Other than the accident....

Hey everyone! This past week has been NUTS. We had three zone conferences in a row, they go from about 8am - 4pm. We had them on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Needless to say, we are dead tired. We have two more of them this week too, on Tuesday and Wednesday. It gets harder and harder for us to stay awake through them because every meeting is the exact same thing, almost word for word. We simply give the meeting in different locations throughout the mission so eventually everyone hears it. For those of us who are there every time though... it gets extremely monotonous. Luckily, this will be our last week of zone conferences for a while.



Other than that, things have been going great. We are teaching an 84 year old woman who is getting really close to being ready for baptism. When we first started teaching her, she was really reluctant to even talk about baptism, but now she is much more accepting of it and of us in general. We really hope to have a baptismal date with her soon.


I'm soooooo excited for Christmas!!! I can't wait to talk with everyone from home. I hope everyone else is having a great Christmas season too, and that we can all do our best to keep "Christ" in "Christmas." Love you!

A car accident...

This is Garrett's mother, and I just received a phone call from Sister Martin informing me that Elder Hunsaker was in a car accident today with two other elders. Everyone escaped without serious injury, but the car was totalled. Elder Hoffman was driving the car, but it was not his fault. They were taking another elder to the airport and a car several cars ahead of them had its battery die amidst fast-moving traffic. The car behind it was able to stop in time, as well as the elders' car, but the car behind them did not stop and slammed into the back of their car, pushing them into the car in front of them. All the elders were taken to the ER and are okay, but Elder Hunsaker was complaining of pain in his neck and shoulders. He was instructed to take ibuprofen and to rest. Sister Martin suspects that if he is already having whiplash pain that it will be worse tomorrow and the next several days. But I am so grateful to know that everyone is well and that there was not more serious news to report. Please remember Elder Hunsaker in your prayers!


Sister Crow

Sister Crow, We really enjoy having your son in our ward. He is a great missionary and you can see the Spirit manifest as he shares his testimony. He's the perfect kind of missionary we like to have over for dinner. He's comfortable with our big family and good at making himself at home. We love him! Attached is a picture from the Newhall 1st ward Christmas party last Friday night. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for sharing your son with us!

AnnaBeth Carpenter

Preparing for the Last Mission Christmas

A few people have asked, so before I forget, here is my address (or, I should say, the mission office address) for Christmas:

23504 Lyons Ave. Suite #107
Santa Clarita, CA 91321

That's so crazy to hear about the windstorm this week! It kind of makes me sad to know that my yard will look so different when I get home. I'm glad everyone is okay though. Did that Microburst end up coming? I hope not. We had the same windstorm up here the night before it hit you all, but it wasn't nearly as bad as what you got. I mean, it was really windy, but it wasn't blowing trees over or anything.

As far as calling on Christmas goes, I have church at eleven oclock (California time) till noon, so only one hour. I will probably call home right after I get out of church. Let me know if that works for you.

As far as things for me, they have been crazy busy. We have been traveling all over the mission helping President Martin with his Zone conferences and stuff. Tomorrow we're heading to Ridgecrest! Remember when I was there? I'll probably visit some of my favorite families there after the meeting, since we don't have chances to go up there very often.

Anyway, I'm doing great. I'm so excited to talk to my family on Christmas, that will be the best gift anyone could ever give me. I love you all!

Singing Praises

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was really good. I'm really glad that this was my last one away from everyone though. We ate with a member family in the ward, and the food was wonderful. We ate SO MUCH FOOD... Luckily, we only had one Thanksgiving dinner this year. Last year we had multiple dinners, and that was rough. We also had a turkey bowl with some of the other missionaries Thanksgiving morning. One of the highlights: Elder Hoffman threw a pass and it hit me right in the face. That didn't feel so great. I was worried for a while that I would get a black eye, but it didn't happen thankfully.

We also had a really cool sacrament meeting yesterday, it was a hymn testimony meeting. It was just like a regular testimony meeting, except people would come up to the pulpit, say their favorite hymn, and talk about why they love it so much, and kind of bear their testimony. After that, we would all sing one verse of that hymn. We were singing hymn after hymn the whole meeting. It was one of my favorite sacrament meetings I've ever had. It really made me grateful for the hymns of the church, and music in general. In 1 Nephi 1:8, it talks about a vision that Lehi had, where he "thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God." I gained a new appreciation for that verse, while I was singing all of those hymns with the members of the ward. I hope we can all sing praises to His name forever in the next life someday. Love you all!

