Meeting a Prophet

Hey everyone,

So there is Sooooo much to say and so little time to say it in haha. I spent way tooo much time looking at the pictures of Nola and Delsen that my mom sent me.... 

First, Happy birthday Thomas!

Second, Mom i got the package!! thanks so much for the candy. ive shared a little bit with a few little kids haha they love american canday... haha

Third, Sister Beck, Thanks for the wonderful card you sent. It meant a lot to me. haha Elder Jarman has been one of my favorite companions and Im learning a lot from him. He is a great missionary... I hope I am doing my part to help him out... (we love the christmas tree you sent him hahahaha)

Fourth, Aunt Brenda, thanks so much for the happy clickers. My comp and I were counting our blessings on the way to dinner and with the clickers haha. we had a lot of fun. it really put us in a good mood and its a great motivation for us. Its a blessing to be able to count blessings haha.

Fith, I HIT 18 MONTHS THIS WEEK!!! I only have 6 months left!! what am i going to do!!!

So pretty much this has been the best week of my MIssion!!! i think i can honestly say that. haha.

I loved the conference with Elder Nelson sooooo much. I was only 10 feet from him as he talked and wow.... I wish i could describe the feelings that i had in that room. There were over 420 misionaries there from the 2 missions of Chiclayo and Piura and each of us got to shake his hand... wow... what a feeling. I know that man is a prophet of God.

Im sorry i dont have much time to explain exaclty what happened but i want to share a thought he shared with us.

What i learned from the conference was this.... Sometimes we run into people in our lives not necesarrily because THEY need to hear the gospel in that moment, but sometimes we are guided to them because one of their ancestors NEEDS their ordinances done and they are praying for us to find them.

There is an army working on both sides of the veil.

sorry so short. I love you all!!

Always turn outward, and keep smiling!!

Elder Bunker

pictures are of my companions christmas tree and elder Jarman and I at the Conference with president Nelson.

Elder Nelson... Preparing to meet a prophet, seer, and revelator...

Hey Everyone,

So this week has been really good. I love finishing a good week and seeing all the fruits.

First, This week we have been completing with alll of our goals and we have been analyzing how we are going to be setting all of our goals for the next month. I really want to stay in this area forever, i fell like if i jsut had a bit more time we could be doing some really good things in this area. It really makes me nervous because  this week i hit my 18 month mark. I can hardly believe 3/4 of the mission is gone... It really makes me feel a HUGE need to work even more....

Elder Jarman is great. He is putting up with me just fine. We have gotten pretty good at making goals and becomming more effective. He reminds me a lot of my time with my second trainer Elder Larson. haha. I hope we get to the point of doing thirty lessons a week like we had before. I think more than anything else the biggest challenge we have is trying to get the members to take the iniciative in everything. I feel like if we can help the member gain that missionary spirit it will be something much more long lasting. I feel like I could just go out and do hundreds of contacts and baptize maybe, but it wouldnt last very long after leaving peru.... i really feel that if i want to leave a deep spiritual impression behind it will have to be in the life of the members... (so any member of the church who is not wearing a missionary tag remember that you are all the KEY in the missionary success.)

I have been writing a lot of the converts recently and i havent gotten too many replies. I want them to know i havent forgotten them. I have gotten replies from a few of my pensions. Haha my pensions have all been just like moms to me. Even sister Elva (my pension right now) she is one of the hardest working ladies i have met. Sometimes that scripture about moroni comes into my head when i think.... If all members were like Sister Elva.... hahaha.

So pretty much, This coming week is going to be crazy. Elder Nelson is coming this wednesday!!! Im so excited. we have been preparing for almost a month now, i feel excited, nervous, and really anxious to hear what he has to say.... I really want to be ready. It struck me a few weeks ago and the thought has freqeuently returned that this is really a little bit of what one might feel when getting ready to meet the saviour... wow.... 

Im really hoping i can get an answer to some big decisions and questions that i have... The mission is really easy as far as decisions goes.... there isnt much of a question as to what one has to do in the mission... but there are some big things that one has to decide. 

Wow i really hope im ready for this... 

