Pictures from the MTC

Me and Parker with our nametags



Saying adios to Elder Hunsaker



My companion insisted on taking this picture, and I knew Mom would want to see it



Me and my companion Hermana Ivey



My whole district



Me and Hermana Willis :)



My district and our teacher Hermano Goodman

Last post from the MTC!

I can't believe this is the last time I'm writing from the MTC!!! It's a little surreal - I still feel like I'm going to be here forever. But SO MUCH has happened in these past nine days. I'll just include a brief little summary and then all the pictures from my time here at the MTC.

The biggest thing was my whole district leaving. So, starting with last Friday: we had in-field orientation all day where they helped us learn important things like how to find people, how to work with members, and similar things that we haven't been able to practice here. It was all day so that was kind of crazy, but it sped by and it was a lot of fun. It got me really excited to leave...and then I realized I was still here for another week and a half haha. But it taught me so so much. Sunday was a little different too - our district all sang "Come Thou Fount" en espanol during sacrament meeting as a little farewell. We also went to the departure devotional for all missionaries leaving the next week and performed again - Elder Reeder was asked to sing his song again so I accompanied him. I saw Hermana Willis there and we took a picture together because she was leaving the next day.

Monday was a weird day - it was our last day of classes but we didn't do too much. Both of our teachers ended up talking about their missions and giving us some last minute advice. We didn't see much of each other throughout the day because people were packing and doing laundry and all that stuff but we all sat down to dinner together. The first people to leave were Elder Hatch and Elder Christiansen (for the D.C. North mission) - they left Monday night around 8pm. We all sang Hasta Ver (God Be With You Til We Meet Again) right before they left and almost everyone was crying. I didn't expect to become such good friends with all of these people in only nine weeks. I know they are going to be such great missionaries - and it was so cool to watch their testimonies and their enthusiasm to share the gospel grow.

The next morning, the rest of them left: Hermana Riter, Elder Reeder and Elder Redd, all going to Reno NV. We all had to walk Hermana Riter to the travel office so that her companion didn't have to walk back alone, so we said goodbye to all of them at that time. And then there were three: Hermana Johnson, Hermana Ivey and myself. Tuesday was pretty chill - we didn't have a class anymore so we just studied and went to the devotional. We also took a shuttle off the MTC campus and went to the DMV that morning - Hermana Ivey had to get a copy of her driving record. We talked to a lot of people there, but mostly just members. We talked to a guy that was not a member, but he was in a hurry and wasn't really interested. It kind of gave me a small taste of what it's going to be like when I get to San Fran next week.

We started visitor center training Wednesday by going to Temple Square and receiving a tour from the sister missionaries there. It was a normal nice tour - and then our instructor kind of ripped it to shreds. Visitor center missions get a really bad stereotype in the church usually because they act like tour guides. I thought that before my mission but that's not what it's supposed to be. They expect us to give people converting experiences in ten minutes sometimes - it usually took me a couple lessons before I got to that point with any of my investigators that I taught here at the MTC. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, but I know that the Lord knows I can do this. We had class afterwards, and practiced role-playing greeting people at our visitor's centers which was really difficult. We're expected to get to know someone and ask thought-provoking, inspired questions in the first five minutes, before we even start the tour, so we can recognize their needs and how we can help them. It's going to take a lot of practice, but I'm excited. I'm happy to know that working at a visitor's center isn't the "easy way out"; it's still going to be a real mission. From what I've heard recently and from my instructors, we spend half the day at the center and the other half proselyting. So it's going to be busy.

On Wednesday night, we also started working as online missionaries. We were given emails to respond to from real people, and we were on chat for an hour answering questions. I didn't have any investigators on chat that really wanted to know - they just had questions and one called our church "bold and arrogant" because we believe in a living prophet. So...no success yet. But it was a really cool experience and it made me really excited to start sharing the gospel todo dia, cada dia (all day, every day). Today's my P-day, but I might just get on chat anyways and talk to some people if I have some time.

