1/16/2021 Visiting my cousin in Rexburg

Everyone, I have great news......my cousin Lauren has decided to serve a mission! I am so excited for her, words can't explain how happy i am that she is going to serve the Lord as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! She is going to be such a great influence to so many people with the light she brings to everyone she meets!

My cousin Cameron and I drove up to rexburg on wednesday afternoon and it was really smooth driving until the wind picked up about 30-45 minutes out of rexburg. it was so windy that when we were next to semi trucks the wind would make them sway so we had to pass them quickly just in case they swayed too far.

My cousin and I went and visited the rexburg temple and took some pictures on the temple grounds! it is such a beautiful temple. I am so grateful for temples and the opportunity we have to be sealed as eternal families!

That is all for now. I hope you all have a great week!! Stay safe and stay strong!!

 

-Elder Munk 

Happy New Year 1/3/2021

Sup everyone? How are you all doing? I hope you all had an awesome new year! I’m so glad that 2020 is over! Haha I hope 2021 is gonna be much better.

This week has been really good for me! I’ve had some opportunities to serve others. The 1st opportunity I had was to get a new battery in my cousin Cameron’s car, because the old one was dead. It was really fun to learn how to replace a battery with the help of my dad... of course! Haha

The 2nd opportunity I had was today! I am the building representative for my ward, so I was able to do snow removal this morning, it was really fun! I also make sure that the church building is locked at the end of each day.

I would also like to share with everyone my short term and long term goals...

Short term

1: read the Book of Mormon everyday

2: better live the gospel each day and increase my testimony

3: improve my vertical jump

Long term

1: finish my mission

2: finish the Book of Mormon

3: finish the D&C

4: try to find more ways to serve others each day

I hope you all have a great week! Stay safe and stay strong! Thanks for all you do for me, the support, the love, and the motivation to help me to keep going!

-Elder Hayden Munk

This Christmas Season 12/27/2020

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a merry Christmas! I just want to share some things about my Christmas.

To start off... 2020 has been a crazy year filled with crazy stuff going on in the world, yet when Christmas comes around it brings so many people together to celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. I got a lot more presents than I thought I would get this year. Being a missionary and an adult has been very different this Christmas season. I have had to try to remember that it's not so much about the presents anymore, but about the service I can give and the opportunity to think of others before myself. I have been trying to follow Christ's example by living the gospel, serving others, loving those around me, and by forgiving the people who have not been kind to me.   

On Christmas eve, we went to my gma and gpa Burningham's house and helped them with a puzzle and just spent time together. It was really fun! After that we went to the Munk's in Orem and at some delicious homemade Cafe Rio, and opened presents. My uncle Dallin flew down from Jackson, Wyoming to be with us! He is such an awesome uncle who tells the best jokes. haha

 

On Christmas day, my dad made breakfast for us and it was really good! and when it came to opening presents... we let the dogs go first and Champ completely shredded the wrapping paper on his present! It was sooo funny to see him open it all by himself.

I hope you all had a great christmas! And I hope you all have an amazing new year!! :)

-Elder Hayden Munk

"When there's no peace on earth there is in Christ" 12/20/2020

hi everyone. I hope you are all doing well! This week has been kinda slow to be honest. Monday I had to get an X-ray of my shoulder because it's been bothering me ever since baseball in high school, but it's at its worst now. I also have to go to physical therapy to strengthen my labrum (that connects the bicep to the shoulder joint) and rotator cuff (that deals with rotation in the shoulder). anyway I've been trying to get my range of motion back, but it is still bothering me quite a bit.

I also started a new medication for my mood. For those who don't know, I have a mood disorder that causes major mood swings. The medication I started on is lithium. It has helped a lot with my mood, but my body just hasn't gotten used to it being in my system yet so I've been really tired and groggy as well.

I hope you all have a great week!! stay safe!!

-Elder Hayden Munk

Hey, sorry everyone, the rest of my email didn't send for some reason so here is the rest of it...

On Thursday I had seminary and I was able to join a class and listen and watch the seminary Christmas assembly/devotional. I was in brother davis's class and my cousin bostyn jensen was in there too! She had told me that she was giving a short talk for the class, so I purposely joined that class! haha She did an amazing job and I was really proud of her because she had told me earlier, "I really don't want to give a talk," and I'm glad she chose to fight the fears of speaking in front of people, and she gave a wonderful and spiritual message.

"When there's no peace on earth there is peace in Christ." This is such a great quote! I know that when it may seem like there's no peace in your life or on earth, that you can always turn to Christ for peace. He is the light of the world, and He is always there for us even in the hardest times we may face and will face in the future.

I would like to challenge all of you to find a way that you can serve, love, and forgive others just like He did as we celebrate the birth of Christ during this month of December. Put others before yourself and have a great week!! stay safe and keep on keepin on! :)

-Elder Hayden Munk

Funeral for my Great Grandma Miles/My dads Birthday 12/13/2020

Hello everyone. I hope you've all had a great week! I would like to just say how grateful I am for my Great Grandma Miles and for all she did for me and will keep doing for me just in another place... Heaven! I want to give a "big time" shout out to my Grandma and Grandpa Munk, aka Maka and Baka. They both took care of my great grandma for the last few months of her life and did an amazing job of loving and caring for her and her needs! I also want to thank them for "subbing me in'' as a casket bearer for the funeral due to some of the family not being able to make it because of covid. I was truly honored to be able to have that experience.

