Favorite Scripture

Doctrine and Covenants: 35

13 Wherefore, I call upon the aweak things of the world, those who are bunlearned and despised, to thresh the cnations by the power of my dSpirit;

14 And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their ashield and their buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me; and their benemies shall be under their feet; and I will let cfall the dsword in their behalf, and by the efire of mine indignation will I preserve them.

15 And the apoor and the bmeek shall have the gospel preached unto them, and they shall be clooking forth for the time of my coming, for it is dnigh at hand—

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

 I just wanted to share the quick miracle that happened. Last night, we had 3 baptisms =) yep, I was able to have the baptisms before going home!!! It was one of the most spiritual baptisms I've seen, it was awesome =) I'll give you more details on Thursday, make sure the car is warm =) See you later (and take food to the airport, I'm going to be hungry =)

-- Elder Black
    Elder Hunter Black    
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014             

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Last Email?

Well, I don't know if this is going to be my last email or not, so I think I'm going to copy Skylar and do the same list that he did.
This last week went alright, everybody is all like, "almost elder, you're almost home, just one week left" Yeah, so it's kinda weird. But overall things are going good. We found a new family of 6 to teach, they're cool, very receptive. Hopefully we can have some good progress with them. We are really trying to have 3 baptisms on Sunday... we'll see if it happens, I sure hope so.
Anyways, I just wanted to write the list of my comps, areas, etc.
Companions:11 (and one repeated)
1. Elder Ramirez (San Pedro Sula, Honduras) Trainer
2. Elder Garrett (Oklahoma) 1/2 Trainer
3. Elder Brindis (Chiapas, Mexico) Potty Trainer
4. Elder Elvira (Guatemala, Guatemala)
5. Elder De Leon (Guatemala, Guatemala) My son for 1 week
6. Elder Garrett (Again)
7. Elder Zelaya (Tegucigalpa, Honduras)
8. Elder Alvarez (D.F., Mexico)
9. Elder Ortega (San Pedro Sula, Honduras)
10. Elder Roldan (Guatemala, Guatemala)
11. Elder Rodriguez (San Salvador, El Salvador)
12. Elder Mejia (Guatemala, Guatemala)
Areas: 8
1. Naranjo, 6 months: Hot, purely hills, almost nothing flat there. A little bit in the campo, it's just a branch of about 60, but the members are really cool. Very catholic and evangelic. But the people are very humble. Famous for coffee, there are lots of coffee fields there. The area goes clear up to Zarcero which is famous for the garden sculptures in the park. And Zarcero is pretty cold.
2. Barva de Heredia, 3 Weeks jaja: It's cool, also has lots of mountains. Famous for the masks that they make and in August (while I was there) they have a huge festival and people put those masks on and go around smacking people with pig bladders full of urine... It's a ward.
3. Guarari de Heredia, 1 week=): Famous for being dangerous, drugs, etc. Lots of Nicaraguans. It's really chill, the people are humble. It's a ward.
4. San Rafael... de Heredia, 2 months: Cold, it's up in the mountains, has a lot of nature, it's very pretty there. Famous for the cook, it was a buffet everyday and she made good food =) A small branch of 80 members.
5. Alajuelita, 3 months: Very famous for being very dangerous, lots of shootings, drugs, poor people, dirty. But it's cool =) The members are awesome, it's a ward of 120. A lot of Nicaraguans live there and were fairly receptive to our message.
6.Vizcaya, 4.5 months: Right next to Alajuelita, also "dangerous" Part of the area is in the mountain clear in the middle of nowhere. It's an awesome ward of 130 members that are ready to work =)
7. Escazú, 1.5 months: Famous because of the gringos!!! And witches!!! Half of the ward are gringos. The bishop is gringo too. So everyone thinks that the area is loaded with money, but pretty much everywhere is poor. The members are pretty cool and almost everyone speaks a bit of english, so it was nice to practice =)
8. Tibás, 6 months: Famous for the Saprissa, the soccer team here (I'm not Saprisista, I'm Ligista, the enemy of Saprissa) The people here are also fairly catholic. The nice thing is the area is very flat. It's a small ward of about 85 people... so it's almost a branch... but we just got a new bishop and the members are getting excited to work. The members are very nice and give us lots of food. This area is pretty great.
So everything is the mission has been great, I've learned alot, I don't feel like I've changed... but I guess you guys will have to tell me. The people here in Costa Rica are awesome, the Ticos and the Nicas, I love them both. I'm glad to have been able to be here a little while and hope that when I get back I can make you all proud. I'm excited to see you all again, but I'm sad to leave here. See you all soon.
¡¡¡PURA VIDA!!!
-- Elder Black
    Elder Hunter Black    
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014             