Being More Grateful

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We had a really nice lesson in church yesterday about Thanksgiving and what it's really about. Our teacher talked about being grateful for what we have and not complaining about what we don't. He then had us go around the room and tell everyone what we're grateful for, and It was really powerful. When it was my turn to speak, I talked about how one of the many things my mission has opened my eyes to is how many things I took for granted before my mission. Now that I have left essentially everything I knew behind, I realize more than ever how truly blessed I was, and how much I should've been more grateful for. I hope to never make that mistake again. I hope when I get home I can be more grateful for all of the many blessings I have. I want to take this opportunity to share with you some of the things I'm grateful for:

1. I'm grateful for my Mom, and all of the sacrifices she has made for me and my family. She is one of my heroes, and I would not be the person I am today if it weren't for her. Thank you for raising me well, and for being the best mother a man could ever ask for.

2. I'm grateful for my Dad, and all of his efforts to remain a part of me and my brother's lives, despite the distance he always had to travel. I'm grateful for the things you have taught me, and for always forgiving me for my many mistakes and shortcomings.

3. I'm grateful for Kyle, and his pure and loving heart. He has always been a powerful example to me of what true charity really is.

4. I'm grateful for Emily, and her example to me of dedication to the gospel, even during hard times.

5. I'm grateful for Riley, and for his patience with me through the years. He has always gone the extra mile, and tries his very best at everything he is asked to do.

6. I'm grateful for Anna, and the courage and strength she has always had. I'm grateful for her desire to do good and help others.

7. I'm grateful for Liam, and his kind loving heart. I still remember the day when I was picking on him pretty fiercely, and I found a note from him on my bed that same day telling me how much he loved me. It brought me to tears. That's the kind of person Liam is.

8. I'm grateful for Sophia, and her brilliant mind and awesome sense of humor. I'm sure she will grow up to be a strong and successful woman, and I'm happy about that.

9. I'm grateful for Kathryn, and that she never forgets me in her prayers. I know she will be a beautiful woman someday, not only on the outside but inwardly too.

10. I'm grateful for both of my step-parents and their efforts to be good parents and good examples to me. Your efforts don't go unnoticed, and I thank you for all of them.

11. I'm grateful for Hilary and how she always helps me see the beauty in the world. I'm grateful that she works so hard and won't accept any mediocrity. I'm grateful for her idea for us list 5 things we're grateful for every week. It has really helped me feel good and maintain the right perspective.

12. I'm grateful for the Webb family, and the amazing people they all are. You girls are like sisters to me, and I appreciate all the great times we had together. I'm grateful for Bishop Webb and than many things he has done for me and helped me with, I'm also grateful for Sis Webb. She is one of the most loving people I know.

13. I'm grateful for Elder Taylor Thomas, Elder Cody Holm, Elder Josh Hadfeild, and all of my other friends out there who are faithfully serving missions. You are all great examples to me and it makes me happy to know that we are all serving the Lord together right now.

14. I'm grateful for all of my other family members, whether they be extended family, step family, or close enough friends to be considered family. I thank you for all of your support and your examples to me. It means more than you know, and I appreciate it.

15. I'm grateful for the wonderful time we live in, a time with medicine (medicine that has literally sustained my life) and technology that makes things like keeping in contact with friends and family that much easier.

These are just a few of the many many things I'm grateful for, I could go on for hours but I simply don't have the time. :) Lastly, I'm grateful for my Father in heaven and all of these blessing He has bestowed upon me. None of this would be possible without Him. I love Him and I'm so grateful to be serving Him. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Love you all!

Flashback/Flashforward

Hello Everyone! For the next few days I will be helping all the departing missionaries with their flight arrangements, rides, luggage, etc. I'm pretty excited, too, because part of the process is that the departing missionaries go to the temple tomorrow, and we get to go with them! I love the LA temple. Other than that, not much else has happened... We're still teaching the same people (Cause we have hardly any time to go and find new investigators now), but things are moving along slowly but surely with them. I received my new companion, Elder Hoffman today. I'm really excited to be companions with him, we are already good friends and I think we will do really well together. Yesterday at church we had a missionary farewell, combined with a missionary homecoming. It was a funny flashback/flash forward experience. I thought a lot about my farewell and how I felt, and I also thought my homecoming (which is getting closer and closer now) and what that might be like. I love each and every one of you, and despite how much I love the mission, I can't wait to see you all again. I hope you all are happy and doing well! Love you!

Seeking the Spirit for Missionary Transfers

Things are going well up here. Its kind of the calm before the storm though... Over the next two weeks we will be helping out with transfers and driving everyone to the airport and such... I hope I even have time to email next week... We'll see I suppose.

