Elder Tyler Lunt's Mission Site

MOM!!!! DAD!! Hi!!! Hi Leah and David!!!

Oh my gosh, I cannot believe what my life has become this last week! I don´t even know enough words to describe what I´m feeling, or what I feel every day!! Here I´ll try a few... Crazy, HOT, Poor, Brazillian, Rice and Beany, Sweaty, Itchy, Hospitally, Dont worry, Spiritual, Humbling, and AMAZING. Every day is just so different- I have to remind myself of where I am and what I´m doing every morning I wake up.

But first of all, I just read your letters, and I loved them!!! It sounds like you are doing SO well and I´m so so glad! I can´t believe you´re already going back to school too!! Wow, is time going fast for you too? Oh my gosh, I can´t even tell you how good it was to talk to you on the phone! Ahhh, I think both of us needed that! I´ve just been wanting to share every bit of everything with you, my family! And I´m so glad I got to hear your voices and just talk to you! David, I´m way sad you weren´t there, that would´ve been so cool!! But it´s ok, just a few more fast-sundays and I´ll be able to call again!! I can´t imagine what is going to happen between now and then that we will be able to talk about! Ok, but anyway, I´m so excited for all of you.

David, are you working at the post office now? I keep praying that you´ll be able to, it sounds sweet! What exactly would you be doing there? Could you send me packages? Haha. How are you doing?

Leah! You little lobster girl! I´m an Açaì! Well my leg is- I´ll tell you later. We can totally chill with our lobster/ Açaì-ness. I can´t believe you´re starting you Junior year!! It seems like no time since I took you to do that last year! WOW.

Mom! You get to go to Education week tomorrow!! That is going to be so so good! I´m so glad that you have time to do that again. It´s been a long time since you have! You will love it. Tell me all of the cool spiritual experiences and things that you get to do there! I love when you do that- share talks, and the things you´re learning in your Book of Mormon Book- It is so cool, and I can use it all in teaching, and I love thinking about it, and learning right along with you! I´ll be thinking about you down there tomorrow and hoping that you´ll be having the best time ever!

Ok, I better start on everything that has happened!! Wow, ok. So, after I hung up the phone, I got on the plane headed to Belém, and just wondered what kind of life I would be stepping into when I stepped off of that plane again. After a little while though, I just stopped trying, and fell asleep. Haha, but when I woke up, we were there, and it looked SO cool! I look down at all these rivers winding there way through the jungles, little houses, villages, ah, It was so cool. And then there was the Amazon!! I thought it was a HUGE lake or something, but no, it´s a river. Oh my gosh, it was awesome.

Ok, I´ve got to hurry, haha, I have a lot more to talk about than me looking outside of my plane. So we got there, and the President and his wife were there to greet us, waving and smiling at us like two of the sweetest, most loving grandparents ever. President Hoggan told us all how happy he was to finally see us, and how much he loved us as he gave us all big hugs. Ah, I love him so much. So we headed towards the mission office, and our hotel for that night, all of us dying of excitement!! We stayed at this hotel.... I can´t remember what it was called, but it was way nice! I was surprised! When we got there, we dropped off our things, and headed over to the President´s apartment for dinner, training, and interviews. Oh my gosh, his apartment was amazing. Once again, I felt like I was walking in to my other Grandparents house- Rich Grandparents- and they proceeded to feed us like Kings, and serve us, and feed us, and talk to us. We all were loving it, and I never wanted it to end! After dinner the Assistants took us to the office, and we got our bags, a few letters, some training, and then headed back to their apartment for our interviews. It was just SO nice, we sat in their living room, just me and my brothers from my favorite district ever, talking and waiting to find out where we were going, and being so excited with each other, and for each other. The feeling in that room was so cool.

Here´s how it went- One of us would go in and talk to Pres Hoggan, while the rest of us would guess where they were going, and then when they came out we would all get up and crowd all over them, then they would tell us where their area was, and then we´d all go to the map, and they would tell us all they learned about it in the 2 minutes they were in there, and then we would do it all over again for the next person!

