I Love this Negative Weather

Well let me just tell you. Right when you think the weather is going well in Iowa. It doesn't and just turns back into to a mess. But you gotta love the midwest.

Monday:  So Monday was pretty cool due to the fact I got to call my family it was pretty cool. They were at Disney World so I was able to see a little bit of Disney World. It was great hearing their voices and being able to talk to them. I am also excited for the opportunity I have to talk with Brodie more. It was kind of funny though cause I was getting over a head cold and some stomach bug, but I got up and was feeling fine. Then I made the mistake of playing basketball and that drained all the energy out of me to say the least.

Tuesday: I woke up kind of sick and them one of then we found out Elder Madsen Was sick too so we ended up staying in most of the day it was not fun at all. But Elder Madsen and I made the most of lying sick on a bed.

Wednesday:  we knocked and did some other typical missionary work. We scheduled some lessons it was pretty great.

Thursday: We ended up knocking again and by this time the weather had just been reported that it was gonna get bad this past weekend so we were somewhat concerned.  We played some basketball Thursday night as well it was pretty fun. We had a good turn out and it is definitely a really effective missionary tool.

Friday: We had a lesson with a less active family and it went super well. They are both super funny and still have solid testimonies so we are looking forward to have them coming back to church. The husband worked as a power lineman so he told all sorts of stories from that. We then did some pretty typical missionary work then had a dinner then went and picked the other elders up from the church from a ward activity. Let's just say we all left with so much food.

Saturday:  We did a lot of finding and we found some people who we are excited to start teaching. So after we found some people it was cold and we were waiting for our car share so we walked to a Casey's( gas station ) we stayed there for about ten minutes then tried to go to a donut place to wait but it closed at noon so we walked into a golf simulator bar. It was funny to see a bar and then so many little kids just playing golf. So we took shelter in there. Then the all of the other missionaries wanted donuts so we then went to Krispy Kreme and then went to a service opportunity. We helped the other elders with it and we basically just helped make a dog ramp for a ward member so her dog can get on her bed. It took a little bit. When we got done we talked to the family and their granddaughter was going crazy. They had the TV on so I saw some of the guardian and some.toy story so that was kind of a tender mercy. We then went to our dinner and were fed cafe rio sweet pork burritos. A member got the recipe and made em for us they were so good.

Sunday: We went to church and ward council. I gave a talk it was definitely the best talk that I have given on my mission. I got the ward laughing and they seemed really engaged. It was overall one of the most entertaining sacrament meetings I have seen in a long time.(  not because I was speaking but we had some stacked speakers). We then did some stuff and then we got the zone leaders to drive us to dinner because they get invited to our ward dinners because they are in the YSA and every YSA is pretty broke. But we drove to Polk city where it was at and the roads were icy but we made it safe. We saw some cars off the road that had been there for a while. We had some good dinner and then we drove back and we saw a few hazard lights so we went to see if the guy was ok and he actually got his car stuck when he was checking a car but it was unoccupied. So we tried to get him out but we couldn't. It was super cool tho. 

Love y'all,

Elder Caylor Hunsaker 

Us at the service opportunity 

Elder Chirstensen and me he went home after that 

The snowy fields

Snow and Even More Snow

So last Monday  we went to des Moines and went to the mission office and then went shopping down there it was a good time. We also went and got some canes chicken we played basketball and it was pretty good and then we went to dinner and that's always a plus when we don't have to cook that's always a plus.

Tuesday: we ended up just knocking and going to do some other stuff so it was a pretty typical day in the mission field. 

Wednesday: our zone leaders stacked snow right out side our door so we had to shovel our way in so that was kind of funny. 

Thursday:  we had exchanges and I went with Elder Madsen and he is such a homie. We taught a few a lessons and then that was great because they all went super well. We then went and had dinner with a family in the other elders ward cause my comp knew them from a past area so that was pretty cool. Super cool family. Then we went back to the apartment and did a comp study then we chilled for the night.

Friday: Well pretty much all that happened Friday is we found. A lady who liked to hoard books and movies and it felt like a world war two era move cause there were all the books and art pieces. Well not to mention we woke up to so some great news that we are able to call our families every week so every one is pretty pumped about that.

Saturday:  We went out and went by some people unfortunately we dropped by 2 of them but that's always fun. We then had dinner and it was super good.

Sunday: I was sick so we stayed in most of the day. Although church was cancelled due to the crazy amount of snow that we received.I had a talk so tender mercies that church was cancelled cause I was not feeling good at all. It was a pretty good day full of resting. We saw another missionary that goes home today he stopped by and talked to us it was super cool cause he was such a homie(finished two years).

Love you

Elder Caylor Hunsaker 

Photos 

My comp fell asleep in the car

Me getting ready in the morning

The zone leaders pile of snow 

Some Camero that got wrecked by a snow plow 

1 Year in the Midwest

So this email will be a little bit different then most because I want to reflect on this past year instead of my past week. Nothing really happened this past week other then a lot of reflecting some basketball in my Donovan Mitchell Jersey.  I also had something jammed in my gum so my mission president said you cant get it out and I was like no I can't, but then I went home and then got it out, but then still went to the dentist. We also had interviews and those are always good.

