Dear Mom,

I am sure that I had giant grin while we were talking but I was getting mad that the WiFi kept cutting out. I am glad that you and Jake are feeling better now but I am sad that Dad is sick now. Can't you all just stay healthy?

I am glad you enjoyed the Nutcracker. Sounds like a fun trip. I do not remember the Lights at Temple Square but I do remember driving through a park in Grandpa Mellor's van many years ago. There were dinosaurs and a water serpent in a pond. It was the year I received the Tonka Firetruck that transformed into a robot. I remember because while we were driving through the park I pinched my finger with that toy and had a blood blister.

The interviews with President Dalton went well. I also received 6 letters while at the Mission Office. 4 were the letters from Thanksgiving that everyone sent, 1 was the Christmas Letter from the Benson's, and 1 was from Jessica. The other Elders were pretty jealous. Elder DeLaMare received some bad news though. After Christmas his Grandmother on his mom's side died. He was obviously very sad but he did go out to work yesterday. I was impressed.

Tell Sydnie and Mimi hi for me. And what is up with this timing? Jake is too sick to talk with me but he can go play with Riley and Alex and Cooper? 

Please send more pants. I do not know if the glue will come out or not. We ended up not shopping today but I believe next week. (or the next)

It is weird to hear about all these babies because I know that they will be much bigger by the time I see them. Also, I know you guys miss me but you don't have to have your own earthquake just to feel close to me.

The investigators I want to talk about today are Jose, Lidia, and Juan Manuel. Juan is 11 years old and has lived in Bolivia with his Grandma for the past 2 years. Jose and Lidia were in Bolivia for 3 weeks doing paperwork to bring him here. While in Bolivia they visited the Cochabamba, Bolivia Temple. Jose is excited to come back to church and Lidia is motivated as well.

I think that is about it for this week and this year. I am tired of writing so I will wait until 2015 to talk to you guys again. I love you all but that is the way it has to be. Happy New Year! Stay well.

Elder Hunter

Dear Kate,

I have not found something to splurge on yet but I am sure I will. Stay safe in the snow. Benjamin, the Mamita's son that talked with you guys for a second, really loved the snow and thought it was hilarious that mom took a bite out of it. Happy New Years!

Elder Hunter

Dear Grandma and Grandpa Hunter,

I am glad that you enjoyed Christmas. We did not quite have 34 inches of snow but I did eat a lot of barbecue. I will keep working on the language so you can hear my testimony when I get home. I love you guys. Happy New Year!

Elder Hunter

Look what I got!

Letters from home.

Merry Christmas to me

The stockings were hung

• Felis Navidad

Christmas with Hermana Silvia

Elder Hunter, Elder Riveros, Eldear DeLaMare, Elder Pineda

Christmas gift from Iglesias Family

Zone Conference Christmas Party Gift Exchange

Elder Hunter, Elder Riveros, Hermana Garrison

Elder Hinton, Elder Hunter

There is a three hour difference between here and there I believe. I will call around 5 or 6 here so it should be around 2 or 3 there. We will be calling from the house of the mamita for food. I do not have a phone number but I think if there are a lot of issues I am allowed to email you. I think... Lets just pray there will not be issues. I am only allowed 40 minutes to talk. If you have questions in mind or topics you want to talk about then I think we can use this time effectively. The rule is 40 minutes because 3 years ago an elder talked for 16 hours... about what I do not know.

Nobody in the pension was transferred but Elder Wooten left the district so now I am the last from my original district. The picture in the bus station is with me and Elder Wooten. The tree with the nativity is the house of Mamita Estrella. She set it up after we cleared out the staircase that was there. The board game is called Attaque and is just like Risk. We played it the Pday before Elder Wooten left because he was dying of boredom without soccer. We only played it one time. There are six elders in our district and the picture had the zone leaders as well. Elder Antonio is from Mexico and is the district leader. His new companion is Elder Rivera from Peru. Elder Rivera is the hijito of Elder Pineda. The zone leaders were Elder Mendez and Elder Cacerés. (not sure if I spelled Cacerés correctly...) The zone leaders changed this cambio and I only know one of them so far. More details about them later. The hill is the hill with Cristo Vive written on the side. More than that I do not know. I am in charge of setting up the coals for the grill but the man in charge of the meat is Elder Riveros. We are only allowed to play games like the marshmallow guns on Pday. I think we will be playing the games later today.

