out somehow so I don't have to buy a new one haha. But this week has been long, but actually really good. We went on exchanges on Wednesday so I worked with Elder Bowcut, he is one of the district leaders and he is into music and is really smart. After my last email it got rainy and cold and so we were out walking around in the rain and cold some last week. We ended up doing quite a bit of tracting because no one could visit or would cancel on us most of the time. But, our investigators are still moving along at baby speed, but they are moving along. Jaime said last night she is still thinking about baptism pretty seriously. We had stake conference this weekend and Elder Perkins of the 70 came and it was really good, he is only 54 so a lot younger than I thought. Jim Skrocky, the investigator who married a member, stood up in the adult session on Saturday and pretty much bore his testimony of the sabbath day, which was really amazing to everyone there especially his wife. So he is coming along great at this point. Donques is slowing down so he will need some more work and looks like will take some time. We were also able to find a guy named John who seems pretty intrested so we will see how he works out. But we are still eating good, this week we had soup, roast and potatoes, chicken and rice, nothing to fancy, but pretty good from my before mission missionary standards. Actually I think it is just the area. I am glad to hear everything is going good. So before I forget I wont be emailing you again until Thanksgiving which is our preparation day.   Well I guess thats about it for now so have a great week and love you all.

Love Elder Koden Hunt

These pictures are of the Morley Farmhouse where Elder Hunt is currently living

Is he the cutest missionary you ever did see?! 

Not a normal week

So this week was a little different from the normal. We started the week out normal and everything was great. We were able to visit Jaime, and she is coming along but like a snail, Donques is on the verge just taking everything to heart, but just has a little something holding him up. Boyd will talk to us anytime of anyday and actually on wednesday he made us and brother packer ( who is a high councilor and former bishop of the kirtland ward) go to Mcdonalds and get ice cream with him. But then we had zone conference on thursday which was really long. Then on Friday my companion was sick so we  had to keep taking breaks and come in a little early. On saturday we had the veterens day tribute at the sites and that took almost the whole day because we did the performance twice. Mostly all the site sisters just sang, but they did throw us in for 2 songs. So there wasnt as much trying to talk to people as i was getting used to so it was different. The weather is still really nice actually, yesterday it was a little colder, about 50 all day, but no snow, a little rain in the night time, and quite a bit of sun for Ohio.  It is kinda funny that you got snow there before I did here, and I'm in the snow belt they say.  But it is going good here in kirtland, we have a great ward and probably the most energetic and excited ward mission leader there ever was. Whenever we go to his house he just loads us up with whatever are in his cupboards like apple butter and cereal and candy corns and lots of other things. He is pretty much a missionary himself. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love Elder Koden Hunt

Johnson Farm

So yes I am still here in Kirtland. Almost always the trainer stays with his companion for 2 transfers because that is how long the training goes. So me and my companion are still together until december 9 anyway, which means I won't email on the 7, but tuesday the 8 that week.  We were actually able to go to the Johnson farm and take a tour with him (Donald) last week. He drove us down and it was a really good tour, especially for him. He is at the point where he doesn't really remember everything. He loves arbys and is really nice and really funny, he just says it how it is. I have a couple pictures of the Johnson farm I will send. There were a lot of cupcakes that didn't get eaten, so they made us take a bunch home but we didn't eat them. We are still in the same situation of people talking with us but not progressing a whole lot. Jaime did come to church, but Donques decided he didn't want to on Sunday morning. Hopefully our investigators start keeping a few more commitments. I didn't get any mail since I last emailed, so Aunt Shirley's package is still somewhere out there. I really am grateful for everyones support, there isn't many other missionaries that get the letters and packages and things i do so thank everyone so, so much. And thank you so much for your prayers too. So it sounds like things are still really busy there. I guess we have another investigator named Boyd. He is old and lonely and talks our ear off, but he likes us to visit him and really wants to take us to McDonalds for ice cream, so i guess we will be doing that sometime. I'm still getting great meals which is really awesome. Also for Aunt Stacey Hunt there is a sister from Texas here that gets plenty of yalls and all those other texas words in, so we have one proud texan in our mission.I hope ricky gets feeling better, as you know i hate being sick and have been blessed enough to be healthy so far.   The veterans day tribute is at the sites and it is mainly all the site sisters, us, the zone leaders from shaker heights, and the painesville elders, along with a few senior missionaries. We are just singing american songs i guess, I only sing 2 songs I think, like Green Beret if you have heard of that. But the weather has been cooler here for sure and rainy, except today is pretty warm. It hasn't turned to winter yet. We get to rake up lots of leaves now because they are all falling and there is a lot of leaves.  Well have a great week.

