Last General Conference

Hey everyone!!!

So i dont have much time to write. I was enjoying grandma and grandpa´s letter too much. I LOVE reading letters from other missionaries now. Hahah i feel like understand them a lot better now. 

Wow, so this week was sooo good, and there were so many suprises.

So this weekend like i said we had 4 baptisms like we planned, but they were not all the 4 people we had planned to baptize haha. 

The few days before her baptism selene had a lot of problems and she got really nervous. We couldnt find her for a few days. Her Interveiw fell through, and the visits we had planned and in the end she didnt get baptized (this is the second time her baptismal date has fallen through) She really wants to get baptized, she just needs a little more time to build her faith and trust in the Lord. 

But out of no where a miracle happened. I was on a work visit with a new missionary in his area and my companion called us in the night to infrom me that we would still be having 4 baptisms. Ezequiel one of our investigators wanted to get baptized a while ago, but he hasnt been able to due to some problems he has, but the bishop informed us that he had resolved his problems and he was ready to go. we set up his interveiw and he was baptized with the famlia Quinde

:D

Ezequiel is sooooo awesome. He has been the most prepared that i have ever seen. I hope he stays strong. We met him because one day he simply showed up to church to participate. He said he was looking for a church to join and he wanted ot make the right decision and he said he had been praying for almost a year. When he was riding his bike infront of the church buildign and he just got a strong impression that THIS was the church he needed to enter so he asked a brother who was outside what time the church meetings started and came the following sunday.

You can imagine our shock when the first thing he said to us that he was looking for someone to baptize him haha. I think we stared at him for at least 15 minutes with our mouths open.

The baptism was beautiful and i have loved teaching these people: i hope i dont have a transfer because it will be an early goodbye.

well thats all the time i have 

Love you all!!

Always turn outward and keep smiling

Elder Bunker

Hang of things

Hey everyone,

So this week has been soooo BOMB i cant even explain! wow. its been so good. 

So first off, i dont know how it happened, but we had 20 investigators in church this sunday.... wow. Our gospel principles class was packed! Haha it was so much fun teaching that class, but it also got super hot in the room even with the fans on and windows open haha. we will have to find a bigger room soon. haha. anyway that was the biggest thing on my mind

This week has been super good because we have seen some true progress in the zone. All the missionaries are getting along better and working harder. The areas with most dificulties are really starting to pull through now. We had a zone fast this last saturday and i feel like the drought in a few areas is now coming to an end. What we really need though is more coordination with the members to make it stick. I think one of the greatest lessons i have learned as a missionary is how to be a good member. funny right? haha

the principle of "stand where you are, and lift where you stand" is true.

Its also been a little sad this week too. Several good missionary freinds who have been sick for a while (including one from the zone) are going home early to recover.... they will be missed. Thats been a hard thing to experience on the mission. 

Imperio is progressing a ton! the ward is starting to put the bateries back into the home teachign and visiting teachign program (the visiting teachers started first obviously haha - what a blessing it is to have the releif society as part of the restored chuch....) and yesterday we visited several families with the elders from the ward. soooo good.

Thanks to some wonderful member testimonies we are plannign on having 4 baptisms this weekend. Orlando, Candelaria, Liliana, and Selene. The members really helped motivate them this last weekend and their baptismal dates are now solid. XD

Orlando, Candelaria, and liliana we have been teaching for almost 2 transfers now. they are such a wonderful humble family. They have absolutley nothing, but they are the most wonderful smiley people i know. We have had a lot of dificulties teaching them because they dont understand a lot of what we teach or what they read in the scriptures but its been amazing to me to see the spirit of the Lord come into their lives and fill them with understanding. Orlando seems like a different person than the Orlando we taught 2 months ago.

Selene is a teenager who was going ot be baptized about 6 months ago with her mom while another pair of missionaries were teaching her, but the day of her baptism she dissappeared, but we found her again and found out that she has had some family problems and we have been teaching her for about a month solid now (but practically 2 transferswe have been teaching her)

all that was needed was to show her she needs the guidance of the spirit and she was more than happy to be baptized. the young womans program has been awesome in helping her as well as the the ward missionaries.

I lvoe the work

Always turn outward and keep smiling,

Elder Bunker

Birthday

Hey everyone

So this week has been super good!! I feel like i have been super happy this week  and its hard to put my finger what it is. I would like to say that its because of my birthday that just passed but i feel like its more than that. I guess i just feel like Im doing everything that i need to and that the lord is pleased with my efforts. Thats a really good feeling and its comforting as the end day approaches. I really want to do everything i was called to do.