Needless to say, I was so excited to go in there and talk with him, meet him, and start to get to know him! I came in the room, and we sat down, and he instantly made me feel at home. It was like I was his son. I almost wanted to cry... He just loves us all so much, and I could feel his love for me so powerfully. He said such a sweet prayer for me, and I could feel how close of a relationship he had with our Heavenly Father. He prayed for all of his missionaries and their well being- just like a father does for his sons. The very first thing he said after the prayer was, “Well Elder Lunt, you are just such a great man. You really are just so special, and I love you.” I was having a hard time not crying, and all I could say was “Thank you. I can´t believe I´m finally here, I´ve been waiting my whole life.” Ah, I think we probably could´ve ended the interview right then, the spirit had said it all, and I already felt like I knew President Hoggan. But nope, that was only the first 60 seconds! Haha. Gosh, I loved it so so much, I can´t wait to talk to him again.

Anyway, he told me that my companion would be Elder Merrill, and that I would be serving in a town called Paár, about 30 minutes outside of Belém!! I was SO excited! It could´ve been anywhere, and I had no idea what the heck Paár was, but I was just so excited! Outside I looked for it on the map, and couldn´t find it, but took his word for it that it was a real place, and then went to look at Elder Merrill´s picture! Oh my gosh, he is the coolest, funniest, most easy going guy ever. It has been such a blessing!! He´s an American from Sandy, he´s 6´2, dark hair, and just.... awesome. Sorry, I can´t really describe people, but ah, I have the best companion ever. I´m getting a new camera card after this, so I´ll be able to take pictures and next week I´ll email them home! Tonight I´ll take a video tour of my house, and my street and stuff too! Yay!

Ok, so anyway, the next day was our transfer meeting, and it was so so cool. It was at a chapel in Belém, and everyone that comes is either getting transferred, or has a companion that´s getting transferred. It was so dang cool, I´ve never seen so many people so excited about something! Haha, we sang Called to Serve, and everyone sang it like warrior style- I felt kind of like I was supposed to punch someone. In a few parts, everyone just screams “Missão, Brasil, BELÉM!” and it was so cool! Then they make announcements, and they call out the names of people getting transferred, and after they´re done, everyone screams SO loud and they run and hug their new companions and take pictures and stuff! So here comes my turn- the Elder says my name, I stand up, and he announces my area, and says Elder Merrill, and everyone just freaks! I turned around to walk up the aisle and go hug him, and here I see someone dive-roll out on to the aisle, run and attack me, and another person right behind to take pictures of it all!! Hahaha, Oh my gosh, it was such a big scene and it was so hilarious! He and his old companion had planned the whole thing, and it was so funny- he thought I was Brazilian, so he tested me by saying “Dude are you excited??!” haha, --oh dang I have to hurry!!

Ok, so anyway, all of our district had to say goodbyes at the meeting, and it was really hard. We were all so excited though, and we know that we´ll be seeing each other at those meetings. Gosh, it´s going to be so cool to progress with all of them. Ok, so we left the meeting to go eat lunch with 2 other companionships at where else but PIZZA HUT! On our way there walking, about 2 minutes up the road I heard a kind of weird “hissing” noise. I turned to see not a snake, but a lady hissing at me and blowing kisses. Yes. Haha, after we passed her everyone was like “Ooh Lunt just got his first Snake-age!” Bleh. But oh my gosh, PIZZA HUT. It was the most unbelievably good food ever. Free refills of Guaraná, real american Pizza, and AIR CONDITIONING. It was heaven!!

After that, we went back to the chapel to get my bags, and take a taxi to Paár! I just sat there wide-eyed taking it all in. It was such a crazy feeling. The nice city area turned into dirt roads, and poor little.... living areas? Not really houses... Well I guess they are, they´re just covered by gates and locks, and they´re all connected. And then, we stopped! We got out and got my bags and Elder Merrill was like, dude it´s your first house!! Haha, oh man, I was SO excited! I´ll make a video of my house tonight! It has a sweet cement back yard, a mattress, a toilet, a pot for making noodles and such, a shower with ice cold water, a table, and a fully loaded comfort/ entertainment area in the living room that consists of Greeny and Stylo- Our fans, and chairs and Elder Merrill´s ipod! Haha! I want you to see it SO bad!! I can´t wait to show you! Oh man, I love it! But ah, I have to keep going, I need to tell you about my crazy week!

