June 22, 2012

Dear Family, I misplaced the notes I started taking on last week's events, so will type them up and add to my journal, but you probably won't get a copy.  The highlight of our week was being able to attend President Jones' farewell Zone Conference in this area on Thursday.  I wrote a brief summary of that meeting which is given below.  Saturday we had a going away party at the park next to the mission office and it turned out really well.  Wendell Jones and his wife, Carolyn, brought President Jones' brother Lorden with them so it was a great reunion of old friends.  After Jared's Sunday afternoon organ lesson the Paynes invited us to dinner so we jumped at the offer.  We probably overstayed our welcome, but I wanted to visit with George about several pressing issues and he gave some wise counsel (from one who has been down the road we are now traveling). George and Joanne keep asking when our kids are coming to see us.  I made reservation for the Duane Hunt family for the weekend of July 14 -- they said that would be a perfect time for them.  I hope all of you have sent my mom a birthday card for her birthday on Wednesday, June 26.  I talked to her for a few minutes last night and she sounded tired and discouraged.  Birthday mail will brighter her days and she can reread your notes again and again.  We look forward to a glorious gather for Claire's baptism this Saturday, June 30.  We send our love, Elder and Sister Hunt


ZONE CONFERENCE –June 21, 2012
            We werea little late arriving at the mission office as Elder Hunt had an 8:30 a.m. eyeappointment.  We chatted briefly withSister Jones out in the parking lot and as we entered the building PresidentJones invited us to attend the Zone Conference that was to begin at 10:00 forthe Farmington and Bloomfield Zones.  Aswe walked into the Relief Society room there was a message on the chalk boardwritten in big, bold letters:  “StudyRight Now!”  Each missionary had their scripturesopen and was trying to do just that.  Theopening hymn was “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” and I can never make itthrough the second verse of that song any more where is says, “He lives tocomfort me when faint.  He lives to hearmy soul’s complaint.  He lives to silenceall my fears, He lives to wipe away my tears.” I have felt each one of those things this week and have felt thesustaining power of my Redeemer.
             PresidentJones talked in a straight-forward manner to the missionaries about his departureand the arrival next week of President Batt, our new mission president.  He told us what he expected of us and what wewould need to do to make the transition go smoothly and effectively.  Then he turned the time over to the Zoneleaders to conduct a discussion on what the missionaries felt they needed to doto help with the transition.  We weresitting at the back of the room with the other senior couples, and it was achoice experience to hear the wisdom and commitment come from the mouths of ouryoung missionaries.
             Afterthe group discussion, President Jones gave his farewell address and began bytelling of his experience at general conference when he was first called as amember of the seventy’s quorum.  Afterthe conference session he was invited to the office of the first presidency tobe set apart, and although President Hinckley was the prophet at the time,President Monson was the one who was voice in that blessing.  President Monson, knowing that PresidentJones came from a humble background (a common farmer from Virden, New Mexico),told him that he was an “uncommon common man.” President Jones confessed thathe never served as an AP or even a Zone Leader during his mission when he was ayoung man.  From that point, he talked tohis missionary audience about what it means to be “uncommon” and challenged usto fit that description.  He also talkedabout the Old Testament story of Elijah and Elisha and described how the mantleof Elijah fell on Elisha.  He asked us towatch for that same thing to happen when President Batt joins us here in ourmission.  He also told us that he too hadtwo mission presidents.  His first wasPresident Stone, the son of a general authority.  His second mission president was ElderRichard G. Scott.
             At theconclusion of the meeting we sang, “I Stand All Amazed” and then went rightinto “God Be With You.”  All of themissionaries stood as we sang that song, the last verse being a capella.  It was a moving experience!  After the conference President Jones interviewedeach of the missionaries in the Farmington Zone (they were still coming in aswe left the building at 7:00 p.m.)  TheBloomfield missionaries will have their interviews today.
             It hasbeen a special privilege for us to serve under President Jones and to be ableto witness first-hand to what extent this “common” man has become“uncommon.”  We will miss his love anddevotion to our mission, but we look forward to serving under President Batt.
 Sister Linda Hunt– June 22, 2012

NMFM Week 12: June 4-10, 2012

Dear family,

     It is a beautiful Sunday evening and we can almost smell Grandpa Payne's popcorn!  George came over for a visit as his family all left for Utah this morning.  They are such gracious, kind neighbors!  We feel so blessed to be here next door to them.  We look forward to being with family at Claire's baptism on June 30 -- President Jones gave us the go-ahead to leave the mission for a couple of days.  We will leave for Virden immediately after the baptism so we can have a brief visit with my folks that day also.  We will have to hustle back to Farmington on Sunday so we will be here Monday morning to meet our new mission president!  We hope summer is finding all of you doing fun, family things!  We send our love, Elder and Sister Hunt

Monday:  We celebrated our 44^th wedding anniversary by going out to lunch at Olive Garden.  We talked to Cami and sang “Happy Birthday” to her – she is always easy to remember as she was born on our 25^th wedding anniversary.  It was a pleasant and fun day for us to be together!