Last thing, really quick: yesterday was probably the best Thanksgiving I've had in a few years, probably since I've been away from home. My first Thanksgiving away from home was in St. George with family but I got dreadfully sick after dinner. I don't really remember the next Thanksgiving, but I was probably in Pleasant Grove with family. And then last Thanksgiving, I hung out with my ex-boyfriend after my parents didn't come out to Utah like they were going to. That all being said, this Thanksgiving was GREAT - I didn't expect it to be so good. For starters, Elder Holland came to speak to us - we knew he was coming because Hermana Ivey has a friend who is a security guard here and he told us, so we got a really great seat. We were in line all morning, from 7:30 until 9:30. He brought a lot of his family - his theme was helping us feel like a part of his family since we're away from ours so his grandkids performed musical numbers and bore their testimonies and things like that. His wife spoke and then he talked about a few things he was grateful for - it was amazing, like always. After that, we had Thanksgiving lunch/dinner but it was pretty much the same food we have every Sunday - I'm not a fan of Thanksgiving food anyways so I wasn't disappointed. We got to do a service project, assembling health and education kits for people in Mali. Then we had a little Thanksgiving program which was much less formal than most meetings - we were able to clap after musical numbers and just have fun. There was a little Thanksgiving skit which was corny, but it was nice having this big relaxed meeting. And then to end the day, they gave everyone a bag of popcorn and we watched 17 Miracles, which I had never seen. I bawled, as expected.

This Thanksgiving, I focused mainly on my gratitude for the gospel; the blessings it has given me, the faith of the pioneers who came before me, the faith of the prophets today and in the past, the Book of Mormon, and mostly my Savior. Sharing the gospel is not easy, but when I recognize all the blessings that have come to me through my knowledge of the gospel, I am so grateful. Sister Holland shared a story of when she finished reading the Book of Mormon on a train one day and after she finished, she turned to the man next to her and just kept saying "This book is true!" They talked about it for awhile, and he was later baptized. When we recognize all the blessings that come from what we know, we will want to share the gospel with everyone. We have what they need, and we need to learn to share it with everyone.

Next time I write, I'll be in San Francisco! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Day!!!

Hermana Hunsaker

Two more weeks!!!

Hi everyone! I don't have too much to say - mostly I'm just anxious to get out of here and get to San Francisco! Today's my last normal P-day with my district - next Wednesday most of them will be gone and I'll be at Temple Square for the morning. It's weird because every day has been more or less the same for the past 7 weeks but things are starting to change fast. This Friday, we have in-field orientation all day where they prep us to go out into the field. Parker didn't rave about it too much, but I'm so excited - even though I'll still have a week and a half before I get to leave. I should get my travel plans tomorrow night and then it'll feel more real. Right now, I've already spent 2 months of my short mission here and sometimes I feel like this is where I'm going to be the whole time - but the real countdown to the field will start once I see those travel plans. Our whole district is really excited to go, and we've been speaking in Spanish almost constantly for the past few days in an effort to be better prepared. I know the Spanish well enough - I can't even count how many lessons I've given in Spanish at this point - 6 a week, plus all the random teaching practices we do during our classes: I've probably taught over 60 times in Spanish, even if some of them were short 5-minute blurbs. I can't wait to feel 100% comfortable with it, and sometimes I still hold back from saying certain things because I'm not sure exactly how to say it, but I've learned more Spanish in the past two months that most people learn in a couple years of high school. So....I think I'm ready to go.

But I'm really excited for Visitor Center Training - I have a few friends that did it last week, a couple more doing it this week, and they all say really great things. The one thing I am not so excited for is getting completely ready everyday. I've been told that Visitor Center sisters get a little extra time to get ready for the day because they have to look perfect. I'm already sick of getting dressed up everyday and doing my hair and putting on my makeup and all that jazz. I understand the importance - it's just going to be hard for me, even though it's such a little thing. At Temple Square, the sisters can't even put their hair in a bun or ponytail or anything like that - it has to be down and done. I'll just have to see what it's like at the Oakland Temple Visitor's Center......I'm also a little nervous for all the time we spend in the referral center during our week of training. My job at Vivint taught me how to talk on the phone to strangers - but that doesn't mean I like to do it. It's been so nice being at the MTC without a cell phone, or anything like that - using a phone again is going to be weird. There are some missionaries that serve their entire missions in the referral center, usually due to medical problems, so I can't complain - but it's going to be hard. I know how to do tech support over the phone, but I have NO IDEA how to talk about the gospel over the phone - especially in Spanish.

