Planting seeds with the help of the Lord's Hand

Have you ever heard the term "planting a seed" when it comes to missionary work?

 Does it really work and does the Lord really play a part in it?

Well let me tell you a story and you can be the judge:

About a month or so ago, this young man came up to Matt at a mission conference. He said, "Elder Hunsaker I am so excited to finally see you and meet you!" Matt was a little taken back because he has no idea who this missionary was. The young missionary went on to introduce himself and say how a few years ago, the missionaries were trying to convert his mother but she was a heavy smoker and didn't want to quit. The missionaries were a little frustrated with her but continued to teach her. He was a member but very inactive. The missionaries would invite him to "hang out" and sometimes go and teach with them a couple times of week in his hometown of Belloto Chile. The missionary he loved to go out with was Elder Jordan Hunsaker!!!

Jordan took this young man under his wing and kept telling him he needed to get his act together so that one day he could serve a mission. He told him that it would be cool also if one day he could serve with his younger brother Matt!

Fast forward a year and a half (maybe a little longer) and here stands Elder Mendoza from Chile with now Elder Matt Hunsaker both serving in the Neuquen Argentina Mission!!!

Elder Mendoza said, "Oh and by the way tell your brother that my mother also just got baptized!!"

 

Coincidence....I think not.

Then last week Matt emailed us and said, "You will never guess who my new companion is!! Yep Elder Mendoza from Chile!!"

You never know what kind of example you are setting, what seed you are planting and how you and your family can reap from it down the road....

You also can't begin to tell me that the Lord didn't have

 His hand in this.

Finally....

After 6 months and 5 days Matt FINALLY arrived in Argentina

after waiting forever for his Visa!!

Here is his first picture in Argentina with his Mission President and wife, President and Sister Peterson. They are only there for one more week before they head home to Bountiful UT and another president takes over. Sweet Sister Peterson had called us the night before this email to let us know that Matt had FINALLY arrived and where he would be serving.

They had Matt write us a letter and then they scanned it and emailed it to us :)

We are so happy he is FINALLY in Argentina and pray that he will love every minute of it.

Playing Catch Up...

With just a bunch of adults at our home life isn't very exciting but I will try to catch up on the happenings in our lives the past few months...

Matt got to spend time in the MTC with one of his best friends Blake.

(I don't think the MTC will ever be the same after these two!!)

Matt also got to see some of his Northridge buddies. In February Matt was given a little DETOUR for his mission. None of the Visa's came through for the missionaries going to Argentina so he was reassigned to the Georgia Atlanta North Mission until their Visa's come.

His friend Jeff on the left side of him is in the same mission in Georgia.

Jordan had two friends return home from their missions. Boston Poll (in the center) returned home from New Zealand and Blake Smithing (on the far right) returned from Samoa. They all got home within a month or so of Jordan. It was fun to hear all the different languages and accents they each had. Gavin Farr on the left was home from SUU football recovering from elbow surgery.

Jordan's very first companion in Chile and trainer Sean Church came and spent the weekend with us. He is from Idaho and is attending BYU-I. It was really fun getting to meet him.

Coco continues to entertain us by hopping in the trunk of the car when it's open. She thinks she will get a ride if she sits in there long enough. She usually wont get out for a good 20 minutes either.
Just simply makes me laugh.

Jordan finally had surgery on his chest. He had something called pectus carinatum which is a birth defect that causes cartilage on his chest to grow out. Growing up he and his friends always called it his third boob or uni-boob. It was funny to see how many friends were sad to see it go...(they would rub it for good luck). He is recovering slowly and it will take some time before he can hit the gym again but he is happy to finally have it gone.

We said goodbye to our other son Sam Knowles. I didn't know how hard this would be but it was seriously like saying goodbye to my own son. He will be serving a mission in the Philippines for the next two years and I couldn't be more proud of him.

Whew....that should do it for awhile.