Monday, November 10, 2014

I truly have no idea what to say anymore... everything seems pretty much the same... those who have served missions probably know how I feel... the highlight of the week was that we had 12 investigators at church! That was pretty cool. We should be having baptisms this month. We want to have at least 7: Juana, Roy(cito), Charlie they are a family. And Wilfredo, Karla, Liseth, and Donovan are another family. Those are what we are hoping for this month. See y'all later!!! Have fun reading my letter, I know it's so interesting. Bye!

-- Elder Black
    Elder Hunter Black    
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014             

November 2, 2014

So this week went alright, we are planning to do activities here in our ward to help the ward get bigger and more active. We are hoping to recieve several references by doing that and hopefully we can get things picked up a little here. We've been having some rough weeks but I'm sure that we can get things going. I'm going to work hard especially now in this final stretch. Pray for me, pray for the people here, and pray for the people there. We need help in all the world. This week didn't go to well but I'm sure that this week will be better, thanks for the support that I've recieved from everyone and keep it up please =)  Love you all!!!

-- Elder Black
P.S. Sorry it's short, it's just that everything seems almost the same now...
    Elder Hunter Black    
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014             

Monday, October 27, 2014

So this was an average week. So I wasn't sure if I would be leaving the area, and so just in case I wanted to make sure that my comp could lead the area, so I let him take charge of everything... he got lost a few times haha. We lost a couple of days planning our talent show and getting everything ready. It was fun, but we pretty much didn't have any investigators... the only ones that showed up were the ones that we took ... but that's ok, we'll keep trying to get the members to help us! So yeah... the week was kinda normal.. Our bishop changed, and we had changes today... well, not really for us it's the same... so yeah... I'll have something cooler for y'all next week. Later!


-- Elder Black
    Elder Hunter Black    
 
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014             

Monday, October 20, 2014

Excellent Week!

We had a pretty great week, one of the best of my mission I think. We were working like crazy!!! On Tuesday we did divisions and I went with Elder Hatch (a new gringo) to his area. He has one of the "most dangerous" places in his area. It's called Leon XIII. So we went (they had gotten robbed on Sunday) and everything was chill =) We had several lessons and found four new investigators!!! Then on Wednesday I returned to my area and worked well and found another new =) On Thursday we went looking for new investigators again and we found 4 more =)  On friday we found our super awesome investigator, Hazel, that will soon be baptized, she's already gone to church 3 times and is now living with a member (female, return missionary =) And on Saturday we also worked really well and put several baptismal dates, and found some new investigators!!! Éxito!!! And then on Sunday we had 7 investigators at church =) We are really hoping to have several baptisms in November and we are going to work hard to make sure they happen!!! Love you all, and talk to you next week!


-- Elder Black

    Elder Hunter Black    
 
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014             

Sunday, October 19, 2014

October 13, 2014


¿Como estan todos?
This week went pretty good, pretty much the whole week we spent looking for new people to teach, we didn’t end up having very many new investigators, but we are hoping to be able to return with some people that we met. We walked a lot, we’re a little tired, but we’ll keep moving forward. The good news is that a return missionary went to do visits with us yesterday and he showed us some tactics for getting new investigators and references, we received 7 references yesterday =) We are going to keep working to get new investigators =) Other than that things are going well, we’ve been playing soccer for activities (which brings several references) and today we played soccer so I’m beat, and my time is almost up, so I’ll talk to you all next week, see ya!!!