I'm almost out of time, but I want to share a quick thought. My companion and I were chosen to participate in the teaching experience for the new missionaries that come in today. Essentially, what we do is walk in, talk to the person, get to know them and their needs a little bit, and then a huge group of 30ish new missionaries finish teaching the person as a group. I'm a little nervous, but it's in English and it's what I've been doing for the past two months so it shouldn't be hard (even though I'm starting to think I can teach the gospel better in Spanish than in English now). We had a training Monday night, and after asking us all what our purpose was as missionaries, he said that our purpose is "to offer the Atonement to everyone." I had never thought of it in that way before, but that's what I'm doing as a missionary. Ever since then, I've been thinking of how I can relate all my lessons back to Christ and His Atonement. I haven't done it every time, but I've noticed a powerful change in the Spirit when I have. The thing I love so much about this gospel is the fact that it fully explains the Atonement. It's not just for huge sins; it's really for everyone as long as we come unto Christ. I think I wrote something about this last week so I won't say much more, but I know that if we truly understand the Atonement, we will want to follow Christ and do whatever He asks of us. President Hinckley said, "The church doesn't need anymore people. The people need the church." They need the church because they need to understand the Atonement - I don't believe that any other church explains the Atonement with more clarity because I don't think any book other than the Book of Mormon truly explains Christ's Atonement.

We had a devotional last night where the speaker, Bradley Foster of the Seventy, talked about consecration. I hadn't thought of my mission as living the law of consecration, but that's really what I'm doing. After the devotional, someone in my district said, "We are standing as proxy for Jesus Christ." I'm having fun, but this is also a very sacred obligation. It just made me think of my life before this; have I lived my life with that statement in mind? I don't think I have before now, and even now I know I can do better. It's just something to think about. We watched a movie as part of that devotional about John Tanner, a convert to the church that was the epitome of consecration. I don't know the name of the movie, but if you haven't seen it, you should. Neal A. Maxwell once said, "Consecration is the only surrender which is also a victory." Some people might say that being humble and serving the Lord - giving everything up to do His work - is crazy, but I know it's not. I've come to love Matthew 16:24-26 as I've been reading of the Savior's earthly ministry: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." I reread Holland's talk from Conference this morning, and it just reminded me that everything we do should be in response to our love for God. As we acknowledge His hand in our lives, there's no way we can continue to live our lives without consecrating them to the Lord and His work. I don't have the exact quote, but in the talk, Holland said something like "the true sign of love is loyalty."

Anyways, just a thought. My P-day next week is Friday so I'll write again then and let you know how the training is going.

Love you!!!

Last month here!

Well, more like three weeks. Time has slowed down a lot as we've all started our countdown to leaving the MTC, but I'm trying not to focus on that. I'm just taking one day at a time, and working as hard as I can. I started running in the mornings this week, so I've had a lot more energy and focus. We had a fireside on Sunday talking about the power of our nametags, and so I'm trying to focus on that every day. Every morning when I put it on, it reminds me to work as hard as I can because I am literally a representative of Christ. Just something I've had on my mind recently.

The one thing I don't like about my nametag is the fact that it doesn't have my first name. I'm getting used to being called "Hermana Hunsaker" but I must admit that I miss my first name a little bit. I never liked my first name growing up, but living without it makes me feel a little strange sometimes. Also, I talk to at least five new people a day because they see my nametag and ask me if I'm related to a Joe Hunsaker or a Karen Hunsaker or a Michelle Hunsaker. It might be a good tool on my mission, but right now it gets a little old. But there's always a chance. It's just funny to think that most people don't realize how common my last name is. I'm really excited for the next 16 months, but it'll be really nice to hear my name again when I get home. And this isn't about me or my first name anyways - the most important name on my tag is Christ's.

Anyways, news for the week - because of the faulty fire alarm last week, we had to move out of our room on Friday so they can fix it. Everyone on the fourth floor was relocated. Some people had to move to a completely different building, like my friend Hermana Willis, but we only had to move down to the 3rd floor. I just hung all my hangers of clothes on my arm and walked it down and put it right in the closet, so the move was a pretty easy one. But the craziest part of the story is that no one told the sisters on the 3rd floor that we were coming! We moved into a room with 4 other hermanas, and they were taking up five closets. I got the one empty closet, and my companion wasn't able to unpack until that night when they came back and moved everything out of the closet. So....I was a little negative because it wasn't very well-organized, but it's turned out great. Hermana Ivey and I are no longer in the same room as Hermana Riter and Hermana Johnson, the other two sisters in our district, but they're only two doors down so we usually hang out for a bit every night before bed - and we see them all day with class and everything. Our new roommates are native Spanish speakers, but they all grew up in the States so their English is perfect and they usually speak English. It's been nice having them around to help us say things right, but I'm a little self-conscious sometimes. They're all serving Spanish-speaking missions: two in San Diego, one in DC and the other in Chile. We don't see them very often, only at morning when we wake up and night when we go to bed, but we all get along great.

