By Kevin V. Hunt
(Photo copyright by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Kevin’s Mission “Talk in Church”
PRESENTED MARCH 24, 2024 – Pacana Park Ward
We sing a popular hymn #27, as written by William W. Phelps. With gusto, we sing, “Praise to the Man”.
Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah
Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer
Blessed to open the last dispensation,
Kings shall extol him,
And nations revere …
And the final line of the 4th verse says, “Millions shall know “ Brother Joseph again …”
As we know, Elder M. Russell Ballard, long the “Acting President of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles”, died just after General Conference. His final address – just a month before his death – was a powerful testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith – his great grand uncle.
He said, “I have seemed to have the Prophet Joseph in my mind the last few months. I’ve sat and contemplated his glorious responsibility in becoming the prophet of this, the last dispensation of the fulness of times.”
“I think how grateful we are as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that Joseph Smith, a boy who desired to know what he needed to do have his sins forgiven, found the courage to go into a grove of trees near his home in Palmyra, New York, and there kneel in prayer.
“On that occasion, as Joseph got on his knees in what we call the sacred Grove, the heavens opened. Two personages, brighter than the noonday sun, appeared before him. One spoke to him and said, “Joseph, this is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” Thus began the Restoration of the fulness of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Still quoting Elder Ballard: “I’ve been thinking about all the marvelous thins that we know and all of the things that we have … and how abundantly blessed we are to know all that we know because we have Joseph Smith, the prophet.
“We have an understanding of the purpose of life, of who we are. We know who God is, we know who the Savior is. … We can know that Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have revealed themselves in this latter-day and that Joseph has been raised up to restore the fulness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ.”
“[Because of Joseph] we have the Book of Mormon … another witness, another testament that Jesus is the Christ.
Then Elder Ballard said, “So my testimony this morning is that I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I also know that our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus appeared and spoke to Joseph and prepared him to become the prophet.” A powerful final testimony by Elder Ballard.
The conference talk of Elder Rasband grabbed my wife and me. He talked of the great need for more senior couple missionaries. Lou and I had talked of a mission before but we didn’t want to get the Covid shots so did not want to go when we first retired.
But with Elder Rasband’s talk, we felt it was now our time to go.
From that talk, we began immediately to make preparations to serve. We began our missionary recommendation form and process. It was truly a miracle that we were able to complete all of the medical appointments, the shots, the photos, the application, and much more – all within just a week. That was in October, and it seemed to take forever to get the application moved on to the next step. I was frustrated and did not have the humility that my wife has just talked about. For the record, Lou has pretty much conquered that trait, but I still need some work on it. That’s why she was assigned the topic today – so that she could do some preaching to me. But, looking back now, we see the knowledge of God in the timing of us going to Nauvoo when we are.
When couples go on a mission, they can specify some “preferences” of where they want to go. But that doesn’t mean that this is where you will serve. In the paperwork, the couple signs a statement that they will serve anywhere the Lord needs them. We initially listed several preferences, but ultimately pulled all of the preferences and submitted our will to that of the Lord – to serve anywhere as needed.
I still have to laugh at my mother and step-father as they planned to serve a mission. My step father had some Salt Lake connections and he thought that they had all of the t’s crossed and all of the I’s dotted for them to go to Nauvoo. When they received their call, the step-dad called their Bishop. He said, “Now Bishop, how did you spell Nauvoo on that application?” The Bishop said, “N A U V O O …” Elder Nash said, “Well, let me tell you how THEY spell it … T O O W O O M B A”. The Bishop said, “Where in the world is that?” They were called to teach institute out in the Australian bush in Toowoomba, Australia.
My wife wanted to go to Australia since she had served there – a hundred years ago – in her youth.
So, our folks wanted to go to Nauvoo, and they got called to Toowoomba, Australia. Sister Hunt and I wanted to go to Australia, and we got called to Nauvoo.