Love Elder Koden Hunt

Halloween Preparations

So first, sorry I forgot to tell you that transfers are tomorrow so the week of transfers preparation day is on Tuesday not Monday. This week has been a pretty good week for us. Jaime decided that she didn't want to give us a date yet. She said things are to stressful right now to make that kind of commitment. We met another investigator named Donques Gambrel, he is a black guy and lives a rocks throw from our east boundary in Painesville. He is really wanting to know more. Yesterday we were walking around and saw him walking down the srteet. He said he was running because he was going to try and make it to the NFL. He said his brother almost did,  he said he wanted to come to church on Sunday. We actually have I think 7 or 8 investigators, but Jaime is the only one that comes to church and none read or pray or anything like that. So the challenge is to get them progressing. Last Monday we had a little time so we took a tour of the Morely farm and talked with the Horsely's and they said a Jones with glasses came through that knew me but we couldn't think of there name. My companion is actually a really smart guy and he is really good at explaining scriptures and things that are hard to understand. He is really self reliant and likes to keep things neat and tidy. The weather has been slowly getting cooler but it really hasn't been to bad yet.  Thank you so much for the bread, it is really good all the bread and jam is a lot better than store bread for sure. We are still working on eating it though so hopefully we do before it goes bad. I  grandma Julie letter and allie's and i think that is it. It seems it is taking about 4 days for mail to get here. Yesterday we went and had family home evening at Brother Phillips and decorated cupcakes to give out at the ward trunk or treat tonight. That is where the picture of donald is from. Thanks again for all the updates and letters and packages. It is really awesome to hear from home. Hopefully I will get a few letters out here soon, I finally found the stamps you sent. Well it's going good here and still being fed well.  Have a great week.

Love Elder Koden Hunt

Elder Hunt and Donald

Donald was baptized the first week Koden was in the field

Yummy Cupcakes!

Cold & Rainy

So things went pretty good this week. It is has been kinda cold and rainy all week but luckily it hasn't rained on us. It even snowed a skiff a couple days ago. It is in the 40's right now but it is supposed to warm up a little. So our investigator Jaime said she would give us a baptismal date this week, so hopefully she does. We were able to find 3 or 4 other people who said they were interested so hopefully we can catch them this week and make some progress with them. I went on exchanges again with Elder Demke, but this time we stayed in my area and that is when we found most of the potentials. I got to find out how to wax a car from my companion last week (Like I said before he loves cars and tells me all about everyone that we see), so that was interesting. I ate dinner at Micheal Jackson's house this week, and also had some really good pizza from Sister Tomlinson, she owns a pizza shop called Noce. We have been riding our bikes less and walking a little more because it is no fun to ride in the cold and wet. The Fosters live below us ( a senior couple), and that is nice because they always want to help us and give us ice cream and cleaning supplies and other things. I will have to send you a picture of Donald next week, he got baptised my first saturday here and he is a funny old guy. So the farm house is good and quiet. I haven't talked in church, but i said a prayer in sacrament and on Sunday we gave the lesson in elders quorum. I have figured out that I'm not to good at talking to people, but i kinda already knew that, and I am very impatient just ask my companion haha.  Last week we shopped at Aldi, and I hope I never go there again it has no name brand cheap stuff, nothing good. Luckily we found a Wal-mart to go shop at today. I did get letters from grandma julie, aunt luchel, aunt shirley(2), and dax. Thanks so much for all the letters from you guys and from all the family. Whenever I have a package or a couple letters I hear about it from everybody i see that walks into the sites. But were still chugging along here. I hope it is still going good there. Well i guess thats about all i got for now.