Ok, so, first of all, I LOVE the people here. The members are SO loving and nice. The first day, we went to eat lunch at this member family´s house. It´s so cool, when you go to someones house, you stand outside their gate and clap, and then wait five minutes for them to finally move and get the door. Haha, anyway, they were so cool. It was funny, we were in the kitchen talking, and I told them I was new here, and blessed the food and such, and then after they asked me where I was from, and I said Utah, and they were all confused! Then this little boy, Bruno turned to his mom and said, “He´s not Brazilian?” Haha, he was so cute! And the food is GOOD! I will get to eat so much food here, don´t even worry. They LOVE to feed the missionaries. And the only families that feed the missionaries are the ones who can afford to. So don´t worry ok? :)

Ah, I´ll have to tell you about the other people and families later! But, to be honest, I have only been able to teach for about 2 days here! Let me tell you why! And PROMISE you won´t worry!!:) So after the first day of proselyting and teaching and such, I had gotten eaten by all the mosquitoes. It was crazy, but it was ok, I have like 80 different creams and stuff to take care of it, so I just went on! Oh, and I forgot to put on my bug spray that day, ever since then I haven´t gotten any more bites, that spray is amazing. So anyway, the next day, we ate lunch with this family. I ate SO much, I was so full, but they had this dessert for us- a fruit that´s really popular here because it only grows in the north, and it´s called Açaí. Everyone loves it! So we had it, and I stuffed it down, and all was well.

Well later that night, I looked and noticed that I had this weird crazy purple rash thing on my leg, and I hadn´t been feeling that well that night. So I decided I´d go to sleep and see how it was in the morning. Well in the middle of the night I woke up, and I think I just had some kind of bug, I was just sick. It was gross, I was throwing up and such.

So the next day we just had to stay in the house and take it easy, and I just got to rest in bed. Later on that day, Elder Merrill came in, and told me that this man had just come to talk to him. He said that the man´s wife and he were getting a divorce, and that his wife was... passionate... for Elder Merrill! So he said we were getting emergency transferred, and that we were going to the next town to stay with these two elders- Elder Watanabe and Wasden- until they could figure out where we could go, and get the situation worked out.

When we were over there, I showed Wat (It´s just easier to call him Wat) my leg- oh, he´s a zone leader, and he had known that I was sick and stuff, but he saw my leg and was like WO!! So he called the President, and to make a long story short, later that night I was sitting in the Hospital back in Belém getting checked! Sister Hoggan just thought the rash could´ve been related to my sickness, and wanted to make sure, and people here aren´t very smart, so I had to go back to Belém for the doctors there. Anyway, they just checked me and gave me some medicines and stuff, and now I´m feeling great! My legs are still all purple and weird, like the color of Açaí, but with all of the stuff I have, it will go away soon.

Wow, this is like the super condensed version, but that has been my first week! I just wanted to let you know! Don´t be worried at all Mom, it is TOTALLY fine. It´s actually really funny! I think I´m the first one ever to have to go to the doctor that fast! And with the transfer, we´ll be staying with those other elders until further notice, probably like tomorrow or something, and by next week, I may have a new area, and maybe even a new companion- if it works out that for some reason we can´t both go somewhere else together. So please pray that we will be able to! I want to so bad!! And tonight I´m hoping that I´ll still be able to get some good pictures and videos of our house in Paár.

But wow, sorry, I feel like this email was super random, my thoughts are all over the place right now! And it should´ve been more spiritual! I´m sorry! It´s just been so so crazy and there hasn´t been much else than just crazyness! Know how much I love it here though. No sickness, or bug bite, or rash, or wierd thing here will get me down or stop me! This work is too important. These people so need the gospel. Lots of them don´t have any standards. I mean look- ladies hiss and blow kisses at random people they don´t even know! I know that this is going to be the most amazing, difficult, freakin Hottest, most rewarding thing I ever do. I can´t wait to be able to start really getting into the work and teaching people, and seeing their lives change. I don´t doubt that I will see all of that this week, and be able to tell you about it next week. :)

I love you all so so so so much!!!! I hope you know how much I think and pray about you, every single day. Until next week!!! Ah!!! Each week is so adventurous and exciting!!! I LOVE YOU!!! oh, by the way, I get mail once a week every Monday, that´s when my P-days are, and I only got one thing, so no package yet!! But I´m excited! Ok, LOVE YOU! BYE!!!