I'll probably be getting a new companion next week as well. His name is Elder Hoffman. I am really excited to work with him. I served around him in Ridgecrest and he is easily one of the best missionaries in this mission. So that should be great! Lately we have just been working on our transfer board and deciding which missionaries should go to certain areas in the mission... It's a pretty long process. We have a big white board with all of the missionaries pictures on it, where they are serving, where they have previously served... etc. Its kind of like a giant Rubic's cube. Certain missionaries can't go with others because they don't like each other... Others can't be in bike areas... Some need to be close to the mission home... There are all sorts of things we have to take into account. It takes about two weeks before our board is ready. On Wednesday, we have a meeting with President Martin. He has been working on a board of his own, and on Wednesday we will compare our boards and come up with a final board which will decide what will happen next transfer. When we have that meeting, we pray for every single missionary, one by one, until we know that the board we have come up with is what the Lord wants, and not us. The last time I participated in that the spirit was so strong. I'm excited to go through it again.

What a blessing it is to be an instrument in the Lord's hands, and help this mission be the best it can be. Wish me luck!

The Grave Hath No Victory

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

I have a more serious message today, even though today is Halloween. I just have to share what happened to me this weekend. A member of our ward was on his way back from work on his motorcycle Friday night, when he suddenly lost control of the bike on the freeway and crashed. He was killed as a result of the accident. He has a wife and four children, three of which are still in primary. His wife is also currently pregnant with their fifth child. It was a huge tragedy. Elder Smith and I were on our way to church yesterday, and we were talking about how there was no way the family was going to be at church that day, considering they had just barely lost their husband/father less than two days before, and they had tons of family over for the funeral and such... We sat down in the chapel for sacrament meeting, when we heard kind of a gasp come over the people in the room. We looked over and saw the wife of the man walking in, with all of her children. I don't think I could've done that. I mean, go to church when you know that you going to be essentially forced to talk about what happened to everyone and have everyone see you cry and mourn? I'm sure that was the last thing she wanted to do, but she came anyway.

The next thing that happened was probably the thing that impacted me the most. We were in a combined Relief society/Priesthood meeting for the 5th Sunday, and the bishop decided to change his original lesson plan. He turned the meeting over to the group for a testimony meeting. Many people came up and expressed their love for the hurting family, and testified of eternal families. It was really nice. Then, there was a pause after everyone had finished. The bishop was about to stand up and close the meeting, when the wife of the deceased member walked up to the front. She very emotionally bore an amazing testimony. To the best of my memory, this is some of what she said: "I know that God has a plan for us. I don't yet know why this had to be a part of it, but I know it was part of the plan, and that He's in charge. There's no one else I would rather have in charge of my life. He has done a far better job with my life than I would ever have been able to do if I had been in charge of it... I'm so grateful for my temple marriage. I'm so grateful that my husband and I have eternity to spend together, because 200 months was not nearly enough time with my husband. I know I will see him, and live with him again forever. I love this gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

When she finished, there wasn't a dry eye in the room, including mine. I was so inspired. I don't know if I could've done what she did. Her life had just been hit by a sledgehammer, and she didn't blame God at all, in fact, she praised Him. I hope I can be that strong someday. It was a good reminder to me of what's really important in life. I know that God really is in charge, and that all of the trials that come into our lives are a part of His plan. I also know that families really are eternal, and that if we are faithful, we will be able to live with all of our families in happiness forever in the next life.

Lastly, I wanted to share a scripture with you all in relation to this. This is the prophet Abinadi's final testimony of the Savior:


6 And now if Christ had notcome into the world, speaking of things to come asthough they had already come, there could have been no redemption.

7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that deathshould have no sting,there could have been no resurrection.

8 But there is a resurrection,therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.

9 He is the lightand the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

I testify that the sting of death truly is swallowed up in Christ. I know that He lives, and because He lives, all of us will live again too. I testify of this, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Garrett Hunsaker

After the Trials Come the Blessings

Today I wanted to share a few verses with you out of DC 58:


2 For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation,the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.


3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes,for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.


4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.




I have always thought this revelation was interesting, mainly because it was given to few brand new converts who were just baptized. They wanted to know the will of the Lord concerning them and their future, so Joseph Smith received a revelation for them. These are the first verses of the revelation, the very first thing the Lord wanted them to know.

God didn't say, "Now that you've been baptized into my church, it's smooth sailing from now on." He said "Things are going to be hard. I have a plan for each of you, but to see the realization of that plan, there's going to be some suffering. If you keep being faithful even when things are hard, you will be crowned with glory in the next life."