Love Elder Koden Hunt 

Pictures!!!

So this week was a really good week as far as missionary work goes. We went up to fairport harbor which is actually where a lot of saints came to when trying to get to Kirtland, anyway we found quite a few people who had a little interest so that is exciting. We got moved into the Morely Farm on tuesday. It is really cool to live there, but it is kind of small and the floor isn't level, but it is just a cool old house. So i did get the coat but it actually warmed up a little and the sun was shinning for a few days, but they say the cold is coming soon.  I am getting my laundry done, and that is one great thing about the farm is that we don't have to pay anymore to wash our clothes. I got your letter and the money from the burtis and the coat. I sent a letter to grandma julie back at the mtc, but i need to figure out where I drop my letters of to send home and then maybe i can get a few more sent. I got the Johnsons package and email and they had some good questions so I will try and answer them. So we have rode our bikes over 100 miles so far, but we can drive the car around quite a bit more since we moved. So really almost everywhere I have been in Ohio is just one house after another with a lot of trees and not to much open space. It has some slight up and down hills but nothing to big. So a couple things i didn't quite realize before i went out is how important and nice it is when you have good members in the ward who give you refferals ( which we havent gotten any) and that drive you around and feed you, PB and J gets old pretty quick haha. So for our contacting so far we have mainly just go around and stop by members (except now we know almost all of them in our area), former and potential investigators. We have tracted a little bit but my companion hates to tract so I mention it to him and he always tries to think of something else to do. There aren't many anti-mormons, just a lot of devout Catholics. I haven't got anyone elses letters for a week or so if they sent any. It sounds like things are going good there. How is the weather? We got a new bishop on sunday, and the Johnson guy, Dan, got called as second counselor i think he is from st. george. My companion is a pretty good worker and rule keeper. He said his last companion wasn't so he is getting back in the hang of things though. Elder Demke follows the rules and helps Elder Ellsworth keep them. I'm not sure if they have anything or not. My companion has another brother on a mission that is my age, and one in high school, along with a 7 and 3 year old brothers. So hopefully i can get some more letters written and keep everyone happy haha. We also get to go to the church and shoot hoops in the morning so that will be fun. I'm sure I forgot to mention something but i hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Koden Hunt  

His companion- Elder Schmidtke

Fairport Harbor

The Morley Farmhouse (He was excited to get moved)

Kirtland Temple

Conference

Well as you know the good weather ended and it did get cold and rainy. It wasn't super cold. So this week was pretty good, we were able to start teaching 3 new people. One of them was already coming to church and wasn't even being taught by the missionaries. She is really nice and isn't married but has 2 little kids. There is another guy named harry and he is very interesting.  And the other is an older lady who has had a rough life and her sister is a less active member. I also went on exchanges with Elder Demke and he is a really funny guy. He is the one from St. George, he has a twin on a mission right now and is the youngest of 11 kids. We were in Euclid so I got my first taste of what you think of when you think of Cleveland. Brother Phillips is a really good guy, and he feed us 3 times this week, they don't let you go without dinner around here. General Conference was different for sure not watching it on the couch and all of them in your church clothes, but it was really great because everything they talk about you can apply to you or the people you teach. We watched the 3 sessions on saturday at the visitors center. And we watched the 2 on saturday at the church. We are going to get moving hopefully tomorrow or wednesday. We had zone training meeting this week too, but is is just with missionaries from the zone, zone conference isn't for a little bit i think.  I did get everyones letters and they were awesome. Dax is a pretty good writer, and i did bring the camera so hopefully you get some pictures. I also got the seegmillers letter and yours, kaylee, allie, and Grandma Julie. Well I'm sure I forgot something, but everything is going good and I hope I make it through winter.