Tuesday:  It was fun to talk to Paul and wish him a happy birthday.  Paul sent me Photoshop Elements 10 that we will have Maren install for us when she comes in a couple of weeks. 

            It was Zone Leader training in Farmington so we hustled and got a few items together to send to various areas of the mission with the Zone leaders.  Our Zone Leaders are great elders and magnify their callings well!

Wednesday:  We took care of a few routine office tasks and a few shopping errands for the mission.  I think Sunday is the only day of the week that we aren’t on a shopping errand of some sort for our missionaries.

Thursday:  Our devotional message was centered around the theme “it doesn’t matter where you serve, but how you serve” and Elder Hunt shared a story from Joseph Smith’s life.  We received word that the church authorized the purchase of two travel trailers for missionaries that our mission had requested.  That began a flurry of phone calls and web searches for trailers that fit the price range and specs.  I think our mission will be a trial run to see if something like this is feasible for other areas with similar needs.  One of the trailer will be placed in the Bluff/ Montezuma Creek area and the other one will be placed in Chinle.

We were late leaving the office so stopped at Wendy’s to get a baked potato on our way home.  We struck up a conversation with the fellow who was wiping off the tables and ended up getting a missionary referral for him.  It was pretty exciting for me to be able to enter my own referral into the computer!

Friday:  We were able to attend the Farmington 1^st Ward convert baptism of Bob Barnhart.  Elder Hunt met Bob when he went to donate blood on May 2.  Bob was the lab tech who drew his blood and as they visited, Bob expressed an interest in attending our church and asked about when and where meetings were held.  From there he came in contact with the missionaries and was a “golden contact.”  The spirit was strong at the baptism and we felt it a privilege to be there and be a part of such a special occasion.

Saturday:  The highlight of our day was attending the wedding reception of Cory Thellmann and his cute little bride, Melissa.  It was held in the backyard at the Foutz’ home in Kirtland. It was so good to see Johnny and Shirley Penrod and their family and to visit with them.  They told us they were driving back to Joseph City after the party and planned to go to Midway Ward meetings as they were to get a new bishopric. 

Sunday:  We attended Kirtland 5^th Ward and enjoyed their fast and testimony meeting along with their entire meeting block.  Reference was made to the fireside the previous week with Elder Tad Callister.  It really was an inspiring fireside!  We had never had the opportunity of hearing Brother and Sister Redhair speak (he is one of the counselors in our mission presidency).  The Redhairs are from Page and they gave bore strong testimonies of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was also good to shake Elder Callister’s hand and to feel of his strength and spirit. 

NMFM Week 11: May 28-June 3, 2012

Dear Family,

     We have thought of you this week with school letting out and the change of schedule for a lot of folks.  We haven't missed the end-of-the-year stress.  We hope summer will be a fun time for all of you. George's ward had their Father/Son Campout in the Payne's yard.  We were in Monticello Friday night so missed the party.  Joanne told us that with 3 new houses under construction at this end of Samantha Lane that meant the fathers and sons could use the 3 port-a-potties next to the Payne lot!  Joanne and the Payne boys are headed to Utah next week.  Josh is going to EFY and Jared is going to a BYU Music Camp.  Joanne's sister is flying up to meet them in SLC so Isaac and Joanne will have a chance to show them around temple square.  None of Joanne's family are members of the church (YET!).  

     Allyson went to Virden this weekend to give my mom some TLC.  She has suffered severely with shingles this past week and Allyson went to give her some hugs for me.  I think we will all agree that Ally's hugs and attention can help to make a lot of things better.  Maren wasn't available this time as she was in Hawaii giving Cherise hugs this past week.

     I'm attaching a picture I took this morning out in George's garden -- I thought Josh and Kolby would especially enjoy it.  

     Please note our address -- we have had mail sent to a different address this week and Joanne's neighbor kindly delivered it to her.  We LOVE to get mail!  Love you lots, Elder & Sister Hunt

Elder and Sister Hunt

c/o George Payne

5101 Samantha Lane

Farmington, NM  87402

 

Monday:  Our new missionaries flew into Durango this morning and the APs and President and Sister Jones met them at the airport.  We went to the mission home after lunch for the orientation meeting with the rest of the office staff.  Our new bunch include Sisters Ward and Rowley, and Elders Henrie, Rich, Tanner, Wightman, and Edwards (Elder Edwards looks like he could be a big brother to Jim Edwards’ son).  President Jones’ message was basically the same as last time:  “We are a Preach My Gospel Mission and our focus is to baptize and retain.”

Tuesday:  The mission office parking lot was humming as we drove up.  The “transfer van” and trailer were being loaded and missionaries were everywhere.  Transfer day is a fun day to be a part of and to see up close the interactions between the missionaries.  We were able to send new desks to Gallup, Chinle, and St. Michaels with elders going to those locations.  We were just getting used to knowing who was where, now we get to start all over again!  During the afternoon we spent some time preparing for another little road trip.

