Drumroll please......
We're allowed to email everyone now! Some of you may have emailed me and I had to ignore and not write back because my mission president said we could only email our parents and immediate family, but the official statement from Salt Lake says every missionary can email just about anybody! It will still be hard to find time when preparation day gets away from me so quick, but it will be so much easier than writing letters. If you want a handwritten letter, you can always email me your address - as a missionary, I know how fun it is to get handwritten letters. But look forward to future emails from me and send me one so I have your addresses! jill.hunsaker@myldsmail.net
So, that's exciting. Oakland is doing pretty well - I'm staying alive. Jk, it's really safe as long as you're smart around here. We are still working on building up our teaching pool - we didn't find too much time to find new investigators this past week so we don't have any results about the 72 hour kits. We received a lot of referrals this week and we've been working on getting in contact with them but we haven't had too much luck. I went on an exchange on Tuesday with Sister Oa - it's her first transfer but her trainer is Sister Taggart, one of the VC trainers, so she goes on a lot of exchanges like I did when I was with Sister Ure. It was my first time in my area by myself - Sister Sia was in Lafayette - so that was a little nerve-wracking but I managed to make some good plans and contact one of our referrals, Laxman. He grew up in Vermont but he's Nepali and his parents are Hindu. We didn't have any Nepali Books of Mormon - I'm not even sure if they are published in Nepali yet - but we brought him one in Hindi. He's awesome and way interested. We stopped by his house again last night and talked to him for a few minutes. We haven't set up an official time to meet with him because he is really busy right now. He's married, so we asked if his wife has shown any interested - he said she hasn't but he's trying to bring her up to the VC which is how we found out about him. After talking to him for about five minutes outside his home, his wife called for him so we were going to leave but he invited us in. I had a bad feeling about going in, but he assured us it was fine with his wife. We went in and he invited us to sit down on the couch but I could tell something wasn't right. His wife ended up going off on us about how much she disliked the church because of our opposition to same-sex marriage and how we were not welcome in her home. I tried to get out of there fast but Sister Sia kept offering things and even asked if we could pray with them. She said no very angrily and it was a miracle she didn't fight us. She seemed like a high-class lady but the home just felt evil as she yelled at us. We shook her hand and left. Laxman walked us outside and apologized, and we said a prayer with him before we left. It was a really disheartening experience. I was on the verge of breaking down from frustration - we've been working for three whole weeks to find investigators with no success. When we finally find one person who is sincerely interested, all hope seemed lost after meeting his wife - I can't imagine that she'll ever allow him to be baptized.
But right afterwards, a miracle happened. Their neighbor was outside was watering his plants in front of his house. I was not feeling good and I almost got back in the car, but Sister Sia went over to offer him a pass-along card. We ended up having a twenty minute conversation with him right then and there. He said he has always been curious to learn more about the church and he'd been up to the temple grounds (he lived five minutes away from it) but he had never been to the visitors' center. He's had LDS friends in the past, has heard of the background, was raised in a strong Catholic family, and was drawn to his home in Oakland because it was so near the temple. He is so prepared and we are so excited to teach him! He's just a genuinely good guy, and we know he'll find the answer and follow it.
On Thursday, we went to Wheelworks. Elder Bailey asked us to take the loaner car we are borrowing to get an oil change. It ended up taking almost four hours because they were so busy - we just studied the whole time, and tried to talk to some of the people there without acting like solicitors. So that was long. And draining. And while it was good to study so much, it left me really tired and worn down. And then we had an investigator lesson - FINALLY - my first one in this area. But this investigator is an eternal investigator. Her name is Erica - she's married to a less active in our ward and they just had a baby boy a few months ago. Missionaries have been teaching her for forever, but she doesn't agree that God is a immortal, perfect being. She thinks of Him as an energy of love - she thinks that to regard Him as a man and father is offensive to God because her father was not a good father figure. But she's felt His love and knows that He exists. She understands everything we say, but she doesn't accept it. It was totally draining as I tried to ask questions to help her learn but she had her own answer for everything and doesn't have a desire to learn. Her husband wants her to be baptized so so much so they can be sealed in the temple, but I don't know what's going to give before she opens her heart to learning. Only a miracle I guess. We're going to see them weekly and hopefully we'll be able to see progress.