Sometimes I think because we are members of God's restored church on the earth today, we think that our lives should be easier than other people's lives. We expect smooth sailing, and when we hit rough waters, we say "I thought you loved me God! I thought this was the true church!" This is a mistake on our part. In order to become the people God wants us to be, we have to suffer a little. It is during the hard times in our lives that we grow the most, and God loves us enough to want that growth for us. If God protected us from everything hard, we would never become like Him.

I know that if we approach our various trials in the right way, they can all be blessings in disguise. Every one of them will chisel and mold us into someone like God, if we let them. That is why we are here. We chose to come to this earth because life would be hard, not in spite of it. Someday, we will be able to look back at our lives, and see how the trials we faced made it possible for us to build our own stairway to heaven. I love you all, and testify of this principle in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Training and Working in Our Area

Another crazy week. It was good though. We gave trainings on Tuesday and Wednesday to the leadership of the mission, and they went really well. The meetings lasted all day, from 9-4. You'd better believe I was exhausted after those two days. I'm glad that we've finally been able to work in our area a bit this week. We're teaching an 84 year old woman, and the only reason she wont get baptized is because she wears a wig and doesn't want people to see her without it on. We tried to say that we could have a private baptism with no one else there... We told her we could keep the font closed when the baptism happens... But that didn't work. She is pretty terrified about anyone seeing her without her wig. Hopefully we can help her get over that soon. Something coming up soon: President Martin and Sister Martin are going to a mission president seminar, and they will be gone for five days in Washington state. That means my companion Elder Smith and I will be left to run the mission for those five days while he's gone, since he will be out of state and unreachable most of the day. I am pretty nervous for those days, cause we are going to be getting all of the drama of the mission, and we'll have to decide what to do about it, completely on our own! Ah! I hope you can pray for me extra hard this week, cause I'm going to need it. Well, I love you all! Take care!

Life as an AP....

I'm ALIVE! (Barely) This week has been SO crazy. Apparently the first week of the transfer will always be crazy for me from now on. I helped drive the departing missionaries to the airport when it was time for them to go. I had to get up at four in the morning, and I went to bed at 2am... First we drove to Burbank airport, then we drove to LAX. My companion and I both had to keep punching each other to stay awake. I got to say goodbye to each one, and watch them walk off into the airport. I was kind of hard to watch them return home to their families and know that I still have quite a while... but I know my day will come. I also got to help with the brand new missionaries that flew in just as the departing missionaries left. I gave them some training about how to be obedient and have faithful companionship study. I have also been training the the Zone leaders and District leaders this week. I have two more I'll be giving tomorrow and the next day. Basically, my companion and I are President Martin's counselors. He calls us and asks us for advice sometimes. I hardly feel worthy to be giving advice to a mission president, but I'll try my hardest. I have been frantically running errands for him all week, that's why I didn't have time to email last week. Sorry! To be honest... I kind of miss doing normal missionary work. Things are so different now, I'm even allowed to do things without a companion sometimes. I went and picked up a new mission car and drove it back to the office all by myself. That may not sound like much to those of you who aren't on missions... But when you literally haven't been alone in a car for almost a year and a half, it's a bizarre experience. Anyway, I am doing well. I'm super busy, but I'm hanging in there. I'll keep you posted on the interesting things that happen. Love you all!

A Letter from President Martin Arrived Today

California San Fernando Mission
23504 Lyons Avenue, Suite 107
Santa Clarita, CA 91321-2530

Dear Sister Crow,

It is a pleasure to inform you of the appointment of your son, Elder Garrett Craig Hunsaker, as an Assistant to the President of the California San Fernando Mission. This calling has been issued after much consideration and prayer. Elder Hunsaker has the ability, sincerity, and devotion to duty that qualifies him for such an important position. I am confident he will discharge his new duties diligently. The other missionaries hold your son in high esteem, and he has the love and respect of Sister Martin and myself.

We congratulate you for raising such a fine son. We know that the training he received in his home and your prayers, faith, and encouragement have contributed greately to his success.

Sincerely,

Jerald L. Martin
President

Cryptic Note

This is Elder Hunsaker's mom writing. We did not get an email from Garrett this week until late Monday night. (We usually hear from him about 3:00 or so on Mondays.) The note he finally wrote that evening said:

"I haven't had any time to email until now. I'll write you more tomorrow, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm fine. Hope you didn't worry. Love you! "

And we haven't heard from him since.

I'm assuming that means he has been unbelievably busy, since he's never missed a letter home yet. I've been very eager to hear how things are going in his new calling. If he wrote to one of you readers out there, share the wealth. More info. as soon as we get it.

Kristyn