I wonder sometimes what it will be like to shake his hand. i have had dreams several times this week about meeting him... i think my mind is still trying to figure it out. 

well thats all the time i have

I love you all,

Always turn Outward and keep smiling

Elder Bunker

ps The pictures are from this change... i havent taken any reciently but these are some fun ones 

the second one is of my mini misionary and Elder Jarman when we had our change.

pps I`m glad to hear that Thomas is doing so good. He is going to be an excellent missionary. i can hear his voice practically in his letters but there are some parts where its clear he is already changing. haha he is so lucky to be there in the MTC and be so close to the Prophets and Apostles so often haha.

Week 2 training Elder Jarman

Hey Everyone,

So pretty much this week has been really good. Elder Jarman and I have accomplished a lot and i think we get a long really well as companions. haha we like to joke around and its been fun. Elder Jarman has been my youngest companion but he has been one of my favorites. This week he really helped me set some neat goals that is helping the area progress.

The coolest part of this week is that La Pradera is now a BRANCH!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! haha i feel like im in morrope again and i finally got that oppertunity to see the area become a branch. haha. i know that might not seem that cool but to me its fantastic. haha we need 60 members more to become a ward and build a chapel and i want to be here to do it. i hope president never takes me out!!!! haha that wont ever happen but it would be cool to be here to finish the mission.

We have had such a good week though because we have been focused on our goals and it really has helped me feel more accomplished haha.

im so glad that the lord is so loving and kind to his children to allow us to have the experiences we need to progress... I hope we can accomplish our goals!!

Love you all

Always turn outward and keep smiling

Elder Bunker

All My Friends are Dead

Hey Everyone!

So first I have to explain the Title of the email and the pictures below. Today a lot of missionaries ended their mission. So we when to the mission office to say goodbye and take pictures. Here in the mission we say that when someone ends their mission they "die" because its kind of like passing through the veil in a way. One has a Interveiw with the president about how the mission went and then they get on an airplane to go to another far away land to a home they had before. (mini plan of salvation right?) So reciently a lot of my friends are dying... and its been kind of sad. 

Lets say that we all live to be about 80 years old right?? if that is true than I am about 60 years old in the terms of the mission.... and all my freinds are dead. haha. The good thing is (both on the mission and in what one might call "real life") I know i will see all of them again, and there are many more adventures waiting for us beyond the veil.

This week has also been a little sad because my mini is going home. He has finished his time here in the mission and now can go back to his family. I hate changes because it always means you have to say goodbye to someone.... Carlos has become a really good friend and we have had a lot of good times. I hope we stay in touch. As one would say at BYU he is a "stud". 

At the same time, its kind of happy because i will be getting a comp missionary. I just got told today, though, that i will be training. Its my second or third time "training" but really this is my first "son" in the mission. I have no idea if he is gringo or latino. So i might have to be teaching some spanish soon. Changes are tommorrow so we will find out then.

Graciela didnt get baptized. we had to postpone the date. I hope it wasnt the wrong thing to do, but i hate just throwing together a baptism last second. I feel like to have a good solid baptism we really need a lot of member help. Im still getting to know the group a little bit. Its hard because i love visiting the members and getting to know them, but at the same time I feel a need to always be in the feild. There is a sense of urgency that i didnt feel before in the mission and i think it is from seeing so many missionaires go home and knowing that i am almost there as well. (mid-life-crisis??)

we WILL have a baptism this weekend though. we are teaching two little kids. Alex and Jahir. They are the BOM.COMhaha. they have been attending chuch with their grandma for half a year now and they just got permission from their mom to get baptized. they are super excited. their grandma has been telling me that they had problems fighting each other but  they have stopped fighting since we began teaching them. Even little kids go through a process of repentance and a change of heart i guess. Its so easy to love them. They remind me of little brothers i guess.

We are also still teaching a lady named Aurora. (I dont know if i mentioned her before) she is great. she wants to get baptized but she needs to get married first. Even though she has been sick for this last little bit she went to church for the first time ON HER OWN haha. she has been to a baptism and general conference and she loves everything, but we are really going to need member help to pull the whole family together to help them get married and baptized. my greatest desire for them is to see them as an eternal family enter the temple

I love the Pradera, and NEVER in my mission not even in Morrope have i asked president to let make stay longer or take me out earlier, but wow, its really tempting to do that here. I really would love to end my mission here working with everthing that is left in me. 

