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

2/27/17

Hi everyone!

Sorry it's been a while since my last email. It's been a pretty crazy transfer. We had a good week though! We are now living in our area, which is nice for miles.

This week we had zone conference. One of my favorite trainings was given by Sister Cooper, my mission president's wife. She showed us the picture of a building after an earthquake. The person who came to see it at first noted how it looked a lot better than the other buildings, but a local told him that it had lost the entire first floor. This was because an extra floor (hence extra weight) was added to the top without strengthening the foundation before the earthquake. In the same way, we need to strengthen our foundation as life piles up on us. I also liked the scripture that was shared: " And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall" (Helaman 5:12).  When we build our foundation on Christ, no matter what happens to us, we will be alright.

We went to deliver a Bible for a lady who requested one, then changed her mind, then contacted the church again. We were hesitant at first, but she was actually quite open and it turned out to be a great experience. 

The ward members are awesome. A lot of them are pretty excited about missionary work right now. It's fun to see others excited to share the gospel.

I hope you're all doing well!

Sister Brittany Hunt

Fw: 1/30/17

So... Not quite sure what area I'll be in next Monday, but I hope you all have a good week between now and then!

Love,
Sister Brittany Hunt

She was having technical difficulties sending a group email with the mailing system, so she asked me to forward on a message:)

Thanks for you for your support, friendship and encouragement!! 

With Love,

Lari Hunt

On Monday, January 30, 2017 2:19 PM, Brittany Christine Hunt <brittany.hunt@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hello Everyone!

This week has been kind of crazy! Last Monday I got the transfer news
that I would be opening Hudson C (yay whitewashing!) in a trio. Hudson
has a part of the area I started my mission in. Tuesday, we had a
special missionary broadcast in which we heard from apostles and other
general authorities. They talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ
(faith, repentance, baptism, receiving he gift of the Holy Ghost, and
enduring to the end) and introduced some missionary schedule changes.
After the broadcast, everyone transferred to their new areas. Prior to
seeing them at the broadcast, my new companions hadn't heard we would
be going to Hudson... so we were all a little surprised to learn we
would be going back to Odessa (their current area, my old area) and
eventually moving over to Hudson. It is super weird being back in an
old area... But it's been fun.

We taught part of 3rd hour in church. The topic was the 2 great
commandments (love God, love your neighbor) found in Matthew 22:36-40.
We shared this quote, one of my favorites from Elder Holland: "My
brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is
to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength--that's
the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity
is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength.
That love is the foundation stone of eternity, and it should be the
foundation stone of our daily life. Indeed it is only with that
reassurance burning in our soul that we can have the confidence to
keep trying to improve, keep seeking forgiveness for our sins, and
keep extending that grace to our neighbor." I know this is true.

My new companions are Sister Swanson and Sister Porter. Sister Porter
hit her halfway mark this week, so we went to get doughnuts to
celebrate :)

1/30/17

So... Not quite sure what area I'll be in next Monday, but I hope you all have a good week between now and then!

Love,
Sister Brittany Hunt

Hello Everyone!

This week has been kind of crazy! Last Monday I got the transfer news
that I would be opening Hudson C (yay whitewashing!) in a trio. Hudson
has a part of the area I started my mission in. Tuesday, we had a
special missionary broadcast in which we heard from apostles and other
general authorities. They talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ
(faith, repentance, baptism, receiving he gift of the Holy Ghost, and
enduring to the end) and introduced some missionary schedule changes.
After the broadcast, everyone transferred to their new areas. Prior to
seeing them at the broadcast, my new companions hadn't heard we would
be going to Hudson... so we were all a little surprised to learn we
would be going back to Odessa (their current area, my old area) and
eventually moving over to Hudson. It is super weird being back in an
old area... But it's been fun.

We taught part of 3rd hour in church. The topic was the 2 great
commandments (love God, love your neighbor) found in Matthew 22:36-40.
We shared this quote, one of my favorites from Elder Holland: "My
brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is
to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength--that's
the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity
is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength.
That love is the foundation stone of eternity, and it should be the
foundation stone of our daily life. Indeed it is only with that
reassurance burning in our soul that we can have the confidence to
keep trying to improve, keep seeking forgiveness for our sins, and
keep extending that grace to our neighbor." I know this is true.

My new companions are Sister Swanson and Sister Porter. Sister Porter
hit her halfway mark this week, so we went to get doughnuts to
celebrate :)

1/9/17

Hello Everyone!

This week we had some plans fall through, so we had a little more time on our hands than we were comfortable with. We knocked on some doors, and had some unplanned opportunities to teach. We prayed that we would be able to find people to teach, and our prayers were answered! 

It's been chilly this week! This weekend got into the upper 40s in the evenings... I am so glad I'm not serving somewhere with snow!

I've been reading/listening to old conference talks, and one I really liked this week was "Following Up" by Elder Ballard in April 2014. It has some great ideas for sharing the Gospel, I encourage you to read it! 

I hope you're all doing well! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. 

Have a great week!

Sister Brittany Hunt

Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone! 

I'm excited for everyone to get back on normal schedules this week. Holidays are a little more tricky for meeting with people, but we still had some awesome lessons and contacts. I will miss the Christmas hymns playing in the clubhouse though.

We felt impressed to study how to help people make and keep commitments, and were able to apply what we learned with the people we teach. I love John 7:17- "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (emphasis added). As we act, we can know if what we are acting on is truth. As the people we've been teaching started to understand why we ask them to act (by praying, reading, coming to church, etc.) they started to understand better the doctrine. One investigator was able to identify that the Holy Spirit was teaching her as we helped her keep her commitment. 

New Year's Eve we got to go to a baptism for some of the 8-year-olds in the ward! We had a quick lesson and treat with Lymariz and Alberto. That's about it... I hope you all had a good New Year! It was good to reflect on where I'm at on some of my goals.

Happy New Year, and have a great week!

Sister Brittany Hunt