Teaching has been much better. Hermana Ivey and I have gotten much better at planning our lessons and our "investigators" are gaining testimonies - it's cool to be able to recognize that. I don't dread teaching anymore - my Spanish is good enough that I can get through a lesson with very few pauses, and our lessons have become much more effective as we've used the scriptures and asked good questions and really tried to recognize the needs of the people we teach. Just comparing myself to where I was seven weeks ago, I have learned more than I've ever learned in such a short space of time. I know the only way I've been able to do that is through the Lord. I wonder if I could learn this much in school if I just prayed 10+ times a day. My testimony of the power of prayer has grown tremendously.

I'm running out of time, but I want to share a few things I've learned this week. We had a workshop yesterday where we talked about how to increase our faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and how we can help our investigators to do so. I've thought about this question a lot since General Conference, after listening to the talks from Elder Holland and Elder Hales. I gained a firm testimony of the Atonement during my freshman year of college when I was having a really rough time, and Jesus Christ is the center of my testimony. I used to think that the only reason Christ came to the world was to perform the Atonement, of which I am so grateful for, but he did more. He came to set an example - to show us exactly how to live our lives. I thought it was enough to take my burdens and my big sins to him - but it's not. If knowing Him and understanding that Atonement at the level that I do doesn't change me, I don't know Him at all. If I don't strive to be more like Him by following His example and His commandments, the Atonement really doesn't do much for me. I've read a lot of scriptures this week - none of them which I can find right now - that basically say that the Atonement is only for those who repent of all their sins and try to become more like Him. That doesn't mean it's not available to all people - it's available to everyone who takes advantage of it. But if we take it for granted and don't use the opportunity to repent everyday and become better, we aren't entitled to all the relief it can bring to our lives. We watched a Mormon Message during the workshop about a woman who was a single mom with four kids at the age of 27, and got into drugs and dealing and even went to prison. And it ruined 27 years of her life. But through the Atonement, she can hold her head high. The gift of the Atonement is really a miracle.

I love when Christ himself talks about the Atonement in His own words in the Doctrine and Covenants. In Section 19, verses 15-19, Christ says: "For behold, I God have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent. But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I. Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and Spirit." And then in Section 45, he tells our Heavenly Father, "Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed...Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name that they may come unto me and have everlasting life." That's how I think of Christ and His Atonement. I saw the Joseph Smith movie Sunday night and everything he went through, and I thought of all this woman has been through, and all I've been through, and all my family and friends have been through - and that's only a tiny fraction of the pain that Christ felt. I cannot even comprehend how he bore that pain.

I've always been grateful for all He has suffered, but I've failed to recognize just how in debt I am to him. He did so much for me - and all He asks is that I strive to become more like Him. It sounds so easy and simple when I put it that way, but it's taking me a long time to realize that. When you learn to put all your burdens on the Lord, He really does succor his people. No matter how many mistakes we've made, or how many we continue to make, He takes that upon Himself so we can feel relief and optimism and confidence in this life. And all He asks is that we come to Him. I don't always understand every commandment from the Lord, but I know that because the Lord loves us, He only gives us commandments for our happiness. Elder Zwick of the Seventy spoke last night at our devotional and quoted President David O. McKay - I didn't get the whole quote down, but the first part of it is "What you sincerely in your heart think of Christ will determine what you are". I want my character and my actions to reflect my love, admiration and respect for Christ. I want people to want to know Christ because they know me (I think that's a quote from somewhere too), because I know that knowing Christ can change the lives of everyone who turns to Him. And that's why I'm out here, doing what I'm doing.

Anyways, sorry for the novel. I'll try taking a lot of pictures this week since my district is all leaving soon. If you took the time to read this - thanks. I hope you enjoyed it.