Brighton's Baptism!

Hello Everyone!

This week started out a little slow, but it was a great weekend! All week the clouds couldn't decide if they wanted to rain or not. As a result, we didn't bike much and stayed close to the car just in case. The area has been needing the rain though, so we're not complaining. 

Highlight of the week: Brighton was baptized and confirmed! Her baptism was really special. Her mom and sister are working on coming back to church. Her mom was very emotional. Though she has been away from the church for so long, she always knew it was true, and we knew it was a day she had been waiting for. There was a really good turnout, with almost all of the young women there to support Brighton. 

I gave a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which Brighton received at confirmation yesterday. I shared these scriptures from 2 Nephi 31: "(17) Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost. (18) And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive." I  know that the path Brighton set herself on at baptism will lead her to her Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ. I also know that she has a loving Heavenly Father who provided the Holy Ghost to help her on that path.

We had three of our investigators there for the baptism. Someone jokingly told one (Patrick) that it would be his turn next week. He told us he didn't know if he'd be ready next week, but that he was looking forward to his own baptism. He's hoping to be baptized next month, so we're excited to help him with that goal.

After the baptism, Sister Alder and I had a little pancake party to celebrate.

I'm grateful for the tender mercies we've seen this week. I hope you all are doing well!

Love,

Sister Brittany Hunt

5/5/41

Hello Everyone!

We had a lot of cancelled appointments this week, so we knocked on doors a lot. We are working on finding new ways to meet people. The ward members here do great missionary work, so we've been visiting with more of them to help them in their missionary work.

Brighton had her interview this week! We are so excited for her to be baptized this Saturday. She has developed a testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel on the earth, and it has been so fun to watch her and her family progress. 

Patrick, the man we met on Memorial Day, came to church. He had a great experience, and set a return appointment. We're excited to start teaching him!

We got a ward mission leader this week! And his wife was called as a ward missionary. They moved in recently and are ready to get working. It'll be fun to work with them.

We're having a hard time believing it's already June again. May went way too fast.

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Brittany Hunt 

5/30/17

Hello Everyone! 

It's been a pretty good week! We got transfer news yesterday and Sister Alder and I will be staying here in Venice another transfer. Which means we'll both be here for Brighton's baptism!

Tuesday we went to visit a member who is working on coming back to church. We often meet on Tuesdays, and she's a little further north than we usually drive because of our mile allotment. We got there, and she didn't come to the door. We gave her a call, but she had left her phone out (so we were closer than she was). Finally, I said a quick silent prayer on the doorstep that the dog would bark so we could keep the appointment and not have to drive all the way back. Just then, the dog barked and came running out, followed by the sister we came to visit. Prayers are answered! It was a good visit, and we'll be going back tonight.

Wednesday and Thursday we had an exchange, and I was up in Sarasota with Sister Felt. I've now been in 3 areas with her (which is all of her areas). We read the Book of Mormon with some of the young women in the ward. We promised each of them that they could receive an answer to a question they had been pondering while we read. Each started with a prayer. Two of the three were a little more hesitant, but accepted the challenge. They each picked where they wanted to read (one randomly opened, one used the index, and one picked a chapter from a book she liked). I watched as each, no matter the question, was able to find her answer. It built my faith that the Book of Mormon answers questions, and our Heavenly Father answers prayers. 

Memorial day was great yesterday! We tried contacting on Venice Island, where more people would be out for the holiday. We met a nice older veteran, Patrick, who had met with missionaries years ago, and had been meaning to go to church but never did. We talked with him about the importance of the family and how God designed families in order to bless us. He said he'd come to church and meet with us again this week.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Brittany Hunt

5/15/17

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had a good Mothers' Day! It was good getting to talk to family. Here are a few highlights from the week:

The part member family we are working with are doing well! It was especially fun this week when we met with them and one of the sisters (who is a member) was answering questions for her sister, who is getting ready for her baptism. They've faced their share of opposition, but it is inspiring how they have determined to hold strong to their choice to come back to church.

We spent half the week inside, as Sister Alder has been sick. She's been a trooper though and it's been good to get some things done here that we haven't had time for in the last few weeks.

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Brittany Hunt

5/8/17

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all having a good Monday. Fun fact: Sister Alder and I reported to the MTC together 15 months ago this week. She made gooey butter cake to celebrate, and it was pretty good!

