New Address!

Sincere apologies for the delay! Things have been kind of crazy around here. Due to visa delay, Ryan has been temporarily reassigned to the Salt Lake City South Mission. He arrived last Wednesday 12/16/09 and is excited to be in the mission field. Now, for the heart of this post, please send mail to:

Elder Ryan Hughes
UTAH SALT LAKE CITY SOUTH MISSION
8060 S 615 E
SANDY UT 84070

Hey everybody!So so much happened this week and there is only a half hour to write it, so I am not sure how that is going to work out but I will just get started doing it and see what happens.Alright, so last Friday we taught the Word of Wisdom in Monoglian as part of a review of the second lesson type of set up. And we actually taught with the utmost help of the Holy Ghost well enough that the investigators there could feel the Spirit and were moved by it! It felt great! It was amazing! I hope to be able to replicate that feeling everytime I teach in Mongolian from now on - it just takes a whole lot of focus and trying my very best and being as sincere as I can be with all the confidence I can muster and then God comes in and takes care of the rest (and that is alot) and makes it so that my lesson can be understood and so that the Spirit can be there to teach and edify both sides. So that is my goal from now on here at the MTC and when I eventually get to Mongolia, whenever that may be. No idea about that as of yet. Saturday was a day spend trying to start learning all the Law of Chastity vocabularly and how to teach it. Time is so busy now that we teach absolutely no lessons in English anymore. It is fun, but it takes a lot of work and giving everything I can to be able to get anywhere. We teach Law of Chastity tomorrow to whoever shows up or maybe to our teachers if no one volunteers because of the holiday weekend. We will just see what has to happen. Hopefully, there will be a good number of people there and we can be able to teach them again and to answer all of their questions, that is one of the hardest things. Trying to understand what they are asking and then formulating an answer. But I just give it my best and keep praying always for help and the answer is given to me what to say for that situation or instance and I am so grateful for that! Everytime! Sunday was our first official day as zone leaders and wow, responsibilities increase a hundred fold. We have to plan out Sacrament meetings and get prayers and conducting and sacrament and playing piano all assigned. We have to teach an ordination out of the white handbook durning priesthood to all the elders in our zone. Then we have meetings all day long it feels like. They are good meetings and I learn a lot - they just take up all day! It feels like I am back to being priest quorum frist assistant and being at meetings all day then, except there are even more here now. But it is all good and the Spirit is always there so strong that all of them are just amazing. I pray to be able to be the best zone leader that I can be, that I may be able to accomplish all my assignments and duties and be able to delegate those that I am supposed to. I have to start interviews tonight of district leaders and I have never conducted interviews before. So I have been praying hard about that and I hope all goes the way it is supposed to there. Monday was the start of Thanksgiving weekend or so it felt like to me. I started to really think of how blessed I truly am and to see all the great things that God has done for me. And trust me, they are too much to even mention, as soon as you start counting and start thinking a whole giant list just flows into your head and you can keep going and going and going. Then when you offer up a prayer of gratitude later that night it just goes on and on and on, hopefully Heavenly Father never gets tired of hearing the things I am thankful for because it lasts a very, very long time and the list goes on for a crazy long amount. So just a challenge to everyone this week: think of all the things you are grateful for and list them off, write them down and you will be truly suprised at all the Lord has bless ed you with. You will have things come to your mind that you didn't even think of and you will have an enormous feeling of gratitude and peace and joy at all the things that Heavenly Father has blessed you with. Tuesday was devotional day and Elder Dallin H. Oaks and his wife came to talk to us! Way cool! They had tons of awesome quotes and wisdom to offer. He had lists and lists of different things that just made sense and were great to listen to. For example, there was a list of the things we must work towards our whole lives - three things. First, we must recognize, then we must achieve, and then we must become. He put this in terms of missionary service - first we must realize that we have been called as missionaries and come to understand what that really means and what we are supposed to do. Then, we go out and achieve what missionaries are supposed to do by teaching lessons, giving talks, contacting people, etc. Finally, we strive our whole missions to become the missionaries that our Heavenly Father wants us to be. The perfect missionaries that He could use for whatever He wants. Since none of us can become perfect, we strive everyday to be better and better and works towards becoming that missionary for the Lord. Although Elder Oaks said this about missionary work, I think it could apply to just about any chuch calling or to us being the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. We aren't quite the perfect sons and daughters we need to become yet, but everyday we strive to become better and better so that we can reach that full potential that He has for us and be able to become like Him and live with Him and our families forever and ever in peace and joy. That is something that I have really come to make