Thanks for the Christmas stories. I almost cried reading a few of them. I still have 3 more to read. Who chose what stories to send?

Lidia has been in Bolivia for the past two weeks doing paperwork so her son can come here to Chile. Militza left Sunday to visit Peru and will not be back until February. Maria has been steadily progressing but lacks her own testimony that this is the restored church of Christ. She knows it is a good church but lacks that answer. We are also working with a new couple. Their names are Denise and Jimmy. They have A LOT  of tattoos but are genuinely interested in the gospel. They are going through a hard time right now because Jimmy has a lung infection that prevents him from working. More details about them to come.

Mario was officially ordained a Priest on Wednesday and he blessed the Sacrament on Sunday. He will spend Christmas in Tagna, Peru with Beatrice (Betty) but will be here working for New Years. Elder Riveros broke his camera this week. And then trying to fix his camera he ended up destroying it. He wants to buy a new one today. Elder Pineda was sick this week and he had a fever of 105 on Sunday. I hope he will be well for Christmas. On Saturday we did an activity as a District. We made brownies and handed out samples with the recipe. The recipe was written on the back of an invitation to a Christmas Devotional the Stake was doing that night. We also had cards for Él es la Dádiva (He is the Gift), Regocijaos Jesus Nació (Rejoice Jesus was Born), and we handed out those big pictures of Jesus that you guys sent. I got sunburned during the activity because I forgot to put on sunscreen that morning but the activity was a success. We got a lot of references this way. 

The last thing is a member in the ward wants an authentic American Waffle Recipe. Do we have one?

It is good to hear that life goes on at home, though smoke damage is unfortunate. Tell the Bishop thanks for me.

I love you both and tell everyone else that I love them too. Talk to you soon.

Elder Brock Hunter

Dear Grandma and Grandpa Hunter, 

I have not received your Christmas card yet but I will get mail on Wednesday so I will let you know next week if I received it.  I have played for meetings with the missionaries but not with the ward.

There are a lot of areas I could be sent to. There are 13 Zones in our mission. Each zone has between 12 and 30 missionaries depending on the size of the city and the size of the wards or branches. Each sector has only 2 missionaries but there can be up to 6 missionaries in a single ward. It takes 24 hours to travel in bus from one end of the mission to the other. I hope that answered your question.

That is terrible that someone keeps vandalizing your lights. Some people become more spiritual and a little nicer during this time of the year but others just want to make everyone else miserable.

I hope you enjoy the Christmas Eve Party at Val's. I will have a Christmas Eve party with the President of the Mission. Our zone conference is on December 24 and it should be lots of fun. We will be doing a gift exchange. Everyone was given 4 dollars to buy a gift.

Thank you for the cash. I think I will pull some money off my card today. Thank you for everything. Enjoy this holiday season. I love you both.

Elder Hunter

Christmas in the Pension

Christmas Party at the Plaza

Elder Riveros Mario Guerra Elder Hunter
@ Mario's baptism

Mario & Beatrice

Elder Riveros (the companion) Beatrice (the girlfried) Mario (the convert) Elder Hunter (the nervous)

Mario's Baptismal program

Selfie on the 3rd trip
(Cristo Vive)

Entire District & Sebastian

on top

Elder Riveros photo bomb

Check out this view
Check out these socks

Autographs 

Zone in Bolivar

Bolivar District
Elder Hunter
Elder Riveros
Elder Pineda  Elder DeLaMare Elder Wooten
Elder Mendez Elder Caceres Elder Antonio

Elder Hunter & Elder Wooten

More rooftop bbq

Board game similar to Risk

TGIFridays

Now Playing in a theater  near you

Navidad

Mamita Estrella's Tree

Nativity

The Christmas package arrived

Christmas decor

So first things first. I was not transfered. I will be in Bolivar for 6 months. 6 months is a long time to be in one sector but I am glad that I will spend Christmas with people I know. This transfer ends the 25th of January. I will set up the other stuff now that I am sure that I will stay here. Thanks again for such a great gift.

Congratulations to Jason and Courtney. Do you know what date he leaves for the MTC? 

I still do not know details about the call. I think we will do it in the house of Mamita Estrella but I am not sure. I will ask the other Elders about how this all works.

Today for sure I will send pics. 

I love you all. Stay well. Enjoy this festive season. 

Elder Hunter

Jake

On the first day of Christmas my Great Aunt gave to me... a dollar made out of dimes. (you have to sing this)

Love ya bud. My Christmas will not be white but I might get to eat a barbaque so it works out.