When I went on my youth mission, I was sure that I would go to a foreign mission. My patriarchal blessing said I would go to a foreign people and learn their customs and ways”. I was surprised with the call to Alabama, Flawda, and Jawja. My mother said then, “Those people are about as foreign as you can get … I reminded Mom of her statement when she and Richard were called on their 2nd mission to Alabama – They served in Tuskeegee. She there met David Oryang, then the Branch President of the small Tuskegee branch and his wife Christine. A couple of months ago, I went on an Elder’s Quorum visit to visit Brother Randy Tuke in our Pacana Park Ward. We got to talking about missions and it was interesting that Elder Tuke also served in Tuskegee, Alabama. He knew the Oryangs and even produced photos of them when he attended their elaborate African wedding. He ministered to them and set an example for them.
My folks were there in Tuskegee just a couple of years after Elder Tuke was there. They continued to fellowship the Oryangs. They taught them the Temple prep lessons and got them to the Atlanta Temple where they were endowed and sealed. I worked for a time for America West Airlines, and we flew to Alabama – all 11 of us – and visited Mother and Richard on their mission. We attended their Tuskegee branch with them. We met President Oryang, the branch president, and I can still recall seeing this great Ugandan Brother as he stood tall and testified boldly of the Prophet, Joseph Smith.
Mother continued to stay connected to David and Christine over the next 25 years. They came to visit her in Mesa, and she visited them in their home in Washington, DC I connected with them, and they participated by video on the program at her 90th birthday celebration held just before her recent death. Because of their continuing connection, I had their contact information in my phone. As Randy Tuke and I talked about the Oryangs, he said that he had lost contact with them. He was surprised and pleased when I told him that David is now the stake president in Washington, D.C.. We took a selfie photo, and I shipped it off immediately to Pres. Oryang. He was very pleased to see the photo. I got Randy and David connected. President Oryang and his wife have just been called as Mission Leaders in Nigeria.
We never know the full results of our missions … It may be years before we learn results of seeds that we plant … and we may never know our impact. As a youth, I was a teen guide at the Mesa Temple for a couple of years. Lou and I and our baby, Jackie, served as guides at the Ogden Temple and Tabernacle soon after our marriage. Our mission at those places was to help people feel at home and to feel Spirit and the Lord’s guidance in their lives through our testimonies. Such will be our mission in Nauvoo.
I served in Cullman, Alabama – a strange town for the South – since it was all German Catholics. I was there five months – and I felt that it was a total waste. I tracted out the whole town 3 ½ times. I didn’t baptize anyone … I had been home for FIVE YEARS when got a letter from a Sister Buchanan, from Cullman. She thanked me for bringing her into the Church. I could not remember her – nor could my companion of the time. I went to my missionary journal. I found a couple of entries about her. We first met her and taught her the first discussion on her porch. She loved everything and said, “Ya’ll come back now, ya heah?” We did return the next week to teach her again. Her husband met us and kicked us off the porch – with no “Ya’ll come back”. That was our last contact with her.
Then five years later, she wrote to tell me that she had been baptized – all because of me. She had my address from my “Article of Faith” card I had given to her. She wrote again a year later and said that her two teens had been allowed to join the church. Then still later, she wrote me and said that her husband had mellowed out and had also joined the church.
My Brother Kyle served his mission in NYC – Our first child was a girl. Unusual … Hunts do not generally have girls first. I looked in our family history … had to go to the 1600’s to find a girl born first …I knew that our Hunt family had been in Utah, Kentucky, and North Carolina but I had totally forgotten that our Hunt family first went to Hopewell, New Jersey about 1620 and were there for over a hundred years. My brother Kyle at that moment was serving his mission in Hopewell, New Jersey … I copied genealogy pedigree charts and sent them to him. He tracted out all of the local Hunts who were still there and shared the charts with them. Then after he had been home, seven years, he received a letter from a guy in Pennsylvania. He said, “You do not know me, but I have been doing Hunt family genealogy work all of my life and have not known what to do with it.”
“I contacted a cousin in Hopewell, New Jersey. She said, “If you want to know about Hunt genealogy, you need to talk to a Mormon elder who was here a COUPLE of years ago.” She then gave him Kyle’s article of faith card he had given to her. To make a long story short, I communicated with the guy, got his genealogy package – and ultimately processed 1,000 names for Temple ordinances.