 This week we have been working really hard to talk to everyone we come in contact with. I set some personal goals not to miss a single person, and it has been fun to watch the miracles that have come from that. This has changed my mission than most of the other goals I have set. It makes more sense how it is possible to find yourself as you lose yourself.

We had some pretty defining lessons with investigators. We had one sister we've been meeting with summarize all we've been teaching her, and we realize she has soaked in a lot more than we thought. She is going to be totally on board as soon as she has her "aha" moment. That was a pretty big highlight this week. She's awesome, and we're grateful for the work she's putting in to know for herself that this gospel is true.

We had a lesson with the young women we hare helping prepare for baptism all about how to study the scriptures. She is starting to recognize the Spirit through peaceful feelings as she reads. We're excited for her progress! 

We went back to try to share more of our message with a woman we met, but haven't had super consistent contact with. She listened, but was a little distracted by her grandson. Her husband came out at one point, and seemed a bit standoffish, but listened. He interrupted at one point to tell us that while he was in the hospital this last time, he read from the Book of Mormon (someone must have left a copy) and he had some very personal experiences that helped him know the parts he read are true and real. We hope to see them again this week.

I hope you all have a good week, and a happy Mothers' Day!

Love,

Sister Brittany Hunt

4/17/17

Hello Everyone!

This week was transfers. We drove two hours up to Tampa to get Sister Alder and drop off Sister Felt's luggage in Sarasota on Tuesday, Sister Alder and I drove back Wednesday, and Thursday we drove back up and down to swap out mission cars. So road trips have been fun.

Just before the first trip up, Sister Felt and I had a great lesson with an awesome family we've been working with. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and the mom was able to teach her daughters more about the significance of Christ visiting the people here in the Americas. One of the daughters picked for herself a date to be baptized. We're all pretty excited.

I'll miss Sister Felt a lot, but it's fun to be companions with Sister Alder! Not very many missionaries get to be companions with friends from high school, so the ward has got a kick out of that. We're using it to our advantage to work harder and support each other's teaching better. 

We had a really good Easter. We didn't have a basket so we used a mixing bowl instead. Sister Alder and I sang "Christ the Lord has Risen Today" at the ward Easter Brunch. I love the message of this holiday, that Christ died for us and rose again, and because He did, we can live again. If anyone hasn't had a chance to watch "Prince of Peace" on mormon.org yet, go watch it! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Sister Brittany Hunt

4/10/17

Hello Everyone! 

I realize I haven't written a group email in a while. I've been in Venice this last transfer (I went from the northernmost sister area to the southernmost sister area) with Sister Felt, who I served with in Tampa 2. 

We just got transfer news today! I will be staying here in Venice and Sister Felt will be transferring to Sarasota and training a new sister. I will be companions with Sister Alder!

We had a pretty good week. A lot of people we've been working with came to church. 

I am super excited about the Easter video the church put out, "Prince of Peace." I encourage you all to watch it and share it! It's at the top center of mormon.org right now. It is all about how Christ brings us peace. There are other things connected to the video (principles of peace) including videos and scriptures about forgiveness, compassion, prayer, etc. I've been studying the scriptures suggested for each in context of the chapter referenced (many are out of the New Testament, about the Savior's life) and as I have been doing that, I have been learning more about how to develop those traits myself. I especially loved studying about forgiveness. I have been impressed that even though Jesus Christ had many opportunities to react to His circumstances around Him, He never gave in, and turned outward to help others even when hard things happened in His personal life.  

We've been sharing this video a lot. We went to contact a media referral (people who request online  a visit from missionaries) who turned out to be more interested in telling us what we think is wrong than in hearing what we think, and knocked on doors in his area afterward. We got talking to some people who were fixing a house, and after a minute one of them invited us to come talk to his daughter. We shared the Prince of Peace video with her, and it really touched her. We told her that the same church and gospel Christ established has been brought back. She felt the Spirit and agreed to meet us for a tour of the church building the next day. During the tour, we showed her a picture of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane next to a picture of Christ after He rose again and talked with Mary when she came to visit His seplecure. She asked when He rose again and we taught about the Resurrection. We testified that He really died for her and rose again for her. The Spirit was strong and confirmed that what we said was true. 

Another highlight- we got to teach mutual! We showed the young women how to share the video and other messages from church that are meaningful to them. It was a lot of fun. 

I hope you all have a good week and a Happy Easter!

Love,

Sister Brittany Hunt