I love the mission and It has been the greatest blessing in my life. I am praying for the future missionaries because their are so many little things that could distract them from receiving the real blessings of this life.

I love you Bunker Family. I miss you all. I love showing pictures of the family to explain to people what an eternal family is. I am forever grateful to have those blessings in my life.

well thats all i have time for.

Love you all,

Always turn Outward, and Keep smiling!

Elder Bunker

Last Week with Mini

Hey everyone,

So this week has been super good. I have loved being able to work with carlos (i hope he can say the same thing about me haha). we have had a lot of success and i am tempted to tell the mission president to send more missionaries to the area because there is so much work to do!!! im really excited for the area. I LOVE the members here and i love the people and really just everything about the work. ( I really would like to stay here for the remaining 8 months of the mission )

So this week we have been working a lot with Graciela. She has a baptismal date for this saturday!!! Wow, talk about fast. I really want to plan it well so that she can remember it. She really reminds me of mom sometimes and maybe thats why im so excited for her baptism and helping her. I really hope she takes the step and understands everything. Sometimes its a little hard to communicate because she is a little deft (hard of hearing). I hope that with the remaining lessons she can really understand well and apply them. I have been thinking about postponing the date so that everything isnt as rushed, but we will see how it goes. 

I am super happy to hear Thomas is doing well in the MTC and that there are a few of the HT kids little siblings there too. I really hope the whole church can catch fire with the spirit of the work. there is a lot to do and sometimes it feels like there is little time to do it.

Grandma and Grandpa i dont know if you will get this email, so mom if you can send it to them that would be great. I met a girl who served with Grandma and Grandpa in the Cusco mission in Urubamba. her name is sister Villegas. she is on the ward council and works in the primary. She is really cool and from what i can see she is a great support in the church.

Our little family group will be a branch soon. :D im super excited and i feel really priveledged. i hope they build a chapel here soon because we dont fit in the house chapel anymore. haha. 

My areal is a lot like morrope and it makes me really excited to serve them. and easier to love them too!!

Well love you all!!

Always turn outward and keep smiling,

Elder Bunker

ps the pictures are me with Carlos (mini-misionary) and the other is my old comp and i with an investigator and member in the airport to say goodbye.

Week 3 with MIni - PreChristmas General Conference

hey everyone

sorry this might be short. 

5 min with a bad keyboard haha.

conference was great. mini is doing better, he is talking a lot more and the people really enjoy his testimony. i hope i can motivate him to turn in his papers and go on a mission. 

im super happy with this weeks work. we have been able to do a lot, but at the same time i feel like we have a lot more to do.

Hermana Graciela is going to get baptized!! her date is the 19th. i hope carlos can baptize her. i think seeing that baptism really helped her feel the spirit. she doesnt hear very well, but what she SAW really touched her. i hope all goes well. haha she is awesome because she takes her 2 grown daughters to the church and encourages them to listen to us.

we are having a blast here. i want to be here till the end of my mission seriously. I am really tempted to ask the president to send more missionaries here to help in the work. the feild is white!!!! I feel a great love for the people here and it is growing everyday.

LOVE you all!!!

keep smiling, always turn outward

Elder Bunker

pic is of the baptisn my first interveiw as DL! :D

Changes.....

Hey Everyone

sorry this will be short. i dont have much time.

first. i dont have a companion right now.... my companion went to his mission in Dominica Republicana and so now im with a member missionary for the next month haha. suprise!!! im not training anymore haha... more or less.

Im super bummed he left. he was a good comp. My new comp is named Carlos. he is a really cool youth who wants to serve a mission but has a lot of opposition from his family. i just met him today so i still need to get to know him more, but we have had a good time so far. 

whats crazy about all of this is i still dont know the area. so we are going to be getting lost these next few weeks, but we should figure it out soon haha.

the district is good. we have a few problems but with the help of the lord we are working them out...

Hope all is well at home. Im excited for conference :D

Im super glad there is another missionary from the family in the feild

Love you all!!

always turnoutward and keep smiling

elder bunker