-- Elder Black

    Elder Hunter Black    
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014             

Monday, October 6, 2014

Sorry for not Writing =)

So this last week Elder Mejia came to the area. We went and he got to know the people and that's what we did pretty much the whole week. On Tuesday we went to the office to pick up one of the new elders to go and work with him for the day. The new missionaries that are going out are better and better everytime! He speaks spanish pretty well, he went right out and started talking with people, it was pretty awesome! Well,on Thursday we decided to go and look for new investigators, we met a guy who was really interested. He even gave us 10 references!!! And guess what? He doesn't live in our area, and none of the references do either =( Anyways, on Saturday we got a message from the missionaries where this guy lives, they had had a lesson with him and they found a new family to teach, from our area!!! Yeah!!! Miracle!!! It's a family of 6 =) And then saturday and sunday was conference, everything normal there. Then yesterday after the conference we contacted a bus (which pretty much never brings success...) Well that night we got a message that says "Hi, my name is Fernando. Thanks for the pamphlet today in the bus. I will read it with much love. I was heading to my work when you gave it to me and I would like to have more materials such as a book of mormon and a bible, my direction is............... and I would like to know more, thank you" WOW another miracle!!! But... he doesn't live in our area =( Oh well, it's still somebody that we could help right? =) Anyways, things here are going good, I'm excited to work with Elder Mejia, he's got some good ideas... oh and for those who didn't know, he's from Guatemala, he's 18 and has 6 months in the mission. So yeah, talk to y'all next week, see ya!!!


-- Elder Black
    Elder Hunter Black    
 
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014             

Monday, September 22, 2014

Miracle Week

So this "week" was really short since I just wrote on Wednesday, but we were able to see a couple of miracles. First of all, we had the baptismal interviews with Roy, Amalia, and their kids... they passed =) The other miracle was that we were in a house and it was kinda late so I felt like we should get going to be able to get home on time, we started walking and after a few minutes a lady started talking to us. She talked about how she felt like God had abandoned here and how she felt really bad, but commented that she had a friend that had given her a book of mormon and said that if she ever wanted to give up on life that she should look up the church and so when she saw us she decided to talk. Yesterday she went to church =) She is really excited to learn more and things are looking really good =)

Yeah, so things are going well, this month and next month we should have several baptisms. So keep praying, I want to see more miracles =)

Remember to pray for missionary opportunities!!!

Love you all!

-- Elder Black

    Elder Hunter Black    
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014             

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Another Week

So here's to another rough week here... I don't know what's going on, but I know that everything will work out.

So this week we had many appointments fall through... we wasted a day being locked out of our house, but inside the gate... so we couldn't enter or leave... yeah, we're having lots of luck these days.... and then in divisions yesterday, the missionary that I was with is new and didn't really know what to do and I was in his area haha.

So yeah... it would be nice to have some extra prayers right now =)

The good news is that in our divisions yesterday my comp went and taught the family that we're trying to get ready for baptism. Mostly our problem is with the mom, Amalia, because she hadn't had her answer from God yet.  Well yesterday they taught and ended with a prayer and asked her to offer it... and she recieved her answer!!! She said that she felt something warm inside her that said that she needs to be baptized!!! So hopefully that'll happen next week. That was the greatest miracle of the week, so enjoy =)

Love you all, talk to you next week!

-- Elder Black

     Elder Hunter Black   
 
  Costa Rica San José    
            
           2013-2014             

Monday, September 8, 2014

Ha, Ha... Again!