The language is coming. Slowly but surely.

Stay awesome. Elder Hunter

Kaitlin

Stay well. Work hard. Enjoy the season.

I wrote a paper letter to send home... about three months ago. And then I never sent it... so yeah. It is hard to remember to send a letter. Plus I still dont know how things work here with the mail system. I love all of you at home dearly but I honestly dont know when I will send things home (presents or letters or whatever). 

Sorry... I will send pics. Elder Hunter

I did not get to watch the Devotional but there is a rebroadcast down here next Sunday. Maybe I will get the chance then.

This week was actually a little rough. There was progress with the investigators but not a lot of teaching. Fortunately the ward members here are working hard with the investigators as well. I wrote Kaitlin about the baptism but I forgot to say that I had to get in the cold water twice because I forgot to pull the plug the first time. It was cold but good. I did get some pictures. 

Do you know what your next class will be? Were you able to pass this class without my helping you with the computer?

No Christmas miracles yet but there is still time. With some people it is easier to work with them in December because the whole world is a little more spiritual. With other people it is harder because they work more during this month so they can have a good Christmas with lots of presents. That' just how it goes sometimes.

Okay. This week I have my list of things to write. I received the package with all the Christmas decorations but I have some questions (and some bad news). The little presents or toys that are wrapped, who are those for? I have not opened any of them yet. Also, on the 13th of December we have cambios. I already have 4.5 months here so it is possible that I leave. Whether I stay or go is up to the Lord but I can't decorate or anything until I know if I am going to leave or not. I put up some things for now but not all. 

I climbed the hill for the third time today. We went up as a District and we had one member with us. The member is Sebastian, the oldest son of the Cisternas Family. He was having a hard time so I had the chance to help him today like others had helped me in the past. He was sore and tired by the time we finished but he did not puke so I guess he has got me beat. 

Did I leave my temple shoes at home? I could not remember and I was looking through my white clothes this week preparing for the baptism and they were not there. If they are home then don't worry about it. I used my white socks and was just fine. The problem is if I have lost them here. 

Like I said before we have cambios soon. I do not know if I will be here or in a different ward so I cannot make plans yet. The rules for the Skype call (yes it is Skype) are that I can only call my parents (it is fine if others are there), the call cannot last longer than 40 minutes, and my companion has to be in the same room . The thing I wanted to ask you guys to do is send me your contact info for Skype. I think I can use my personal email (brockhunter96) to make a Skype account and contact you on Christmas.

I also wanted to ask if you guys can make a new Facebook account for me. I want to have two accounts. One will be in English (the one I already have) and the other in Spanish. If you can make sure to change the security so that anyone can send me a friend request that would be great.

Love you all. I hope to send pictures a little later. Stay well.

Elder Hunter

Kaitlin

I actually looked at my birthday list last Tuesday and saw it was June's birthday... oops. That is what happens when I don't check it on time...

You were right. Some of those dance styles are gibberish to me. I want to do a dance class like that in college when I get home but for now... 

The baptism on Saturday was really good. Mario was 30 minutes late to his own baptism but his girlfriend came from Peru so I will give him a break. The baptism itself was cold. The water heater is broken or something. I was really nervous on Saturday. When I really felt the spirit was during Mario's confirmation the next day. I had the opportunity to be part of the circle and I actually felt a calming spirit enter the room.

I don't think Lane works down here in Chile. It is a little far for him to travel each night. Maybe I have a different Elf watching out for me.

Love ya sis and good luck with everything. Elder Hunter

Jake

I am glad Lane has come back. You need to be sure that you are REALLY good this month okay?

The camels were headed to the circus. I did receive the package. I will talk to Mom about that a little later. Being the man of the house is a big job but I know you can do it. I have met a lot of 9 and 10 year olds and I always think you could be good friends with them.

I hope you have a white Christmas (mine will probably be brown and sandy). Love you buddy. Elder Hunter

A little windy

The harbor

Boats

More Boats

Look mom, a pic of me with the boats

Beach

Camels???
On their way to the Circus

Sight Seeing

More Sight Seeing

Chilean Wal-Mart

Go Karts
No I did not ride one

Hike No. 2

Antofagasta from above

Lighthouse

The gang's all here
Elder Hunter
Elder Pineda Elder Strattford
Elder DeLaMare

At the mall

Navidad

Elder DeLaMare and Elder Hunter