One more big thing happened - Noelle got baptized on Saturday!!! I got to go back to Castro Valley - well, the chapel was in Hayward - and be there! She asked me to give a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost and how we need to learn how to receive, recognize, and respond to the promptings of the Holy Ghost that come from this wonderful gift. I related the story of how we found Noelle and testified that we knew where to go that night because the Holy Ghost prompted us to show up there. Due to special church circumstances the next day, she was confirmed right after her baptism, and then she shared her testimony with everyone there, which included a lot of non-member family members and friends. It was so so powerful. And in her testimony, she told us that she told her mom to cancel our lesson because she knew that if we came over, she would end up accepting the gospel since she already knew it was true. So if we hadn't just shown up, we never would have taught her or her mom Karen! Their relationship is still rocky, but I know they can make it better through the steps they're taking. I got to see a lot of great people from Castro Valley including Bishop Passadore, Brother Brown (Ward Mission Leader), and Sister Hall (Relief Society President). I'm still banking on going back there to finish up my mission and help Gerry get baptized!
So I got to see a lot of little miracles this week. There were ups and downs, but we can't get discouraged. We can - and will - be disappointed at times, but we can't let ourselves get discouraged or we might miss the "Anthony"s or the promptings of the Spirit. I'm slowly learning to keep faith, even when times are hard, and follow the Spirit to know my next move. My favorite scripture right now is 2 Nephi 9:18 which says:
18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.
I have had moments on my mission where my joy has been full, and I had some of those moments this week. And if I can have that ALL THE TIME in the kingdom of God, there's nothing more important than that. That is eternal life. I found this phrase I wrote down a long time ago in my scriptures the other day - Fun is easy. Joy and happiness are hard work. I'm coming to understand that more and more as I am here serving in Oakland, but I know all my work is worth the effort to feel that undescribable joy myself and to see others experience it in their own lives.
So work hard, be happy, and EMAIL me!!! Praying for all of you :)
Hermana Hunsaker
Me and Sister Mitchell - we met in the MTC! Future companions :)
Transfer call night - Wendy's frosties in preparation for the bad news....
Birthday with Sister Lao! We're twins!!! February 21st, 1991
Brother and Sister Jeffers - my adoptive grandparents in the CV ward
Team of CV ward missionaries
The beginning of the end - and she's on the phone
Of course it had to rain on the most complicated transfer day EVER
Sister Sia in my birthday box - we don't have a picture together yet......
On exchange with Hermana Garcia - contacting IN SPANISH at the beach!!!
Exchange with Sister Oa!
Noelle at her baptism! with the original sisters :)
We're allowed to email everyone now! Some of you may have emailed me and I had to ignore and not write back because my mission president said we could only email our parents and immediate family, but the official statement from Salt Lake says every missionary can email just about anybody! It will still be hard to find time when preparation day gets away from me so quick, but it will be so much easier than writing letters. If you want a handwritten letter, you can always email me your address - as a missionary, I know how fun it is to get handwritten letters. But look forward to future emails from me and send me one so I have your addresses! jill.hunsaker@myldsmail.net
So, that's exciting. Oakland is doing pretty well - I'm staying alive. Jk, it's really safe as long as you're smart around here. We are still working on building up our teaching pool - we didn't find too much time to find new investigators this past week so we don't have any results about the 72 hour kits. We received a lot of referrals this week and we've been working on getting in contact with them but we haven't had too much luck. I went on an exchange on Tuesday with Sister Oa - it's her first transfer but her trainer is Sister Taggart, one of the VC trainers, so she goes on a lot of exchanges like I did when I was with Sister Ure. It was my first time in my area by myself - Sister Sia was in Lafayette - so that was a little nerve-wracking but I managed to make some good plans and contact one of our referrals, Laxman. He grew up in Vermont but he's Nepali and his parents are Hindu. We didn't have any Nepali Books of Mormon - I'm not even sure if they are published in Nepali yet - but we brought him one in Hindi. He's awesome and way interested. We stopped by his house again last night and talked to him for a few minutes. We haven't set up an official time to meet with him because he is really busy right now. He's married, so we asked if his wife has shown any interested - he said she hasn't but he's trying to bring her up to the VC which is how we found out about him. After talking to him for about five minutes outside his home, his wife called for him so we were going to leave but he invited us in. I had a bad feeling about going in, but he assured us it was fine with his wife. We went in and he invited us to sit down on the couch but I could tell something wasn't right. His wife ended up going off on us about how much she disliked the church because of our opposition to same-sex marriage and how we were not welcome in her home. I tried to get out of there fast but Sister Sia kept offering things and even asked if we could pray with them. She said no very angrily and it was a miracle she didn't fight us. She seemed like a high-class lady but the home just felt evil as she yelled at us. We shook her hand and left. Laxman walked us outside and apologized, and we said a prayer with him before we left. It was a really disheartening experience. I was on the verge of breaking down from frustration - we've been working for three whole weeks to find investigators with no success. When we finally find one person who is sincerely interested, all hope seemed lost after meeting his wife - I can't imagine that she'll ever allow him to be baptized.