So this week once again things didn't go so great, we had several meetings and stake conference so that took up a bit of time... and we also had to go one of the sister's areas to do a baptismal interview and that took up almost all one day... so pretty much it was a pretty slow week. But we were able to have 9 investigators go to stake conference!!! President and Sister Wilkinson talked and Sister Wilkinson invited everyone to pray everyday for 21 days to have a missionary experience and promised that it would happen. I would like to invite all of you to do the same =)

Funny experience but not so funny: Those who have served a mission know that when you do divisions with a leader (DL or ZL) everything goes very well or very wrong... this week... very wrong... all of our appointments got cancelled then the next morning as we were going to leave the apartment... my key broke in the door... yep... everything went wrong... good news, I learned how to fix locks =)

See ya later!!!

-- Elder Black
     Elder Hunter Black   
 
  Costa Rica San José    
            
           2013-2014             

Monday, September 1, 2014

One More Week, One Week Less

So I'm not going to lie, we had a pretty rough week as far as numbers go. We walked a lot, had a lot of fallen appointments.... so there's not much to tell this week. We keep contacting buses, trying to work with the members to find new investigators and we know that it will all pay off... eventually... =) On Wednesday we had a Multi-zone meeting. We were there from 7:15 in the morning, till 3:30 in the afternoon... It was a very good meeting and we were able to learn lots about how we can be better missionaries. Hopefully I can be a very good missionary before I finish =) Obedience, obedience obedience, that's what we always have to do better. Good news about our investigators. We had a Mother's Day activity on saturday, it was dinner, and karaoke =) One of our investigators is already friends with everyone and even got up and sang =) They have desires to be baptized and are just waiting for an answer from God (Roy, Amalia and their two sons, Steven and Fabian)

If you would like to include people in your prayers, we have 2 families that we would like to baptize this month, the one mentioned above and the family of Juana with her 2 sons Roy and Charlie. We want to have the baptisms the 20th of this month. Also if you could pray for my bishop's family. I'll just leave it there.

Thanks, I love you all, you always tell me to keep up the good work, so I'll say the same to you, remember to magnify your callings!!!!

Love,
-- Elder Black

     Elder Hunter Black   
 
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014            

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

So I wasn't paying attention, I got bored and the time went away so I forgot to write... sorry.

But this week we had a good week, we had many lessons, we found 13 new investigators =) And things are going good. We are starting to see how we can work better with the ward leaders and I think that all are going to start working more with the missionaries!!! This is a great area and we are hoping to have 7 baptisms in September, hopefully everything works out, see ya later!!!

-- Elder Black

Monday, August 18, 2014




This week went well, we had many lessons, we were able to talk with lots of new people and we got several references... AWESOME!!!

So on Tuesday we had a Multi-zone meeting in the morning. It was a great experience and I was able to learn quite a bit =) Afterwards we did divisions and I went to Garabito with Elder Hernandez. Everything went well we just had a little situation that I will talk about after the mission =) Then on Wednesday we did divisions again and I went to my area with Elder Herrera. We had a good day and that night a family gave us dinner, spaghetti with green sauce =) It sounds really weird but it was really good, I'll have to learn how to do it.  On Thursday it was a very normal day... On Friday it was pretty normal... I don't know, it was Mother's Day so everyone was home with family, I did eat twice and we ate cake twice too. Then on Saturday we did divisions with members and we were able to have 8 lessons that day and also we played soccer at 6 and a member took some investigators =) Thenon Sunday we were able to see a baptism (re-admission). That was pretty cool. And then we went to a member's house and I learned to make pupusas.

We contacted several buses this week, it was pretty cool, we talked with a ton of people. Yep, good week. I'll talk to you next week, later!

Love,
-- Elder Black

     Elder Hunter Black   
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014            

Monday, August 11, 2014

Pura Vida, Feliz dia de la Madre...aqui

So things here went pretty well this last week. We had the best numbers that we've had as a companionship this week, so everything's cool.

I don't have much time to write. But this week, we worked well. We had 31 lessons with people this week (that's good here). We found 7 new investigators, recieved many references... everythings pretty cool. 