My birthday was a really good day. I feel like some prayers out there really helped it be that way. haha. We had our zone training and out of the blue president risso came to interview my companion and me. It was the longest and coolest interveiw i have had with president. I feel like have gotten to learn a lot more from president risso in these last few months.

This week has been really good because our investigatores are now progressing again!! wooo! 

Hermana paquita (the wonderful sister that got baptized 2-3 weeks ago) has been really eager to start helping in the work,. we left 3 copies of the book of mormon so she could share them with her freinds and family by putting a testimony inside and sharing her feelings. she is awesome. I am convinced she would have handed them all out by now, but she got really sick this week. it really breaks my heart to see her sick. we gave her a blessing and we will pass by tonight to see her, but she told us that even though she is sick she is not ready to die because she needs to see all of her family in the church. What an amazing woman of faith.

We have two people who are getting baptized this month!

a little girl named paola who practically has been a member her whole life but hasnt been baptized simply because her family doesnt go to chruch but she does

and a girl named selene who has a goal for the end of the mont (29th)

well thats all for this week!

Love you all

Always turn outward and keep smiling!

Elder Bunker

Almost 21

Hey everyone,

So sorry i dont have much time. It took a little longer this week to get all the reports in. 

First thing, Thanks for all the nice birthday wishes. It kind of snuck up on me that im turning 21. haha i guess in the states this would be a big deal because now i can legally drink haha....  but here in the feild it seems like any other day... but thanks for everything. 

This week has been a little bit more stressful.... I will be honest... we have sooo many people progessing but this week something happened and now they are not progressing as much as they should be. 

We are teaching a young woman named selene and she is sooo cool. she is READY to be baptized. she has all her records filled out and signed. she could get baptized tonight if she wanted to, but the problem is that her mom is worried that if she gets baptized right now she will not be able to focus on her studies as much and she wont be able to get into the university she wants. she has to study for the big test to get in...

Carmen and Fernando disappeared this week. They havent showed up for that last few teaching appointments we set up. They were going to get baptized this week but it looks like we will have to change gears.

The Kinde Family was well on their way to get baptized this weekend tooo, but they want more time....

we have a lot of work ahead of us this week. 

Zone training tomorrow. Im excited. It should be good. :D

Thanks everyone! love you all!

Always turn outward and keep smiling,

Love Elder Bunker

Oldest Baptism...​. La Hermana Paquita

Hey everyone,

Wow so this week has been super crazy. Im sorry i probably dont have a bunch of time to write. but i wanted to write a few things.

So this week hermana paquita got baptized!!! we were super excited and it was super awesome. I have never felt so confidente baptizing anyone before. she was so ready! It was hard getting everything planned because our ward missionary leader disappeared and we had to help out in all the baptisms of the zone and in other zones as well running baptismal clothes around etc. 

But the baptism turned out really well... all the family came and watched and many of them made the decision to be baptized as well. we will be having a baptismal service the 8th for everyone else who is ready :D we are super excited for the perez family! ive said it before but i will say it again i really fell like we have received a lot of help from the other side of the veil as well i fell like everything is moving along better than we had thought. Im sure they have (i know they have) someone needing help on the other side of the veil. 

It hasnt been easy though. There is a lot of opposition too. We are not quite sure where the source of it is yet, but its holding some of the members back from making the small necesary decisions. For example we were teaching Juan the oldest son last week and we had a really good spiritual lesson one night, and we felt so good about everything, but the next day he showed up to his brother´s house as we were teaching him and joined us for the lesson and then began throwing a lot of doubt and random pointless questions in in such a way it caused a lot of doubt in both of them and they are failing in coming to church. its hard to get the WHOLE family to progress at the same time, but the lord knows when they will be baptized. I guess we just have to be patient. (Elder Uchtdorf gave a really good talk on that a few years ago in a gerneral conference)

sorry so short, love you all,

Always turn outward and keep smiling!!

Elder Bunker

ps the mission is so so so awesome!

Go Broncos!

Hey family,

Hey.... well the title of the email has nothing to do with what i wanted to say... haha i just wanted to cheer my home team on a little. haha

This week.... wow... was a very interesting week. haha i say that because its been hard this week balancing between the zone and the work.... The week before last we realized that we had neglected the zone a little bit. (president risso got after me a little) more than anything because we were so excited with the perez family.... haha. so im still learning how to balance everything out. i really just want to work without distractions... but thats the mission.

The FHE we had planned didnt work out as well as we had hoped. haha only a few of the family members came but we had a really good lesson. I would like to think that it opened a few doors. even though the whole family didnt come they heard about it and they want to see what it was all about. so at least it sparked some more interest haha.