my ultimate eternal goal here at the MTC. I mean I have always thought before about it, but here it has sunk really deep into my heart exactly what that would mean and the joy and blessings that would come from living a celestial life and be able to live with our Heavenly Father again and our families forever. And I want that more than I have ever wanted anything before in my whole life. I want it for myself, and all my family, and my friends, and for those people of Mongolia (or those in the U.S. I get temporarily reassigned to). I want it so bad for them and me! Anyway, time is fastly running out so Wednesday. Elder Sessions and I taught our first lesson to a "progressing invesigator". We are teaching Bro. Cannon who is acting as a Mongolain investigator that he had on his mission with the same thoughts, concerns, motivations, etc. It is 100% completely in Mongolian with no English help whatsoever but I have never taught a lesson with the Spirit's help, guidance, and it actually being the teacher that good before. We were able to get to know him, to ask him questions, and to teach him the first lesson of the restoration of the gospel here on the earth. Then we were able to commit him to attend church on Sunday and to meet with him again on Friday. We also gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon in Mongolian and challenged him to read the introduction with his family and the first few chapters of Nephi and to pray about it to see if they were true. He was really excited about going to church. The reading and praying not so much. So we will just have to check up with him again tomorrow when we go back to teach him again. I know that he is just a "fake" investigator but if this is how teaching people the gospel really feels and the joy it brings and the understanding both the investigator and the teacher gain from it - then it is the best thing I have ever done so far in the world! Missionary work is the best and I am so excited to go back and teach again tomorrow! Maybe, exhilirated is a better word. I am just pumped!Ok, five minutes left. So onto today. It is Thanksgiving and as such we have no P-day. But tons of awesome meetings and service stuff (and good food - pie and turkey and stuffing :) and just some limited MDT (missionary direct time) to be able to emial home. Elder Jefferey R. Holland come to the devotional this morning with his wife. His wife bore the strongest testimony I have ever heard about exactly who we are and how much we truly mean to our Heavenly Father. How His hands have guided and shaped and molded our lives and how if we follow Him, He will continue to do so until we can become like He is. Way awesome testimony. Elder Holland just did a question and answer session with some really tough gospel questions and the church's true stance on them and what he knows how to say using the scriptures and his testimony as an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There were a lot of good questions and he had an amazing scripture story or example to answer them.Well, I am almost out of time so I must go or this email will never get sent and I can only imagine how Mom would feel then!So I love you all tons and remember to be grateful in all things!

Hey, everybody!I hope everyone is doing great and is having a fabulous December thus far. I can't believe how fast time continues to go and how Christmas is just a few short weeks away already! They already have Christmas lights up here and we sing Christmas songs in class and for the devotionals and firesides and stuff and you can hear a bunch of people practicing Christmas music to try out for devotionals or firesides or the Christmas talent show they are planning here. Sadly, all the copies of "O Holy Night" are checked out and I just wanted to copy down the words because it is not in the hymnbook but is one of my all time favorites. But oh well, I will probably here it from a bunch of special muscial numbers and it will sound amazing! So last week was Thanksgiving as you all very well know and Thanksgiving here at the MTC was great! We had a devotional where Elder Holland came and talked to us and answered questions people had sent in about various topics. Such as broken sealings, why life has to be so hard, and the foreknowledge of God not being us bound to fate. There was a lot of good stuff I learned and the Spirit was there so strong. His wife had the strongest, coolest testimony about the divine worth of each and every one of us. And how Heavenly Father truly has a plan set up for each of us to be able to become the happiest and greatest that we can be - we just have to rely on Him and submit to His will and all will work out. Later on that day we got Thanksgiving dinner (for lunch so that was like normal being back home) - they gave us some turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing with gravy and then pumpkin pie for dessert. I love pumpkin pie, it was way good. I did miss the green bean casserole though and the sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top and some of the other things my family does for the holiday. But it was one of the best meals they have served here so far so it was nice. After that we got to watch a huminatarian video about all that the church does for huminatarian work around the world with clean water, measle shots, food, wheel chairs, and neonatal resusication - it was awesome and very touching. We are truly blessed to be here in America where we have access to clean water, food, medical care, and lots and lots of opportunities to have the best standard of living possible on this earth. It made me look back on my life and be grateful for how much I have. After that we got to go color in game packets that the church passes out to children after natural disasters in their area. They said ours would probably end up going to the Pacific for children