I would like to start out by saying thank you for every single pray said for me, all the mail sent to me, and the emails. I am truly so grateful for all the support. I am so grateful for my parents and siblings that have taught me so much back home that I have been able to use into my missionary efforts. I am also so grateful for all my grandparents that have always been so supportive as well. I am so appreciative that I have had so many great friends that have been able to be homies back home while I am out in the field. I seriously am so grateful for all the support so thank you.

MTC: I would have to say the MTC was the hardest part of my mission so far. I say this because I was pretty homesick in the MTC but something great I learned in the MTC was how to be lead by the spirit in lessons. It has impacted my teaching in such a great way. I also learned to look for blessings throughout the day I was able to see some people from back home in the MTC, and I was also able to see myself develop as a teacher.

Macomb: I got to my first area and I was so out of it haha. I was like wow this is actually happening and kind of was like woah. My trainer Elder Larsen was a fantastic missionary. He was very patient and taught me how to deal with weird situations through role plays. I never actually thought I would come across any weird or deep deep questions about the gospel. I eventually did while still being trained so his funny little role plays happened in real life. We had a blast those two tranfers. I am also grateful for the missionaries that I served around at that time. Especially my zone leaders I would say the only person who had more of an influence on me was my trainer, but Elder Fox and Elder Baulderston we had a blast and had some good times on exchanges.  I then had got Elder Glenn to break me (which just means second companion)  he was awesome we had so much fun and we were able to continue teaching Scott( he was eventually baptized right after I left Macomb).

Galesburg: I really got to know my level of patience and enduring to the end. I got there and Elder Jarvis and I had to basically rebuild our teaching pool two times in two tranfers. But we had some good times teaching some cool people, who I will never forget. I also met some lifelong friends out here there are so many great missionaries that I was able to meet out while I was serving in the Peoria Zone.  The next companion I had was Elder Anderson now something about Elder Anderson that just blew my mind was he was an Aggie as well. Now I had two of my three companions at this point who were avid cougars.  We had a blast and it was great we had so many fun times. Throughout this whole Peoria Zone time I met so many homies that I totally will hangout with  after my mission .

Ankeny: I have loved Ankeny so far I have learned in this area how to find people in different ways. Usually I am used to knocking, but I have expanded my horizon to getting creative on on Facebook and some other things. It has really been a blessing.

Overall my mission has blessed my life so much. I am so grateful for the people I have met whether they be missionaries or people I meet. I am also grateful for the lessons I have learned.  I look forward to learning another years worth of lessons. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the gospel has healing power. I know that Joseph Smith was a the prophet of the restoration.  I know the Book Of Mormon can and will change lives if we read it.  I know that Jesus is the Christ that he atoned for all of our sins and afflictions.  I say that in the name of Jesus Chirst Amen 

Love 

Elder Caylor Hunsaker 

Pictures:  A dollar with the homie Elder Madsen

An Iowa State Shirt I bought 

A Donovan Mitchell Jersey that my family sent to me. The two times I have played basketball in it my skills have seemed enhanced.

Elder Christenson and I in our D Mitchell Jerseys 

Halftime, Halfway

Today marks Caylor's one year mission anniversary. Lucky for us it was around the Super Bowl and we were able to send Caylor a halftime box to celebrate that he is half way through his two year full time mission. It was a lot of fun being creative and planning everything that we could fit into the box, and sending him a sports themed halftime box.We love Caylor and are so proud of all the growth he has made. It is fun to see the young man he has become, and we look forward to seeing what growth and opportunities he will have over the next year. Time for him to refuel and push harder than he has ever pushed before. Finish strong!

Transfers and Ball

Monday: It was pday so we pretty much just chilled at the church nothing happened. It was a pretty boring p day. We then went to the library of the church and stacked up on DVDs so that we could watch them while we were grounded.

Tuesday: we did nothing except for watch church movies like Legacy and few other ones they were pretty cheesy. But it was like negative 20 so it was pretty cold. We ended up calling our zone leaders and just talked to them all day haha. We also called thie thing called tell me.

Wednesday: We watched some more movies and then found life the game from like the 1980's or even the 70's so we played  that for a while. Then we ordered Jimmy John's and just chilled for the rest of the day. Also I did not shave for two days when we were stuck inside to see how long it would grow.

Thursday: we had transfers got up and I went to des Moines and then went on exchanges with some Spanish elders but it was to cold to do anything so we all chilled at the tech elders apartment and then went to b dubs for 65 cent wings it was fun. I had a blast I saw some elders that I hadn't seen in forever. Elder Medor who is one or my homies out here just got called to be a tech elder but we would always joke when we were Peoria that we would both become tech elders so that's funny. We then got our new companions my comp is Elder Littlefield he is half Filipino and he is also playing football down at Idaho State. We are also in a car share now with Elder Madsen and Elder Barker they are both super cool guys.

Friday: We went by people and it was good we also taught a lesson to Naomi but she kept pushing it back so we were in subway for like two hours due to the car share and subway being no where near any houses. The subway employee hooked  us up with some free cookies.

Saturday: We went to Des Moines and played some ball with some other missionaries it felt like MTC ball. Then we knocked  it was pretty cold and we did not have the car so we tried to go to a gas station but we just walked into a fire station it was pretty cool it was kind of like a mini museum it was pretty neat.

Sunday : We had church and had dinner with a good family and they had super bowl food and we studied and did some work but that's all we did Sunday. We had walking tacos for three straight days it was pretty crazy.

Love yall 

Elder Caylor Hunsaker