Wednesday:  We left Farmington at 7:30 am headed south to Crownpoint.  On our first visit to the elders there we were rather dismayed with what we found (lots of grease and grime).  We spent time scrubbing the stove and kitchen WITH THEM.  We promised we could be back to fix their broken couch frame so took supplies to accomplish that task.  This time as we walked in the door the place looked well cared for and clean.  The stove was clean, the refrigerator and microwave were clean, their dishes were done and put away!  I took the elders some fresh cookie dough to bake in their clean oven!  The Redmonds, the senior couple who live next to the elders, took us all to lunch. The Navajo Technical College there in Crownpoint have an impressive culinary arts program and serve meals at noon which are prepared by their students.  The meal was tasty and there were several dishes to choose from. After the couch was fixed we headed south to Thoreau.

     We had never been inside the Thoreau trailer before.  The elders were there for a few minutes before they had to leave for an appointment so we visited a little with them and then promised to lock up their trailer when we left.  We stayed there for a couple of hours scrubbing their stove (which had been cooking fry bread for many weeks – we even found some uncooked fry bread dough in the refrigerator!).  The floor in front of the stove had a thick layer of grease as well that required an SOS pad to remove it.  While scrubbing I kept thinking:  “Fry bread, fry bread, Oh so greasy – we beat your team really easy!”  We definitely left that place BTIW.  We arrived back in Farmington around 8 pm feeling well rewarded for our day’s efforts.  It was a fun outing!

Thursday:  Our devotional theme was charity from  Moroni 7:45 and 10:21. We worked on updating our record keeping and reports by changing new companionships etc.  We also cleaned out our car to get ready for another road trip (restocked cleaning supplies, etc). 

Friday:  We left Farmington at 8:30 am headed north to Durango.  We caught the elders there in the parking lot just leaving for an appointment (they knew we were coming!)  They let us in their apartment and left us there to do our inspection.  From there we drove to the Durango sisters’ apartment which is clear across town.  It was fun to visit Sisters Kesler and Dillman again. They live in a small studio apartment and it was clean and tidy!  When I called the day before to ask what we could bring them, their text back said HUGS! 

     We stopped at Dolores to visit Sisters Kidd and Nay.  They live out in the country in an upstairs apt. above a member family’s barn.  It is cozy and cute and was tidy and clean.  We invited them to join us in Cortez with the elders for lunch.  Elders Smith and Wilkinson are bicycle elders (NO TRUCK) so we picked them up and met the sisters at “Pepperhead.” 

Elders Chapple and Grisham, the Cortez Zone leaders, were out for the day so we didn’t see them, but they left their door unlocked so we could check out their place. 

     We arrived in Monticello in time to check in to our motel and freshen up a bit before heading to the temple for the 5 pm session.  We enjoyed the peace and beauty of that little temple – we always like to go some time during the week of our anniversary so this fit the bill perfectly!  After the temple session we visited Sisters Wise and Kost who serve the entire Monticello area.  We looked on their area map and it is HUGE – goes to the outer city limits of Moab, over to Dove Creek, almost to Blanding, and west up and over the mountain. 

Saturday:  We weren’t in any hurry as we drove south to Monticello.  We met some folks from England at our motel who just hit a deer 5 miles south of town.  Sure enough, we saw four deer at the side of the road who had been hit recently.  We had to come to a complete stop and honk our horn to get one to move out our lane of traffic.  We knocked on Elders Christensen and Coesens’ door in Blanding at 8 am and they were ready for us.  They didn’t have a workable vacuum so we traded theirs out for an almost new one that works.  Two other sets of elders live in Blanding in the home of an older member lady.  Elders Sharp and Miller are assigned to the Bluff/Montezuma Creek area and have to drive quite a distance every day to fill their assignment.  So far, nothing has worked out for them to be able to live down in that area.  Elders Seals and Openshaw work in Blanding. 

            After visiting the missionaries in Blanding, we headed south and as we passed the Montezuma Creek chapel we noticed a couple of cars in the parking lot. We stopped and found the door open so walked in and met President Hansen, the branch president and also his high priest group leader.  It was a providential visit as we were able to discuss possibilities of finding the elders a place to live there.  Hopefully something will work out there soon!

            We drove across the 4-corners area and stopped by the chapel at Teec Nos Pos – there was a truck parked next to the trailer there, but the gate was locked. Dennis walked around and found a place where he could climb over and then went over and knocked on their door.  One of the elders came and unlocked the gate and I drove on in. and we visited Elders Iversen and Nelson there.  Next we stopped  in Shiprock to visit the McBrides, the new couple who just moved in this a couple of weeks ago.   We didn’t find a family connection.

     After we got back to Farmington we had a little nap and then went to the Kirtland Stake Saturday evening session of stake conference.  It was a REALLY good meeting.

Sunday:  This morning I was sitting here at the computer and had the blinds open and noticed two deer out in George’s garden enjoying his green beans that have struggled to come up.  I went out in my pajamas and chased them off two different times. 

     Kirtland Stake conference was inspiring and uplifting.  The visitors were President and Sister Redhair from the NM Farmington Mission (live in Page), and President and Sister Hine of the Albuquerque Temple.  This evening we plan to attend a special fireside in Kirtland for Native Americans.  Sister Blue Eyes said she would like to go with us. Elder Tad Callister has been visiting different areas of our mission this weekend and he is supposed to speak at this fireside.