who dealt with the tsunami a few months ago and do not have any toys or games left because they were all washed away. It was some of the best service ever - coloring! I haven't colored since I was like in 6th grade so it was way sweet! After that we had another fireside where President Smith had set up a bunch of muscial numbers to play and then for people to share what they are thankful for in between. It was very touching and the Spirit was there so strong as people described what they are thankful for and how it has blessed their lives. People have the coolest stories! Also, he went over a brief history of Thanksgiving and it was nice to have that review and for what Thanksgiving truly commemorates with the Pilgrims those hundreds of years ago. Last Friday was good. We taught the Law of Chastity to each other and our teachers because no visitors where allowed with it being a holiday weekend. It was really nice to be able to be taught in Mongolian and be able to understand a lot of it and to feel the Spirit bearing witness of the truth of it. Other than that, not much went on. Just a whole lot of study time and translating time and trying to keep working on Mongolian to get it the best we can get it here at the MTC. Saturday was more Mongolian practice all over again. One of our teachers was out of town and the other one was having knee problems and couldn't stay long so we got in as much review with them as we could and as much translating of the law of tithing as we could before they had to leave and we were on our own again. For service that day, we laid out bacon again. It is crazy how much bacon is consumed here at the MTC - I swear everytime we do it we lay out thousands and thousands of bacon strips and then they are all used in one day for breakfast and then for sandwiches and then for whatever else. The MTC just goes through bacon like crazy.Sunday was the first day Elder Sessions and I had to get a sacrament meeting program ready and find people to lead the music, play piano, and give prayers. It was fun though and everyone agreed to do the assignment they had been given. The Spirit was there really strong as always for all the meetings and the topic was on the "promptings of the Spirit". So people had really great stories about how the Spirit has guided their lives and how it has helped them and blessed them. Way powerful testimonies. Monday was great - lots of Mongolian. Tuesday is one of the best days here - balance of class time and the RC and a devotional. The RC wasn't too great this week - no one really wanted to talk on the phone, they were all too busy. But I tried my best and taught what I could and bore testimony where they would let me. The devotional was really good though with the primary general president being the speaker and her husband being the first speaker (opposite of normal haha). He spoke about the importance of reverence and how it was an attribute of Christ that we all must stive for. "Without reverence, you are nothing" was one of my favorite quotes from him. He spoke about how reverence is more then just being quiet but thinking about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and all he has done for us and keep our thoughts and actions and words elevated to a plane on that level. Very good. Sister Lant then spoke about the need to have faith, not fear and to be obedience with exactness and to be just like the 2000 stripling warriors. That was most of her talk was comparing missionaries to the 2000 stripling warriors and how we must have the same attributes and faith and courage that they did in the war they we wage against Satan for people's souls. It is a wonderful analogy and I loved it - it is one of my favorite scripture stories and one of the best examples in the scriptures that I try to follow. From them we know that if we put our trust in God and obey everything that He tells us with exactness that He will not let us fall. He will help us to overcome all our trials and hard times and to rise above them better than ever before. What a cool blessing that is. It made me think of that "Footprints" poem about us walking side-by-side with the Savior for our lives and then we look back at all the hard times and we see only one set of footprints instead of two. The person in the poem then asks where the Savior went during those hard times and the Savior answers that those are the time that He has carries us and lifted us up to overcome those hard times. He and our Heavenly Father will never leave us and will always be there for us. They truly do lift us up and carry us during our hardest and saddest times and do not let us back down until life gets better again. I know that they are there and they comfort us and stand ready to help us. We just need to pray for that help and to feel that love and comfort and it will be there faster than we can comprehend. Dang time goes fast! Well, Wednesday was the first day we had to go get our new missionaries as zone leaders and give them the first half of instructions for being at the MTC. The new district all seem really cool - they are ten elders all going to Washington D.C. South English Speaking. They seem to have strong testimonies and their faces were already glowing with the gospel and the Spririt just from having been here a few hours. It never ceases to amaze me how much the Spirit can light up a person's face when they are doing their best to heed to the counsel given to them and to follow His promptings. Their whole face just radiates with it.Well, time is basically out with only a minute left to go. So Sherrie if you read this - I only have your Texas address so hopefully my letter gets to you somehow. Thanks for all your letters and thoughts and prayers, they mean so much to me! I hope everyone is enjoying the joy and miracle that is the Christmas season!Lot of love,Elder Ryan Leroy Hughes