3 months!!!

Hey Everyone,

I cant beleive it. Already and eigth of the way through the mission!! What!! Sometimes it doesnt seem very long, and sometimes it freaks me out its going by that fast!!


So I promised some stories last week. I have a few.


First, the food here is a little different. I probably metioned that. (its amazing though, just took some time to get used to...) There is a dish here called masamorra. It is really good. It is pretty much fruit soup. they mostly have it for christmas, but our pensionista (Brother Hernan) likes to cook it for Family Home Evening with our recent converts. Anyway, I didnt realize, but this soup cleans out your system pretty good. haha, I love the stuff so I ate a lot and... we ended up running back to the apartment because I had to go haha. I thought i was going to die...


Second, I mentioned last week there are a lot of look alikes... haha all the little boys here remind me of tanner. They are so funny and innocent. Its the funniest thing. Makes me sad though. Tanner will be almost a teenageer when i get back!!
That and alot of people remind me of Thomas and Uncle Jake. haha There is just a look about thomas and jake i guess. Also we have a less active we are teaching who is just like lily. (except a 25 year old verson... super skinny and complete tomboy haha)


We have 3 people we are hoping will accept the baptismal invitation we have already extended. Hermana Judith, Hermana Vilma, and Junior. Hermana Judith just had a son return from the mission but is not a members so we have big hopes for here. the only problem is she is living with someone... marriage is no small deal, even when your already living together i guess... rggh. not my favorite thing in the world when we find that out about someone, specially when we have been working with them consistently for almost a month...
Hermana Vilma... she is the sweetest lady. and often i think of grandma when we are teaching her, not because they look anything a like, but just little mannerisms. Herman vilma has 2 kids on missions right now! We are close with her. She just lacks the confidence and faith to make a few sacrafices. (like close her store on sunday and attend church all three hours) We extended the baptismal invitation last week and she said she wants to, but she is afraid of failure... like all of us really. I think having kids in the mission really helps her. She has a hard time reading the scriptures because even in spanish they can be hard to understand. But she adores the Liahona and from that she has gained a lot of faith. I hope and pray we can help her get baptized, because she is someone who would make it to the temple after we leave. And that is ultimately where we want to be.
and Junior... Junior has become one of my best friends here in the feild. He is 21 studying, working, and helping his family run their store. He is lo maximo to put in local terms. pure gold. So far he has read everything we have given him. Attended all three hours of church, and a fireside for the prophets birthday. he really wants to know if the church is true. We have been praying he would receive an answer. Im not sure if he has been able to intentify one yet. We have visited him everyday for the last 5 days, and we will visit him again tomorrow even though he started school today and he is so busy. last friday we taught him the word of wisdom and he accepted to live it. the next day we visited him and he told us a story with a huge grin on his face. His story was that after we had left friday night he went to a party with some freinds where there were some drinks being served and he had promised not to drink and he remembered and asked for water. He said while he was there he realized all the blessing we promised from the word of wisdom were true! And that the gospel has already blessed his life immensly! :D Him and I get along really well because Im trying to learn spanish and he is trying to learn english, so we are patient with one another.


Last story, This week I think i have grown a lot. Especially in confidence, not in me but in what the Lord can do through me.
I was reading in the Liahona this last week Elder Eyrings talk about Mountains to Climb. I wanted to ask for a challenge from the lord to help me grow, but i wasnt sure if i was ready for it. I was/am still struggling with a lot of things. So i asked for a small challenge, and I received it in full haha.
My trainer is the District Leader and so as such he has to go on splits with all the other missionaries once a month. this last week he left to go on splits and I was paired with an elder who is from Ecuador and only speaks spanish. So I had to direct the Area. Meaning plan lessions and where we were going to go and such. I was really nervous because our area is huge, and i dont know it very well, and we had appointments all across our area. I did a lot of praying haha. I studied the map of our area the night before, and prayed for a miracle. it was something that I had been dreading the whole week, (Elder McAllister told me what was going to happen the day after i read the article and prayed) the day I had to direct the area was one of the best i have had thus far. I was able to get to know junior more because i talked a lot more with him and I was able to extend the invitation to go to chuch, and the fireside with us. and my comp for the day asked about baptism. so within the 24 hours my trainer was gone I had 2 lessons with junior, had comitted him to come with us to a fireside, church, and he said he would pray about baptism. I really hope it works out with him. but the greater miracle was that the lord was able to give me the confidence i was lacking through something i was dreading.


That is all I have time for!
I love you all,


The Church is true tell your freinds,
Always turnoutward, and keep smiling because the mountains we climb provide a better veiw. :D
Love Elder Bunker