This last week we had a really cool experience. Brother Perez´s (Victor Auturo) wife Paquita (the grandma) has been listening to us and we had began to talk a little about the book of mormon and we come to find out she already has a testimony of the book of mormon and joseph smith and the church!!! she knows its all true!!! haha we were soooo excited haha we literally were bouncing out of our seat to invite her to baptism haha. she said yes! she would be baptized but she would not accept a date. She still feels bad for leaving her church because she is one of the only people who keeps it running. That kind of put us in a hard spot. She NEEDS to be baptized but she doesnt want the people she would leave behind to go astray. she is such a sweet lady. She really has a heart of gold and a lot of patience. we explained to her that the best thing she can do for the people she loves is to show them an example just as christ showed us HIS example by being baptized. she didnt seem sure, but she is close!!!

Also Brother Perez´s son Fernando has started listening to us! He is soooooooooooo  coool i cant even explain the feeling i get when i think in fernando and his family. Its fernando, his wife carmen, his son diego (20) and his son daniel (5). Diego is awesome. we havent taught him formally yet but we will get there. He likes the church. But fernando, wow, i havent ever seen anyone with a more sincere desire to follow god. He has so much faith i can feel MY faith grow when i talk to him. He told us this week that even though he attends a church he has stopped feeling what he has felt before and he doesnt feel like he can progress more, but when we hears us speak he feels that conversion he had earlier grow. He says he knows that he needs to listen to us and he is willing to pray and ask god what he needs to do, and if he should be baptized (thats his biggest doubt i guess... hes not sure if he should be baptized again) I hope he prays this week. we have a lesson with him wedsenday. Seriously, i dont know why but i just feel so happy and excited when i think about fernando. He and Carmen are ready

we are also teaching Juan another one of the sons. Juan is awesome but i feel like we have hit some problems... he hasnt really taken the time to read quite yet and its stunting his progress. His faith is there, he knows what he needs to do, but all of his doubts are due to the fact that he hasnt read and prayed yet. I dont know how, but for some reason its so hard for people to ask god what they should do and trust in His answer (Im probably included in "those people" haha) His wife and daughter listen to us as well, but they will only progress as far as the Juan does. If he takes the first steps they will follow. 

Im super excited for this family, but sometimes i dont feel capable of helping them... i feel like they deserve a better missionary who can teach them more effectively, but at the same time i know god called me to this area for a reason and in part i feel like its helping this family progress. 

The ward is awesome!! i wish i was better organized to be able to work with all the members here. We really need more missionaries!! i hope they asign two more here with us.

The work is much but laborers are few. 

I know this is the work of the Lord and i love his work.

Love you all

Always turn outward and keep smiling!

Elder Bunker

Familia Perez

Hey Everyone,

So this is going to be super short. sorry there really is no time to do everything.

So i just want to explain whats going on in general really fast. So me and my companion have been picking up a little more the pace in our work in the last two weeks and we have really seen a lot of blessings. The zone is doing well, we have a few struggles with missionaries who are getting sick and cant work much, Im not sure what to do quite yet, but we will see.

But apart from the zone struggles we have been doing really good as a companionship. Our ward is awesome!!! the references just apear out of no where and the members are super willing and excited to help us. The struggle is trying to balance our zone activities with our own proselyting... We love proyselyting but there is a lot of things to do in the zone as well....

Right now we are teaching the perez family. i have to explain a little bit more about them. Victor Perez is the grandpa of the family and he and his daughter and his two granddaughters are the only members right now.... Victor has an amazing conversion story. He and his whole family have been adventists for about 15 years now and several  years ago his daughter got baptized. He was super against and he became a large roadblock between her and the church and eventually caused her to go inactive. 

Years later he goes to a book store (he loves reading books) and finds a few institute manuals  and starts reading and he really felt the spirit as he read and he recognized everything he read as true. so he wanted to know what church was publishing the books and he found out it was the mormon church that he had been opposed to for so many years. He felt bad and he told his daughter to go back to church, secretly looking for a way to join himself because he knew it was true. Long story short the misionaries got their house and gave him a book of mormon which he read in less than a month and was baptized. 

Tonight we have a Family home evening with the majority of his 8 kids and 26 grandkids. Im super nervous. the missionaries have been able to talk to each of the families but this will be the first time we do something with the whole family. I feel like they are super prepared. Many of them have had kids pass away and are very afficted by the tragic events of the last few years. I really feel like they need to know about temples (mom i shared your thoughts about greif, it really helped and it was exactly what this sister needed thanks) I almost feel like im teaching abraham and his family because there are so many and if we can help them I feel like we are really converting hundreds of people. I feel such a desire to help this family. Please pray for us!

I know this church is true, and i know its true in part because we have the full gospel which includes the sealing ordinances for families.

sorry so short. 

Love you all,

Always turn outward and keep smiling!

Elder Bunker