I am glad you guys enjoyed New Years. Sounds like a lot of fun.

I think that giving Mamita Estrella something is a great idea. Now what do I give her? You know I have always been bad at buying gifts and things.

I am not even there and you still have to clean my room? What are you guys doing over there in my room? And I am glad that you liked "The Noticer." It is one of my favorite books. My book selection is a little more limited now. The books are all great but I am used to a little more variety. I have read all of the Missionary Library and am currently reading the Book of Mormon and El Libro de Mormon together. I read a bit slower in Spanish. I am in Alma right now.

That is so weird that you guys actually met Elder Stratford. Well, Brother Stratford now but it still feels weird to say that. As far as investigators go that he would know... these people are not really progressing but we visit them on occasion. We still visit Alejandro sometimes. He is the older guy who was always working on his machines outside his house. He recently went to Santiago for cancer treatment. Pablo is getting kicked out of his house because Ariela, his mom, is moving to live with relatives down south like she said she would. I hope this will help him finally start over with his life and grow up. 

The Family Herrera are not investigators but they opened up a fast food business about a month ago. Garrett is lucky that this business was not open when he was here. There is no way that his diet could have worked. It was bad enough with the completo stand that was around the corner from the pension.

Lidia, Jose, and Juan are doing well. Please also pray for Maria Araya if you can. Though we work with a lot of people, they are the ones with the most potential at this time to be baptized.(well, Jose is already a member but the rest of them).

New Years Day we helped Benjamin, the mamita's son that said hi during the Skype call. How did we help him? We taught him how to ride a bike. He got this bike for Christmasbut did not know, or at least could not remember, how to ride it. At the end of the day he was a little scraped up but there were no broken bones. We told him that now he will serve in a bike riding mission.

Tell my grandparents that I love them. Tell Brycen Happy Birthday. Work hard at work and school. Vacations unfortunately can not last forever.

Love you all. Stay well.

Elder Hunter

P.S. I found this article recently and I really like what it says at the bottom in Temple Facts.

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/cedarcity/

Temple Facts

The Cedar City Utah Temple will be the seventeenth temple built in Utah.

One of the great temple hymns, High on a Mountain Top, was written by Joel Hill Johnson while living in Enoch, Utah, a suburb of Cedar City.

Kaitlin,

That is great that you got a job with Jeanine. I hope that goes well for you.

New Years was great. We ate a lot of meat. A Lot of meat. We ate dinner with two different families and one of the "salads" was a hot dog, fried chicken, roast beef, and potatoes. The meal was a giant hamburger that was a bit bloody. That was dinner number one and we had to leave before dessert in order to get to dinner number 2. We had to be back in the pension at 9 because President Dalton did not want us to run into dangerous people at night. (a lot of alcohol here for New Years).

You have to understand that fireworks are illegal here for safety concerns. Only the city can use fireworks for big events. So for New Years at midnight we went out on the roof and watched the City Fireworks. They were small and few but I liked it. We also saw flare guns being fired off, balloons, those lanterns that they have in Tangled (I saw at least 30 of those), illegal fireworks, and giant paper machete dolls that were burned. The dolls have old clothes from the last year and burning them is supposed to bring good luck or something...

I have sewed a little bit here. Fixed a few buttons, a few pockets, other simple stuff. It is not very pretty but it works so...

Love ya sis. Enjoy school while it lasts.

I realized that this will be my year to serve the Lord. Literally all of 2015 will be dedicated to missionary service. I want to make every day count. I don't want to waste any of my time. I am not saying that I will never waste time this year, I am not perfect, but I will always try to use my time effectively and I will always try to be obedient.

I could use some more socks and garments. Those things are somewhat helpful out here. 

Try not to get trunky on me. I have a lot of time left still. Though I do understand what you mean. Some days feel like an eternity that we are outside walking but the weeks fly by. It is hard to explain.

I get home June 15 or something like that. Just short of 2 years. I don't know when the turkey hunt is but I would like to go out if I can. I may not be crazy about hunting like some members of the family but I do enjoy it and I love the time we spend together as a family. At what age can Jake start hunting deer? 12 or 13?

I love you dad. I hope I am representing my Savior as well as my family name well.

Elder Hunter

Elder Stratford with the Fam @ Pizza Factory