The cool experience of the week was that we were walking in the street when a little girl looked at us and shouted, "The guardians of the galaxy!!!! What are you guys doing here? You should be in heaven!!!!" jaja I started thinking... wow, we truly are the guardians of the galaxy, we are doing the work to save everyone here. Many times we don't realize the power we have, I would just like everyone to think of your responsibilites as members of the church. Well, I'll talk to you all next week, you guys are freaking awesome!!!

-- Elder Black

     Elder Hunter Black   
 
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014            

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Monday August 4th

This week went alright, we were able to have some decent numbers.  

So on Tuesday we were having a slow day. We were really close to the apartment at 8:30 and my comp says, "let's just see how this guy is doing", it was a guy that they had given a book of mormon and then didn't know anything about him. We passed by and talked to the guy. It turned out that he's already into 2 Nephi without anyone having to say anything!!! Golden!!! And then on Thursday we went with a family that was a reference from members here (they're neighbors) and the lesson went really well, they were really interested in the Plan of Salvation, what their purpose truly is in this life. So we talked a little bit about that and in the end challenged them to baptism and they accepted =) Hopefully they will be baptized this month =) That's the spiritual cool stuff that happened this week, so now for the funny things.

So on Tuesday... we got robbed =) Some guy started talking to us and then after talking about how he wanted to go on a mission and stuff like that (he was a little drugged) he asked for money. In the end my comp gave him money (30 cents) and his watch so that he wouldn't rob me (cause that day I had the cell phone and more money). We weren't that threatened, the truth is that it was pretty funny.

And yesterday I contacted a bus. I stood in front and shared a short message with everyone and then handed out pamphlets. When we finished I was just about to get off when a lady gave me 1000 colones (or $2) and wouldn't let me give it back to her. So my comp started laughing and said, "nice job, you just sold your first pamphlet, and for $2!!!" jaja.

So yeah, that was my week. For questions or comments you can write me at hunter.black@myldsmail.com thank you!

-- Elder Black

    Elder Hunter Black    
 
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014            

Monday July 28th

Alrighty, well I'm just going to start. So on Monday we went with some new investigators, they're from El Salvador and they're pretty cool. They are very friendly and we had a good time. Then from there we had to run to get to a Family Home Evening in a member's house. They had invited another family (investigators!!!!) to listen to us. Finally, a reference from members!!!! Ush!!! So everything went well, we talked about the Holy Ghost and the member asks me, "And who gave the Holy Ghost to Jesus?" and I said, "Umm... God." and he goes on to explain that it was Peter jaja, after the lesson we were all confused and it turned out that he had just mixed up the stories in his head. But during the lesson he had left us speechless. Anyways, on Tuesday we went and put up a kiosk in the park... not very successful... and then we did divisions. I went to my area with Elder Herrera (from Argentina)... he's nuts jaja. In a good way. We were able to find a couple of new investigators including one who's name is Elder =) He even showed us his ID and it's true. Then we went to a less actives house where they all bugged my comp about his accent, it was fun. "Callate!!!" but with an accent from Argentina... you have to speak spanish to understand... sorry. And then finally our zone leaders got here to do the interview for Fabio... he passed!!!!!! We were able to have the baptism on Saturday, and my comp baptized him. Those were pretty much the highlights of the week. We found some new investigators, we did divisions and we had our baptism. The only problem was that Fabio thought that he was going to drown, he was a little nervous, but all turned out well. We did have to go on a wild search to found baptismal clothing to fit him jaja. You'll see why when I can send a photo.

But yeah, everything turned out well, things are going good here. We just have to keep going and hope for the best =) That's about it for this week, see y'all next week =)

--Elder Black

Monday, July 21, 2014




Scotcharoos!