Another thing that happened this weekend was my dad's 50th birthday!!! Most of the Munk's were there, but I felt bad for my aunt Angela and my uncle Dallin, because they were unable to make it because my aunt's flight had to leave back to Washington right when the party started and my uncle was exposed to covid. We had an awesome birthday party though. There was a video that my sister Harley had been planning for over a year, with little video clips of my dad's family and friends who shared some fun memories of my dad and "old school" pictures of him too! haha it was so cool!

I hope you're all doing well and staying safe! I love you all thanks for all you do for me! Have a great week!

-Elder Hayden Munk

i forgot to send some pictures i have... so here they are.

1: a cinnamon roll from seminary that was the size of my hand

2: my favorite picture of christ

Week 10 12/5/2020

Hello everyone! I'm going to keep this email pretty short. I want to start off by saying how grateful I am to have an eternal family and for the atonement. My Great Grandma Miles passed away on december 3rd and it's been 5 years on december 2nd since my cousin Andrew passed away. So i've been really emotional since wednesday. The Munk side of the family also went to Luminaria in Thanksgiving Point and that was a very spiritual experience. Especially when we walked past the statues of the scripture stories of Christ. When we got to the statue of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, I felt the spirit so strongly testify to me that he knows what I am going through and he knows of my needs, he also knows everyone perfectly and loves us all equally! I also had my cousin and aunt take some pictures of me next to the statue. and i was pretty much crying the rest of the time until we got back to the car. 

I would like to bare my testimony, I know that this church is true and that president nelson is a true prophet called by god to lead and guide this church by the inspiration given to him from Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and when we need help we can always turn to the scriptures. I also know that prayers are answered when we ask our Heavenly Father in the name of Christ that we can get an answer, the answer may not come immediately, and when you take action after your prayers and have faith that it will be answered, it will be answered. I know that families are forever and we will see our loved ones again. I am so grateful to be serving my mission and I have truly seen the blessings that come with serving others. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

-Elder Munk

President Nelsons message of hope 11/27/2020

To start, I loved President Nelson's message of hope!! when he talked about social media, the first thing I said out loud was "another social media fast I guess," but nope! President Nelson's challenge of using #givethanks and posting what we are all thankful for was a really cool and different message from our prophet. i went through the week trying to figure out what i was most thankful for in my life and posted it on instagram. After about 3 days, I was having a hard time consistently thinking of things I am thankful for and was distracted by what others were posting and I felt like I wasn't doing a good job compared to the other people's posts.

I felt quite dumb for comparing myself to others and was quickly corrected. I thought in that moment that to be happy I had to post all of these amazing things. when in reality what i needed to do was to not compare, but combine. What I mean by that is that not one person can change the world, it takes a lot of people behind someone to change the world. President Nelson had challenged us All to participate in this, not just members of the church. 

I know that our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson is a true prophet of God. under the direction of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, he leads and guides this church. And I know that when we as members follow his direction that we can influence all to come unto Christ, through missionary work, service, even just by the most simple act of kindness. a smile, holding the door open for someone, texting someone a kind message. These simple things can have a big impact on someone and can snowball into something more.

Another thing I want to share is that even though the seminary has been quarantined I have found some fun services to do, and have had a lot of time to think and ponder about things. 

A couple things I have been thinking about are the people I have known and lost in my lifetime. I will give 2 examples...

When I lost my Great Grandma "Duke." I was so sad!! I had lost my best friend as a young child. Growing up with my family living with my great grandma was such a blessing for me. We helped her cause she was in a wheelchair so we pretty much took care and helped with everything she couldn't do herself. When I look back at the greatest memories I have of my Great Gma, I don't feel such sadness anymore, instead I feel the spirit testify to me that she is watching over me and is still "babysitting" me even though she has passed away. 

I also miss my cousin Andrew. He spent many summers with us because he went to basketball camps here in Utah. His family lives outside of Utah so we would party when was here lol. One of the memories I have of him was when he bought our dog charlie a duck toy and we told him, "Charlie will have the stuffing out of that in less than 3 minutes," Andrew was adamant that it wasnt gonna happen because someone he knew had 2 yorkies with the same toy and it hasn't ripped yet. and he was shocked to see that when charles got a hold of that toy it was done for, in about 45 seconds the stuffing was already flying out, and he was so surprised that he couldn't do anything but stand there and laugh, haha. When he passed away it hit me like a brick to the face. I was so devastated and I still am, but I know that we as a family will see Andrew again one day. Because of the atonement we can all repent and see our loved one and ultimately live with Him again someday.

I love you all, happy thanksgiving!! Stay safe!!

- Elder Munk