But right afterwards, a miracle happened. Their neighbor was outside was watering his plants in front of his house. I was not feeling good and I almost got back in the car, but Sister Sia went over to offer him a pass-along card. We ended up having a twenty minute conversation with him right then and there. He said he has always been curious to learn more about the church and he'd been up to the temple grounds (he lived five minutes away from it) but he had never been to the visitors' center. He's had LDS friends in the past, has heard of the background, was raised in a strong Catholic family, and was drawn to his home in Oakland because it was so near the temple. He is so prepared and we are so excited to teach him! He's just a genuinely good guy, and we know he'll find the answer and follow it.
On Thursday, we went to Wheelworks. Elder Bailey asked us to take the loaner car we are borrowing to get an oil change. It ended up taking almost four hours because they were so busy - we just studied the whole time, and tried to talk to some of the people there without acting like solicitors. So that was long. And draining. And while it was good to study so much, it left me really tired and worn down. And then we had an investigator lesson - FINALLY - my first one in this area. But this investigator is an eternal investigator. Her name is Erica - she's married to a less active in our ward and they just had a baby boy a few months ago. Missionaries have been teaching her for forever, but she doesn't agree that God is a immortal, perfect being. She thinks of Him as an energy of love - she thinks that to regard Him as a man and father is offensive to God because her father was not a good father figure. But she's felt His love and knows that He exists. She understands everything we say, but she doesn't accept it. It was totally draining as I tried to ask questions to help her learn but she had her own answer for everything and doesn't have a desire to learn. Her husband wants her to be baptized so so much so they can be sealed in the temple, but I don't know what's going to give before she opens her heart to learning. Only a miracle I guess. We're going to see them weekly and hopefully we'll be able to see progress.
One more big thing happened - Noelle got baptized on Saturday!!! I got to go back to Castro Valley - well, the chapel was in Hayward - and be there! She asked me to give a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost and how we need to learn how to receive, recognize, and respond to the promptings of the Holy Ghost that come from this wonderful gift. I related the story of how we found Noelle and testified that we knew where to go that night because the Holy Ghost prompted us to show up there. Due to special church circumstances the next day, she was confirmed right after her baptism, and then she shared her testimony with everyone there, which included a lot of non-member family members and friends. It was so so powerful. And in her testimony, she told us that she told her mom to cancel our lesson because she knew that if we came over, she would end up accepting the gospel since she already knew it was true. So if we hadn't just shown up, we never would have taught her or her mom Karen! Their relationship is still rocky, but I know they can make it better through the steps they're taking. I got to see a lot of great people from Castro Valley including Bishop Passadore, Brother Brown (Ward Mission Leader), and Sister Hall (Relief Society President). I'm still banking on going back there to finish up my mission and help Gerry get baptized!
So I got to see a lot of little miracles this week. There were ups and downs, but we can't get discouraged. We can - and will - be disappointed at times, but we can't let ourselves get discouraged or we might miss the "Anthony"s or the promptings of the Spirit. I'm slowly learning to keep faith, even when times are hard, and follow the Spirit to know my next move. My favorite scripture right now is 2 Nephi 9:18 which says:
18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.
I have had moments on my mission where my joy has been full, and I had some of those moments this week. And if I can have that ALL THE TIME in the kingdom of God, there's nothing more important than that. That is eternal life. I found this phrase I wrote down a long time ago in my scriptures the other day - Fun is easy. Joy and happiness are hard work. I'm coming to understand that more and more as I am here serving in Oakland, but I know all my work is worth the effort to feel that undescribable joy myself and to see others experience it in their own lives.
So work hard, be happy, and EMAIL me!!! Praying for all of you :)
Hermana Hunsaker
Me and Sister Mitchell - we met in the MTC! Future companions :)
Transfer call night - Wendy's frosties in preparation for the bad news....
Birthday with Sister Lao! We're twins!!! February 21st, 1991
Brother and Sister Jeffers - my adoptive grandparents in the CV ward
Team of CV ward missionaries
The beginning of the end - and she's on the phone
Of course it had to rain on the most complicated transfer day EVER
Sister Sia in my birthday box - we don't have a picture together yet......
On exchange with Hermana Garcia - contacting IN SPANISH at the beach!!!
Exchange with Sister Oa!
Noelle at her baptism! with the original sisters :)