We had a pretty good week this week. I got to know the area a little better and we are getting the members to work with us which is awesome!!! Things are going good here, it's a great time to be a missionary =)

On Tuesday we were able to go do visits with our ward mission leader, he's getting ready to go on a mission to Canada. Things went well, we found some new investigators and we had various lessons and recieved a couple references =) On Wednesday we had our district meeting and then had an average day. On Thursday we did divisions with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Petlacalco, one of my former district leaders =) We contacted a bus (one went in front and shared a message with everyone on the bus then we passed by handing out pamphlets =) And we went and had a lesson with a less active family. One of the people is really struggling with depression and when we went we both thought to share the same story that is in Mosiah 24. We shared the story and asked the sister at the end to say the prayer. In the prayer she thanked God for answering a pray of her's that morning, it was a really neat experience for us. Then later we went looking for new investigators when we both stopped and looked in a house and we could see that it was a family. We went and talked to them and they let us enter and were super interested, that was really cool too =) On Friday both me and my comp contacted buses, that was interesting =) And that night we went to a member's house, Ivon, and my comp made pupusas. And yesterday we had a good church attendance, it went up by 20 since last sunday =) And President Wilkinson went to the church to do our interviews which went very well =) And then we did divisions almost all day with a couple members. The members here are great =) So yeah, everything here is going well, I don't have any complaints =) We should also be having a baptism this week, his name is Favio. He's pretty awesome and so we're pretty excited.

That's about all for this week, we'll see ya next week, later!

-- Elder Black

     Elder Hunter Black   
  Costa Rica San José    
            
          2013-2014            

Monday, July 14, 2014

Hunter did not write a letter this week, but I did hear from him.  His internet connection was terrible.  He is doing well and things are going well with his companion and is working hard.  Hopefully he will be able to write next week.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Yep, I got changes again. I'll get to that later though.

So this last week went well. We visited Jaider and Ricardo quite a bit trying to get them ready for baptism. They passed their interviews really well, totally prepared. And the on Sunday at 8 in the morning we had their baptisms =) I baptized Jaider and my comp baptized Ricardo. I'll send pictures next week. So that was a great way to end my time in Escazú.

So I got changes which was pretty weird. I am now in Tibas. It's just about 10 minutes away from the center of San José so yep, I'm still in the city. My new comp is Elder Rodriguez from El Salvador. He has 6 months in the mission and I think he's the district leader, so it sounds like he should be a good comp =) We'll see how everything goes here but yeah, I don't have that much to write today. So I'll talk to y'all later

-- Elder Black

     Elder Hunter Black   
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                              
   Costa Rica San José   
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
          2013-2014          

Monday, June 30, 2014

The truth is that this week as far as the mission work was not that exciting. We're pretty much just looking for some new people to teach and we've been losing quite a few investigators =( But we should be having 2 baptisms this week =) The only problem is that the devil never wants us to have baptisms. Our golden investigator, Jaider, last week fell and fractured 2 ribs and broke an arm... but he said, "it doesn't matter, I need to be baptized", he is awesome!!! So everything's going good here. Our only problem has been World Cup. Since Costa Rica is doing the best in it's history people are going nuts. Yesterday we pretty much couldn't do anything, not even members were accepting us jaja. But we'll get things going. We are hoping to be able to be able to get more done this week, but if Costa Rica wins again things are going to be ridiculous... but vamos Ticos!!! Anyways, that's about all for this week, see ya next week!


-- Elder Black
     Elder Hunter Black   
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                              
   Costa Rica San José   
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
          2013-2014          

Monday, June 23, 2014

¡¡¡¡Ole ole ole ole Ticos Ticos!!!! Vamos Ticos a Mundial! This week was crazy with World Cup everyone went nuts haha But everything's good here =)

This week we spent a bit of time looking for new investigators so it wasn't a super eventful week. We were able to put several baptismal dates with investigators and so we are hoping to at least have a couple of baptisms in July. Martin... we officially have to drop him. We found him with some problems so he is not going to progress =( But we have some other people to teach =) We were able to have 4 investigators go to church on Sunday =) And one of them was a drunk that I had talked with the day before, it was pretty funny, he just wanted to sing a song for everyone during sacrament meeting haha. Anyways, it was a good week, we had some good experiences and some better experiences. Thanks for supporting me as always, talk to you later!

-- Elder Black

     Elder Hunter Black   
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                              
   Costa Rica San José   
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
          2013-2014