We are a missionary family – All four of our parents went on missions. Lou and I served – and we sent seven children on missions … We are now starting missions for the grandkids. Our first grandson is presently serving in Argentina. His younger brother just left the MTC to go to Yakima, Washington. Two granddaughters are processing their missionary applications. These are exciting missionary times for our family.
Sister Hunt and I are going on a couple mission now for the grandkids. We could have done a service mission and remained at home, but felt that we needed to uproot and GO somewhere … so that the grandkids – all 43 of them – would see us and later say that Grandpa and Grandma WENT a mission and we want to be the examples for them. It would make us very happy if all 43 of them would serve a mission.
When we are willing to be missionaries, the Lord puts people in our path to hear of the gospel from us. We have had many wonderful missionary opportunities through the years …
Sister Hunt talked of her folks serving on a mission to Nauvoo. Just for the record, almost no one baptizes anyone as they serve as missionary guides at church historic sites – as we will be doing. That is not a goal for historic missionary guides. When they were at the Lucy Mack Smith home, the folks were frequently visited by a young lady from nearby Keokuk, Iowa – located about 10 miles across the Mississippi river from Nauvoo. She just kind of gravitated to Gramps/Elder Belcher. She came to see the folks frequently. Elder Belcher ended up baptizing this young lady in the Mississippi River.
Years later, as our family was in the Nauvoo, “City of Joseph” pageant, we were in a scene with all of the huge cast. In this scene, we were all Saints who were “building a city” – building Nauvoo. All over the stage there were a multitude of city building tasks going on. The centerpiece of the building scene was a giant water wheel that was about 20 feet or more tall. During the scene, the water wheel suddenly started to topple. I joined several men around me and we rushed to help “steady the ark”. Somehow we managed to keep it upright.
After the scene, a lady whom I did not know came up to me. She introduced herself as a news reporter from Keokuk. She said, “I got a picture of you with the water wheel … now I need your name and information for my newspaper article.” We talked of my former mission to Nauvoo, the train trip of my family and me, and more, but she was not impressed. Then I said, “My father in law served a mission here years ago and was at the brickyard.” She then lightened up. She asked his name. When I said, “Elder EH Belcher,” she nearly ejected from the stage. She excitedly told us that Elder Belcher had baptized her in the river. We were all in total amazement at how the Lord had orchestrated all of this. Wow!
With our 18-month service in Nauvoo, we will be historic guides at a multitude of historic homes and shops of old Nauvoo. More than 20 of our combined ancestor families lived in Nauvoo. We will arrive in Nauvoo just as all of the Nauvoo properties of Joseph Smith have transferred to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will likely be our privilege to guide visitors through those marvelous properties. Talk about the timing of our mission …!
One of our mission training booklets is called, “On Holy Ground”. In this booklet President Gordon B. Hinckley was quoted as he dedicated Historic Kirtland. Those words are applicable also to Nauvoo – to my wife and me, and to each of you. He said, “May this area become a great gathering place for Thy people from over the earth. May they come here, walk about with reverence and memories, feel the power of Thy Holy Spirit, and grow in faith and testimony concerning Thy work and Thy kingdom. May it be a place of spiritual refreshment, where hearts and minds will be touched by the power of the Holy Ghost to lead them to knowledge of Thee and their Redeemer, Thy Beloved Son. May it be a place where the stranger will be touched by Thy Spirit and come to know something of the wondrous workings of Thy cause and kingdom. May men and women from over the earth experience here a sure and solemn witness of the divine calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the divinity of Thy work established through him.”
That is an invitation to all of you … come visit Nauvoo while we are there … bring your families … come and stay several days … walk the paths of the Prophets and your ancestors … Come to experience the two Nauvoo pageants. Come and see Sister Hunt and me in our pioneer costumes, sing with us, “Praise to the Man” and Come and get to know Brother Joseph, again. I know that Joseph Smith was and is God’s Prophet that God, our Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ did in reality visit Joseph and called him to be Their prophet to restore the Church of Jesus Christ to the world. I look forward to testifying of him and of Them to the world as we are in Nauvoo.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Heading to the Provo MTC today! A great day for UP” (Dr. Seuss)
Kevin the Nauvoo Scout …
KevintheScout 
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